"Darien wouldn't believe I would be a party to that!"
"Perhaps not normally, but your father, again, had a hand in the telling."
"Tell me." Elise braced herself.
"Your father claimed you found out Darien was using you for his own ends, promising to marry you, when all he wanted was your father's wealth. When you discovered the truth, your father claims, you begged him to send you across the sea to his relatives in England because you were unable to bear the humiliation."
"So Darien was branded a thief?"
"That was the way of it."
"No wonder he hates me." Elise had never felt so low in her life, even when she'd found herself alone in an alien time. At least then she'd had the memory of Darien's love to cling to.
"Hate and love run a course that often entwines."
Elise looked at Mandine with hot, dry eyes. "He's had a lot of time not to care about me while I've had the same amount of time to remember every beloved detail of our brief time together." She shook her head. "What have I done? I've wasted years trying to come back here, left my daughter behind, and for what?"
"There is always hope, Elise -- when you let hope escape, there is no life."
"Hope?" Bitterly, Elise spat the word. "I can tell you what hope is. It's when you're dropped in a different time unsuspectingly and you look for something familiar, thinking someone is playing a trick -- but you find nothing you know. There are things on the road called cars, and you almost get killed by one your first day in this different time. Concerned citizens involve the local authorities and they place you in a foster home. Your life is no longer your own.
"But I was lucky, Mandine, the people who fostered me were very understanding, and in time we came to love each other as a family. After awhile, they stopped asking questions for which I had no answers. Even when I found out I was carrying Darien's child, they supported me, gave both of us a place to live until I could go to school in this time, get a diploma from their schools.
"I used to come back to the Spruce Woods, the place where I awoke in this other time. At first I came frequently, hoping that somehow I could come back with my child.
"The years passed, and Isabeau, my daughter, grew older. One day, when she was eight, Isabeau asked me why we came to that spooky, lonely place." She looked at Mandine, firming her chin. "What do I tell my daughter -- that I'm taking her to another time and place -- a place where she'll be alienated from all that she knows? How could I do the same thing to her that had happened to me -- how could I consider putting my daughter through the same pain?"
"So you buried the past and your heart with it."
"I stopped coming sixteen years ago. I had been placing my happiness over my daughter's, and I couldn't do it, as much as I longed to come back to be with Darien, I had to stop.
"That last time we walked back from the Spruce Woods, I realized how selfish I'd been. I decided then and there it would end.
"I lived my life from that day forward in a different manner --" She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I took all thoughts of this life and put them away until yesterday, when suddenly out of the blue I remembered the words you had told me that last night. . . the incantation you had me repeat in the woods."
"The words were meant for you alone. When the time was right, you would recall them and return."
"But I didn't know I would be able to return."
"Perhaps the incantation has not been played out to the fullest," Mandine replied cryptically.
Elise shrugged. "I'm too tired to try and figure it out. You see, I know what hope and hopelessness is, and I never want to be so desperate again that I'd rather die than live without a man."
"You have the power to make him love you again,"
Elise was struck silent by the suggestion, doubts torturing her. She was frightened by the notion that her whole life was crashing down around her. The last twenty-four years had been based on nothing more substantial than shifting sands, and now the very bottom had fallen from under her.
Mandine began to gather vegetables and fruit from a small cabinet. Carefully, she wrapped apples and pears, a large bunch of carrots, several potatoes, various other herbs for seasoning in a cloth and placed them in a brown sack. Then she moved to a small work table and likewise gathered jars and herbs. "It is time that I left," she said. She looked up at Elise. "It would benefit you to come. I visit the sick." She held up the sack with almost a twinkle in her dark eyes. "As you see, we have enough food for the day. There is also goat cheese which I save for special occasions, out back in the root cellar. Your arrival is great cause for celebration, Elise."
Elise marveled at her strength of will. "You have been doing this a long time Mandine, tending to the sick."
"It is my calling," she stated simply. "Long before I found your Mama as an orphan."
Elise helped her gather the remainder of her herbs and healing potions. Mandine could work magic with the sick, she had seen it first hand while growing up. "The ones I tend are grateful and they barter for food. I am happy for what they share with me. Now come, it will take the afternoon to make my rounds." She pointed to a folded pile of clothes. "There are garments that will fit you."
And so Elise stepped further back into time, discarding jeans and a T-shirt for a simple gray skirt and a white blouse She helped Mandine load up her small cart, and they set off down the road. It felt almost the same as it had been, except that now Elise saw the world with a woman's eyes, her almost forty years of experience lending her a compassion she might not have fully realized as a fifteen-year-old.
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Elise accompanied Mandine on her rounds of visiting the sick that day and the next, marveling at the older woman's strength and tenacity. Dusk colored the sky when they arrived back at the cottage on the second day.
Elise unhitched the cow as Mandine gathered her herbs. Leading the animal into its small enclosure, she made sure it had grass and water. She came back around the front of the cottage. "The door is ajar."
"Yes it is." Mandine walked past her.
"You're not surprised?"
"No. They search but they do not find."
