The Christmas Eve Daughter - A Time Travel Novel: The Sequel to The Christmas Eve Letter

by Elyse Douglas

  When Eve had slid one of the panes open to look inside, she’d seen something blocking the wick. To her surprise, she found an envelope wedged behind the pane. Intrigued, she tugged at the edge of the envelope and, with a little effort, it slid out, a cream-colored envelope, glazed with dust and soot.

  When she turned it over to see the addressee, a shiver ran up her spine. It was addressed to her, Evelyn Sharland. The postmark circle read New York, New York Main Post Office, December 24, 1885, 3 PM.

  Eve had not opened the letter in the shop. Shaken, she’d purchased the lantern and the letter, and returned home. In the quiet of her apartment, she’d opened and read it. Her heart raced when she realized it had been written by a distraught man in 1885, confessing his love for a woman who was poor, while he was the wealthy John Harringshaw, heir to the fortune of a famous New York society family.

  He was full of despair because he hadn’t asked Evelyn to marry him and now it was too late. She was dying. Eve read that it had been the lantern that had connected the two: she, Evelyn Sharland, a distant relation to Eve, had come to the man’s rescue when his carriage had overturned in a blinding snowstorm. As she clambered into the overturned carriage, it was the lantern’s warm glow that first revealed John Harringshaw’s handsome and frightened face.

  It was that lantern that, with Eve’s help, would be the conduit—the object that would bind the two lovers together through the rolling years. Following the instructions in the letter, Eve had lit the lantern, and the magic flame had sent her bursting through a boundary that separated the present from the past. She had landed in 1885, New York.

  During the course of her time travel adventure, she had met Detective Sergeant Patrick Gantly and they had fallen in love. Patrick had also been instrumental in helping her save Evelyn’s life, and bringing Evelyn and John Harringshaw together so they could marry and live a happy life together.

  But all had not gone well for Patrick. As a detective, he had been assigned to protect Albert Harringshaw, John’s notorious brother. During the famous and celebrated Harringshaw ball of 1885, Patrick had been shot and mortally wounded by Albert’s former mistress, who was trying to kill him. When Patrick was close to death, Eve stole him from the hospital, lit the lantern and returned them both to 2017 so Patrick’s life could be saved by modern medicine.

  A short time after Eve and Patrick returned to 2017, a letter arrived from John Harringshaw, dated 1930. In it, he thanked Eve for bringing him and Evelyn together. To show his gratitude, he had set up a trust for Eve, which she would receive in 2017. At the modern rates, the trust turned out to be worth over five million dollars.

  Free from the past, Eve and Patrick fell deeply in love and were married in February 2018. Eve had the life of her dreams: a man she admired and loved; a profession she loved, as a nurse practitioner; and plenty of money to live as they pleased. She did not want to lose this wonderful life to return to an uncertain past where she could very possibly lose everything.

  But after reading the article about Maggie, the daughter Patrick never knew he had, Patrick was tormented and unhappy. Old memories were dragging him into the past. What was she going to do?

  Patrick left the bed, stepped to the window, peeled back the curtain and peered out into the darkness. As Eve took him in, she marveled at his muscled frame, his taut stomach, his wide chest and the forest of black hair covering his chest. How much she loved him!

  “I feel like a ghost sometimes,” Patrick said, staring out the window into the black, rainy night. A ghost roaming lost in a black night like this. I feel like a man who doesn’t belong anywhere, and who wanders in a fog. When I read that article about Maggie… when I felt that sharp urge to go get her, I thought: I will be a man of flesh again. I will have something from my time that I can bring back and it will help make me whole and complete again.”

  Eve breathed in her anxiety, her eyes staring hard at her twisting hands.

  “I hear Maggie’s plea all the time, Eve. I hear her pleading call to me, her father, to come save her. Don’t you see? We can bring her back to this time and give her all the love and support she never had in the past. It is my duty as her father to do that. How can I live this good life with you here, knowing full well that my daughter Maggie perished in a fog of drugs and alcohol, left to die at the hands of some low-life villain? She deserves better, Eve. My mind is aflame with torture and guilt.”

