Robert Heinlein - Time Enough For Love

"And now I'll stop it." Mrs. Smith took a kerchief from her purse, wiped her eyes, blew her nose. "Don't take me home yet; the children must not see me with my eyes red."

Lazarus decided to break cover. "I love you, Maureen."

"I love you, Theodore. In spite of my tears, you have made me happy. By letting me unburden myself-and I should not have; you are going to war, too. I feel almost married to you now, by telling you things I haven't been able to talk about with anyone else. If you had put me on the grass and had me-it would have been sweet and just what I planned. But this is even closer. And sweeter. A woman can open-her body to a man without opening her mind. I had two babies by Brian before I learned to open my mind to him the way I have to you tonight."

"Perhaps our minds are much alike, Maureen. Your father thinks we are cousins."

"No, he doesn't, darling; he thinks you're my half brother."

"Did he say that?"

"And I think so, too. By things Father did not say, dear Theodore. By how broken up he was when he misunderstood you about your intention to enlist. By the way he insisted that we must claim a service star for you. I feel sure he is right...and I want to believe it. Yes, that makes what I tried to do to you dreadfully sinful in some people's eyes, Incest. I did not care a whit. Since I'm pregnant, it could not possibly cause harm to a baby and that's the only thing that could make incest wrong."

(How to tell her? How much to tell her? But I must make her believe me.) "Your church would call it sinful."

"I don't give a fig for the church! Theodore, I'm not devout; I'm a freethinker, like Father. Church is a good atmosphere for children-and gives me a proper appearance as a respectable wife and mother-that's all! 'Sin' would not stop me; I don't believe in sin the way the church means it. Sex isn't sin, sex is never sin. What would stop me would he a chance of getting pregnant by someone other than Brian-but I am pregnant. That you ere my half brother didn't cause me a moment's fret; it just made me more anxious to tell you a warrior's good-bye."

"Maureen, I'm not your half brother."

"Are you sure? Even if you're not, you are still my warrior-I was as proud as Father when you volunteered."

"I'm your warrior, be sure of that. But I need to know something. This man Nancy may marry- Is he a Howard?"

"What did you say?"

"Is he on the approved list of the Ira Howard Foundation?"

He heard her catch her breath. "Where did you hear of the Foundation?"

'"Life is short-'"

"'But the years are long,' " she answered.

" 'Not "While the Evil Days Come Not."'"

"Goodness! I- I think I'm going to cry again!"

"Stop it. What is the young man's name?"

"Jonathan Weatheral."

"-of the Weatheral-Sperling line. Yes, I remember. Maureen, I am not 'Ted Bronson.' I am Lazarus Long of the Johnson Family. Your family. I am descended from you."

For several moments she seemed not to breathe. Then she said softly, "I think I am losing my mind."

"No, my gallant love, you have as strong and sane a mind as I have ever met. Let me explain because I must tell you something and you must believe me. Have you read a novel by Mr. Herbert George Wells called The Time Machine?"

"Why, yes. Father has a copy."

"That's me, Maureen. Captain Lazarus Long, Time Traveler."

"But that book- I thought it was just a...a-"

"Just a story. It is. But it won't stay that way. Oh, not quite the way Mr. Wells visualized it. But that's what I am, a visitor from a future time. I didn't intend to let anyone suspect this; that's why I claimed to be a foundling. Not only is it hard to prove, but any attempt would interfere with my purpose which is simply to visit this time and observe it. Might even get me locked up as crazy. So I've been careful to keep my mask on, as careful as-well, as you are. In talking to those Simpsons. In not letting your children see you cry. You and I do it the same way. Audacity...plus never telling lies we can be caught in."

"Theodore, I think you believe this."

"Meaning that I sound sincere but must be crazy."

"No, no, dear, I- Yes, that's what I meant. I'm sorry."

"No reason to be sorry; it does sound crazy. But I'm not afraid that you will have me sent to St. Joe; I'm as safe with you as you are with me. But I must find some way to convince you that I am telling the truth...because I am about to tell you something you must believe. Or I have dropped my mask to no point."

He stopped to think. How to prove it? Some prediction? It would have to be very short range to serve the only purpose he had in breaking cover. But he hadn't briefed himself on this year; he hadn't intended to arrive until 1919 and knew so little about the years before 1919 that he had even mixed up the date that the United States got into this war. Lazarus, damn your sloppy ways, the next time you make a time trip you're going to memorize everything about the era that Athene can give you-and a wide margin on both sides!

Woodie's memories were no help; Lazarus did not even recall having been taken to Electric Park by a sergeant in uniform. Self-centered brat! Electric Park he remembered; Woodie Smith had gone there many times. But no visit stood out in his mind.

"Maureen, maybe you can think of some way I can prove to you that I'm from the future-something that will convince you. But this is why I had to tell you: Brian-your husband, my ancestor-will come back unharmed. He's going to go through battles. Shells will fall around him, shots will whistle past his ears-but none will touch him."

Mrs. Smith gasped. Then she said slowly, "Theodore how do you know?"

"Because you two are my ancestors. I couldn't memorize the Foundation's records on all the Howards of today but I did study the files on my own ancestors, ones I might have a chance to meet. You. Brian. Brian's parents in Cincinnati. And I figured out that Brian must have met you because he had attended Rolla, then found you on a Missouri list of eligibles-not the Ohio list-that the Foundation gave him. That's certainly something I didn't learn from you or Brian or Ira, and your children probably don't know it. Well, perhaps Nancy does; she's filled out her own questionnaire. Hasn't she?"

"Why, yes, months ago. Then it is true, Theodore. Or should I call you 'Lazarus'?"

"Call me anything you like, darling. But I still haven't proved anything. Just that I have had access to the Foundation's files-which might have been last year, not in the future. We're still looking for proof. Mmm...I know a proof for a few months from now-but I must make you believe me tonight. So you will have no more tears on your pillow. And I don't know how."

He caressed her thighs, touched her curls. "Here inside you is proof that won't show up in time. This last baby Brian put into your sweet belly- He's a boy, dearest ancestress, and you and Brian will name him 'Theodore Ira'-which flatters me enormously. When I read his name in the records, I didn't know that he was my namesake, as I hadn't picked my assumed name then."

She squeezed his hand with her thighs and sighed. "I want to believe you. But suppose Brian wants to name him Joseph? Or Josephine?"

"'Josephine' is not a name for a boy. Darling, Brian will name his war baby for the other two stars on your service flag; this war means a lot to him. He'll probably suggest it himself-I don't know. I just know that 'Theodore Ira' is the name you will register with the Foundation. My other ancestors- Adele Johnson, of course, your mother and Ira's wife. Lives in St. Louis. Left him around the time you got married but didn't divorce him-which probably irked him; I don't think Ira is a man to be celibate simply because his wife leaves but Won't turn him loose."

"He's not, dear. I'm certain Father has a-well, a mistress, and goes to see her some nights when he is supposed to be at that 'chess club'-and it's not a chess club; it's a pool hall. I go along with the pretense because he calls it that in front of the children."