"Did you know your vision showed you here, on the Vineyard?"
"Not the first time. It was the second time that I saw the sign out front saying Blythe Cove Manor. I looked it up on the Internet and saw the exact room I'd had in the vision. And Blythe's smiling picture in the corner of the screen." Ellie glanced toward the Manor. "It was then that I had an overwhelming desire to be here."
"And now that you're here, and I'm here," Drew said, "do we try this vision together?"
Ellie looked at him, but said nothing. Time stretched between them. "I'm afraid," she said.
"I am, too." Drew stood up. He didn't reach for her or help her to her feet. Ellie was afraid to let him. She stood without assistance.
"Do you think we should go someplace more private?" Ellie asked. She glanced at the windowed-walls that covered one side of the courtyard. The other three had waist-high hedges. "Anyone can walk by here."
"We could and we should," he said. "But since we don't know what could happen, we should be somewhere that help could arrive if needed."
Ellie nodded. She should have thought of that. "Do you think we should trust someone else with our story?"
"Not yet. I'm surprised you shared yours with me," Drew said.
"After what happened last night, I was curious. I'm sure you were too."
"I was. If you hadn't asked me, I was going to bring up the subject."
Ellie laughed. They appeared to be on the same wave length. She wondered if the visions had anything to do with the two of them. Was that why she'd been pushed to come to this island? Ellie wasn't looking for a man. She was between boyfriends, but her renovations and teaching were taking up all her time. The visions had to mean more than her finding a man. Although Drew was definitely a man she'd like to know.
"Why don't we go back to the Manor?" she suggested.
Unconsciously, they both reached for each other, but at the last minute realized they shouldn't touch. Ellie dropped her hand to her side and Drew held the door as the two of them went back into the library.
3
Blythe was at the Manor when Ellie and Drew arrived. She sang lightly as she went about working in the kitchen. The room was warm and spacious. Coffee was always fresh and hot and available to the guests.
"Hello," she turned smiling when they entered. "I just made a fresh pot of coffee. Help yourselves." She carried a tray of cups and saucers to the counter where the coffee was and set it down. "If you want something to go with it, there are sandwiches and cookies right there." She pointed to a covered tray.
Most bed and breakfast facilities only did the morning meal, but the hospitality at Blythe Cove Manor was a step above the ordinary.
Ellie filled a cup and added a small amount of cream and sugar. Drew took his black. They looked at each other as if deciding if Blythe was a good risk. Before either of them spoke, Ellie took her cup and walked out the kitchen door into the backyard. She went down the few steps to the emerald colored lawn and walked the length of it to the table and chairs at the far end.
Drew appeared to follow her. "What happened?" he asked. "I think we should trust Blythe. She was alone except for us. The timing was perfect."
"There's something I didn't tell you," Ellie said.
He looked questioningly at her, waiting for a reply.
"I found something when I was renovating," she said.
"What?"
"A wooden box. It was locked, but the key was there. It was concealed in one of the walls I pulled down."
"What was inside it?" He spoke as if he knew what to expect.
"Did you find one, too?"
"No," Drew said.
"I opened the box and inside was a diary and some letters. I brought them with me. The writing is hard to read because time has faded the ink. The date on the diary is two hundred years ago."
"The same age as the Manor," he stated.
"That's what I thought when I arrived. I saw some photos in the library of what the Manor looked like in past years. Not much has changed on the outside. The flowers and shrubs are different, but the house is virtually the same."
"I've been coming here since I was a child and it always looks the same to me. I never see any renovations going on, but the updates to the inside are evident. Even that Aga stove in the kitchen seems to have been there since the beginning, yet it's a newer model."
"I have a stone," Ellie blurted out.
Drew turned so fast, she thought he'd spin totally around. "What kind of stone?"
"It was in the box, hidden under the lining."
"Let me see it," Drew said.
"And that's when it happened," Ellie spoke as if he hadn't said anything.
"What happened?"
"That's when the first vision came."
"Because you touched a stone?"
Ellie nodded. "What do you think it means?"
"I have no idea."
"Do you think we can find out? Do you think we should ask Blythe?"
"Not yet," he said.
"Why?" Ellie wondered if he knew something she didn't.
"We should test ourselves first. Maybe there's something we don't know."
"Like what?"
"I don't know," he said.
"We said we wanted to test this…" She was at a loss for what to call it. "…thing. And we need someone to be with us for safety. Blythe seems the logical choice. She's the owner of this manor."
"And as such, may be privilege to things we know nothing about," Drew said.
Ellie didn't understand, but she didn't argue either. "I've tested the stone before and not had a problem. And I was alone."
"But there was never a time when we were together, except for last night before dinner."
Ellie thought about that for a while. Then an idea came to her. "Why don't we go somewhere that we can be alone, but if anything happens, like we pass out, we'll be in a place where someone will find us?"
"Where is that?"
"How about a hotel?" Ellie suggested.
"What?"
