Indiana Belle (American Journey Book 3) (28 page)

"I'll be back in a moment, Mr. Coelho."

Cameron smiled.

"OK."

Cameron added clumsiness and stubbornness to his fiancée's list of virtues as he watched her walk carefully over the rug and disappear around a corner. He wondered if it was even possible for her to become more endearing and appealing in a single day.

Candice answered the question five minutes later when she reentered the room with a new cup, a new saucer, and new attire. Wearing Cameron's shirt – and
only
his shirt – she stepped gingerly over the rug and completed her mission without incident.

She placed the cup and the saucer on the seat of the bedside chair, stood up straight, and unbuttoned the shirt. Slowly, deliberately, and no doubt with the best of intentions, she showed a time traveler that she would be no ordinary spouse.

Candice removed the shirt, draped it on the back of the chair, and then stepped toward the man she had promised to marry. She sat on the edge of the bed and put her hand on his chest.

"I said I'd do better, didn't I?" Candice asked.

Cameron nodded.

"Yes, you did."

"Are you upset?"

"No," Cameron said. He sighed as he admired the face and the form of the most beautiful woman he had ever known. "I couldn't be happier."

"Then why are you looking at me funny?"

Cameron chuckled.

"I was just thinking of a question."

"What?" Candice asked.

"Shouldn't the wedding come before the honeymoon?"

She put both hands to his face and nodded.

"It should," Candice said. She smiled softly. "But you know me."

She leaned forward and gave Cameron a tender kiss.

"I'm always doing things out of order."

CHAPTER 50: CANDICE

Winnemucca, Nevada – Friday, June 19, 1925

"Are you saying you can make it work?" Candice asked.

Cameron nodded.

"I can make it work in
both
directions. If the key is as accurate as I think it is, then I can turn your father's cellar into a time portal that can take us to the past
and
the future."

Candice gazed out the train window and tried to make sense of it all. Time travel still seemed as alien to her as the arid scrubland and towering brown mountains in the distance.

"Are you sure about this?" Candice asked.

"I'm as sure as I can be," Cameron said. "I've examined the key, the letters, and your father's diary several times and concluded the same thing each time. I can get the cellar to send us to a specific day in the past or the future by arranging the ceiling crystals in a certain order."

"Why was my father unable to do this?"

"He didn't have the key. He didn't have crystals. He may not even have had the necessary formulas. All I know is that he was close to making his portal work when he died. Like your uncle and, I suspect, Professor Bell, he did not have what we have. He had to do everything the hard way. That's why it took him months to get as far as he did instead of weeks."

Candice looked away, this time to her right, and studied nearby passengers in the Southern Pacific coach. None of the men in pinstripe suits or ladies in pleated skirts appeared to show any interest in the fantastic conversation. All seemed oblivious to what one fellow passenger had done and what two
could
do in the not-so-distant future.

Candice pondered Cameron's words as the Pacific Coast Limited rolled through the desert. She still had far more questions than answers.

"Have you thought about the possibilities?" Candice asked.

"I've thought of nothing else since the hike," Cameron said.

Candice smiled.

"I know that's not true."

Cameron chuckled.

"No. I guess it's not."

Candice placed her hand on his as she mentally revisited their four glorious nights in the comfortable and entirely agreeable home of David and Elizabeth King. She had not had any difficulty convincing Cameron that all work and no play made a fiancé a dull boy.

"I hope I didn't scare you away this week," Candice said.

Cameron glanced at the other passengers, as if checking for eavesdroppers, and then returned to his seatmate. He caressed her hand and leaned toward her ear.

"You didn't scare me. You inspired me. You reminded me that I picked the right partner," Cameron said. "We're going to have many happy years together."

"I'm glad you feel that way," Candice said. "I've worried all morning that I crossed a line at the cabin. I still don't know you all that well."

Cameron lifted her hand and kissed it.

"You know me well enough, Miss Bell. That's all that matters."

"I suppose," Candice said.

Cameron looked at her with thoughtful eyes.

"Have you thought about
when
you want to get married?"

"I have," Candice said.

"Well?"

Candice smiled sheepishly.

"I think we should marry sooner rather than later – just in case. I don't want to burden Mother with more surprises than I have to."

Cameron chuckled.

"I agree. Sooner is better. How about this month?"

"This month is too soon," Candice said.

"It's not in my book."

"What's wrong with July? That would give me time to finish a few stories, organize a nice wedding, and deal with any sordid rumors swirling around Evansville."

Cameron frowned.

"Let me think about it."

"What's the matter?" Candice asked. "Did I say something wrong?"

Cameron shook his head.

"You didn't say anything wrong. You just reminded me of a matter I have put off, a matter I didn't want to bring up until we got back."

"This sounds serious."

Cameron took a breath.

"It is."

"What is it?" Candice asked. "Please tell me."

Cameron released her hand and looked away. He stared blankly at the front of the crowded coach for what seemed like an eternity before finally returning to his companion.

"There is something I haven't told you."

"I'm sure there are many things you haven't told me," Candice said.

"There are. But none are as important as this."

"What are you saying?"

Cameron reclaimed her hand.

"I'm saying that I did not come to Indiana just to gather information for a trip to California. I came to save you."

Candice sank into her seat.

"I'm afraid to ask what that means."

Cameron paused for a moment.

"When I started the research that led me to you, I did more than study your works, your career, and your legacy. I studied your life."

"My life?" Candice asked.

Cameron nodded.

"More to the point, I studied an incident that occurred on July 2, 1925, or at least the first time 1925 played out. It was an incident that has haunted me for months."

Candice took a breath.

"Does this 'incident' involve me?"

"Yes," Cameron said. "You're at the center of it."

"Tell me."

Cameron sighed, glanced again at other passengers, and then looked at Candice with the most solemn eyes she had ever seen. He tightened his hold on her shaking hand.

