Timebound(35)

Dad shook his head adamantly. “That’s not possible. I’m married… only for the past ten years, but… Who is your mother?”

“Deborah,” I answered. “Deborah Pierce.”

“No.” Again, he shook his head. “I never dated anyone by that name. I’m sorry, but your mother was mistaken.”

“Oh, no, it’s not like that,” I said emphatically. “I’m… I already know you…” I did the only thing I could think of—I pulled the CHRONOS key from inside my shirt. “Have you seen this before? What color is it?”

Dad looked at me now as though I were stark-raving mad, and possibly dangerous. He glanced at Trey, although it wasn’t clear whether he was looking for a possible ally or sizing him up as a threat. “No, I haven’t… and it’s sort of pink.” He glanced again at the medallion. “It’s an unusual object—I’d remember if I had seen it.”

I reached into the plastic holder and showed him my school ID—Prudence Katherine Pierce-Keller. Then I pulled out Mom’s picture. “This… this was my mom.” He clearly noticed the past tense, because his eyes softened.

Dad looked down at the photo for several moments before raising his eyes to meet mine again. His tone was gentle when he replied. “I’m very sorry for your loss… Kate? Is that it?” He glanced over at Trey. “And who is this?”

Trey turned toward him and put out his hand. “Trey Coleman, sir. I’m a friend of Kate’s—I drove her here from DC.”

Dad leaned forward and shook Trey’s hand. “Hello, Trey. I’m sorry you came so far to be disappointed. If you had called, I could have saved you the…” He trailed off as the youngest of the two boys came running over and propped his foot up on the bench of the table.

“Daddy, fix my shoe, please. The sticky part came loose again…”

He reattached the frayed Velcro on the tiny shoe and pulled up the sock. “You need new sneakers, don’t you, Robbie?”

“Mm-hmm.” Robbie nodded, looking shyly at the two people talking to his father. His eyes were the same deep green as my own. I could tell from Dad’s expression, as he glanced at me and then back at the boy, that he had also noticed the similarity.

My father ran his hand through his son’s light brown curls and I drew in a sharp breath. The gesture was so familiar, but the hand was always on my head, the smile was always for me. “Go play with your brother, okay?” he said. “Your mom will be home soon and we’ll have pizza.”

“Yum!” Robbie cried as he ran off. “Pizza!”

When Dad turned back toward me, I pushed Mom’s picture forward. “This is the only photo I have of my mother.” I pulled my hand away, hoping fervently that my grandmother had at least a few pictures of Mom. The photograph vanished, just as Dad’s picture had earlier, in the café. I felt Trey’s body tense up and wished I’d had the forethought to tell him to look away.

Dad was staring at the spot where the picture had been, a stunned expression on his face. I reached out and took his hand. “I’m sorry. I know this is hard, but I need to make you understand.”

I spent the next several minutes telling him everything that had happened to me over the past few days. I told him about living with him in the cottage at Briar Hill, adding little details about his life and personality that I hoped hadn’t changed with a new marriage and a new family. I told him everything Katherine had said about his real parents and the accident, about my grandparents, and I explained Katherine’s theory on what was happening with the temporal shifts. Dad didn’t speak until I finished.

Finally, he met my eyes, his expression sad and distant. “I’m sorry… but I don’t know what you expect me to say or do. I can’t explain how you know the things you know. And I can’t deny what I just saw here. And seeing your eyes—it’s like looking in the mirror.”

“You believe me?” My voice was unsteady.

“I guess. I don’t really know, to tell you the truth.” His voice shifted, becoming a bit angry. “But either way, this timeline you’ve told me about… that’s not my world, Kate. You are a lovely young lady and I do not want to hurt you. In whatever reality you know, you could well be the center of my universe.” He stopped and nodded toward the kids, who were now chasing after something in the grass. “But those two little boys, and their mother, who will be home any minute now with pizza and groceries—they are my life. I can only assume that, in your world, John and Robbie do not exist and Emily—well, who knows if I ever meet Emily?”