My Heart Will Find Yours by Linda LaRoque Page B

noticed the book on the table between the rockers. The title read Early History of Waco, Texas 1837-1955. His eyes must be playing tricks on him. He picked it up and flipped it open to read the publishing date—1962.
    Legs feeling like rubber, he eased down into a rocker. The book could be a fake. It wouldn’t take much to put the wrong date in a book. He ran his finger over the dates on the cover, noting the frayed edges of the book.
    Heart hammering in his chest, he sat the book in his lap and let it fall open to a place marked with a photograph. He picked it up and immediately noticed it was clearer and sharper than the tintypes he’d seen. A man and woman stood together, his arm around her shoulders. She wore a two-piece suit with the skirt hitting just below her knees. Her hair was short like Texanna’s and curled around her face. A hat with a feather sat cockily on her head. She looked amazingly like Texanna, but with a fuller figure. Even the smile on her face was similar. He turned the picture over. Written in ink were the words— John Thompson and Pearlina Baines Dyson on the courthouse steps on their wedding day, September 21, 1940.
    Hands shaking, he turned to another section marked with one more likeness. An older woman, her pink scalp showing through her thin white hair, sat in a high-backed chair in front of a fireplace. Though wrinkled, her pale face had added color with paint on her cheeks and lips. His stomach clenched in alarm. The blue eyes that stared out of the photograph were Pearl’s.
    ****
    With the book tucked under his arm, Royce ambled into the kitchen where Texanna stood looking through a cookbook. Her back was to him, and she didn’t turn. From the square set of her shoulders, he knew she was still upset. He suspected she’d been crying, which made him feel lower than a skunk.
    He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry for those things I said. This crazy situation has got me flummoxed.”
    She turned and nodded. “I can understand that.”
    “I found this on the porch.” Her eyes followed his hand as he laid the book on the table. “Saw the pictures, but I’m not ready to believe my eyes. My mind just can’t grasp it.” He pulled out a chair and sat down.
    “I need to tell you something else.”
    Royce propped his elbows on the table and clasped his hands. “Oh, Lord. What now?”
    Her expression was sympathetic. He saw a glitter of tears in her eyes. “When I returned to my time, Pearl had passed on. We buried her two days later.”
    He didn’t know what to say, how to respond, or how to feel. A month ago, before Texanna’s arrival, if Pearl’s body had been found, he’d have known how to grieve. Her death was a fact he’d lived with for four years. But this was different. If the woman in the picture was his wife, how could he deal with it?
    Texanna asked. “Did you look through the book and find the pictures of you and Garrett?”
    “No.” He stood shoving his chair back. “I didn’t get past the pictures of Pearl...the pictures of the woman.” He couldn’t deal with anymore right now. He wasn’t sure which was worse, accepting Texanna’s story of time-travel or thinking the woman in those pictures might be Pearl.
    Grasping to change the subject, he muttered. “You want to take those guns out back and give ‘um a try? See if you’re as good a shot as you claim?”
    “Really?” Her eyes rounded with hope.
    “Sure, why not?”
    “What about lunch? You need to eat before you leave.”
    “I’ll help you throw something together when we finish, then you can ride into town with me.”
    “You mean it?”
    “Of course I mean it. Find a hat and some gloves while I fetch the guns.” He looked at her skirt. “And put on your riding skirt and a chemise. You can’t go into town with nothing under that blouse.”
    Her chin raised an inch, and for a minute he thought she’d decline his invitation. Then she turned and walked ahead of him to the stairs.
    “If you