What if I Fall: The Pocket Watch Chronicles

by Ceci Giltenan

  “Don’t we want the fifth floor?” she asked.

  “Not tonight.”

  She frowned. “You know that Mark and Daphne are much more likely to be in the specialty restaurants. And I quite like the food in the main dining rooms.”

  “I know you do, but I think you might like this and I’m certain they won’t be there.”

  He led her through a door near the entrance to one of the lounges. Just inside was a sign for The Chef’s Secret.

  She smiled. “What is this?”

  “This is a very exclusive specialty restaurant. Reservations are only available for ten guests each night. The head chef plans and prepares a six-course meal, with wine for every course. Apparently, he presents each course himself, describing what it is and the cooking techniques. You mentioned how much you like cooking and I thought you might enjoy this.”

  Sara could hardly believe it. She’d heard about these dinners and had been interested in getting reservations. They were a little expensive, but not outrageous. Still, if she and Mark were together, the only way they’d be here tonight would have been if she’d made the arrangements. Mark never would have thought of it. She was absolutely thrilled that Benedict had.

  “Wow, what a wonderful surprise. I’ve always wanted to do something like this.” Then, without giving any thought to it, she kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”

  A slow smile spread across his face. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it.”

  They walked down the hallway to a sitting room where the four other couples waited, sipping champagne. A waiter greeted them, “Welcome, Mr. Talbot, Miss Wells. Please enjoy a glass of champagne.” He poured them each a flute, before introducing them to the other diners. Then he excused himself, saying, “I will be back shortly to take you in for dinner.”

  That evening was everything Sara had imagined it would be. Spectacular food and wine and a companion who was both charming and attentive. After dinner, they walked the top deck under the stars and talked.

  They had talked a lot from Benedict’s first day. Sara had kept a running commentary on life in the twenty-first century. And Benedict countered with as complete a description of eighteenth-century life in Venice as possible. For the first few days, they had been extremely cautious in public areas about saying anything about time travel that might be overheard. But soon, they had relaxed a little. They realized, if they were careful, there were things they could talk about that the average person, if hearing only bits of a conversation, wouldn’t think twice about.

  It was a beautiful night and after the amazing dinner and perhaps a tad too much wine, as they walked she slipped her hand in his. He folded his fingers around hers and gave a little squeeze. At that moment, she realized too late that she had lost her heart to him.

  He was the first one to break the silence. “Sara, there’s something I’ve never asked you that I’d like to know.”

  “Ask away.”

  “It’s rather personal, so you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

  Sara laughed. “I assure you, if I don’t want to, I won’t.”

  “Well then, Gertrude told me she offered you the pocket watch once and you didn’t accept it.” He asked this just as they strolled past another young couple holding hands.

  The young woman spun around. “Wait. What did you just say?”

  Sara had a moment of panic. Thinking frantically about what he had said. She was a little wine befuddled, but she couldn’t see anything wrong with it. Nothing was said about time travel.

  “Pardon me?” asked Benedict.

  “You said something about Gertrude and a pocket watch,” said the young woman. The man with her remained silent but looked guarded.

  Sara shook her head. “Oh, it was nothing. It’s just an old heirloom that my Aunt Gertrude wanted to give me.”

  The woman looked at her very seriously. “I know all about Gertrude and the pocket watch.”

  The young man took her elbow. “Elsie, perhaps you misheard. Let it go.”

  The woman wasn’t dissuaded. “Did Gertrude offer one of you the pocket watch? Did one of you use it?”

  Benedict gave an almost imperceptible nod.

  The woman’s hand flew to her mouth.

  Her companion’s eyes went wide and he glanced around. “This isn’t the place for this. My name is Gabe Soldani, this is my wife Elizabeth. Would you join us in our suite?”

  Benedict shot Sara a questioning look. If these people knew about the watch, maybe they could help figure out how to handle things when it was time to go home. She nodded.

  Benedict answered, “Yes.”

  “Then come with us.” Gabe led them to a private elevator lobby that he accessed with his key card.

