Paradigm (Travelers Series Book 3) Page 5

  Maggie’s hearty laughter lets me know no offense was taken. “Well, the offer still stands whenever you find the time. I’m sure spending time with an old coot like me isn’t as fun as that boyfriend of yours.”

  “Oh, no! I’d love to learn how to cook. I promise, next chance I get, I’ll stop by. Mondays and Wednesdays, right?” She’s so nice, it’s hard saying no to her. Besides, maybe keeping myself occupied might be what I need to get my mind off things.

  “Seven P.M. sharp,” she says as she begins to make her way out of the coffee shop. She’s still eyeing me as she stops abruptly, her smile turning into a frown. “What’s that?”

  I realize I’m toying with the locket Cooper gave me again. I must have subconsciously pulled it out from beneath my shirt. Damn! Why am I still wearing it? Seems like everywhere I turn, someone has to ask about it. While I still didn’t really believe that it belonged to my mother, there’s a part of me that longs to be connected to something. Even if it is an old locket that may not have any real sentimental value. “What? This? A friend gave it to me.”

  Maggie takes a step closer and tugs on the locket. “I know this piece. Where exactly did you say you got it?”

  “My friend.” I don’t want to get into the details of the exchange over the locket and how it came to be in my possession, so I lie. “He found it at a pawn shop and thought I might like it. It was a birthday gift.”

  Maggie looks into my eyes, unsure of what she sees in mine, and looks back at the locket. Maggie carefully opens up the locket, mindful that it’s still around my neck, and gasps. “That’s my sister-in-law,” she says, not quite believing what she’s seeing. “What pawn shop did your friend get this?”

  At this point I don’t know what to tell her. The realization hits me. Maggie. When Cooper mentioned her name I didn’t make the connection. That’s why I was initially thrown when I saw her. I knew the name was familiar, but I didn’t put two and two together until now. And why would I? I only spent a couple hours in Maggie’s cooking class. But there’s no doubt about it. This woman is my aunt. That is, if what Cooper said is true. How in the hell do I tell her what I know?

  She must have seen the look of shock register on my face and think I’m pulling a fast one over on her. The poor woman must think I’m a big, fat liar. I am, but not the way she must be thinking. Cooper was telling the truth all along about the locket, about everything.

  “I can explain,” I start to say in a rush.

  Perhaps I’m not giving her enough credit. Instead of making a scene by calling me a liar and demanding the necklace back, she makes her way over to one of the tables and pulls out a chair for me. “Sit. You can explain it to me now. I’ve got nothing planned and I’m all ears. You can start from the beginning and tell me where you got that locket.” Only she doesn’t sound upset as she says this—she sounds intrigued.

  A deep sigh escapes me as I don’t want to lie to her. There’s nothing denying she’s my aunt and just knowing that makes me want to tell her everything. As it is, all I want to do is wrap my arms around her, but I restrain myself for fear of freaking her out even more. For once in my life, I have a family and this woman is a part of it—even if she doesn’t know it yet.

  “Go on,” she urges, noting my apprehension. “I don’t bite.” She tries to smile to show me she isn’t mad at me, but I know she must be confused about the whole situation. I’m pretty nervous myself. God, where do I begin!

  I start by taking a seat next to her. Better to just start with telling the truth. It’s not like I can lie my way out of this one. Not now, now that she’s seen the locket. “My friend Cooper gave this to me the other day. He told me that it was my mother’s locket.” I tug on the tarnished gold necklace and turn it over in my hand so she can see. “Etta and Isabel, 1993,” I read the inscription aloud. “He told me that this was me,” I point to the child in the photo. “That’s the year I was born. I didn’t believe him when he gave it to me. Guess the joke’s on me.”

  “Etta,” she repeats back slowly, as if recalling a fond memory. “I had a niece named Etta. She died when she was only five years old in a plane accident with her parents. It’s an unusual name, but I didn’t really think anything of it when I met you the other night in class.”

  She then roots into her purse and pulls out her wallet. “This was before the age of camera phones,” she says almost apologetically as she pulls a picture from the weathered wallet. It was one of those family photos people used to take at department stores. The family in the photo were all smiles, and I recognized the woman in the photo. Her hair was styled differently, but there’s no question she was the same woman pictured in my locket. The little girl has aged a few years, and I know that face as well as my own. It’s mine.

  “That’s my brother and his family,” she finally says.

  “Cooper told me I had an Aunt Maggie,” I whisper, still not believing these turn of events. I’d pinch myself, but I know it’s true. The evidence is right in my hand. She’s sitting right in front of me and I certainly feel connected to her, just like I did a couple nights ago back at her kitchen studio. “I just didn’t know he meant you.”

  Maggie sits there, letting everything I’ve just told her sink in. “I guess we both missed the clues, didn’t we?”

  Wait, does this mean she believes me?

  “Yeah, I guess so.” What now? Do I go on and tell her about the alternate universe story? I still don’t quite believe it myself, so how can I expect Maggie to? It’s one thing to be reunited to an aunt you didn’t know existed, but skewed timelines and multiple worlds is something you have to really wrap your mind around.

