I wanted to feel wanted by him. The last time I was with him, it was brief, but he made me feel attractive. I hadn’t been with a guy since I was in California. I wanted to feel special, and he did that. Sure, ripping his clothes off would be fabulous, but he was different. He didn’t look at me like a conquest; he looked at me like I deserved to be cherished.
As I ran through the small park, I felt my lungs burn with that lovely feeling. It reminded me that I was alive. I took the turn and headed back to the library where I would wake a sleepy Tarryn. We made plans and I wasn’t going to miss it.
****
Tarryn and I made sure all of the blinds were closed before I opened the book. She nervously settled down in the nook with me, holding the guide. I eased her fears and told her it was going to be fine twice already, but she was still anxious.
“I know what I’m doing,” I explained softly. “I feel more confident this time.”
I did. It wasn’t a lie. I couldn’t explain it; it was just a feeling I had that everything would be okay.
She held up her timer and nodded. We agreed that it was important to clock the amount of time I was gone from this world and to report on anything strange that happened to my body. Tarryn could handle this part, and I trusted her vehemently.
“I’m too nervous to talk right now. Just go,” she urged.
“Okay. See you in a little while,” I said, and I fell into the pages.
Sixteen
I was standing in a field. Alone.
I twirled around, and all I could see was more field, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Something was wrong.
There was no Jack and no grand house. The urge to cry or run was clawing at me from inside. I tried to calm myself down as I walked straight ahead of me, searching for signs of life. I heard a sound coming from ahead but wasn’t sure what it was. It was a clicking noise that I couldn’t distinguish.
I walked until I could hear it clearer, and I knew exactly what it was—horses.
The clip-clop of hooves was dead ahead of me. They sounded like they were actually coming closer to me, so I stood to the side and hoped they held a nice stranger. A stranger that wasn’t going to notice a girl out of her time-period.
I looked down at the clothes Tarryn and I had picked out before I came. Tarryn read a chapter last night that explained the important of dressing the part. Guess I totally failed that part previously, but it wasn’t too late.
The flowy dress we found at Goodwill fit me well, but with the summer sun bearing down on me, I was not feeling it. I was worried the sweat was ruining my whole proper lady look.
I looked up to see two brown horses coming through a small road that was completely hidden between a row of trees. Behind them they carried a large brick red coach. I hoped silently that it didn’t hold anyone that would do me any harm as it neared.
I waved my hands at the driver and he waved back. He approached slowly, reigning in the scary horses, and greeted me with a smile.
“Greetings, my lady,” he said politely with an English accent.
The doubt I had earlier about my whereabouts were erased; I was back in England.
“Uh …” Crap what was I supposed to do again? Tarryn’s words echoed through my frazzled brain. Curtsy and smile bashfully.
Even though I was awful at it, I did as she instructed and said, “Greetings, sir. I’m looking for an estate and seem to be turned around. I’m looking for the Ridgewell’s.”
I wasn’t acing conversation in this era, that was for sure. I just prayed he would point out the way to Jack’s house and save me more embarrassment. I silently thanked Tarryn for putting the hideous hat on me that she found on a mannequin in the Goodwill. I hated it when we bought it, but it was hiding my red cheeks at the present moment and that was a good thing.
“Ridgewell, well that’s an hour that way, my lady. May I be of service and give you a ride in my coach?”
That voice. That was not the driver. I looked up and saw Jack hanging halfway out of the coach, holding his hand out to me. I ran to him before I had time to think about my actions and grabbed it. He kissed it gently with those full lips of his and welcomed me inside his ride. I rubbed my hands on the blue velvet seats.
“Very fancy,” I exclaimed. I looked up at his eyes as they searched my face like he was memorizing each and every part of me.
“How long has it been?” I asked. I had arrived at different times in his life before, and I didn’t expect anything different this time around.
“Only one week. I must admit it’s been dreadful. I awaken and search for you everywhere, expecting you to be there. When I go to sleep, I’m full of sorrow that you’ve never arrived.”
My heart stretched at his words and I wanted nothing more than to kiss his beautiful mouth.
I leaned over and gently placed my lips on his—feeling an electric pull inside me that I never had before. He ran his fingers ever so softly across my cheek as he leaned into me. I didn’t know what I expected with a kiss from Jack, but it wasn’t this. I didn’t think he would kiss me back, being the proper English gentlemen. I also didn’t think he would press into me with such fervor. Before things got too heated, he pulled back and my stupid hat fell from my head.
“I’m sorry, Emmeline. I shouldn’t have,” he said. I stopped him from saying anymore with a quick kiss.
His smile was so big it lit up the coach. “I want to treat you with respect. It was never my intention to be so forward.”
I could eat him up, he was so adorable.
“I know that, Jack. But where I’m from, a kiss is respectful. I have missed you. I don’t understand my feelings for you yet, but I know that I think of you all the time.”
He took my hand in his and kissed it. “I was just riding in this dreadful coach thinking about you and then, well, here you are.”
