Page 70 of Timeless

“Nothing,” she replied and went to remove her own belt but had a hard time getting it undone.

“Here. Let me help you,” Cheryl offered and movedto stand inches away from Diana. She worked until the belt was undone and in her hands. “There,” she whispered. “Can you…”

“I can get it the rest of the way,” Diana confirmed softly.

“Right. Well, good,” Cheryl replied and turned to move away. “Bess, did you–” She stopped.

Cheryl was turned toward the bushes, so Diana couldn’t see her face anymore, but she could hear her and that name clear as day.

“You saw it, too?” she asked quietly, just in case she’d been wrong.

When Cheryl’s head whipped around, Diana knew she hadn’t been wrong.

CHAPTER 25

1958

“What did you see?” Cheryl asked, heart racing.

“Two women who looked like us. Well, I couldn’t see the one who looked like me, but I knew she looked like me because shewasme. I was washing a shirt or something on a board, and you walked up through the woods, I think.”

“Telling you that my husband is off hunting?”

Diana nodded.

“I saw it, too,” Cheryl admitted. “And last night, before I went to bed, I also saw a tiny, one-room house. I was in bed. There was a man who was my husband. He was getting dressed to go somewhere and told me he was hunting for the winter. Then, another man showed up, and I knew him. He said Bess was looking forward to my visit. Then, they took off, and that was it.”

“What is happening?” Diana asked.

“I don’t know. Just now, it was like I…” Cheryl practically flopped down onto the ground, no longer caring about getting her clothes dirty or worrying about Diana’s petticoat, either. “It was like I couldn’t wait to get to Bess. I can’t describe it. I saw myself as Elizabeth. I was her, and she was me, and I left the moment the men were gone. They were on horses, so they rode off quickly, and I hurried, too. I knew exactly where to go. Out of the woods, there was another house, and there you were.”

Diana sat down next to her and said, “It was so real.”

“How did we have the same vision, Diana?”

“I don’t know. But yesterday, you got dizzy and nearly fell. I did, too, only I actually fell.” She touched just above the scrape on her knee. “And I saw myself.”

“You saw yourself?” Cheryl asked.

“I saw me, but itwasn’tme. It was maybe like an older version of me. I heard the name Harriet whispered, and I was somehow standing in front of myself as I tried to get up off the sidewalk. I didn’t know how to explain it, so I didn’t say anything. Other people were around me, and none of them said anything, either. Then, all I could think about was you.”

“Me?”

“Getting to you. It was like I couldn’t think of anything else.”

“Deb,” she whispered.

“What?”

“I thought I heard the name Deb when I got dizzy and almost fell. I don’t think I saw anyone, but I remember now, the name Deb. I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know anyone named Deb. I think there was a Debbie in school, but she was at least five years ahead of me, and I didn’t know her at all, so I wouldn’t say her name like that.”

“I’ve never known anyone named Harriet, but it was like she was just saying her own name or something. I don’t know. She smiled at me, and then she was gone. Next thing I know,you’re falling over, I’m finding you on the bench, and I can’t stop thinking about you.” Diana smiled at her. “You brought me ice cream.”

“Because I couldn’t stop thinking aboutyou, either.” Cheryl smiled back.

“What does it all mean?” Diana asked her.

Cheryl swallowed and decided to be brave.