Kohl, Candice - A Twist in Time.txt
Page 37
“No. I understand why you left. Though it hurt me
terribly, I couldn’t fault you for going.
“But I knew, too, I had to find a way to join you. Since
I’d found myself so intrigued by the many gadgets you
carried in your satchel, especially the laptop computer,
it occurred to me I might fare far better in your time
than you could in mine. Thus, on the next Samhain, I
followed you. ’Twas no hardship for me to give up sword
fighting.” He grinned and rocked Judy in his arms.
“That night, I went to your spot and willed myself
forward through time. With the magic of that celebratory
eve, I very nearly succeeded.”
“What do you mean? What went wrong?”
“Though I traveled ahead through the centuries, I
didn’t find myself in the precise year from which you’d
come. I soon learned I’d arrived nearly a decade earlier.”
“You’ve been waiting ten years for me?” Judy couldn’t
fathom that. For her, it had been minutes. For him, it
had been a decade.
“Ten years, and more. While I waited for you and
your friend, Carla, I set about learning everything I could
about this modern age, most especially how to speak
modern English.” He winked. “I’d brought some things
with me, valuable artifacts and antiques, so that I could
sell them and support myself in your economy. As well,
I hired a solicitor to prove I was the last Laycock heir.
Tricky business, that, but I pulled it off.”
“Did you bring your father’s dagger?”
“No. That piece wended its way through the
generations. I inherited it.”
“Wow.”
“Wow, indeed. I also inherited the manor house,
which I turned into an inn. Then I learned computer
programming and set myself up in business. As you
already know, I’m fairly successful.”
“Andrew, I can’t believe this!”
“Now you know how I felt when you told me your
story, that afternoon on the road to York. But it’s true,
every word. And though it had been a long time since I
last laid eyes on you, Judith, at least I moved toward
you with every passing year. I confess, I hired an
investigator and kept track of you in New York. I knew
when you graduated high school and college, and when
you took that job at the Edwin Grant Agency.”
“That’s kind of creepy,” Judy admitted. “I never had
a clue.”
He gave her a great, soulful hug. “How’s your tooth?”
“Better.”
“We’ll make an appointment with my dentist straight
away.”
“Fine, but I want to hear the rest of your story,” she
urged impatiently.
“Eventually, I did hear from Carla. She e-mailed me.
I cannot tell you how ecstatic I was that day! Then I had
to wait for you both to arrive. Worse, I had to keep away
from you when you did.”
“Why? Why did you do that? Why didn’t you tell me
everything?”
“Judith, I knew you. Damn, I knew you as my wife!
But you didn’t know me at all. You’d never met me
before, let alone married me. This time-traveling
business gets a bit confusing, but you understand, don’t
you?”
“Um-hm.” She nodded. “I think so.”
“I so feared I’d give myself away, make a fool of
myself, or frighten you into thinking I was some sort of
lunatic, that I pushed you off rather rudely.”
“Your documents from King John. Did you inherit
those, too?”
“No, sweetling. I purposely brought them with me. I
bloody well wasn’t going to leave that bit of business to
chance! It’s why they’re so bloody well-preserved,”
Andrew added, chuckling.
“But what happened after I left on Halloween? Come
to think of it,” Judy added, patting his tanned, bare knee,
“why are you wearing shorts? What day is this?”
“July 15.”
“What!”
He nodded. “July 15th, 2002.”
“2002!” The shock jolted through her like a nearby
explosion. “You mean I lost almost four years?”
“Yes. It would appear time travel’s not very precise,
and because you leave on a certain day doesn’t mean
you’ll arrive on that same date in another year. You left
here that first time on Samhain, in 1998. But you
appeared in my world sometime in April, did you not?”
“Yeah.” Judy tried to absorb the ramifications of this
information. Grabbing his arm, she exclaimed, “Andrew!
What about my parents and Carla? They think I’m dead,
don’t they? I’ve been away so long.”
“Hush, sweetling.” He tucked his cheek against
Judy’s, the cheek that didn’t hurt with a toothache. “It’s
been hard for them, I admit. I felt almost as frantic as
Carla when you first turned up missing. I knew where
you’d gone—God’s teeth, I knew I was with you in some
twist of time! Yet I was also without you, and I’d no idea
when you might return to your own time, if at all. I never
lost all hope, but I must admit, in the last couple of years,
I’ve grown more and more despondent. To see you here
this morning...!”
