With the Morning (For All Time Fic, Part 3)
With the Morning
by:littlepink80
disclaimer: not mine.
rating: what's a step up from G? mild language.
Notes: The next morning. Follows Right After & That Night. (I am so original with titles.)
Charles Lattimer hadn’t budged from his spot since his feet had found roots there a couple of hours before. Laura had arrived at the paper shortly after, had glanced at him and then promptly hurried inside. She hadn’t ventured out again, except to write the day’s headlines on the chalkboard and that had been done with haste.
It was up to him to go in and face the music. Explain.
‘Yeah. Uh-huh.’
Charlie shook his head. He could just see that conversation, ‘Hey, Laura. That whole me being married thing. Technically, I’m not really married. I’m from the future and the woman I married hasn’t even been born yet.
Yeah. That would go over real well. Damn.’
"Mr. Lattimer."
Double Damn.
Charlie turned to his right, "Um, good- um.. " He stumbled for a moment, "Good morning, Mrs. Clark."
"Possibly." Laura’s mother stared at him, her lips forming one thin line.
"I, um, hmm." Charlie struggled to form a thought. "Mrs. Clark-"
The old woman steam rolled over him, "I know you saved my daughter’s life yesterday, Mr. Lattimer. For that, I am grateful beyond measure. Thank you."
He stood there for a moment, not sure what to say. He certainly hadn’t expected that from the older woman.
"Now, that being said," Mrs. Clark spoke in measure words, turning away from him and looking toward the paper. "I don’t like you. You hurt my daughter. I don’t know what happened and I do not, frankly, care. You hurt her. I will not tolerate that. Not in anyone. Ever. Am I clear?"
Charlie looked down at her for a long moment, "Yes ma’am."
"Make it right." Came the clipped response.
"Yes ma’am." Charlie looked back across the street. He could see Laura inside. "Will you excuse me?"
"Go."
Charlie waited half a moment as Mrs. Clark turned and walked the other way before stepping off the walkway and jogging across the dirt street. He paused for a long moment at the door to the paper. ‘Here goes nothing, Charlie.’ He pushed open the door and walked in.
There she was, sitting at the press, her back to him.
"Laura?… Mrs. Brown?" He corrected himself immediately. "May I have a moment of your time?"
Laura didn’t answer him right away. Instead, her head tilted slightly in his direction; her shoulders slumped. She took a long, unsteady breath before pushing her chair away from her workstation and slowly stood. "Fred?"
The man who had been alternating worried gazes at her and entirely unwelcome looks as Charlie answered immediately, "Yes, ma’am?"
"Would you take over here? I’ll just be a few moments?"
Her employee hurried to comply.
Laura finally turned to look at Charles Lattimer and felt her heart give a lurch. It hurt. She let out a breath walked forward, "Yes?"
Charlie shot a look over her shoulder, "Could we speak in private?"
"I don’t think that would be appropriate, under the circumstances, Mr. Lattimer." Laura’s gazed flitted across his face. "And I do not want to be alone with you."
"Fair enough." Charlie took a breath and dove in. "I wasn’t totally honest with you the last time I was… in town, I-"
"Mr. Lattimer, I-"
"Please." He whispered. "Please let me explain myself. I need to explain myself to you."
His only answer was a sharp nod of her head.
"I um… my name is Charles Lattimer. I lived and worked in St. Louis. I worked in advertising, I told you that. I created the visual arts- the drawings for marketing. My best friend’s name is Al, he worked there too. I am… I was married to a woman named Kristin." He saw her jaw tighten and spoke faster, barely above a whisper. "I was born in the year 1952."
Laura had been so focused on the name of his wife that it took a moment to process his last statement, "What?"
"I was born November 17, 1952."
"That’s… not possible."
"It’s the truth. I swear to you, Laura." Charlie looked away. "God, this sounds so strange and stupid and crazy … I know. I bought a watch. An old, well, old for me, pocket watch. I got on a train and…. ended up here, in Somerville in 1896. And, I belonged here. I knew it, but I… how could I belong here? For God’s sake. I had a life and a home in another century… But then there you were. I saw you and I- I couldn’t believe it. Like seeing a ghost. I didn’t know what to do, Laura. My marriage is, was over. It had been for a long time. She asked me for a divorce. It was the right thing to do…"
Laura Brown looked at the man before her. He looked as if he might be ill and she certainly felt as if she might be. She needed time. She needed to think. This was too much for her to take in; much too much after yesterday. Just being this close to him stirred her in ways that she wasn’t entirely sure she could handle just yet… and after what he had just told her.
The future?
Could she believe that such a thing was possible? Could she dare believe him after she had dealt her such a blow just days earlier?
After a moment she spoke, "Are you staying this time?"
He looked at her for a moment quite strangely, "Um, yes." He cleared his throat. "I… my responsibilities are over in my old life, Laura. I’m here." Charlie glanced around for a moment with a bit of wonder, "My life is here. Yes, I’m staying this time."
"All right." She spoke softly. "But I … I don’t know if I believe you."
"I understand." And he did. He truly did. "I’ll let you get back to work. Excuse me."
Laura watched him as he moved toward the door. A moment before he stepped across the threshold, she spoke, "Why did you come back? I asked you to stay away. Why?"
Charlie didn’t dare to face her, "Because… Because you would have died yesterday and it would have been my fault. Because I couldn’t stand for Mary to grow up without her mother… and because I love you. More than anything or anyone in my life, I love you."
Laura Brown, with her heart in her throat and her mind reeling, watched as Charles Lattimer walked out of her paper and into her bright, morning light.
to be continued?
In another installment........