Echoes of Tomorrow (37 page)

At this rate, she would soon run through the entire alphabet.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Reed searched his mind for a polite excuse to leave.  It had been a long, frustrating day, and he just didn't feel up to idle chitchat.  He opened his mouth to announce an urgent need to check on the new foals.  At that same moment a scuffle broke out in the shadows by the door.

"Nicholas.  Cyprian." Marisa said firmly, "Stop that at once."

The two little boys broke their playful holds on each other and looked sheepish.  Marisa continued to look at them with displeasure, but Reed could empathize with their restlessness.

"Hey, you guys come here, and I'll tell you a story," Elise said in the enigmatic vernacular she sometimes used.

Her gown billowed around her as she settled herself at the small desk in the corner.  Her wiggling fingers indicated the boys should sit in front of her.

They scrambled to the floor around her feet with only a minimum of good-natured shoving.  Their eyes held a glow of expectation.

She really was wonderful with children.  It was wrenching to know she would never raise his babies; that it would be Angeline who...

"This is a story about a lady who lost her memory." 

Cyprian and Nicholas exchanged wise, knowing looks.

"This lady just woke up one day and couldn't remember who she was or where she was from.  And after a while it began to look like she never would remember.  She became very forlorn."

The boys seemed a bit uncomfortable.  They both wore sympathetic expressions that were as sad as Elise's.  But the next instant Elise's face brightened.

"So the lady decided to make up an imaginary place.  She decided it might as well be a wonderful, different place, with fascinating, magical inventions, and filled with people like no where else on earth.

"First, she decided to make it a place where lots and lots of diseases like smallpox, diphtheria, influenza and pneumonia could be cured or prevented. 

"Next, she decided to make life a lot easier for all the people who lived there.  She had hot and cold running water coming right into the homes.  It poured into sinks and bathing tubs with just a turn of a knob.  Why, it would even come right out of a pipe in the wall and shower down on a person, so you wouldn't even have to sit down to bathe.  And then all the water would run right down a drain and out of the house."

Reed felt a hot tingle behind his ears.

"She also decided she wanted the people to get around faster and communicate easier.  She imagined a magical box that allowed you to speak to anyone else who had one, anywhere else in the world.

"She decided there would be carriages with engines instead of horses, and they could travel faster and longer than any horse and buggy."

By this time the boys' eyes were wide, and they were spellbound by the story.  Elise still sat at the desk, and now she began to fidget with something as she spoke.

"But best of all, this wonderful place she was from had a special way of getting people around.  The people would climb inside a huge, metal bird, and then it would fly them through the air to wherever they wanted to go."

"No!  Oh, Miss Elise, you are having fun with us."  The boys were up on their knees now, enjoying every minute of the story.  Marisa and Lil glanced at each other with indulgent smiles.  Reed caught a movement from the corner of his eye.  He turned to see Nell standing transfixed in the doorway, her eyes wide with amazement, as if she really believed the story.  It surprised him.  Nell wasn't usually the gullible type.

"No, it's true."  Elise continued to fidget with something behind the desk.  "The big, metal birds were all different sizes, and when they flew they looked just like this." 

Her hand appeared from behind the desk.  With one fluid movement she flicked her wrist and sent a folded piece of paper sailing through the air.

All eyes followed the odd-shaped projectile as it glided across the silent room.  It flew almost the entire length of the parlor, then slipped toward the floor to land perfectly, just like a bird.

"Wow!  How'd you do that?"

"Would you learn us to fold paper like that?"

"Who taught you that?"

"Could you learn us now?"

The room exploded with little boy questions.  Elise laughed and nodded while Nicholas scooped up the paper missile and began to systematically unfold it.

Reed's neck was tingling again.

He couldn't explain the cause for the sensation, but it was a deuced uncomfortable feeling.  Perhaps he was coming down with something.

Nell finally stepped into the room and placed a fresh pot of tea on the serving tray.  Her wide eyes were locked on Elise and filled with wonder.  How unusual.  Was it possible Nell knew something he didn't?

A white dart whizzing past his nose distracted him.  He shook his head when Lil offered him more tea.

"Would you care for more tea, my dear?" Lilianna asked Marisa, then casually dodged another soaring paper bird as if she were accustomed to a constant barrage of them.

"Nicholas!" Marisa reprimanded in a stern voice.  She turned back to Lil.  "No, thank you, Mrs. Dubose.  It is growing late and time I got Nicholas and Cyprian home."

The boys protested in unison, with Nicholas by far the loudest.  The protests died at Marisa's quelling look, but a barely audible grumble rose again when her attention was diverted.

Reed, Elise and Lil walked the visitors to their carriage and waved them down the avenue of oaks.  As soon as the front door was bolted for the night Lil excused herself with the announcement that her back had flared up again and that she needed a poultice.

Reed felt Elise's gaze on him while he walked her back to the parlor.  In fact, she had been watching him all day, as if she expected him to sprout horns or grow another head or some such thing.

The entire day had been hellish.  The confrontation with Angeline, breaking the news to Elise, and then spending hours at a difficult foaling.  And on top of all that, Elise had started acting extremely odd - or, he should say, more odd.

First there was that shower contraption.  Then the unusual food at a disconcerting picnic, followed by icing down everyone's tea.  And to top it off, she told that outrageous story to the boys.

"Elise, is your memory returning?"  His voice was hopeful, yet hesitant.  It was followed by a stretch of silence before she answered.

"No.  Is yours?"  She almost snapped his head off with the words.  She had never spoken to him in such a way.  He stared at her in astonishment.  Not only odd words but odd behavior.  He was beginning to worry.

