by Jenny Lykins
He made no comment but continued to stare at the pizza. She rummaged around in the hamper and came up with a brown and white jug and a bowl covered with a checkered napkin.
Reed lifted a corner of the napkin and peeked in, then flicked it off and tossed it behind him. He quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Another craving?"
"They're called potato chips. All they are are thinly sliced potatoes that have been deep-fried. Here, try one."
These had been easier to convince Tessa to fix than the pizza. At least she hadn't grumbled as much. With each ingredient and step Elise had described in the making of the pizza, Tessa had mumbled or cried out "Oh, Lawdy!" She'd had to settle for goat cheese and plantation-made sausage, not to mention the lack or substitution of spices. And since Elise had never been the type to know her way around a kitchen, she hadn't even been sure of exactly what spices she did need.
She slid a wedge of pizza onto each of their plates and handed one to Reed. He looked around, then rummaged through the wicker hamper.
"What are you looking for?"
"Tessa has forgotten to pack the silverware. That's not like her."
Elise's adrenaline began to surge.
"Oh! You don't use silverware. You eat it like this." She picked up the wedge. "Now, it's very important that you eat the pointed end first. It just doesn't taste the same if you don't."
She watched for his reaction, but all he did was raise one eyebrow and say, "Of course."
He bit into the pizza. His face lit with pleasant surprise, but he didn't show any sign of recognition. She took a bite herself, and her heart sank at the taste. It was very good, but it didn't taste like pizza.
Well, on to Plan B.
Reed uncorked the jug and poured the amber liquid into the two crystal goblets. He handed one to Elise and raised his glass in salute.
"Here's to a most extraordinary meal with a most extraordinary woman."
A melodic ching sounded when their glasses touched. Reed watched her over the rim of the crystal while he sipped his drink.
Elise almost faltered at his toast. Visions of their wedding night assailed her. She glanced into Reed's eyes and saw them widen in surprise but forced herself to put the glass to her lips and swallow.
Make it good, she thought.
She jumped up, coughing and sputtering, then shivered with a force that jolted her entire body. Reed leaped to his feet and hovered protectively.
"What in the world is this?" She held out the goblet and turned it to stare at the liquid. "For God's sake, Reed, the stuff came out my nose!"
She watched him again for any sign of recognition, but he shook his head in surprise.
"This is whiskey, Elise. Why in the world would Tessa pack whiskey on a picnic lunch?"
"Actually, I packed it. But I thought it was cider. I must have picked up the wrong jug." Yeah, sure.
"I thought it was cider, too, when I poured it. I didn't realize what it was in time to warn you."
"Well," Elise shook the folds of her skirts and re-fluffed the puffy sleeves that hung from her shoulders, "no harm done. It seems I've just survived my first taste of whiskey."
They settled back onto the cloth and polished off the rest of the meal while they chatted. She avoided drinking any more whiskey but needed one more sip to wash down the last bite of pizza.
A glistening drop of amber clung to the rim of her glass. When she saw it she couldn't resist another attempt to jar his memory.
She watched the droplet hover on the edge, then start to slowly roll down the curved crystal. She allowed it to carve a lazy, moist path down the bowl of the goblet and halfway down the stem before she stopped its progress with a slender, tanned finger. She retraced the path of the droplet in an equally lazy manner. Her finger glided up the stem and caressed the moist bowl of the crystal. When her fingertip reached the top, she circled the rim and raised sultry eyes to Reed.
Without looking away, without blinking, she held his gaze and slowly - ever so slowly - parted her lips and touched the whiskey-laced finger to her tongue. Reed's eyes had taken on a glazed cast. He swallowed hard, almost gulping, when she closed her lips before leisurely withdrawing her finger.
She had definitely made an impression on him. One sweeping full-length glance confirmed that. But she could tell from his look that not one memory had been sparked from this whole fiasco.
With more dread than she expected to feel, she launched into Plan C.
"Reed," she said with a soft, coaxing voice as she leaned back into the grass and stared through the lacy green canopy above.
"Hmmm?" His voice was a velvety, fuzzy hum. He should be very accommodating. She tried to speak in a soft, understanding tone.
"When did Angeline become pregnant?"
Even to her own ears, the question sounded like a discordant note in the midst of a symphony. The only answering sound was the roar of blood pulsing in her ears. She turned her head, then rolled to her side to look him in the eye.
His lips were a thin, hard line, and he refused to meet her gaze.
"What's done is done, Elise. Talking about it won't change things."
"But Reed, sometimes talking about it can help clear the air. Sometimes it can make a difference."
He closed his eyes. A look of pain caused little crinkles to radiate from the corners. He shook his head in denial.
"I'm not proud of getting Angeline with child. It's not something I want to lay before me and dissect."
"But don't you find it strange that in the future..." she caught herself just in time. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "I mean, in the past you have never...for Pete's sake, Reed, you're not the type of man to scr...have sex with a woman out of wedlock." She was going to ruin everything. It seemed her mouth had taken on a life of its own.
Reed's lips were a white line in his now-tormented face. When he spoke, his voice sounded more defeated than ever.