"Who is it?"
"It matters not. They know to keep away when I am about here."
Elise lingered by the door, looking up and down the street. The falling night appeared quiet, but she supposed anyone lurking nearby or entering the cottage might go unnoticed since they were at the very edge of the village proper, and almost surrounded by trees.
"I don't like it, Mandine. It feels threatening to me, that someone comes into your home. They have no right."
Mandine handed her a wooden bucket. Elise went to the well at the side of the house and dropped the bucket and rope into the well to bring up fresh water. She carried the bucket to the cottage and paused as she heard the clop of horse's feet.
She watched a team of horses and a midnight blue coach travel up the road toward her, the driver dressed in deep green, eyes straight ahead, and then the conveyance continued at a smart pace down the road. Passing over the stone bridge, it came to a gently swaying halt at the bottom of the hill.
Mandine came to stand behind her in the doorway. Elise looked at her and something in her deep eyes made her heart skip a beat. "What is it?"
"You must change your clothes -- quickly!" Mandine gripped Elise's arm and pulled her into the cottage. She indicated articles of clothing lying across the narrow bed.
"Where did you get these?" Elise asked, lifting a dress from the top of the pile, catching her breath as she held it up before her. "Where in the world --"
"We have no time. Quickly!" Mandine ordered, producing a brush and pulling it through the tangle of Elise's hair. "You must pay a visit to Darien and Rufus."
"Why?" Elise hurriedly pulled on the dress. It was a deep emerald green, the material lightly shimmering with a strange iridescence when she moved. Ivory lace had been hand sewn across the low cut bodice. It fit her perfectly but Elise pulled at the bodice
, not quite comfortable with the neckline.
"It is the fashion," Mandine said, pulling her hands away and indicating the water basin.
Elise poured water into a ceramic bowl, dipped a cloth, wiping her face, hands and neck, feeling refreshed by the cool water.
Mandine motioned her over to the doorway, her eyes fixed on the scene outside.
Lanterns were lit on either side of the conveyance at the end of the road and men hurried up the steps of the house with lanterns.
Elise watched the scene. "What on earth is happening?"
"You might do well to ask." Mandine actually sighed, something Elise had never known her to do. "She has arrived."
Elise wet her lips. "She?"
"The woman Darien is to marry. Come."
Elise experienced physical pain in her chest. She pulled back. "There is no reason for me to go down there."
"Do you want to bring an end to this not knowing? What about his daughter?"
"What about Isabeau?"
"There is the possibility he would want to see his daughter."
"I am sure he would." Elise knew her daughter had always felt the absence of her father. "But is it possible?"
"Time bends like a willow stick. Moving through time on that bent stick is always possible."
"Mandine, even in the future there are no people traveling back and forth through time. Quantum physics has theories about it --" she shook her head. "Okay, I've traveled through time, so forget about that." She drew a deep breath, staring at the coachman who climbed back onto the coach and then drove it further down the road.
"Why did you come back, Elise, if not to find Darien?"
"Foolishly, I hoped that nothing had changed. I wanted him to know about Isabeau. I -- I wanted to see him again."
"You have been granted that opportunity. Now the outcome rests entirely upon you."
Mandine gently rested her hand upon her shoulder.
Elise looked at the woman who had raised her. "I'm sorry I doubted you. I was angry for a long time, you know. But even so, I knew there had to be a reason."
"There is always a reason. Why did I send you to the same mountains but in a time so far in the future?"
"You chose the time and place?"
"Of course. You are as if my own flesh. I could not send you somewhere that was not safe. You had loving parents in this future time?"
"Yes." Elise frowned. "What are you saying?"
"What was your new mother's name?"
"Alexandra."
Mandine moved back into the cottage, sat by the fire and used the poker to prod the slowly burning logs. Elise followed, the gown rustling about her bare feet.
"Why do you ask, Mandine?"
"I raised your mother from the time she was a five-year-old orphan. I named her --
"Aleanna."
"Her given name upon birth was Alexandra. Her parents were killed and so too would she have been. I had to hide her."
Stunned, Elise dropped to the wooden rocker. "You're saying my mother in the future is my birth mother?" At Mandine's nod, Elise said, "You always told me she died."
"In this world she died. I did all I could for her with my herbs, but to survive, she needed more than I could offer."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"She hovered in this world a hair away from death. I sent her to the future, but because of her serious illness, her memories did not survive." Mandine leaned back in her chair, a hand to her chest.
"Mandine, are you unwell?" Elise moved closer and reached for her hand. "Your hands are like ice." Gently, she rubbed her hands.
"All is as planned," Mandine said softly. She smiled at Elise. "It is time for you to decide your direction. You have become the woman I knew you could be, Elise. Sixteen years ago you were not ready to return. You needed to learn your own mind and know with certainty what it is you desire for your life. If indeed you still wish to have Darien, then the rest is up to you. If you only tell him of your daughter, then that shall be your mission."
A shower of sparks blew out from the fireplace as the logs shifted.
"Will I return or stay here?" she asked.