Her eyes closed and her hand came up to sift through her hair as she dropped onto the loveseat.  The heel of her hand massaged the center of her forehead, and she released a long sigh.  He expected her to speak, but she remained silent.

"I'm sorry, little one.  It's been a long, exhausting day for both of us.  It's just that you..."  How could he put this?  "...haven't quite been yourself this afternoon, and I thought perhaps you..."

She huffed with disgust and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.  She seemed to be contemplating a speech.  It didn't take a genius to know she was upset with him.  What he didn't know was why.

Her eyes suddenly filled with tears and she jumped to her feet.  None of the tears were allowed to fall.

"No, Reed.  To answer your question, I don't remember anything more than I did the day I arrived here."  Her voice held a tell-tale quiver.  "My problem is, I'll have too much to remember the day I leave."

She lifted her skirts and started to run toward the foyer.  Her swaying hoops caught between a table and the loveseat, and she struggled for a moment to free them.  She had yet to maneuver through there without the same result.  Her muttered "Damn" sounded more like a sob than a curse, then she yanked the gown free and limped through the door.

A healthy flash of ankle and calf was exposed during this scene.  Reed gawked at the sight of the white, bandaged ankle and foot.  For just a split second it looked like a low, bulky boot with pink lettering on the side and bright pink lacings up the front.  And for just a split second he saw the ugly thing on both of her feet.  And the vision seemed just as right as the thundering sound of her ascending the stairs.

*******

The early morning sun stole through a part in the draperies and hit her straight in the eyes.  She rolled over and was immediately awake.  Her first thought was of Reed.

Good God, the man was dense.  Was it possible she hadn't stirred one single memory with all of her theatrics?  He gave absolutely no indication of even a shadow of remembrance.

She'd cried herself to sleep last night for the first time since she'd come here.  But before finally succumbing to mental exhaustion, she'd made a decision.

It was just too hard to remain living here.  Tension already vibrated in the air, and when Angeline showed up it would be unbearable.

Her own constant presence was making Reed more and more uncomfortable.  She could tell no matter how much he tried to hide it.  And as for herself, it was quite possible she would drop-kick Angeline into the next state if she had to put up with her again.

No, the decision was made.  She would ask Marisa if she could stay at Trahan Hall for a few days, under the guise of getting out from under foot of the wedding plans.  Then, if Reed's memory of her didn't return, as much as she dreaded it, as much as it tore at her heart to think about it, she would ask Nell to send her home, to the future.

There was just no way she could stand by and watch Reed marry another woman.  She would have to go back before the wedding, or else she might do something really stupid. 

She couldn't claim she was his wife.  The marriage license was a hundred fifty years in the future, not to mention the fact that Reed didn't have any black holes in his memory that would account for his acquiring a wife.

Anything she did publicly would make her look like a fool and embarrass Reed.  Most of the small community of planters and their families already looked at her as though they'd just smelled something bad but were too polite to acknowledge it.

As painful as it was for her to admit, she was a prisoner who held her own key.  She might never escape from the feelings she had for Reed, but she could escape this time period and go back to what she knew best.  Besides, maybe when she traveled back, she would forget him, just as he had forgotten her.  It would be a blessing if she did.

She didn't realize she'd been hugging the pillow tight against her chest until she flung it away to drag herself from the bed.

Cool water from the pitcher in the corner didn't do much for her puffy, red-veined eyes.

"Geez, Gerard, you look like hell," she mumbled to her reflection.  Some elderflower gel and a tube of concealer would be a welcome discovery right now.  Better yet, a hit man for Angeline would make her day and remove the need for the former.

She groaned at her own black humor.  It wasn't in her nature to be vindictive, but she found she was beginning to wear the emotion like a comfortable old coat.  Obviously, the last forty-eight hours had wrought havoc with her personality.

Well, nothing for it but to face the day and put her plans into action.  They were a far cry from what she'd hoped to be doing, but at the moment she was fresh out of bright ideas.

She didn't clatter down the stairs this morning on her way to breakfast.  The spring in her step was missing.  On top of that, she had the unpleasant shock of finding Jeffrey seated across from Reed at the breakfast table.  It was all she could do to force herself into the dining room.

Both men rose at her entrance.  Obiah held her chair and nodded with a frown when she requested only coffee.  Her appetite had been almost nonexistent to begin with, but Jeff's presence killed what little was left.

Actually, on reflection, he might make this morning go a little easier.  It would certainly stifle any emotional scenes that were sure to arise when she broke the news to Reed.

Well, she thought, no time like the present.

"Reed, I plan to check with Marisa, but if it's all right with her I'll be leaving to stay at Trahan Hall as soon as I can get packed."

Reed's coffee cup rattled against its saucer and he seemed to be having trouble swallowing his last sip.  He took a moment to read her expression, probably to see if she was joking.

"There's no need for you to leave, lit..." he glanced at Jeffrey, "...Elise.  You should stay until your memory returns.  There must be a reason why you came to Oak Vista.  If you leave, you might lose your chance to find it."

Her eyes burned at those prophetic words.

"Yeah, no joke," she mumbled.

Obiah made a fortuitous appearance with her coffee.  She busied herself with measuring an exact amount of cream and then studiously stirred it.  Once she blinked the moisture from her eyes, she fixed her face with an artificial brightness and looked up.

"Oh, well, you don't need me around here in the way while  the...uh...wedding is being planned."  Lord, she nearly choked on the "W" word.  A tight fist not only closed around her heart, but was closing around her throat as well.