"How do you describe what occurred last night?" The muscles in his face were tense, and his look was determined. "The subject is closed, Elise."
It was best not to push him. Somehow, she felt as if she'd just nailed the final nail in her coffin. Last night he had made love to his wife, but he didn't know that.
So much for Plan C.
And so much for a relaxing afternoon. It was clear that the picnic was over. Elise made a few attempts to recapture a sense of lightheartedness, but a depressing pall seemed to wrap around them, like an encroaching fog.
It took only a minute to pack up their belongings and turn the carriage back to the house. The short trip was made in uncomfortable silence. They turned onto the avenue of oaks and were halfway through the verdant, green corridor when the wheels of another carriage crunched behind them.
Reed didn't even turn around to see who it was. At the sound of wheels, she felt him stiffen, and for the second time ever, she heard him curse.
By the time Nicholas and Cyprian bounded from the phaeton, Reed appeared to have come to terms with having to entertain visitors. He was believably cordial as he handed Marisa down and told her driver to go to the kitchen for a cool drink and something to eat.
Marisa greeted Elise with a hug. Unexpected tears sprang to Elise's eyes at the welcome feeling of the feminine hug, and she held fast to her new friend long enough to blink away the tears. Marisa studied Elise's face when she pulled away, but Elise flashed her a smile and then turned to hug the boys.
The group noisily made their way into the parlor, and even Lilianna roused herself to join them. The dear lady had been making herself scarce by pleading a bad back and a need for rest.
"Elise, your ankle must be feeling better to allow you to move around as much as you have. I am so glad it wasn't serious." Marisa patted her hand with genuine warmth.
"It's much better, thanks. I just have a trace of a limp."
"Can we see if your ankle is as big as it was yesterday, Miss Elise?"
"Nicholas," Marisa admonished, "one does not a
sk a lady to expose her ankle. It does not matter how big it is. It only matters that she is feeling better."
Nicholas pursed his lips and squirmed in embarrassment. Elise caught his eye and smiled, then shrugged and crossed her eyes at him. He giggled and nudged Cyprian to make sure he, too, was a witness.
By the time Marisa and Lilianna turned to look, her face was the picture of sophistication, which only encouraged more boyish giggles. Reed, however, had watched the little scene, and now he wore a very thoughtful smile.
The impromptu party turned festive as tea was served and pungent spice cakes, still warm from the oven, were passed around. It was just too stifling to bear the thought of drinking hot tea, so Elise asked Verda to please bring glasses with a little ice in them.
Her request was met with inquisitive stares. She really didn't give it much thought. She just wanted to feel the cold liquid trace a path to her stomach on such a suffocating day.
When the glasses of ice chips arrived and she poured her lukewarm tea into one, Nicholas was on his feet again. He bounced questions off her like a racquetball against a wall.
"Miss Elise, don't you want your tea? Why did you pour it out into the ice? Don't you want your cake either? Can I have it if you don't want it?"
An indulgent grin curved her lips while she sprinkled in a couple spoonfuls of sugar and stirred the iced tea. Nicholas was still firing questions at her, his eyes coveting her cake, when she handed the glass to him.
"Taste."
At least that stopped the questions. But he was now looking at her as if she'd just handed him a glass of raw sewage and told him to drink it.
"Go ahead. Taste it. And, yes, I want my cake." She hid her smile at his horrified, then crestfallen face.
Nicholas shot an uneasy glance at Cyprian, who sat quietly apart from the others. Elise noticed the small, dark face looked relieved at not being asked to taste this toxic substance. Obviously Nick noticed it, too. He sauntered over to his friend and held the glass under his nose.
"Thirsty, Cyp?"
A violent shaking of the woolly little head answered Nick's question. Cyprian squirmed back in the seat a solid six inches farther away from the dreaded beverage.
"Oh, for Pete's sake," Elise said. She bounced from her seat and scooped the glass from Nick's pudgy fingers. "It's just cold tea. It's great."
She proved it by taking several sips - she had to remind herself it was unladylike to do otherwise. She unintentionally exploded with a breathy "AHHHHH" afterward.
It really was funny. Such skeptical looks from her audience would have one believing she was Nell, mixing up one of her Voodoo potions. She offered a glass to everyone in the room, and out of politeness they took it. Reed, she noticed, was the only one who drank with gusto. That fact buoyed her spirits somewhat; he had loved iced tea in the future.
But he was beginning to get that look men get when they want to escape. Any minute now he would remember a pressing problem and excuse himself to deal with it.
She was going to have to speed up Plan D.
At this rate, she would soon run through the entire alphabet.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Reed searched his mind for a polite excuse to leave. It had been a long, frustrating day, and he just didn't feel up to idle chitchat. He opened his mouth to announce an urgent need to check on the new foals. At that same moment a scuffle broke out in the shadows by the door.
"Nicholas. Cyprian." Marisa said firmly, "Stop that at once."
The two little boys broke their playful holds on each other and looked sheepish. Marisa continued to look at them with displeasure, but Reed could empathize with their restlessness.
"Hey, you guys come here, and I'll tell you a story," Elise said in the enigmatic vernacular she sometimes used.
