Time Travel 02 Nothing but Time

by Angeline Fortin

  Late last night, the cruel realism of her circumstances had descended upon her. Though David worked daily on the cabling for the machine, his reluctance to actually return home had been obvious. Did that mean he would stretch the project out for as long as possible in hopes of winning her over? Keeping her as his captive audience? She very much feared that it was exactly what he was doing.

  Without a more motivated quantum physicist on her side, her life was in 1876 London for the foreseeable future. Kate had thought so the night of her arrival, but had been lulled into a false sense of confidence after seeing David hard at work. Now that truth was reasserting itself more forcibly in her mind. David might never get them home. All the wishing and optimism in the world wasn’t going to change that. She couldn’t see herself sitting around for the next twenty years with hope as her only savior.

  Lacking the skills to fix the problem herself, she could at least take the reins of what remained of her destiny. She would simply have to accept it and try to make some kind of life for herself here. A life that did not involve becoming someone’s little woman.

  That resolve was at odds with her grief over losing her family.

  Like any girl with a problem to be solved, Kate just wanted her daddy.

  She was pulled out of her despair when the clerk finally called her back to meet with one of the agency’s officials. It didn’t take more than ten minutes time in Mr. Lowry’s company to discover that there were few jobs for her…a woman like her, that was.

  David, damn him, had been right.

  She was uniquely unqualified for any post available. Despite her distinguished twenty-first century degrees, it seemed that Kate simply did not have what it took to cut it in London’s job market in 1876. There were some more menial tasks available but excessive pride prompted Kate’s automatic rejection, sure that there was something better. However, there was no professional position she was considered qualified for.

  Largely, because she had breasts.

  She couldn’t teach. She was too female for a public teaching position or for a position as a private tutor – that just ate at her as she pictured David warping little Bertie Wells’ mind – and despite her excellent education, she was just too unladylike to be a governess as she lacked other refined qualities required for the education of a ‘lady’. Kate was even too female to be a secretary in this time.

  It seemed that the only thing she had going for her was a distinct lack of a Cockney accent. Her long-voweled Minnesotan accent was apparently rated slightly above the other. But her voice alone wasn’t enough to grant her entry into any position traditionally reserved for men.

  There were any number of things that Kate was urged to call the portly little man who looked down at her merely because of her sex. Welcome to a world before the concept of gender equality!

  There was nothing else for her, Mr. Lowry, the job placement agent said. Kate could see now why David had told her she was lucky that he had gotten there before her. She could easily imagine what a woman might be reduced to doing if she were hungry enough and unable to find work. If she truly intended to have a job to save her sanity, it simply would have to be one of the factory positions that the agent had already suggested… though the very thought of working in a manufacturing plant in the years prior to labor unions and safety standards had Kate cringing.

  The only bright side had been that a Social Security number wasn’t required to get the job.

  Tapping her foot, Kate dithered trying to make a decision. Was it to be hard labor or a return to David’s house as a failure? A failure who was doomed to nothing more than tedium and boredom. A failure with nothing greater to occupy her mind than nightmares of her future?

  She was trying to gather the gumption to accept the previously offered factory position when Lowry’s secretary – male secretary – came in and offered the agent a note card similar to the others the man had been rifling through. Lowry, with his long walrus mustache and tiny spectacles, looked at the card and back at her in a considering fashion that had Kate sitting up straighter and plastering an eager smile on her face.

  “Well, I guess this might do you for you, missy, though you seem disinclined to ‘work’ for your bread.” The old fart really hadn’t appreciated her quick dismissal of the factory work, had he? “It’s a position for a maid but, I’ll warn you, they might not take you without reference. However, with being the height of the Season and all, I’ll give you a chance at it as they need someone today.”

  “A maid?” Kate’s heart sunk quickly.

  “Don’t be sniffing at it now with your uppity way, miss,” he warned her sternly. “The position is a good one in one of London’s best neighborhoods, comes with room and board as well so you won’t need to rely on your brother any longer.”

  Kate winced. She had made up the simple tale of being new in town. Given her age, he had inferred her status as a spinster when she denied being married. It was easy enough to stumble her way from that through a tale that had both of her parents dead and a brother who was refusing to take his only sister in to live with him and his young family in their small cottage in Didcot. She supposed she should be thankful that had gotten her any pity from this man.

  However, those simple lies had led to this! Room and board! This was even better than she had hoped. She could live under her own support. No more being dependant on David for every morsel she ate. She’d have a roof over her head with no obligations greater than serving the person who owned it in a thoroughly professional manner. As grateful as she was to David for all he’d provided, she knew those comforts came with unspoken expectations. She’d heard enough from David in the evenings these past two weeks while they played cards to know what he wanted from her even if his declaration of love that first night hadn’t been enough. She’d managed to ignore it, but it was still there.

  A live-in job was just the thing to put some distance between them. “I’ll take it!” She jumped readily at the position. So what if she had a master’s degree? If there was a possibility she might spend the rest of her life here, she needed a job and a place to live. A degree wasn’t going to feed her and give her a place to sleep. This job would. Kate stood and stuck out her hand at the employment agent. “You’re a good man Mr. Lowry. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.”

