by Imogen Rose
Gertrude had been the one thing that she and Arizona loved together, the one common bond they shared. It suddenly hit Olivia…. Gertrude! Could Gertrude be responsible for this current complication? It seemed unlikely, but the changes in Arizona coincided with Gertrude’s recovery. It was most likely just a coincidence. She had retrieved Gertrude on her own. Arizona and Ella had waited for them at Ames. Gertrude seemed to have adjusted with no problems; she had welcomed Rupert and Harry into her life. Dillard had never shown Gertrude any love so there was not much to miss on that front. She didn’t seem to have suffered from the journey through the portal.
Gertrude seemed to be enjoying the wooded area at the moment, as she ran between the trees smelling all the new aromas. They turned around when they came to the lake and walked back towards the house. Gertrude knew exactly where to head. She ran in front of them and reached the house first. They let her in and made sure she was set up with food and water until Harry got home and then left for the studio on the Harley. It was a forty minute drive.
She had not visited the studio in a while and saw that nothing had changed. It was the same busy place as always. They went into Rupert’s office and he checked his calendar.
“As I thought, I have someone coming in to record at 1 PM but until then the studio is free. So what do you say, let’s go in and mess about with the guitar?”
That sounded good to Olivia. They went into the studio and Rupert picked up his guitar. Olivia went over to the mixer as Rupert started strumming his new tune. She sat down and looked at him in wonder, could she be this lucky?
She had wondered the same thing when he had sat beside her on that first flight together from London to California. Everything does come with a price though. Had she paid that price when she married Dillard and devoted all those years to him, or was the price still to be paid? This amazing prize must come at an enormous expense. Whatever it was, she was prepared to pay it. Rupert had been prepared to give up everything when he had made that snap decision to board her flight and she would do the same for him.
She knew that she would have to leave him in California to go back through the portal, and then head back to Princeton to get her daughters. It wasn’t going to be simple though; she couldn’t just uproot a sixteen and an eight year old from their lives and shove them through a portal to live happily ever after with no questions asked.
She spent the entire flight time working out the logistics of how this could be handled. She would somehow have to reset the portal to take her back to an earlier time, perhaps just as they had moved to New Jersey. Arizona would be eight and Ella would be a newborn. Eight-year-old Arizona had been so much easier than the teen she had turned in to. If she could get them through the portal then, it would be easier for Arizona to adjust. Arizona had been aware of Dillard and her marital problems since she was a toddler and they had separated quite a few times, so this wouldn’t be something new.
She needed to talk to Larry, but he was still on the other side of the portal. Together they would need to figure out if they could open it earlier in the same dimension. The portal had not been active or even in existence at the other end at the time they would need it. So the adjustments would have to be made from this end. Larry would have to come though. It was still the beginning of October, so they still had some time to figure this out. The portal was set to close on Halloween.
Rupert looked over to Olivia as the plane hit turbulence. She looked worried.
“Are you ok? It’s just a bit of turbulence, nothing to be afraid of,” he said reassuring hugging her closer.
She smiled, if he only knew. Turbulence. This wasn’t turbulence, just the gentle rocking of clouds. Real turbulence was through the portal.
“I’m fine, Rupert, it’s just so good to be near you. My only worry is to be apart from you again.”
“That need never be, surely? Whatever we have to do, we can do together.”
“There are some things that may be best done by me alone. Rupert, I need to go back and get the girls.”
“I know. I’ll come with you. I’ll stay in the background, but I’ll be close by if you need me.”
“It’s more complicated than just going back and taking the girls. Both they and Dillard would have a fit. I need to reset the portal and then bring them back with me at an earlier time.”
“You’re bringing them through the portal? Why? Can’t we just live in California and have them join us?
Olivia thought about that possibility. There was really no reason why not. It was, in fact, the obvious thing to do. Ella would welcome Rupert into her life. She yearned for a proper dad. She yearned for a dad who would be there for Christmas and Thanksgiving, one to share family occasions with. She yearned for a family. Arizona, on the other had, was not going to be easy. She would be off to college soon anyway. Perhaps, in time, she would learn to accept Rupert. Dillard would be a pain, but she could deal with him with Rupert’s support.
They headed over to the portal as soon as they landed in California and were transported through. Larry was waiting for them at the other end.
“Hello, kids! So, Ollie, this is who all the fuss was about?”
She looked into Larry’s smiling eyes and nodded.
“Larry, I need to find a way to take the girls back with me through the portal,” continued Olivia.
“I thought we decided to live here, happily ever after?” Rupert interrupted, surprised.
Olivia turned around and took both his hands in hers and shook her head.
“Rupert, this is going to sound really bizarre. I didn’t know until a moment ago myself. It changes everything. We have to go back! And we have to take the girls with us.
Both Rupert and Larry looked at her expectantly, totally confused.
Olivia closed her eyes, how could she explain this. This was beyond comprehension. She decided to just come out with it. These were the two people in her life she trusted the most. She could share everything with them.
“I can feel another baby inside me.”
She could feel Rupert’s shocked gaze.
