Now and Forevermore (5 page)

“I will not hear another word. There are two bedrooms that need to be cleaned on the upper level and the quicker you get started the better. You know Charles loves the blue room and he always puts his luggage in the red room, so both need to be dusted out and cleaned again.”

Summer felt tears pricking at the back of her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall. Those rooms had just been cleaned, and Charles lived and breathed for others to pick up after him. “Aunt I just cleaned them…and you know that I…”

Vivian’s pinched face brought Summer’s faltering words to a halt and she bowed her head. What was the point? “Yes, Aunt Vivian. I will take care of it. I’ll be right back with your desert.”

~~~~~~0~~~~~~

It took Summer another two hours to serve desert, wait patiently for her aunt, father and cousin to finish and clean up the kitchen. The staff always retired in the early evening and Summer handled all housework from that time on. Not one of them cared for her and none ever offered their help. They bowed to her aunt and her aunt alone.  So it remained Summer’s responsibility to clean each plate, glass, spoon and fork by herself. And after that, it took another hour to rush through the blue room and red room with the appearance of cleaning it yet again.

She managed to make her way down to the cave in the dead of the night and found Malcolm crouched at the corner of the bed with his head in his palms. When he heard her footsteps, he stood up and spouted poetry in a slurred voice “Dear enchantress, where have you been on this lonesome night? I am lost without you and my heart is shallow and empty.”

Summer put her hand on his forehead. It burned under her touch and she groaned. She didn’t have much medication in her cave, but there were some pain killers and fever reducers. They would have to do and she hoped he reacted well. She managed to get two of them down his throat, put him on the bed and laid him back gently. Reluctant to leave him, she watched him for while. He thrashed from side to side and mumbled things about Lady Beatriz and the knight that ran around the kingdom picking roses for her hand. Whatever that meant.  Then a Sedgwick someone with a nasty game in the dungeon.

Other ramblings were hard to understand, but Summer shushed him as best she could, bathing his brow and neck with a cool washcloth. After twenty minutes he calmed down and fell into a fitful slumber. She breathed a sigh of relief and made sure he was as comfortable as possible. She hoped he would sleep for the rest of the night, but for the moment she would have to leave him. In the morning, she would decide what to do.

~~~~~~0~~~~~~

Malcolm opened his eyes and saw the stone ceiling above him. He leapt to his feet only to have his feet crumbled under him, when his head swerved in an unnerving way. Struggling to his feet, he glanced around and tried to locate his whereabouts. Nothing was familiar to him and he felt the need to escape. He reviewed his attire and scowled. His cravat was gone and so was his shirt. The maiden must have taken it because he could not see it anywhere. It was unseemly for him to leave without formal attire, but he would have to try. He did not understand what Sedgwick had done, but he wanted no part of it.