"It is your decision to stay or go. It has always been your decision. Now you must go for a social visit to see which way the wind blows."
Elise stopped at the door. "Shoes."
Mandine pointed to the floor. Elise looked down to find a pair of ladies black shoes, and of course they fit her feet.
Chapter Three
Elise stood on the wooden steps of Darien's house, taking in its grand and quiet elegance. A verandah graced the front, running in an enormous half circle with four white sculpted columns.
Above the entryway was a balcony with glass doors opening to the second floor. A catwalk was just visible along the roof in the meager light from the lanterns, but overall the house was majestic. Its stark whiteness was relieved by dark blue shutters which lent an air of elegance to the overall appearance.
Darien, if this was indeed his home, had prospered in the years since she had known him, not that it mattered to her, but he had done well for himself, from rented lodgings above the hack stable to a beautiful home of his own.
Mandine had rushed her over the rough and rutted road, rambling vaguely of Darien having accumulated more wealth than he could spend in the years he'd spent at sea. She'd also muttered about the woman he was presently escorting about, who was not right for him. Crazily, perhaps, Elise had been filled with a small smattering of hope.
At the edge of the small town, Mandine had hurried her up the short walk of Darien's house, still fiddling with her hair.
On the front porch, Elise pulled back from Mandine, unsettled by the feverish light in her eyes. "Why should I go in there -- damn it, if he's to marry that woman, why do you think I'd want to torment myself this way?"
"Elise, use the wits which you possess. I have guided you here as best I can, but," Mandine's eyes were bare of any reflective light, "your destiny is your own to do as you will. I am allowed very little from this time forward."
"But what do you mean? Are you going away -- Mandine!"
The dark garbed figure seemed to float away, down the steps and then disappeared into the darkness. Even the light from her lantern vanished.
The front door opened. Looking over her shoulder at the man standing there, the light behind him, she thought it was Darien. He stepped back into the light and some of the tension left her shoulders.
"Hello, Rufus."
With an inviting smile and a sweep of his hand, Rufus opened the door wider.
"I-I wished to thank you for -- your help --" she stumbled to a halt, suddenly seeing Darien appear behind Rufus.
In a courtly manner, Rufus' large hand cupped her elbow and gently he pulled her forward into the hall. The door closed behind her.
Darien came closer, a scowl on his face. "What in the devil are you doing here this time of night, 'Lise?" He seemed not to notice how he shortened her name. Her fingers clenched convulsively as she stared at him, smarting anew under his undisguised hostility.
Rufus stepped in front of Darien and signed, I must talk to Elise, then motioned her to follow him.
Darien stood there watching her, his green eyes seeming to burn with words he did not speak.
Head up, Elise followed Rufus down the hall and into a small room. Miserably, she wished she'd resisted Mandine and not come.
She heard a muttered curse and a door slammed, but whether it was directed at her or Rufus, she could only guess.
Rufus closed the door and indicated she should sit on a blue and gold settee. Elise chose to stand, nervously twisting cold fingers.
Would you care for refreshment?
Biting her cheek, Elise looked up at the man so much like Darien, it took her breath away. "Why are you being so nice to a stranger when Darien obviously does not want me here?"
This is my home also, he signed with a smile. Elise let her gaze roam the room, realizing they were in a libr
ary, books from floor to ceiling along the walls.
"You say Darien is your brother?"
He nodded, grinned at her.
He stepped away from the door, his size intimidating, golden brows raised. May I call you Elise? he signed, a half smile upon his lips.
Elise signed back. Of course.
I have known Darien fifteen years. He has never mentioned your name.
Deeply affected, Elise took a seat on the blue and gold settee. She sat up straight, staring at Rufus. "It appears your brother -- he hates me." She couldn't contain the bitterness. "I came on an impossible journey to find him --" she shook her head.
You are mistaken. The light in her eyes told him truths she would probably not want him to know. He does not hate you, he signed.
"I have eyes to see how he reacted. How can you be brothers? I had never known of Darien having a brother."
His smile rueful, he moved to a writing desk, Rufus opened a drawer and drew out a slip of paper. He dipped a glass pen in an inkwell on the desk and swiftly began to write. He held the paper out to Elise.
Darien and I found one another by accident. You see, we are half-brothers. Our father had a liking for the ladies, yet never wished for the encumbrance of marriage. I do not know the circumstances of the past when you knew my brother. At this moment he refuses to speak about it.
Elise looked up at Rufus. He shrugged, coming to sit beside her. Elise studied the man sitting on the spindly leg settee. It took her a moment to realize a strange truth -- she was surprisingly at ease with him.
His eyes lingered a moment on the smooth, lightly tanned shoulders rising from the emerald dress. The material seemed to hold a strange iridescence. With a frown, Rufus reminded himself of certain things and stood up abruptly, moving a good distance from her.
Elise looked down at the paper to continue reading. I know merely that in the past a woman had not treated him kindly. Elise was helpless against the pain which flicked her. It is not to say you are that woman.
Rufus did not miss the quickly controlled jerk of her chin.
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