by Bess McBride
Rachel’s heart fell to her stomach as Halwell turned to look out the window. He was in love with the molasses-eyed Lady Mary St. John, formerly Mary Palmer. Apparently, the woman he loved had married someone else.
Rachel swung her head to look at Miss Hickstrom.
“The book?” she muttered under her breath.
Miss Hickstrom placed a discreet finger on her own lips and nodded.
“No, I disagree. Miss Lee looks nothing like Lady St. John!” Lady Georgianna said.
“Perhaps not, Mother,” Halwell said as if he had lost interest in the subject. He glanced at Rachel and then resumed staring out the window.
“Who is Lady St. John?” Rachel asked, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know more than she had already guessed.
“The bride of a neighbor, Lord St. John,” Lady Georgianna responded. “They returned from their honeymoon yesterday, and we have just returned from calling upon them. Like you, Lady St. John is from America. I do not suppose that you know her?”
“No, I’m pretty sure I don’t.” Rachel shot Miss Hickstrom a sideways glance. Were fairy godmothers a real thing? Who was the little blue-haired woman? And what was Mary Palmer St. John to her? Rachel promised herself she would ask Miss Hickstrom those very questions at the first opportunity.
The carriage pulled up to the quintessential English country house, a stunning, vast red brick mansion surrounded by manicured lawns and backed by a forest.
Jackson jumped down and opened the carriage door to pull down the steps. Halwell descended first and then helped his mother, Miss Hickstrom and Rachel down from the carriage. Lady Georgianna hurriedly ushered Rachel into the large doorway and across a marble foyer into what appeared to be a drawing room that was elegantly furnished in shades of rose and blue.
“Do please sit with Miss Hickstrom while I see to accommodations and a gown for you, Miss Lee. I will have tea delivered.”
Lady Georgianna left the room while Miss Hickstrom settled herself on a sky-blue velvet settee. Rachel lowered herself to sit on the edge of the settee, her eyes on Halwell, who crossed the room to lean on a white marble mantel above the fireplace. Clearly preoccupied, he stared down into the cold hearth for a few moments until Miss Hickstrom called out to him.
“Lord Halwell, you seem troubled.”
Halwell jerked as if startled and pivoted to face the women. He visibly straightened his shoulders and inclined his head.
“Forgive me,” he said with a small bow. “I was distracted. You have my attention. I did wonder where you were strolling to or coming from just now, Miss Hickstrom. We are some way out from the village. You know you may always send a note around to Alton House and request the carriage if you have an engagement in the country. I do not believe that you had called upon Lord and Lady St. John, as we had just left Alvord Castle.”
“Thank you, Lord Halwell.”
“But there you were, walking down the road,” Halwell asked, tilting his head in obvious inquiry.
“There I was,” Miss Hickstrom replied with a pleasant smile.
“Please do request the carriage in future should you have any engagements in the country.”
“My engagement was such that I did not need a carriage.”
“I see,” Halwell said, clearly getting nowhere with the fairy godmother.
If Rachel understood nothing else about that day other than she had somehow been thrust into the past, she understood that Miss Hickstrom was some kind of fairy godmother who had a job for her. Rachel thought cataloguing books was not that job, but she wasn’t sure what the little woman had in mind. Was she supposed to find a copy of Hickstrom’s Book of Fairy Tales in Halwell’s collection? A valuable first edition?
And that was another question for Miss Hickstrom when they were alone.
A footman entered the room with an elaborate tea service of delicate gold-rimmed porcelain cups and saucers. The footman himself was a sight to behold, dressed as he was in formal black coattails, waistcoat and dark slacks. He set the silver tray down on an oval cherrywood table in front of the settee.
Rachel watched as the middle-aged man expertly poured out cups and delivered sugar and cream as directed. He seemed not to notice her clothes, or if he did, he was too well trained to let on. He handed out the tea and some cookies and left the room.
“I do so love your cook’s biscuits, Lord Halwell,” Miss Hickstrom said, biting into one.
