Chapter 1
Bree hugged her mother’s diary to her chest and sighed. “I wish you were here, Mom,” she whispered.
She didn’t know why she kept the diary with her, or slept with it under her pillow, never reading it. She had read it once, but that was years ago and then it had only made her cry, so she just kept it near. It made her feel that her mother was close to her.
Letting out a puff of air, Bree pushed her frizzy red hair out of her face, slid off the bed, and placed the small, green diary into the bottom drawer of the chest beside the window. It held journals, paperwork and other things belonging to her parents Bree hung on to as keepsakes. Pushing it closed was like shutting her old life away, but she couldn’t live in the past any longer—she had to look to her future. She shook her head and made her way to the basement.
Every day, it seemed to get harder and harder to descend the stairs. If she was going to fulfill her promise to her mother to find her father, who knew what might have changed through the years? People were barbarous in the seventh century. Sure, the kingdom of Pradwick was at peace whenher father lived there twenty-one years ago, but wars broke out often in those times. What if she landed in the middle of a war and what if Pradwick was overcome and now there was a different king or queen sitting on Pradwick’s throne?
Her chest tightened.
Would she even be able to find her father? And if she did, what would he be like?
Images of her father playing with her on the back lawn of her grandmother’s house filled her mind. Pushing her on the rope swing he’d made and hung off the giant Elm tree, chasing her and when he caught her, he’d throw her up in the air and catch her again. She smiled. She loved that game the best. He was not barbarous. He was a loving father who made her laugh.
She huffed again. But that was then, and at just six years of age, she had not only lost her mother, but her father as well.
She was lucky though because when one family left her, another had filled the void. Her grandmother and her aunt Di and uncle Mark made sure she knew she was loved and a part of their family.
Bree jumped the last step and landed softly on the basement’s concrete floor. She moved to the bench and gazed at the loose photographs she had taken of her cousin’s wedding with Garrett’s camera.
Garrett and Laura smiled up at her from the top photograph, their captured moment in time. They were her new family now, and she didn’t want to be apart from them.
Although Garrett was her cousin and Laura her cousin-in-law, they were like brother and sister to Bree.
She couldn’t believe how well they all got on. Of course, the house was so big, they weren’t exactly under one another’s feet, but it was still so different from the solitary life she’d ledbefore. She’d thought she loved that life, but being there, seeing how much Garrett adored his wife and the excitement that practically emanated through the walls at the upcoming birth of their child, had Bree cherishing their company and friendship.
She flipped a red lock off her forehead. She wished she could have spent more time with all her cousins long before they embarked on their own adventures. But while she learned to live a technology-free life on her small, isolated plot in the woods, they all had their lives and careers spanning the world and she had to learn to live in the dark ages.
At least she had tried to make her life as close as possible to what it would have been like living in the father’s time period, but no matter what, it couldn’t be the same. She had always known modern amenities were close at hand. She even cheated every now and then and rode her bicycle into town for an espresso.
She bit her lower lip. She knew in her head that her and her cousins’ lives were already written. If she hadn’t been sure before, the pictures she had taken at Garrett’s wedding proved it to be true. Garrett had been beside himself when he finally exposed the film.
She pushed the photos around.
She paused at one where Garrett’s parents stood with him and Laura as they took their vows. In another, they clapped when the bride and groom kissed. In each picture, the love in his parents’ eyes shone as they’d watched each of their children.
Bree picked up one of the photographs and peered at her aunt’s image. As Bree had clicked the camera like a madwoman, Aunt Di looked directly into the camera, her smile encouraging and warm. Bree clicked her tongue at her aunt’s image. Her heart was still struggling to find a way tomake peace with the fact that her aunt and uncle had always known what was going to happen and when.
Glancing around the basement, she tightened her lips and tried to will her aunt and uncle into existence. Aunt Di and Uncle Mark had told her that her cousins’ lives would only improve when they time travelled, but they never really said anything about Bree’s life. Maybe her fate was to find her father, make peace with him, or at least come to terms with his abandonment, and return to the present. She could live with Garrett and Laura or better yet, she could buy that condo she’d been considering for a while now.
Maybe there wasn’t a great love in her story. At least, her aunt and uncle had never mentioned it. They had only ever talked about her finding her father. She snorted. That was fine by her. She didn’t want to live in the past, and she couldn’t envisage bringing anyone back from the Dark Ages to live in the here and now.
Anyway, she was so used to living on her own, she doubted that at the ripe age of twenty-seven, she could get used to sharing her life with anyone.
She shrugged. Dianne and Mark already knew about her promise to her mother. Bree guessed they had no need to deceive her like they did their children.
She smacked her lips together. That wasn’t fair. They didn’t really deceive them, not by choice anyway. They’d had every intention of telling their children the truth of their travels, but they died before they got the chance. At least that was what their four children believed. But Mark and Dianne hadn’t died. They were lost in the time vortex and couldn’t get back.
Bree rubbed her eyes. Sometimes all the time travel stuff really did her head in. Uncle Mark and Aunt Dianne probably could have gotten back to their children if they’d really wanted to. But instead, they chose to visit only Bree.Apparently, they could control the time vortex enough to get back to the present and tell Bree what to do and how to go about sending each of their four children to the past.
Mark and Dianne had orchestrated their children’s outcomes by leaving a letter, sort of like their last wishes, insisting they each travel to different time periods in the past. Of course, their kids had felt obliged to fulfill their parents’ final wishes, and, with a little help from Bree, they all had.
Bree was happy for all of them, Abby, Izzy, Max, and Garrett. Happy that they had found their lifelong loves in the past. Abby, Izzy, and Max had stayed in their loves’ time periods, but Garrett had brought the love of his life to the present.
Bree smiled. She was so glad he had; she was so glad she’d had a chance to get to know Laura.
Like all the days that had gone before, she took the orbs out of their boxes, placed them on the bench, and stood back, staring at them. They had become a symbol of her own malcontent. She knew she had to use them, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn the orb. Not today.
