Alexandra thought she detected a note of irony; surely nothing could be as chancy as his gambling. Jack conceded with a sigh, “Hmm, possibilities.”
“You are being dealt a new hand and within it is the Queen; play your hand well, Jack, or you’ll lose the game.”
There was a short silence. Jack was more reflective than dismissive as he said, “The knave and the Queen of Hearts.”
Adam pressed ahead. “Your jealousy has hurt yourself more than your intended target, Jack. Yes, it has hurt me in a way that is impossible to repair but I now have a chance of happiness and I will not let you wreck my life, nor another’s, again.”
“Rather fancy a bit of shooting,” Jack said with some deliberation. “As for fishing, well, the Carpenters have their own lake. I could build a folly – a folly for fishing, what do you say to that?” There was mockery in his voice; he'd find it hard to reform.
Nevertheless, Adam sheathed his sword and extended his arm to help Jack stand.
It was time to leave – with haste. Stealthily skirting around the detained, muttering gang, Alexandra retraced her steps to Holly. The misty dawn was breaking, the woodland birds were singing, and Alexandra headed for “Foxhills” feeling equipped to build heaven on earth.
Hide in Time ~ Anna Faversham
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
2010
Laura sat back in her office chair, took off her shoe and looked at her toes. The little one on the right was still missing. Well, not missing exactly, just invisible. She could feel it; yes, it was definitely there and doing its job; but not visible. No amount of staring or prodding would return it to normal.
She had stayed too long last time. Seeing Adam, making sure Alexandra would be given the antibiotics, these things had been uppermost in her mind. Furthermore, she had had a horrible feeling she was in trouble with the police and the thought of facing them hadn’t appealed. Then, of course, upon her return she’d had to visit the doctor again because she wasn’t feeling one hundred per cent, and he’d wanted to know what she’d done with the prescribed tablets. ‘Fraught’ was the word that came to mind – fraught with difficulties; perils even.
She looked down at her foot, checked her invisible toe, and put her shoe back on. At least it was only a toe. She’d hoped that, after a while, the much-loved little toe might return. But it was now June and it hadn’t. Perhaps she’d made her last visit. She never felt she was going back in time – just returning to see friends, and Adam.
As usual, Matt had fished her out of her difficulties with the police, well Jeeves had – Matt had been away. Jeeves said the two policemen had seemed embarrassed so just gave a stern warning when she took her licence into the police station. Next time she’d lose her licence, whatever the excuse. But there was nothing Jeeves could do for an invisible toe, was there? So she hadn’t mentioned it. Now the summer was here, the loss of a bit of foot might be noticeable.
She must put her worries aside and deal with the morning’s post. She opened one with an overseas stamp addressed to ‘In the attention of the Foreign Commercial Responsible’. Inside, the letterhead showed the company name as ‘Casanova Grup’ and, unusually, it had a picture of its ‘principal’ underneath. She had masses of red curly hair, a very pale skin, a smile showing many teeth and she was wearing a low-cut vivid green satin dress. The letter suggested ‘co-operation in matrimonial prospects agencies with earnestness for human contribution in the domain of relations of the blood.’ She noticed it continued in this vein. Then she laughed at her own rare wit. The letter ended with the flourish of a red ink stamp and the line ‘P.S. To your petition we can send flash by mail.'
Oh what a pick-me-up! Laura laughed aloud, so much so that she did not hear Matt who, having his own key to the door at ground level, had entered and was now knocking as he came into the first floor office. Laura rushed to greet him. “Matt, look at this.” She couldn’t resist reading another line, interspersed with giggles. ‘We wish you consider our assets close’.
Used to Laura greeting him as if he’d never been gone, Matt flicked through the letter. “Priceless. You should frame it.” He checked the envelope. “Unbelievably, it’s genuine! It's from Romania. I suppose we must get some recompense for all we pay to Europe.”
