Smith's Monthly #27 Page 13

  TWELVE

  August 4th, 2018

  Boise, Idaho

  SOPHIE JUST COULDN’T believe that she had just kissed Wade like that. She had never really been that forward before, but there was something about him that she just wanted to be closer to.

  She felt at certain points that she had known him for a very long time, and then at other points realized she really didn’t know anything about him yet, other than his passion for history.

  They spent a wonderful hour walking around the historical section of the Morris Hill Cemetery, hand-in-hand, talking about names and historical references from some of the major names they ran across.

  The giant oak trees and freshly-mowed grass kept the temperature almost comfortable, but she kept her hat on just in case. Burning her head and face was never a fun thing to have happen.

  She loved the feeling of his hand in hers, but she loved even more his sharp mind and passion for all things historical.

  At one point they stopped near some family graves and he talked about how the family buried there had been behind the construction of a number of mining towns in Nevada and Northern California. He was actually surprised they had ended up in Boise and made notes to himself to look up how they ended up here.

  From there, they headed to the State Historical Society down off of Capital Boulevard just to walk among the exhibits. The institute had a far larger reference library, but they both wanted to just see the exhibits of mining equipment and a mock-up of how a pioneer lived in a log cabin in the 1870s.

  She hadn’t taken the time to go there, even though a few at the institute had suggested that she should. She was pleasantly surprised, actually at the detail and the research done for each exhibit.

  To Sophie, seeing it displayed made it all real. And made the fact that her research was about real people and real lives and real emotions. That’s what they both wanted to write about. That way she could imagine better the reality of the people living in those mining towns.

  The fact that he wanted to see and experience the same thing for the same reason was another detail she really liked about Wade.

  On one exhibit of a mining town, a number of the pictures showed one of the same people in the picture they were looking at from earlier.

  “I see that guy all over old west photos,” Wade said, pointing to a man in a long oilcloth duster and matching cowboy hat. “You know who he was?”

  “Marshal Duster Kendal,” Sophie said. “I got a hunch someone could do a book about him, but no one has. Mostly when he is mentioned, it is either in a photo or as a marshal of a mining town. He seemed to do that a lot over a forty-year period.”

  Sophie also had noticed Marshal Kendal in a lot of pictures. Just never thought to investigate farther.

  As they were finishing up their walk-through of the exhibits, Wade asked, “Do you like to cook?”

  She laughed. “I guess I need to remind you one more time about my last name.”

  He just laughed at that.

  “I know, I know,” she said, “a horrid stereotype, but in my family we followed every one of those stereotypes to a letter like they were gospel. So yes, I love to cook. But most of the dishes my mother taught me to cook are not healthy, so I have managed to learn in college a bunch of new ones. How about you?”

  “Typical southern California,” he said. “We barbeque everything if we can. I was thinking I would get us a couple of steaks, some corn-on-the-cob and some salad-fixings and cook us a dinner.”

  “Wow, that sounds great,” she said. “A real summer-type meal.”

  She hadn’t had a good barbequed steak in a long time. Just the idea of it made her mouth water.

  “Of course,” Wade said, “I’ll have to buy a grill, but I have a hunch we can find a few in this town this time of the year.”

  “You think?” she said, laughing. “But I hate to tell you I already have one on the deck of my condo.”

  “You’re kidding?” he asked, clearly surprised. “They furnish that as well.”

  “Actually, they did,” Sophie said, laughing. “But I have never used it. So let’s get the steaks and corn and salad and cook at my place. What do you say?”

  “I’d love that,” he said.

  She had no doubt she would love it as well.

  PART THREE

  Closer and Closer

  THIRTEEN

  August 4th, 2018

  Boise, Idaho

  DUSTER KENDAL DROPPED the map off on a table in the massive preparation cavern under the Warm Springs institute buildings and went out into what they all called the Living Room.

  He knew that his wife Bonnie and Dawn Edwards would be there, since from this time he had only been gone the ten minutes it took him to prepare, the slightly over two minutes to live the nine years in the past, and the few minutes to walk back to the Living Room area of the cavern under the mansion.

  Bonnie and Dawn were both sitting at a long kitchen counter, talking. A fire was burning lightly in the huge stone fireplace that dominated the far wall, and no one was using the dozen couches and chair arrangements that filled the area between the fireplace and the kitchen with its long, granite-topped counter.

  The Living Room area just seemed to be the center hub of everything under the institute and for the going and coming of travelers to other dimensions. They had built it for that purpose, actually, back in 1880. Duster liked the area, felt comfortable here.

  Bonnie and Dawn both glanced up at him and Bonnie smiled.

  Bonnie was as stunning as ever, in her light summer blue blouse, long brown hair that was pulled back and tied, and jeans. She was about two inchers shorter than his six-foot height and she carried herself with a force. She had been his partner for more centuries than he wanted to imagine and he loved everything about her. Even with all the time they had lived in other timelines, both of them were in their mid-thirties in this time.

