Avalanche Creek Read online

  Duster opened his mouth to say something, then closed it as a look of puzzlement came over his face.

  Dixie knew that Duster suddenly not only remembered her, but realized that Bonnie, in just over two minutes, could not have brought Dixie to the past.

  Bonnie laughed, but said nothing, just letting Duster figure it out for himself.

  Duster waited as the waiter brought him a cup of coffee as well, then leaned forward. “I think a few words on what the hell is happening might be helpful.”

  Dixie and Brice both just eased back slightly from the table. Dixie figured it was time for the grown-ups to talk.

  Now Bonnie really laughed. Then she smiled at Duster and said, “Thank you for the nice greeting kiss, but the woman you meant that for I understand is back doing dishes in the mine in your timeline. I promise to not tell my husband, who also claims he would do the dishes in my timeline while we were gone.”

  Duster looked at Dixie and she smiled. Then he looked at Brice who only shrugged.

  Then Duster said simply, “Oh, shit.”

  “That’s it,” Brice said. “I now officially have a complex.”

  Dixie and Bonnie both laughed. Dixie so wanted to go kiss Brice, but remembering what year she was in, she just sat there and smiled at him.

  “This is all a good thing,” Bonnie said, smiling at Duster, who looked flat-out confused. “Not only together have they mathematically solved our lodge problem while we were off traveling this last month, but they also explained mathematically how all this could happen. The equation alone fills pages of their journals.”

  Duster just nodded.

  “And they came up with a few other nifty things,” Bonnie said, “we might want to play with when we go back and can crunch some numbers on a major computer or two.”

  Duster just shook his head and sat back, obviously trying to clear his head and think.

  Dixie remembered that feeling after she had realized who Brice actually was.

  Finally Duster looked at Brice. “I assume you two are a couple, right?”

  He indicated Dixie with a nod.

  Dixie smiled at the man she had fallen in love with over the last month as he smiled at her.

  “We are,” Brice said, turning to face Duster. “As much as two people can be in love who are not from the same timelines.”

  “They hope to solve that problem when we all return,” Bonnie said.

  Duster nodded and looked at Bonnie, then at Dixie. She could see a slight smile forming on his face.

  Duster turned to Brice. “I take you into the past and leave you for a month and what happens? You change a few billion timelines.”

  “For the better I hope,” Brice said, smiling back at his boss.

  “Sure looks that way,” Duster said, laughing.

  Then he turned to Bonnie. “I suppose this means we’re hiring another assistant in a massive number of timelines?”

  Bonnie nodded. “Think of it more as us being mentors for a short time. I have a hunch these two together are going to leave us in the dust mathematically.”

  “That good, huh?” Duster said.

  Bonnie nodded. “That good. Wait until you see the equations these two came up with here in 1901 in journals.”

  Dixie smiled and could feel herself blushing.

  And across the table from her, Brice was smiling and blushing as well.

  Now he and Dixie just had to figure out a way to make sure they were a couple in 2016.

  And to do that, they had to meet again.

  And fall in love again.

  Twice.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  October 6th, 1901

  Brice’s Timeline

  “EVERYONE READY?” DUSTER asked from beside the brown mare he was going to be riding. The sun hadn’t come up yet and the morning was cool and damp. They were outside the stable behind the hotel and Dixie was already mounted. Brice mounted up and then turned to wait for Duster to pay the bill with the stable and tip the man who took care of the horses.

  They had decided to not take much of the clothing they had bought, just a few of the suits and each woman had a few of the dresses, all packed in saddlebags they could carry.

  Around Brice the trees along a few of the wide side streets were already turning fall colors or orange and gold and browns. He looked up at the four corner towers of the red brick and stone Idanha Hotel and knew, without a doubt, he was going to miss the place.

  He had really fallen in love for the first time in this hotel. That made the hotel a very special place that would always remain special in his mind for as long as he lived.

  When he got back to the present, he would have to go downtown and see how they did with the renovation.

  “It’s actually getting cold out here,” Bonnie said.

  “It is,” Dixie said.

  Brice didn’t mind. After being so warm for the last two months, being able to bundle up and be slightly chilled felt almost good. And he knew he was going back into early July heat in 2016. So being chilled for a little bit felt right.

  Duster mounted up and indicated they should start down the nearly empty street headed west.

  Brice looked over at Dixie who was looking up at the hotel as he had done.

  “We’ll be back,” he said.

  “I know,” she said, smiling at him. “I might be with a different Brice and you with a different Dixie, but we’ll be back.”

  “It’s still us,” Brice said. “That’s the key to remember. We are the same in every timeline.”

  She nodded and said nothing.

  She looked as worried as he was feeling.

  Taking a break every hour, they rode easily for the first day, not pushing.

  Brice was surprised that the saddle and riding wasn’t bothering him as much this time. He mentioned that to Bonnie on one break and Bonnie had said it was because they were riding flat and that Brice had had two days of riding on the way here to get the muscles toned some.