He ambled towards what seemed like a doorway, and it took several turns before he found the outdoors. The pain in his eyes blinded him, and he struggled to adjust to the light. It took a few moments before he saw where he was. Beautiful and vibrant, the sea rolled away on a white path along the coast. Confused as to how he ended up near the water, he turned to the stone wall built next to the path that led down to the sea. Perhaps he could find someone in there that would help him. With that resolve he made his way up the. It was then that the enchantress appeared and walked towards him. His clothing lay in her hands, and his thoughts struggled to make sense of it all. Did she really bring him to the land of the sea? He needed to know. With a strong voice he called out “Greetings.”

~~~~~~0~~~~~~

Summer plodded along lost in thoughts. She didn’t realize Malcolm stood on the pathway until she ran right into him. When he reached out to steady her, she noted with apprehension that he walked towards the house. She couldn’t handle that can of fish right now.  He had to get back inside and the sooner, the better. Without a word she pulled him back down the trail. He resisted her attempts to take him back by planting his feet on the ground. No matter how much she pushed she couldn’t budge him.

Frustrated she glared at him and pointed towards the cave. “What are you doing out of bed hmmm? Talk to me now and get back inside before someone sees you.”

He frowned and responded “Enchantress, your words are vexing, but I have decided to be amused at your tone. Now tell me, where have you brought me and which place is this? I have never been here before. Are we still in England?”

Summer needed him to cooperate so she played along “You fell out from behind a mirror. That is precisely what happened and I want to know what you were doing in Mr. Neely’s library, and how you got here in the first place. Tell me now quickly before I chuck you somewhere else.”

His lips tilted in a smile that did not reach his eyes “This game no longer amuses me. What is ‘chuck’ and where will you ‘chuck’ me?”

She raised her eyes to the sky and stamped her feet “All right enough. Where are you from? How about that? You tell me exactly where you’re from and then we will go from there.”

He did and Summer laughed so hard, tears ran down the sides of her face. Malcolm waited until she finished before he murmured “The truth does not sit well with you enchantress?”

With breathless laughter, she shook her head “No,  and please stop calling me enchantress; I am nothing of the sort. I am just a girl. So now that you have told me where you are from, I will tell you where I am from. My name is Summer, I am twenty years old and I live on an island called Cyrianne. Oh and the year is 1987 by the way since you said you are from 1820, which is frankly ridiculous and a total bold face lie.”

Her words had the strangest effect on him. First he became amused, then incredulous, then shocked and finally lost for words. He stood there for a long time, until she shifted in uncomfortable silence. When he reached out she fought the urge to run away, until he traced the curve of her face with a gentle touch. Her nerve endings lit on fire, but she stayed as still as possible. Once satisfied he removed his hand and sat down on the ground, staring out to the sea.

Summer felt her heart would break at the lost look in his deep blue eyes, but she sat beside him and held his hand. He squeezed it in return and whispered “You do not jest with me?”

“Jest, uh I don’t really know what that means, but uh, I guess no?”

He shook his head as though trying to clear his mind “This is really this year that you speak of?”

She nodded and smiled “Yes of course. And now you finish with the games and tell me where you are really from.”

He exhaled deeply and repeated “The year 1820 of our lord.”

Summer blinked at his serious expression “You are really good, but you have to tell me. When you did you get here to the island? I mean the population is about forty five thousand and I don’t know each and everyone, but I do know quite a bit and since my Aunt likes to pretend that she is the lady of the manor and all that ,I am aware of those who—”

His hands over her mouth stemmed her words and he murmured softly “My honor precedes me and declares that I tell not an untruth.”

His quiet response made more of an impact that a shout at the top of his voice, and Summer stared at him in shock. “Puh-lease, do you expect me to believe that? Now tell me where you came from. I want to know.”

He shook his head and put his hand over his heart “I do not lie. What I have told you is the truth.”

No quick response came to mind, and she struggled to make heads or tails of his words. Then her sense of reason kicked in and she jumped up angry at his attempt make fun of her. “Listen here buster; I don’t like people laughing at me, and since you stayed in my cave last night- and that is not something just anyone does- I don’t like your lies even more. And I do not care where you came from, but I want you to go back right now, do you understand? You will go right back and stop this ridiculous game, because that fever has gone to your head. Now you are going back to my cave, you will get dressed and you will skedaddle out of here. No questions about it, all right?  I mean I indulged in the fantasy that you could have come from some faraway place, but not the 1800’s. Come on now. What do you take me for? A fool? I don’t think so. Now come with me, you are going back right now.”

He did not object to her fury and allowed her to lead him back to the cave. She gave him his clothing, more like thrust into his hands, and told him to dress in icy tones.  Then he followed her out to the road curious to see where she led him. The path along the way seemed well traveled, but it was narrow and full of small rocks. However the edges were covered in green grass and small purple flowers as far as the eye could see. When Summer came to a full stop and pointed to the contraption, Malcolm’s reeled back in amazement. What in the king’s ransom could it be?

~~~~~~0~~~~~~

Summer wanted him gone. Her first thrill of discovering a handsome stranger quickly faded into the realization that she had no idea where he came from, much less how she he would return. She had no money to her name, and she couldn’t reveal a man out of the blue. And she didn’t want to rock her relationship with the family especially after the night before. Most thought of her as crazy for staying around people who treated her like a slave. But her sense of duty to her father was strong, and the promise to her dear departed mother remained clear. She also held out a faint glimmer of hope that one day her father would declare some kind of love for her.

So where to go for help? Old Ben would try, but he had no money to speak of. On top of that he would eventually rat her out to her father, which was tantamount to telling her aunt and that wouldn’t do. And now that Malcolm was out and about, someone might notice and begin to ask questions. Questions she couldn’t answer. So that left one thing to do. He had to go back and if she had to stuff him into that mirror to make that happen, so be it.

With that firm resolution, Summer opened the car door and told Malcolm to jump in. A quick glance around revealed him as missing in action and Summer gasped.
He had vanished
. She jumped back out prepared to run in every direction to find him, when she stumbled upon his body half hidden under the car. Stunned, she fell to her knees and cried “What in the world are you doing under there? Get out before you get hurt or something.”

 He pulled himself out and gazed at her in wonder “What is this metal contraption? It is like nothing I have ever seen. How does it work? Do tell me please? I shall have to tell Peter although I do not think he will believe me. So I will not be in his good graces, as I am clearly not in yours.”

Summer scratched her head and blew the tendrils out of her eyes. “What is that supposed to mean?”

At his contrite face, she exploded in laughter. It was a welcome release from the tense moments they had shared earlier “So you want to be in my good graces hmmm?”

“Well I do not wish for you to be upset with me and I would love for you to explain what this thing is.”

Summer said the first thing that came to her mind “A horseless carriage.”

Malcolm’s eyes lit up like a little boy in the candy store. “This is much better than Sedgwick’s library full of books. I love to read and learn, but I never thought of something like this before. How does it work? What does it use to make it gallop at a greater pace than a horse? Can you explain it to me?”