Forever Young: Time Travel Romance

by Gloria Gay

  She started as he came up and halted his horse, almost upon her.

  “What on earth! You almost ran me over!”

  Lanquest was startled at the girl’s forceful voice.

  “Who are you?” he asked, embarrassed that he had thought this girl a wood nymph.

  “Who are you?” she asked, unbelievably.

  Lanquest was torn between scolding her for her nerve and of being drawn to her beauty. With her beautiful blue eyes looking askance at him she looked up expectantly for an explanation.

  ***

  Kate had been surprised by the appearance of the man on his horse.

  He was dressed in perfect tan breeches, a finely-tailored dark blue coat and knee-length shining black boots. His dark brown hair reached his shoulders in large waves that were being teased by the swirling cold breeze cutting through the trees. The same wind that had wound through her bush hideout and woken her out of her uneasy slumber.

  She had immediately felt the freezing cold of the morning as she lay inside the thicket of bushes that had served as her bedroom the night before. She had jumped away from her bed of leaves to exercise her numb limbs in order to get her blood circulating pronto.

  Now she had to face the unpleasant present and her predicament.

  And the man on his horse.

  Rather than greet her the man just sat on his horse, a magnificent blue-black stallion, and stared at her.

  Kate stared back at him. Was his strange outfit a costume?

  “Hey,” she said tentatively “I seem to be lost.”

  The man ran his eyes over Kate’s leaf dress again.

  ”I—my clothes were stolen,” she said by way of explanation of her Biblical attire. That was technically true, because she hadn’t donated her clothes to anyone.

  “Could I maybe borrow some clothes from you, sir—a dress—a pair of pants—anything, from your wife or any female in your family?”

  ”Pants?” he asked, perplexed.

  Again, Kate wondered why the man was dressed in costume. He seemed very comfortable in it, too. Wore it with a flair, actually. She forced herself not to mention his odd outfit. First, she had to deal with her outfit, which must be just as odd to him as his clothes were to her.

  “A gown, a skirt and blouse?” she prodded, for the man seemed clueless as to women’s attire and seemed to have lost his ability to speak.

  “What are you doing here, miss?” he asked after what felt to Kate like a very long minute. “This wood is private property.”

  His voice had changed to severe—rude, even.

  A shiver of fear went through Kate. She was sorry his tone had changed. He was a very handsome man, with a stately air about him, and while his tone had been serious but gracious she had admired his looks, but now that he was questioning her in an almost contentious voice she was suddenly afraid.

  Besides, who goes around dressed like that?

  Where was she, anyhow? Awful things could happen to girls who wandered into forested areas. She had read enough mysteries that had that as their core plot. She mentally slapped away a vision of herself lying on the forest floor…completely covered with leaves, for a shiver had zig-zagged through her and her graphic mind.

  “Is this your property?” She changed her voice to a forceful tone. She shouldn’t act afraid. Even in England people didn’t own the forest. Or did they? Certainly, in the historical novels into which she had fallen each day in order to cope with the crazy turn her life had taken, they might.

  “Which forest is this,” she asked when he just stared at her.

  “Hawkwing Forest, part of Arcadia, my estate.”

  “Really! You have your own forest?”

  “I do.” His voice was now icy cold.

  She had better soften her voice if she didn’t want to be arrested for trespassing. God knew where she had landed in her free fall but it certainly was not anywhere near either Heathrow or Gadwick airports. Besides, she must give him allowance for staring at her, she was dressed in leaves, after all.

  “Please,” she said, injecting an appeal in her voice. “I need your help.

  “Let me explain, sir. I was travelling in a bus with a large tour group between two of your airports, heading from Heathrow to Gadwick. I had dozed off a little and suddenly there was a loud piercing sound and I felt myself falling through space—the bus I was in had apparently gone off a cliff or something. When I landed—amazingly softly, by the way—I found I had lost my clothes in the process and ended up in your property.

  “Even though my explanation may sound strange to you, I swear on my honor that what I am telling you is the truth of what happened to me as far as I know it and that I have no idea where I am.”

  “As I said, you’re on my property. I’m Lanquest, miss—Michael Sorville, Earl of Lanquest.”

  What the hey!

  Just her luck to have landed on an aristocrat’s property. This would complicate things. A farmer’s cottage would have been so much better. She didn’t think any member of the aristocracy would be eager to believe her story, especially an eccentric man who went about dressed as he did. She would have been luckier if she had needed to deal with a humble farmer’s wife.

  “Why are you dressed in costume?” Kate asked him when he continued to gaze at her with a disapproving look. He looked like he didn’t believe a word she had said.

  “I am not dressed in costume, miss, and you had better come up with a better explanation about why you have appeared almost nude in my property and how you got here, before I report you to the magistrate.”

  “No!” Kate yelled in fear. “Please don’t call the magistrate!”

  A Midnight Express image of herself being dragged off to an English jail in her leaf outfit jumped unpleasantly into her mind.

  “If you’ll just let me use your phone someone from the office will pick me up and I’ll be out of your hair in no time at all.

  “I was part of a large tour group and there was an accident. All I want is to reunite with them. Let’s not get the police involved, please, sir—uh, your lordship,” she pleaded.

