by Gloria Gay
After dinner in the company of Aunt Florinda, and afterwards as Aunt Florinda napped in a chair nearby, Jane and Jestyn talked for a long time, in their little balcony, until the light waned above the chimney tops on the buildings of Exeter, and the full moon hovered above the silvery gray water turning rapidly dark.
Aunt Florinda excused herself and went to her bed. “I will sleep like a log, my dears. Never mind me – you two just go on talking as much as you like. I must rest before our return journey tomorrow.”
“She’s a sweet dear,” said Jane.
“What other positions do women hold in your age?”
“Doctors, lawyers, engineers, business persons. Women may hold any profession or occupation that men hold. But less in heavy construction work, I think, although many women are now entering that field. Also, they are now active in the military, particularly in aviation. They don’t yet go into direct combat but I read that they are training for it and will soon join the men in the combat fields.
“I would want to see the skyscrapers, I think,” Jestyn said. “A hundred stories! Amazing! And what you call ‘television’ – it’s simply astounding!”
“I can imagine how such things as I have described to you must sound,” Jane agreed. “It would be as if I had been transported two hundred years into my future and someone tried to explain wonders I didn’t know existed!
“I shall just have to resign myself to not ever seeing those things,” said Jestyn with a sigh. I was telling Cedric about some of the things you told me and he was just as astounded as I was.”
“I’m glad Cedric has recovered completely,” Jane said. “I’m sorry I have not been able to see much of him. He left shortly after I arrived, didn’t he?”
“Well, Cedric is in love. He became engaged just two days prior to our accident. As you can imagine, a young man in love, such as he is, and very newly thrust into such a state, thinks of nothing but to be near the object of his love. And then, Lorraine lives quite a distance from us.
“But Cedric assured me they are coming back to Greywick Hall today. He is very concerned for you. After I showed him the objects of your hand bag he was as impressed as I was and saw it as absolute proof that you are not from our time. He believes you are in increasing danger, too.”
“Is he and Lorraine getting married soon?”
“Yes – they have set the date for early fall. Lady Mellingway’s mother is in delicate condition after a recent illness, so they have agreed to postpone the wedding until she is recovered. Sir Walter Mellingway is our neighbor to the east. I am very happy with Cedric’s choice, Jane. Lorraine is an attractive, level-headed girl. You did meet her, did you not?
“Yes, but just briefly. I’m glad for them.”
“You were betrothed shortly before you came here, were you not?”
“I had broken up with Ken shortly before I left for England. He – he was not the loyal type, I’m afraid. That was the reason. He was not able to be with me only. He went on seeing an ex-girlfriend, apart from some other women. I found out too late into the relationship.”
“But fortunately you were able to find out about these defects of character before you married. It would have been worse still if you had had to spend your entire life with him.”
“Not my entire life! Only the few weeks it would take to get a divorce,” said Jane with a laugh.
“Is divorce common, then?”
“Very common.”
“I can’t believe I was so lucky you were not engaged when I transferred to your time, Jestyn, or is there someone you are fond of in your era?”
“I was in love once, very deeply. I – well, I think I’d like to tell you about Evaline one time and then I shall never mention the subject again.”
“Yes, Jestyn. I’d like that, too,” Jane said.
“I thought she loved me but it was just her outward compliance with her parents’ wishes. She had fallen in love with Sam Lester, Lord Feehey’s head stable groom and the groom that always accompanied her when she rode. Riding was everything to her. She was on a horse more than half the day.
“I had been attracted to Evaline since childhood on and fell in love with her as an adult. My father and her father had planned our union since our infancy and I was eager to agree to my father’s wishes, which he expressed shortly before he died. His wishes were easy for me to comply with.
“I found out later from her brother, Tom, that Evaline’s father had ordered Evaline to accept my suit when she seemed reluctant. The way things are here, is that marriages are arranged very much between the suitor and the lady’s father. Evaline pretended to love me and to accept my courtship but it was only so that nobody would suspect where her true affection lay. Also unknown to her parents, Evaline suffered from a heart ailment.
“Evaline disappeared the day before our wedding and her brother came to seek Cedric and my help. You see, her twin brother already suspected what was going on and when his sister and Sam Lester disappeared, he had no one to turn to but to us. He didn’t want his parents to find out where Evaline was. So we went to look for her and after asking around we were led to an inn in Lydford. We found her lover, Sam, distraught. Evaline had died minutes before we found her.
A doctor was summoned – in total secrecy, of course. He diagnosed her with heart failure – apoplexy. The doctor agreed to keep to himself the circumstances of how she had died – literally in the arms of her lover, while making love. Sam Lester delivered a letter to us that Evaline had meant to post that day, informing her parents of her decision to flee with him, whom she loved, rather than be wed to a man she did not love.
“Her parents were devastated with her death. But her brother had begged us to keep the truth from them. Her twin brother Tom, Cedric and I – and, of course the head groom, Sam Lester, as well as Dr. Devinge, the Feehey’s physician, took an oath to keep the affair a secret, only for Lord and Lady Feehey’s sake.
“What a horrible tragedy!”