“Whose?” he whispered, cupping her face in his hands.
“Ours.”
Rupert looked at Olivia in disbelief, but with a hopeful gaze, “Ollie, there is nothing I want more but how?”
“The how is easy, think back to last night,” she giggled. “As to my knowledge of this, it’s intuitive. When I said I could feel the baby, I did not mean literally. I just know.” She continued thoughtfully, “I also strongly feel that I have to go back to give birth to it. To have this baby in this time would be all wrong.”
The room was silent apart from the buzzing of the equipment around them. Larry finally broke the silence and said, “Ollie, if you are sure about this, you’re going to have to go back with Rupert to have the baby. I’ll deal with matters on this end and figure out the transportation issues and bring the girls with me.”
She went over to Larry and threw her arms around him. He was one of a kind, she was lucky to have him in her life.
“I’ll head over to Princeton first. We have a few weeks before the portal closes, so I have some time to see the girls and get my affairs in order.”
Larry agreed, “Yes, take a couple of weeks and then come back. Let’s both keep in touch via cell and work on the various permutations in the mean time.
Olivia and Rupert took the next flight out to Newark and headed into Manhattan and to the Waldorf.
“Rupert, I’m going to head off to New Jersey now. I hate leaving you here, but there are worse places to be stuck,” she said playfully. “I’ll call you later and I’ll be back tomorrow.”
Rupert was reluctant, but knew that getting involved in her personal life with Dillard would only complicate matters.
She spent the next couple of weeks traveling between Princeton and Manhattan. The evenings and nights were spent with her daughters and she popped over to Manhattan during the school day to spend time with Rupert. She spent so
me time cleaning out her closet at her apartment in Princeton, packing up all the photographs and DVDs of the children.
She also spent a lot of time playing with Gertrude. She had not considered Gertrude in her original plans and the current one couldn’t include her. This devastated Olivia. Gertrude was like her baby, she loved her dearly. Her priority would have to be to get the girls back, but she would come back for Gertrude. Her mind wandered when she thought about the possibility of coming back in the future to retrieve Gertrude.
Her beloved mother had died a few years ago, she wondered if it was possible to go back and get her, too?
Their two weeks were up much too soon and it was time to head back. Olivia decided to have a pregnancy test before they headed back to confirm her suspicions. She bought a kit from CVS, and felt like a teenager when she headed to the restroom with it. She could feel a sense of nervous tension as she waited for the indicator to change. Overwhelming joy swept through her as it changed to positive and she bounded out to the bedroom and flung herself at Rupert, “It’s really happening!”
Could she be this lucky? She gazed at Rupert lovingly as he strummed the guitar sitting on the studio stool. She got up and walked up behind him. Then she slowly put her arms around him and squeezed.
I woke with Ariele’s legs across my stomach and struggled to sit up, throwing her legs off me. Maria and Ali were snoring soundly on the other bed. It was 5 AM, time to get up. I decided to take advantage of the sleeping beauties and proceeded to take my time in the shower, enjoying the quiet until I heard a loud rap at the door.
“Come on, we all need to use it!”
I rolled my eyes and turned off the water. They were not going to be pleased, I had steamed up the room but there must be other bathrooms in this enormous house that they could use. I stepped outside trying to look as apologetic as possible.
“Sorry, girls! There has got to be other showers, this one’s all steamed up.”
They nodded exasperated and proceeded out into the hallway to look for more suitable shower facilities. Great! They left me in the bedroom all by myself. I could get dressed in peace too, although having to put on yesterday’s clothes was less than ideal. I would have to ask Kellan’s dad to swing by the house before school so I could change.
I wondered what the “emergency” had been last night? Both Mom and Rupert had disappeared for the night. I wondered if it was a pathetic attempt at avoiding our talk. Oh, well, we couldn’t have gotten to it last night anyway. We had way too much fun here at Kellan’s after everyone left.
After we had shock kissed in front of everyone, Harry had come over and knocked Kellan down. It was ridiculous, I can’t imagine why. I can only guess that Harry’s ego was bruised because Kellan didn’t tell him. Boys! I had managed to calm Harry, but he was not the least bit pleased with us. I wondered if he was concerned about me. Did he feel that I wasn’t ready for a boyfriend? I was strangely happy about this possibility. It was kind of nice having a big brother so committed to my well being. I was touched that he cared so much, whatever his reason. Kellan and Harry left for a chat and when they came back they seemed to have come to a truce. I was relieved. I really needed them to be in the same corner.
Maria then came over and said that we’d been invited to stay for movie night and we decided to turn movie night into a sleepover. Kellan had a cinema room with real movie-theater seats like the ones in our basement, but his screen was about twice the size of ours. We sat down to watch The Transformers, but were interrupted when Maria started whispering about her gown for the Orionid Ball. I could barely hear so I turned to Kellan with a raised eyebrow and he chuckled under his breath.
“You don’t have a date?”
A date? For what? Maybe I did. That would wipe that smug look off his face. I turned away from him and nudged Ariele who gave me a blank shrug. So I raised my eyebrow at her indicating that she needed to ask about this as I was supposed to know already. She turned to Maria.