  But the icy silence and the cold stare in the man’s eyes continued and Kate suddenly felt defeat. She sank into the soft grass of the meadow and tears sprang to her eyes, while her arms hung on her sides.

  This cold man was going to call the police on her! She had no idea how to deal with it as wracking sobs shook her body.

  She was now as displaced as any immigrant floating on a boat going to a place where she wasn’t welcome. Again, she shook with sobs as the tears streamed down her cheeks.

  The man got off his horse and kneeled on one knee beside her. She realized her sudden tears had moved him and he was not going to call the magistrate—not right away, at least.

  She breathed out a shuddering sigh of relief, tears still streaming down her cheeks as she looked up at him, her blue eyes pleading.

  “I will try to understand your predicament, miss—uh—”

  “Shallot—Kate Shallot.”

  “Explain what happened to you and why you are here, Miss Shallot.”

  “As I told you,” she repeated, suppressing a sigh, “I was with a tour group on one of a few shuttle buses, heading from Heathrow Airport to Gadwick …”

  “First explain what Heathrow Airport and a shuttle bus are,” he interrupted. “Perhaps then I will begin to understand what you are trying to tell me.”

  “Heathrow—oh my god,” Kate said, “you don’t know what Heathrow Airport or a bus is?”

  “No, I do not,” he said.

  “This is England, is it not?”

  “It is.”

  “And the year…” Kate couldn’t believe she was actually asking him this but made allowance for the fact that Madame Enlia was wrapped up in the supernatural and she must surely be responsible for the pickle Kate was in. “Which year is it?”

  He shook his head but replied to her question. “We are in the year of our lord, 1818.”

  Kate ga
sped. Even though she suspected something strange had taken place when she fell through space, she still thought she had fallen from the edge of a mountain cliff road and there was a logical explanation. She still hoped that her shuttle bus was nearby and they were looking for her. But 1818! Falling through space into another age?

  “I’m willing to give you an opportunity to explain,” the man added. His voice, at least, had softened. But what kind of explanation could she give him that he would believe?

  “You would not understand,” Kate said with a sigh of defeat, as her blue eyes looked into his dark blue eyes that were now gazing at her with deep interest.

  Would he believe she was from a future he could never imagine in his wildest dreams? What explanation would he not think fantastic? She felt pressed against a cold stone wall and her tears continued on down her cheeks, unchecked as she shuddered, both from the cold and from fear.

  “I completed my education at Cambridge,” the man said with the first smile she had seen on him. It was a nice smile and it lit up his face. “My professors would be ashamed of me if I were unable to understand what you explain to me, miss.”

  “I promise I shall keep an open mind,” he added.

  He got down from his horse and then taking her hand, he led her to a wide fallen tree trunk and motioned for her to sit down. Kate could tell he had noticed she was shivering, for he gallantly took off his coat and placed it on her shoulders.

  Kate sighed with relief and comfort as the warmth of his body, still in his coat, transferred pleasantly to her.

  “Please proceed,” he urged.

  He was willing to listen to her! She would not be dragged off by a constable just yet.

  Kate took a deep breath and told him in great detail about her experience with a psychic, Madame Enlia, and her journey by air on her way to France with the tour group.

  When she had finished talking he remained silent for a while.

  “You don’t believe me, do you?” A shiver of fear coursed through Kate’s body at his skeptical silence.

  “I would be the first one to believe in time travel if I did,” he said, “but obviously, you lost your clothes in some way. I’ll suspend disbelief for now and try to help you, Miss Shallot. It would be difficult to make up words that cannot exist even in the Colonies, so I will try to keep an open mind.

  “Later on, you may give me a broader explanation by expanding on this world you say you come from. But for now, we must first deal with the matter of your clothes.

  “My widowed aunt, Lady Donney, makes her home with me and directs my household. I will bring her back in my carriage, so that she may walk into the house with you. The house servants must not be allowed to form a wrong first impression of you and they would if I bring you to the house myself.”

  “Whatever you see fit to do, my lord, is fine with me. I cannot ever repay your kindness but please accept my heartfelt thanks.” Kate sighed with relief that he was willing to help her.

  “I am happy to be of service, Miss Shallot, but we must be very conscious of appearances. A lady’s reputation once lost may never be recovered. I must ensure that you enter my household as a guest of my aunt’s, rather than mine.”

  “Yes, my lord.” Kate’s heart filled with gratitude at his kindness.

  “My sister Lucy was married last year,” he added while Kate wiped away her tears. “She left a clothes’ press full of gowns she didn’t need anymore. You seem to be the same measurements and height.

  “I’ll ride back to the house and get you some clothes to wear and also shoes—and the rest. You cannot be seen without clothes. If you should hear someone coming, please conceal yourself. It is very important that no one see you in that—in that leaf gown.

  “Those thick bushes over there will serve the purpose. We are fortunate in that it is still very early in the morning and few people are about.”

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he added with his devastating smile.

  “Thank you,” Kate said, “Thank you so much, your lordship!” How lucky she had been to have found someone who was willing to help her. Someone who was taking her at her word.