“Yes,” Jestyn agreed. You and I had similar experiences with love, Jane. But I would have given up any claim to Evaline’s love a thousand times if it would give her back her life, for her parents’ sake. I believe their grief will be the death of them. I wish she would have confessed to me that she did not love me, rather than pretend she did for her parents’ sake. She might still be alive today. I believe the excitement of her escapade caused her heart failure.”
“It’s so sad,” Jane said, astounded at the tragic ending to Jestyn’s engagement. There was a long silence between them. Then Jestyn spoke, his voice soft.
“The corridors in this hotel at this time of the year are empty. I believe we are the only ones occupying a room in this wing of the hotel, darling.”
Jane looked deeply into Jestyn’s eyes. She better leave soon, she thought, for she had fallen in love with him. And she knew in her heart he felt the same way. They had made a private little world for themselves and it was a world that had no future. Yet…
“Let’s go to your room,” Jane said. Jane’s bedroom was right next to Aunt Florinda’s and she wanted complete privacy.
Jane locked her bedroom door and they headed just a few doors down to Jestyn’s room. The narrow corridor was quiet and empty and lit at intervals with wall sconces.
Once inside Jane sat on the window seat and looked down at the river. They were on the third floor.
“The river looks like a slice of silver in the waning light,” Jane said. “Come here, Jestyn, look at how lovely it looks.”
“Get away from the window, Jane,” Jestyn urged. “Someone might see you there and this is not your bedroom. Exeter is not a large town – not as it is in your time. Everyone knows each other around here. There would be all manner of talk.”
Jane left the window seat and when she was well away from the window Jestyn drew the drapes, shutting out the night, the river and Exeter from them.
“We have so little time, Jestyn – as if had been doled out by a miser,” said Jane, her
lower lip trembling. “I want to be as close as I can be to you in the little time we have…” Jane started to unbutton her spencer jacket, her fingers trembling.
“I – feel a little – a little–”
“Let me help you, darling.” Jestyn unbuttoned Jane’s jacket, tossed it on the chair by the bed and then turning her toward him, unbuttoned the tiny buttons of her gown.
“You’re beautiful,” he said as Jane now lay on the bed, completely nude.
“So are you, my sweet love,” said Jane. “I admired you first in your painting. “I still have trouble believing I’m here with the original. It’s as if the painting has come to life.”
Jestyn kissed her and her last word was lost in his breath. He showered her with small kisses on her neck and shoulders and then his mouth found her breasts.
“You seem like a painting to me,” he said between kisses. “You came from another world not only to save my life but to make me happy. I was bitter because of what happened with Evaline. You erased the bitterness from my soul so that I could live and love again—love you. Surely fate can allow us some time together.”
“We can steal a few hours from time, my love, but not more,” Jane interrupted him with a kiss, “and we mustn’t forget it. There is danger in forgetting.” Tears slid down Jane’s cheeks. “Lie beside me, Jes – take off all those clothes!”
After undressing, Jestyn blew out all candles except the one by the bed. Then he lay down beside Jane and kissed Jane’s tears on each of her cheeks. He then kissed her mouth so that her sigh was lost in his. He turned slightly and put his right leg over her left leg and his hand on that place he had dreamed of all day.
Jane sighed deeply and put her hand over his. “More, Jestyn,” she urged. Jestyn then caressed her with his hand until she sighed so deeply he sat up and folded up her legs Jane moaned with pleasure and pulled down his head so that she could kiss him again and again.
They should kiss, she thought, until they both bridged the time gap between them.
For a while Jestyn and Jane were lost in each other. Yet lurking in the room was the realization that they were stealing a few hours from time and that no matter how they looked at it, they could never belong to each other. They lay still in each other’s arms, holding tightly, as if already time was pulling them apart.
Very soon she and Jestyn would be making love again. There was no room for sleep when their time together was measured and coming to its end.
“I am happiest when I am with you, darling.”
“Oh, Jestyn!” Jane’s eyes filled with tears.
In the early morning, Jestyn took Jane back to her room and when the sunlight flooded her room she was awakened from only two hours of sleep by Aunt Florinda who had slept for twelve hours and was ready to go down for her breakfast.
They would soon head back to Greywick Hall, and the hours they had spent together would be pressed between the pages of her memory as the happiest she had ever lived.
CHAPTER 16
“Jane!”
On hearing Jestyn call her, Jane rushed out of her room and smack into his arms.
“I’ve got wonderful news, my love,” Jestyn said, glancing down the corridor to make certain they weren’t heard. “I found Father’s diary!”
“Oh mygosh, Jestyn! He might have written something concerning why he rejected your first portrait!”
“That’s what I thought exactly,” Jestyn said, holding Jane close to his side and kissing her temple.
They went to the library and leaving the door open, so that anyone could walk in, they sat side by side at the large table by the window.
Jestyn opened the diary to the first page.
“Did you start to read it?” Jane asked.
“No. Whatever is in there we must discover it together.”
“You’re not afraid your father might have written something embarrassing?”
“Father?” Jestyn laughed. “Not likely!”
“He wasn’t the kind to write anything salacious, eh?”
