by Kim Hornsby
“Did he disappear or…?” I asked Eve.
“He headed straight for the water,” she eventually said. “He’s flying out over the bay.”
We traipsed around the beach, Eve throwing sticks for Hodor, Carlos filming a whole lot of nothing and the crow flying around and finally landing on the rocks at the far end of the beach. Eve led me along to the end where I’d hidden with Caspian to see the smuggled slaves.
I think I’ll stay here for a while,” I said. “You guys can go back to the house.” I wanted to try to reach Caspian and this beach seemed like a good starting point. “Take Carlos with you,” I said.
I sat on the beach, the rocks warm from the day’s sunshine, and tipped my face to the sky letting Frankenscar soak up the dreaded vitamin D. If I ever hoped Frankenscar would fade, this was not the way to go about it. From thirty feet off to my right, I heard Blackbird go through his repertoire of words, some swearing, some not. The most interesting phrase I heard was “Aye Aye, Cap’n.” knowing it referred to Caspian. The warmth of the sun penetrated my bones and when I saw light behind my eyelids, I opened my eyes to realize the beach I sat on was far behind. Or far ahead, as this moment would prove.
I now sat in a seat at a theater watching a group of elaborately dressed performers on stage, bowing below my balcony seat. I was clapping politely with the other audience members in my box seat and noticed I wore a dress of mauve shiny material, a jeweled bracelet swinging from my wrist as I applauded. I looked to my right to see my mother, not my present-day mother, but Rachel the first’s mother, clapping and smiling at the performance we’d just watched. She leaned over to me and spoke. “I love this opera, like you, my dear. It was a wonderful idea to take us out tonight.”
I smiled at her, thinking that’s what Rachel would do and next we rose at the prompting of an older gentleman beside my mother, who I assumed was Rachel’s father. I stood and felt someone touch my sleeve on the other side.
“Simply wonderful, my darling,” he said. Turning, I saw a man my age, dressed similarly to my father, beaming at me. His teeth were slightly crossed in front, his sideburns bushy and his cheeks rosy.
Was this a boyfriend? A suitor? He offered his arm when we got to the hall and I took it, mimicking my mother. Strolling through the lobby in my swishing skirt and décolletage showing, I imagined my behavior was very Rachel-ish because no one seemed the wiser, including my parents who led the way to the lobby of the grand theater.
Twenty feet from the door something prompted me to look to my right, beyond my evening’s date, to see Caspian standing near a pillar, a glass of champagne in hand, staring at me. I must’ve looked shocked to see him because Caspian’s eyebrows went up and a grin crept across his lips. He turned back to his group and excused himself to approach us.
Seeing Caspian, my father stopped to greet him with a firm handshake, and I worried he would open up Caspian’s wound. How long had it been since I’d nursed his shoulder?
“Captain Cortez,” my father said. “It’s wonderful to see you. Is your ship in port?”
“It is indeed. Wonderful to see you out with your family to such a fine event.” Caspian turned to my mother, kissed her hand like a gentleman and then turned to me, ignoring the man I was linked to by arms. “And Miss Primrose. I trust you enjoyed tonight’s musical selection.”
“I did indeed.” I was a millisecond away from telling him I didn’t hear any of it then remembered Rachel had. I smoothly detached from the man on my arm.
Speaking directly to my father, Caspian issued a heartfelt thank you for allowing me to stay on at Cove House to play nursemaid to him several months earlier. Had it been months? I wondered if Rachel and Caspian had had any contact since that day he left with his crew to the Isabella.
“Rachel is a soft-hearted sort and wouldn’t have seen anyone in need want for nursing,” my father said quite formally. “But the person to thank is Rachel’s fiance, Major Vandervoort, who gave his permission for her stay as well.”
If ever there was a WTF moment in these time travels, this was it. First of all, was Rachel engaged to the dude on my arm with the weak chin and crossed teeth and secondly, did I need permission from someone to stay at Cove House? I held back from saying anything to suggest I made my own decisions around here and raised my chin to look square at Caspian. “I’m pleased to see you up and about Captain Cortez. The last I saw you were being assisted to the ship.” I felt the heat flooding my face and looked away before I registered ten levels of lust and love.
