by Gloria Gay
“You see, I worry that while I am gone, you may suddenly be shifted back in time to where you came from. But then an even worse fear invades me that you would be taken to another era and not the one you came from. Who knows, even into the future or back into the past.
“If this should happen, printed pound notes would not be of help to you, but from what you told me, jewels are the only thing that transfers. With this necklace, you would not be as bereft as you were when you appeared in my wood.
“Jewels have value in any era and if you are lucky enough to be transferred with them you would be able to sell them and thus be able to make your way in a place that would be hostile if you found yourself without any funds. Depending on the era you arrived on, I’m certain the jewels would ensure your survival.”
His explanation made sense to her so Kate agreed and thanked him for his generosity and thoughtfulness. He hooked the clasp on the back of her neck.
“It’s beautiful,” she said as she gazed at the dozens of sparkling diamonds. It looked like it was worth a fortune.
She tucked the necklace under the high neck collar of her gown, determined that Augusta would never have a hint of it.
“I have no way of knowing if the jewels would transfer with me but I would rather take them than not,” she told him. “They would make me feel more secure.
“Thank you so much, Michael, for giving me this wonderful peace of mind.” She leaned toward him and kissed him.
She smiled as he breathed in with pleasure when they separated from their kiss.
“Except for that gold ring I had no jewels with me when I boarded the bus and afterwards, when I was blasted to your era. I had the habit of removing any jewelry I was wearing when I put on my wet suit to go surfing. I had once lost a gold necklace that was dear to me so I didn’t want that to happen again.”
“What is surfing?” Lanquest asked, intrigued.
Kate explained the sport to him and he shook his head in wonder.
“It is indeed a very different world you come from.”
CHAPTER 14
“This time it will be ’otter, ma’am,” said Romy with a wide smile as she set out to arrange Kate’s bath. Kate hoped she was right.
“Romy, try to pronounce the letter “h” when you speak,” Kate said to the maid as they waited for the pails of hot water to start arriving. “It is not ‘otter,’ it is ‘hotter.’ Kate emphasized the ‘h.’
She explained to Romy that if she improved her speech she might be able to secure a position as lady’s maid when Kate left. She was certain the position would increase the wages she had earned before as an upstairs maid.
“Yes, miss, I’ll try to remember,” said Romy and repeated the word, this time with an “h” in it. But the letter h still sounded weak. Kate smiled as she remembered Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady.”
The hot water arrived. Several footmen carried the pails into the water closet and poured it into the copper hip tub. When the footmen walked out, Romy closed the door behind them and locked it.
“With practice, you’ll get better, Romy,” Kate assured Romy as the maid repeated words with “h” that Kate said to her while she helped Kate out of her stays, the hardest part of dressing.
Romy then undid the ties on Kate’s chemise and it pooled at Kate’s feet.
Kate got into the tub and with a deep sigh closed her eyes as the hot water soothed her tired bones.
“If you won’t mind, Romy, each time you drop the “h”, I’ll correct you,” she said as Romy picked up Kate’s clothes and put them away. “That way,” Kate went on, “you’ll start getting used to using the “h” with the word.”
“Yes, mum, I’d be most grateful,” said the amiable Romy. Romy then went to the bedroom and puttered around with Kate’s clothes and left Kate to relax in her bath.
Twenty minutes of pure bliss later, when the water started to cool, Kate called Romy so that she would help her out of the tub and hand her the thin towels. She sighed as she remembered the thick fluffy towels of the future. A vision of Michael with hair dripping wet from a shower and nothing but a fluffy white towel tied at his waist popped into her mind.
As Romy helped Kate out of the tub and turned to get the towel that she had prepared to put over Kate’s shoulders, her eyes widened and she gasped as she stared at the back of Kate’s legs.
“Oh, miss, miss! What’s that on your leg? It looks like a tattoo! In back of your leg!”
“A tattoo, Romy?” A tremor shook Kate’s body. A shiver of fear of the unknown. A tattoo in the back of her leg?
“Yes, mum, the opposite side of your knee!”The back of her knee! Madame Enlia had placed the tattoo in the back of Kate’s knee!
She couldn’t wait to tell Lanquest.
“What does the tattoo look like, Romy?”
“Why, mum, it’s—it’s…it’s a monkey!
“A monkey?”
“Oh, yes, ma’am, a green monkey. I know what baboons look like. Two years ago, when my aunt ‘ad—had a good housekeeper position for the London Season, she took my mum and me to see the diorama in London. It was about jungle animals and the guide pointed out the animals and such!”
“Quick, Romy, bring me the hand mirror, so that we can position it against the dresser mirror in a way that I may look at the tattoo.” Kate wrapped the thin towel around her body and tucked the ends in.
“Yes, Miss, right away.”
Romy handed Kate the large hand mirror.
“Help me up on the stool, Romy.”
Once Romy helped Kate up on the stool Kate positioned the hand mirror against the dresser mirror. A tremor shook her body as she stared at the tattoo.