I sat back into the plush seat and wondered where Jack was headed. Then it dawned on me—America. He was packed and ready to leave. I looked behind us and saw a large trunk strapped to the coach.
“You’re going to America, aren’t you?”
He nodded.
“I thought that I wouldn’t get to see you before I left. I was terribly worried. I think I gave poor Nancy grief that she couldn’t handle before I set off. In her words I spoke so much of you that she was going to lose her mind.” He smiled again and I giggled like a silly school girl with a crush on the hot, new British guy. “How long will you visit this time?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know how long, Jack. I don’t want to think about it though. I just want to spend time talking to you.” I wanted to make up for lost time. “I figured out why I am able to visit you, though.”
“Oh?”
I shifted in my dress and tried to get comfortable. It was impossible in this awful heat.
“It turns out I am part of a group of Librarians with a rare talent to travel through books,” I began, leaving out the words magic and science for fear that he would frighten and push me from the coach. “We have a duty to meet with influential people and document our time with them. Actually, by being here with you, it’s all being copied to text right now.”
Placing his hand on his chin, he seemed to ponder this news. It was a lot to take in, especially for someone who wasn’t used to this sort of thing. My era was a little bit more open to possibilities of this kind, but not his. The people of his time were a bit more sheltered.
“So, I’m to be influential?” he asked with a teasing smile.
“Well, I suppose you are. But I haven’t really Googled you yet, so I don’t know much about your future or why.”
“Googled?”
“Uh …” How was I supposed to explain that? “It’s a place where you can find information on pretty much everyone and anythi
ng.”
He nodded and said, “So it’s like research. I understand. Forgive me, Emmeline, but why me? Why not my father?”
Why didn’t he believe me? Jack’s father, surely, was an important man, but I wasn’t sent here for him. Jack had gone on and on about his dad and how he had to do what his father told him.
“Jack, if he was the person I was meant to meet, I would have. I researched my role in this crazy time-travel talent, and I’m here for you and you alone.”
He shook his head and looked away from me and out at the trees beyond. His expression confused me. I hoped he wasn’t unhappy with me.
“I’m sorry, Jack” was all I said.
“No, Emmeline,” he said as he looked me in the eyes again. “Please don’t be sorry. I just don’t understand. Jackson Ridgewell Sr. is a man of good faith and honor, and I must follow in his footsteps. Perhaps I do become what you say. For now, tell me more about what you’ve learned. I do not know how much time I have with you.”
I nodded, happy that he wasn’t angry with me for what I said. Sometimes I had a real talent to put my foot in my mouth.
“So your name is really Jackson then?” It was rhetorical really, because I remembered hearing this before.
He nodded. “But I go by Jack.”
“And I go by Emme, but you insist on calling me Emmeline. Why is that again?”
He was silent, thinking for a moment, and he said, “It’s proper to call you Miss Bailey, but your name is stunning, like you.”
I wanted to kiss him again, but I restrained myself. Trying to be a good girl was difficult. I surely could not fit in well in this time period. So, I told Jack all about the library opening and how Tarryn was helping me. I also told him about meeting my great-grandmother, and before I knew it I could smell the ocean. I looked up to see a port in front of us. Jack pointed out toward the sea at a large boat and said, “That will take me to America.”
The boat was nothing like any I’d ever been on. Instead it looked like the damn Titanic, and I worried that it was going to go down with Jack on it. Thoughts of Jack clinging for life on the side of a sinking ship made me sick to my stomach. It couldn’t be sturdy and handle such a trip, could it?
“That’s the Lydia, and she’s going to take me to Maine,” he said as the coach stopped and the driver hopped down. I was thankful that the Lydia wasn’t actually the Titanic. Maybe Jack would safely arrive in Maine after all.
The driver unstrapped the large trunk and began hauling it around to hand to a few men who would load it on the ship.
“I’m afraid that I only have one ticket, Emmeline.” He held up a piece of paper as proof. “I’ll make sure that my driver takes you back to the estate. You will be safe with him.”
Oh. I couldn’t travel with him.
“That’s okay. I’ll be fine,” I lied.
Was I going to be fine? I would be stuck here watching the Lydia sail away with my dream guy and hoping that I got out of the book in time. I looked around at the shifty crowd standing by the docks and I suddenly didn’t want to get out and walk around.
“Jack,” I said nervously. “I can’t exactly be seen like this.”
I gestured to my crappy attire that didn’t fit in with the style at all. It hadn’t gotten past me that I might be the only woman on the docks that day.
“Like what…oh dear. You’re correct.” He placed the hideous hat on my head and it fell awkwardly over my face. “Well, that didn’t help did it?”
“No. It didn’t.” I took the hat and threw it out the window. Jack laughed, and I realized I loved the sound of it.
“At least you’re not wearing those …, what do you call them? Oh! Yoga pants.” The way he said it made me laugh hysterically.
“I will never get used to you, Emmeline. You are so surprising. I wish I could take you with me on my journey,” he said, grabbing my hand in his.
