Time and Again

and when he was and how to reverse the process.
    With a few more repairs, basically unnecessary ones, he would be ready to go. Technically he would be ready. But emotionally- Nothing had ever torn him quite so neatly in two.
    If she asked him to stay- God, he was afraid if she did, it would swing the balance of the tug-of-war he was waging. But she wouldn't ask him to stay. He couldn't ask her to go.
    Perhaps when he made it back and offered the data to the world of science a new, less dangerous way would be created to conquer time. Perhaps he could come back.
    Turning his head, he looked into the fire. More fantasies. Libby was facing the facts, and so would he.
    He thought he heard her on the stairs. But when he looked it was William.
    "Trouble sleeping?" he asked Cal.
    "Some. You?"
    "I always loved this place at night." Because he loved his daughter, as well, he was determined to make an effort to be civil, if not exactly friendly. "The quiet, the dark." He stooped to add another log to the fire. Sparks flew, then winked out. "I never pictured myself living anywhere else."
    "I never imagined living in a place like this or realized how hard it would be to leave."
    "A long way from Philadelphia."
    "A very long way."
    He recognized gloom when he heard it. William had courted it early in his youth, mistaking it for romance. Unbending a little, he dug out the brandy and two snifters. "Want a drink?"
    "Yeah. Thanks."
    William settled in the winged chair and stretched out his long legs. "I used to sit here at night and ponder the meaning of life."
    "Did you ever figure it out?"
    "Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't."
    It had been simpler, somehow, when his main concerns had been world peace and social reform. Now, God help him, he was nearing middle age-that area that had always seemed so gray and distant. It reminded him that he had once been a young man, much younger than the one facing him now, with his head in the clouds and his mind on a woman. The times they are a-changing, he thought wryly, and swirled his brandy.
    "Are you in love with Libby?"
    "I was just asking myself that same question."
    William sipped his brandy. He preferred the traces of doubt and frustration he heard to a glib response.
    He'd always been glib. No wonder Caroline's father had detested him. "Come up with an answer?"
    "Not a comfortable one."
    Nodding, William lifted his glass. "Before I met Caro, I was planning to join the Peace Corps or a Tibetan monastery. She was fresh out of high school. Her father wanted to shoot me."
    Cal grinned. He was beginning to enjoy the brandy. "I had a minute to be grateful you didn't have a weapon this afternoon."
    "Being a pacifist by nature, I only gave it a passing thought," William assured him. "Caro's father thrived on the idea. I can't wait to tell him I got her pregnant again." Relaxed now, he savored the idea.
    "Libby's hoping for a brother."
    "Did she say that?" Now he grinned, lingering over the idea of a son. "She was my first. Every child's a miracle, but the first- I guess you never get over it."
    "She is a miracle. She changed my life."
    William's look sharpened. Hornblower might not realize he was in love, he thought, but there was little doubt about it. "Caro likes you," he commented. "She has a way of seeing into the heart of people. I only want to say that Libby isn't as sturdy as she seems. Be careful with her."
    He rose then, afraid he might start to pontificate. "Get some sleep," he advised. "Caro's bound to be up at dawn fixing whole-wheat pancakes or yogurt-and-kiwi surprise." He winced a little. He was a man who would always yearn in his heart for bacon and eggs. "You won points by the way you dug into that tofu amandine casserole."
    "It was great."
    "No wonder she likes you." He paused at the foot of the steps. "You know, I have a sweater just like that."
    "Really?" Cal couldn't suppress the grin. "Small world."

CHAPTER 10
    "I knew you'd be up early." Libby slipped out the back door to join her mother.
    "Not so early." Caroline sighed, annoyed with herself for missing the sunrise. "I've found myself getting a slower start the last couple of months."
    "Morning sickness?"
    "No." Smiling, Caroline hooked an arm around Libby's waist. "It seems all three of my children decided to spare me that. Did I ever tell you I appreciated it?"
    "No."
    "Well, I do." She gave Libby's cheek a quick kiss and noted the faint shadows under her eyes. Biding her time, she nodded toward the trees. "Like to