A World Apart (The Hands of Time: Book 3) (4 page)

Valerie trudged up the stairs after Louisa.  The day hadn’t started out well, and the arrival of Mr. Taylor had completely unnerved her.  She’d just go to bed early and deal with everything in the morning.  She hoped Evie would sleep through the night and give them all a bit of peace, especially Bridget, who was still unwell.  She hadn’t left the room she shared with Mrs. Dolly the whole day.  Minnie had brought her some beef tea to settle her stomach, but Bridget hardly touched it.  Bridget hadn’t been sick a day since Valerie met her all those years ago, so Valerie hoped that she would recover quickly.  She had a robust constitution and a remedy for nearly every ailment known to man. 

“Goodnight, Lou.  I’ll just check on Finn before I go to bed.  I thought I heard him sneaking in earlier.  He probably didn’t want to hear a lecture.”

“Goodnight, Val.  Tomorrow will be a better day.  You’ll see.”  Louisa disappeared into her bedroom as Valerie walked toward Finn’s room.  All was quiet and dark.  Maybe he tired himself out and went to sleep, but that wasn’t likely.  Valerie opened the door quietly and peered into the room.  Empty.  Where was he?  She could have sworn she heard him go up the stairs.  Maybe he went out to the privy.  She was too tired to go searching for him.  She’d speak with him in the morning.  She had to admit that she wasn’t angry with him anymore.  He was a sixteen-year-old boy.  He was practically required to cause some mischief. 

Valerie shut the door to her bedroom and sat down on the bed, pulling off her mobcap and releasing her hair from its pins.  She was just about to untie the laces o
f her bodice when there was an urgent knock on the door.  Alec knocked sometimes, but this wasn’t his soft knock.  Valerie jerked the door open to find Mr. Taylor outside, pale and sweating, his eyes full of panic. 

“Valerie, something’s happened.  You must come with me at once.  Please!” 

Valerie forgot all about her fatigue and ran up the stairs to the attic after Mr. Taylor.  “What is it?  What’s happened?”  Her heart was hammering in her chest, her breath ragged.  Mr. Taylor stopped on the landing by the little table and turned to Valerie.  Louisa came running up the stairs, her hair tumbling around her shoulders. 

“I left the watch by my bed when I went down to supper.  I didn’t want your husbands to see it and question its purpose.  I’d locked the door behind me.  I am fairly sure of that.  When I came back up just now, I saw the watch on this table on the landing.  It was on.  The time was set to 177
5.  Someone is gone.”

Valerie slid down along the wall, little bursts of color exploding in front of her eyes.  Louisa was saying something, her mouth
opening and closing, but Valerie couldn’t hear.  Her ears were ringing, her hands cold as ice.  She knew exactly who was gone.  It was Finn.  Everyone else had been downstairs except for Bridget, and she was in her bed, most likely asleep.  Her son was gone.  Valerie looked up as Alec lifted her off the floor, his face full of concern. 

“Alec, he’s gone.  Finn is gone,” she whimpered. 

“He’ll be back, sweetheart.  He’ll be back.   Now, let’s get you to bed.”  Alec looked into her face, trying to determine if she felt ill. 

“You don’t understand,” she screamed.  “He is GONE!  He went to 177
5.  This man is Mr. Taylor.  MR. TAYLOR, Alec!  The one whose clock sent me to the past.” 

“Oh, dear Lord,” Alec
groaned, letting go of Valerie and grabbing onto the table.  “What’s to be done?”

“What’s amiss?”  Kit appeared at the top of the stairs, taking in the scene.  “Is someone ill?
  Valerie, are you all right?”  He held out a hand to Valerie but became distracted by his wife’s wail.

“It’s all my fault!”  Louisa sank to the floor, her hands covering her face.  “It’s all my fault.  I asked you to let him
stay.  Oh, Valerie.  I had no idea this would happen.  What have I done?” 

“Alec, we must go after him.  I won’t lose him.  I won’t!”  Valerie screamed.  “We must go now.  He can’t be far.  He
’s probably lost and confused.  He’ll be somewhere close to the house.  We must go NOW!”

“Will someone tell me what’s happening?” roared Kit over the din.  “Who’s gone where?”  He pulled Louisa to her feet, searching her face for answers.  “Louisa, what is it?  Who is gone?” 