  The elevator took them to the Penthouse. Elizabeth smiled. This was the newlywed couple who had managed to keep the best suite on the ship in spite of Benjamin’s efforts otherwise. Then, with a shock, she remembered what Benjamin had said when he found out the bride was the granddaughter of Alastair Matheson. “She was in a car accident in February, sustained a head injury, lost her memory, and fell in love with some pediatrician from New Jersey.” So Gabe must be the pediatrician.

  Just as Mark had said, the suite was really more like an apartment, and not a small one. Once inside, Gabe turned to them. “As I said, I’m Gabe and this is my wife Elizabeth.”

  “My friends call me Elsie,” said his wife.

  “It’s lovely to meet you both. I’m Sara Wells and this is Benjamin Talbot.”

  “Please, make yourselves comfortable,” said Gabe.

  Sara and Benedict sat in armchairs while Gabe and Elsie sat together on the couch.

  When they were settled, Elsie looked directly at Benedict. “I heard you ask Sara about when Gertrude offered her the pocket watch. So you know about it. Did one of you use it?”

  “Elsie, sweetheart, you sound like your father.”

  She smiled a little sheepishly at them. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so blunt. But finding someone who knows about the pocket watch is a bit of a shock.

  “I’m sure it is,” said Benedict. “I’m a little shocked myself. But to answer your question, yes, I used the pocket watch.”

  “Did you go backwards or forwards?” she asked.

  “Forwards. I left Venice in the year 1758.”

  “You decided to stay?”

  Benedict shook his head. “I’ve only been here a week and a half. Since the start of the cruise.”

  Elsie turned to Sara. “And you were offered the watch too?”

  “Yes. But I didn’t accept it. Clearly you did though.”

  “Not exactly, but that’s another story.”

  Gabe frowned. “Why did you assume it was Elsie who had used the watch and not me?”

  Sara smiled. “The day we boarded, Benjamin Talbot—I mean the real Benjamin Talbot, not Benedict here—was in a spoiled rich boy rage because he believed he had reserved this suite but somehow the reservation had been mixed up. He ended up in the Admiral’s Suite. By the way he complained, you would have thought he’d been given a broom closet. He ranted about it for hours and ‘made some calls’ to find out who you were. I suspect if you hadn’t been Alastair Matheson’s granddaughter, he would have caused problems for you, but he thought better of crossing the might of Matheson & Matheson. Anyway, Benjamin mentioned that Elizabeth suffered amnesia from a car accident in February. But that’s actually when you exchanged souls, isn’t it?”

  Elsie nodded. “And you entered Benjamin’s body after the cruise started?”

  “Yes,” answered Benedict.

  “Do you know what Benjamin had done that would have resulted in his death?” asked Gabe.

  Benedict captured Sara’s gaze, the unspoken message clear: How much of this do you want them to know?

  Sara sighed. “You may as well know the whole story.” She launched into the tale of Mark and Daphne.

  When she reached the point where she told Benjamin what
had happened, Gabe nodded. “I bet I can guess. Benjamin went into another—what did you call it?”

  “Spoiled rich boy rage,” said Sara.

  “Yeah. Good description. So Benjamin went into a spoiled rich boy rage and was going after Mark.”

  Sara nodded. “We know it would have resulted in Benjamin’s death, but we don’t know what else might have happened. Who else might have been injured or killed.”

  “How have you explained Benjamin’s memory loss?”

  “We haven’t,” answered Sara.

  Benedict added, “The only other people on board the ship who knew Benjamin before are Mark and Daphne. As you can imagine, it was Sara’s desire to steer clear of them. Therefore, we haven’t had to make any excuses yet.”

  “But we’ll need to soon. Benedict wants to stay for a while.” Which is why you shouldn’t have fallen in love with him, you idiot. “You see, Benjamin’s family owns a company that builds custom yachts and Benedict is a shipbuilder in eighteenth-century Venice. He wants to learn modern techniques while he’s here. I’ve spent the last week and a half teaching him everything I can about the twenty-first century, but to learn about ships he needs access to Talbot & Company.”

