Wrong Face in the Mirror: A Time Travel Romance (Medicine Stick Series) by Barbara Bartholomew Page A

didn’t evidence itself in regard to her husband’s sister.
    “You really owe us the money,” she said abruptly as if entering into an ongoing argument.
    Hart blinked. “What money?”
    Nikki scowled in confusion. “Didn’t Tommy ask you for a loan? He said he did and you turned him down.”
    Hart considered. “Was this from the time when I can’t remember?” She started to add that the pittance she earned for her job at the prison had to be less than what Nikki made as a coach and teacher, but refrained.
    “Of course not. Just two days ago and don’t pretend it didn’t happen. Your own brother and you with hundreds of thousands and you won’t help him out.”
    Hart swallowed hard. Hundreds of thousands? All she knew about was the slightly over ten thousand dollars in her bank account and she wasn’t sure that was real.
    “Nikki,” she said calmly. “Tommy didn’t ask me for money.”
    Nikki stared at her with gradually fading disbelief. “The idiot!” she said. “He didn’t want to ask you for money, so he just said he did.” She recovered quickly to add eagerly, “You will give it to him?”
    Hart didn’t feel she had the right to give away money that didn’t seem to be truly hers. Somehow she didn’t feel as though she’d ever been a person with a pile of money. Surely a life of privilege would be so ingrained that it would come out in spite of loss of memory. Wouldn’t she just expect everything to be grand and luxurious?
    “You won’t,” Nikki said grimly, reading her expression. “You selfish bitch.”
    “There’s nothing about your attitude that makes me want to be generous,” Hart answered impulsively. “Maybe Tommy should talk to me about this himself.”
    Hart found she trembled with the onset of rage. What was wrong with these people that they went around blaming her for things she couldn’t remember and wasn’t sure had actually happened.
    “I don’t remember having money, Nikki, and I can’t give away what I don’t have.”
    “But we’ve got to have twenty thousand before tomorrow night or Tommy will lose his truck. And without his truck, he can’t work.”
    This was more than a little puzzling. Tommy and Nikki both had better than average jobs for this area, their home and vehicles were modest, they didn’t dress extravagantly. How could they be in such desperate straits? “Is Tommy on the road now?”
    Nikki shook her head. “He’s at the house stuck in gloom.”
    Hart got to her feet. “Then let’s go talk to him right now.”
    She took her own car, following Nikki down the few blocks to the house in the shadow of the mountain. It was cooler this evening and she sensed a change of weather in the air.
    Well, it was about time. It was the hottest September she could remember since back in the dirty thirties when everything had been dry as dust and the temperatures daily spiking.
    She didn’t have time to think that she was certainly not able to have memories of the 1930s because they were at the house and she got out to follow Nikki inside. The girls whooped at the sight of her and ran for hugs and kisses, bringing tears to her eyes because it was so good to have somebody care for her without any personal agenda.
    After they’d had a few minutes of catching up on the girls’ school and friends, Nikki insisted on taking them into the kitchen for brownies and milk, telling them that their aunt needed to talk with her brother. “In private,” she added for emphasis.
    They looked disappointed, but detached themselves from Hart’s arms and went with her into the kitchen. “I want brownies with nuts,” Christy insisted.
    The smile the girls had brought to her face faded and she brushed away tears as she went on into the living room to find Tommy slumped on the sofa, his face resting against his hands. A half-empty bottle of beer set on the table at his side.
    “Tommy,” she whispered. “It’s me, Hart.”
    He wouldn’t look at her. “I heard,” he