Chapter Four

Amelia leaned in closer, burying her face in his neck, taking a deep breath of his scent. "I've missed you, Brownie."

"Are you sure this is okay, Amelia? Are you sure your father doesn't need my help today?" Cooper asked from the next stall over, where he was brushing Blondie the way Amelia had shown him. Only the slow speed belied his unsurety with this new task. Then again, maybe he was just being meticulous as was his nature.

"I'm certain. There is too much work to be done here to offer a day off when it cannot be taken. Even last summer, Pa was talking about the need to rebuild that section of the paddock fence." Amelia put her own brush down. "Come here, and I'll show how to put the saddle on. And then I'll need to adjust the stirrups for you."

"But aren't you using the saddle?" Cooper asked, turning town her.

"No, I'll let you have it. I am both more used to horses in general, and I've ridden bareback before many times. It takes more coordination."

Cooper came to stand near to her, and put his hand out to touch the heavy leather. "But isn't riding bareback painful for you?"

Amelia shrugged. "Less comfortable than a saddle, maybe, but not painful. But that's another reason you should have the saddle."

"But won't your father think I'm being unchivalrous? Or that I'm uncoordinated?"

A smile playing at her lips, Amelia replied, "No. He knows I can ride bareback, and I think he presumes that you have not."

"Can we both ride bareback? It seems the logical solution. And if it is how you have done it before, I would like to experience it."

Amelia studied his ernest blue eyes for a moment before nodding. "Alright. But you have to follow my instructions so that you don't frighten or injure the horse."

"I will."

"And you should ride Brownie, then. He is more used to it than Blondie."

"I will."

Amelia helped Cooper place the bit and the reins. Amelia quickly put Brownie's bridle on him and walked him out of his stall. She held the big horse firmly while Cooper used the rail of the stall to help him heave his leg across Brownie's broad back. "Whoa, boy, whoa," she soothed her favorite horse.

She handed her husband the reins. "Cooper, move forward, so you're not squeezing his stomach. To here, this crease behind his shoulders. You can hold the rein slack; he knows what he's doing."

Enjoying the role reversal, she explained how to grips the reins, the correct way to sit and balance, and warned him of things he should not do. To his credit, Cooper complied with all her directions without comment or disagreement. Lastly, Amelia instructed him on all the proper commands before she opened the barn door. "Now walk him out to here."

Cooper made the correct noise, and Brownie walked slowly out of the barn. He was so well trained he had already stopped before Cooper even told him to, but Amelia didn't point it out as Cooper looked so pleased with himself. She quickly put the full saddlebags over Blondie's withers and swung her own legs over behind. It felt strange, after all her civilized equestrian lessons. She had missed it, though, being this close to her horse.

Coming up beside Cooper and Brownie, she asked, "How is it? Are you ready?"

"It's . . . strange. I'm a little frightened to think I am at this giant beast's mercy. And," he shifted slightly above the horse, "you're right, it's uncomfortable."

"You'll get used to it. It's always strange to ride a horse the first time," Amelia smiled. "Don't worry about Brownie, he's as gentle as can be. And it's only about a twenty minute ride. We could easily walk there."

"Then why are we riding?"

"Because I wanted to. And because Pa and David are repairing the paddock, remember? If we didn't ride the horses, they'd be stuck in the barn all day." The more Amelia thought about it, the more she thought that maybe this wasn't all coincidental, after all. She shook her head slightly and led the way out of the barn, turning behind her to watch Brownie following her. She knew Brownie would follow without much direction from Cooper, and he could just enjoy the ride. She hoped.

About five minutes out, Brownie had come to walk beside Blondie in the easy pace Amelia had set, which meant she could now talk to Cooper.

"It is already so hot," he complained. "And it's still early."

"At least there's a breeze now. I love these summer breezes. That's the type of summer I remember, not the miserable days we just had." She turned her face and smiled. "As for the heat, why do you think we're going to the swimming hole?"

"Swimming hole? You said we were picnicking in your favorite place!"