  Lowry took her hand lightly and handed her the card. “Here’s the address, Miss Kallastad. You’ll want to speak with the housekeeper, Mrs. Andrews, when you get there. I’ll let her know that you’ll be there this afternoon. Er, do you think your brother will be able to provide transportation into town?”

  “I’m sure he will,” Kate said cheerily. “He’ll just be so glad I was able to get a job.”

  ***

  “You got a job?” David repeated in amazement as they sat across from each other at lunch an hour later.

  “Didn’t think I could do it, did you?” Kate grinned as she shoveled another forkful of potatoes into her mouth.

  With his head shaking automatically as if he had no control over it, David answered honestly. “No, I did not. What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to work in some big house in town. Mr. Lowry said it’s a nice safe neighborhood so you don’t need to worry about that,” Kate answered evasively. “However, the position requires that I live there, so I’m sorry, David but I’ll be moving out…for now.”

  “What?” David’s fork clattered to the plate as he stared at her in surprise. “But I… This house…”

  Not able to fight the guilt, Kate swallowed deeply. “I know, David. It’s a beautiful house. Truly. But I’m not ready for that…yet. Despite our current circumstances, we’ve only been on one real date and I think that this whole leaping into living together thing is just moving too fast for me. I just need some space. Can you understand that? Please?”

  “But you don’t even need to have a job,” he continued. “I can support you…”

  “I know you can,” Kate assured him, “but I don’t wan
t to be supported, David. Can you understand that? I wasn’t made for this life. I need a purpose, even if it isn’t necessarily a noble one.”

  “But you’ll come back, yes?”

  Kate drew in a breath and exhaled slowly. While she didn’t want to lie, Kate wasn’t completely a cold-hearted bitch. There was no reason to break his heart. “Eventually, sure and I’ll come visit on my days off.”

  “Will you?”

  “Of course,” Kate said to reassure him. “And just think, you’ll have all the time and space you need to work on getting us home and I’ll have something to keep me busy so that I don’t think so hard about how much I miss my mom and dad.”

  The emotion welling up in her didn’t need to be faked and Kate could see David giving in under her honest admission. “I just need something to do, anything to occupy my mind and time, David. Of course, I’ll visit when I can. You are my only friend here, you know. The only one I can really talk to.”

  That seemed to make David feel better and Kate breathed a sigh of relief. As long as David didn’t know that her main concern – ranked only slightly above ridding herself of mind-numbing boredom – was putting some space between them, she’d be fine. She couldn’t afford to alienate him in case he did manage to solve the cabling issue and was able to deliver them safely back to the twenty-first century. “Here’s the address in case anything comes up.” Kate slid a copy of the address along the table. David picked it up and studied it.

  He let out a low whistle. “Belgrave Square, huh? Swanky. What did you say you’ll be doing there?”

  Taking a deep breath, Kate squared her shoulders before admitting. “I’m going to be a maid…for now.”

  David nearly choked on his pork. “A maid? You? You’ll never survive it!”

  “Yes, a maid!” Kate pushed back from the table to go and pack her bags. “Really, David, how hard can it be?”

  Chapter Six

  Ramble House

  Henley-on-Thames, England

  The next afternoon

  God, it was hard! Kate thought to herself as she lugged yet another full bucket of water from the kitchens of her employer’s massive house to the drawing room where she was scrubbing the soot from around the edges of the fireplace. She dared not falter or weaken to the task because somewhere in the mansion was a hawk-eyed old bat who apparently had nothing better to do but micro-manage her platoon of housemaids while they scrubbed and polished every inch of the place.

  She’d been on her hands and knees practically from the moment of her arrival and there seemed to be no end in sight. Kate couldn’t help wondering if she wouldn’t be better off drifting aimlessly around David’s house for the next few years rather than toiling slavishly away. No, she had to do this! She needed to make her own way no matter what century she was in and she knew it. If this was how it would be done, then so be it!

  But, ugh! The place was huge!

  David had taken the time to drive her into town the previous afternoon and drop her off at the address Mr. Lowry had given her in London’s Belgrave Square. She had thought it an act of kindness until they had rolled up in front of the property and she had seen the look on his face. He had wanted to see her shock when she saw the ‘house’ – as she put it – where she thought she would be working. How he must have laughed over her reaction.

  When she had gotten out of the carriage and looked up and up, Kate felt her jaw nearly hit the cobbles at her feet. It was practically a white stone palace with its neoclassical design and six stories, a series of four pillars holding up the front portico with its frieze of war-like cavalrymen and horses rearing with swords drawn.

  That was the first moment that Kate had truly taken to put aside the ruminations of her mind and actually look around her.

  This was London in 1876. The suburbs and business districts she left behind in David’s neighborhood had barely changed when compared with those same areas in her time at first glance. Nothing in St. John’s Wood stood out as significantly different from her time. There were quiet, traditional neighborhoods full of charming storefronts and established pubs. She’d seen few people when out on her occasional walks, seen few things other than infrequent horses or carriages to really drive home how different this time was.