Rachel sipped her tea and watched Halwell drink his. He caught her looking at him and smiled, the expression lightening his face again.
“There,” Miss Hickstrom purred. “You look more like your old self, smiling as you are.”
Halwell blinked and eyed her.
“I...well, I have not...been myself lately.”
“No, of course not. Your heart was broken. I am aware of that,” Miss Hickstrom said in a matter-of-fact voice.
Rachel gasped.
“Miss Hickstrom, please!” Halwell cleared his throat. “No such thing!”
“There is no point in pretense, dear boy. You were in love with Miss Palmer, and she married another. You shall mend and learn to love again.”
“Miss Hickstrom!” Rachel remonstrated, appalled at her outspokenness.
Halwell clapped his cup down into its saucer and then set his tea onto the mantel with a clatter. He looked toward the door, as if he was going to leave, but seemed to think better of it.
“Miss Hickstrom, I appreciate your concern for my happiness, but I assure you, I am only too delighted that Miss Palmer is happily wed.”
His smile had long since vanished, leaving in its place a grim expression. Rachel eyed the older woman narrowly, but the fairy godmother ignored her.
“Are you?” Miss Hickstrom asked Halwell.
From the severity of his drawn eyebrows, he seemed on the point of retorting, when the door opened and his mother stepped in.
“All is attended to. There is a vacant room in the servants’ quarters, and Lucy has offered one of her dresses. She took it up to Miss Lee’s room.”
“The servants’ quarters?” Halwell threw Rachel a quick look and pressed his lips together. “I wonder if I could speak privately with you for a moment?” he asked his mother.
“This instant? We have guests, Georgie, and I would like a cup of tea.”
“Yes, I am afraid it must be this instant.”
“Very well, dear. Do please excuse us,” she said to the room.
Halwell led the way to the door, and his mother followed. He held the door open for her, glanced at Rachel and Mrs. Hickstrom again, and followed Lady Georgianna out the door, closing it behind them.
“He was most displeased that Lady Georgianna put you into the servants’ quarters,” Miss Hickstrom said, sipping her tea as if she wasn’t the source of everything happening at that moment.
“What on earth is going on?” Rachel leaned forward and hissed. “What are you doing? Where am I? What have you done? What am I supposed to do? Miss Hickstrom! What is going on?”
Rachel heard voices just outside the door, as if Halwell and his mother argued.
“But, my dear, you must know what is ‘going on,’ as you put it. I have brought you back in time. I know that must be quite a shock, but you will adjust. You are needed here, not in 2018.”
Rachel’s own cup clattered onto its saucer. “Back in time? Like time travel?”
“Indeed, although that concept is more like your science fiction than a fairy tale, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Oh, so I’m living in a fairy tale?” Rachel couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice.
“But of course, and you read the beginning of the tale.”
“I should have recognized Viscount Halwell’s name right away, but I was too confused when I met him. I definitely recognized the similarity in the story about this Mary Palmer marrying another man.”
“Yes, and you were very touched by the story. Do you not recall?”
“Touched, yes, maybe a bi
t touched in the head. Why am I here? Why did you bring me here? What’s in his library that you need?”
“Nothing, dear! I—”
The door opened just then, and two people with stormy expressions on their faces stepped in.
“Forgive me for any misunderstandings, Miss Lee,” Lady Georgianna said through tight lips. “Upon further consideration, George and I have decided that the servants’ quarters will not do for you after all. I will have Lucy send your dress down to one of the guest rooms.”
“Okay,” Rachel said docilely. From the darkness in Lady Georgianna’s blue eyes, Rachel hardly thought the decision was mutual, but she wasn’t about to make matters worse. She was avidly curious to discover what Miss Hickstrom’s plan was but would not be able to follow up on her questions until they were alone again.
Lady Georgianna left the room to talk to the maid, and Halwell returned to his tea.
“May I pour you more tea, ladies?” he asked.
“Yes, thank you,” Miss Hickstrom said.
Halwell set his cup down and approached the table. Like the footman, he handled the tea service well, handing Miss Hickstrom her tea with two teaspoons of sugar, and Rachel a plain cup. He did not refresh his own tea.
