* * *
Early the next morning, Journey surprised him with another memory making adventure. “Hurry up. Get dressed. We’re going flying.”
She didn’t have to ask him twice. He dressed in record time and was waiting at the door for her once she’d gathered her things and tidied the apartment until she returned the next time. As she locked up, Journey wondered when they would be. Or if she’d return at all. If Lou discovered a way to send them back in time, this might very well be the last she’d see of the place she called home.
No, she corrected herself. This had been a nice place to stay, but it had never been her home. If she were honest, the ranch didn’t really qualify as home either. As she held out her hand to take his, Journey acknowledged the truth. Reno was her home. Present. Past. Or future. Wherever he hung his hat was the place where she belonged.
“How did you arrange this so fast?” he asked in wonder as they headed to a heliport in the south of town.
“I called and they had a cancellation. Just lucky I guess.”
He gave her sexy smirk. “I don’t think it’s just luck for us – it’s more than that. Everything seems to fall into place.”
“Like it’s meant to be.” She reached over to find his hand. “I’ve noticed that too.”
Soon, they were flying high and Reno could see the whole area in one magnificent panorama. “Look, there’s the airport.” He pointed at Austin-Bergstrom where they’d watched the jets take off and land.
“And there’s Interstate 35, it will take you from Houston to Dallas.”
“Huh, I could use that to make good time to catch the stagecoach.”
“True.” She pointed to the west. “And look, see how the river runs through town? Over there is the Pennybacker Bridge, it’s a well-photographed spot next to a high cliff called the Overlook.”
He looked down at the blue water meandering through the lush hills covered with houses so big he couldn’t imagine living in one of them. “Look, there’s a high spot.” He noticed a rocky cliff overlooking the river.
“That’s Mt. Bonnell. Highest point in Austin.”
Reno stared at it again, a funny feeling running down his spine. “I know that spot. We used to call it Antoinette’s Leap, after a girl leaped to her death rather than be captured by Indians – or so the tale goes. This whole area used to be an Indian trail.”
Journey shivered. “I used to look at everything and try to see it through your eyes.”
“You know, I’ll probably do the same thing. I’ll look at all of this in my time and try to see it through your eyes.” An uncomfortable pang of uncertainty knifed through him. “I want to come here with you. We’ll walk along the path and look down at this river together – before any of these houses or roads are built.”
“Okay. We’ll do it.” She couldn’t stop smiling. From where she sat, the future looked bright – even if her future existed in the past. “Look way out there. That’s Lake Travis. Isn’t the water beautiful sparkling in the sunshine?”
Reno agreed that it was, but he couldn’t shake the chill that seemed to come out of nowhere. He didn’t let it show, though. He smiled and looked at everything Journey wanted to show him. The Austin skyline was truly inspiring. “I didn’t know buildings could ever be that high.”
“Oh, that’s not high. Austin’s tallest skyscraper is called the Independent, it’s a whopping 690 ft tall, a 58-story residential building. But there are buildings much taller. There’s one in Dubai called the Burj Khalifa, I think, that’s 2723 ft high with 163 stories and 58 elevators.”
“It has as many elevators as the Independent has floors,” Reno marveled. “And where is Dubai?”
“On the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf.”
Reno chuckled. “I’ve barely heard of those places.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m not educated, you know. Not well traveled. Mostly self-taught.”
“I think you’re amazing.” She told him, gazing into his face with all sincerity. “The measure of a man is much more than where he received his education or where he’s traveled to. Besides, you’ve been someplace very, very few have been – the future.”
“This is true.” He gave her a wink, loving how she loved him.
Once the helicopter ride was over, she slipped a promotional flyer the pilot gave her into her pocket for a souvenir. “Ready to go?”
“It’s been fun, but I think it’s time we go home.”
“I agree.” She set the Subaru on cruise control and headed west to Enchanted Rock. Once they were through the worst part of the traffic, she pulled over and let him have the wheel. “Be good now. We don’t want to both end up in jail.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He fastened his seatbelt, rolled down the window, and turned on the radio. Setting his course for home, he pointed his finger toward the afternoon sun. “Go West, young man, go west.”
Journey loved the feeling of the wind in her hair. “I’ve heard that saying in an old western, I think. Where did you first hear it?”
“I read it in an editorial in 1865. The New York Tribune was the name of the newspaper, I think. There was a copy of it at the Captain’s plantation. Once his fiancé, Caroline, betrayed him, Kingston didn’t want to stay in Tennessee. The rest of us had either lost our home or our family to the war, so we all went with him. The article I read seemed to be an omen.”
“Fortuitous.” She marveled at all the things that had to fall into place for them to be together. “And then you came to Texas and made a home. King’s Ransom. You met Saul and Ela – and then, you came to me.”
