“Of course.”
“I take perverse pleasure in that, you know.”
“I’m not surprised. You will need to learn French so you’ll know what wicked nonsense they’re saying about you.”
“That, and I don’t trust them to give me the right ingredients when I prepare meals unless I taste everything first.”
Roger chuckled. “The day you tell the cook you’ll be preparing some of the meals, I’m bringing a flagon of wine and a chair. I’ll invite Oliver too. It’ll be like medieval cabaret.”
“I’m sure she’ll stamp her little feet, and there’ll be pouty lips, and chest pounding threats. So French.”
“It’s our way.”
They found Oliver at the lists with Simon. Oliver had a sword and Simon had him working with a squire, learning some basic moves.
“Look at you,” Electra said to Oliver who stopped and came to the fence.
“I’m having a surprisingly good time. Not sure the lad is,” Oliver said and splashed water from the horse trough on his face.
Simon joined them. “Your idea?” Roger asked.
Simon shook his head. “Oliver said he wanted to learn to defend himself. I thought he should as well.”
“If you don’t mind, we need to steal him away for a moment,” Roger said.
“He’s free to come and go as he sees fit.” Simon returned to overseeing the knights.
“What’s up?” Oliver asked.
“We’ve decided to leave tomorrow morning. There’s no point to lingering. The weather is not going our way. Staying on is futile,” Roger said.
“I’ve been wanting to broach the subject for days myself. We can’t catch a break. Tomorrow sounds perfect. Have you told Emily?”
“No. We’re on our way to find her,” Electra said.
****
Emily was in the great hall sitting at the head table. In front of her were two of Richard’s ledgers, open. She looked up from the one as Roger and Electra approached.
“Are those Richard’s books?” Electra asked, curious why she had them.
“Uh-huh. Old ones. I use them to teach with.”
“These are the castle’s records,” Roger said, sounding a touch alarmed. “That’s generally not for public consumption, Emily.”
Electra slid a ledger closer for a better look. “What do you mean you teach?”
Emily pulled the book back and closed it. “He gave them to me to use. They’re old records. I needed something to do after you left,” she said, turning to Electra. “You have a skill. You can cook. My only skill is teaching. Two afternoons a week, I teach the knights and some of the servants to read and to do basic math. Richard has been kind enough to let me use old ledgers for math and old scrolls for reading.”
Roger’s nose wrinkled and his lips briefly disappeared. “The knights like it?”
“No. They hate it. Simon makes them come. Now, if you two don’t mind, I’d like to get on with my lesson plan for the day.”
“We have news. We’ve given up on waiting for a lightning storm. We’re leaving for France tomorrow.” Emily hadn’t said much about the condition of her relationship with Simon now, only that the worst issues had been mended. Electra was careful how to word her suggestion. “Obviously, for political reasons, Simon can’t come to France. But since he’s forgiven you for not telling him about my relationship with Roger, you’ll want to make tonight special.”
Emily came around the table to hug Electra. “You know I love you. Your future is with Roger, in France. As much as I love you, mine is here, with Simon.”
“You know the history. You know this war will drag on for decades. We can’t come here to visit you and you can’t come to us in France,” Electra warned.
“I know. I can only hope we find a way to meet in a neutral place sometime down the road. Please don’t ask me to give up Simon. I won’t, and I certainly wouldn’t ask you to walk away from Roger for me.”
Electra turned to Roger. “Is there a chance we all might meet in a neutral land?”
He shrugged. “I’d have to give it more thought. It depends on when you’d want to do this. This a turbulent period. Allegiances shift.”
The knights began to arrive for their lessons. “Emily, think hard on this decision. It is truly life changing and nothing can alter it, once made,” Electra’s voice rising, stressing the point.
“El, don’t you think I know that?”
Electra, Roger, and Oliver left for Roger’s chamber.
“I can’t believe she’s not coming. How could she do this to us?” Electra demanded, rushing into the room, only to stop suddenly, turn, and ask again, “How could she?”