“That is true. Thank you, Major Vandervoort,” Caspian said not looking to my fiance. “Rachel spoke of little else but you as she helped me regain my strength.”
I hadn’t mentioned the dude because I had no idea I was engaged and it was my understanding that the person who nursed Caspian was only ever me, Bryndle, never Rachel.
My fiance muttered something formal about Rachel being an inspiration to many people and while everyone was looking at him say this, I shot a glance to Caspian to see the slight trace of a smile on his face, one I knew to contain some mischief and amusement.
“Yes, she was that to me. Feeding me, bathing the wound, reading the Bible, and keeping the demons from the door.” I hadn’t even seen a bible in the room, so I was sure Caspian was playing some sort of game with everyone. A game to amuse me and him. I knew what Caspian meant by demons and he wasn’t being metaphorical. Jacqueline was his demon and I’d protected him from her during the days he lay in the bed in the Bloody Bedroom healing.
“It was my pleasure to be of help. My reward is seeing your robust complexion and virile conjecture.” I was getting pretty good at talking in the olden day way, I thought, until my mother looked strangely at me. I wasn’t entirely sure what the word conjecture meant but it just flew out. Was it something Rachel would say? Probably not because my mother cleared her throat, waved a fan towards the door and suggested that we needn’t keep our coach waiting any longer.
“Good Evening, Captain Cortez,” she said.
Was this it? I was to go off with a family I didn’t know and a milquetoast fiance? “You must come to tea while your ship is in port, Captain.” The words flew out of my mouth before I’d given them much thought. Was it my place to invite a man to tea? Judging from the expression on my fiancé’s face, it was not, but Caspian smiled and thanked me for the kind invitation.
“Perhaps tomorrow,” I said. He might not stick around much longer if his ship was in port getting ready to sail and I wanted to see him again. I wasn’t sure if I’d still be here tomorrow or if it would be Rachel who would find herself having tea with a rogue of a ship captain who would wink at her across the teacup.
“Tomorrow doesn’t work, my love,” Major Vandervoort said. “I won’t be able to attend.”
I was just about to say I didn’t ask him to come, when Caspian saved me. “We plan to sail tomorrow for San Francisco, but I thank you for the kind invitation.” He nodded at my mother, like the tea party had been suggested by her and I realized he was helping me save face.
“Pity,” I said casually, hoping to look like it didn’t matter one way or another. And with that we all nodded, and my family and I made our way to the waiting coach with the good Major clutching my arm like I might dash back to Caspian at any moment.
That night, after my servants helped take off the many layers of clothing that women of that time wore, and assisted me into a long nightshirt, I dismissed the two women and sat on the side of Rachel’s very ornate and large bed, thinking. Was I supposed to go to sleep now and if so, would I wake up still in this time period?
A tap at the door had me calling “come in,” and my mother entered the room.
She wore her robe, her hair down and cascading around her shoulders. She crossed to me and sat beside me. Taking my hand in hers, she took a deep breath. “My dearest girl, you must try to hide your feelings for the Captain. For everyone’s sakes, including Major Vandervoort, who has agreed to marry you even though you’r
e beyond marriageable age.”
How old was Rachel? Forty? “Yes, I will. Thank you, Mother.” What more could I say? I knew very little about Rachel.
“Captain Cortez is charming, but Robert is your future, my dear.”
I wanted to ask her how she knew I had feelings for Caspian but then she answered my question.
“Try to not look so obviously enamored in his presence. Now that he’s sailing away, you may never make his acquaintance again. Promise me that you won’t try to find him, my dear. I know how strong-willed you are, but this is what must be.” She turned my face toward her, and I saw such worry that I nodded. I was pretty sure Rachel didn’t go looking for Caspian between now and when their paths would meet again at Cove House for the ball.
My mother kissed my forehead and smiled kindly at me. “Sleep well, my dear.”
“And you,” I said. So, this was what a lovely mother was like. I wanted to launch myself into her arms and hold on tight, but I held off. “I love you,” I said as she crossed the threshold, mostly because I was sure Rachel loved this mother.
