My stomach growled in response to her suggestion of food. “Are you feeling well Elizabeth?” I asked out of concern.
“I will be fine. I promise.”
I knew she was lying to me, but I didn’t want to force her to talk about it. “Does this have to do with what we spoke about before?”
Tears ran down her cheeks in a torrent. “There is nothing you can do for me. Let’s just not talk about it just now. Please?” she pleaded with me.
“I’m here if you need somebody to confide in, Elizabeth.”
“Thank you, truly. But I don’t believe confiding in anyone would make this any better.”
I sighed, “Well, how about we eat downstairs today? Matthew said it was ok with him as long as I am with you and I’ve been dying to get out of this room.” I struggled into the dress I had discarded on the floor and sat down to attempt to put my hair up.
“Here, let me help you with that. You have such pretty hair.” She took my pins and began styling my hair the way the women of this time did theirs. I was grateful for the help. When my hair was finished, she pinched my cheeks to give me a little color and turned me towards the mirror. Fussing over me seemed to help her forget her troubles. “There, now you look like a proper lady.” She had her cheek next to mine and we both smiled at the mirror together. If I were home, and this were Sam, she would have her phone out taking a selfie with me which would immediately be posted on social media. None of that here. Here memories remained in your mind, lost forever once you died.
“Thank you for your help, Elizabeth. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
She waved me off, “It’s no trouble. It’s not every day you make a friend of a time traveler. Now let’s get going before all the eggs are gone.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me out the door and down the stairs. Before I knew it, we were seated at a table and Harold himself was putting plates of eggs, bacon, and buttered bread before us with glasses of milk.
I dived into my plate suddenly starving as the delicious smells hit my nose. “Everything I have eaten here is so good,” I said to her. I took a drink of my milk and resisted the urge to spit it back into the glass. Spoke too soon. I forgot they didn’t have pasteurization yet. The milk was warm and thick. It coated my tongue like cough syrup.
Elizabeth saw the look on my face, “Is something wrong?”
I leaned across the table, “In my time, milk is served ice cold. I just wasn’t expecting it to be warm.”
She waved at Harold and got his attention. “Can we have a few glasses of water, Harold? Taryn doesn’t fancy the milk.” He nodded and scurried off.
I wasn’t entirely sure I would like the water either. With no filtration, it was liable to taste dirty to me. I was pleasantly surprised though, when he returned with the water it was clear, cold, and delicious. “The inn has the best water in town. There is a well running on the property, so we don’t have to go far for it.”
“It’s perfect,” I said. We finished our meal giggling and joking. Just a couple girls enjoying time together. Almost four hundred years separated us, but right now, we were one and the same. Everyone stopped to look at us, but no one tried to speak to us. We were in our own club.
“I’m stuffed!” she exclaimed.
“Me too. That was amazing. Do we pay Harold?” I asked her.
“Don’t worry about it. Matthew paid him for the week for food and board for the both of you, plus extra to thank him for letting you stay. It’s only supposed to be one person per room.”
That perplexed me, “Why only one person per room?” I asked.
“Because it keeps this place from turning into a brothel. The men that stay here can’t rent out rooms just to bring a whore here or to be unfaithful to their wives. Harold runs a tight ship. This place has been in his family for generations. His father ran it before him and so did his grandfather. The boy over there clearing dishes is his son, Samuel, and his wife, Martha, does the majority of the cooking.” I looked over and saw the boy that was around fifteen or so picking up dishes and mugs. Now that she pointed it out to me, he was the spitting image of his father.
“Oh, wow. He looks just like a younger version of him.”
“Harold is a really good man. He took me on after my momma died giving birth to my youngest sister five years ago. The baby survived but my mother died three days later. I help my papa feed the little ones, two boys and a girl besides me. It’s hard for him, working all day and not having a wife at home to take care of things. It’s why he hasn’t married me off yet. Usually by twenty-three, a woman would be married with an army of kids herself by now, but he needs me too badly.”
I had wondered why a girl as pretty as she was remained unmarried, but I hadn’t said anything. “Does it upset you that you haven’t been able to start your own life yet?” I asked.
“No. My little brothers and sister look up to me so much. It makes me happy to see them grow and be happy.”
“I didn’t have any brothers or sisters, but my best friend Sam was like a sister to me. She lived with my parents and I after her parents split up and her mom passed away. I miss her a lot.” I wondered if Sam and the Professor had looked for me after I disappeared. How long did it take them to realize I was just gone? I wish I could call her and tell her I was ok.
“Well, are you ready to go and see the sights?” she asked me stacking the plates on the edge of the table. “Matthew gave me a pouch full of gold this morning on his way out and told me to make sure to get you everything you could need,” she held the little bag up before tucking it safely back into her apron. “Honestly, it’s the most gold I have ever seen.”
“I’ve never been more ready for anything in my entire life.” I said. I rushed to the door and waited for her to catch up.
Once outside, a jolly man with a bushy beard called Elizabeth’s name. He had a small coach tethered behind a single old mare with a mane so long it fell in her caramel colored face. “Going into town today, lovely?” he asked her with a big grin.