“I’m sorry. I know this came as a shock,” Roger said as she sank onto the foot of his bed.
“When I first talked to her, it was from the point of view of traveling back to the future. In my mind, I assumed Emily would drag Simon with her wherever she went. That’s the impression she gave me. I didn’t think it through.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. I never gave it a second thought either. I was concentrated on us getting either home to the twenty-first century or to the safety of France. Emily’s love life wasn’t part of my equation,” Roger admitted.
“Damn her,” Electra beat her fist into a feather pillow. “She’s my baby sister. She’s supposed to do what I say, do what I tell her. She needs to come to France and be with her family.” She wiped viciously at her cheeks. “She’s made me cry and I never cry, damn her.”
Oliver had taken a chair at the table and was eating an apple from the bowl. Every time he bit into it, it sounded like lightning splitting an oak and it was driving Electra mad. She snatched the apple from him and hurled it out the window.
Roger gave a short jerk with his head toward the door.
“I think I’ll go for a walk,” Oliver said and left.
Electra dropped back down on the bed again. “I shouldn’t be mean to Oliver. It’s not his fault. I know I shouldn’t be angry with Emily either. She loves Simon and has every right to be with him. I just feel like I’ve lost so much with the loss of my family to another time, losing her is almost unbearable.”
Roger tossed the beaten pillow to the top of the bed and held Electra while she sobbed. “Let it out. It’s all right to cry.” He stroked her hair and then tipped her chin up. “Some of the best people do it.”
After a while when her breathing evened out, Roger said, “Cry when you say goodbye tomorrow, but whatever you do, you mustn’t make her choose or feel guilty.”
The tears had stopped and she wiped the last of them from her face. “I know. I won’t.”
From the bailey below, a fat horse turd flew through the window and exploded at Roger’s feet. The partially eaten apple lay inside.
“Splash water on your face and let’s find Richard.” He kicked the turd aside. “And a maid. We’ll need horses and an escort to Bristol. Once we’re there, we shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a ship to the continent,” Roger said.
“A ship to a new life you mean.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Elysian Fields
The sisters hugged, quietly crying as they did. Roger, Oliver, Richard, and Simon kept hold of the horses. Richard had given them three mounts as gifts from Baron Guiscard. Richard offered them an escort to the coast as well but Roger declined. They’d travel faster without one. He felt he and Oliver could handle any potential problems on the road. His theory being, if they ran into trouble, Oliver would act as a distraction and he’d be the muscle...definitely a risky theory.
Electra and Emily stepped apart. Simon wrapped his free arm around Emily and told Electra, “I will do all in my power to make her happy. Richard and I will try to send a message with news of our wedding. We hope the prince might have a means.”
Roger joined Electra. “Wedding?” they said in unison.
Electra took Emily’s hands in hers. “I’m so happy for you.” She turned to Simon. “But, you should’ve given me a
hint you planned to propose. When did this happen?”
“Last night. Your sister came to me after the evening meal. She told me she wasn’t going to France. That she was staying behind to be with me, but I had to marry her.” A huge grin crossed Simon’s face. “She was quite insistent. I thought I’d best say yes. I suspect a fiery temper lurks within her.”
“You don’t know the half of it, Simon,” Electra said. “Thank you for loving her. She has the biggest heart in the world.” She gave Simon a hug and kiss before moving to Emily. “Congratulations, I wish I could be here to see it. I’ll give you one more kiss and that’s all otherwise I’ll cry again and you know how I disapprove of maudlin displays.” She kissed Emily and said, “We’ll send word too, if we can. Roger said maybe in the not too distant future we might meet in the lowlands somewhere or Italy,” Electra said, trying to sound upbeat.”
“I’m not done.” Simon removed a pouch he’d tied to his tunic and handed it to Roger. “This is yours.”
Roger opened it, turned the bag upside down and gave it a shake. Out fell the engagement ring Harold took from him in the dungeon. Roger grasped Simon’s hand. “I never thought to see this again. Thank you. Thank you.”