“My mother will return momentarily,” Halwell said. “May I ask where you are from in America, Miss Lee?”
“South Boston, Virginia,” she replied. As soon as she said the words, she realized she should have just mentioned the state.
“Boston? Virginia? But surely Boston is in Massachusetts.”
“Yes, the big city is. We’re in the little one, and south at that. But Virginia. I’m from Virginia.”
“I have never been to America. Is Virginia very different from Hertfordshire?”
Rachel threw a quick glance at Miss Hickstrom, but the blue-haired woman didn’t seem inclined to edit Rachel’s responses, or even help with them.
“I have never been to England, so I don’t know what Hertfordshire is like. I think your weather is rainy and cool, right? I think Virginia is a little warmer.”
“England can be rainy, it is true, and I thought the day quite gloomy when I awakened, but the clouds vanished a short while ago, and the sun made an entrance.”
“Yes, I noticed that as well,” Miss Hickstrom offered. “The melancholy skies disappeared only moments before I encountered you and Miss Lee on the road. Such a happy coincidence! Or was it?”
Rachel pressed her lips together to stifle not a disapproving frown but the bout of laughter that threatened to erupt. Miss Hickstrom was irrepressible.
Halwell tilted his head, as if trying to understand her meaning, but he was saved by the return of his mother.
“All is settled,” Lady Georgianna said. Her anger seemed to have passed. “I believe I will have a cup of tea, if any remains?”
She settled herself into a matching sky-blue velvet chair and accepted a cup of tea from her son.
“How do you come to know Miss Lee, Miss Hickstrom? Have you been acquainted long?”
“No, not at all,” Miss Hickstrom replied. “I visited her shop once.”
“I did not realize the village held a bookshop, did you, George?” Lady Georgianna looked up at her son, still standing by the fireplace.
“No, I was not aware. Nor did I realize there was a fire of such significance in St. John. When did your shop burn down, Miss Lee?”
Rachel turned to Miss Hickstrom for help, but that lady merely beamed and bit into a cookie.
Chapter Five
“Recently,” Rachel replied, looking everywhere but at Halwell and his mother. “I can’t remember the date.”
“And where was the shop located?”
“Off the main street,” Rachel improvised. Surely every town had a main street, didn’t it?
“Such a shame,” Lady Georgianna said.
“Yes, to lose a trove of books must have devastated you,” Halwell said, sincere sympathy softening his handsome face.
Rachel thought about her own bookstore, the years it had taken to buy all her inventory. What if Miss Hickstrom didn’t send her back? Not only would she be lost in time, but she would lose everything that mattered to her—her books, her business, her home.
“Yes,” she said, the huskiness in her voice real. “Yes.”
“We must be thankful that you have accepted our offer of employment, given your credentials,” Halwell said.
“Credentials, my dear? Is Miss Lee an academic? Surely not!” Lady Georgianna’s surprised expression, which appeared genuine and without malice, irritated Rachel.
“Actually, I do have a master’s degree in library science,” she said, immediately regretting the words. As a fan of Jane Austen’s Regency novels, Rachel was fully aware she wasn’t supposed to be particularly educated, only accomplished.
“A bluestocking!” Miss Hickstrom said with a chuckle.
“How extraordinary!” Lady Georgianna murmured with a lift of her eyebrows.
“I mentioned your credentials only as an expert in books given that you owned a bookshop, Miss Lee, but I had no idea you were so well educated,” Halwell said, a smile spreading across his face. “I have not heard of such a degree, but that is surely a lack of knowledge on my part. Did you attend university in Virginia then?”
“I did,” Rachel said, hoping they would let the subject go.
“And what subjects does one study in library sciences?” Halwell asked.
“Archiving, reference work, collection development, cataloguing.” Rachel judiciously omitted other coursework in information and computer science.
“Cataloguing? How very fortuitous! Why did you not tout your very particular qualifications when I asked you to consider cataloguing our library?”