“Indeed we are Thomas. Is your coach available by chance?” she smiled at him warmly.
He took his hat off and gave her a little bow, highlighting the small bald spot on the top of his head. “For you, it is always available. Will your friend there be joining you as well?”
“Yes, this is Taryn. She is a friend of the Witch Hunter General. She is staying here as his guest,” she told him. I appreciated her introducing me as such, it helped give me a foothold to legitimacy in this time.
“How do you do?” I asked him.
“Very well, thank you.” His smile lit up his whole face and made little crinkly lines next to his eyes. But his eyes were much brighter when they fell on Elizabeth. “Climb aboard ladies, I’ll take you where ever you wish to go.”
We climbed inside the open top carriage and sat side by side facing the driver. “Can you please take us to that fancy dress shop on Main St. Thomas?” she asked. “I have strict orders to dress this woman in beautiful dresses.”
“Yes Ma’am!” His enthusiasm was contagious, and I felt myself smiling with him as he sung a little tune navigating us to our first destination of the day.
I turned to Elizabeth since we were out of earshot. “You look as if you haven’t slept. Please tell me if something more happened.”
She leaned her head on my shoulder. “The man that hurt me, he approached me again. At first, I told him no and that I wanted nothing to do with him whatsoever, and frankly, I was a bit scared of him. But anyway, he approached me again last night. I thought and thought about what he said to me and I decided there was no way around it, so I went back to his room.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “Why would you put yourself in danger like that?”
She toyed with her fingers in her lap like she was ashamed. “Well, you remember my little siblings I was talking about? And my poor Papa?” she asked. “We never really have enough money for everybody to have what they need. Little Grace, that’s my baby sist
er, she is five and she has never had a pair of shoes. The man offered me more money than I would see in a month. I didn’t want to do it, Taryn. I almost threw up walking up those stairs to his room, but I did it for them.” She sagged in her seat. “I ran out before he paid me and I don’t dare go to him and ask for the money. I’m afraid he will make me do it again.”
I was very concerned, “Elizabeth, he raped you. Twice now. You need to tell Harold. At least he can kick him out of the inn. Then you won’t have to see him every day.”
“It’s not that easy. If I reveal him, I’ll be arrested for witchcraft.”
All the air rushed out of my lungs. I felt dizzy and held onto the side of the carriage for strength. “Who was it?” I demanded. “Who did this? You have to tell me now.”
She blushed and looked away. “It was Mr. Stearne.”
“He is the one that raped you?” I asked incredulously. I knew there was something wrong with that man. I just knew it. I bet if Matthew knew this, he would send him away. I really needed to tell him.
“Please don’t tell anyone. Especially Matthew. If Mr. Stearne finds out I told, I’ll hang. I won’t be able to take care of Grace or the others.”
I didn’t want to violate her trust even though just imagining John's face made me gag. I would just have to trust she knew what she was doing and keep my mouth shut on this, but I thought it was a really bad idea. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to,” I told her.
“Thank you. I promise I'll be ok.”
“I really hope you are,” my fingers were crossed. Goddamn that man. Damn him straight to Hell.
The carriage came to a graceful stop. “We are here ladies.” Thomas twisted around in his seat and gave us the biggest grin. “I’ll be here waiting on you, so don’t worry about getting home.” Elizabeth tried to pay him but he wouldn’t accept the money. He waved her off with a jovial laugh. “I told you, Miss Elizabeth, I’ll happily take you any place, any time.”
She put the coin purse away and smiled back at him gracefully, “Very well, Thomas, have it your way.”
He laughed, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
We departed the carriage with our arms looped together. “Did you have many dresses in your time period?” she asked me.
“No, actually. In my time, women mostly wear trousers like the men. We only wear dresses when we are going somewhere fancy, like a party or something like that.” It was a bit different from that, but how do you explain that kind of thing to someone who has never seen it?
“Wow,” she said. “No woman here would ever wear trousers. That’s bizarre.” Her mouth pulled up in a small grin, “Do the men wear dresses then?’
I laughed out loud. “Only some of them,” I answered.
The dress shop consisted of rows of dresses on either side of the store and a platform in the middle surrounded by mirrors. On the platform currently was a middle-aged woman being measured with a cloth measuring tape by a woman with a long-tapered nose and bright red hair piled on top of her head. “Suck it in, Abigail. I’ll have to make you a whole new dress if we can’t get this bodice around you.”
Abigail was rather plump, and it seemed she had gotten rounder since the last time she was fitted.
“I haven’t gotten any bigger, you just measured wrong the first time,” Abigail said.
“I most certainly did not,” the dressmaker said indignantly.
Elizabeth giggled, “Perhaps we should just look at the dresses on the racks. These two might be at it for a while.”
“Yes, it seems like you’re right,” I said covering my mouth to suppress a giggle.
We must have gone through every dress in the shop before we settled on three. A luxurious red velvet with white accents, a blue one with pink trim, and a green one with black lace. Elizabeth insisted that I wear the lavender one back and the clerk insisted that I throw the one I came in with away. I kept it however, as I didn’t know if Harold’s wife would want it back or not.