Laura took the letter from Matt and waved it in the air as she sauntered towards the chairs by the window. “I love living now; it has so much more to offer.”
Matt parried with, “I have an offer of my own to make. Would you like to see ‘Jersey Boys’ tonight?”
“Tonight? Hmm… sweeping me off my feet!” Laura beamed with pride – she’d found a place for a newly learned phrase.
“Well, I’m glad you think so. I thought you might term it ‘short notice’, Laura, but I know you’re a fan.”
“I’ve never heard anything like them before,” she said thoughtfully, concealing the real reason the music of 'The Four Seasons' meant so much to her.
“I’ll need to pick you up at six, does that give you time to get home?”
“Just about,” she said with an understanding smile. Matt packed so much into his life. She wasn’t sure what he packed in, but every minute seemed to be used; just like Adam.
“We’ll have a spot of nosh beforehand and then maybe dinner after?”
Everything Matt organized was perfect; a ‘spot of nosh’ was likely to be something good. She nodded. He walked over to her and took her two hands in his, placed a kiss on her forehead and said, “By the way, that last date you arranged for me – she was nice. First reserve. See you tonight.”
If Laura hadn’t already been sitting down, her knees would have made her. ‘First reserve’, she repeated. ‘First reserve…’ What was Matt saying? She felt threatened. His friends had hinted, not once but a hundred times that she didn’t realize how lucky she was and that she took him for granted. She couldn’t lose him – not to Miss First Reserve! Who was that anyway? She shot over to the filing cabinet; who had she arranged for Matt to see? Drat! Ellen Fisher – the one who wore enough perfume to float the ark! The clever and gorgeous and richer and definitely younger Miss Fisher, with all her toes visible no doubt, and oh what a fool she’d been.
The day went downhill from there. Nobody rang. No clients, no prospective clients, not even an interview, only horrible paperwork. Masses of it, piling up and being moved around the desk but never to the ‘out’ tray. So she closed the office half an hour early to give herself time to get ready specially. Matt’s favourite dress – she’d wear that.
~
Matt looked, now what was the phrase, fall-dead gorgeous? Yes, that’s what he looked. Just right for a summer theatre trip to the city, he was wearing a light jacket and blue, open-necked shirt – the same blue as her dress. He helped her into the car and, on arrival, he helped her out again, and held her hand as they went into the theatre. Coffee and nibbles, then to the front row of the circle. Everything was perfect. Until the performers sang ‘Dawn’. As the exuberant drummer paced her racing heartbeat they came to a line which reminded her that she could never change the time when she was born. Laura crumbled; there was no disguising her tears and distress. Matt whispered, “Do you want to leave?” She did.
Matt put his arm around her shoulders and walked her towards the Thames embankment. The sun was setting, it was still warm and they walked along, hand in hand. “Was the song that bad?” queried Matt.
Laura smiled. “It’s the song I sing to you.”
“Dawn? I’m Matt!”
“I can’t remember the words exactly at this moment but they say I’m not good for you and you should leave me.”
“Leave you? But you are good for me – apart from the long wait.”
Laura could not think how to reply and tears began to fall. Matt turned towards her and cradled her in his arms, shielding her from passers-by. Like a knight of old, she thought, holding his shield over her while she wept. Matt kissed her on the forehead, lingering, then brushing her cheek, seeking permission t
o find her lips.
“No! Stop, Matt. I want to show you something. I need to sit down.” They found a bench facing the Thames, near Big Ben, and Laura took off her right shoe. “Count the number of toes.”
“Oh, you have only four toes? Have you been in an accident?" He looked puzzled then continued. "Is it a problem to you?”
“Stop it Matt. Don’t go into counselling mode. Now feel how many toes I have.”
Matt made a great show of counting aloud, “One, two, three and four and, good lord!” He held on to the invisible toe and looked into Laura’s tear-filled eyes.
“I told you I was different.”
“And how!”