“And I, you, heart of my heart.”
An hour later, I was settled into bed thinking, when another sound tapped at the door. “Come in,” I said.
A servant who’d earlier helped me undress, entered the room breathlessly. “Ma’m, she said closing the door. “I’m sorry to disturb you but the gentleman is outside wishing to speak with you.”
I stood beside the bed with only one man’s name in mind. “Is it the Major?” I said hoping it wasn’t.
The servant looked surprised like she might have been tricked into delivering this message. “No.”
“The Captain?”
“He’s waiting in the garden.” The servant girl looked frightened, but I put my hand on her arm and nodded. “Thank you.”
At her nod, I smiled and asked her to get my robe. “Will you help me sneak out?” I wondered about my relationship with this servant and if this was completely out of character for Rachel.
We crept silently through the house by way of servant stairs and a long corridor in the basement eventually finding our way to the back garden which was bathed in moonlight. Staying in the shadows we headed for a building in the back corner. “He’s waiting.”
I thanked her and said she could go to bed now.
“If it’s alright, I’ll just wait inside the door to accompany you back upstairs. At whatever hour,” she added.
“Thank you,” I said, not knowing if it would be me trying to sneak back to my room later, or Rachel.
Chapter 12
Caspian waited for me on the far side of what looked like a rose garden, in a tucked away corner of the yard. I almost ran to him, then remembered our only other meetings in this timeline had been at Cove House nursing him and earlier that evening at the Opera House. Our parting at Cove House had suggested feelings sprouting between us and he’d given me a ring but we hadn’t talked of feelings. I’d searched for the lion ring in Rachel’s bedroom and found it under her mattress before I left the room minutes ago.
I had to think that in this time period, it wasn’t considered socially acceptable meeting a man in the dark garden while wearing PJ’s. Probably no worse than accepting a ring from a stranger.
He stood, waiting in the shadows, watching me approach.
“My love,” he said when I got within a few feet.
What?
He swept me up in his arms kissing my face before the final big one landed on my mouth. I followed his lead, not sure how Rachel kissed and if there was one thing I now knew, it was that this was not Caspian and Rachel’s first kiss. The way his lips devoured mine, led me to think there’d been at least one meeting before his “Thank you for nursing me, Miss Primrose,” moment and this sizzling smoocher in the garden. I participated until he broke from me whispering. “Please say you won’t marry that thing that hangs off your arm.”
I wasn’t quite finished kissing Caspian but when he finally took my shoulders in his hands and held me firmly a foot back from him, I answered. “I’ll try not to.”
He laughed and hugged me to him. “Ah Rachel, my sweet temptress. My divorce will be granted in a matter of months, I’ve heard, and then I’ll come to claim you.”
I had no idea if there was a wedding planned for Rachel and Major Vandervoort anytime soon, so I had to play this safe. “You are always in my thoughts, Caspian.”
“And you in mine, enough to make this sea-going sailor a landlubber lately. You’ve kept me in port too long, my love. We sail tomorrow but I’ll think of you every moment I’m away.”
“Please be safe. Don’t take any unnecessary risks,” I said mostly because I thought that was what Rachel would say. I knew I’d see Caspian again at the Summer Ball at Stevens’ house and judging by the warmth of the air in the garden, I had to think that summer wasn’t far off. Flower beds dotted the Primrose gardens with fat flowers in bloom and crossing the garden moments ago, I’d detected the scent of lilac. Roses weren’t out yet, so it was probably late Spring.
I tried to figure out our relationship as we kissed more. Had Caspian and Rachel been intimate already? If this kissing was any indication, I’d vote for a big resounding yes. I knew it was on its way, if not. At the Summer Ball, Rachel was already pregnant and if Caspian was leaving tomorrow… I did the math and decided that Rachel was giving herself fully to the good Captain.
We pulled apart. “How will you fare as the wife of a sea captain, I wonder.” Caspian pulled me to sit with him on the bench nearby. “I’ll be gone months at a time.” His expression was serious.
