PART 5 OF A SERIES: Lily Kate Monroe and her brother David reside in one of Waco’s oldest houses. Filled with reminders of fascinating family history, it is also the setting of an intriguing puzzle and a mysterious watch.

Lily Kate, David and Garnet left the Cotton Palace celebration early and hurried home. A baby’s cries greeted them. Wagging her head, Tildy took their wraps. “Goodness, Miss Lillian. I’m certainly glad you’re home. That baby is not one bit happy.”

“Did you find a wet nurse?”

“Yes’m, but that baby doesn’t want to nurse her. She just cries and cries.”

“Poor thing.” Lily Kate removed her gloves and went into the kitchen. A young black woman sat in a rocking chair struggling to nurse the newborn, her own young baby in a cradle at her feet. Lily cooed at the bundle as she stroked the baby’s cheek with the back of her fingers. “Oh, little darlin’. You must eat. Try stroking her cheek.”

“Yes’m.” The young mother mimicked Lily Kate, stroking the baby’s face. The infant latched on and began to nurse hungrily.

Lily Kate backed up, bumping into her brother. “Sorry, David. Let’s give them some privacy.”

Garnet hovered over the nursing child. She turned toward Lily and David, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “A baby, David. We finally have a baby in the house.” She whispered as she caressed the baby’s toes peeking out from the blanket.

“Let me burp her when she’s ready.”

Garnet gathered her skirt around her and sat on the edge of one of the wooden kitchen chairs. “I’ll sit here quietly and wait.”

David backed out the door and pulled Lily into the hallway. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“But ... the baby.”

David tugged on the lapels of his coat and then slapped his chest. “This isn’t us, Lily. Not really. Somehow we have been given a window into our heritage, but we have to get back home. For goodness sake, Sis! There’s a woman in there who expects me to be her husband.”

“Very well. Just a moment.” Lily went back through the kitchen door. “Garnet, I believe I’ll go on to bed. I’m not feeling very well.”

“Oh?” Garnet started to rise.

“I’m fine. Simply a headache. Too much excitement tonight, I suppose. David can go with me. I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”

“I think I’ll turn in also, Garnet,” David said. “It’s been a long day.”

“Very well. Good night, Lillian. I’ll be up soon, David.” Garnet turned her attention back to the baby.

The album lay on the bed where David had tossed it when they were catapulted through the time warp. A lantern flickered on a writing table and cast dark shadows on the two siblings’ faces as they hesitated at the foot of the bed.

“C’mon, Sis. Let’s get on with this. I don’t want to hang around here any longer.” He picked up the book and sat on the bed with it open in his lap as he stroked his moustache.

“Wait, David. I don’t know ...” She grabbed for the album as he was swallowed up in the darkness. It thudded to the floor. “No! David, don’t go without me.” Frantic, she picked the volume up and fanned the pages. Nothing. No, no! This can’t be, she thought. I can’t be left stranded here!

Minutes passed as she clasped the album to her chest and paced back and forth. She heard Garnet go to their room. What, who would David’s “wife” find in her room?

Lily Kate wanted to run out of the house screaming, but that would accomplish nothing. Maybe if I look at some of the pictures, she thought, maybe that will put the time warp into motion. She pulled the chair from the desk and turned up the lantern. Removing the note from her reticule, she tucked it into her belt. She turned page after page of old tintypes and letters — letters received from David when he fought in the Civil War and correspondence concerning the Cotton Palace. She skimmed through newspaper articles about the horrific public lynching of a black man in 1916 and the coming of Camp Mac Arthur to Waco. 1916? World War I? She stared at the newspaper articles. It was only 1894. World War I was 13 years in the future. The familiar swirling enveloped her. She closed her eyes and waited.

A warm breeze blew across her face. She opened her eyes. Sunlight danced across the wicker furniture and parlor palms on the porch. An older Garnet stepped through the front door and faced her. Lily looked down at the white linen lawn dress trimmed in blue that she was wearing. The watch hung around her neck.

“I really don’t want you to do this, Katherine.”

“D-do what?”

Garnet wove her hankie round and round her fingers. “Volunteer to work at the Red Cross. It’s dangerous — all those soldiers. And since the police closed the ... The Reservation ... those disgraceful women are milling around downtown, trying to find work. And I’ve heard that several of them are volunteering for the Red Cross. It’s unseemly. You’re a proper young lady.”

Wartime. It’s obviously summer — must be the summer of 1917. That’s when Camp MacArthur opened. She would be 23 years old now — an old maid by the standards of the day.

“I don’t care if you are a nurse. As your mother, let me assure you that you have no business down there.” Garnet sat her plump figure down in the wicker rocker and picked up a fan from the side table. “Whoo! It’s hot already and not even 10 o’clock. The trolley will be along soon.”

A nurse? And she called herself “Mother.” Garnet and David raised her, not Lillian?

Several moments of an uneasy silence passed. Lily Kate cleared her throat. “You’ve told me many times before, Gar-uh, Mother, but what exactly happened to Aunt Lillian?”

“You never get tired of hearing the story, do you?”

Lily Kate shook her head.

“The night you were born was the opening of the Cotton Palace. We came in from the festivities, and she went straight to her room. Said she wasn’t feeling well. I stayed up with you and when your father went to check on her later, she was lying on the floor with our family album open. The watch you now wear was clasped in her hand. She was gone. We don’t know what happened. Her heart probably gave out.”

“And the watch ... it ...”

“Uh, well, we wanted you to have the watch since it was ... since Aunt Lillian was wearing it when she passed. Seeing as how you’re named for her, it seemed fitting you should have it.”

Garnet was dodging the truth. But perhaps she never knew the truth — that the baby was the child of their nephew and a prostitute from The Reservation. What had happened to the note?

Lily Kate felt around the blue sash with her fingers. There it was. It made the jump through time with her.

A clang down the street announced the trolley was on its way. Garnet gave Lily Kate a smothering hug before she left the porch and got on the trolley. She rode to Franklin where she spotted a sign designating the Red Cross headquarters. She got off and made her way across the street amidst horse-drawn buggies and the new-fangled motorcars. Soldiers in uniform walked in and out of stores, leaning against lampposts, glancing aside at her as she entered the large tent.

A stern-looking, lanky woman with heavy eyebrows looked up as she entered the tent. “May I help you, young lady?” Her voice was soft and kind, not stern at all.

“I came to volunteer.”

“Have you registered?”

“I ... I’m not sure.”

“Do you have nurse’s training or do you want to give blood or wrap bandages or ... what do you want to do?”

“Hello, Katherine!” A woman of about 45 years of age waved at her from the bedside of a young soldier. “Where’s your uniform? Nurses can wear their own uniforms. You’re way too dressed up.”

“Oh, I didn’t know I needed to wear my own ...”

“Never mind.” She waved at the woman at the registry table. “Blanche, she’s already signed up. C’mon back. I’ll get you started.”

“Thanks, Ivy.”

Lily Kate picked her way down the aisle toward Ivy. Most of the soldiers seemed to be there for minor issues. The main activity appeared to be wrapping bandages. Ivy pointed out a stack of cloth on a table next to her. “Dig in.”

Lily bent over to pick up the bandages, holding the watch as it swung from her neck. She heard a gasp from the older woman. Ivy grabbed the watch with a trembling hand, her face drained of all color. “Where did you get this watch?”

Golden Keyes Parsons has written four novels for Thomas Nelson Publishing, three of which were set during the reign of French King Louis XIV. This is the fifth article in a 12-part historical fiction series scheduled to appear in Waco Today.

Catch up wih past installments of A Watch in Time at wacotrib.com/wacotoday.

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