Chapter 47
Trish took Quinn's arm as he escorted her from the livery toward the saloon. If only she could convince him to come with her.
"Then you'll be leavin' soon." Quinn slowed their pace to let the cowboys on horseback cross the bridge without the hindrance of foot traffic.
"Well, yes, tomorrow in fact. I was hoping you would go with me."
"Ya ain't told me where yar goin'."
She leaned into him. "I'm going home and I'd like you to come with me."
"I ain't never gonna leave this valley." He stopped and turned his attention to the eastern ridge. "Albert and I were the first settlers in this valley. Didn't take long to fall in love with that ridge and the way the black rock juts out so sharply along there. That whole side will turn blue and purple in just a minute. It's right pretty when the moon rises between those two crags. Never liked the big black faces overlookin' Root Hog, but up here is just fine. I owe it to Albert to stay. Someone needs to watch after Lucinda."
"I thought you didn't read the Bible or take after its teachings."
"I don't mostly, but Albert was my brother. What was his is mine, the land, the livery, and Lucinda. The good and the bad. Now that Ace and his threat are behind us, I'm thinking the future is mostly good."
Trish dropped her gaze from the crags on the east to the rushing water below them. "This valley will stand firm for generations to come, that's for sure. It will be safe for the honest man. The river will prove its life-blood."
She swallowed her tears before they surfaced, feeling their sting. She couldn't change any more of the past than she already had. No doubt Old Curly would have died somewhere in the canyons without her help. And Albert? She couldn't be completely sure, but she had once had a school mate so many years ago with the surname of Jackson. The boy's family had moved, but she couldn't change that.
Here in this valley, tucked high on the Snake River Basin, Quinn would remain safe. Safe to live out his quiet life, to watch over the land he loved and care for his brother's wife. The winters would be hard, but spring would come, sometimes late and sometimes early. The gold rush would pass through with its occasional stagecoach robberies. Silver would be discovered without the main vein ever being found up the valley. Farmers would find the secrets of the fertile soil and search for more water to satisfy the thirsty earth, and they would drill wells to find the secrets beneath the valley floor.
Life would go on. Was it this knowledge that had driven Grammy to travel through time? Had she found an era that suited her better than the one she had been born to? Grammy had left her love. She'd never told all of that story.
Trish swallowed her questions, the sting remaining in her throat.
"Quinn, this river is where we need to part. I don't want to have to find another place to say goodbye. This river, this bridge, this sunset at our backs, it’s perfect. Since you won't come with me, humor me?"
He took her in his arms. "You won't stay? What have you got at home that you ran away from to come here, but have to return to?"
"You wouldn't understand." Her chest burned with anguish.
"Try me."
Trish stared into the distance, watching the shadow of the westerly mountains flee up the peaks to the east. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she made her decision. A decision contrary to the one she thought she had already made.
"I'm from the future, Quinn. A future the Jackson family protects this valley for. The Jacksons were here when I was a kid. Maybe they will return one day. That is why I had to come here. I didn't know that when we first met, but when I went home and learned that one Jackson hung for his brother's murder, I had to come back. I had to make sure you didn't die. Teach your children to love the land. Teach them to care for it. Don't ever let them sell this land straddling the river. The river will keep them safe, if they care for the land. It won't matter whether they are farmers or cattlemen. Educate the girls as well as the boys. Send them to the university. Encourage them to be good husbands to their wives, their animals and their crops. These things will keep them strong."
Quinn's gut bucked and yet he refused to let it rule his response. If she hadn't disappeared a week ago without a trace, he would think she was talking nonsense. She'd gone with her horse and not by stage. Meeker had assured Quinn that no female had stopped at the stage stop hoping for a ride when he'd delivered the mare. No one had seen her for the whole week. He'd checked in Root Hog, with acquaintances in the outlying ranches and even at Moore's Saloon. Then she as unexpectedly returned. "Don't leave me."
She shook her head in answer.
He entwined his fingers in her hair, bringing her nullifying response to a halt. Backing her against the bridges sturdy railing, he pressed a kiss to her lips. When she responded, he deepened the kiss.
Tempting quivers titillated her core. The river sang beneath their feet. Night birds called from the trees and still he kissed her. The warmth of his body shielded her from the breeze that seemed to carry the scent of the high canyons, sweet, clean, and honest. The sun set in the west, its rays shooting beyond the mountain ridges reach. He broke the kiss.
"I love you. Stay with me."
Trish sniffled, placing her finger at his lips to shush him. "It is because I love you that I cannot stay. You belong here." She shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I don't. I wish I did. I wish I could stay, but Grammy…” Her mind raced to the woman at the courthouse steps… Trish gasped, feeling the air knocked out of her. It couldn't have been, but she knew the talisman's abilities. It was totally possible that Grammy had shared her stories because she had witnessed this trial. The possible paradox wrapped tenacious fingers around Trish's soul. The talisman had brought Grammy here to witness and maybe even right the wrong of an innocent man paying for the guilty man's crime and when Grammy failed, it had brought Trish here. Trish shuddered. "Grammy told me it is time to go home… and rest. I must go home."
He kissed a tear from her cheek. How could she do this to him again? "But you said tomorrow."
"And tomorrow it will be."
"Then come home with me tonight."
He kissed her temple, sending delicious shudders down her back. "I can't, Quinn."
"Yar married." It wasn't a question.
"No, not even involved with anyone. I just can't take the chance of carrying our child into the future. Please understand. A stretched existence such as mine is torture when you have to say goodbye."
“Then you ain’t comin’ back this time?”
Would she? Could she stay away? If she came back and found him married, what then? At the very least, her heart would break. Leaving without him the first time had been difficult. This time it felt nearly impossible. Next time? No, there couldn't be a next time.
"No,Quinn, I won't be coming back."
Sniffling, she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "But I'll never forget you." She pulled herself free of his embrace and ran for the outer steps of the saloon. She didn't dare look back, afraid seeing him watching her would shatter her resolve.
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