They sat silently for a few minutes, mechanically eating their salads.
“Why did you choose that time period in England?” Cassandra finally ventured.
“Because it was easy for me to fit in there. And there was no upheaval in the country. Actually, England was still fighting Napoleon, but I already knew the outcome. I liked the time period; most of my favorite music was written before 1810—a baroque fan.” He smiled. “I tried not to get involved with people’s lives. I had a few friends, some devoted servants. I thought I was happy. And then you walked in, and I had to suddenly reassess why I was there and what I was doing with my life.”
“Did you really know right away that I was a time traveler?”
“Pretty much. You were just so different. People must have really noticed you everywhere you went.”
“Yeah, they did. But as soon as I said I was American, they assumed that was it.”
“Well, it’s not like people in the past ran around thinking that people were visiting from the future.”
“No, just you. Nick,” she said, pushing her salad away, “it’s horrible about your wife. I can’t imagine! And when I think how close I came to having James shipped off irretrievably to nineteenth-century Australia !” She shuddered.
“It’s riskier than we think. We’re scientists. We think we’ve got it all under control. But,” he said thoughtfully, having a drink of wine, “it’s been a long time since Nagla’s death. I’ve had enough time to deal with it, and I’m ready to move on with my life.”
She was staring down at the ruby ring on her finger. She glanced up at him and smiled. “You know I’ll always be in your debt for rescuing my son.”
“The debt is mine. You rescued me. I couldn’t tell you this before, but that day we spent together at Benedict’s house really stayed with me. I couldn’t stop thinking about you after that, and not just because I knew you were a time traveler.”
She caught the significance in his eyes. At that moment, the waiter appeared with their lobsters. They dove into them wholeheartedly, cracking the shells, pulling out the meat, dipping it in the melted butter, and savoring the rich flavor.
They happily ate for several minutes, commenting only on the food and the wine. Nick spoke again. “I was wondering if you would mind telling me about how Franklin died.”
Cassandra looked up from her food with a start.
Nick continued, “I almost asked James, but it just didn’t seem appropriate. It thought I’d wait and see if you were willing to tell me.”
Cassandra stared at the hull of lobster on her plate.
“I’m sorry,” he said hurriedly. “I’m being nosy. Let’s talk about something else.”
“No,” she said with hesitation. “I want to tell you.”
Nick sat quietly, his wine in his hand.
“He traveled into the future,” she stated simply.
“Oh,” said Nick with understanding.
“He did it against Professor Carver’s wishes and without his permission. Without mine, either. He snuck into the lab one night, eight years ago, set the coordinates himself for two years into the future, went, and came right back, having preset the travel mode to receive him. He felt sure that he’d only go into the lab of the future, not even step out of the portal, and return immediately. He did. He told me about it afterwards, and I was angry, but, frankly, curious myself.”
“I certainly would have been,” Nick commented.
“But as we now know,” she continued, “traveling into the future disrupts the body’s DNA at a cellular level. At that time, we hadn’t seen the results in the test dummies, because it took a couple of years for the mutations to develop. But not long after Franklin took the trip, the test dummies showed signs of cellular degeneration. Our scientists, as well as a team of doctors, tried and tried to find the cure before Franklin developed them, but they had no success. They kept him out of pain, but that was all they could do.”
“God, I’m—” Nick began.
“It’s okay,” Cassandra replied without conviction.
“Did you think about, you know, traveling back to before he did it to try to stop him? I know I considered it with Nagla.”
“Of course, of course,” she said vehemently, “but I didn’t do it for the same reason you didn’t.”
“Once you make the decision to travel, into the past or future, you’re stuck with the results. If you try to undo what you’ve done, you could set up a chain reaction.”
“You don’t know anymore what was meant to be and what you created. Whatever you do during your time travel, you live with the results.”
“Which is why we’re so careful,” he said quietly.
“Why we try to be. We almost blew it in James’ case.”
“Yeah, but that was a little different. The outcome wasn’t established. We had to take the chance to remove him from that situation.”
“We did break some rules, but for me there wasn’t a choice. He is my son.”
“I can’t tell you how I struggled with the decision not to go back a few weeks into the past and dissuade Nagla from taking the trip.”
They both sat for a few minutes staring at the flame of the candle in the middle of the table.
