Gillian stepped away from the warmth of his embrace. “I should answer that
.”
She motioned with her thumb over her shoulder as she backed up. She bumped into the door jam. “It might be the hospital.”
“Sure.” He nodded.
"Hello," Gillian answered as she picked up her portable phone in the living room.
"It's me," Samantha's voice said through the receiver.
"Hi Samantha." Gillian turned to see Zachary holding his clothes and going into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Gillian wished she could g
o back to the moment before and
…
"Gillian, are you there?" Samantha repeated for the third time
.
"I'm here," she finally answered.
"I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?" Samantha teased.
"No, no, of course not," she answered a little too hastily, sounding guilty even to her own ears.
"I was just wondering if your cowboy and his nephew might need a few clothes." Just then, Zachary emerged from the bedroom wearing his black pants, boots, white cotton shirt and vest, looking like he stepped out of an old western movie.
"I was just thinking about that this morning. They'll need more than the one outfit. Why don't you meet me at the hospital? We’d liked to check on Tyler first. While Zachary is visiting, we can pick up a few things."
"Sounds like a plan. Meet you there about ten?"
“Great.”
"See you then. Bye." Samantha hung up the phone and Gillian did the same.
"That was Samantha." Gillian turned to face Zachary.
"You can actually hear her voice on that machine?" He pointed toward the phone. His amazement shone on his face.
"Yes. You can call someone from all over the world and have them sound like they’re standing right next to you."
"Amazing." Zachary shook his head.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Tyler was awake when Zachary and Gillian arrived. He had already made friends with the little boy who was in the bed next to him.
As soon as Samantha arrived, Gillian quickly ushered her out, assuring Zachary she wouldn't be more than a couple of hours.
Tyler fell asleep after he ate lunch
, leaving
Zachary
with nothing to do. He
turned on the TV to pass the t
ime. He glanced
at the nurse when she came in to check on Tyler.
“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a soap opera follower.” The nurse looked at him and smiled.
“Soap opera?”
“What you’re watching.” She nodded toward the TV.
Zachary frowned. He’d been watching the program for twenty minutes. There’d been no singing, but he’d have to say there’d been plenty of tragedy like a good opera would have.
Jerry walked in a moment later to check on Tyler. He looked surprised to see Zachary sitting there by himself. They acknowledged each other with a quick handshake before Jerry concentrated on the chart he had in his hand. "Your nephew is doing fine. He c
an probably go home…uh…
leave the hospital tomorrow."
"Really? That soon after surgery?"
"It doesn't take long to recover. Tyler is young. He'll bounce back sooner than an adult."
They both were silent now as they eyed each other. Zachary couldn't help but wonder what Gillian had found so appealing about this man. She had at one time considered marrying him after all. She must have felt something for him. "This must all seem odd to you, Jerry. I appreciate the patience."
"Odd? You have no idea. Traveling in time is just the tip of the iceberg. You showed up married to the woman I had thought would be my wife."
"I believe Gillian told me you two broke it off," Zachary gently stated.
He nodded. "You're right on that point, but I still care about Gillian; I don't want to see her hurt. I've been thinking about your story of time travel. If Tyler will one day, be my a few times over great-grandfather, he will have to go back to his own time to be that won't he? Since, I'm still living and breathing, I can only assume Tyler’s going back is a certainty. But what about you, will you return also?"
“What’s your point?”
"What do you think Gillian will do?" Jerry put it out there, making Zachary flinch as the truth of the matter washed over him.
Yes, she was married to him, but it wasn’t a conventional marriage in any sense of the word, time travel excluded. "She’s spoken to you about this?" Zachary inquired.
"No, but why would she want to go back to 1870? She grew up with all the luxuries the twenty-first century has to offer. Besides why would you care if she stayed or not? You haven't known her very long, and you said it yourself that you were forced to marry her. This could be your way out. You could go back home and find another woman to marry."
"You think you have it all figured out, don't you?" Zachary had lowered his voice barely controlling his anger. "But let me be the first to inform you that you don't. I've come to care for Gillian deeply. I have never forced her to do anything she didn’t want to do, and I will not be starting now. If she decides to stay here when it's time for Tyler and me to go, I will respect her wishes. However, until that day, let's get one thing straight: I am Gillian's husband. We may not have the ideal marriage arrangement, but I take my vows very seriously." If this man wanted to hash this out, then he was more than willing. His hands involuntarily balled at his sides as he mentally prepared himself for the next onslaught of accusations.
"Good," Jerry answered surprising Zachary into silence.
Then it dawned on him what Jerry had been doing. “Was this a test?”
“I guess in a way it was. I couldn’t help but wonder if your marriage was the real deal. You said you were forced to marry, but you both seem relaxed with each other.”
Sometimes he would agree, but other times he wasn’t so sure. His brows drew together as he wondered what Jerry saw that he didn’t.
“She’s in love with you if you don’t know already.”
He had his attention. Gillian was in love with him? Oh, he knew she cared about him, but it didn’t mean she loved him.
“She does.” Jerry nodded. “Something she never was with me. I can admit the truth now. I just wondered if you returned the affection. I still care for Gillian and I want her to be happy. You gave me my answer.” Jerry nodded his head with approval and turned on his heels, but at the door, he stopped and glanced back. "I'll be by later to check on Tyler. If you need anything, let me know."
All right, he’d take him up on that. "There is something
.”
Jerry nodded. "Name it?"