  Gabe nodded. “I understand. It will be hard to pretend nothing has happened around the people who know him best.”

  Benedict nodded. “Exactly.”

  “Maybe we can help you figure something out.”

  “We thought maybe we could stage an accident so he could feign a head injury.” said Sara.

  “Amnesia is a good explanation,” agreed Elsie. “Although it’s harder to maintain than you might think, because you actually do have memories, just not Benjamin’s. And then people get twitchy about semantic memory.” She smiled at her husband.

  “What’s that?” asked Sara.

  “Dr. Soldani, do you want to explain?” Elsie teased.

  “Sure. But you know it as well as I do.” He addressed Sara and Benedict. “Basically, everyone has three kinds of memory: autobiographical, episodic, and semantic. Autobiographical memories are those relating to who you are, your name, birthdate, family members, and so forth. Episodic memories are specific events in your life, like your first date or an argument you had with your sister or any event, big or small. People with amnesia lose these memories to varying degrees. But semantic memories are more basic. How to walk, talk, or read. How to use a phone or drive a car. What a helicopter or a highway is. Most people who suffer amnesia don’t lose much semantic memory.”

  Elsie smiled. “But you can’t remember things you never knew.”

  Gabe took her hand. “Elsie came here from the thirteenth century. The doctors treating her were puzzled by what they thought was her unusual and rather profound semantic memory loss.”

  “As you can imagine, I knew very little about anything. Elizabeth had apparently been extremely bright, a genius in fact, but I couldn’t even read.”

  “You are extremely bright, too, Elsie.” Gabe smiled at his wife. It was clear to Sara he loved Elsie very much. “You’d just never had the opportunity to learn until now.”

  Benedict frowned. “I’ve had no trouble reading.”

  “Could you read in your own time?” asked Gabe.

  “Yes, but I didn’t speak English very often and rarely had to read it.”

  “Where did you come from?” asked Elsie.

  “I have lived most of my life in Venice, but my parents were Scottish. I could fluently speak and read both languages. And over the years I learned to speak English because many of the merchants with whom I dealt were English. But, as I said, I didn’t use it often.”

  “I was a peasant from the Scottish Highlands and I left in the year 1279. I didn’t speak English at all, nor could I read any language. My native tongue was Gaelic, and I understood some Latin because it was the language of the Church.”

  Gabe stroked his beard. “Benedict, I suspect, because you could already read, your ability to read English is an extension of Benjamin’s language memory. In your case, if we were able to create a head injury, it would appear as if you had little or no semantic memory loss because of all of the time you’ve spent with Sara learning about this time.”

  Sara shook her head. “But I worry about actually hurting him.”

  Gabe grinned. “I think we can minimize the risk. Could you extend your vacation a little?”

  “Probably,” Sara said hesitantly. “But why?”

  “We’re going to Scotland for eight days before going home. We are never really alone on this cruise but if you come with us to Scotland, we will be. We can create a surface wound that looks bad but isn’t actually the result of a blow to the head. We’ll tell everyone you took a fall hiking or something. I’m a doctor. We can make it believable.”

  Sara turned to Benedict. “What do you think?”

  “I think it’s a good plan. I’ve already learned a lot about Benjamin from you and from publicly-available information. With your continued help, I don’t have to pretend to have profound amnesia, which will make it more believable.” He cocked his head to one side. “And I’d like to visit Scotland. It’s where I was born and my parents died there.”

  “Will anyone find it odd that Benjamin takes an extra week of vacation?” asked Elsie.

  “I doubt it,” answered Sara. “It seems he has an office at Talbot & Company’s Baltimore headquarters and he has a personal assistant, but as far as I can tell, he doesn’t do much and rarely goes there. I suspect all it will take is an email to his assistant telling her he’ll be gone another week.”

  “Then it’s settled. You’ll join us on our trip to Scotland,” said Elsie.