  I already know the truth, but I ask anyway. “So you really are my aunt?”

  I hold my breath, waiting for her to dismiss my ridiculous story. Without knowing the alternate reality part, the bigger question is, why would she believe me? Does she somehow think that I didn’t die in that crash when I was little? Now I’ve gone and made things worse. How do I tell her that the niece she remembers really did die in that plane crash and I’m from a different reality? That is, if I’m to believe that story myself.

  Maggie stares at me for a moment. “Honey, I believe I am.” She doesn’t waste any time and literally scoots herself out of her chair and embraces me in the kind of bear hug I wanted to give her myself a few moments ago. I can smell the sweet fragrant perfume, not flowery at all, that clings to her like a field of sugar cane. “I don’t know how you were lost to me, but by God, you’re here now and I’m not letting you go.”

  I squeeze her right back, silently giving thanks that she accepts the news with open arms. She believes me! We’re either both delusional or everything I’ve been led to believe is in fact real. There’s no one to thank but Cooper on this one. If it weren’t for him, my aunt and I would have never connected. I owe him big time. Maybe that’s why he came back. If that’s the reason, I’m eternally grateful. Is it weird that I don’t care that she’s the aunt of the Etta from this reality? The little girl that died all those years ago? No, I decide. In the end, she’s still family.

  Maggie finally breaks her hold on me and looks me in the eye, “Honey, is this where you’re supposed to be?”

  I’m still stunned over being reunited with her that I’m confused for a second by her question. “Sure. I’m a few minutes late for work now, but no biggie.”

  She laughs. “No, I mean, is this the reality you’re supposed to be in?”

  “What?” She’s not saying what I think she’s saying, is she? How does she know? I guess I don’t have to break it to her that I’m not her niece from this reality after all.

  “Hon, I know my niece died in that crash all those years ago, but I also know you’re my niece, too. If you’re here, that only means you’re not from this reality. Isn’t that right?” She raises her eyebrows as if I’m supposed to know what’s going on.

  “So, Cooper was telling me the truth. I don’t belong in this world,” I say, dumbfounded. I
n my mind, I know he told me the truth, as I’m sitting here with my aunt, but actually saying it out loud cements my fate.

  “I’d say, you’re friend is correct. Tell me dear, when he presented you with that locket, did he mention anything to you about how you came to this reality?”

  I slump back down in my seat. “How do you even know this?” Maggie doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman who believes in multiple universes. She cooks and bakes pies for crying out loud!

  She rejoins me at the table. “There’s so much you don’t know. And the only reason I do is because of your father.”

  My father.

  All roads lead directly to him.

  Chapter Eight

  Back to the Past

  Thornberry Reality 2017

  “Do you know where Chase went?” Etta asks his twin Chance.

  Chance didn’t take his eyes off the chart he was working on. “I believe he went with Jenny on some kind of trip.”

  “Do you know where?” Etta couldn’t imagine what would be more important than to leave during a time as critical as this. Then again, they were talking about Jenny. But Chase was supposed to be the responsible one. She only hoped he was keeping her in line. Once Jenny got an idea to do something, there was no hope of changing her mind.

  He shrugged. “I have no idea. Perhaps someone else knows where they went off to,” he offered. Which in Chance code meant: leave me alone and go bother someone else.

  “No, that’s okay. I just hope they get back soon. It’s pretty irresponsible of them to take off, just as things are starting to get worse around here.” She could expect this kind of behavior from Jenny, but not Chase. He and his twin were the only reliable ones of the group. But if Etta knew Jenny, and she did, she knew Jenny was no doubt responsible for their absence at the most inappropriate of times. “And speaking of taking off, are you ready to go back and meet with the past me?”

  Chance looked nervous. “To be quite honest, I don’t think my going to visit you in the past will help matters.”

  Etta was taken aback for a moment. They’d spent the last couple of days coming up with a plan to ensure Etta’s arrival in this future reality, including this assignment in particular, and they were all in agreement that Chance would be one of the ones that would go back to the past to help her. If he didn’t think he was up to it, he should have said something sooner.

  “Why? We all decided this was the best course of action given the circumstances,” she argued. “Besides, I’m standing right next to you. I remember coming to this world two years ago. It works.”

  “Yes, but the probability of this working is not in our favor. Something could disrupt the timeline again, only this time, I’ll be here working and you won’t be right beside me. Any time we meddle with the past, we run the risk of changing the future. ”

  “And you know this how?” Etta wondered why she even bothers arguing with Chance. It was useless talking to him about his abilities, or rather probabilities. It was his specialty.

  “I see the past, Etta. Granted, my ability to see into the past is not one hundred percent accurate, but I’ve already been foretold of the outcome. This plan fails.”

  In the time that Etta had known Chance, she knew he was usually right. It wasn’t often that he was wrong about predicting the past. But this was different. Chance was making predictions about the future, one that he knew he can’t predict.

  “Impossible. Besides, isn’t that Chase’s ability? We’re talking about how this will affect the future, not the past.” Everyone on their team had special abilities. The twins were sort of a yin and yang combo. Chance could see into the past and Chase could see the future. Too bad Chase wasn’t here to counter his brother’s grim outlook.