He sighed and hugged her more tightly, as though
he were afraid she might slip away from him again.
“When you first left,” he said, “I contacted your
parents, who flew here. The police were called in, of
course. Everyone surmised you’d been abducted. But as
time went on, and you never reappeared and your body
was never recovered, the authorities concluded you’d
gone off on your own accord, just turned your back on
your life and started over with a new identity.”
“Mom would never believe that.”
“No, she didn’t. She grieved for you, as did Tony and
your brothers.”
“Tony? You’re on a first name basis with my parents?”
“I am, actually. We speak by telephone every few
months. I believe your father first suspected I was the
culprit behind your disappearance, but I think we’ve
moved beyond that.”
“I hope so,” Judy concurred. “After all, you’re his son-
in-law.”
Andrew laughed and looked at Judy with those heavy-
lidded, syrupy eyes she so adored. “Methinks we’re the
longest wedded couple in history, don’t you? Who could
top almost 800 years?”
“I think we’re going to have to start over, Andrew. A
big, formal wedding in my parents’ parish back in New
York. You don’t mind?”
“I’ll marry you anywhere, every day for the rest of
my life, if it pleases you.” He kissed her before
continuing, “I can’t tell you how I felt when I spied you
sitting up here near the old bailey walls! You understand,
I couldn’t be sure you’d return while I remained alive. I
had hoped you’d reappear the morning after Samhain
last year. When you didn’t, I was as distraught as I’d
&nbs
p; been when you left me in 1215. I’ve come here every
bloody morning since All Saints’ Day of 1998.”
“This is so strange,” Judy admitted. “To me, we made
love in our bed only last night. Yet to you, that happened
years ago.”
“Henceforth, there’ll be no such gaps in our
lovemaking.” With a wink, Andrew stood, slapped his
cap back onto his head, and reached down to Judy. When
she gave him her hand, he pulled her to her feet. “We’ll
return to the inn now and make a few phone calls.
There’s my dentist, whom you’ll wish to see promptly,
and the police who must be notified. As well, you’ll want
to call your parents and Carla.” He whipped a flip phone
out of the leather pack belted to his waist and handed it
to Judy with a grin. “If you don’t wish to wait, you can
ring up your mother while we’re walking.”
Judy laughed. “Your cell phone’s nicer than mine,
but electronics have advanced, no doubt, since I was
here last. Andrew, did you understand at all when I first
tried to explain how these things are used?”
“Nay. Nor did I imagine such things as airplanes
and televisions, DVDs or automobiles! By the way, I have
my own driver’s license now,” he confided as they
strolled toward town. “I even own my own car.”
“The library,” Judy gasped. “All those books at
Laycock Inn—they’re really yours! You’ve read them.”
“Indeed. I had almost a thousand years of history,
science and invention to catch up on.”
He stopped suddenly. “Wait, Judith. Before we go on
and you place a call, I’ve been bringing something else
with me on my hike to the ruins each morn.” He pulled
her old tape player from the leather pouch. “I played it
every time I didn’t find you here. I should like to play it
now, since you’ve come back to me.
“You must remember this.” He smiled as he pressed
the “play” button, and the strains of “As Time Goes By”
joined the other, more mundane sounds of the
countryside.
Judy set down the phone, the water bottle, and her
tote. She slipped one hand into Andrew’s as she stepped
very close to him and rested her other hand on his
shoulder. When she put her cheek against his, they
danced together in the warm, yellow dawn that had
broken in this new millennium, just as once they had
danced under the cool, twilight sky in another age.
About the Author
Candice Kohl has had a long history as a writer, first as a
copywriter in advertising, marketing and PR. Later, as the
owner/operator of a literary services agency, where she edited
papers, manuals and manuscripts for college students, business
concerns and aspiring writers. She has had numerous books
published ranging from nonfiction to erotica, historical romance
to time travel.
Presently, she resides in Savannah, Georgia, with her
husband. There, she practices her “other job” as a carriage
tour guide in the Historic District.