Promise Me (25 page)

Roxanne gave me her sternest gaze. “Girl, did someone beat you with a stupid stick? How much more trustworthy could he be? He could have taken all that money and never looked back. But he didn't.
He gave it all to you.
” She held up the check. “You got two million dollars' worth of trustworthy right here. What more proof could anyone ask for?”

I thought over her words. “You think I made a mistake?”

“A mistake? No. Fighting a land war in Asia is a mistake.
What you did was epic stupidity. Tossing out the best man you've ever known. Criminee, the best man I've ever known. You should be worshiping the water he walks on.”

I exhaled. “I'm such an idiot.”

“This time I'm not disagreeing, girl. You go find him and beg him to take you back.”

“What if he's gone?”

“Then I'd search every inch of pavement in this city until I found him.”

I took a deep breath. “It's okay if I leave?”

“I'll fire you if you don't.”

I kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Rox.”

“Yeah, you better thank me.” I heard her grumbling after me. “God must love fools 'cause he sure made a lot of them.”

Clearly, there is more to heaven and Utah than is dreamt of in my philosophy.

Beth Cardall's Diary

Matthew's car wasn't at his apartment, so I drove around the area looking for him. Around six o'clock I was driving back to his place to check again when I noticed his BMW, or at least one like it, parked at a sports bar just down the street from his apartment. I parked next to it and looked inside the car. I recognized his coat.

I walked inside the building and spotted him sitting alone in the corner sipping a drink. I took a deep breath, then walked up to him. “Hi.”

He looked up at me but didn't smile. “
Ciao
.”

“I've been looking everywhere for you.”

“You said you never wanted to see me again.”

“Yeah, I did, didn't I. May I join you?” He looked at me sadly, then gestured to the chair across from him. I pulled off my coat and sat down. “I'm very sorry.”

“So two million dollars can buy remorse?”

His words stung. “It's not the money. I mean, it was. I was afraid I'd lost it all, but I was also afraid . . .” I hesitated. “That you didn't really love me.”

“How could you doubt me?”

“After Marc, can you blame me for doubting?”

He took another drink, then looked at me. “No, I guess not. But you were right, the best thing would be for me to just go away and never come back.”

I stared at him, my eyes welling up in tears. “No, that wouldn't be best. Please, give me another chance. I know I screwed up. But I'll make it up to you. I promise.”

“It's not that, Beth.”

I looked at him, confused. “Then what is it?”

He stared at his drink for a moment then said, “You don't really know who I am.”

“It doesn't matter to me who you are. What I know of you is enough. I don't even care if your name isn't Matthew. I don't care about your past. All I want is your future.”

“My name
is
Matthew,” he said softly. “But that's the thing—my past
does
matter and my future is spoken for. In a way, they're the same thing.”

“What do you mean?”

He looked down for a long time. “You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”

“Believe what?” I touched his hand. “Matthew, I'll believe you. Trust me.”

“You really want to know who I am?”

“I do.”

He groaned. “I'm a mistake, Beth. I'm a big, freaking cosmic mistake.” He rubbed his face. “I was never supposed to fall in love with you.”

“How can falling in love be a mistake?”

“Trust me, it can.” He rubbed his chin. His voice lowered. “You have no idea what's really happening here. The best
thing I could do for everyone is walk away and never come back. Especially for Charlotte.”

“Charlotte loves you.”

“Exactly.” He looked me in the eyes. “Beth, there are forces at work here you couldn't possibly understand.”

My brow furrowed. “What kind of forces?”

“I honestly don't know.” He looked at me for a long time, then I saw his demeanor relax in resignation. “All right, you want to know? Here you go. I told you that I don't gamble. I don't. I knew about the boxing match because I watched it.”

“A lot of people watched it.”

“I watched it
eighteen years ago
.”

“What?”

“Beth, this isn't my time. I'm supposed to be ten years old, not twenty-seven.” He stared into my eyes then said flatly, “I came here from the future.”

“The future?”

“Two thousand eight, to be exact.”

For a moment I just stared at him, wondering what had gotten into him. “Why are you saying this?”

He shook his head. “I told you you wouldn't believe me.” He lifted a glass and took a drink, his eyes never leaving me. “I'm not lying. How else would I know about the boxing match?”

“It could have been a lucky guess.”

“It could have been,” he said nodding, “but not likely. How did I know that Charlotte had celiac disease even though I had never seen her and all the doctors who examined her couldn't diagnose her?”

“I don't know.”

“How did I know that your real name is Bethany—Bethany Ann Curtis, or that you like sunflowers instead of roses or what you eat at your favorite restaurant?”

I just stared at him. I had no idea.

