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or some stewed fruit; eating it raw was paramount to insanity in Cook’s opinion, but there was never any type of dessert that really satisfied Valerie’s sweet tooth.  Valerie gleefully paid for her purchases and left the store, eager to get back to Alec.  God, it felt good to shop.

Chapter 7  
     
    Alec flipped through the pages of the magazine between taking bites of chocolate.  The painkiller had worn off somewhat and he was cranky and in pain, grumbling about the indignity of wearing a flimsy gown that left most of his backside exposed.  According to him, no man should be so humiliated, especially in a place of learning and medicine.  Valerie just smiled at him and agreed, knowing that it wasn’t really the gown he had an issue with, but the feeling of helplessness.  He was used to being in charge of a situation, but right now he probably felt like a guinea pig, with doctors and nurses coming in to check his vitals, take his temperature, and check on the incision to make sure it showed no signs of infection. 
    The glossy pictures of race cars and the bittersweet chocolate melting on his tongue soothed him a bit, as did the sight of Valerie in a flirty summer dress that bared her shoulders and stopped just above the knees.  She looked twenty years younger with her hair loose and her long legs bare beneath the hem of the dress.  It reminded him of how she looked when he first laid eyes on her, thinking her some deranged maiden who was wandering about the countryside in her undergarments.  Alec finished off the chocolate and glanced up at Valerie, who seemed very agitated as she rummaged through the bag and turned out the pockets of her homespun skirt that she’d removed only a few minutes ago.
    “What’s wrong, Val?” he asked, taken aback by her stricken expression.  She was holding the coins and Louisa’s ring in her hand, but her face was white, her eyes brimming with tears.
    “Alec, it’s gone.  Oh, God, it’s gone,” she whimpered as she sank into a chair, her legs buckling beneath her.
    “What’s gone?”
    “The watch — the time-travel watch.  It’s gone.  I must have dropped it while I was trying on clothes.  I have to go back to the store.” 
    With that, she ran from the room, leaving Alec feeling sick to his stomach.  She had to find it.  It was probably in the room where she tried on clothes, on the floor, just waiting to be found , unless someone else had found it already.  Maybe they’d turned it in, but maybe they simply smiled at their good fortune and shoved it in their pocket before leaving the store and destroying their only chance of returning home. Alec took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.  She’d find it; she had to.
    Alec put aside the magazine and the candy bar, unable to take another bite.  In a crisis, he normally assessed his options and tried not to assume the worst until he had a reason to, but this time it wasn’t working.  The only option was to find the watch.  The alternative was unthinkable.  Alec tried to remain calm, but he wanted nothing more than to rip out the tube hooked up to his arm, tear off the offensive gown, and go find Valerie.  He knew it was out of the question, but sitting by idly while their lives hung in the balance was intolerable. Every minute felt like an hour as he waited for Valerie to return, his thoughts spinning out of control and his blood pressure spiking enough to alarm the nurse.
    **
    Valerie finally returned three hours later.  Alec didn’t need to ask if she’d found the watch.  Her face was ashen, and the look in her eyes was that of someone who’d just lost all hope for the future.  Valerie’s hands were shaking, and she threw herself into a chair and burst into tears, her hands over her face as she sobbed, her whole body convulsing with grief.  “It’s gone,” she wailed.  “We’re trapped.  We’re trapped forever.  We’ll never see our family again, and they won’t know what happened