He dropped to one knee in front of Electra. “I had this the day of the picnic. I planned on proposing then. Now that I’ve found you, I won’t waste this second chance. Electra Abagail Crippen, the day I met you, you smiled at me and I knew my world was forever changed. From that moment on, you’d never be far from my thoughts and that wasn’t good enough. I’m a greedy man, marry me and be with me even more.”
“Stand up you crazy, handsome man.” She leaned close so no one would hear but him. “Of course, I’ll marry you. I thought you’d never ask.” She held her hand out for Roger to slip the ring on her finger. He’d picked an oval-shaped ruby surrounded by small marquis-shaped diamonds. “It’s beautiful.”
After more hugs and kisses all around, they finally said their goodbyes and rode south. By Electra’s reckoning, they were halfway to Bristol when the waterspout began to form past the bay. The narrow funnel cloud rose into a black massive cloud formation that spawned smaller spouts farther out. Fingers of lightning chased each other across the length of darkened sky.
“What do you think, Oliver?” Roger asked, seeing hope for the first time in weeks.
“If we can make it, I think we should go back and head for the outcropping. That’s a tornadic waterspout and she’s coming this way. It’s the best chance we’ve had since leaving Wales.”
Roger turned his horse around, looked at Electra who already had hers headed toward Gloucester, and said, “Ride like the wind.”
As they rode, the edge of the storm caught up with them. Cool wind whipped their clothes and the horse’s manes but the well-trained animals kept their heads down and didn’t spook when debris blew into their paths. The storm’s rain pelted them at a slant. Bitter cold, it stung Electra’s left cheek and flattened her hair. The day started warm when they left and she’d packed her cloak, which she regretted now.
Roger and Oliver both checked the storm’s progress every few minutes as it bore down on them. They reached the gates of Elysian Fields and stopped.
“We have to tell Emily. This is her chance home,” Electra said.
“Hurry,” Oliver looked at the sky. “We’ve got maybe fifteen minutes. Maybe.”
Emily and Simon had seen them arrive and ran out. Electra explained and Emily told her to go to the outcropping, she’d join them in a blink.
“Emily, you’ve got to come now,” Electra pleaded.
“Go,” Emily said.
Roger, Electra, and Oliver rode to the outcropping and waited.
True to her word, Emily and Simon came galloping over minutes later. They slid to the ground and Emily immediately began tugging on Simon’s arm. He wore a bewildered expression and didn’t budge. Instead, he looked to Roger, apparently for confirmation of what she’d told him.
“It’s true,” Roger said. “You must come now.”
Simon’s expression morphed into a mix of misgiving and disbelief. He shook his head and still refused to move, pulling against Emily’s efforts.
“Simon...” she urged.
He grabbed her by the shoulders. “You go with them. I don’t know what to believe, but if what you say is true, then that is where you belong. This future you describe, where legless people walk, where Stephen is happy, and there’s relief from pain, is right for you, but I suspect not for me.”
“Why?”
“I only know how to fight, how to be a knight. Are there knights in this future?”
She gave her head a little shake. “Not like here.”
“I didn’t think so. What am I to do there? I am a man of my time.”
“Roger and Stephen have made a new life for themselves.”
“They have my great admiration, but this is my world.” He shoved her hard toward the waiting party and started to move away from her. “Live the life you were meant to.”
The storm was directly over them now. Lightning flashed, striking a nearby tree. “Emily, you must come,” Electra called out.
Emily wrapped her arms around Simon’s neck. “Then I’m the woman for your time.” She turned to the group. “Go. Tell everyone I’m happy.”
Electra jumped and cringed as another bolt struck close. “Emily...” She started to reach out wanting to touch her sister one more time then pulled her hand back. “If we get back, I’ll bury a metal box at the foot of this rock with special things. Check for it,” Electra yelled.