The dress was amazing, and it fit me like it was made for me. The corset that went along with it would take some getting used to, but I felt like I was straight out of the history documentaries that I loved to watch when I didn’t have a book in front of me.
Elizabeth helped me pair the dress with a nice pair of black heels and a string of pearls. The bodice of the dress itself was beautifully ornate with little Pearl’s sewed into it. I felt like a princess in it.
“Taryn, you are more beautiful than any queen I have ever heard of.”
“Thank you,” I said, suddenly feeling awkward. I had never liked a lot of attention. I liked to stay in the background. Unless you asked me about history, then I was front and center.
“Matthew won’t be able to take his eyes off of you,” she said.
“What did you say?” My head swiveled around so fast I almost got whiplash.
“Oh, come now. You didn’t think that I hadn’t noticed that you two are in love, did you?”
I blushed. In love? Were we? I mean I know I was experiencing feelings for him that I have never felt for anyone before, but in love? Was he in love with me? “Why do you think we are in love?” Now I was concerned.
She covered her mouth while she giggled at me. “The way his eyes light up when he speaks to me about you, asking me to make sure you have everything you could want. You get the same light in your eyes whenever I mention his name. You are in love, even if you don’t realize it yet, you will soon enough.”
I looked at myself in the mirror. I barely recognized the pretty girl in front of me with the low-cut neckline showing off my curves, and no reading glasses on my nose. The girl in front of me looked self-assured, regal even. The girl I was, never got the guy. Was it possible that girl I had become would? “I don’t really think I am Matthew’s type,” I said.
“What makes you think that?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I assume he would want a girl who fits in with the people in his social circle. I can't really do that for obvious reasons.” It's hard to fit in when everything around you is new and reading about it in a textbook does not prepare you for being thrown in the middle of it.
“You will with time,” she said.
That was the other thing too. What if I didn’t have time? I could be sent back to my time any moment. Was it fair to try to pursue something with him when I didn’t even know how long I would be here? But then, on the other hand, what if I didn’t try, and I never went home. Then I would miss out for no reason at all.
“Elizabeth,” I said. “What happens if he is in love with me, and I disappear like I did to my friends and family back home. One minute I’m there, and the next I’m just…. Not.”
“I think love is a risk no matter what. But if the love is worth it, then there is no risk that is too big or too small. You’ll just have to decide how much the love is worth to you.” That was very intuitive for a woman in her twenties who has never been married. She had a knowing smile on her face that said she was confident that it would all work out in the end.
With our newly purchased treasures in hand, we headed back to Thomas and his one-horse carriage. True to his word, he was waiting outside. “Did you enjoy yourself ladies?” he asked us, opening the tiny door and then jumping up on his perch.
“Oh, yes!” Elizabeth exclaimed happily. “Thank you so much for accommodating us today. You must have a very busy schedule.”
He looked down in his lap sheepishly. “Miss Elizabeth, I’d clear my schedule for you any day.”
The horse began to move with a click of his tongue, and we were on our way.
I admired the countryside along the way. There were dense trees and rolling valleys. The trees had not yet dropped all their leaves, but the ground was nonetheless covered in the vibrant fall colors that I loved. Smoke came from the little houses we passed, evidence of warm fires burning within. Such simple times. No cars, or cell phones. No computers or TVs. Just people. It was beautiful and I adored it.
John
A sliver of sunlight burned a hole through my eyelids and forced me to open my eyes. “Why must mornings be so unbearable?” I said out loud to the empty room. I fumbled up and out of my bed and pulled the window covering closed, blocking out the obnoxious rays completely.
I had half a mind to crawl back up in that bed and say fuck the day. My head was pounding from the amount of ale I had consumed and my stomach was threatening evacuation.
“I don’t have time for this shit,” I said under my breath, pulling my legs through my trousers fiercely. I didn’t have the luxury of lounging about in bed all day. No matter how I felt. The witches awaited. My cock tingled between my legs thinking of those women waiting in the castle to get better acquainted with me. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so poorly.
Matthew’s door was still closed, and I didn’t bother knocking. He would be down soon enough. I took the stairs two at a time and greeted Harold at the bar. “Don’t you ever go home old man? You’re the only person I ever see working at this tavern.”
He shrugged his shoulders, “Good help is hard to come by. I got my boy to clean tables, but other than that, there aren’t many people I can rely upon anymore.”
“You have the girl, Elizabeth,” I said.
He wiped at dried wine smeared on the counter. “She’s hardly here anymore, been spending her days keeping Matthew’s lady friend company. Beginning to think they may be forming a coven. There’s no other reason a proper girl would be spending so much time with a witch.”
“You may be on to something there, old man.”
Matthew came down the stairs a moment later.
“Good morning, Harold!” he called to him. Matthew sat down beside me sitting his hat upon the bar. “I trust John had a discussion with you about my dear friend upstairs?” No one else had arrived for the day so it was a safe time to speak without eavesdroppers.
The Witch Hunter Page 12