Page 4 of Christmas Past
A suit for him and a pair of wool trousers, along with shirts and ties, shoes and underthings. It looked as if Devynn wanted to make sure they had enough for a stay of a few days, although their plan was only to be there Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day, and then come straight back to the twenty-first century. Still, after the way she’d been stranded in 1926 for weeks and the two of them in 1884 Flagstaff for just as long, he supposed it was wise to have some contingencies set in place.
Just in case.
And Devynn had decided it would be good to leave on the solstice, mainly because she thought the extra energy of the day might be just what they needed to land in the correct place and time. Because that decision had only delayed their departure by a day, Seth wasn’t too worried about it…even as he wondered if there was any true merit to the scheme, or whether she was just hoping the shift from dark to light would help them with their journey back to 1926.
She’d told everyone they were going down to Scottsdale for the weekend so she could get some spa treatments, and no one had even blinked at the story. Possibly, all brides went to get massages and facials and whatever else went on in those sorts of places, because all anyone said was that they hoped the two of them would have a good time.
Night fell on the evening of the solstice, and Seth and Devynn got into the antique clothing she’d been able to locate online. The suit and shoes and everything else fit him better than he’d expected, but when he asked her about it, she only smiled.
“I already had all your measurements because of getting you fitted for your wedding suit,” she explained when they met in the living room, the remainder of their vintage wardrobe stowed in a large leather suitcase, also an antique. “So it was easy enough to plug those in when I was looking for stuff online. But I’m glad it all fits so well — not everyone selling online is an expert at measuring stuff, so it can still be something of a crap shoot.”
Seth brushed his hand against the lapel of his jacket. “Well, it sure looks like you keep rolling sevens.”
She smiled. He still wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but somehow she’d managed to curl her long brown hair — which usually hung to mid-back — and arrange it with careful pins so it made a good approximation of the bobbed hairstyles that had been popular in his day. Not with everyone, of course…his mother had worn hers in a bun, because she would have rather walked down Main Street in her underthings than cut off her hair…but still, a lot of his cousins had shorn their long locks.
With her hair styled this way, and wearing a pretty dark green dress she’d found online, Devynn should fit right in.
They put on their overcoats and hats, also vintage finds, and Seth bent down to pick up the suitcase. Because they were only bringing clothing for a few days, it hadn’t been necessary to pack more than one.
“Ready?” Devynn asked.
Was he? Even now, it seemed mildly insane that he’d agreed to such a venture. Although he wanted his parents to know the truth and not go to their graves worrying about him, he also knew he and Devynn were taking an enormous risk, no matter how much she wanted to protest that all her practicing had practically guaranteed the safety of such a trip.
What if they got trapped in the past forever? At least they would be together, but she would be leaving all her friends and family behind. Some might have argued he’d done that very thing, and yet he knew the situation was different. They’d discussed the matter in depth, and he’d concluded that he would rather travel into the future than have her remain in the past. It had been a conscious decision.
If something went wrong now, she wouldn’t be able to make that kind of choice.
But her big, blue-gray eyes were shining, and her lovely mouth with its coating of dark red lipstick had turned up at the corners. She certainly didn’t seem to be harboring any doubts, or if she were, she was doing a very good job of hiding them.
If he backed out now, he would look like a coward.
His hands took her gloved ones, slender but strong under the kidskin.
“I’m ready,” he said.
They’d agreed to jump to the abandoned mine shaft at around four-thirty in the afternoon. Seth knew the crews ended their day at four at this time of year, since dark came so early. Devynn had agreed that it sounded like a good idea, since the last thing either of them wanted was for anyone to observe their arrival. True, the mine shaft had been an exploratory one, something that had been pretty much ignored after the surveyors discovered it didn’t possess any significant veins of copper or silver, but they still couldn’t take the chance of being spotted as they appeared out of nowhere.
Especially since the shaft had also been used by the local bootlegging crew, although Seth had to hope they’d moved their operations elsewhere after the local ringleader, Lionel Allenby, had met his fate at the bottom of a nearby cliff. Everyone thought it had been an accidental death, but the bootleggers themselves most likely had a different opinion as to what had really happened.
Sudden, violent death was just part of the deal.
The air was cold when they appeared in the shaft, colder than the day they’d left behind them in the twenty-first century. Devynn pulled her fur-collared coat more closely around her as she studied their surroundings.
“Well, we’re in the right place,” she announced, since that much was obvious. “I suppose now the real trick is figuring out if we’re in the right time.”
“Easy enough,” Seth said. “Or at least, something we’ll find out soon enough if we start walking.”
She nodded, and they made their way out of the shaft and along the rough path that led down to the highway. Not for the first time, he found himself wishing that his talent was just a little stronger so he could teleport himself and Devynn to their destination rather than having to trudge along the roadside. But although he could go wherever he wished — and carry roughly forty or fifty pounds while doing so — a full-grown woman was just a bit more than his magical translocation gift allowed.
A car was coming up behind them, and they paused. For some reason, Seth found himself tensing, even though he knew there was no real reason to be worried. The highway was the main route between the Verde Valley and Prescott, the town that had once been Arizona’s capital, and people came and went this way all the time.
Of course, if the person in the vehicle was a McAllister, then he and Devynn might have to launch into explanations much earlier than they’d planned.
The car came to a stop. It was a shiny black Ford, several years newer than the Dodge convertible he’d loved so much and had been forced to leave behind in 1926. Still, he recognized the vehicle as a 1925 model, which told him they must have landed fairly close to their target.
And then the passenger-side window rolled down — slowly, and with a fit here and a start there, so different from the smooth, electronically controlled windows of the era he now called home — and a woman peered out. She seemed to be around thirty, pretty, with hair marcelled into pale waves and lipstick nearly the same dark brick shade as Devynn’s coating her lips.
She was also an utter stranger, and Seth couldn’t help being relieved.