“I forgot, I guess.” Rachel cast a sideways glance at Miss Hickstrom, who watched the exchange with a secret smile but seemed disinclined to help Rachel at all with a cover story. Rachel was tempted to blurt out the words “time travel” and “fairy godmother,” but she took a deep breath and calmed herself.
“What a lovely house!” she murmured as a change of subject.
“Thank you, Miss Lee,” Lady Georgianna said. “Alton House has been in my husband’s family since the thirteenth century. His grandfather rebuilt it in the eighteenth century, so it is quite a bit more livable than it must have been.”
Rachel privately doubted it, but at least she was no longer the center of attention. Lady Georgianna spoke a bit more about the history of the house. Rachel understood from the discussion that Lady Georgianna’s husband, Lord Alton, was often away and that Halwell, styled Viscount Halwell, would someday inherit Alton House and the title of Earl of Alton. Lady Georgianna mentioned that she had her own title of Lady Howard, which she often used. Rachel gave up trying to understand all the names some time in the middle of Lady Georgianna’s speech.
“I must go,” Miss Hickstrom said suddenly, stifling a yawn behind her hand. “I have some matters to which I must attend.” She rose, and Rachel jumped up, fully intending to grab the fairy godmother’s arm and escort her out of the house for a chat. But Miss Hickstrom was quick. She made it to the door before Rachel could catch her.
“Good day, Miss Hickstrom,” Lady Georgianna said. “Please do call on us again soon.”
“Yes, of course!”
The older woman opened the door, and Rachel called out. “Wait! Miss Hickstrom! Could I speak to you privately?”
“No, I am sorry! I must hurry. Perhaps we can speak again another time.” Miss Hickstrom passed through the door and disappeared from sight. The door closed behind her. Rachel, on the point of chasing the blue-haired troublemaker down, paused when Halwell spoke.
“Short of running after Miss Hickstrom, I fear we cannot delay her unexpected departure, Miss Lee. Do you wish me to pursue her on your behalf?”
Rachel turned to see Halwell at her side, looking at the closed door. It was obvious that Miss Hickstrom had no intention of having another conversation with
Rachel at that moment. She couldn’t ask Halwell to tackle the fairy godmother and drag her back inside for further discussions or promises to return Rachel home when whatever task she had set for her was accomplished.
“No, that’s okay, thank you. She does seem to be in a hurry. I am sure I will see her again.”
“I presume that your room must be ready by now. Perhaps you would like to rest for a while? Given the accident in the road, I think it might be wise to consult with a doctor. May I call one to attend to you here at Alton House?”
“No, I’m fine. I feel fine. Thank you.”
“Very well then. I must defer to your judgment. You do look fit and sound rational. I believe that your confusion at the time of the accident must have been only a temporary aberration.” Halwell looked over his shoulder. “Mother, if you would like to finish your tea, I could ask Lucy to take Miss Lee up to her room.”
“Thank you. That would be lovely,” Lady Georgianna responded.
Halwell crossed the room and opened the door, and Rachel followed. He spoke to the footman standing just outside the door, who hurried away. He then led Rachel to a grand staircase that ascended from the marble foyer. A young blonde woman in a demure gray dress and white apron hurried up to the staircase and dipped into a curtsy. She blinked when she looked at Rachel’s legs. Rachel looked down at her jeans, almost forgetting they would cause startled looks.
“Ah! Lucy! This is Miss Rachel Lee. You were so kind to loan her a dress, which I believe you laid out in a room prepared for her?”
“Yes, your lordship. The green room is ready for Miss Lee.”
“Thank you! Please take Miss Lee up to her room, provide her with hot water, whatever she needs.” He then turned to me with a bow. “I will see you at dinner.”
He turned and walked away toward another hallway on the ground floor, and Rachel stared after him, feeling suddenly abandoned. She had panicked at Miss Hickstrom’s departure. The fairy godmother was Rachel’s ticket home. But a cold cloud of loneliness gripped her when Halwell walked away without a backward glance. Rachel crossed her arms and shivered.
