Marek (The Knights of Stonebridge Book 1) (20 page)

When they got home, she logged onto the internet and opened her favorite search engine. When it appeared, she typed in her query.

Celtic Goddess of Justice
.

***

The first thing she did on Monday was transfer all the funds she’d deposited from the sale of the house into her checking account. By the time her credit card bills started arriving, they would be long gone, one way or another.

Over the next several days, Kitty bought other items she thought she would need. Anything at all that would run on solar power: batteries, chargers. Rubbing alcohol. Topical ointment. Aspirin. She bought gifts for everyone in the family – Marek and Bria, Thane, Remi, Adin and Vale, Bryn.

When she had first traveled to the past, she arrived wearing the same clothes she’d worn when she left, albeit scorched and nearly disintegrated. She had returned to her own time wearing the scarf Bria had given her as well Marek’s crucifix. So she knew she could carry things with her.

She rented
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
to judge Vanesa’s interest in the time period, asking her so many questions they could hardly watch the movie. “How do you like the castle? How do you like the clothes? What do you think of the food?”

Vanesa had only good things to say. “I wish we had lived then,” she said. “If we lived in the middle ages, I could have a horse.”

She thought of the little gelding Marek had given her. Vanesa could have a stable of horses if she wanted. If Kitty had not made up her mind before that, she was decided now.

She had several thousand dollars in her account. How was she going to convert that to something she and Marek could actually spend? She researched money of the period and actually found several coins at specialty shops. But the antique money was so expensive, it would not have gone nearly as far. She ended up using all the money to buy gemstones, mostly rubies, sapphires and emeralds as she thought those would be the easiest to sell in Marek’s time. She bought loose stones, each no larger than a few carats. Anything bigger might be difficult to unload.

Nearly two weeks later, Kitty kept Vanesa home from school. After their visit to the festival, she had tracked down a druid and paid him a hefty sum to contact the goddess Arduinna. Kitty still found it hard to believe, but she had to take this leap of faith. It had worked before, it would work again.

She had already turned in her resignation at the Naval Academy. That same day, she told her boss she was taking leave and would not be back. Her coworkers were shocked that she would quit her government job of thirteen years. But most knew of the family issues she’d had recently. So with tearful farewells, they bid her good luck and sent well wishes to Vanesa.

Kitty let Vanesa sleep late while she made scrambled eggs, a whole pound of bacon, link sausage, raisin toast, blueberry pancakes, cinnamon apple muffins, orange juice and chocolate milk. As usual, the smell of bacon brought her daughter from her bed and into the kitchen.

Vanesa’s eyes nearly bulged at the amount of food on the table.

“Wow!”

“Wow is right. Let’s eat.”

Vanesa sat down at her seat and started right in on the bacon. “Is school cancelled today?”

“I thought we might go on a trip. Would you like that?”

Vanesa nodded. “Where to?”

She passed Vanesa the syrup. “Remember when you said it would be fun to live in the middle ages? And how you’d like to have a horse?”

Vanesa nodded again, her mouth stuffed with pancakes.

Kitty continued. “What if I told you I knew a way we could travel back in time and live then, in a real castle, with knights and horses and everything?”

“Like in a time machine?”

“Sort of. But not a machine exactly.”

“Cool.”

She put her hand on Vanesa’s arm. “Honey, I mean it. Would you like to do that?”

Vanesa looked at her now, swallowing her scrambled eggs. “What about Daddy?”

Kitty took a deep breath. “You wouldn’t see Daddy anymore.” She held her breath, waiting for Vanesa’s reaction.

For a long moment, Vanesa said nothing. “I don’t see him now.” She fell silent again. Then said, “I prob’ly won’t see him for a long time anyway.” Kitty could almost see her brain working. “I wouldn’t have to go back to school?”

Kitty laughed. “You’d have to go to school, but you’d have your own teacher, right there in the castle.”

“We won’t know anybody.”

How could Kitty explain this to her? “Actually, we have some ancestors from that time that we could stay with. It would be like having a whole new, great big family, with uncles, cousins, a grandmother, you’d even have a little sister.”

“A grandmother?” Vanesa had never known any of her grandparents.

Kitty nodded. “The trip will be a little scary.”

“All right. But let me finish my pancakes. Can we take the muffins with us?”

***

Kitty had bought three carpet bags at the thrift shop. They sat bulging with everything she’d bought to take with her. In addition to the gifts and supplies she’d already bought, she had also purchased extra running shoes and headphones, paper and pencils. Over several nights, she’d gone through all her old photos and pulled out all the ones of Vanesa as she grew. She packed several of Vanesa and Jake to give her when she got older. Tucked in the middle was her mother’s old recipe box.

Now they put on the clothes. They each wore three complete outfits and as many extra garments as they could get on. This would save them having to pack more, and hopefully the extra clothes would protect them from the flames in case something went wrong.