Concern showed on his face and Laura’s consternation grew. Perhaps she shouldn’t say any more?
“Being a psychologist can make other people rather easier to fathom but you are decidedly unique.”
“Matt, I’m also very worried about my age. I don’t seem to be ageing properly.”
“Properly?” His adorable smile lines showed.
Laura put her shoe back on. “I was born in 1796.”
“The tests showed you are in your twenties now. Remember, we have thoroughly investigated your background. Whatever you recall of your past, you are not two hundred years old. If you were born in 1796 and left in 1814, which is what you remember, and have now lived here for six years, then you are in your twenties. Not two hundreds.”
“But I don’t seem to be getting any older now at all.”
“Whoa there, Laura. Most women would give their eye teeth to be able to say that. Besides, you are getting older. You have tiny lines from the corner of your eyes.”
“I do?”
“You do.”
“You should have told me, Matt; I’ve been so worried.”
“Well now, you have nothing to worry about but an invisible toe.”
Laura tensed. If anyone else had said that… but it was Matt and Matt was holding her hand and smiling that dratted, devastating smile; she could forgive him anything. “But I want you to think what our future would hold.”
“Another thought from ‘Dawn’?”
Laura laughed. She couldn’t get anything past Matt. Well apart from the fact she really was born in 1796.
“So,” said Matt, “this toe. How long has it been invisible? I recall you had five visible toes when I first met you.”
What could she say? Oh, it was since I went back to 1815 last February. Perhaps if said with enough insouciance she might carry it off; but she wouldn’t be believed. And she couldn’t attach any blame to that. Sometimes, and this was one of those times, she was tempted to take Matt to the caves just so he could understand. She knew she must not – she could lose him altogether and then what?
“Not sure, Laura? Don’t worry. We can investigate this later. The important factor is to marry you immediately before the rest of you becomes invisible.”
Laura thought her heart would stop. “The rest of me – invisible? No. No, please God, no!” As her tears streamed down her cheeks, her mind raced back to when she’d last seen Adam but he could not see her. Please, God, please don’t let me lose Matt too.
Matt put his arms around her and hugged her close. “Laura, I grant that strange things happen to you, but that just makes me love you more. It’s my fault; I should know better and not lark about. I can see, and have done for a long time, that there is no one else in this world quite like you. For now, it will remain our secret. Agreed?”
Laura looked into Matt’s eyes. They were not worried or scared eyes. They were clear, strong and reassuring. “Oh Matt, I am so sorry. I have spoilt the lovely evening you’d planned.”
“Not spoilt it, Laura, no. Surprised me yet again – that’s for sure.”
Matt stood up and pulled Laura to her feet, took her in his arms and, this time, he didn't seek permission – he just kissed her. Big Ben chimed thirteen or maybe it was twenty. “Let’s catch a cab to Claridges and I’ll ask them to bring dinner forward for us.”
“Thank you, Matt, thank you for not running away.”
“Oh no, you are too fascinating to leave. Besides, I have work for you to do.”
“Work?”
“The Foxley Diaries. But I’ll tell you later.”
“Tell me now, Matt. They were extraordinary, though I only read a few pages, and I’d rather think of them than invisible toes.”
“I’d rather think of your toes, Laura,” Matt said as he held her hand and pretended to count her fingers until she playfully slapped him. “As you know, we don’t put all the diaries on show because we are not too sure what some of them say. She uses a shorthand that is personal to her. Much of it can be deciphered with a knowledge of Pitman’s but there is some which has eluded the finest scholars in the land.” He threw his arm wide and added, “Well me and my friends anyway.”
“And you think I’d be able to decipher it?” Laura could not believe what she was hearing. “I can’t read shorthand!”