I did too. But we both knew that wasn’t going to happen. I wasn’t sure if I’d see him after this.
Don’t think like that.
I knew darn well that Jack’s story didn’t end here. He was important and his story was just beginning.
The ship made an awful sound, causing me to jump.
“Master Jackson, the ship is boarding. I will take the lady to her destination, but you must go,” the driver insisted.
Jack stepped out of the carriage and said, “Take her back to the estate, Charlie.”
Charlie nodded.
Jack leaned into the window and placed his two hands gently on either side of my face, caressing it softly with his thumbs. His touch did all the right things, and at that moment it made me want to do all sorts of things—the sort of things to make Jack blush.
Remembering the photo I promised Tarryn, I pulled my cell out of a small pocket.
“I want to show you something amazing,” I said as I held it up and snapped a quick picture of his smiling face. I turned the screen and showed him himself, smiling back.
“Wow, what is that? Is that…is that me?”
I nodded and explained, “It’s a cell phone, but it captures pictures too. It does a lot of amazing things actually. But I wanted a photo of you.”
“Will I see you again?” he asked. His eyes looked so sad and his mouth almost pouty. It made me want to stowaway in his luggage and travel with him. Well, to be honest I didn’t do ocean travelling, due to my intense sea sickness, so book traveling was probably more my taste.
“I hope so.” I couldn’t make any promises. I didn’t know if I would see him again. Traveling was so unpredictable. I wouldn’t know at which point in his life that I would be seeing him next. Would he be married with children or still the young vibrant Jack? That was the awful thing about this whole talent.
While I was happy it had brought us together, I couldn’t help but think about how it would rip us apart. I had to end this before anything really happened, to spare my heart and his. It was the best thing to do. Nothing good could come of a love affair with him. He was a man that I could never be with.
I had never felt this way for any man in my life, and the mere fact that I fallen for a guy that lived over a hundred years before me was so messed up, it was ridiculous. Of course I would fall for the unattainable man. I was so afraid of commitment that I couldn’t be with a guy from my own time.
“Jack,” I started. How could I tell him that we had to end this thing between us? It wasn’t going to be easy, especially with the way he was looking at me at that moment. “I think that we should part ways—”
As the boats loud horn sounded again so noisily, it drowned out the rest of my words. He nodded and kissed me softly. I knew then that he hadn’t heard what I said by the gleeful look in his eyes.
“Until next time, Emmeline Bailey!” he called over his shoulder as he walked away from me. It was then that I felt the tug from of my time pulling me back. So I let go.
Seventeen
“Two hours and forty-seven minutes,” Tarryn said as I blinked my eyes to see her clearly.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“That’s how long you’ve been gone.” She waved the stopwatch in front of my face. “It’s been so long, Emme. I thought you were dead, except for the fact that you were breathing. Oh God, Emme, it’s awful sitting here watching you.”
She grabbed me before I knew what was happening and hugged me, hard. I could feel her trembling as I hugged her back. She was terrified, the poor girl.
“I’m so sorry I scared you, Tarryn. But look at me, I’m fine,” I said gently. She pulled back and nodded as a tear escaped her eyes. “I am all in one piece. But I’m famished.”
She laughed and said, “Let’s go get food into you then. And I want to hear about it all.
****
I had to drive to Larriso
n, the next town over, to deliver my college essay in person and to sit for a test. Larrison Community College was not a prestigious school nor was it anything like my old school, but it was all I had here.
Bay Ridge didn’t have a college so driving here, even if it was forty-five minutes away, was my only option. Gram’s truck took the twists and turns with ease, but I couldn’t go over fifty in this old beast. She was still running, just not as well as she used to. Winter gave way to spring as the wet icy roads melted and brown trees turned green. I loved this time of year when animals woke from their lazy slumber and flowers blossomed. I just wished I could escape the library more often to enjoy it.
I hadn’t seen Jack for over a week and I was itching to travel soon. The library demands were keeping Tarryn and me from finding a free night to ourselves. Rose was over almost every night lately since her and the guy from work ended their relationship. Rose was the one to finally call it quits because she found out he liked the nurses just a little too much. He hadn’t cheated, but according to Rose, he might as well had.
I didn’t ask or pry for more; instead I played my best friend role and supported her. While she was with me, traveling was impossible. Unless I wanted to involve her in my secret, and I wasn’t going to do that. She was my best friend, the one I told all my secrets too, but I couldn’t tell her this one. Not only was it forbidden in the guide, but she wouldn’t understand if she even believed me at all.
So for now, it was me and Tarryn, and I was okay with that.
My cell rang as I pulled into Larrison’s parking lot. I put the truck into park and answered.
“Hello?”
“Oh, hi! Miss Bailey?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t look at caller ID when I probably should have.
“This is Jason at JR builders. I’m glad I got ahold of you, finally. We haven’t had time to talk recently, and I wanted to know if you have been getting my messages.”
The Librarian Page 11