A tear rolled down Cassandra’s cheek and Nick caught it with his finger.
“I’m so sorry about Franklin.” He whispered.
“Let’s not talk about it anymore.” She mustered a smile. “I’m as past it as I’ll ever be, which is to say, I’ll never be past it, but, like you, I’ve moved on.”
They talked about their experiences they had during their time in England, food from the era, inconveniences, and comparisons to the twenty-second century. They were finally able to laugh, and Cassandra found herself thinking that she had not enjoyed herself like this since her time with Ben. She looked down at the ring again, and thought that, really, maybe she shouldn’t wear it after all. Maybe if she ever found one of Ben’s descendents, she would give it to them instead. It was time to move on from him as well.
Nick interrupted her thoughts. “Thinking about Ben?”
“No,” she smiled, “not really. I was just thinking that it’s time to let go of other things too. Ben is long dead, isn’t he?” She took off the ring and plopped it into her purse.
Nick chuckled. “I’m afraid so.” He called the waiter over, and they both ordered some strong English tea. As the waiter cleared the table, she noticed the label on a pat of butter that had been sitting there in a dish. It said ‘Whitstone’s.’
“Wait a minute,” she said just before he whisked it away. “Can I see that?” The waiter put down the dish and walked away to get their tea. Cassandra picked up the pat of butter and looked at it closely. She read aloud the label, “Whitstone’s Dairy, Hampshire, England.”
“What?” asked Nick.
“Nothing. Should I know this brand?”
“What are you talking about? Of course. Whitstone’s is a household name all over the world.”
“Right.” She was confused. Could it be that her giving Sarah Whitstone the antibiotics not only saved her life, but made her farm successful in a way it never would have been otherwise? She couldn’t possibly know. If she had changed history, making Whitstone’s a household word, the paradox would be that Whitstone’s butter wouldn’t have existed before she went on her time journey, and yet once she did go and saved Sarah’s life, the diary farm would have begun being successful from that time forward, and always would have been a household name. She shook her head to clear it.
“Never mind,” she said. “I’ll explain it another time.”
“Okay, well then, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Well, I know you wanted to time travel to the nineteenth century to experience life as Jane Austen lived it, but I’ve been wondering why you chose the year 1820. Why not go five years earlier and meet her yourself, when she was at the height of her creativity?”<
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“Do you know a lot about her?”
“Not exactly, but living in London for that particular decade, her books were popular. I couldn’t avoid them.”
Cassandra gave him a look of mock disapproval. “I considered going earlier, but then I thought that meeting her would probably be a letdown. She was shy and didn’t move much outside her circle. She saved her wit and humor for those she knew best. She never enjoyed meeting strangers, and I would have had to work hard to get into her private world. Then, what if I changed it? I mean, not to flatter myself, but what if my meeting her changed even one word of one book. What if I knocked on the door while she was writing the moment of Emma’s romantic revelation about Mr. Knightly and I caused her to lose her train of thought? No, I couldn’t do it. So I chose a few years after her death, so that her world would scarcely have changed, but she was no longer in it.”
“That’s a beautifully scientific, and shockingly romantic reason.” Nick had a sparkle in his eye.
“I did manage to get that letter though, didn’t I?”
“Yes, I have to admit, that was well done. Do you think you’ll ever time travel again?”
“I doubt it. Time to let others have their chance. I have a lot of work to do in the here and now.”
“Me too,” said Nick. “It’s been nice helping you.”
“Maybe you’d let me help you with your research,” she offered.
“I’d love that. But you know, I’m also hoping that we could spend time together.”
“We could play music together,” she said.
“I’d really like that.”
She studied his face. It was a nice one, she admitted. Handsome, just a little quirky. He was athletic and slim. She had been trying not to think of him as anything other than a friend, but now realized that she was free to do so, since it was becoming obvious that he had more than just friendly feelings for her.
He reached across the table and took her hand and gently kissed it. In the quaint atmosphere of the restaurant that had probably been there for two hundred years, drinking tea, and looking into Nick’s eyes as he held her hand, Cassandra could almost feel herself transported back in time to old England again. But in that moment she realized that going forward was all she wanted to do. The past slipped into the past where it belonged, and before her, the future stretched out. Perhaps, she thought, she’d even found someone to travel it with.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
The Time Baroness (The Time Mistress Series) Page 30