  But this! Kate circled about taking in the wealth of the vicinity with its spectacular mansions, fancily dressed pedestrians and ornate carriages that filled the streets. Gone was London’s modern skyline, the towering fifty-story Canary Wharf (as everyone referred to One Canada Square), Heron Tower and new Shard. In fact, the coal-smoke haze that hovered overhead couldn’t hide the fact that practically every building was shorter than in her time and the London Eye was nowhere in sight.

  It was like being dropped onto the set of a period film, an Academy Award winner for set design. It all reeked of old-fashioned wealth and culture.

  Standing there on the cobbled walk in Belgrave Square was the first moment Kate genuinely felt out of time. Out of her element. Probably the first moment she felt real fear. She could get lost in this place, swallowed up by it and no one would notice or care. She was nothing.

  Kate swallowed deeply trying to calm her trembling heart, forced a cheerful goodbye to David and climbed the steep steps to the door, making her first mistake by going to the front rather than to the rear door.

  The indignant butler sent her around to the service entrance and there she had met Mrs. Andrews. That plump, motherly woman had welcomed her warmly but wasted no time informing Kate that ‘the master’ had announced that he was retiring to the country for the remainder of the Season. Kate was to be sent off to Buckinghamshire straight away with a handful of the newer staff to prepare for his arrival there.

  With barely a moment to digest the news much less let David know of the change, Kate and three other new employees, two young men and a cheerful woman in her early twenties, were rounded up and driven to a train station in Chelsea where the quartet boarded a westbound locomotive to Henley-on-Thames. Back in the rocking conveyance, Kate swallowed back her nausea with questions chasing each other through her mind, wondering where they were off to.

  Another carriage picked them up and brought them to a place the driver called Ramble House. The moment the old house came into view, Kate had fallen in love. All her worries about where she was going and how she was to let David know where she was disappeared as she took in the beauty of the ivy-covered brick building with its bank of windows looking out over the long narrow reflecting pool that stretched out before it. It must have been hundreds of years old and it was simply breathtaking.

  Not so literally breathtaking though as the hard poke she’d received from Ramble House’s housekeeper, Mrs. Hendricks, when Kate’s attention had wandered from the housekeeper’s lecture to ogle and awe over the view through a small window in the housekeeper’s office.

  The housekeeper at Ramble House was the complete opposite of the maternal Mrs. Andrews. Mrs. Hendricks was a frail looking old woman, scrawny and skeletal in her black gown with her grey hair scraped into a tight bun at her nape. Her icy blue eyes were shrewd. Any charitable urge Kate might have felt to help the old woman to a chair and offer her tea withered and died when Hendricks leveled that frigid glare upon her and jabbed her in the ribs.

  Kate felt as if the woman could see right through her as she studied both herself and the letter of introduction Lowry had given her. The housekeeper questioned her at length regarding her skills, lack thereof and missing references.

  Hendricks finally nodded. “Ye’ll do for now, but I’ll be watching ye. All of ye.” She waved a finger at the four newcomers. “Master’s coming at the end of the week and everything will be spit spot before he gets ‘ere. Marta will show ye girls to yer quarters and issue ye a uniform then I want ye back down ‘ere ready to work. Ten minutes!” The housekeeper passed off the two new male workers to another man standing nearby with similar instructions. It surprised Kate that there would be work to do since it was nearly five o’clock alre
ady.

  However she was too thoroughly cowed (perhaps for the first time since orientation day at graduate school) to argue. Meekly, Kate followed along behind Marta and the other new maid, who had introduced herself on the train as Nan, through a series of passageways and stairs that were solely for the servants’ use to keep them, Kate supposed, from being seen in the main part of the mansion.

  Marta was what Kate always pictured as ‘the girl next door’. She was a pretty blonde maybe a couple years younger than she was. Short, a wee bit plump and completely wholesome looking despite the drab gray dress and white apron she wore. With her rosy cheeks and winking dimples, Marta also had a look about her that told Kate she smiled often. The maid had been working for the house for four years. She was a fount of knowledge giving Kate and Nan a quick rundown of the place, who was who and what they were expected to do. The ‘quarters’ they were shown to was a dormitory on the top floor shared by all the lower level maids of the house. There were about twenty beds there leaving Kate to wonder what they could all do to stay busy every day.

  It had only taken her the remainder of that first afternoon to find out. Their duties were to dust, sweep, mop and polish every surface of the house that awed Kate in its sheer magnificence. The palatial mansion – though not so large looking from the front – extended far back. There were eighteen bedrooms, twelve reception rooms, three dining rooms, a billiard room, a study. The list went on and on. There was even a room solely dedicated to the washing of the estate’s hounds.

  Each room was more opulent than the last. Finely detailed woodwork, velvet and silk curtains and upholstery and more gold leaf and crystal than any home should have. Her first sight of the foyer with its marble floors, Corinthian pillars and huge portraits in gilded frames was enough to set Kate back on her heels. There was visually abundant wealth in every room she worked in. It was overwhelming, even more so when Kate considered that she was one of the many responsible for keeping it all clean.