Wherever she went, to remote islands, to desert outposts, she would remember those early years of her life. And be grateful for them.
“That’s going to be a very lucky baby,” she murmured. Then she smiled as a thought struck her. “To think, after all these years, I might have a brother.”
He thought of his own, Jacob, with his flaring temper and his sharp, impatient mind. “I always wanted a sister.”
“There’s something to be said for them, too. But they always seem to be prettier than you are.”
He rolled her onto the grass. “I wish I could meet your Sunbeam. Ow.” He rubbed a hand over his side where she’d pinched him.
“Concentrate on me.”
“That’s all I seem to do.” He braced his arm beside her head as he studied her face. “I have to go back to the ship for a little while.”
She tried valiantly to keep the sorrow out of her eyes. It had been easy to pretend there was no ship, and no tomorrow. “I didn’t have a chance to ask you how it was going.”
Quickly, he thought. Too quickly. “I’ll know more when I check the computer. Can you make an excuse to your parents if I’m not back when they get up?”
“I’ll tell them you’re off meditating. My father will love it.”
“Okay. Then tonight...” He lowered his head for a gentle kiss. “I’ll concentrate on you.”
“Concentrating’s all you’ll do.” She linked her arms around his neck. “You’re sleeping on the couch.”
“I am.”
“Definitely.”
“In that case...” He slid down to her.
***
Later, during the night, when the fire was burning low and the house was quiet, Cal sat alone, fully dressed. He knew how to get back. At least he knew how he had gotten where and when he was and how to reverse the process.
With a few more repairs, basically unnecessary ones, he would be ready to go. Technically he would be ready. But emotionally... Nothing had ever torn him quite so neatly in two.
If she asked him to stay... God, he was afraid if she did, it would swing the balance of the tug-of-war he was waging. But she wouldn’t ask him to stay. He couldn’t ask her to go.
Perhaps when he made it back and offered the data to the world of science a new, less dangerous way would be created to conquer time. Perhaps he could come back.
Turning his head, he looked into the fire. More fantasies. Libby was facing the facts, and so would he.
He thought he heard her on the stairs. But when he looked it was William.
“Trouble sleeping?” he asked Cal.
“Some. You?”
“I always loved this place at night.” Because he loved his daughter, as well, he was determined to make an effort to be civil, if not exactly friendly. “The quiet, the dark.” He stooped to add another log to the fire. Sparks flew, then winked out. “I never pictured myself living anywhere else.”
“I never imagined living in a place like this or realized how hard it would be to leave.”
“A long way from Philadelphia.”
“A very long way.”
He recognized gloom when he heard it. William had courted it early in his youth, mistaking it for romance. Unbending a little, he dug out the brandy and two snifters. “Want a drink?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”