  She was becoming a water pot. Whether this man acted severely or whether he acted kindly toward her, the tears sprang. She determined that she would not allow her vulnerability to oppress her immediate future, which was uppermost at the moment. And this man’s help was crucial to her safety.

  “I’ll do as you advised and hide within the bush cluster until you return, just in case anyone should ride down the trail as you did.”

  “Very good. I’ll be back soon, Miss Shallot.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Lying back within the bed of leaves she had arranged for herself in her bush hideout, Kate hoped no small animal would sniff her out and come to investigate during the time Lord Lanquest went back to his house to get clothes for her to wear.

  She stayed still, so as to not attract the attention of any creature, and let her mind wander back to the recent past and her meeting with her mother’s lifelong friend, Emily Waldean.

  Kate was certain her problem at this moment stemmed from the visit to the psychic place her mother had visited many years before and which Kate had visited after her mother’s friend had given her Kate’s mother’s diary.

  “Kate,” Emmy had said, her eyes on the journal on the table, “you must be intrigued about why your mom left her journal with me rather than with you and Stacy and why I waited to contact you about it five years after she passed.”

  “Oh, Emmy, to say that Stacy and I wondered is an understatement!” Kate admitted.

  “So here it is,” Emily added, handing the journal to Kate. She held it gingerly, as if it could suddenly catch on fire.

  “You must promise that you will not open it or read it here and that you don’t tell me about any of its contents.”

  “I promise.” Kate took the diary Emmy handed her, holding it just as gingerly as Emmy had. She shook her head in wonder. She was dying to read it but she set it aside on the couch, by her and sipped her tea. Emmy had just refreshed her tea cup.

  “How did Mom act the next day from the visit to the psychic, Emmy, do you remember? I’d be grateful for anything you can recall. You don’t mind me taking notes, do you? Stacy is going to want every last little detail.

  “You can’t imagine how many times we asked Mom to tell us about it and she would just clam up. I think the only good thing she got out of it was what she described as the golden canopy. She once said that it was impossible to describe it, that a person had to be under it to appreciate its outstanding incredible beauty.

  “You don’t mind telling me about the day she visited the psychic?”

  “I don’t mind at all,” Emmy said amiably, settling back on the couch.

  She breathed in, sighed and said: “Well, it was after work. Katy and I were going home on the bus after work as usual, and as we were going past a place that had a large sign that said ‘Psychic’ your mom suddenly sprang up from the seat and said that she was going to that psychic place on the next stop. She pulled the cord to stop the bus as I looked at her, astounded!

  “I tried to dissuade her. It was almost nightfall and the area was strange and–seedy almost. She was acting completely out of character and it scared me!”

  “I swear, I almost didn’t sleep that night, Kate. I waited and waited for her to call me or arrive at the house and I finally fell asleep from sheer exhaustion, not even noticing that I had. You see, she had spent the night with me because your Mom and Dad had gone to visit your grandmother, who was ill.

  “Why do you want to know about it, Kate? It’s dangerous stuff. Aren’t you afraid?” Emmy added.

  “I guess I should be, but I’m not, Emmy. You would understand if you knew a little about me. I went through some awful times. A year into my marriage I found my husband—I’d rather not talk about this, Emmy.”

  “Oh, Kate, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll just shor
ten it by saying I’ve been divorced for over a year now and I’m just pulled toward this experience of Mom’s in a very strange way. I just feel I have to go there—to the same place Mom went.”

  “It’s dangerous. Please don’t do it, Kate,” Emmy leaned earnestly toward Kate and pressed her hand. “I could never bring myself to destroy the journal because if your mom gave it to me it was for a reason. But I still think it would be better if I had. I’m afraid of it. It seems—supernatural to me and I’m afraid of supernatural things.”

  Emmy shook her head. “It messed up your Mom’s life. Why would you risk it, Kate? She found the fountain of youth and it never made her happy. She went back to get that psychic woman, Madam Xalia, to reverse it. Your mom never forgave herself for never aging, while your dad aged normally. Well, at least that’s what she told me.”

  “Even so, she had Dad, Emmy, and she had Stacy and me, so it didn’t really mess up her life,” Kate pressed, anxiously. “I wish she hadn’t gone to the psychic’s place to reverse the youth thing.”

  “Stacy and I would still have her with us.” Kate sighed heavily and leaned back on the couch. “But we can’t undo the past, can we? But other than that, she and Dad had a very happy marriage, so it wasn’t all that bad.”

  “I’m grateful you kept the journal, Emmy. I can’t wait to read it,” Kate added.

  “You will be careful?”

  “I will. I promise.”

  ***

  Once Kate reached home she settled in with a glass of wine in her small living/dining room that had a window from which she could see Dolphin Drive from a distance of half a block from her third-floor apartment, and a sliver of the ocean above it. She loved California and Dolphin Beach had a special place in her heart.

  She and her family had lived most of their lives in California, and a great many years of it in DB, as it was commonly known to those who lived there.

  She sat back on the couch and opened her mom’s diary to the first page.

  Katherine Rebecca Shallot

  Kate had been named after her mother and she loved her last name. She had memorized the poem, The Lady of Shallot, because of it.