  “Any luck?” Dawn asked.

  She was shorter than Bonnie, but also had long brown hair like Bonnie. Dawn and her husband Madison had been the first two Bonnie and Duster had taken back into the past with them. The two of them were major historians and had written many books from their research trips into the past.

  Dawn and Madison loved the Monumental Lodge and always stayed and ran the lodge every time they went to a different timeline and built it in 1902. In fact, he had just said goodbye to Dawn and Madison when he left the lodge in the past.

  They usually had a number of children and raised them in the lodge, not vanishing from that timeline until the kids were up and out, and leaving their share of the lodge to their kids.

  But saying goodbye to Dawn in the other timeline and seeing her sitting here now sometimes felt odd. Jumping through time into varied timelines got complicated like that.

  Damn, he had missed Bonnie, her wonderful smile, her beautiful brown hair, and those eyes that kept him intrigued all the time. Even after thousands of years together, he couldn’t believe he was still madly in love with her.

  He knew that to her, he had only been gone twenty minutes or so. To him, he hadn’t seen her in years.

  He walked over and kissed her, then pointed to the showers. “It was a long ride from the lodge. I’ll take a shower and tell you all about what I found.”

  “Good plan,” Bonnie said, smiling and pretending to wave her hand at his smell.

  He laughed and turned away.

  “How many years?” she asked.

  “Nine,” he said without turning around.

  Again he heard her wonderful laugh.

  “Denver poker games that good?” she asked.

  “Wonderful,” he said, as he walked to the showers. “Just wonderful.”

  After his shower, Duster told them about his trip, mostly focusing on the Grapevine Valley and how absolutely nothing was there.

  Nothing.

  As he expected it would, that got both Dawn and Bonnie even more interested, especially since Bonnie had gone with him
to the condo at the Grapevine Springs Resort and they had really enjoyed it.

  And they had enjoyed learning about the history of the old town in the museum there, even though they had never visited it in the past.

  “I have some contacts at the Idaho Historical Society,” Dawn said after they had talked for a while. “I’ll get them and two of our researchers upstairs working on this and bring what I find to our meeting in a month or so at the lodge. We should be able to find out exactly where and when the information was planted. And maybe who did it.”

  Duster could only nod to that. He hated when someone made up history. Real history was wonderful enough on its own without people fabricating it just to make money off a ski resort.

  FOURTEEN

  August 4th, 2018

  Boise, Idaho

  WADE MANAGED TO not burn the steaks or overcook the corn while Sophie put together the salad. They both went with large glasses of iced water to drink.

  They decided to eat on her patio staring out over the lawn and the river and trees beyond.

  It was still slightly warm, but it was clear to Wade that the night was cooling off quickly. The shadows were growing longer, but there were still people floating past on the river, often laughing and talking which made everything in the air seem filled with a joy. He couldn’t remember feeling anything like that before in any of the places he had lived, let alone in LA.

  Nothing like a perfect summer night with a beautiful and very smart woman to make Wade’s evening as well.

  Over dinner they talked about their family history and their studies. And a couple times even waved at floaters as they went past. He’d only been in this city for two days now and was coming to like it more and more. He could see why Sophie said she flat loved it here.

  And it had a ski resort only nineteen miles away. He couldn’t even imagine that, even though they had gone most of the way up to the resort today. Skiing to him had always been a weekend-long adventure, sometimes including flying.

  Going from his condo and being on the slopes in less than forty minutes seemed impossible. He hoped to find out this winter just how impossible that was.

  Actually, everything about the institute and Boise seemed too good to be true, so part of him was waiting for the other shoe to drop. But until it did, he was going to enjoy everything.

  They took the plates and silverware and glasses back to the kitchen that looked exactly like the one in his condo, only Sophie had a lot more various appliances tucked around along the back of the counter. Some of them he wasn’t even sure what they were, but it was clear they were used.

  She put her dishes in the sink, took his plate and silverware and did the same thing, ran some water over them and then turned to him.

  “Thank you for the wonderful dinner,” she said.

  She moved to him, pulled his head down to her level and kissed him again, hard and passionate. She felt wonderful against him, her skin smooth and soft, yet her body firm and clearly in shape.

  After a moment she broke the kiss, smiling up at him.

  “Wow, that settles it,” he said as he managed to catch his breath. “I’m cooking all the time.”

  She laughed and kissed him again.

  Then still holding him while they stood in the kitchen, she looked into his eyes. “I am not normally this forward, Dr. Wade.”

  “Professor Silverman,” he said, smiling. “Do you hear me complaining in the slightest?”

  “Oh, good,” she said, smiling.

  She took him by the hand and led him from the kitchen. “Then I think I’ll just continue my new-found courage.”

  “Please,” he said.

  A moment later they were up the stairs and into her bedroom. She had a couple of large quilts on the bed that looked like they were family made and she quickly swept them off and onto the floor.

