“Why?”
“I told you. I was trying to look my best, enhance what nature gave me, work with what I got, however you want to put it. That’s what women do in my time.”
He let his disapproval show. “You have no need of enhancement. Your beauty transcends such senseless artifice.”
Beth seemed taken aback.
Did she think he insulted her?
Leaning forward onto her hands and knees, she touched her lips to his. Once. Twice. Almost making him forget where they were and what they discussed.
“What was that for?” he asked hoarsely when she leaned back an inch or two.
She smiled. “For being you.” A third kiss followed, heating his blood and robbing him of rational thought. Just as he decided to drop the portrait and drag her up against him, she broke away and sat back on her heels.
Robert’s heart pounded as he watched her retrieve her wallet once more.
“There must be something with a date on it in here,” she muttered.
Only half-listening, Robert returned his attention to the miniature in his rough hands. He rubbed his thumb across the cold, smooth surface, trying to suppress thoughts of lunging across the pile in front of him and stripping Beth of the robe that now gaped in marvelous places. “What manner of portrait is this? I can feel neither the texture of the canvas nor the paint. And it shines like glass.”
“It isn’t a portrait. It’s a photograph.” She spelled the word for him. “Look. Here’s my dental appointment reminder card. It has the full date written on it.” She handed him a small piece of thick parchment. “Photos are more common than paintings in my time because they’re pretty much instant. You point your camera or phone or tablet, press the button, and the image is recorded. Then you just hook your device up to a printer, pop in some photo quality paper, and voila, instant picture.”
The card in Robert’s hand boasted an unfamiliar coat of arms, along with printed and scrawled words he could not understand. “What language is this?”
“English.”
“It cannot be. I cannot read it.”
“I know. English has changed quite a bit since the thirteenth century. If my mom hadn’t been a literature professor, she wouldn’t have made me learn Middle English and I wouldn’t have been able to understand a word you said.” She wrinkled her nose. “Actually I still have trouble on occasion.”
“I thought you understood me well.”
“Then I must fake it better than I thought. Anyway, the words on that card aren’t that important. It just lists my doctor’s address, email address, phone number and fax number and gives the date. Can you read those numbers there?”
“Aye.”
“Well that’s the year.”
Robert stared at the four digit number.
“See. Twenty-first century.” Suddenly, her eyes widened. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this! Coins!” She flipped her wallet over.
His head snapped up. “Coins?”
“Yes! Coins. Each one has the year it was minted imprinted on it.” She unzipped a small pocket and dumped a number of very small coins into her palm. Some were copper colored. Some were a dull silver. Some had smooth edges, some slightly rough. “Look, here’s a quarter from 2006.” She pressed it into his palm.
With a face on one side and a mountain range on the other, it resembled no coin Robert had ever seen and was indeed stamped with the date 2006.
“There are two dates on this. 2006 and 1876.”
“Oh. 1876 must’ve been the year Colorado achieved statehood. Look. Here’s a penny from 2014. And a nickel from 1993. Another nickel from 2001. A quarter from 1998. A penny from 2001. 1994. 1976. 2004. 1990. Ooh, here’s an old one. A dime from 1953.”
One after another, she handed them over. All had faces and profiles on one side and a variety of images on the other. All boasted dates that ranged from the mid-twentieth century to the early twenty-first.
“Wait,” she said suddenly. “My phone.” She reached for the object she had repeatedly used to try to call nine one one the day he had met her. Snatching it up, she clambered over her pile of belongings and settled herself close beside him.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Taking our picture. Now look at the phone and smile.”
She pressed her cheek to his and held up the cell phone. A flash of light blinded him.
Blinking, he raised one hand and rubbed his eyes.
Beth lowered the phone, looked down at it, and touched its smooth surface.
She laughed. “I said smile, not frown.”
Robert followed her gaze and felt his jaw drop. A miniature image of himself stared back, his cheek pressed to Beth’s. Beth was grinning and looked adorable. He was scowling and looked suspicious. The image was as crisp and clean as the one on her I. D. And Robert had no explanation for how she could have created it other than the one she had given him.
Beth had traveled back in time.