  Eve wanted to hold fast to the present, to Patrick, to the miracle of their marriage and to their hope for future happiness, and yet she knew now that the only way to keep Patrick was to let him go.

  With a weary resignation, she knew they’d have to try to return to his time, 1885, to retrieve his baby daughter, Maggie, and bring her to this time. It was a terrible risk. It was an awful decision to have to make.

  “Patrick…” she said softly, mustering the courage to say the words that stuck in her throat. “Let’s go back and get Maggie.”

  Patrick shot her a look, his face stricken.

  And then Eve saw a flash of hope in his eyes. He backed away from the window and straightened to his full six-foot-three inches height, looking newly energized, and gloriously sexy.

  “Come here, Patrick,” Eve said, in a low, caressing voice.

  CHAPTER 4

  Sunday morning came with a late autumn sun, a clear blue sky, and chilly air that trembled and scattered yellow leaves. While Patrick slept, Eve took Georgy Boy for a walk in Riverside Park. She was meeting her friend, Joni Kosarin, so she could tell her about Patrick’s dilemma and their shaky decision to use the lantern to return to the past.

  Joni was the only person alive who knew about Eve and Patrick and their time travel adventure. She was an actress, dancer and singer, who often worked out of town in regional theatre. When she was not performing, she supplemented her income working in sales at a camera rental house, renting cameras and lenses to Indie filmmakers and companies like Netflix and Hulu for their movie production streaming service.

  Joni was tall, with a jet-black Cleopatra hairstyle, snow white skin and dark blue eyes that looked out into the world with both wonder and suspicion.

  She came striding toward Eve and Georgy Boy with a broad smile, her red purse swinging. She wore skinny jeans, a black leather jacket, gold sneakers and big sunglasses. She was clutching two paper cups of Starbucks coffee, with a bag of cinnamon donuts tucked under an arm.

  “Hello, dahling,” she said in her affected style of talking, like a theatre actress diva from the 1920s. Georgy Boy’s tail went into full wag when he spotted her, and he strained on his leash. Joni had cared for him when Eve had vanished into 1885, and so Georgy Boy loved her. She gave Eve a peck on either cheek, handed Eve her coffee and the bag of donuts, and then stooped to stroke Georgy Boys’ head, her lips puckered as she baby-talked him.

  They found a bench and sat. Georgy Boy crouched at Eve’s feet, his eyes alert, searching for squirrels, his tail flicking.

  The girls sipped their coffees and nibbled the donuts, as if small measured bites meant they were consuming fewer calories. They talked about their work and a few mutual friends, presenting their faces to the dazzling sun.

  Finally, Joni rolled her head toward Eve. “Do I really want to know what you’re about to tell me? I heard the tension in your voice when you texted.”

  “How can you hear a text, Joni?” Eve asked.

  “When you’re tense, Eve, you text words like ‘Need your advice’ and ‘You’re not going to believe this.’”

  “Well, you’re not going to believe this,” Eve said, with a little shake of her head.

  Joni turned away, leaned her head back and shut her eyes. “Don’t tell me Patrick wants to join the FBI and work with your father.”

  “No, nothing like that. You know how suspicious Dad already is about Patrick and my flimsy excuse about why I can’t remember what happened to me for all those months.”

  “Well, I don’t blame him. I told you that was a stupid excuse. You
should have just told him the truth.”

  “Yeah, right, Joni. Like he’d believe me.”

  “And if he did, he’d want to show the lantern to the FBI.”

  “Which brings me to why I need to talk to you,” Eve said.

  Joni’s eyes popped open. “Oh, no… Don’t tell me.”

  Eve produced her phone, logged in and found the article about Maggie Lott Gantly.

  “I’m not going to say anything until you read this,” Eve said.

  Joni made a sour face as she reluctantly took the phone. She twisted away from the sun, using her body to block the sunlight so she could read.

  Eve watched leaves sail and drift while she mindlessly finished a donut and sipped coffee, feeling wound up and edgy.

  Eve knew Joni had finished the article when she heard her say, “Oh, my God.”

  Eve looked at her friend. “Patrick wants to go back.”