Her gown billowed around her as she settled herself at the small desk in the corner. Her wiggling fingers indicated the boys should sit in front of her.
They scrambled to the floor around her feet with only a minimum of good-natured shoving. Their eyes held a glow of expectation.
She really was wonderful with children. It was wrenching to know she would never raise his babies; that it would be Angeline who...
"This is a story about a lady who lost her memory."
Cyprian and Nicholas exchanged wise, knowing looks.
"This lady just woke up one day and couldn't remember who she was or where she was from. And after a while it began to look like she never would remember. She became very forlorn."
The boys seemed a bit uncomfortable. They both wore sympathetic expressions that were as sad as Elise's. But the next instant Elise's face brightened.
"So the lady decided to make up an imaginary place. She decided it might as well be a wonderful, different place, with fascinating, magical inventions, and filled with people like no where else on earth.
"First, she decided to make it a place where lots and lots of diseases like smallpox, diphtheria, influenza and pneumonia could be cured or prevented.
"Next, she decided to make life a lot easier for all the people who lived there. She had hot and cold running water coming right into the homes. It poured into sinks and bathing tubs with just a turn of a knob. Why, it would even come right out of a pipe in the wall and shower down on a person, so you wouldn't even have to sit down to bathe. And then all the water would run right down a drain and out of the house."
Reed felt a hot tingle behind his ears.
"She also decided she wanted the people to get around faster and communicate easier. She imagined a magical box that allowed you to speak to anyone else who had one, anywhere else in the world.
"She decided there would be carriages with engines instead of horses, and they could travel faster and longer than any horse and buggy."
By this time the boys' eyes were wide, and they were spellbound by the story. Elise still sat at the desk, and now she began to fidget with something as she spoke.
"But best of all, this wonderful place she was from had a special way of getting people around. The people would climb inside a huge, metal bird, and then it would fly them through the air to wherever they wanted to go."
"No! Oh, Miss Elise, you are having fun with us." The boys were up on their knees now, enjoying every minute of the story. Marisa and Lil glanced at each other with indulgent smiles. Reed caught a movement from the corner of his eye. He turned to see Nell standing transfixed in the doorway, her eyes wide with amazement, as if she really believed the story. It surprised him. Nell wasn't usually the gullible type.
"No, it's true." Elise continued to fidget with something behind the desk. "The big, metal birds were all different sizes, and when they flew they looked just like this."
Her hand appeared from behind the desk. With one fluid movement she flicked her wrist and sent a folded piece of paper sailing through the air.
All eyes followed the odd-shaped projectile as it glided across the silent room. It flew almost the entire length of the parlor, then slipped toward the floor to land perfectly, just like a bird.
"Wow! How'd you do that?"
"Would you learn us to fold paper like that?"
"Who taught you that?"
"Could you learn us now?"
The room exploded with little boy questions. Elise laughed and nodded while Nicholas scooped up the paper missile and began to systematically unfold it.
Reed's neck was tingling again.
He couldn't explain the cause for the sensation, but it was a deuced uncomfortable feeling. Perhaps he was coming down with something.
Nell finally stepped into the room and placed a fresh pot of tea on the serving tray. Her wide eyes were locked on Elise and filled with wonder. How unusual. Was it possible Nell knew something he didn't?
A white dart whizzing past his nose distracted him. He shook his head when Lil offered him more tea.
"Would you care for more tea, my dear?" Lilianna asked Marisa, then casually dodged another soaring paper bird as if she were accust
omed to a constant barrage of them.
"Nicholas!" Marisa reprimanded in a stern voice. She turned back to Lil. "No, thank you, Mrs. Dubose. It is growing late and time I got Nicholas and Cyprian home."
The boys protested in unison, with Nicholas by far the loudest. The protests died at Marisa's quelling look, but a barely audible grumble rose again when her attention was diverted.
Reed, Elise and Lil walked the visitors to their carriage and waved them down the avenue of oaks. As soon as the front door was bolted for the night Lil excused herself with the announcement that her back had flared up again and that she needed a poultice.
Reed felt Elise's gaze on him while he walked her back to the parlor. In fact, she had been watching him all day, as if she expected him to sprout horns or grow another head or some such thing.
The entire day had been hellish. The confrontation with Angeline, breaking the news to Elise, and then spending hours at a difficult foaling. And on top of all that, Elise had started acting extremely odd - or, he should say, more odd.
First there was that shower contraption. Then the unusual food at a disconcerting picnic, followed by icing down everyone's tea. And to top it off, she told that outrageous story to the boys.
"Elise, is your memory returning?" His voice was hopeful, yet hesitant. It was followed by a stretch of silence before she answered.
"No. Is yours?" She almost snapped his head off with the words. She had never spoken to him in such a way. He stared at her in astonishment. Not only odd words but odd behavior. He was beginning to worry.
Her eyes closed and her hand came up to sift through her hair as she dropped onto the loveseat. The heel of her hand massaged the center of her forehead, and she released a long sigh. He expected her to speak, but she remained silent.
"I'm sorry, little one. It's been a long, exhausting day for both of us. It's just that you..." How could he put this? "...haven't quite been yourself this afternoon, and I thought perhaps you..."