It was a figure of a small monkey in green ink. Kate’s hand on the hand mirror shook as she motioned for Romy to help her down from the stool.
She was closer to leaving the past.
The tattoo was the solution. Madame Enlia had said so.
It was directly in back of her knee, above her calf. Did the reverse mean that Kate would be reversed to the place she had come from? Was that the reason the tattoo was in the back of her knee rather than on it?
“It’s so amazing, Romy! I wonder how long I’ve had the tattoo on me without knowing it!”
Kate frowned in fear. This could not get around. She would be ruined! “Romy, this is very important. I want you to swear under oath that you won’t tell anyone at all about the tattoo. I’ll be the laughing-stock of the whole village if this gets out.”
“Oh, ma’am, I wouldn’t! It’d be like giving Lady Augusta more ammunition against you. I’ve seen ‘ow she disrespects you!”
“How.”
“How,” Romy repeated.
“Swear it, Romy.”
Romy placed her hand on her heart and swore she would keep the monkey tattoo secret. “I would, ma’am even without the oath.”
“Thank you, Romy.”
“What on earth could this mean,” Kate said with chagrin. “I cannot begin to fathom what Madame Enlia had in mind with this strange tattoo.”
“There must me a secret there somewhere, ‘jis like in the diorama, miss.”
“Tell me about the diorama,” Kate said as Romy helped her into her night rail and then her dressing robe. She motioned for Romy to sit on one of the chairs around the round table by the window and invited her to partake of tea with her.
“Well, mum, it started out with him tip-toeing through the jungle, hardly able to walk normal over green painted hay and us following him.”
“Who was he?”
“The guide, mum, as was showing us the bit of jungle and the baboons. The jungle was just painted cardboard and straw painted green on which we walked.”
“Go on, tell me in detail what happened, Romy. Monkeys are not common in England, other than at the Menagerie or such places.”
“It was with sounds, miss, the roar of the lion suddenly sounded and everyone jumped.”
“What about the monkey—was there on
ly one?”
“Two or three around, hanging on cardboard trees and—oh!”
“What? Say it quick Romy!”
“One of the monkeys was painted green!”
“Was he scary?”
“No, mum, he was just as a little animal would look in a children’s storybook.”
“Too bad we’re away from London and not likely to go near that diorama,” said Kate.”
“They sold cards mum,” Romy added helpfully, “and me aunt purchased one for me.”
“Cards with—”
“Mine had the monkey’s drawing printed, mum—the green one. And I still have it!”
“Do you have it here?”
“Oh, yes, mum—in my room.”
“Go get it, Romy! And don’t let anyone see what you’re about. Put it in your apron pocket.”
“Yes, mum. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
While Romy was gone, Kate sat at the window to wait for her and to ponder the situation of the monkey tattoo. She took a sip of her tea, absently.
How she wished for morning to come soon so that she could discuss this strange new development with Michael.
Of all things that she would never have imagined, it was a tattoo. Except she should have expected something odd if it came from Madame Enlia. The woman was a strange creature, all right.
Kate remembered that inside the street bus, the people around them had helped Madame Enlia gather the contents of a purse she had dropped in the aisle between the seats
The contents of her stringed bag!
It suddenly flashed through Kate’s mind that there had been a playing-card type of card among the things she and some of the bus passengers had gathered for the psychic woman.
Kate closed her eyes and the outline of a green monkey appeared in her mind.
She remembered she had picked up the card and given it to the woman, and although she had given the card the briefest glance, she was now certain her eyes had gone briefly over the card.
The outline of a monkey, which included the curled tail, flashed before her.
CHAPTER 15
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about before you leave tomorrow,” Kate said.
“Oh?” Michael felt his breath catch at his throat.
It was mid-morning and they were riding alone. With relief, they had heard that Lady Bunright and her daughters were to spend the day shopping and visiting friends in the area and that they had left early to have breakfast with Lady Bunright’s best friend, Lady Sunnit, and her twin daughters.
“You’ve found the way back, Kate?” Michael pressed when she looked at him.
She sighed, shook her head and reluctantly admitted: “No, not that. I don’t know what it means but I found the tattoo Madame Enlia mentioned.”
For a while they rode in silence. Kate felt what Michael was feeling and her eyes filled with tears.
***
He felt a sting behind his eyes. He turned away from Kate so that she would not see the pain that must surely reflect in his eyes for iron claws were squeezing the life out of his heart.
He slowed Blue and then brought him to a halt. He crossed his hands over the pommel. His throat felt tight and his hands on the pommel trembled. No use denying it to himself any longer, he had fallen in love with Kate.
He saw before him all his tomorrows without her. How bleak each of his days would be.
“So, you found the tattoo Madame Enlia mentioned,” he repeated as Kate stopped her horse alongside his.
“But wasn’t it supposed to be on your knee?” He forced the words out.
“All the time it was in back of my knee! It was Romy who found it when she was helping me dress.”
