by Jenny Lykins
Several minutes of mulling over the facts, roaming around and looking at all the evidence got him nowhere in his mental investigations. Anything his gaze fell upon that looked even remotely familiar - the grandfather clock, the dining room table, his mother's tea caddy - also had a patina of age that he couldn't explain.
The sound of Elise bounding down the stairs interrupted his thoughts. She appeared in the doorway, her shoulder length, golden brown hair bouncing as she strode into the dining room. Her apology for taking so long sounded half-hearted to his ears.
Reed took one look at her and immediately fixed his eyes somewhere above her head.
"I see you meant it when you said everyone dresses in that manner here." He stared at the carved wooden trim along the ceiling above her.
His reaction to her state of undress wasn't all outrage. He hoped fervently that the side effect wasn't apparent, but he casually stepped behind a chair, just in case.
"Yeah. Hey! You might as well get used to it because this is almost a summer uniform down here. Come on, you're allowed to look at me. There's nothing wrong with the way I'm dressed. Walking shorts and a tee shirt are hardly shocking. Actually this is pretty conservative."
Reed pulled his eyes toward her, but had trouble getting them to actually land on her. He looked at everything around before finally looking her straight in the eyes.
He was no prude; one could even say he was well acquainted with women. But he was having a problem now. He'd never come across a woman who showed so much flesh, acted as if it was perfectly natural, and wasn't doing it for money. The occasional flash of leg he'd seen belonging to a respectable woman was always followed by a hasty settling of the skirts and a becoming blush. Whether the glimpse and blush were innocent or contrived, it was never blatant.
And the fact that all this exposed flesh belonged to an extremely attractive creature was unnerving, to say the very least.
"There. See? Not so bad, huh? You should see what I wear at the beach."
Good heavens, could it possibly be less?
Ignoring Reed's confused look, Elise spun around and started running water into the squat glass pitcher from the pedestal.
"Would you like tea or coffee?" She turned to catch his answer and almost bumped noses with him.
He had moved so close, his head hovered near her shoulders, his gaze glued to the sink. He forced out the word "tea" then reached over and pushed up the silver lever. Water gushed forth into the sink and disappeared down a drain.
His hopes of returning home disappeared with it.
Elise found herself mesmerized with his reactions to everything new. All the things in her life, necessities to her, were luxuries beyond his imagination. His genuine awe made her see things in a whole new way. Excitement pulsed through her as she realized she could be the one to show this man what his world would turn into.
While the tea brewed, she emptied the refrigerator of anything resembling breakfast - Danish and croissants, butter, jelly, and honey - and sat them on the table. When she glanced up she saw him investigating the refrigerator, opening and closing the door. He stuck his hand in the freezer side, then the refrigerator side. She smiled to herself and wondered how he would react to airplanes...and the fact that she flew them for a living.
The two of them sat together at the table, buttering croissants and feeling uncomfortable. The ching of the silverware against their china sounded loud in the awkward silence.
"So. Reed. Tell me about yourself. Maybe we can find a clue as to how you got here."
"You believe I am not from this time?" he asked, sounding shocked. "I must tell you I am having difficulty myself coming to terms with the evHents of this morning."
"I don't know what to believe," Elise answered with a confused shake of her head. "There's no other logical explanation to what I saw and why you're here, not that saying you're from the past is a logical explanation. But I know I saw you materialize out of nowhere on my bed. If nothing else, that goes a long way in convincing me."
Reed breathed a long sigh and relaxed his body for a moment.
He took a deep breath before starting his story. As he spoke, Elise listened in awe. She settled back in her chair and got comfortable, propping her ankle on the opposite knee. She let her foot bob up and down, and draped one arm over the back of the chair. Reed’s eyes widened, then he glanced away from her as he hesitated with his story. He rambled for a moment as if trying to collect himself.
He virtually started at the beginning, with the death of his parents from an outbreak of yellow fever when he was three years old. His two older sisters had also died during the outbreak, and he credited Nell, his housekeeper who was then his mammy, with saving his life. She'd locked herself in the sickroom with him and stayed up several days and nights in a row until the worst had passed.
"The family solicitors tracked down a distant cousin of my father's and requested that he come and run the plantation until I came of age. Uncle Ian, as I called him, was a fair man, but he had never been married and never had children. He did not cherish the prospect of raising a child but came out of a sense of duty. From sheer lack of his attention I learned early on to find the affection I craved with Nell and the other household staff. Shortly before my eighteenth birthday, Uncle Ian and I had a serious argument. He decided it was best he return to England. He confided to me before he left that he had been extremely homesick for several years. He had put enough money back to buy himself a farm and live quietly on it, which was all he had ever wanted in life."
Reed ended with telling about the ball, his disappointment at not finding a woman who could hold his interest, and going to bed with a cup of herbal tea to sleep and forget his troubles.
"The next thing I remember, I was watching you dress."
Elise uncrossed her legs and propped her forearms on the edge of the table. She went over the information, mentally scanning it for any hint of an answer.