When they were at last ready, Kitty laid the apartment keys on the kitchen table, then closed the door behind her – leaving it unlocked.

She drove them to an isolated area outside Annapolis, along deserted rural roads surrounded by woods on both sides. She found the spot she wanted and parked the car at the edge of the clearing. Retrieving the three bags from the trunk, she had Vanesa try to lift each one. They were all too heavy for her to carry. After some repacking, she was able to lift the smallest.

Kitty taped a note to the inside of the driver’s window: “Please donate this car to Purple Heart.” The money from the sale would go to aid wounded veterans.

They carried the bags into the clearing and piled them near the center. Kitty took a deep breath. “Now we need to collect enough wood to build a really big fire.”

***

It was a beautiful fall day, only two weeks until Thanksgiving. As the huge bonfire blazed before her, Kitty looked around. She felt only a little sad to leave this familiar and relatively easy world for the more frightening past. But her excitement over seeing Marek again outweighed all fear and trepidation.

Stepping away from the heat of the fire, Kitty pulled the vials, two each, of earth and water from inside her skirt. She gave one set to Vanesa. “You have to carry both of these. Don’t drop even one of them. Understand?” Vanesa nodded. “I’m going to count to three. You must take a deep breath. No matter what, don’t let it out, don’t scream.” Vanesa nodded again. “Then we run into the fire. Are you ready?”

“Mom, I’m scared.”

“I told you it would be scary. But it won’t hurt. And it’ll be over in just a few minutes. We’re gonna have so much fun. It’ll be like living at the Renaissance Festival.”

Vanesa stared at the fire with big, round eyes. Kneeling down and taking her tiny shoulders, Kitty turned her until they faced each other.

“I’ll be holding your hand the whole time. I promise it won’t hurt. Trust me. I’ve done this lots of times.”

Vanesa returned her smile albeit a weaker one.

Kitty stood, grasped her two bags with one hand and Vanesa’s hand with the other, then they turned and faced the fire.

Why can’t we jump into a pool, instead?

“One, two, three –”

CHAPTER TWENTY

Marek silently knocked an arrow, pulled the bow string taut, then, one eye closed, he gazed down the shaft, lining it up with the doe’s shoulder. Even if the shot did not kill her right away, she would be unable to flee and chance getting lost in the woods.

Just as he released the arrow, a twig snapped behind him. The doe bolted, and the arrow lodged into a tree beyond where she had stood.

With the slightest nudge of his knee, he whirled his horse around expecting to find his inexperienced youngest brother, Bryn, was the culprit. He and Vale had barely agreed to let him accompany them on the hunt today. Vale thought Bryn needed the practice, Marek thought they needed the meat.

He was surprised to find William and Gadrin, his new page, standing there nervously wringing their hands. Their presence could only mean news from Stonebridge. Marek had an uneasy feeling the news would not be good.

“Well – out with it,” he fairly roared.

“My lord.” William, never afraid to interrupt his liege, ignored Marek’s ill temper. “Your brother sends word.”

Marek waited for him to continue.

William nudged his companion. Gadrin shuffled from one foot to the other. “Lord Thane bids us tell you – he bids you return to the castle at once. Your lady wife has – she has returned from the dead – yet again.”

Marek’s heart fairly stopped. He sat rigid atop his destrier. He glanced briefly at Vale atop his own mount, then Bryn. They seemed to have the same thought at precisely the same moment. Marek jabbed his heels against his horse’s flanks and tore off in the direction of the castle. Vale’s horse thundered close behind as did Bryn’s.

They had not traveled far during the hunt that morning. That, combined with their breakneck speed, enabled them to arrive quickly. They passed beneath the newly installed portcullis and raced across the bailey. Marek bounded from his horse before the stallion had come to a complete halt. He raced up the stairs two and three at a time.

Marek burst into the hall to find Thane sitting crossed-legged on the floor with Bria and another girl who looked vaguely familiar playing some sort of game.

Before Marek had a chance to speak, Thane shouted, “Go Fish!”

Marek smiled briefly at the new girl before continuing up the stairs. He stopped before the door of his chamber, suddenly hesitant. Was it possible? Would he really find her inside? There had been seven new moons since she left. How many times had he dreamed of her return only to awaken alone in his bed that now seemed entirely too big?

Nervous as a lad in a whorehouse, Marek pressed his palm against the door and pushed it into the room.

Kitty sat in the wooden tub in the center of the room. Her breasts floated on top of the water, her head rested back against the rim.

She smiled before opening her eyes. When she looked at him, Marek knew he could never survive losing her again. “It’s about time. The water’s getting cold.”

With a deliberate calmness he was not sure he felt, Marek crossed the rushes and climbed into the tub with her. Water sloshed over the side. She felt feather-light as he lifted her into his arms and pressed his lips to hers.