"Which is the swimming hole. There's shade and the water is always cool. It's lovely." She paused. "Besides, I wasn't sure if you'd come if I suggested swimming in a natural pond."

"Are there fish?"

"Not really. Maybe a few minnows. It's really just a wide spot in the creek and the water moves through it too quickly, I think."

"Well, if the water moves quickly, at least it's a little cleaner," Cooper agreed. He lifted an arm to wipe his forehead. "How can you stand this heat?"

"You get used to it. You go to the swimming hole." Amelia looked over at him. "We're alone. You can take off your shirt, if you want." She pulled on the reins to stop Blondie, and Brownie came to a stop, also.

Cooper gave her the look again that she knew meant he was debating the idea she had given him. He let go of the reins and sighed. "Very well. Since I've got a sunburn already."

Amelia smiled as he lowered his suspenders and unbuttoned his shirt. His chest and shoulder muscles rippled as he removed it, folding it twice lengthwise before lying it in front of him. "Is it okay here?"

"Yes, that should be fine. Come on." Nudging Blondie, the two horses started again, skirting the edge of a plowed field. They shortly came to walk along a creek that curved into their path. The wind had picked up as they had ridden, and now it was blowing quite strong. Amelia scanned the skies, but there was no evidence of any thunderclouds.

"See that clump of trees? That's where we're -" Amelia turned to Cooper, who had fallen slightly behind her again, the words dying in her parched mouth. Cooper's hair wasn't long, of course, but the wind was strong enough that it was blowing back away from his face as he rode his horse, bareback and bare-chested.

The possibility of that sight had not entered into Amelia's plans for the day, but it was already the highlight. The man she loved, sharing one of her favorite activities, on the prairie she loved so much, looking like that. She was certain the sun could not compare to the heat radiating off her at that moment. Then Cooper smiled slyly at her. She quickly picked up her slackened jaw and turned forward again. She couldn't believe that after four months of marriage, he had reduced her to stumbling and blushing like a maiden again.

They rode the rest of the way in silence, although Brownie and Cooper had made their way next to her again. She pulled Blondie back slightly so she could watch Cooper's beautiful form out of the corner of her eye. The horses had picked up speed a bit on their own, realizing where they were probably headed, excited at the prospect of the prairie grasses that grew tall and sweet in the shade along the banks of the creek.

When they arrived at the small cluster of trees, Amelia hopped down with ease. She walked over to hold Brownie's reins again. "Just hold his mane, lean forward if you need to, and swing your leg back and over."

Cooper landed on the ground with a thump and groan. "How did men here manage to procreate?"

"We can test it to see if it still works," Amelia said. Pausing, she allowed a peal of laughter to escape as Cooper's eyes met hers. "Come on, we'll stake the horses and go rest in the shade."

The horses were staked, the quilt was spread under the tree, the saddle bags unpacked of food. They sat in the shade, already cooler because of the wind and the proximity to the swimming hole. Amelia took off her shoes and stockings, and pulled her dress up above her knees. It was a relief to be alone, at last, to really talk, not to be constantly guarding their words, constantly remembering their cover story, leaving out far too many details.

"Cooper, I was thinking - " she started, changing the topic away from the windmill plans Cooper had drawn up for her father that they had poured over together the evening before, after spending the day together, scouting the best location.

"Yes?" he looked over at her.

"As much as I love summer, I don't think we should travel out of season again. It's spring in California, and it feels strange to be summer here."

"Hmmmmm . . . yes, we can probably manage that. Unless there's a time traveling emergency."

Amelia smiled. "And what would that be?"

"You never know."

They both chuckled softly, and a natural lull in the conversation fell. Amelia was watching the horses, their manes swishing in the breeze.

"Are you ready to leave tomorrow? To go . . . home?" Cooper asked suddenly, breaking her thoughts.

Surprised, Amelia raised her eyebrows. Then she nodded firmly as she chewed her last bite of bread, her father's words ringing in her ears. "Actually, yes. I love this - being here, being peaceful on the prairie with the breeze and the horses - but I realize now I would have never been happy and fulfilled with this life."

"Good," Cooper said with surprising emotion.