  Then she told him to sit on the bed.

  He did as she took off her clothes, not even pretending to do any sort of tease, just taking her clothes off as if she were getting ready to get into a shower.

  It was the most alluring thing he had ever watched.

  Ever.

  Her white skin was perfect, her body proportioned for her size so that nude and without comparison, there was no way of telling she was so short. She actually looked tall and thin.

  Her black pubic hair matched the black hair on her head and her breasts were perfect, with dark nipples.

  He wanted to watch her undress like that every night.

  After she was standing in front of him, totally nude, she smiled at him and said simply, “Your turn.”

  She sat on the edge of the bed as he stood.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you have an amazing body?” he said.

  “Actually, no,” she said, a slight red blush on her neck.

  “Well, you do,” he said. “Stunningly amazing and alluring.”

  The flush on her neck deepened a little and she motioned that he get started.

  “One of us here is way overdressed and it sure isn’t me.”

  He laughed and did exactly what she had done, simply undressed as if climbing into bed at night.

  She just stared at him, her dark eyes studying every movement he made until finally he was done and facing her, clearly aroused by what was happening.

  At that moment she came off the bed and into his arms, kissing him and pressing her wonderful naked body against him.

  He kissed her just as passionately and even though they were only a step from the bed, they barely made it back onto the bed.

  Barely.

  FIFTEEN

  August 5th, 2018

  Boise, Idaho

  THE NEXT MORNING they had a wonderful breakfast and then headed for the institute hand-in-hand like two high school kids. Sophie loved it, every minute of it.

  It was just before ten and the air still had a slight bite to it from the night, but it was clear it was going to be warm fairly shortly.

  Last night they had made love three different times since dinner, including one while they were getting a late-night snack in the kitchen around one and another time before breakfast. She should be feeling it, but all she really felt was a sense of completeness and lightness.

  She was a distance from being a virgin, but nothing before had been like last night. Not even close.

  The rest of the night between talking, they just slept and held each other. She could never remember feeling so right sleeping with another person. And Wade had said he felt the same thing.

  And both of them had promised they wouldn’t get afraid and slow this relationship down in any fashion for any stupid reason without fully talking with the other. She had no desire or intent of slowing down anything about this relationship with Wade.

  It was just after ten when they reached their offices in the institute library and a message was waiting for them, both of them, from Director Parks. He wanted a meeting with them at eleven if they could make it in the front room of the institute.

  So Sophie managed to get a little done and find a book she had been looking for before Wade knocked on her door and said it was time to go.

  His smiling face in her office door was something she wanted to see all the time and she got up from her desk and went over and kissed him. Then they headed, again hand-in-hand, for the main institute building the five blocks down the river path.

  No rafters or tubers were on the river yet this morning, but Sophie had a hunch they were putting in up river by this point. The sun had warmed things up enough that she was glad she had her floppy hat on and a bottle of water in her hand.

  They got into the institute main room just as Director Parks was coming down the ornate staircase from his office with a woman following him.

  The director was smiling and so was the woman behind him. She was a number of inches taller than Sophie and had dark brown hair she had pulled back. She wore jeans, a white blouse, and a light dress jacket over the blouse.

  Sophie thought she look
ed familiar, but couldn’t place her instantly.

  The director shook both of their hands, asking how Wade was getting settled in.

  “Loving the city and everything here,” he said. “I can’t thank you enough.”

  “We are honored to have you here,” Director Parks said.

  Then he turned and introduced the woman with him.

  “Professor Silverman, Dr. Wade, I would like you to meet Professor Dawn Edwards.”

  Sophie had her hand out and her mouth open before the name registered.

  This was the Dawn Edwards, the best historical writer Sophie had ever read and one of the main reasons Sophie had decided to go into this area of study.

  And from a conversation yesterday, she knew Wade felt the same exact way.

  “Wonderful meeting you both,” Professor Edwards said. “Just call me Dawn.”

  “Sophie,” Sophie managed to say.

  “Wade,” Wade said to Dawn. “I just go by Wade.”

  Sophie was impressed that Wade had managed a full sentence. She was just proud of herself for getting out her own name.

  As she and Wade took seats side-by-side on the couch and Director Parks took one large chair and Dawn took the other, Sophie managed to calm her heart a little and take a few deep breaths. Dawn seemed to have this easy-going way about her and didn’t look much older than Sophie was. But Dawn felt much, much older.

  “Thanks for meeting with us,” Dawn said.

  “I have been a fan of your books since your first Roosevelt book,” Sophie said.

  “As have I,” Wade said. “So this is an honor.”

  Dawn laughed and waved her hand to dismiss that. “We are all just historians here. And that’s why I need both of your help on a project if I might? But I don’t want to interfere with your own research too much.”

  Sophie damn near lost her breath on that one again. Dawn Edwards was asking for her help.