"So you're not married, and you don't have a girlfriend back home that might be wondering where you are?"
Reed shook his head. Elise was inordinately pleased about that answer. After all, the man across the table from her was not hard to look at. The sun-kissed brown hair, soul-searching blue eyes, dark complexion and "chiseled" jaw all added up to one devastating picture. His hair was a shade long and had never seen the fifty dollar haircut so many of the yuppies she went out with sported, yet it still seemed to have a style of it's own. Just a touch of natural curl gave it life, and as he nervously ran his fingers through it from forehead to crown, it sprang back and fell into place flawlessly.
She wanted to reach over and touch it.
"No," he answered with resignation. "I have never found a woman who could capture my interest, and if I am going to spend my life with someone we should at least find each other interesting. Do you not agree?"
"I couldn't agree more." Elise leaned back again, enjoying the view from across the table. "From everything you've told me about yourself, Reed, there must be some clue as to your presence here. We just have to put our heads together and see if we can ferret it out."
They spent the rest of the morning and a big part of the afternoon going over and over the facts. As the hours slipped by Elise made herself comfortable in various ways, from propping her feet on the table edge and tilting back on two legs of the chair, to flipping the chair around and straddling it. Each time she settled into a new position Reed seemed to lose his train of thought.
Elise delved into every aspect of his life. She asked about his business associates, his servants and his daily routine. She questioned him about the house, what it looked like and how it was run. She even asked about the furniture and out buildings.
When the grandfather clock in the hallway chimed three o'clock, she dropped her feet from the edge of the table and her chair came to rest on all fours. Propelled out of her seat, she patted her mid-section and stated that she was starving to death.
She snatched up her purse and keys. "How
about we go grab some lunch? My last trip was eight days to Europe, so there's not much left in the house that's edible."
This statement made no sense whatsoever to Reed, but just as he opened his mouth to question her she swung around and gave him a thorough once over.
"Yeah, you'll do," she said with a nod, punched a few buttons on a panel on the wall, then headed out the kitchen door.
His previous question forgotten, Reed froze, stunned, over this latest announcement.
"Do? I'll do?"
His confidence slipped a notch or two. He tried to bolster it by reminding himself that every other woman he'd ever met thought he would do better than just "do." Why, he could even say...
"Oh. I meant your clothes will do. They won't draw attention to us. It just looks like a riding outfit." Elise's head disappeared again out the back door and he heard a faint "Geez, you gotta stroke those egos no matter what time they live in."
He didn't stop to figure out where they were going to "grab lunch" outside, or what an "ego" was. He just pushed his way out the back door and pulled it shut behind him with only a little irritation when Elise shouted back that order. It occurred to him she would make a wonderful overseer. She certainly had the gift of giving orders.
"I will be with you...momentarily," Reed called as his eyes scanned the immediate vicinity.
His steps slowed and he turned in a circle just as Elise swung around to wait for him.
"Is there a problem?"
"Uh, no," he said. "Just tell me where you've moved the privy."
"Oh. Yeah." Elise whacked her forehead with the heel of her hand. She motioned for him to follow, then headed back to the house.
*******
Still deep in thought about his latest "modern experience," Reed caught up with her at the corner of the house and followed her to a rather elaborate storage shed. He was just telling himself that he should make the best of his situation when he was brought up short by the most unusual thing he'd seen thus far.
There, in the middle of the shed, surrounded by countless, nameless objects and machines, sat a big, silvery gray "thing." It resembled nothing he had ever seen. He stood there and stared at it - something that was becoming altogether too common for him. Elise walked over and actually opened a door on it.
This "thing" seemed to have a door on the other side as well. Windows surrounded it, and a silver cat at the front end was frozen in a leaping pose. He walked around the thing. Words and letters...Jaguar, XJS, V12, and a metal plate on the back that said FLYGIRL with "Louisiana" printed in small letters held no meaning for him.
Elise dropped into a leather seat, reached across and pushed the opposite door open.
"Hop in," she said, while she adjusted a small mirror on the glass in front of her.
He hesitantly folded himself into the opening and tried to settle himself so his head didn't hit the roof. "What in the world is this thing?" he choked out.
"Oh, this is a car, or automobile. It's replaced the horse and carriage. There are hundreds of different kinds now, but of course, this one's my favorite. I think you'll find this mode of transportation much more convenient than what you're used to." He could have sworn he heard a hint of a smile in her voice.
Reed took in the interior of the thing, tried but failed to figure out a single feature.
Elise reached over him and pulled a strap across his lap as another slid around the window and crossed his chest. A heady fragrance engulfed him as she leaned nearer, and he wasn't sure if his sudden discomfort was from her enticing scent or from being physically restrained.
"Er, excuse me, Miss Gerard, but..."
"Elise."
"Er, Elise. I beg your pardon, but is it necessary for these...straps...that is, they are rather confining."
"They're supposed to be. Nothing to worry about, though. See? They come loose whenever you want them to."
Elise demonstrated how to release the straps for him, then clicked them back into place. "Besides, it's the law."
