Meredith’s eyes widened at what she’d just witnessed. “Well.”
Daniel chuckled. “Indeed.”
“I have money, clothing which will help me fit in, and the means to get to you in your time. All that remains is the letter, and we’re set.”
“Nay. First you must walk with me to my mining camp and become familiar enough to fix your mind upon the site when you make the journey.” His gaze bored into her. “We need to do that several times until you know the place extremely well. I can’t have you ending up in the Antarctic, Meredith MacCarthy. That would break my heart.”
“Right.” She stuffed the small pouch holding the diamonds into her back pocket. Everything was becoming very real, and her hands were shaking. “Let me go back to the cabin for a bottle of water, and we’ll set out for your claim.”
“I’ll come with you.”
She nodded and walked out of the saloon with Daniel at her side. “Shall we do the letter in the schoolhouse this evening? We can make good use of the desk.” That, and it was farther away from the cabin and her cabinmates than the gift shop or the saloon.
“If you wish.”
They’d walked for a few moments while she recalled Daniel’s concerns that she’d land somewhere other than Garretsville. “Your heart wouldn’t be broken if I ended up in the Antarctic. You wouldn’t know I exist, much less that I’d been trying to get to you. So how could you miss me?”
“That’s exactly what I spoke with Alpin about. I asked him if he had some kind of magic that would help me remember you and my time as a ghost.” He glanced at her. “Would you like to know what he told me?”
Meredith swallowed a couple times. “Yes.”
“He said our interactions in this century cannot be erased. If we’re successful, you and I will form a new strand within time and space, but the old one will still exist. We mortals often speak of love at first sight, or at least an immediate affinity or an aversion to someone we’ve just met. Alpin says that is one soul’s recognition of another soul they’ve known before, either in a previous life, or during a brief strand in time like the one we’ve formed together.”
“I’ve heard that before,” she said. “But—”
“Alpin planted what he called a suggestion into my awareness, one that will alert me to pay attention to that feeling of recognition and affinity with you. He says that might be enough to trigger the memories of our time together in this century.”
“Won’t that get him into trouble? Isn’t that meddling in the lives of—”
“Nay. I’m not alive, Meredith. To any of the Tuatha council watching over him, what Alpin did for me will seem like nothing more than a whisper in the wind, a benediction to the dead. For the gift he has bestowed upon me, I am eternally grateful.”
“As am I,” she managed to say past the lump clogging her throat. Lord, I hope this works.
9
How odd to have drifted along beside Meredith, rather than thinking himself to his mining camp as he had for over a century. The notion brought a smile to Daniel’s face. Perhaps in the near future, he’d have a physical form to use once again.
Daniel stood beside Meredith as she surveyed his mining camp. Her cheeks were rosy from their hike, and her eyes sparkled a lovely shade of bluish-gray today. She turned slowly in a circle, her hands on her hips.
When she came to a stop, she shook her head. “This isn’t going to work, Daniel.”
“What do you mean? Why not?”
“There’s nothing here.” She swung her arm in an arc that seemed to encompass the entire Garnet Mountain range. “How am I supposed to concentrate on an image of your camp when all there is to see are rocks, sandy soil, and scrubby trees?” She glanced at the trees and waved a hand dismissively. “These pines probably weren’t even here back then, and if they were, they certainly didn’t look like they do today.”
Daniel frowned as he gazed at the cabin he and Charles had built. His attention shifted to their equipment stacked neatly inside the shed, the same shed where they stabled their mules and kept the wagon. “You don’t see our cabin and the shed? You don’t see the wagon?”
“Nope. This is like the saloon. You ghosts see what was present during your personal pasts. I imagine it’s a kind of self-projection of your memories, but for those who actually live in the physical world, those things aren’t visible. When ghosts are engaged in activities, people like me see a phantom pantomime, only the actors involved don’t need the white face paint. They’re already as pale as smoke.”
He pointed to where he and Charles had extracted silver ore from the earth. “What about the pit where we mined?”
“I see a shallow bowl in the ground, and it’s mostly filled in with sand and detritus.”
“Shite.”
“It’s okay. I’ll focus on the landmarks that lead to your claim. You can tell me where the structures stood and describe everything to me in detail. I’ll make notes.”
She drew forth the wee device she used to talk to people who were far away and began tapping the glass surface. Was she making notes?
“I’ll have to concentrate on something that still exists in Garretsville in this century and land there. Then I’ll hike to your camp. I don’t believe the cabin where the volunteers stay was around back then, so I’m thinking the assayer’s office would work. If I focus on what I see from the top of the hill behind Garretsville, I can—”
“Absolutely not. A lone woman suddenly appearing over the crest of the surrounding hills would be vulnerable. Not to mention you’d be viewed with suspicion.” He raked his phantom hands through his hair. “I want you to arrive where I can protect