  Mostly, when the road allowed, he rode beside Dixie, but they didn’t talk much. They both just wanted to be close to each other as long as they could.

  That night Duster pitched three tents, one for him, one for Bonnie, and one for Brice and Dixie.

  They just slept together, not making love, but just holding each other.

  And that was all Brice needed. It was going to have to last him, he knew, for some time to come.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  October 7th, 1901

  Dixie’s Timeline

  THEY HAD REACHED Silver City just before dusk and checked into the Silver City Hotel, even though they had no plans on staying in the rooms.

  Silver City was still a going concern and Dixie could hear the music echoing from the saloons. The hotel was a two-story wooden structure that looked worn and tired and dusty.

  Compared to the wonderful suite in the Idanha Hotel in Boise, this room felt more like a closet. It had a small bed in a metal frame, a scarred-up dresser with a bowl and pitcher of water, and peeling wallpaper. It smelled like mold. Clearly a place that had seen much, much better days and Dixie was very glad she wasn’t spending the night in the room.

  They all had their saddlebags and the money and their clothes. They all had gone to their rooms to rest and wash down a little from the grime from the ride.

  Duster sold the horses to the ranch just a mile below the town and mentioned he might be back at some point to buy them back, for a profit of course.

  Dixie was surprised that the air in the high mountain mining town had a sharp, cold bite to it and smelled of wood campfires and fireplaces.

  As the sun set, the looming peaks around the city seemed to close in.

  Duster had warned her and Brice that they would be climbing after dark back up to the mine, to make sure they weren’t followed. So they needed to dress warm.

  In her room, Dixie washed her face and arms, then put on another layer of clothing over her riding clothes and took out a pair of ridin
g gloves she had bought in Boise but never used.

  Then she stretched out on the bed fully dressed, trying to let herself rest.

  There was a very good chance in just a few hours she was never going to see the Brice she loved again.

  And there was a good chance the Brice in her timeline would want nothing to do with her.

  Even though she knew the math of all of this, her heart was confused beyond belief. She didn’t want to lose Brice, but to really have a life with Brice, she had to take this chance.

  She knew he was taking the same exact chance in his timeline. And she knew he was as scared as she was. He wasn’t trying to hide it, which she admired.

  Thirty minutes later when the knock came at the door, she took a deep breath, stood and grabbed her saddlebag. It was time.

  It was Bonnie at the door. “Leave nothing.”

  Dixie nodded and looked back to make sure she hadn’t left something. Then she pulled the door closed behind her and followed Bonnie down the narrow hallway toward the exit at the end of the building.

  They went down a staircase on the end wall and to a back street behind the hotel, then turned to the north up a dark, rough dirt street between a number of buildings that looked like they were boarded up.

  More than likely those buildings were owned by people who left for the winter.

  They saw no one along the way at all.

  Duster had been right in a comment about Silver City in 1901. This town really was dying. Especially right before the first snowfall of the winter. It had the feeling of a town ready to drop into hibernation.

  At the edge of town they waited in dark shadows near one boarded-up building and a few minutes later Duster and Brice strode up the dark street toward them.

  Both of them were wearing their long oilcloth coats and cowboy hats. To Dixie, Brice was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

  “This way,” Duster said as he got close to them, his voice hushed.

  Dixie took Brice’s hand and followed Duster up the street while Bonnie followed behind them.

  When the trail got too narrow, Brice dropped back and Dixie moved up right behind Duster, following in his footsteps, watching her every step in the dark on the trail.

  Just about one hour later, Dixie was winded, but standing beside Brice on the flat top of the mine tailings. She was both freezing and sweating from the climb at the same time.

  Below them the few remaining lights of Silver City sparkled in the cold night air.

  Duster and Bonnie both checked around the mine and inside the shack to make sure no one was close, then Duster used his key to open the big rock beside the mine entrance.

  They all four crowded in and the rock slid closed and a moment later Dixie stepped into the mine as the lights came up.

  Part of her had almost wanted to believe over the last two wonderful months that this place had all been a dream. But now it was very, very real again.

  They all headed to the big room and right on through to the big crystal cavern.

  Dixie had her saddlebag on her shoulder and almost dropped it at the fantastic sight of the crystal room.

  “Do you ever get tired of seeing this place?” Brice asked Bonnie and Duster as he stopped beside Dixie.

  “Never,” Bonnie said.

  “I’ll never get tired of it,” Dixie said.

  She looked at the man she loved. “Do you have your journal?”

  He quickly dug into his saddlebag and held it up for her to see.

  “Do you?” he asked, stuffing his journal back into the saddlebag.

  She pulled her journal out and held it up for him to see.

  He nodded. “We’ll make this work.”

  “I know,” Dixie said.

  Then she pulled his head down to her height and kissed him as hard as she could kiss him.

  He kissed her back.

  Finally they broke and she said, “I love you, Brice Lincoln. Make the me in your timeline love you as well.”

  “I love you as well,” he said to her, smiling. “But I have a hunch that making you do anything you don’t want to do might not be a good idea.”