"I find myself in your world without means to support my family." Zachary pulled out his pocket watch and handed it to Jerry. "I was wondering if you knew where I could sell this."
Jerry opened the pocket watch. “This is impeccable, unique and obviously something precious. I'm not sure what it will go for, but I do know someone who deals with antiques. May I keep it for now?"
"Please. The watch dates back before I was born. It was my grandfather Creighton's watch."
"I’ll see that you get a fair deal."
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The waitress, Milly, a woman in her seventies who had been with Polly’s since the day they opened t
he restaurant’s
doors, served Gillian and Samantha a cup of freshly brewed coffee and their favorite pies.
Samantha waited until the waitress was out of hearing range before she spoke. "Do you really believe Zachary and Tyler will return to their time?" Samantha took a large bite of her coconut chocolate pie.
"There isn’t another choice. If Tyler doesn't go back, Jerry will never exist."
"Maybe Tyler is the only one who will go back. There's no reason why Zachary has to go." Samantha took a sip of her coffee. She decided to add a little more flavored cream to the mixture.
"Sure there is. Tyler lost both of his parents. He needs Zachary. Zachary would never let him go back alone."
"I understand Tyler needs someone, but you told me there was a grandmother.”
"Great-grandmother," Gillian corrected.
"Okay great-grandmother. What I'm trying to say is what about you and Zachary?"
Gillian couldn’t meet her friend’s eyes. Instead, she studied her peach pie, lightly poking at it with her fork. Gillian wanted Zachary to be with her always, but it looked like they weren’t meant to be. She sighed heavily. "What we want is not important," she voiced this mostly to convince herself and failed miserably.
"He's married to you." Samantha didn’t let the matter drop. She stared at Gillian as she ate her pie.
"Listen," Gillian met Samantha’s questioning gaze, “there's something I haven't told you." She was trying to decide the best way to spill the beans about her unique marriage arrangement. Since she couldn’t think of a delicate way of putting it, she just blurted it out. "Zachary and I aren’t sleeping together."
Samantha put down her fork and stared open mouth at Gillian. "No sex? Is that what you’re saying?" Leave it to Samantha to be so blunt.
"Well, of course not now," Gillian said defensively.
“But you have slept together?”
“Twice, but we shouldn’t have. We both have come to terms with it. We made an arrangement. I'm Tyler's tutor."
Samantha leaned forward. “Gillian, I love you, but you are the craziest red-head I know. What kind of logic is that? You’re married to the man for God’s sake. So don’t go throwing some moral mumble jumble at me. Sleep with the man.”
“Samantha, stop.”
“No, you stop. Unless there is some other reason the two of you aren’t ravishing each other—” She stopped in mid-sentence.
Gillian knew her face had flushed red. Damn her skin for giving her away.
“Oh please, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What?” Gillian bit her lower lip, knowing Samantha had figured it out.
“The dream. It’s the friggin’ dream, isn’t it?” She threw up her hands in disgust. “Get over it already. Honey, Zachary Creighton
is
a dream. So hold onto him before you regret it.”
“I belong here. He belongs—”
“Who cares? Enjoy the time you have with each other. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?”
Gillian
pursed
her lips together. Sure, it sounded simple, but there was always consequences to actions, no matter how good the intentions.
"You must be joking," Zachary exclaimed. "I'm not wearing this." He came out of the bedroom wearing the new shorts and T-shirt Gillian had bought for him. "This cannot be proper attire for a gentleman."
"You look great. Really," Gillian said between good-humored chortles. He snorted and was about to go back into the bedroom and change, when she grabbed his arm to stop him. He turned and looked at her. "You look fine,” she insisted. “I assure you, men … gentlemen of your age wear shorts similar to those."
Zachary chuckled. "You mean to tell me you have more than a few over a hundred-fifty year old men running around?”
"Cute. Real cute." Gillian let go of his arm and went back to the bag by the couch. "I have one more item to go with that outfit. I had to guess the size." Gillian pulled out a shoebox. "Once you put these on, you'll never want to wear anything else."
Zachary took the box from her, removing the lid. "You want me to put on these?” He looked skeptically at her. "I think I'll stick with my boots."
"No you won't. You can't wear boots with shorts."
After some convincing, he finally relented and tried on the tennis shoes. They were a perfect fit. He stood and walked in them. He wiggled his toes. Then he turned and looked at Gillian with his lopsided grin. "Okay, you were right. They feel great. No wonder you wanted to wear your Nikes all the time.
***
Jerry released Tyler from the hospital and he could barely sit still as they drove home. He bubbled over with excitement as he took in all the sights.
There wasn't a moment that went by that he didn't say, "Will you look at that, Uncle Zachary? Did you see that? What is that?" Gillian saw her world in a new perspective.
For the next week, Zachary, Tyler and Gillian lived together in the apartment almost as if they were a real family. Except for one difference: Zachary and Tyler shared a room
.
Gillian wanted to rectify the roommate situation
and soon
.
Exactly, seven days after Tyler's surgery, he had an appointment at Jerry's office for quick check-up. Jerry gave the boy a clean bill of health. To celebrate, Gillian suggested they all go to the beach and have a cook out. Jerry liked the idea and he told them that he would give Samantha a call with the directions. They would meet between lifeguard stand five and seven. Jerry volunteered to bring the hot dogs, buns and condiments. Gillian and Zachary would bring the chips, drinks, and of course, marshmallows.