The muted sounds of misery crept over Stone's skin on caresses as soft as angels' wings. He reached for her—jerked his hand back and grabbed his handkerchief from his back pocket. Thrusting it into the bend of her elbow, he stomped to the edge of the porch, resolutely turning his back on Tess.

  Rain cascaded over the porch eaves, silvery sheens like the tears from a woman's eyes.

  "Aw, shit!" he muttered. Frowning in puzzlement, he glanced overhead. For just a second he'd thought he heard a voice whispering a reproof of his profane word. It couldn't have been Tess—she was sobbing much too hard to speak.

  He closed his eyes and bowed his head, shutting out the sight of the pouring rain. But short of covering his ears with his hands like some sissified weakling, he couldn't shut out the sounds of Tess crying. His shoulders slumped and he turned back to the swing.

  "Tess."

  She took a final swipe at her eyes with the handkerchief and then balled it in her hands.

  "I'm sorry," she said with a sniff. "It must be those stupid pills making me weepy. The doctor warned me it might take my body awhile to adjust to them."

  "Doc Calder didn't say anything about leaving you any pills to take."

  Tess straightened and lifted her gaze to his face. Though her hands continued to twist the handkerchief, she breathed deeply.

  "It wasn't Dr. Calder. It was my doctor back where I live."

  "In West Virginia?"

  "No. New York City."

  He walked over and lifted her skirt hem, exposing the tennis shoe on her right foot. "And do they wear funny-looking shoes like that in New York City these days? I noticed them when your skirts flew up out behind the bam. When I kissed you and when you kissed me back."

  "It's... it's a Reebok. It's a very expensive running shoe. I've also got a pair I wear in my aerobics class."

  "That's not what I asked you." He dropped her skirt and slipped his fingertips into his back pockets.

  The handkerchief gave with a rip. "Oh, I'm sorry," she murmured. "I'll wash it and sew it up for you."

  "You don't have to tell me you're sorry, Tess. Just answer my question."

  "No," Tess barely whispered. "It's not what they're wearing in New York these days. But it's what women and men both are wearing in 1994."

  He sat on the swing and tenderly placed an arm around her. "Honey, I'm the one who's sorry now. Look, I didn't mean to push you like this, and if you're not ready to talk right now, I can wait. Just..."

  "Darn it, Stone!" Tess jerked away from his arm and turned to face him. "Listen to me! Rain wasn't lying to you up on the hill. Neither was I—not really. I did fall, but it wasn't from any horse. I fell off a mountain in upper New York State on July 31, 1994, and the next thing I knew I was sitting on a hillside in Oklahoma Territory on July 31, 1893!"

  "Tess, honey..."

  "Don't you Tess honey me in that patronizing voice! I don't have any more idea how I managed to fall into a time warp and end up here than you do. Things like this don't happen, except in books. Shoot, there's probably a Loch Ness Monster and a Bigfoot, too!"

  "Let me take you in for a rest. I'll have Flower fix you something to eat, and then you can take a nap."

  Tess threw the handkerchief at him, a look of exasperated fury on her face. "Flower believed me! Why can't you?"

  "You've been telling the kids this stuff? Look, Tess, let me get Doc Calder back out here. He really didn't examine anything other than your ankle when he came out before."

  "And I suppose you want him to examine my head this time, right?"

  "Well, when people get injured sometimes things don't show up right away."

  Tess nodded her head. "Okay. Hand me my crutches, so I can get into the bedroom."

  "I can carry you...."

  "Hand me those darned crutches, Stone Chisum," she said through gritted teeth. "I'm perfectly capable of getting in there under my own power."

  "All right. All right," he said as he rose. He picked up the crutches and held them out to her. "Or... okay, which is what you're always saying. I assume it means the same thing as all right?"

  "Yes." Tess grabbed the crutches and wobbled to her feet. "And there really are things like Jeeps and movies, too—in 1994!"

  Tess levered herself over to the door and leaned on one crutch to pull it open. Halfway through the opening, she paused and looked back at Stone.