“I’d always thought she was remarkably prescient but I now see there’s more to it than that. You know so much more of what really happened back then, don’t you, Laura? Use that knowledge to good effect. We need someone we can trust – we don’t know what she’s said.” His smile grew. “Learn shorthand. Give up the agency. You can sell it now that I’ve found someone.” He swung her round and kissed her again, raised an arm – straight, commanding and oh so sexy, stopped a cab and helped her into the back seat. “We’ll pick up the car after dinner.”
“Matt, where do you go when you disappear on these business trips?”
“I might well ask you a similar question, Laura.”
~
When she went to bed that night, she took Adam’s ring from her drawer and put it on her finger. He’d had it made specially for her. Cornell’s, the small but smart new jeweller, had fashioned it to Adam’s specific design. It always drew her thoughts to him. She’d liked it that way but tonight Matt’s words from way back intruded on her bittersweet memories. “It’s not the things you have done that you regret but the things you’ve left undone.” In the morning she knew she would go back one last time, no matter what it cost her. There was still something more she had neglected to do.
Hide in Time ~ Anna Faversham
CHAPTER THIRTY
Laura left her cottage before dawn on Tuesday, fifteenth June, 2010. To slip through to the cave unnoticed in summer sunshine was going to be difficult. Would there be a milkman around at five o’clock in the morning? Too early for newspaper deliveries, she hoped, and also for the postman. Honestly, the post was better in 1814 than it was these days.
She parked and locked her car, picked up her backpack from the pavement, and headed for the gateway. “Good lord. No!” The entrance had been boarded up securely and garish adverts were papered all over. She would have to wrench the door off. She returned to the car and found her small toolbox in the boot. Back she went to the entrance and patiently levered the boards off. It took nearly an hour and she was exhausted – she’d had so little sleep too. Thank goodness the opening was shielded by other hoardings.
~
It was mid afternoon the same day, fifteenth of June, 1815, but a Thursday, by the time she slipped past Billy. She blew him a kiss and whispered a ‘thank you’ for looking after Xandra – no, she must think of her as Alexandra here. Billy shivered. He looked around, straight through Laura and called out her name.
Adam approached. “Is something wrong?”
“Sir, no sir,” Billy said as he drew his feet together and almost stood to attention.
Laura, whose eyes had been riveted on Adam, noticed his reaction. A soldier’s training goes deep, she thought.
“Did I hear you call out for Laura?”
“Sir, I did, sir. I beg your forgiveness. I…, I…”
“Do not concern yourself, Billy. You supposed you saw or heard her; is that not so?”
“I did, sir. But I can’t have.” Billy hesitated; scouting like
the forlorn hope for enlightenment, he added, “Can I?”
“I should reply ‘impossible’, Billy, but as Shakespeare said, ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’”
“Darned glad I’m not called Horatio – that’s for sure.” Billy relaxed a little, bent down, and picked up his dropped cloth. “Sidebottome’s bad enough.”
“Alexandra is surreptiously mischievous, Billy, and I know now what the jest is.”
“Sir?”
“You are the only one to have known that she did not ride as a lady should – side-saddle. Indeed, I think you hold many of her secrets. You guard her admirably.”
Laura watched Adam as Alexandra distracted them both as she walked towards them from the back of the house. His eyes sparkled. Sparkled as they had once done for her. She took a deep breath then pursed her lips to make it more difficult to cry. “Secrets?” said Alexandra. “You talk about secrets?” She linked her arm through Adam’s.
“And hidden they shall remain, Alexandra.” He squeezed her hand, turned to Billy and said, “This world hides its secrets well, would you not agree, Horatio?”
“Billy, sir. Billy, please. It’s all I have that’s really mine.”
“Nonsense,” corrected Alexandra. “You are one of the finest sergeants the Army has ever known. You have courage, fortitude and great inventiveness. A leader amongst men. Where would Wellington be without men like you? He’d never have won at Waterloo, that’s for sure.”
Billy scraped his foot in the dirt and furrowed his brow. “I don’t rightly remember…”
“Join the club,” called Alexandra as Adam towed her away.
“What club?” Adam asked.
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