  “Then make it my idea to love you,” she said, laughing.

  Damn she was going to miss this man. More than she wanted to think about right now.

  With that they kissed once more and moved over to where Bonnie and Duster stood near the machine.

  Brice put his hand on the machine and looked at Dixie.

  Dixie put her hand on the machine beside his and looked into his eyes.

  She loved this man more than she could imagine, yet she was leaving him.

  She was leaving him for a chance to be with him again.

  A moment later Bonnie and Duster touched the wooden box as well and then Duster unhooked the wire.

  And Duster and Brice vanished.

  She had been looking in Brice’s wonderful green eyes and he had just disappeared, as if he had never been.

  Dixie stepped back from the wooden box and watched as Bonnie carefully undid the wires and then carefully marked the crystal on the wall.

  Dixie needed to know that crystal. She needed to make sure that one world, that one timeline inside that one crystal did not get lost because that might be the only one where she would know Brice was for certain.

  It was in that timeline they had made plans to meet again if their plans in 2016 failed.

  The Brice she loved wasn’t in that crystal anymore either. But it was her gateway to him.

  How could he be gone?

  What had she done?

  Bonnie finished marking the crystal and moved over toward Dixie.

  “Are you all right?” Bonnie asked, her voice soft.

  Dixie didn’t dare speak. She just shook her head.

  Bonnie put her arm around Dixie and turned her gently toward the door.

  Dixie had promised herself she wouldn’t cry.

  She failed that promise.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  July 8th, 2016

  Brice’s Timeline

  BRICE WATCHED CAREFULLY as Duster marked the crystal on the wall where he had spent those two wonderful months with Dixie. He needed that carefully marked and Duster did exactly that.

  Duster then indicated that Brice should follow him out of the crystal room and back to the kitchen.

  But instead Brice just stood there, remembering how he had been looking into the large brown eyes of Dixie and she had just vanished.

  The woman he loved was living in one of the crystals around him, and he knew he was in one as well.

  He knew the math of how they had met in that one timeline, and more than likely an almost infinite number of other timelines as well, but knowing she was in those crystals in that cave made him not want to leave it.

  “She lives in this timeline as well,” Duster said, coming back in to stand with Brice. “As well as all of those.”

  “I know,” Brice said.

  “Now,” Duster said, “as time tends to do, we move forward and find her.”

  Brice nodded.

  “But first,” Duster said, “we have to try to explain all this to Bonnie.”

  “Yeah, that’s going to be interesting,” Brice said.

  Duster just laughed at that.

  They went out and dropped their saddlebags on the big empty table near the racks of clothing and Brice grabbed his journal and followed Duster toward the big kitchen area in the back of the cavern.

  “Didn’t quite get the dishes done,” Bonnie said, smiling as they joined her, not sitting down.

  Brice was having a very hard time realizing that for Bonnie, this Bonnie, only just over two minutes had gone by.

  “You two want some dinner?” Bonnie asked.

  Brice suddenly realized that he was hungry. They hadn’t bothered to eat in Silver City while there.

  “We would love some,” Duster said. “That damn climb never seems to get any easier.”

  “So what did you think of yo
ur first extended time in the past,” Bonnie asked Brice, moving toward the fridge.

  “Interesting,” Brice said.

  Duster broke out laughing like Brice had told the world’s funniest joke.

  Bonnie frowned and looked puzzled.

  “We’re taking showers first,” Duster said, managing to stop laughing, “and changing back into our modern clothes. Then we’ll explain it all.”

  Brice nodded. “Very interesting. Very long story.”

  “You were only gone two months,” Bonnie said, frowning. “Right?”

  “Yup, just two months,” Duster said, chuckling. “Just as we planned.”

  He walked over to Bonnie and kissed her and then said, “Showers, we need showers.”

  He turned and headed toward the bathrooms in the back of the big cavern. “You get the women’s shower,” Duster said to Brice, indicating that Brice should follow. “They use funny soap.”

  Twenty minutes later Brice felt almost human again. The first shower in over two months was something to treasure.

  He got back into his tee shirt and jeans and running shoes and looked at himself in the mirror.

  He now looked nothing like the man in the suit and vest and cowboy hat of 1901.

  He went out and sat at the big kitchen table, putting his journal on the table in front of him. The place smelled wonderful of sizzling steaks on a grill.

  Bonnie gave him a glass of iced tea and some apple slices to hold him until the steaks she was cooking finished up. Then she went back to mixing a salad.

  A minute later Duster came out looking clean and refreshed as well.

  She gave him a glass of iced tea as well and Brice slid the apple slices toward him.

  “All right, you two,” she said. “What exactly happened?”

  Duster just shook his head and looked at the slice of apple he had taken.

  “I met a woman on my fifth day in the hotel after Duster left,” Brice said.

  Bonnie smiled. “Wonderful. Was she beautiful?”

  “Very beautiful,” Brice said, smiling and nodding. “I was working on some math in my journal about what would happen if I spent time with her in the past for a few different timelines.”