EPILOGUE

Kitty sat on the dais next to her husband. Bria sat to her left, Vanesa on Marek’s right. Marek’s family sat with them, although Bryn sat at one of the trestle tables, a better vantage point for grabbing the backside of every passing serving girl. As she looked around the great hall, Kitty thought every villager in Stonebridge must be in attendance. Many had never been to a feast as grand as this.

There was no corn or sweet potatoes, but Vale and Bryn had managed to hunt down a flock of birds remarkably like turkeys. There was no end to the bread stuffing, gravy, even stewed cranberries. Kitty herself had been guiding the cooks for a week to prepare enough food for everyone. They had even baked over one hundred pumpkin pies for dessert.

“My lady,” Bryn called from the floor below. “Tell me again the name you have given this feast.”

“Thanksgiving,” Kitty shouted back to him. “While you’re eating, you have to go around the table and tell about something you’re thankful for.”

Marek reached over and squeezed her hand.

Thane, who sat next to Bria, leaned behind his niece to speak to her. “Sister,” he said with a lowered voice only she could hear. “I have been forced to contend with talk of you among many of the villagers. It is not wise for you to suddenly appear out of a fire. I can only do so much to protect you. I beg you not do it again.”

Kitty smiled at him. “I promise.” She reached beneath the table and pulled out one of the carpet bags she’d brought with her. “I have something for you.”

When she handed him the portable Play Station, he looked at her like she might indeed be from the devil. Kitty smiled. “It’s a game. Watch.” She pushed the little machine beneath the table and away from prying eyes.

Thane nearly dropped the PSP when it lit up. “Shh. You’ll have to keep it secret. This is an easy game called PacMan. You have to move him through the path and eat as many of these little dots as possible. But don’t get caught.”

Kitty left Thane to the wonder of electronic video games and moved to sit next to Remi. He looked at her skeptically, but over the last few days, his animosity towards her had dimmed some. She reached into her bag and pulled out a portable DVD player. She had already loaded the
Robin Hood
movie.

Remi barely breathed as the credits started. “Don’t watch it now. If you’re caught, we might all be burned at the stake. But pay particular attention to the parts about Prince John.”

She caught Bryn’s attention as he was in between wenches and motioned for him to join her. She pulled a handful of Legos from her bag and spread them out on the table, hoping no one nearby was paying them any attention. “Look…you can snap them together, pull them apart. I have a whole box of them for you in my room. They come in all sizes and colors and you can build anything out of them.”

Adin and Vale were enveloped in ladies, so Kitty decided their gifts could wait. Vale would not need his bullet-proof vest for several months yet. Adin would have years to perfect his technique with help from the pristine copy of
The Karma Sutra
she’d gotten him.

By midnight, Bria had crawled into Thane’s lap and fallen asleep. Kitty would have to give her the Barbie doll later. Vanesa, however, was having the time of her life. She leaned forward to peer around the massive form of her stepfather. “Mom!” When Kitty looked across at her, Vanesa held up her goblet of weak ale. “Huzzah!” They both laughed as Kitty toasted with her. “This is so much better than the Renaissance Festival.”

“What is this ‘renaissance’?” Marek asked.

Kitty smiled and shook her head. “Come carry Bria up to bed. I have a gift for you.”

Marek lifted his eyebrows and grinned wickedly at her.

“Not that. Although I’d be happy to give you that, as well, but later.”

While Marek put Bria to bed, Kitty dug out the pouch she used to store the gemstones. She sat on the edge of the bed, and when he appeared from Bria’s room, she patted the mattress next to her. As he sat down, she scooted away enough to make some space on the bed between them.

Kitty pulled apart the drawstrings and, watching his expression, dumped the contents onto the coverlet.

Marek sucked in his breath at sight of the wealth of gemstones before him. He reached out a tentative hand, spread them around. They sparkled in the light from the thick candles burning in the sconces on the walls.

“We are wealthy. How did you get these?”

“I had to sell everything. Actually, I just sold my house, but this was the best way to bring all that money with me. I didn’t think American dollars would go very far here.”

“This is from one house? You could buy fifty houses with this. We shall have the safest castle in England. The girls’ bride price will ensure they may choose from only the best offers.”

Kitty scooped up the gems and put them back in the leather bag. She handed it to Marek. “I’ll let you be in charge of the safety of these.” She climbed up to her hands and knees, leaned forward and kissed him. “I have another surprise for you.”

“More?”

“Mmm-hmm. We’re supposed to have two sons, and I’d like to get started on that right away.”

“I thought you wanted to wait until later.”

“Times change.”

***

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed reading about Marek and Kitty. Read on to sample one of my previous books,
The Valiant Viking
.

Bambi