“If I can be your wife, I’ll take whatever time we have together. I’d rather have you some, than not at all.” I thought that sounded pretty good considering for a moment I almost said, ‘if you love someone set them free and if they come back, they are yours, if they don’t, they never were.’
“How can it be that I found you after my abysmal marriage to Jacqueline?” He kissed my hair and took a deep breath. “Oh, Rachel. I will remember your softness, your scent, your wicked smile…” he pulled back to look at my face… a face that didn’t have Frankenscar.
I raised my eyebrows seductively in lieu of forcing a wicked smile I wasn’t sure I knew how to make. “It was torture seeing you tonight and not being able to touch you,” I said truthfully.
Caspian’s face clouded with lust and the next thing I knew we were kissing and then lying on the lush grass beside the bench making love in the moonlight of the 1850’s. Caspian was gentle, perfect and I followed his lead, not wanting to appear too experienced. Not that I’d ever made love with a sea captain in the moonlight in the 1850’s before, but I was careful to not initiate anything, only react to his tender lovemaking.
Later, with the help of the servant girl, I snuck back into the house and found my bed, wishing I had Caspian with me. I’d given him back the ring and told him to wear it knowing I’d given it to him. He seemed to like this idea.
“My family ring will be yours again soon, my love.” He’d slipped it back on his pinkie finger and I took his hand and kissed the ring.
Back in my bedroom, I snuggled down into the bedding and yearned for this relationship with Caspian in the next century. Not the sneaking around part but the intimacy. Not just that, but the closeness, his commitment. So far, my closest moments with this man were as Rachel, not as Bryndle, and that fact was not lost on me. It was Rachel he loved. Rachel was the one who first seduced him in the garden a week earlier. He’d mentioned a week’s worth of nights like these in the garden and I was horribly jealous of Rachel.
When I woke on the beach with the sun still warm on my face, I realized I might not have been gone long. The sun hadn’t set even though I’d been gone for probably seven hours in the 1850’s. I found my face wasn’t sore to the touch like I’d been hours in the ultra-violet and would suffer a sunburn tonight. I reached for my phone to check the time and was told it was only a few minutes after sitting down with Blackbird
and Hodor.
“Blackbird?” I called. I listened for wings swishing nearby and heard nothing but the sound of Hodor digging in the pebbly beach near the shoreline in front of me, his nose probably covered in sand, judging by his vigorous sniffing.
“Come on, Hodor,” I stood, brushing off my jeans’ backside. “Let’s go tell Eve I’m having a sexual relationship with Caspian in the 1850’s.”
I took out my phone and made a call to Eve on the way up the stairs to the house. “I went back to a night in Portland, after I’d nursed Caspian’s wound and before the Summer Ball.”
“Did you find Caspian?”
“He found me,” I said. “I dropped into a night at the opera, went home to bed and was secretly summoned to the Primrose garden by Caspian. I think he and Rachel had done the deed because he greeted me very heartily, if you catch my drift.”
“Youza!” Eve said. “Another piece to your cray-cray puzzle.”
Eve knew everything about this story and with her help I was trying to determine the timeline of the travels. As I spoke to her, walking up the trail’s stairs, I imagined her running to the den. She’d made a big chart that was color coded about my time travels and according to Carlos, it was “muy colorful.”
So far, I’d had four travels, not in sequential order. I’d saved Caspian from drowning and been aboard the Isabella. That was one. I’d been to the Summer Ball and enjoyed a romantic tryst with Caspian in the library. That was two. I’d watched women being smuggled on the beach. That was three. And I’d been to the Portland opera and home to the Primrose family garden to meet Caspian. That was the final one. Eve and I named them Drowning/Isabella, Summer Ball/Library, Smuggling Night and would soon attach a name to the one I’d just experienced.
By the time I finished telling Eve about Rachel’s fiance (who I disliked mostly because he wasn’t Caspian), Rachel’s parents, and about Caspian’s plan to come back for Rachel when he was a free man, I was exhausted and confused. “What’s puzzling is that although it was all me nursing him at Cove House, Caspian said he’d met me—Rachel—all week while his ship was in port. I wonder how she went from not knowing who the hell this man was, to making love with him in the garden before I got there.