“He wasn’t the kind to do anything salacious, either. The last years of his life he became more and more interested in the history of the Druids and he spend innumerable hours of each day buried in books. Not that the Druids left any history of themselves as they were notorious for their oral history. But other historians wrote about them and Father became immersed in those books. He feared the Druids with a baseless fear, for they had done nothing that would have awakened such animosity from Father.
“I, on the other hand, admired our Druid legacy and took it close to my heart. I read extensively about the Druids and their magic, but always in stealth, for had Father found out my intense admiration for them he probably would have caned me.
“His obsession made the last years of my mother’s life wretched, for he neglected her terribly. He became deathly afraid of the connection the family had to the Druid warlords and believed that the family’s connection to them would destroy his family. Mother tried to dissuade him from his obsession but he was adamant. That may have been the reason he was so upset when Cannidge painted that pendant in my hand.”
“That’s so sad,” Jane replied, shaking her head. “I hope your mom – mother, found other interests to occupy her.”
“She turned to her friends. Lady Elizabeth became closer to her as Father became distant. They were second cousins, you know.”
“Oh. I’m glad,” Jane said. “I’m grateful to Lady Elizabeth for the gift of her sister’s clothes. She must have been saddened by her sister’s death.”
“Yes. It was devastating to her to lose her sister. “I lost a dear cousin to the influenza, too.”
“Influenza is not a problem in our age as it is in yours, Jestyn. People are vaccinated each year for different strains of influenza that appear. Medical treatment for it is readily available for those who contracted influenza because they were not vaccinated and people rarely die of it, unless it’s complicated by age or other illnesses at the same time.”
***
On returning to the house, the butler told Jestyn that there was an urgent message from Mr. Cannidge.
He requested that they were to go to his house immediately upon returning home.
After Aunt Florinda was settled at home Jestyn and Jane boarded Jestyn’s closed carriage again and had their coachman’s under driver take them to the village and on to Cannidge’s house. They said not a word in the carriage, tense as they were as to what information Cannidge had for them.
Upon arrival, Cannidge met the carriage at his door.
“Miss Fielder, Mr. Greywick, come inside at once,” he said in a highly excited voice.
Once inside his house he led them to his study.
“Today, on waking, it suddenly came back to me,” he told them, “the place where I had hidden the journal! I remember going down the stairs I led you through, down into the bowels of the earth. As I told you before, I was in extreme fever and I barely remember that I went down and then up again. I cannot account for how I found the journal in one of the secret niches in the tunnel, or what led me to it.”
“I’m so glad you did,” said Jane.
“May we see it?” asked Jestyn.
Cannidge opened a cabinet in his study with a key and brought out an ancient journal with a crumbling leather cover. He handled it with great care and slowly opened it to a page around its middle which he had marked with a piece of foolscap and motioned for Jane and Jestyn to read where he pointed.
The Greywick life hangs in the balance. A counter balance must be found to oppose the sorceress’s influence. It must have been Marlaek who influenced Grelen into becoming a warrior. There was no sign of this before she befriended him.
“Mystic Stone Bridge. It is where two of the sides of the magic triangle meet and a fissure allows some people to enter into another dimension. You can return to your time only by going to Mystic Stone Bridge at midnight or close to that time and you must not cross on foot. Your feet cannot touch t
hat area because you are charged with the magic and it would incinerate you. You must close your hand around the pendant as you cross the bridge in a carriage.”
Tears slid down Jane’s cheeks as she and Jestyn read the rest of the words:
The magic is bestowed by Grelen and Marlaek. Grelen, an ancestor of Jestyn Greywick, was a Druid warrior and Marlaek was a Druid warrior sorceress that often accompanied Grelen in his combat missions. They were in love and were separated for all eternity by an envious witch who coveted Grelen.”
“We will be separated just as Grelen and Marlaek were, by a cruel witch,” Jane said, as she thought of Lady Millthorpe, who coveted Jestyn.
Jane shook her head, brushing away the tears. “It looks like your father became paranoid–”
“What?”
“Just a clinical term, Jess. I guess this word is not yet too common in your time. Such terms are very common in my time, to describe obsessions. Paranoia means a fear of being persecuted, to the point of obsession.”
“That describes Father’s delusions, all right,” Jestyn said. “Poor father. But, at least he was able to give us instructions on how to get you back to your time. I hope, from Heaven where he is, he may see the good he did for us.”
“There are several pages missing,” said Cannidge. “They seem to have been cut off. There is not a continuation of what your father was writing but there is more writing. Listen:
I took a stroll in the garden a few hours ago. I thought I heard a noise in the library. A strange noise that had no basis in reality, like a deep moan from the nether world. The house had been silent until then. I had been reading journals for several hours and had become upset at what I read. Then came the noise. It upset me more than I could have imagined! I slammed the journal shut and went out of the house. It was close to two in the morning.
The moan continued in the garden. I realized then that I was being followed by some ghost or spirit. The noise was not just a house noise of timber readjusting but an actual form that had followed me outside! I knew then that the Druids were unhappy with me for my writings and they were beginning to take action.