"Cooper?" She turned to look at him.

He looked down at the quilt. "I was worried . . . that you might ask me to leave you behind. That you'd regret leaving, that this was still your home."

She reached out and lifted his chin with her hand. She saw in his eyes that he would have done it, if she'd asked. She saw that he worried a little that that was what she wanted all along, even as they planned this trip together. And yet he'd still brought her. She fell in love with him all over again. "No. What was it Emily Dickinson said? 'Where thou art, that is home.'"

Cooper smiled at her, but it looked sad.

Suddenly, she understood something else. "Cooper, did you know it would be like . . . like it was? Did you know Pa would be . . . angry?"

Looking away from her, loosening his chin from her touch, Cooper swallowed deeply. "I suspected he would, yes."

"Why didn't you say something to me?"

"Because you were so excited to come. So optimistic. Yes, overly-so, but I never want to crush that; if you weren't so optimistic and impulsive, I would have never won your heart. You would have never come back with me." He turned toward her again. "And I understand him. I can't imagine what it would be like to come home one day and find you gone."

"Never," Amelia said firmly. "Never. In any time or any place." She leaned forward to kiss his cheek gently. Wanting to break the melancholy, wanting to enjoy the summer day alone with Cooper, she said lightly, "My only wish is that there was one of those magic mailboxes."

"Magic mailboxes?" Cooper raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. I watched this movie with Penelope - The Lake House - and they were able to put their letters in a magic mailbox to send them to a different time. Then I could write to my parents and they could write back."

Cooper shook his head. "You shouldn't let Penelope fill your head with such nonsense, you know."

"How is it nonsense?" Amelia shot back. "You invented a time machine! Less than two weeks ago, we were living in 21st-century Los Angles, eating Thai take-out and playing a Lego video game. You could invent a magic mailbox, you know. It's just a miniature time machine. Everyone has to get an idea somewhere. Just like that H. G. Wells book gave you the idea to build a time machine. Right now, no one can imagine a time machine. But in eight years, they'll all be reading about them."

First he smiled at her, and then suddenly his mouth went slack. "Amelia, you're a genius! That's it!"

"What's it?" she asked.

Cooper reached out to grab her hand, the scabs of his single day as a farmer scratching her skin. "What if H. G. Wells didn't give me the idea? What if I gave him the idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"We go back in time, we befriend H. G. Wells before he becomes famous, we give him the idea of a time machine." His face was glowing, the idea swirling across it.

"Well, okay, that could have happened. Or could be how it will happen." Amelia shook her head at the paradox. "But that doesn't solve our mail problem."

"It could, though, don't you see? We already have period appropriate stationary that we bought in L.A., correct?" Amelia nodded. "So you write letters, we take them to Wells via time machine, he posts them. He's contemporary to this time. He's getting his college degree in England as we speak. The distance and faults in trans-Atlantic mail service at this time would explain any odd delays. Your parents write back, he saves them for us, we pick them up at the same time we go back to deliver more. And that's how he knows about the time machine!"

Amelia's breath caught. Could it . . . ? "But you mean I'd write several to take to him, and he'd sent them off one or two at a time? And we'd pick up a packet from him at one time?"

"Yes, I think so. Otherwise we'd have to buy a house there, set up a life there, too. We can't do that, live two lives. But long weekend every two or three months?" Cooper nodded, his eyes still bright. "Yes, it could work, I think."

"Wait," Amelia's face fell. "No, it does't work. How would my parents letters from Kansas get to England? If they're mailing them to California? And, even though we would be taking our letters to England, wouldn't that just confuse my parents? To see a British stamp?"

Cooper cocked his head. "Hmmmmm . . . " He put his index finger up to touch his chin. "You know, this could be better . . . The Normal School in L.A. will remain a teaching college for many years. And I'm too brilliant to be teaching at just a teaching college, even in our ruse. But if we say I got a job at Oxford, with its nascent physics program . . . Amelia, does our cover story have to be L.A.?

"Are you asking me to pretend to move to Victorian England with you?"

"I am."

"Oh, Cooper!" Amelia threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I love you so much!"