  Sara nodded. “I’ll see if I can change our flight arrangements when we get to Mykonos.”

  Elsie grinned. “Don’t worry about it. Very good friends of ours gave us the use of their private jet. You can join us on it.” She turned to Benedict. “I’m sure your time had many advances over the thirteenth century, but honestly there are so many things here that I love and flying is one of them.”

  Benedict nodded. “I must say, the idea is a bit daunting, but I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Benedict, if you could pick one thing to take back with you to your own time, what would it be?” asked Elsie.

  “I’m not sure. As you said there are so many incredible things. Could you pick just one?”

  Elsie nodded vigorously. “Absolutely.”

  Benedict smiled at her enthusiasm. “Well, I guess I’d have to say…”

  “Bathrooms?” she suggested.

  He laughed. “I was going to say ice-cream. But bathrooms do have their appeal.”

  “That’s a guy for you,” said Sara.

  Gabe shook his head. “I’m kind of with Benedict on this one. It would be hard to do without ice-cream.”

  “Well, I’ve never had to do it, but I think I would probably miss modern plumbing too,” said Sara.

  “Is that why you didn’t accept the watch?” asked Elsie.

  “How do you know I didn’t accept the watch?”

  “It’s what I overheard Benedict saying to you. He said that Gertrude offered you the pocket watch once and you didn’t accept it.”

  “Well, that’s true. But frankly, in that moment, I wasn’t thinking about bathrooms.”

  “You know, I’ve never asked you, when did she offer it to you?” asked Benedict.

  “Just before I got on the ship.”

  “In Venice?” asked Gabe, incredulously. “Elsie and I saw her near the Rialto Bridge when we were on our way to the cruise terminal.”

  “That’s where I met her. I was having lunch in a café very close to the bridge. When she left, I thought I saw her wave to someone.”

  “It was us,” said Elsie. “We were going by in a water-taxi.”

  Sara shook her head. “Wow. What a coincidence.”

  Elsie laughed. “Oh Sara, you have a lot to learn about Gertrude. Things don’t happen by coincidence with h
er. She said something once that makes me think only people who need to see her can see her. I suspect if we saw her, it was to facilitate this meeting.”

  “You said she was leaving you when she waved at us?” asked Gabe.

  “Yes.”

  “And you had just turned down her offer of the pocket watch?”

  “Yes. Part of me wishes now that I had accepted it. Learning about Mark and Daphne was terrible and Mark was the whole reason I turned it down in the first place.”

  “He was?” asked Benedict.

  “Sadly, yes. I was about to take the watch. You know how interested I am in history. It would have been an incredible opportunity. But I was worried I’d fall in love.”

  “With someone in the past?” asked Elsie.

  “Exactly.” Sara smiled. “I told her it was an occupational hazard of being a romance author. I could imagine getting caught up in the adventure, falling for someone, and then having to decide whether to stay with him or return to Mark.” She frowned and looked down. “How could I have been more stupid? I thought he was the one. I thought he was going to propose to me. I guess it was only my rosy romance author glasses that made me think he was my soulmate.” And probably the same damn thing at work now.

  “Did you say that to Gertrude?” asked Gabe. “I mean the part about being worried you’d fall in love.”

  “Yeah, I did. She said if I was truly in love, I wouldn’t fall in love with someone else. I told her I’d misread things before.” As the words left her mouth, Sara felt like a prime idiot. “I guess I did it again with Mark.” And now with Benedict too.

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” said Elsie. “The universe unfolds as it should.”

  Sara smiled. “That’s exactly what Gertrude said.”

  Chapter 8

  When Benedict returned to the cabin with Sara that evening, she was more subdued than usual. The last eleven days had been wonderful, easily the best in his life. Yes, the twenty-first century was filled with marvels and learning about them had been fascinating.

  But there was more to it than that.

  From the first moment he set eyes on Sara, he thought she was perhaps the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He felt an overwhelming need to take care of her, to protect her, to make her happy and yes, even to avenge her. That hadn’t changed over the many days spent entirely in her company.