"We can check the hotel's events and see where there is an empty ballroom. If anything happens, more than likely, someone will find us," she explained.
Ellie didn't like that, but it seemed logical. They needed to find out why they had a connection. Something other than the physical way she was attracted to him.
Twenty minutes later they walked into the St. Romaine. The place was busy. A tour group appeared to be checking in. She and Drew wove their way through the crowd. In a natural gesture, he reached for Ellie's hand and in another purely natural and thoughtless act, she took it. A second later, she pulled back. Drew stopped and looked at her inquiringly. She stared at their linked hands. Drew looked down, too.
Nothing happened.
No vision, no jolt of electricity, only the warmth of his hand and the tingle of awareness of him as a man.
A long moment later, with both of them staring at their hands, Drew pulled her forward and slipped his arm around her waist to lead her out of the crowd. They rushed down a hall toward the ballrooms. When they were out of sight of any of the guests, he turned to her.
"I guess we know now," Ellie said. She dropped his hand. Then she did something she hadn't intended. She placed a hand against his cheek. Nothing unexpected happened. Drew raised his hand and placed it over hers. His mouth turned and his lips touched a small part of her wrist.
"Why did you think it happened yesterday and not today?"
He shook his head. "Maybe there's more to it than just touching."
"It's got to be the Manor," she said.
"Why?"
"On the beach when you touched me nothing happened. Yet at dinner, it did. And here–nothing."
There was a lie in that. Something had happened, but it wasn't paranormal. She was attracted to Drew and he appeared to be attracted to her.
"I guess we'll have to go back there."
"Not today," Ellie said. "I'm too tired now."
"Are you all right?" T
here appeared to be genuine concern in his voice.
"I'm fine," she told him. "I'm just tired from all the stress."
Drew took her hand and together they headed for the door. The crowd in the lobby didn't seem so thick as they made their way through it.
"Will you show me the stone when you get to the Manor?" Drew asked.
She nodded. "It looks like an ordinary rock. I'm afraid you'll be disappointed that it isn't a shiny crystal."
Back at the bed and breakfast, Ellie went to her room while Drew waited in the library. Lifting the small box where she kept the stone, she opened it and looked inside. The stone lay on the bed of velvet exactly as she'd left it. Ellie carefully lifted the box out. She set it on the dresser and stared at it for a moment. She couldn't help wondering if something would happen if she touched it. She'd done it several times while still in Tennessee, but since entering the B&B, she had only looked at it.
Pulling the handkerchief she kept next to the box out of the drawer, she opened it, and laid it flat against her palm. She'd discovered that direct contact with her skin burned and she couldn't hold it for long. Using the handkerchief, she could defuse the heat.
Tilting the box, she let the stone fall into her hand. A moment passed, then a gauzy curtain seemed to drop in front of her. Inside it was the Cove View Room. And in the room stood a man. Ellie gasped. Unintentionally, she jerked and the stone fell to the floor. The image disappeared.
Someone knocked on her door. She was gasping, trying to draw air into her lungs. The man scared her. She'd never seen a person before. Only the manor and only Blythe. Who was he?
The knock came again. This time she heard Drew call her name.
"Ellie, are you in there? Are you all right."
Finding the stone, she used the handkerchief to put it back in the box and conceal the box in the drawer. Then she went to door, taking a second to run a hand over her hair and calm her breathing.
She pulled the door open. Drew and Blythe stood there.
"Are you all right?" Drew asked.
Blythe looked confused.
"Of course," she answered. "Why did you think something was wrong?"
"You've been in here for thirty minutes," Drew said. I was talking to Blythe over coffee and I realized you hadn't returned."
"I'm sorry. I got caught up in doing something on my computer." She glanced at the machine sitting on the desk. The screen saver she used floated back and forth across the screen. "I'm sorry, I forgot. I tend to do that when something interest me."
"Well, as long as you're okay," Blythe said. She backed away then and returned to the main part of the house.
"What happened?" Drew whispered.
"I tried the stone and I saw a man. I've never seen anyone except Blythe before."
"Who was he?"
"I don't know, but I'd swear I hadn't been in here more than five or ten minutes. You say half an hour has passed."
He nodded. "I waited twenty minutes, and was just about to come looking for you when Blythe came in and started talking to me. I couldn't get away. After ten more minutes, I told her we needed to check on you." He looked around, then asked, "Why did you touch the stone?"
"I wanted to know if it still worked."
"So you believe it will only work here? In the Manor?"
She shook her head. "It worked in the archives where I first touched it. Then at my house in Tennessee, but I believe that was only to get me to come here." Ellie did the same thing Drew had a moment ago. She looked about the room. "There's something specific about this place and…" She didn't know what she was about to say.
"And what?" Drew asked.
"And it's brought me here. I believe I have to look at the visions to find out the reason. This is the first time however, that I've lost time while doing it."
The house that Drew lived in was painted salmon pink and green. It was a small house by the standards of those built in the 1800s. Like the Manor, it had been there for over two hundred years and was in line with homes of that period. It had a large porch that wrapped three quarters of the way around and was three stories tall with a widow’s peak at the top.
