Out Of Time

The Hotel

Arthur folded the letter and stuffed it in his pocket. "Alright, I need to go tell Dutch," he said to Grimshaw.

"Good idea. I'll stay here with the kids," Susan said.

"Thanks. They're havin' a tea party in their room if you wanna join in."

Susan chuckled lightly. "Domestic life suits you, Mr. Morgan."

"Heh heh, it sure does." Arthur left the house and jogged over to the main house. He ran up the steps and opened the door. "Dutch!" Arthur shouted.

Molly was in the sitting room sewing when she raised her head, frowning at the look on his face. "Arthur, what's wrong?"

"Just got a letter from Sam. We got trouble. Dutch!"

Dutch appeared at the top of the stairs. "Arthur? What's goin' on?"

Arthur ran up the stairs and handed him the letter. "Read."

Dutch opened it and began to read. As he did, his brow furrowed. "Shit," he said when he was done. "Shit!"

"I know. What do we do, Dutch?" Arthur asked him.

"Well, one of us needs to go into town and figure out who this "acquaintance" is, but at least Sam did good keepin' it vague."

"Yeah." Arthur scratched the nape of his neck. "But what if this guy knows what we look like?"

"You're right. We'll have to send someone else. Someone this man might not recognize."

"Maybe Charles? If he runs into trouble, he'll be able to handle it."

"Good idea. Have him go to the hotel and find Sam, see what's goin' on. Go find him, would you please?" Dutch said, handing him back the letter.

Arthur gave Dutch a nod before heading down the stairs and bursting out the door. He immediately went to the orchards looking for Charles.

X======================X

Sam was holed up in her little hotel room, lying down on the bed with her arms stretched across her face. She hoped the boy she sent to Kilgore Farm with that letter was okay and hadn't been followed. Sam was worried about what this meant for her family. Would they have to leave again? Where would they go? They certainly couldn't go back to America. It was too risky. Could they leave to another island maybe, or would Milton still find them?

Time seemed to stretch on and in her musings, Sam's eyes grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep. She dreamed about the beach and saw her children and Arthur making sand castles. It made her smile. The wind was blowing on a sunny day, palm trees bowing over full of coconuts, seagulls flying above and calling out to the sea. The sand was warm between her toes.

"You could leave this all behind, you know," someone said. "Go back to your time."

Sam turned toward the voice. It was the buck. She hadn't seen him in years. She crossed her arms and scoffed. "And leave my family behind? No thank you."

The buck chuckled. "I thought as much."

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, of course."  The buck looked at her family.  "You've been busy, I see."

Sam chuckled.  "You know, I never even bothered to ask...why did you send me back in time?"

The buck looked at her as if he was smiling. "Because you and Arthur needed each other."

Sam huffed out a sigh. "That's it? Not because I needed to change the past or something like that?"

"Nope. Just that you and Arthur needed each other." The buck looked back on the scene at the beach. "You sure you don't want to go back? Last chance..."