Badland Bride by Lauri Robinson Page A

admitted.
    Jessie smiled and sat down beside her. “And I bet it has nothing to do with the pregnancy."
    She gave a slight shrug and took a sip of the tea.
    "How far along are you?” Jessie asked.
    "Not quite three months. You?"
    "Almost six months.” Jessie patted her stomach. “It's wonderful isn't it?"
    Lila blinked, somewhat confused. “Uh?"
    "Have you felt the baby move yet?"
    "No.” Lila set the cup and saucer on the small table beside the bed. “I don't think so, anyway."
    "Oh, you'll know when you do.” Jessie's face took on a warm, pink glow. “But even before then, just knowing a life is growing inside you is wonderful, isn't it?"
    Lila laid her hand on her stomach. She hadn't even told her mother about the pregnancy yet. There hadn't been anyone to whom she could share her thoughts about being pregnant. “Yes, it is,” she admitted.
    "Can you tell me about? Tell me what happened?” Jessie ran a hand over Lila's shoulder.
    Lila wanted to cry. The woman's kindness was almost more disconcerting than Stephanie Quinter's righteousness. She shrugged her shoulders. “You wouldn't believe me."
    "How do you know until you try?"
    "Would you believe me if I said I was from the future? That until two days ago, I lived in the year two-thousand-eight?” Lila almost quivered at the tone of her own voice. She hadn't meant to snap at the other woman. The bitter statement had just shot out of her mouth.
    A smile formed on Jessie's face, but it wasn't in disbelief, or humor. It was a smile of compassion. “Yes, I'd believe you."
    Lila felt her chin drop. She slapped her mouth shut, swallowed, wondering how to respond.
    "I know Skeeter. For him to bring home a girl from the future wouldn't surprise me in the least.” Jessie raised a hand, reached over to push the hair out of Lila's eyes. Her fingers were gentle as she settled the curls behind one ear. “And I'm very intrigued. Please tell me all about it."
    Lila's brows tugged together, she rubbed a hand over her forehead. Talking to Skeeter was one thing, but to tell someone else she was from the future was, well, weird. Besides, where would she even start? How much would she need to say to make the story sound believable? The whole thing was unbelievable. Lila sighed, a long, deep, confusing sigh that did little to ease her frustration.
    "Where did you live in the future? What was the name of the town?” Jessie asked.
    "Hays,” Lila answered unsurely.
    "Fort Hays?"
    In for a penny, in for a pound, Lila thought. She glanced at Jessie. “Yes, but in the future it's just known as Hays. I think it was changed from Fort Hays to Hays sometime in the eighteen-eighties.” She let out an odd laugh. “Any day now, I guess."
    "Really? Do they still have boot hill there?” Jessie asked with wide, interested eyes.
    Lila nodded. “But people in the future think boot hill is in Dodge."
    "They have one there too, but it's not as large as the one in Hays. My brother Russell and I spent a winter in Hays, a few years ago.” Jessie gave a little shiver and rubbed her arms. “It was a rough town."
    "Worse than Dodge?” Lila asked. History had made Dodge City the wildest cow town in Kansas.
    "Oh, yes.” Jessie nodded.
    "Hmm, interesting,” Lila murmured. Living in the past was quite fascinating. Too bad she hadn't majored in history. “They change the name of Nixon too, it's Scott City in my time. Actually most of the towns and counties around here have different names in two-thousand-eight."
    "Oh?” Jessie asked.
    She nodded. “I attend the State University in Hays. I'm working on an I T degree."
    "Really? Kid tried to send me to the University in Boston, but I chose not to go,” Jessie said, and then asked, “What's I T?"
    Lila frowned. Though she and Jessie were close in age, they were generations apart. She was a millennium baby, a member of the Y generation, the generation that was giving the baby boomers more trouble than the Xer's ever thought of. Millennials crave