  Joni focused on Eve, giving her a keen appraisal. She handed Eve’s phone back to her and then rose to her feet. Georgy Boy got up, looking at Joni, who toed the ground with her metallic gold sneakers.

  “You can’t do it, Eve.”

  “Then I lose Patrick. He’s determined to light the lantern, go back, find Maggie as a baby, and bring her back here.”

  Joni’s mouth firmed up. “Do you know what I think about that lantern? It’s like a ticking, unstable bomb about to go off. It’s too dangerous. I thought you were going to toss the thing.”

  Eve tried to settle the thoughts that swarmed in her head. “I didn’t, Joni. I wish I had, but I didn’t.”

  “Well, toss it now. The woman died in 1914. It’s over. You and Patrick have it all, Eve: you love each other, you have a job you love, and you have mucho money…”

  Eve’s voice was low, and she avoided Joni’s stare.

  “Will you take care of Georgy Boy for me? Will you look after things while we’re away?”

  “Away? You sound like you’re going on a vacation to the Caribbean or something. Are you crazy, Eve? Are you completely out of your friggin’ mind?”

  “We’ve planned it out. When we get there, Patrick will look up his police buddies, and he’ll find out where Maggie is in Bushwick, Brooklyn. We’ll move in fast, grab her and run for it.”

  “And how will you get back? As I recall from the last time, the lantern in this time didn’t follow you back in that time, remember? After you had vanished, the police gave me the lantern to hold on to, along with your cell phone and your purse. They were sure you had meant to hide for a time. You had to go search for the lantern in 1885 to return home, remember?”

  “Yes, Patrick and I thought about that.”

  Joni lifted her hands and cocked her head, as if to say, “Yeah. So?”

  Eve shot up. “I don’t know, Joni. We may not land in the same place or even in the same year. I just don’t know. We may get stuck and I may have to live out the rest of life back there. I just don’t know. I’ve tried to talk Patrick out of doing this, but he has nightmares. He wakes up screaming. He’s not eating. He feels guilty.”

  “I gather you didn’t know about any of this? I mean, Patrick didn’t tell you?”

  “No… Patrick keeps going to the Cathedral and asking for forgiveness. Joni, in many ways, Patrick is still a 19th-century man. And I think, in many ways, he misses his time.”

  Joni scratched her head. “Okay, Eve. Let’s walk and talk.”

  They passed parents pushing kids in strollers, and Eve pushed away thoughts of her and Patrick starting a family. Joggers puffed by; bicyclers slowed and weaved along the edge of the wide carriage path, and dog walkers smiled when they saw Georgy Boy, who barked at the dog cluster.

  “Eve, what if you end up back where you started from? What if you have to do the whole thing over again? What if you don’t meet Patrick or…”

  Eve cut her off. “…I know, Joni. I know. I’ve thought about it ever since Patrick brought it up. If we make it back to 1885, all we can hope for is that somehow the lantern is smart enough to at least drop us where we were when we left last December.”

  “Oh, that’s great,” Joni said. “So then Patrick is dying from a gunshot wound and there are no antibiotics back there, so he’ll die.”

  Eve stopped short and shut her eyes, obviously struggling with emotion.

  Joni went to her. “Okay, I’ll stop with all the scary questions. Yes, if you really want to go through with this thing, I’ll take care of Georgy Boy and look after things for you. Whatever you need. I guess if I was married to Patrick Gantly, I’d do it too. I mean, let’s face it, Eve, Patrick is the hunkiest and sexiest man either of us has ever known. You know how jealous of you I am.”

  “You have Rick.”

  “True, true, and Rick is good looking.”

  “Yes, he is. And he loves you, and he makes good money.”

  “Yes… But Patrick Gantly he isn’t. Let’s face it, Eve, there’s just something about Patrick’s old-world charisma that doesn’t exist today.”

  They started walking again.

  “Okay, so when are you two going?”

  “Saturday afternoon, November 24th. I need to give some notice, and we need to arrange some things. I’ll transfer money into your account for expenses, and I’ll give you extra for helping us.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Eve.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “What are you going to tell your parents?”

  Eve sucked in a breath. “Listen to this. I’m going to tell them that we’re going to the Amazon for a few weeks, to live like the natives. We won’t have cell phones; no way to stay in touch.”