"You did not meet someone like me the first time you went through this life. You did not marry. You did not have children. You did not live to see your twenty-sixth birthday."

Candice put a hand to her mouth.

"You were murdered, sweetheart," Cameron said. "You were savagely beaten by a man you know well. If we don't do something to change history, you'll be dead in fourteen days."

CHAPTER 51: CAMERON

Evansville, Indiana – Wednesday, June 24, 1925

"July?" Marjorie asked. "July?"

"Yes, Mother … July," Candice said. "We want to be married on July 18."

Cameron smiled as he watched the Second Battle of the Bells play out in the dining room. He loved watching these women interact. They were the best entertainment in forty-eight states, or at least the best show in what was now his new family.

"You know I can't plan something that quickly," Marjorie said.

"You don't have to plan a thing," Candice said. "I'll take care of everything."

"I have to do
something
!"

"Then plan the reception. Enlist your friends. Ask the church ladies to bring the sandwiches and the temperance ladies to bring the liquor."

"I'll do no such thing," Marjorie said.

Candice sighed and smiled.

"All I want is your blessing."

"You have it," Marjorie said."

"Thank you."

Cameron laughed.

That was quick.

Lawrence, grinning, leaned across the table and extended a hand.

"Congratulations, Cameron. You've done in two weeks what mere mortals couldn't do in twenty-five years. You've made my sister a respectable woman."

Cameron smiled as he shook the hand.

"Thanks, Lawrence. I think."

"I'm happy for you," Lula said to Candice. "I'm happy for me too. I finally have someone to listen to my stories. Marriage gives women much to talk about."

"Lula!" Marjorie exclaimed.

"I'm just joking, Mom. I know marriage is bliss."

Cameron laughed again and gazed across the table at Candice. He could see from the grin on her face that she was enjoying the banter as much as anyone.

Visibly pacified and relieved, Marjorie settled into her chair, resumed eating her dinner of roast beef, boiled potatoes, and beets, and engaged in light conversations. She did so until it became apparent that she had not entirely satisfied her curiosity or dealt with her concerns.

"I have a question, Mr. Coelho," Marjorie said.

"Please ask," Cameron said.

"What do you plan to do after the wedding?"

"Do you mean in the short term or the long?"

"Both," Marjorie said.

"We're still working that out, Mrs. Bell. We discussed the matter on the train and decided that the first thing we want to do is take a very long trip."

"Where to?"

"We haven't decided," Cameron said. "New England is one possibility. Florida is another. I haven't been to Florida in a long time and would like to see it again."

Cameron gazed again at Candice. When he saw her wistful smile morph into an ear-to-ear grin, he knew that Palm Beach, Miami, and Key West had pulled ahead of Newport, Cape Cod, and Bar Harbor in the Honeymoon 500.

"That's nice," Marjorie said. "What will you do when you return?"

"I'll look for a job," Cameron said. "I'll knock on doors and see if any of your fine schools needs a history teacher. I'm sure I'll find something."

"Does that mean you'll stay in Evansville?"

Cameron nodded.

"We'll stay at least a year or two."

Candice opened her mouth in surprise, looked away for a moment, and then gazed at her fiancé with loving, tear-filled eyes. She left no doubt that she approved of his sudden and entirely unexpected decision to stick around and give Indiana – and the twenties – a try.

"You look surprised, dear," Marjorie said.

"I am, Mother," Candice said in a quivering voice. "I am."

Cameron gave his girl a supportive smile. He felt comfortable making a commitment because he knew he could fulfill it. He had the means to travel between centuries without breaking eggs or disrupting history. He had the means to buy himself some badly needed time.

What he didn't have was the solution to a problem. Somehow, someway, he had to protect the woman he loved from a vicious killer. He had to make sure that history, at least one person's history, did not repeat itself in a horrendous way.

Cameron and Candice had discussed the matter at length on the train. Both agreed she should stay clear of the paper in July. Both agreed she should stay clear of Tom Parker. They did
not
agree that she should quit her job and pursue a career as a full-time freelance writer.

That created an issue. Cameron did not know whether Candice's murder was the product of spontaneous rage or premeditated violence. If it was the former, then the danger might pass. If it was the latter, then the danger might never pass. Each day at the
Evansville Post
– indeed, in Evansville, Indiana – would be a game of Russian roulette.

Short of exiling Candice to Siberia, locking her in a cell, or putting her under armed guard, Cameron did not know how to keep her safe. All he knew eleven days before the most famous murder in Indiana history is that he could not remain idle.

He had to think clearly, remain vigilant, and use all the resources at his disposal. He had to act as if someone's life depended on him and only him, because, in all probability, it did.

CHAPTER 52: CANDICE

Thursday, June 25, 1925

Sitting in the biggest office of the city's biggest newspaper, Candice Bell, society editor and bronzed goddess, waited for the comment. She waited only thirty seconds.

"It looks like someone got some sun," Thad Grant said.

Candice frowned.

"I went hiking."

Thad chuckled.

"So it appears. You look good."

"I look like an Aztec princess," Candice said.

"There's nothing wrong with that. How was California?"

"It was quick," Candice said.

Thad smiled.

"I guess so. I didn't expect you back until next week."

"I didn't want to come back," Candice said. "I like big trees and mountains. I could have stayed there all summer. It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen."

"That's what my cousin thinks. He visited Lake Tahoe a few years ago," Thad said. "He plans to go back, for good, when he tires of prosecuting tax cheats."

Candice leaned forward in her chair.

"How did the others do in my absence?"

"They performed to perfection," Thad said. "I might even hire one of your volunteers. Penny has a knack for describing wedding gowns and flower girls."

"How did George do? Did he nail Leonard Heller to a wall?"