“Maria, what dance? This is the first I am hearing about it.”
“Oh, it’s no big deal. It’s just an excuse to get dressed up.”
I could hear Kellan chuckling.
Ariele continued, “Get dressed up in what? Do we need a date?”
Maria smiled, “Well, we use it as an opportunity to get dressed up in long gowns or cocktail dresses and some of us have dates. But we’re all going as a group so there’s no need for a date. Much more fun without one most of the time!”
I nudged Kellan again, “Do I go to this?”
“Yes, with me.”
“Was I always going with you?”
“No, but you are now.”
“Is anyone going to be upset with me?”
He shrugged, “I don’t know, Arizona. If someone else asked you, you didn’t tell me. It doesn’t matter anyway, you’re going with me.”
I didn’t feel entirely comfortable about that. I was happy we were going as a group. We had to include Ariele and we could also include anyone else I had inadvertently asked. I wondered if I had anything to wear? Perhaps Ariele and I could go shopping after the tryouts tomorrow. We could take Ella. My baby sister seemed to know her way around fashion.
“Ariele,” I whispered, “Lets go shopping for dresses tomorrow after the tryouts. It’ll be fun.”
She shrugged, “Shopping with you is never fun! You hate it. You’re a total nightmare at the stores. How about just getting something online?”
“There’s not enough time, I’ll be good, I’ll be Barbie Arizona, I promise!” I laughed.
I leaned over her and pulled at Ali’s sleeve, “Do you guys want to come shopping with me and Ariele tomorrow night for dresses?”
Ali looked bemused, “You’re not wearing that silver number? Ella is going to be pissed!”
“I might, but I wouldn’t mind another look. Besides Ariele needs to go shopping anyway.”
Maria turned to Ariele and nodded, “We’d love to, it’s a date.”
Last night’s sleepover was just the distraction I needed. It had been fun, especially after the boys left us alone. The four of us shared one big room with two king size beds. I shared one with Ariele. For most of the night, the girls teased me about Kellan. But, I guess I deserved that. I had kind of thrown it in their faces earlier and as a result spent a long time answering a lot of “how and when” questions. I didn’t mind.
We talked some about the upcoming dance and the Halloween Party. I made a mental note to make sure that I had the right things to wear for these occasions. I also managed to extract from Ali that I had been asked to the Orionids dance by David. I had, of course no idea who that was, probably some poor soul from my debate team with a crush on me. I hoped that I had let him down gently. I made another mental note to make sure to talk to David and ask him to join our group for the dance. I just had to figure out who he was.
Today was another day though, hockey trials. I needed to get my game face on. Kellan’s dad kindly dropped Harry and me off at the house so we could get ourselves organized. I hurried up to my room to throw on some fresh clothes and put on some lipgloss before I tore down the stairs to dump my kit in the Jeep and head off. Harry was already in the car waiting for me. I was obviously being taken care of today again.
“Shrimp, I wish you had told me about you and Kellan.”
“Sorry about that, Harry. Kellan wanted to tell you himself.”
“I wish he had.”
“Are you ok with it, Harry? I don’t want you to be mad. I really like him.”
“I suppose,” he said and turned on the iPod.
We were a bit late and the parking lot was full, but I managed to find a space at the very end. As I rushed toward my locker, I saw Ariele standing by it, fumbling around trying to look busy, but she was obviously waiting for me. She was my first bodyguard of the day.
“A, I can’t go shopping tonight. My mom wants me home for something. I don’t know what. It’s so annoying. She said I could go to the tryouts th
ough, so I guess that’s something. Can we go shopping after school tomorrow instead?”
“Sure, no problem. I think the last tryouts are on Wednesday so tomorrow should be perfect,” I reassured her.
“Ariele, could you do me a favor? I need to know who this David is who asked me out to the dance. It’s probably some guy from the debate team. I feel bad and I want to invite him to join our group for the dance. Could you find out for me?”
Ariele chuckled and then nudged me, “He is right behind you, you silly!”
I turned around, but couldn’t see anyone likely so I turned to Ariele again and shrugged, “Where?”
Ariele took my shoulders, turned me around and said, “Hey, David!”
I nearly collapsed as this six-foot, ripped, total hottie (step aside Edward Cullen!) turned around. I was dumbstruck. I had turned this down! I really must be ill.
“Hi, Ariele! Hey there, poppet. How are you? I’ve been hearing some rumors about you.”
I nearly swallowed my tongue, “Hi, David. What kind of rumors?” I wondered about the word poppet. I had heard Mom use it before, maybe he had English parents as well. I liked it, it sounded nicer than Shrimp!
He looked somber, came closer and put his hands firmly on my shoulders and looked at me with what I hoped was mock hurt, “You turned me down for Kellan?”
I felt another set of hands around my waist pulling me back from behind.
“Hi, David! We missed you at the tryouts. Are you still planning to play this season?” Kellan asked from behind me.
I shrugged and smiled at David as he winked at me and said, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world. I hear you’re playing, poppet.” He said looking at me.