“Kit, Finn has gone to the year 1775.  Please, don’t ask me to explain now.  I just can’t put it into words.  Just believe me.”  Louisa averted her eyes from Kit’s, unable to face his disbelief. 

“Darling, allow me to escort you to bed.  You are obviously unwell, and you must feed Evie.  She
’s crying.  Can’t you hear her?  We’ll sort everything out in the morning.  Finn will be back from 1775 or from wherever he is.  Come, dearest.”  Kit was trying to maneuver Louisa toward the stairs, but she wasn’t budging.

“Don’t
speak to me as if I’m insane.  I am telling you the truth.  Just ask Alec and Valerie.  They know.”  Louisa pushed Kit aside and ran down the stairs to fetch Evie, whose hungry howls were growing louder by the minute.  She welcomed the distraction.  Anything to get away from the horror of what was happening.  Anything to get away from the look in Kit’s eyes. 

“Alec, please explain.  I’m afraid I’
m at a loss.”  Kit looked to Alec, who was running his hands through his hair, his eyes far away.  “Alec!”

“Kit, step outside with me.  I can’t explain here.  Valerie, go lie down for a bit.  I’ll be back
shortly.  We need a plan.”  Alec was about to go down, but Valerie grabbed his arm, hissing urgently. 

“We need to go NOW!  He
’s getting away.  Alec, please!”

“Sweetheart, we can’t just leave. 
I must prepare.  I don’t know how long I’ll be gone or what I’ll encounter.  I must give instructions to Kit.  Please pack me a change of clothes.”  Alec tried to sound reasonable, but Valerie wasn’t having it.  She grabbed him by the arm, forcing him to turn back and look at her.

“You?  How long you’ll be gone?  Do you really think you are going alone?  I’m coming with you.  I won’t lose both of you and just sit here waiting, going crazy.  You are not going without me.”

“Valerie, we have our daughter to think of.  We can’t both disappear.”

“Louisa will stay here with Lou and Kit.  She’ll be fine.  With any luck, we’ll be back very soon.  We’ll just get him and come back.  He won’t have gone far.”

“Bloody hell.  Will someone explain?”  Kit was quickly losing his patience.  He looked from Alec to Valerie, then to Mr. Taylor who appeared in the door of the attic bedroom, a strange object in hand. 

“Kit, we don’t have time for a detailed explanation.  Louisa will
tell you the rest.  Both Louisa and Valerie came from the future, as did Mr. Taylor.  The object in his hand is a time-travel device which Finn used to transport himself.  I must prepare.  I trust you will take care of everything until my return.  Please, say nothing to Charles.  He doesn’t need to know.”  Alec gave Kit a searching look, imploring him to understand and comply with his request, but Kit was looking at Alec the same way he’d looked at his wife a few moments earlier.

“You expect me to
believe that three people have dropped in from the future?  You actually believe this?”  Kit looked at Alec bewildered.  He always found Alec to be a man of sound judgment, so this revelation was about as plausible as Alec suddenly announcing that he came from the moon.

“Kit, my grandmother came from the twentieth century.  I knew of time-travel long before Valerie showed up.  Mr. Taylor is a
man of science who was able to build a time-travel device.  I don’t know why he’s here now, but I don’t have the time to find out.  I must prepare and go after my son.  Kit, please believe me.  You’ve known me long enough to know that I’m as sane as you.  Just ask Louisa.  I must be going.”  With that Alec sprinted down the stairs, followed by Valerie, leaving Kit open-mouthed and stunned.

“Christopher, they are telling you the truth.  I came here to offer them a chance to go back.  I felt it was my duty to give them that
opportunity before it was too late.  You see, it’s because of me that they’re here.”  Mr. Taylor looked up at Kit, who was much taller than him, craning his neck, looking for understanding.

“Too late for what?” asked Kit bemused. 
“You knew my wife in the future?”

“I did.  Louisa came to me, asking me to help her find her sister.  I transported her to the seventeenth century.  That’s why I’m here now.  I thought she might like to go back.”

“But she has me and Evie.  How can she go back?  What are you saying, old man?  Are you suggesting that she leave us?”  Kit leaned against the wall for support.  He was finding all this too much to take in.  The strange old man was peering up at him, imploring him to listen.