Before the question left his lips she turned a strange key in a slit and the "thing" roared to life. She touched yet another button affixed to a flap over the window and chuckled when Reed jumped as the door of the shed rose in front of them. Throat dry with apprehension, he watched her reach down and grab a T-shaped stick between them. She yanked it back. Her foot pushed a lever on the floor at the same time. Reed was thrown back against his seat and butterflies took flight in his stomach as the "thing" shot forward like a bullet from a gun.
Elise smiled, thoroughly enjoying his reaction and pleased beyond reason that he hadn't disappointed her. She was looking forward to this little ride, maybe more than she'd ever looked forward to anything, including her first ride in a T-38.
She watched the road while they cruised at a mild forty miles per hour and took a few minutes to explain what little she knew about how a car runs. After a few seconds of silence she stole a glance at her passenger. His hands clasped his thighs, white knuckles glarrd up at her and his face held a look of impending doom.
Unable to resist the long, empty stretch of road in front of her, Elise floored the Jag. She felt the immediate acceleration to a smooth, unbelievable speed.
After a few seconds, she took pity on her guest from the past and slowed down to her original pace. She suffered a little remorse at seeing him deathly white, sweat rolling from his temples, his fingers embedded in his thighs.
"Oh, Reed, I'm sorry." Her voice quivered on the edge of a giggle.
Reed looked at her as if she'd sprouted horns. He couldn't seem to make his mouth move. He just sat there, looking half bewildered, half horrified.
His expression finally sobered her. She reassured him that she was, indeed, sorry for not warning him of what to expect. She swore that, all except for a few seconds, the speed at which they'd traveled was completely normal and safe for this time period.
Several seconds of silence ticked by after she stopped talking. Concern replaced her amusement when he failed to react. She eased the car off the road and turned in her seat to face him.
Reed peeled his right hand off of his thigh and with slow deliberation, reached out and grabbed the steering wheel.
She flinched but stopped herself from backing away. She stared at him, trying to gauge what his next reaction would be. A tongue lashing wouldn't surprise her.
"That was the most..." Reed started out in a low, controlled voice, "the most...unbelievably...exhilarating experience I have ever had!"
He rushed on. In his excitement, he had trouble finishing a complete sentence, but had no trouble asking if they could do it again.
Her concern fell away, and she beamed at him. How amazing that this man from the past had been terrified and shown it. Instead of being furious with her, as his counterparts of the present would be, he had found the experience exhilarating and was thanking her for it.
She threw the car into drive. With a stab to the controls, the windows and sunroof opened, and she hit the road with the wind whipping around them as they went, gravel spraying behind them.
When the car sped away, his excited voice could be heard above the roar of the engine. "Can you teach me to do this?"
CHAPTER THREE
Elise decided during the drive that it would be wise to keep Reed away from modern day restaurants until he had more time to adapt. She figured he'd had enough to digest for the day, but without thinking she pulled her cellular phone out of her purse and ordered a large pizza to go. By the time she tucked the phone away, Reed had that now-familiar stare on his face. She sighed and slumped in her seat at her own stupidity. The concept of telephones as sort of "telegraphs with voices" didn't go over too well, so she promised a demonstration when they got home.
By the time they reached the restaurant the pizza was hot and ready to go. She pulled to the drive-up window, gave her name, and asked for a cold six-pack of Diet Coke and a bag of chips. Reed held the huge flat box while she stacked the Cokes and chips on top. In seconds they
were back on the highway.
They cruised along the river road for a while. Elise chose a small park that was usually deserted as the site for their lunch.
Tires crunched on the gravel as they eased into the parking lot and came to a stop several yards from a picnic table situated under a huge live oak. Spanish moss dripped from the branches and dappled sunlight fell in patches all around.
She climbed out of the car and ran around to the other side to help Reed unfold his body. A slight tug-o-war with the pizza box ensued when he insisted he could manage. But with one leg out of the car, the other with his knee nearly to his chin, and doing a balancing act with the pizza, he finally gave in and handed the food over so he could grab the roof of the car and pull himself out. He stood in the wedge of the door and studied the area he had just vacated, as if trying to figure out how he had gotten his entire body in there to begin with.
Elise opened the pizza box and pulled two cans of soda from the six-pack. She settled herself on the top of a table overlooking the river and patted the area next to her. Reed gave a considering eye to her choice of seats, then lowered his body to straddle the bench instead.
The masculine position shot little jolts of electricity through her as she admired her time-traveling lunch partner. She couldn't believe she was sitting here with him. She could picture him astride a spirited horse, planter's hat pulled low over his eyes to shield him from the sun, while he roamed the fields of his plantation. His leather boots would stretch over those powerful calves to his knees and the billowing shirt would be open at the collar...
"This smells wonderful. What type of food is it?" Reed's face was the picture of ecstasy.
She jerked herself back to the present and shook her head. "It's called pizza. It's sort of an Italian meat, vegetable and cheese pie. It's probably the most popular food in America.”