  “Correction, it’s improbable. And no, we’re trying to set the past straight in order to cement our future, and I’m telling you, I’ve seen the past and our plan fails.”

  Undeterred, Etta tried to convince Chance, as well as herself. “I’m not entirely convinced. Don’t get me wrong, I completely trust your abilities and they certainly have merit. You’ve rarely steered us wrong, but I’m here. In this future. Which tells me that whatever we end up doing works.”

  He nods in agreement. “Realities, as well as futures, are simply snapshots into the different paths available to us, this is correct. There is only one true future, only we don’t know which is the correct one, until you reach it. Perhaps if I took you to a particular point in time… take you to a moment that is bound to get your attention.”

  It was worth a shot, she thought to herself. Even though her reality, not to mention destiny itself, veered off course, they were still aware of the different patterns throughout the multiverse. “Now you’re talking.”

  Chapter Nine

  While You Weren’t Sleeping

  Present Reality

  After much hugging and a few shed tears, Maggie and I decide that talking about alternate realities and how I ended up here isn’t an appropriate conversation to have at Battle Grounds, so we decide to continue our talk back at her place. So we make arrangements to continue our talk after I get off work. She promised to pick me up at the office and now here we are.

  The short drive from the office to her house is silent. It seems like neither of us wanted to waste time over idle chit-chat when there are more pressing matters to discuss once we got to her place. I recognize the neighborhood as she maneuvers the car onto one of the streets that boasts some of the largest homes in the town.

  I have to say, I’m immediately drawn to the old colonial as she drives up to the gated property. To say that I’m in total awe is an understatement. As I follow her up the path to the house and through the front door, I find the interior is even more impressive than the outside of the house. I totally feel like I’m out of my element, but at the same time comfortable, being here with Maggie.

  “How do you know all this?” I babble on as I continue to follow her through the house, still not believing that my aunt seems to understand what Cooper’s been trying to get me to believe. None of this makes sense, but I want to know, now more than ever, just exactly what’s going on.

  We settle into the kitchen, where Maggie appears instantly at home—duh, it is her house. If I thought the house was impressive, the kitchen is to die for. It looks like what those shows on HGTV would call a “chef’s kitchen.” It has everything a professional chef could possibly want. It even has one of those pasta faucets directly over the stove. It’s no wonder Maggie has a great set-up, she is a cooking instructor after all.

  I seat myself on the massive wood table and watch Maggie dance around the kitchen. Seriously. Watching her move around the room, opening cabinets, closing drawers, reminds me of a slow but professional ballet in progress. After a few moments, she finally places a carafe of coffee on the kitchen table, right next to a batch of freshly baked scones, and begins to explain what she knows of my predicament. Clearly, she certainly doesn’t waste any time and continues where we left off back at the coffee shop.

  She begins by answering my question. “My brother, your father, was a renowned physicist. Now, I’m not a scientist by any means, but I paid attention to his work. After my husband Robert died, my brother graciously allowed me to live here with his family. As a result, I was constantly surrounded by his work and while your father never talked about what he did, I knew enough to know what he was up to.” Her eyes drop down. “When you… ” She stops to look at me. “Excuse me, when the version of you and her parents died in the crash, I just kept on living here. It was my job to go over the boxes of paperwork your father had kept over the years. I can’t say that my curiosity didn’t get the better of me.”

  My father. The one who died with the alternate version of me in this reality along with my mother. It’s hard to keep it all straight. I know the man that died in this reality isn’t really my father, but still.

  “What does any of this have to do with me? Now, here, in this world I’m not supposed to be
in? Did his stuff mention any of that?”

  “I don’t know, dear, but like you said, you’re here now and that’s all that matters to me. To be honest, I stopped reading what he had in those boxes of his after a couple of weeks of trying to figure out what it all meant. I couldn’t bear to surround myself with his work after a while.”

  Those boxes must contain something about why I’m here in this reality. I’m not totally surprised that Maggie didn’t root through most of his belongings. It must be hard losing your family so suddenly, like the plane crash that killed Etta and her parents in this reality.

  “Well, one thing’s for sure, I’m some freak from another reality and I’ve been stuck in this place thinking I was an orphan.” The thought of this not only sinks in, but angers me. “How did I get here?” My statement isn’t aimed at Maggie directly, but the question still lingers in the air like bad company that refuses to leave.

  Maggie gets up from her seat and hugs me for what feels like the hundredth time today. This one’s a hugger, I realize. So not like me, but I like it. If she never stops doing this, I could get used to it.

  “I’m so sorry this has happened to you, but I’m sure we can figure it out,” Maggie says, finally letting go.

  The knock on the door makes us both jump up from our seats.

  “Are you expecting company?” I brace the arms of the chair, causing my knuckles to turn white. I don’t know why I’m so jumpy, but it is kind of suspect having someone at the door during a conversation like this.

  Maggie shakes her head. “It’s probably just someone trying to sell me something. We get a lot of those around here. Let me go check.”

  I hear muffled voiced coming from the foyer and after few minutes pass, I can detect two sets of footsteps as she walks back into the kitchen with Cooper in tow.