  "Aren't you going to come with me? Keep an eye on me, so I don't fall?"

  "Huh? Oh, sure, if you want me to."

  "I do," she said under her breath. As she swung down the hallway, she passed two doorways on her left. "Are those yours and Rain's bedrooms?" she asked Stone.

  "Uh... yeah. I guess you haven't seen the rest of the house, have you?"

  "No, only the kitchen and Flower's bedroom."

  When she entered the kitchen, she saw Flower and Rain with their heads bent over their books at the table. She stopped for a second, glanced at Stone and then back at the children.

  "What are you kids studying?" she asked when the children looked up.

  "History," Rain answered. "We're making a list of the presidents and the most important thing that happened while they were in office."

  "Who's president now?" Tess asked.

  "Grover Cleveland," Rain said promptly. "He beat Benjamin Harrison and General Weaver last year."

  Tess thought for a moment. Although history hadn't been one of her best subjects, she still had a good recall of the various dates and lists she'd had to memorize.

  "Cleveland will get beat by William McKinley in 1896," Tess said in a decisive voice. "With Theodore Roosevelt as his vice president." No sense telling them that poor McKinley would be killed by an assassin's bullet in Buffalo, New York, shortly after he began his second term.

  "Tess," Stone murmured in a warning voice.

  "Look, kids," she said, ignoring Stone, "you about ready for a break here? There's some things in the bedroom I want to show you."

  Flower immediately jumped to her feet. "Oh, have you told Pa? Are you going to show him the plastic and tell us about some of the other things in the future? Pa, Tess said there's an oven that can cook things in a flash. Wouldn't that be neat? I wouldn't have to spend half of every day just cooking meals."

  A thunderous look spread over Stone's face. But before he could explode, she ushered the children into the bedroom.

  "Are you coming, Stone?" she called through the door in that sticky-sweet voice she had used on Tillie Peterson.

  "Darn right!" he muttered.

  Tess had the pack on the bed beside her, and Flower and Rain sat on the floor. Nodding at the empty ladder-back chair, she waited until Stone slumped into it, stretched out his legs, and tucked his fingers into his pockets before she began unbuckling the straps on the pack.

  "I guess you and Rain have probably been discussing the things we talked about yesterday, haven't you, Flower?" she asked.

  "Well, yes," Flower admitted. "You didn't say Rain and I couldn't talk about it. You just wanted me to wait and let you tell Pa yourself."

  Stone snorted and slumped down even farther in the chair, but she disregarded his glowering face.

  "That's right, honey," she told Flower. "And did you believe what Flower told you, Rain?"

  "Sure," Rain replied. "It made sense to me. I'm the one who saw you appear out of thin air, remember?"

  "I remember." She dug in the pack and laid out several items on the bed, then set the pack on the floor. Picking up her inexpensive instant camera, she flipped up the flash attachment and held the camera to her eye.

  "Smile, you guys."

  The flash exploded, and Stone surged upright in his chair. Tess pulled the picture from the bottom slot and aimed the camera at Stone, clicking the shutter again. She giggled softly when he bit off his growl of anger and blinked owlishly at her.

  "Now," she said in a determined voice, "if my travel through time didn't hurt the film, we'll have pictures of all of you in less than a minute."

  "Really?" Flower said in awe.

  "Really." She picked up the two cardboards and handed one to each child. "Here. You can watch them develop. Hold them by the bottom here, on this white space. That way you won't get fingerprints on the picture."

  Rain and Flower stared at the cardboards with rapt attention. Almost immediately, Rain gasped.

  "Something's happening," he said. "It's... look, Flower! There's a picture appearing here. Look. It's you and me!"

  "And this one's Pa," Flower said in an excited voice. "You ought to see the look on your face, Pa." She laughed. Then she scrambled to her feet and thrust the picture under Stone's nose. "And look—it's changing into color. I've never seen a camera picture come out in color. They're always just black and white."

  "Bull," Stone said. But he reached for the picture, staring down into it. He glanced at Rain, and Rain passed his picture to his father.