Lanquest turned away from her as he fiddled with Blue’s bridle. “You’ll be leaving soon, then?” he felt the tremor in his voice.
“Oh no!” Kate replied quickly. “Not until I find out what it means.”
“Will you—will you wait until I come back if you do find the way?”
“Of course, I will! I wouldn’t dream of leaving without—”
“Without saying good-bye, Kate.”
“Promise me you won’t do anything about the tattoo, either, until I return,” he added in the silence that fell heavily between them. “I’m afraid that if something happens when you attempt it I will not be here to help you.”
“Oh, I can wait,” Kate said with a wide smile. “I would be scared to do anything about it without you. I will need your help, all right!”
“I’m glad,” Lanquest expelled a breath of relief.
“Two heads are better than one,” Kate agreed and added. “I wish for those few days to go fast and that you are back with us safe and sound.”
“With you,” Michael corrected as he got down from his horse and helped Kate down from hers. He led her into a little hidden meadow as she told him in detail about the diorama Romy had seen in London and had described to her.
Kate glanced around. “This place is lovely!”
“Yes, few people know about it,” Michael agreed. “There’s a few turns you must take in order to get to this little meadow.
“Lucy and I used it as our secret hideout when we were children and unpleasant visitors or relatives descended on us that we were eager to ditch.”
“It’s like being inside a serene painting,” Kate said as she walked around. “The grass feels like a soft carpet, beautiful and cushiony.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Michael smiled as he reached for her hand and they sat on the pale new grass and leaned against the wide trunk of a tree, their bodies close to each other so that they felt each other’s heat.
“Tell me more about that world of yours,” Michael said.
***
Kate leaned toward him and placed her other hand on top of his as a rush of tingles shot down between her legs.
She told him in great detail about the future she came from as he listened in silence. Finally, she, too, fell silent, a bit out of breath.
“How can I ever compete with that?”
“Oh, Michael!” Kate looked into his beautiful eyes and he embraced her. She lay on the soft new grass and Michael stroked her face softly, running his fingers over the shape of her lips slowly so that Kate felt his touch in her heart instead of her lips.
“You have the most beautiful mouth I have ever seen,” he told her. He leaned down and kissed the lips he had lovingly stroked.
She felt Michael’s lips on her soul as well as her heart and knew sadly that nothing in her life would ever compare to this moment.
“We’ll never have another chance like this, Michael,” she said, her hand reaching out to his face as she ran her fingers over his beautiful lower lip.
“I must think of your safety first, my love,” he said sadly. “I cannot risk that you would be with child, alone in that world of yours.”
She unbuttoned her gown as far as she could go and then got his help with the rest of the buttons. She exposed the diamond necklace she kept hidden under her clothes as well as the tops of her breasts.
“I won’t get pregnant, Michael, if that’s what you fear. That problem does not exist for me at all.”
“Yes, but…”
“I’ve taken care of it, so don’t worry, all right?”
“All right.”
“So, kiss me again and make me forget there are two hundred years between us and the world against us.”
And Michael kissed her and she kissed him back and the world around them receded and they were like Adam and Eve, alone in a world where grass grew for the first time and the blue of the sky blinded them with its beauty. Where the water tinkling in a stream nearby was the music they danced to in their dance of love.
“You have beautiful eyes, my darling,” he said, as he kissed each of Kate’s eyelids, softly, so that she felt the velvety touch of his lips down to her toes and was elated to finally be so close to him.
Michael’s tongue in her mouth sent waves of heat
down to her core so that she wanted him as close as two people in this world could ever be. She untied the string of her pantalets and as he pressed her close to his heart they became as one and she felt she had never lived a real second in her life until this moment with him.
The little meadow was their own sweet secret world where they could be together like this if only for a little while—until the world interfered again and they were forced away from each other, to go their separate ways.
In their separate worlds.
They made love again and again like newlyweds in their honeymoon—a one day honeymoon that would live forever in their hearts and souls.
CHAPTER 16
They returned in silence to their current life, where they were allowed to be together only within sight of other people.
Kate strolled by herself in the garden while Lanquest went back to the study to take care of estate matters.
She was glad he had offered her his protection almost from the first moment they met. Because in this century, protection for a woman was as essential as the air she breathed.
And, sadly, that was the exact reason she did not belong in his world.
***
Once Lanquest had ended the business meeting with his steward he joined Kate in the garden.
It was early spring and the gardens were at their best, with flower beds blooming everywhere in artistic displays.
And they had to take advantage of the time they could spend with each other. Lady Bunright was still away with her daughters, and every moment of that time that she was not at the estate was precious.
The sun was now high, for it was nearing the noon hour and it bathed the area with a soft golden haze as it mixed with the disappearing mist.
“This is just beautiful,” said Kate with a sweeping and appreciative glance. “The daffodils are in full splendor! And the gladiolas, splashed around as if rainbows have fallen on the lawn.
“I love the way you describe them,” Michael said, and added, “They are as restful to the eyes as you are, Kate. The opposite of London,”