He patted her back, saying into the top of her head, "Save some of that enthusiasm for when we succeed."

His arms felt wonderful around her. They'd been so careful here to not display any inappropriate affection. It just wasn't done. But, sadly, she pulled away, his body making her too hot through all her clothes.

"Come on," she said, reaching up to unbutton her dress, "let's go swimming. I'm hot."

"I'm not swimming. I have nothing to wear," Cooper said. "And what did you bring to swim in? You can't swim in your underwear, they'll be chafing later if you do."

"Underwear?" Amelia screwed up her face as she stood to step out of her dress. "No, Cooper, I'm swimming naked." She removed the time machine fob hanging around her neck and carefully placed in deep into the saddlebag so it wouldn't get lost.

"Skinny dipping!" Cooper almost shouted. "Anyone could see you!"

Laughing, Amelia slipped out of her chemise. "Who would that be? There are no neighbors that would walk through this way. And Ma and Pa knew we were swimming. We've always left those swimming alone for just this reason. Ma and I might swim together or Pa and David, that's it." She paused. "And since when are you shy about being wet and naked in front of stranger?"

Her pantaloons were the last article of clothing to go, and she took a deep breath as the cooler air rushed at her body. Finally, for the first time since they'd arrived, she felt free. She reached up to undo her braids, wanting even her hair to experience this freedom. Ignoring Cooper, she walked toward the edge of the creek, out of the shade.

She stepped into the cool water, the sharp stones biting into the soles of her feet. Despite that, it felt so glorious to be unencumbered by layers of clothes, to feel the summer wind on her bare skin, the heat of the sun full upon her naked backside. Up to her ankles, she reached back for her hair and pulled it over her shoulder. She turned her head further, looking over her shoulder at Cooper, still resting bare-chested in the shade under the tree. "Are you sure you won't join me? I brought soap, too. It's in the saddle bag. You know you've been desperate for a bath . . ."

He stood without reply and reached down for the buttons on his pants.

"So, that's a yes?" Amelia asked.

"Don't act surprised. You pretend to be all innocent, batting your eyelashes, but you know you look like a sexy water nymph standing there naked, looking at me like that," he said, bending down to untie his shoes. "And you know I can't resist bathing with you."

Amelia laughed and ran into the pond, jumping forward at the last minute, shrieking at the cold rush of water on her skin. When she surfaced, pushing her wet hair back from her face, Cooper was tiptoeing in, his body so long and pale except for his sunburned forearms and face, the cake of soap in his hand. "Hurry up! The sooner you get in the less likely some wondering person will see you naked!"

He smiled at her, out of the top of his eyes, murmured, "oh, Lordy," and then ran into the water next to her, splashing the whole way. They laughed and splashed and scrubbed each other's hair and floated next to one another, talking further, until they decided to get out. Cooper led the way back to the quilt under the tree and sat down with a solid plump.

"I have to admit, Amelia, that was fun. Now, do you have anything to serve as a towel?" he asked.

"Of course." Getting a towel out of the saddle bag she threw it to him, and he immediately raised his arms to use it on his hair. She watched the water glisten on his skin, as his muscles rippled beneath his broad chest . . . Gosh, she loved soaping him up. She moved closer to him.

"Amelia, what are you doing?" he asked, pulling the towel down with one hand.

"What does it feel like I'm doing?" She shimmied on top of his lap. "Testing the equipment." She softly shook and rubbed her body against him. "It seems to be fully functional."

"But what if someone sees us?" he asked, his voice already horse and full of desire.

"What did I tell you about swimming? Ma and Pa will leave us alone, they know we've gone swimming." It crossed her mind for the second time that day that maybe her parents knew more about her plans than they let on. "And you know I can't resist drying you off."

"Well, if you're sure . . ." Cooper pulled her in for a kiss. And they made love on the prairie, Cooper's arms around her, the sparks and current running between them, just as it had on the prairie all those months ago.

THE END

Thank you in advance for your reviews! Coopmelia forever!

The adventures continue in Amelia and The Bee's Knees . . .