  "This doesn't prove a darned thing." Stone tossed the picture on the bed. "So there's a newfangled camera. The newspaper articles I read about the last World's Fair reported all kinds of new inventions these days. There's even something called a telephone, where people can call up other people miles away and talk to them."

  "In my day," Tess said with a smirk, "you can even see the person you're talking to at the other end on some of the telephones. It doesn't matter if you're calling from New York and talking to someone in California."

  "Bull," Stone repeated.

  She sighed and picked up a plastic lighter from the bed. She flicked the roller and a flame spewed from the top.

  "I'm not sure what that liquid is inside this," she said, "but I guess it's some kind of liquid gas. When it runs out, you just throw it away and get a new one." She released the lever and the flame died. "See? I always bring at least two with me, in case the fuel runs out in one. I use them to light campfires."

  She handed Flower and Rain each one of the plastic lighters and picked up a can of soup and her can opener. Fitting the opener to the rim, she squeezed it. It burred softly as the can circled under the opener and the lid fell free.

  "The opener works on a battery," she explained. "I usually just bring freeze-dried food with me..." She showed Stone one of the packages of freeze-dried vegetables. "But the canned soup tastes better. It's a little heavier to carry, but it's worth it on a chilly evening."

  Stone sniffed the soup tentatively before he dipped a finger in and licked the moisture. "Flower's chicken soup tastes a heck of a lot better than this."

  "I agree." Tess smiled. "Granny's tasted lots better, too. But when I go backpacking, sometimes I'm gone several days. I don't think it's practical for me to carry a live chicken with me and make soup from scratch, especially when there's all this other, lighter food available."

  "You're not proving anything, Tess." Stone set the soup on the bedside table. "You haven't shown me one thing that couldn't just be stuff that's in use back East that hasn't made its way out here yet. There's all kinds of canned goods in the stores in town. And so what if someone's figured out an easy way to open the cans? Probably some guy got tired of his wife always griping about how hard it was to open them."

  She shook her head and leaned down to the pack. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to show you these. Maybe Flower and Rain shouldn't..."

  Before she could finish Flower reached for one of the objects in her hand. "New books! Great, Tess. I've read every book we have at least three times. Sometimes I get so desperate for something to read that I even read ahead in our lesson books."

  Flower flicked open the step-back cover on the paperback book in her hand and her eyes widened. "Oh! Oh, isn't he handsome!"

  Stone ripped the book from Flower's hand and threw it back at Tess. "What the hell are you doing carrying around filthy stuff like that? And how dare you show it to my daughter?"

  "This is perfectly suitable reading material in my time!" she spat at him. "And it's not pornographic. It's a love story—a wonderful type of escapism. I read books like this when I'm overstressed and need to relax. And the picture is not erotic. It's meant to convey the deep love that the hero and heroine have for each other, which includes physical love."

  "You get those damned books out of my house!"

  "Oh, Pa, hush up." Flower reached for the book again, while Stone stared at her in amazement. "That's a beautiful picture—a lot prettier than the one over that bar in town where you drink sometimes. That lady in the bar is as naked as the day she was born and she's got a look on her face that..."

  "Mountain Flower Chisum, go to your room!" Stone roared. "You will not sass me!"

  "I am in my room, Pa," Flower said in a mild voice as she flipped another page in the book. "Oh. I guess this is what you want us to see, huh, Tess?"

  Flower held the book open and pointed at the copyright on the inside page. "It was printed in June of 1994."

  Tess nodded, then cast a worried look at Stone.

  "Let me see that!" Stone grabbed the book and stared at the page. An incredulous look replaced the anger on his face.

  Fifteen

  "Go on back to your lessons, kids," Stone said, his eyes never leaving the book. "And shut the door on your way out."

  One glance at his face and his children rose to their feet. Rain started to hand the plastic lighter back to Tess.

  "You can keep that if you like, Rain," she said. "And here." She handed Flower the pictures. "We'll take some more pictures later. I brought a couple of extra boxes of film with me."

  "Thanks, Tess," Rain said, a huge grin splitting his face.