“I wasn’t suggesting that she leave you.  I was merely
offering Louisa and Valerie a chance to return to the future if they wish it.”  Mr. Taylor took a step back, watching Kit.  “Maybe you should sit down.  You don’t look well.”

“I don’t wish to sit down.  I might never get up.  So, what happened tonight?  Maybe you can explain it before I go question my wife.”

“It appears that young Finn found the time-travel device and activated it.  I don’t know what made him choose that particular year, but he seems to have transported himself.  Thankfully, he had the presence of mind to leave the device behind; otherwise, he’d be stranded there, and I would be stranded here.  I will give the watch to Valerie and Alec to go in pursuit of their son.  They can’t return without it.”  Mr. Taylor continued to watch Kit.  He thought the man might just hit him, and took another step back just to be on the safe side.

“And what will you do if they take the device?”
asked Kit, his eyes narrowed.

“I must stay here until they return.  There’s no way for me to
get back to my time without it.  I’ll stay with you, if I may.”

Kit just glared at the old man.  At the moment
, he wasn’t feeling very hospitable.  He wanted to grab him by his shabby coat and shake him until his anger had abated or the old man’s head flew off, whichever came first.  Kit ran down the stairs, suddenly feeling as if he couldn’t breathe.  He needed to get outside where things were still as they had been a few hours ago and the world made sense.  Kit strode toward the lake, his long legs covering the lawn in record time.  He felt as if someone had punched him in the stomach, and kept punching him until he couldn’t take the pain.  His brain was on fire, unable to accept what he’d just found out.  He wasn’t sure what to address first, so he stomped around the lake, trying to get his thoughts into some kind of order, but the facts just kept coming at him mercilessly, leaving him helpless and devastated. 

Kit
felt an actual pain in his heart that squeezed the life out of him with its intensity.  His wife had come from the future and withheld the truth from him all this time.  He’d trusted her with his heart and soul, but she didn’t trust him enough to be honest with him.  All of them had known and treated him like a fool, keeping him in ignorance while they all talked about their past life behind his back.  Alec, whom he trusted and loved like a brother, had not seen fit to tell him anything, leaving him to believe that all was as it should be. 

Kit took a deep breath, but the ache in his heart only grew worse.  He and Louisa had had plenty of arguments in the past, but he’d never doubted her love for him.  They were just minor disagreements that were usually resolved with a few sweet words and a kiss, but not this time.  She’d lied to him for years, played him for a fool.  They all had.  And now she was thinking of going back. 
Had she even considered him?

Kit stopped walking and turned to the lake.  The pale orb of the moon was reflected in the glassy black surface of the lake,
its perfection occasionally marred by floating leaves.  Frogs croaked loudly, creating a cacophony of sound that blended seamlessly with the sounds of nature.  The muddy smell of the bank was strangely comforting, as was the rustling of leaves in the gentle evening breeze.  Kit sat down on the bench, staring at the still water, his mind focused on the day Evangeline was born.  The baby had been past term, according to Bridget, and Louisa was cranky and tired, anxious about the wellbeing of the infant.  She paced the house like a wild beast in captivity, wearing out the floorboards and herself.  Kit tried to calm her, but nothing worked.  Bridget had suggested taking long walks to bring on the labor pains, but the walking didn’t seem to help.  Louisa was getting more frustrated by the moment, her agitation spreading through the rest of the house like an illness. 

Kit had been in Alec’s study composing a letter to his sister when Louisa came in.  She was so large that she barely fit through the narrow door
; her belly arriving a few seconds before she actually entered the room.  She had a smile on her face and a look of determination that Kit knew only too well.  He laid down his quill, all his attention on his wife.

“Have the pains started?” Kit asked,
rising to his feet.  “Is it finally time?”  He’d been as eager as Louisa to welcome this baby into the world, but he tried to contain his enthusiasm in order not to upset her further.  He hoped it was a son, but a daughter would be just as wonderful.  He’d longed to be a father for so long that the anticipation was killing him.  Over the past few weeks, he’d had dreams of holding a newborn babe in his arms, waking with a feeling of euphoria until he realized that his arms were still empty.