“How about this—you were born in Magna, Utah, and your father, Charles Donald Curtis, a volunteer fireman, left you when you were six. Your mother, Donna, is buried in Elysian Gardens and every Memorial Day you go to her grave and lay a lavender plant.”

“How are you doing this?”

“I'm not making this up, Beth. I'm not even good at this. I kept slipping up, like in the car when I said how much I like your granola when you'd never made it before. Or when you asked me what year I had graduated, what was I going to say? In nine more years? I told Jan that I had heard a lot about her even though you had never mentioned her. Do you want to know her future? I know her as Jan Klaus, a married women. She gets a big tattoo on her arm, marries a veterinarian and moves to Portland, where she has a boy named Ethan. She calls Charlotte almost every month.”

Just then the waitress came to our table. “Do you need anything else?”

“No, thank you,” Matthew said. He handed her a bill. “Keep the change.”

When she was gone, he continued. “I hadn't heard of the Bee Gees, not because I was in Italy, but because I hadn't been born yet. That song I was singing to you in the canyon, ‘Truly Madly Deeply,' hasn't been written yet. There is no
Savage Garden group. That's why I smiled when you said you were going to look for it.

“I can tell you every U.S. president for the next twenty years. I can tell you most of the Oscar best-picture winners, every Super Bowl winner. Every World Series winner. I can even tell you almost every
American Idol
winner.”

“What's
American Idol
?”

“It's a TV show. And in twelve years you're going to be a big fan. The point is, I know the future because I've been there. I can tell you about world events. A year from now a war will start in Kuwait.”

“Kuwait?”

“It's a little country in the Middle East with a lot of oil. Later this year they'll be invaded by Iraq and next year the U.S. will go to war to liberate them. Operation Desert Shield. Of course the biggest news is that the Soviet Union falls apart.”

“That's impossible.”

“Yeah, well so is Mike Tyson getting knocked out by a forty-two-to-one underdog. If history teaches us anything, it's that anything is possible and the unlikely is likely. The changes I told you about have already begun.”

I looked down, struggling to process all he was saying.

“I know about your husband, Marc, and that you never told Charlotte that he cheated. I also know that he gave you a pearl necklace that you won't wear. I'm guessing that's because it was a sin offering.”

“How did you know that?”

“Because Charlotte knows it's in your closet drawer and
has always wondered why you wouldn't wear it. I know that on the eve of Charlotte's birthdays you come in at night after you think she's sleeping and tell her how lucky you are that she came into your life and then you say goodbye to your baby girl.”

“Stop it,” I said.

“When Charlotte gets married, you give her the rose-gold locket that your mother gave you.”

I yelled, “Stop it!” I began to cry. “How are you doing this?”

He grabbed my arm. “I told you. I'm from your future. I can tell you things you don't want to know. The dry cleaner burns down in six years. One of the workers, Bill or Phil, or whatever his name is, dies of a heart attack. Roxanne's husband has a stroke.”

“Ray?”

He stared at me. “You don't want to know what I know. I've already told you too much.”

I felt like I'd fallen down the rabbit hole. I lay my head in my hands. After a few moments I looked back up. “If you're from the future, why are you so interested in me? Why not save the world.”

“Because it's not mine to save. The world has its own destiny. I wasn't sent here to change the world. Only yours.”

“Someone sent you?”

“I don't know, some
one
, some
thing
. Who knows? Maybe it's some cosmic committee. I'm here because I made Charlotte a promise.”

“You know Charlotte as an adult?”

He hesitated, his eyes carefully reading mine. “This is going to be hard for you.”

“What?”

He took a deep breath. “Beth, Charlotte is my wife.”

I stared at him. “What?”

He raked his hand back through his hair. “I made her a promise that I would take care of you.”

“But you told me your wife died.”

His expression turned grave. “I've told you too much.”

“What happens to Charlotte?”

“Don't ask, Beth.”

“Tell me.”

After a moment he threw up his hands. “Nothing happens to Charlotte. Okay? Just forget all this. None of this is true. I'm just a lunatic you'll never have to see again.”

“What happens to Charlotte?”

“Nothing.”

I grabbed him. “I need to know.”

“Some things are better not to know. You said so yourself.”

“I was wrong.”

He groaned and balanced his head on one hand, covering his eyes. A minute later he looked up. “She gets intestinal lymphoma from her celiac.”

My eyes welled up. “I don't believe you. I don't know how you're doing this, but I don't believe you.”

“Good,” he almost shouted. “Don't.”

When I could speak, I said, “You're my son-in-law?”

He didn't answer. “Supposing that what you've told me is true, how did you get here?”