Ellie and Drew decided to have dinner there since it was dangerous to talk at Blythe Cove Manor and they needed to talk.
"Who knew you had these skills?" Ellie said as Drew placed a plate in front of her. He cooked a meal of grilled steaks, baked potatoes, and a small salad.
"It's basic food," he said. "Don't ask me to do anything else beyond spaghetti and stuff you can throw on a grill."
Ellie laughed. They ate on a patio overlooking the ocean. The smell of salt was in the air. Ellie took in a deep breath. The place still felt magical to her.
Cutting into her steak, she nearly drooled over how delicious it was. He'd cooked it exactly the way she liked it. Drew hadn't asked her how she wanted it, yet he knew. She found that a little disturbing as she still knew very little about him, but he appeared to know a lot about her.
"Are you also a mind reader?" she asked.
"Not that I know of."
"This steak is perfect," she said.
"Thank you." He accepted her statement as a compliment.
"It's exactly the way I like it. The salad has a dressing I would choose nine times out of ten, and I don't add butter or sour cream on my baked potato." She paused staring at him. "Yet, you knew. You prepared each of these dishes as if you knew exactly what and how I liked my food. How did you know?"
"I saw it," he said.
"When?"
"After you arrived yesterday. The vision came to me when I asked you to dinner this afternoon. I had to get something to eat and as I went to the store to buy the food, I didn't have to choose what to buy. I could have been walking those aisles blindfolded. The food I needed and wanted appeared as if I knew what to get. And once I was outside, I knew when to remove it from the grill and what to add to your plate and mine. I can't tell you how."
"It's obvious someone or something wants us here and wants us together."
"Why?"
"I don't know," Ellie said. "I don't know if it's dangerous or benevolent. So far the only thing that's hurt me is the heat I feel when holding the stone."
"Let's not talk about the stone," Drew said. "Let's talk about something different."
"Like what? World crises, the state of education, the next presidential election?"
He grinned and her heart fluttered.
"How about you? Were you born in Tennessee?"
She shook her head. "I was born in Indiana. I went to Tennessee after college because I got a job there teaching high school history. Eventually, I moved to the university and I've been there ever since."
"Do you have many friends there?"
"Tons," she said. Ellie smiled knowing the real question he was asking. "There's no one in particular that I'm dating. I've never been married and have no children. I live in a nine bedroom house within walking distance of the campus. For exercise I roller skate."
"Nine bedrooms!" Surprise was evident in the lifting of his eyebrows.
"It's a family house."
He nodded understanding. "And you roller skate? That's something I haven't heard of people doing in years."
"It's still a skill and there are several rinks in the area. Mainly the people come to roller blade, but some try to skate to see what it's like. I roller-bladed for a while, but when I tried the skates, I liked them enough to go regularly. Now I skate three to four times a week for exercise."
"What about family, brothers, sisters?"
"One of each. My brother is two years older and my sister is two years younger."
"Ah, you're the middle child."
"Not a problem for me. My parents, both of them, were middle children, so they know the syndrome and made sure I didn't get it."
"What about you?" Ellie transferred the conversation to Drew. "What's your family story? You told me you run franchises."
"My family is from Texas. Amarillo."
"I worked hard to remove the accent. It's not that I'm not proud of being a Texan. I am."
"But people outside of Texas immediately place you in a box," she stated it as fact.
"Something like that," he said.
"The same thing happens to people from Indiana. Others think we're all corn farmers and that we're coming with stalks of hay in our hair."
Drew laughed and checked her hair. She had the feeling he wanted to touch her curls.
"Anyway, I left Texas after high school. Went to college in England. After that I did a brief stint in television news in Chicago. I was no good at it, despite my lack of accent."
Ellie smiled. "Where did you go from there?"
"I still live in Chicago, but I joined the family business."
"Which is not drugs?" Ellie teased.
"Which is not drugs. We have a chain of restaurants across the country. And we also franchise some of them. You've probably heard of Chris's House of Beef."
"I have," she said, impressed. "That's the franchise?"
Drew nodded. "We own a cattle ranch in Texas and the restaurants grew out of that."
"Brothers? Sister?"
"Four brothers. I'm the third one."
"Are they all part of the family business?"
Drew shook his head. "Only myself and my younger brother."
"So far, we seem to be typical people. I wonder why these visions chose us."
"According to the movies, it's always has something to do with the past," Drew responded.
"I don't know much about my family's past. Beyond my grandparents, I can't tell you a thing. I know I'm a history professor, but I never studied family history. That would be my Aunt Marie's domain."
"You have an aunt who does genealogy?"
"Not quite as fancy a term as that. She dabbles in it when she feels like it. She has to go back and redo the things she's done before so she can get up to speed. Consequently, she doesn't get very far. But along that vein, do you think these events have something to do with our past?"
Summer Magic Page 7