  Flower's thanks were more hesitant. She accepted the pictures, glancing at Tess and then back at her father. "Uh... Pa, you aren't going to yell at Tess, are you? I mean, it's not her fault this happened to her. And I won't read the books, unless you say I can."

  "Hum?" He turned another page in the book, his face creased into a mixture of grimness and interest. "No, I won't yell, honey. Go on now."

  As soon as the door closed, Stone looked up at Tess. "Pretty good writing here, for a book like this. But I still don't think it's appropriate for Flower to read."

  "That's your decision. You're her father. All I want right now is to know if you believe me—believe I traveled through time to get here. Or do you still think I'm crazy?"

  Stone closed the book in his hands, then opened it again to what she could see was the copyright page. His lips thinned and she felt a sudden urge to kiss his mouth, soften it. He raised his head and she saw the confusion in those wonderfully deep brown pools.

  "I guess I have to believe you," he said. "You've got an entire backpack full of proof there. What I need to know now is how soon you're planning on going back."

  "I don't even know if I can go back," she admitted. "I'd have to find the time warp again, and I'm not real sure how it would work. I've tried to remember the area around me up there on the hillside, and I didn't notice anything strange. But then, I didn't see the warp I fell into last week, either. I only remember traveling through it."

  "Do you want to go back that badly?"

  "Why, of course." She knew as soon as the words left her lips they were only a half-truth. She hadn't really come to a decision one way or the other. However, as much as she was beginning to care for Stone, it wouldn't do to give him any false hope that they could build a lasting relationship.

  She stumbled onward, justifying and rationalizing as she spoke. "I mean... I mean, that's where I live. My apartment's back there—my job. I'm a lawyer and in line for a partnership in the firm I work for. If I get it, it means a lot more money and a secure future for me."

  "Women aren't lawyers," Stone scoffed. "At your age, you ought to be raising your own children and letting your husband take care of you!"

  "Women are too lawyers! Just as good as men. And will you quit with the references to my age?" she demanded angrily. "In my time a woman's not considered a spinster at twenty! In fact, she doesn't even have to get married, if she doesn't want to! If she wants a child, she can have one on her own—raise it on her own!"

  "Is that so?" He quirked an eyebrow. "And just what marvelous invention do they have in your time to take a man's place in getting a woman with child?"

  Her anger dissolved into a giggle as she stared at him. "You..." She gasped back a laugh. "You'll definitely never believe me if I tell you the truth about that!"

  "Try me."

  Her green eyes sparkling, Tess gazed directly into his eyes. "It's called artificial insemination. For years veterinarians used it on cattle and horses. Then they discovered a man's sperm could be frozen and used later, too. Or, in some cases, the man comes to the doctor's office first, then the woman comes in a few minutes later and has the sperm implanted in her uterus."

  "Bull crap!" He snorted. "And I suppose the doctor knows just what day a woman can conceive."

  "Yep." She grabbed for her camera. "Oh, Stone. You should see the look on your face."

  Before she could bring the camera to her eye, he jerked it from her hand. With a quick motion he turned it on her and pushed the shutter button. The flash filled the room, and he pulled the cardboard from the bottom of the camera, as he had seen her do, hoping the image before him was captured accurately.

  The wildly curling hair, backlit by the sunlight coming through the window. That beautiful mouth, open in a smile of gay laughter. Those emerald eyes sparkling in mischief and delight.

  Handing the camera back to her but keeping the picture securely in his fingers, he said, "Sounds like a cold-blooded way of lovemaking to me."

  "Tit for tat," Tess murmured. She took a picture of him and cocked her head when she lowered the camera. "It is," she agreed. "Cold-blooded, I mean." Tess held his picture behind her back when he tried to reach for it. "But sometimes a woman wants a child awfully bad—and she just can't seem to find the man she wants to share the rest of her life with."

  "Must be a pretty poor crop of men back in your time."

  She nodded absently.

  "Especially if you're still unmarried," he continued. "Must be a bunch of fools back there. Or is there something else besides your job you want to get back to? Someone, maybe?"