“I see, yes that matters too,” she admitted beginning to wander the room and showing a bit of life for the first time in days.
“It seems to me that everything was going along just fine,” Mead said thoughtfully. “I spoke to Witt the other morning and he was very well. Then something changed and we have to find out what it was!”
“I was doing research in my office,” she said. “I wanted to make sure I had the calculations perfect for you to go back. I even printed out some newspaper records to check the weather. Kansas is what we now call Tornado Alley. They frequently have what you refer to as Twisters. I certainly didn’t want to send you back during one of those events.”
“Have you studied the papers to see if there is anything else of note?” Mead asked thoughtfully.
“Not really,” she admitted. “I looked for what I needed and left the rest. I could see no need to read every little tidbit, some of which might not even be true. And…I was tired and looking forward to seeing Witt. My main concern was telling you that I wanted to delay your departure. I knew you wouldn’t take it well. You’re anxious to get home.”
“Why did you want to delay it?” he asked a bit harshly.
For the first time in days, Cara actually let a small grin tilt her lips.
“Witt’s birthday is coming up in two weeks. I hoped to persuade you to be part of it. Think what it would mean to be at the birthday celebration of your great-great-great-grandson. It’s positively historic! I was even going to make up a reason you would have to stay. Sorry,” she admitted with a grimace. “Now my delay may have cost us everything.”
“It’s all right, Cara,” Mead said standing up and moving to her side. Gently he put an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll figure this out. We have to.”
“Yes, we do,” she agreed, stiffening her spine. “I can’t believe what a wuss I am without Witt by my side. Honestly, it’s not like me at all. Morgan would not even know me. I was pretty tough back then,” she said with a sniff.
“You weren’t in love,” Mead pointed out kindly.
“No, I wasn’t,” she admitted, “but I am now. I’m irrevocably in love with my husband and I have to fix this. I simply refuse to live without him.”
“Even though he can sometimes be a brute and spank you?” Mead teased.
Cara blushed.
“Quite possibly because he can be a brute and spank me,” she admitted. “I need him. I need his guidance, his love and affection, and sometimes his correction. I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
“Good for you,” Mead praised. “It’s kind of nice to hear a woman acknowledging her needs, her softer, more feminine side. And I’m sure wherever Witt is, he needs you too. He needs us to find a way to bring him back to us. Let’s get moving and see if we can find any indication of what the hell is going on in Kansas!”
They worked together,long into the night, subsisting on coffee and snacks. Cara set Mead up with a laptop, gave him a crash course in using it and showed him how to google. After that he was intently reading every old newspaper he could discover, even if the dates weren’t correct. There was a gap in time. Cara knew it and so did he. How else could she have married Witt and had several years with him; Morgan had only been with them for a few months. There was a slice out of place, and she didn’t know if her experiments had caused it, or it had always been there, undiscovered. Either way, one day she would discover it’s source.
Because of this anomaly they had to broaden their window, searching for a needle in a haystack. The mishap could have happened three days ago or three years ago. There was no way to be sure, and it made everything so much more difficult.
Eventually they went to bed exhausted with no answers, only to be up and at it again before dawn broke. Over the next few days, they both began to notice traces of Witt disappearing, and it was unnerving. Cara could no longer smell his aftershave, or his cologne. His favorite bourbon was no longer on the bar. All of these things increased their anxiety in their rush to find answers. Mead barely noticed Cara leaving the room. Then she called him to the kitchen to eat a meal she’d prepared.
“We can’t stop,” he protested, picking up his plate to return to her office.
“Mead, we have to,” she quietly insisted. “Sit down and eat. Talk to me. If we don’t stop now to clear our minds, we’re sure to miss something,” she warned. “There is such a thing as searching for something too hard. Often, it’s right there in plain sight and we overlook it.”
Conceding, Mead sat and picked up his fork.
“Tell me about your life,” she suggested, spearing a piece of broccoli. “I’ve never really asked much, preferring to leave that to Witt. It was wrong of me and I’m sorry. Tell me about Callie Mae. Does she make Morgan happy?” she asked tilting her head to the side in interest.
“She does,” Mead admitted with a smile. “Although at times he’d like to string her up. She’s more than a match for him. I think he enjoys the challenge.”
“I’m happy for him,” Cara offered, pouring them each a glass of wine. “We were never meant to be together. It was a mistake from the start.”
“Morgan said the same,” he agreed. “He seemed to fit right in from the beginning,” he continued. “I guess some of us are sort of born out of time.”
“That’s probably true. He always was a little old-fashioned. We didn’t enjoy the same things. I love the opera, he liked country music, you know, that sort of thing. Then when he returned from active duty, I realized he was a lot worse than I’d imagined. I could hardly ask him for a divorce in his frame of mind, but that’s what I wanted. We no longer fit together; I’m not sure we ever did.”
“What do you think made him agree to be the guinea pig?” Mead asked. “Not every man would take such a risk.”
“I don’t think he thought he had much to live for,” Cara said sadly. “We weren’t really a couple anymore. Some of his best friends had been killed. His brother lost his life on his first deployment and soon after his parents died in a house fire. Honestly, Morgan didn’t much care if he lived or died. I think he does now.”
“Hell yes, he does,” Mead agreed. “He’d stay alive just to eat Ma’s cooking! I swear I’ve never met a man who enjoys food so much.”