The third strike hit the outcropping. Like the first time, Electra lost her balance and fell onto her knees. At some point, she reached for the stone, trying to steady herself. Roger clasped her wrist. Her vision blurred, but she had a fuzzy view of Emily and Simon getting thrown backward, then they were gone. The disorientation lasted a few seconds more, less than the first time. When it stopped, her stomach flip-flopped. “I feel like I’ve ridden a too-fast elevator up and down again and again.”
“Don’t try to stand. I have you,” Roger said. “Do you feel sick?”
“No, light-headed and a bit cotton-mouthed.” She paused and took a ragged breath. “It tastes like I’ve eaten a bad canned tomato, acidy and sharp. What about you?”
“That’s one way to describe it. To me, it tastes more like when I’ve been punched in the mouth and I’m bleeding. It’s iron like. Unpleasant.”
He gathered her closed and placed her palm on his chest. “Breathe with me until your system settles down.”
“Your heart is racing.”
“I know.” He inhaled deeply and slowly. “Feel it start to slow already?”
She nodded. “Oliver looks like he’s having trouble.”
Oliver was on his knees using the rock to climb to his feet but fell to the side and onto his back with his arms out. His hair stood on end as did Roger’s. Hers must be as well, since Roger was smoothing it down.
“Oliver, are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m fine or I will be.” He turned his head and said, “At least we’re back in modern times. I see my machine there.”
Roger followed his gaze and saw the black box he and Leland had hauled down. “Will you be able to get a read out on the year from it?”
“Once I’m on my feet.” Oliver rolled over and with the help of the rock as support, clambered awkwardly to his feet.
“I’m all right now,” Electra said and leaning on Roger got to her feet. “How are you?”
“A little shaken, a little stirred and happy as hell to be back,” Roger said.
It didn’t take Oliver long to determine they had arrived back a shockingly short time after they’d left.
“How can that be? We were gone almost five months,” Electra asked.
“It’s Mr. Einstein’s theory at work. We measure time as linear. Einstein alleged space time is curved. Therefore coming through the wormhole, you’d arrive close to when you dep
arted,” Oliver explained.
“Weird.”
“I must say, I’ve never been a kumbaya, brotherhood of man sort but damnation!” Oliver threw his arms around Roger first, who staggered under the sudden embrace, then around Electra. “I am so relieved for the three of us to be home.”
“I am not sure that relieved is a big enough word,” Electra said, “but it will have to do.”
“I’m just happy we’re all safe,” Roger said. “Now you know your machine works, will you publish your findings?”
Oliver thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I’m not sure it’s such a good idea. I think the temptation to tamper is too great.”
“What if Leland wishes to go back?” Electra asked.
“I’d hope he wouldn’t. He’s my only child and I’d fear for his safety and would do my best to discourage him. But at the end of the day, he’s an adult and the choice is his. We’ll see.”
Electra turned and went to the spot she saw Emily and Simon last. She dropped down and sat on the ground.
Roger sat next to her. “Want to talk?”
“I can’t wrap my head around losing Emily, around losing her in this way. Knowing she’s alive but in some kind of parallel world. She’s still here right now.”
“Electra—”
“You don’t understand. I mean she hasn’t left yet. She and Simon are where we left them. I can sense her.” Electra began humming the Abba song, Dancing Queen.
“What’s that song you’re humming?” Roger asked.
“Dancing Queen. Emily’s favorite musical is Mamma Mia, this is a song from it. I don’t know the words. But I know she’ll feel me humming it and know I’m here too.”
“If you believe that, then I believe that.”
“Thank you for not thinking me crazy.”
“Traveling through time tends to open one’s mind.”
They sat there for a while before Electra finally stopped.
“Why’d you stop?” Roger asked.
“She’s leaving. I’m ready to go too.”
****
Gloucester
Modern Day
After the initial excitement to have Electra back and the shock of Emily’s decision to remain behind, Electra and her parents decided to make a plan before notifying the police of her return. She knew she had to say something, but everyone felt it best to have a strategy in place to cover problems that were bound to arise. That evening Terrence called everyone involved.
In Time for You Page 28