“Who knows how our fateful interactions affect one another? If a butterfly flaps his wings in China, does it beget a war in Europe? The what-ifs of fate are endless: If Queen Isabella had not financed Columbus, if Hitler had won the war, if Einstein hadn’t written to Roosevelt urging him to develop the atomic bomb. Who are we to know, who are we to decide, who are we to be playing God?”

“But if you knew how dangerous the watch was, why didn’t you destroy it?” Nick asked.

“We are all fallible, Nicholas. No matter how noble we imagine ourselves to be, we each think of ourselves as righteous in our actions and beliefs, strong and of steadfast character. I thought I could resist its temptation, only making use of its ability in the most dire of circumstances.”

“And your wife’s death was such an instance,” Nick said in understanding.

“Actually, Nicholas, it was your wife’s death that was such an instance.”

Nick tilted his head in query.

“You leaped through time to save Julia. You would walk through the fires of hell and back if it meant she would live. Well, I know that level of love. I knew through your travels, seeing the death around you, you wouldn’t just stop your wife’s death but my Katherine’s and everyone else’s on that fateful flight.”

Shamus held up the letter Nash had given him and pointed to the Gaelic writing. “Hearing of Julia’s death, I sent Nash to you with the watch and this letter. It is one thing for my wife to die in the plane crash; it’s another for your wife to die innocently as the result of my failure to properly dispose of this thing. I love your wife like a daughter, Nicholas, and when I die, when my wife dies, my estate will fall to Julia, but let’s keep that between us.” Shamus smiled, patting Nick’s hand.

“If you would be so kind,” Hennicot said as he tilted the mahogany box toward Nick.

Nick looked at the gold watch in his hand, flipping open the cover, reading the engraving one last time: Fugit inreparabile tempus. He closed it and placed the watch in the circular velvet recess of the heavy mahogany box.

Dreyfus took the box from the table and closed the lid, turning each key and removing them, handing one to Nash, one to Hennicot, and tucking the last into his pocket.

Hennicot took hold of his elephant’s-head cane and stood. “Thank you, Nicholas, for being who you are.”

Hennicot shuffled toward the door to leave, Dreyfus and Nash right behind him.

“What are you going to do with it?”

“No worries. Paul and Zachariah are taking a little sailing trip in the western Pacific over the Marianas Trench. It’s almost seven miles deep there.”

Dreyfus and Nash nodded to Nick as they followed Shamus out the door.

JULIA WALKED IN, Coke in hand, along with a pack of Oreos. “Breakfast of champions.” She popped the Coke and handed it to him while she opened the blue wrapper on the Oreos.

“I sent Marcus home, he was making a play for the nurses; you know how he gets after making some money, the whole world is beautiful in his eyes.” Julia laughed. “I saw Shamus in the elevator. Did I ever tell you what a great guy he is? I love him like a second father.”

“He feels the same way about you,” Nick said as he stuck a cookie into his mouth, washing it down with a swig of soda.

“If I left my job,” Julia said slowly, “we’d be okay, right?”

“We might have to cut things back a bit but that’s fine with me.”

“I don’t care if we live in a shack as long as we’re together. I’m just thinking it’s time to focus on things besides money.”

“Funny you should say that,” Nick said. “I don’t think we’ll have any money troubles going forward.”

“How do you know that?” Julia asked.

“I got a little glimpse of the future.” Nick smiled. “Now, about starting that family,” Nick pulled Julia into his arms, kissing her deeply.

“Funny you should say that.” Julia sat on the bed and laid the two gift-wrapped packages in Nick’s lap, the teddy bears smiling up at him.

“Presents?” Nick picked up the first gift. “Mmm, feels like a book.”

Julia smiled, barely able to contain herself. “Do me a favor, open the other one first?”

Nick felt like a kid. “What is this, Christmas in July?”

“Better,” Julia said as she took hold of Nick’s hand squeezing it the way her mother used to squeeze hers when she was a child.

Nick tore open the wrapping paper on the other gift,

pulled out the frame,

and…

JULY 28

10:13 P.M.

SHAMUS, ZACHARIAH, AND PAUL Dreyfus stood in the parking lot of the hospital holding their respective keys. The two mahogany cases were the sole objects in the open trunk of the BMW. The locks on each had been released. Both cases were custom-designed and built by Paul; the box on the left was the final product, while the one on the right, identical in its construction, was the prototype.

Shamus reached out and lifted the lid of the dark wood case on the left. The dome light of the car’s trunk was absorbed by the black velvet compartment of the open box. Dreyfus reached into the case and withdrew the gold watch, staring at it, admiring it.

Nash’s brow furrowed in curiosity, as if he were a child who had just witnessed Houdini conjuring a rabbit from thin air.

“If that’s the watch we prevented from being stolen,” Nash stopped himself as he looked upon the closed mahogany case on the right, “what did Nick have?”

“The watch you gave him,” Shamus said, as if it was obvious.

“But I never gave it to him,” Nash said.

Shamus smiled. “Actually, you did, just not in our time line.”

Shamus lifted the lid of the case on the right, the one they had just carried down from the hospital room, and placed in the trunk of the car. Laying his cane against the car, he reached in and withdrew an identical gold watch.

“This one?” Nash pointed to the watch in Shamus’s outstretched hand.

“This is the watch that you gave Nick,” Shamus said. “The one that he used to prevent a horrible future, the one that he used to remove the reason to ever give him the watch in the first place. They are one and the same, a paradox brought on by violating the laws of physics.”

“So, you’re saying…?”

Shamus flipped open the watch cover to reveal the engraving. Fugit inreparabile tempus. “It’s identical, down to its smallest particle, as if it were the offspring of the original timepiece.”

“So, does this mean…?”

The three of them looked back and forth between the identical watches.

Shamus finally looked up… “Now there are two.”

LIFE IS FAR MORE enjoyable when you work with people you like and respect. I would personally like to thank:

Gene and Wanda Sgarlata, the owners of Womrath Bookshop in Bronxville, NY, for their continued support and friendship.

Peter Borland, for your inspiration, guidance, friendship, and enthusiasm. I’m beyond thrilled to be working together. Judith Curr, the most forward-thinking professional in the publishing world, and Louise Burke, for her unwavering support and belief. I could not be in better hands. Nick Simonds, for keeping it all together. Joel Gotler, for once again doing the impossible. Mike DeLuca, Alissa Philips, Meredith Finn, and everyone at New Line Cinema, for creating the initial excitement.

And heads and shoulders above all, Cynthia Manson. First and foremost, for being such a good friend. Everything else aside, it is a rare day when we find a true friend in this world, and finding one to work with is magic. Thank you for your innovative thinking, your continued faith, and your unlimited tenacity.

Thank you to my family: Richard, for your creative, intellectual mind, your strength of character, and sense of humor in the face of adversity. Marguerite, for your tenacious approach to life, your warm, caring heart, which reminds me of everything that is good in this world, and your never-ending sense of style and beauty no matter how dark the day. Isabelle, for your laugh that fills my soul, your sense of adventure, and your constant curiosity about the world around you.