  “And you expect your father to believe that?”

  “No, but it’s the best I’ve got… so far.”

  When Joni turned her eyes on Eve, Eve avoided looking at her.

  “Eve, you could still throw the lantern in the river, or even better, you could take a hammer to it.”

  “And then I’d lose Patrick. I love him too much to see him in so much pain. I keep hoping that when we light the thing, it won’t work. I keep hoping that it has no power, or that the power is all used up.”

  “Have you thought about where the other lantern might be? The lantern that remained in 1885 and got you back home. Do you have any idea where it might have ended up?”

  “Yes…You remember that two men helped me get Patrick out of the hospital, into a hospital ambulance, and then out to Central Park. I’ll never forget their names: Daniel Fallow and Jacob Jackson. In the letter that John Harringshaw wrote in 1930, he said that after we vanished, a lantern was found on a park bench in Central Park. But then it disappeared, and no one knew what happened to it. I keep thinking and hoping that either Daniel or Jacob took the lantern. I mean, who else would have taken it, if not them? I’m hoping I can find them and persuade them to let me use it once more. It’s a long shot, but it’s all I’ve got.”

  Joni shook her head. “What if you can’t find them?”

  “Then we’ll be stuck in 1885.”

  Joni shook her head again. “The whole thing just blows my mind, Eve. It’s just so weird and hard to believe. I have a good imagination and I’ve got to tell you, I can’t imagine what it must be like to time travel like that.”

  A pigeon with one hopeful eye turned up and watched them, as a flock of sparrows skimmed overhead and landed in the trees, screeching.

  Eve shrugged loosely. “It’s another world back there, Joni. It’s scary, wonderful and so foreign from this world. The people are different, the smells, the manners, the speech, the food… everything. It’s like being on another planet.”

  Joni thought about that. “Part of me wishes I could go with you.”

  “Don’t even think about it.”

  “You know what intrigues me, Eve? That Patrick’s daughter was a well-known actress and performed with the Ziegfeld Follies. That is just so awesome. Do you know anything about the Ziegfeld Follies?”

  “Not much.”

&nbs
p; “If you were an actress, dancer, or singer back then, you definitely wanted to get into the Ziegfeld Follies. They were massive, lavish revues—kind of like the later Broadway shows and the higher-class Vaudeville variety shows. You remember the musical Funny Girl with Barbara Streisand?”

  “Yeah… I saw it a long time ago.”

  “Well, it was based on Fanny Brice’s life. She was one of the top entertainers for the Follies, like Eddie Cantor, Josephine Baker and Ann Pennington. Anyway, Patrick’s daughter must have been a real talent to be performing in the Ziegfeld Follies, and from her picture, she was a hot beauty.”

  Joni finally finished her coffee and tossed it into a garbage can. The two moved on for a time, before Eve turned to view a sliver of the Hudson River, glittering in the sunlight.

  “Joni… Will you come with us to the park and take the lantern and my cell phone and my purse back home with you, after we’re gone? They didn’t travel with me the last time and I’m sure they won’t this time either. I’m planning on wearing a security belt this time, though, and I hope and pray all the things I put in it will travel.”

  Eve’s words hung in the air, waiting.

  Joni zipped up her jacket. “The whole thing freaks me out.”

  “Will you, Joni? I can’t ask anyone else, and I can’t leave them in the park.”

  “Yeah, sure. But if you two do vanish, I’m probably going to faint.”

  Eve drew in a breath, trying not to sound scared. “To be perfectly honest, I don’t think we’ll make it back, Joni. There are just too many unknowns. It’s going to be almost impossible to find that lantern in 1885. And without it, we’re not going anywhere.”

  Joni stopped, Eve did the same. Joni stared at Eve, tears suddenly springing to her eyes. “Don’t say that, Eve. You’ll find a way. I know you will.”

  “If we can’t get back, I’ll write you a letter and take it to a law firm. I’ll have them put it away until December 2018, and have it delivered to you, just as John Harringshaw did for me. In that letter, I’ll let you know what happened to us. I’m also making sure that if anything does happen, you’ll get some money.”