"Bat's breath," Phineas Bogg muttered as he and his partner Voyager Jeffrey Jones hit the pavement hard. He shook his Omni. "I gotta get this thing overhauled."
"I'll say," Jeffrey agreed, rubbing his posterior.
"Red light. London, December 19, 1813. Anything come to mind, Jeffrey?"
The boy frowned. "Regency period. The War of 1812 still going on. We're in an alley that smells like year-old garbage. Can't think of much else. Except it's freezing!"
"Right, let's track down some warm clothes. We're definitely underdressed for this season… and time period."
A door opened nearby and a stocky older man looked out. "You two! Get in here and get costumed, eh? Those are not the costumes we be usin' t'day!"
Bogg and Jeffrey exchanged a glance and went to him hoping whatever costumes he was referencing were warmer than their own clothes.
"Din't know we had a kid in this play but we got all sizes," he looked Bogg up and down. "Don' tell Dibley but I think your pirate costume's better 'n what we got here."
Once inside Bogg and Jeffrey recognized they were backstage in a theater. The man shoved them toward a room where there were hundreds of costumes hanging. Most seemed to be Shakespearean in style.
"Somehow I don't think this is gonna help us fit into Regency London, Bogg," Jeffrey said.
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. They must do something a little more modern in this theater…. Here! I think I found something that will work"
After outfitting themselves in trousers and shirts, and even finding a couple of wool coats that would suffice, they snuck out the back door and onto the street.
"I'm starving, Bogg."
The older voyager laughed. "First you're freezing. Now you're starving."
"I'm a growing boy. I have to eat regularly."
"Right. Let's see if we can figure out how to get a few coins to buy us both something to—"
"Look out!" "Outa the way!" Screams and shouting erupted all around them as an out of control high phaeton behind two galloping black horses bowled wildly down the busy street.
"Get back, Jeffrey!" Bogg pushed the boy back toward the building and then tried to position himself to grab the reins of the horse nearest him as it went by. Until he saw a small boy in the street directly in the path of the runaway vehicle, frozen in fear. He immediately rerouted himself to pick up the child and threw them both toward the other side of the street, angling his own body so the boy would land on him, just as the carriage raced by them.
"Jamie! Oh, dear God, Jamie!" he heard a woman screaming, while a man's hands lifted the boy from his arms.
"Jamie, thank God you're all right," the man said, hugging the boy hard before handing him off to the woman at his side. "He's fine, Johanna. Thanks to this brave young man."
He held his hand out to Bogg and helped the Voyager to his feet as Jeffrey came running up, terror written on his face. "Are you all right? I thought for sure that hit you!"
Bogg could barely hear anything above the cacophony around him. The phaeton had continued down the street and hit another carriage, and the shouting and wailing in the street was near deafening.
"I cannot thank you enough, sir," the man who appeared to be the father of the child he'd rescued said. "I'm Berwick. I owe you for my son's life."
"I'm glad I could help—"
"You're hurt!" the lady exclaimed, spying blood running down the side of Bogg's face. "Fergus, we must get him to a doctor!"
Bogg tried to say it was nothing, but he wasn't sure that was the case, since he seemed to be bleeding profusely, and feeling a little light-headed. "I'm sure I'll be okay—"
"We insist, sir," the man said. He turned to a liveried servant. "Holcomb, please send young Digby to get the doctor and make room in the coach for this gentleman—" He looked at Jeffrey. "You're together?"
"Jeffrey Jones," the boys said. "And this is my father."
Bogg didn't correct him. He'd noticed Jeffrey using that designation about equally with uncle lately and found it did not bother him at all. Plus his head was now pounding mercilessly.
Once they were all settled in the coach, the man told the coachman to take them home and then turned back to Bogg and Jeffrey. His wife was cuddling their son.
"Forgive my lack of manners. I'm the Earl of Berwick, and this is my wife, Lady Johanna, Countess of Berwick. And our son, Jamie." He looked at Jeffrey. "And I know you young man are Jeffrey Jones."
Bogg was feeling a little queasy but he put out his hand and said, "Phineas—"
"Phineas!" Lady Johanna interrupted. "Well that is a coincidence. Our son here is James Phineas."
"I'm named for my uncle Phineas," the child said proudly. "He's in the Guards, chasing old Boney." He was about five or six years old and showed no sign of the terrifying near miss he'd just had.
"Well, it's not a very common name so I'm happy to meet another Phineas," Bogg said with a crooked smile, as he fought a wave of nausea.
"It's quite common in our family," the Earl said. "For two hundred years, there's been a Phineas in every generation."
"Well, he's the only one I ever met," Jeffrey said. "Until now."
The carriage pulled to a stop, and the couple set about getting everyone out of the carriage. The Earl instructed two footmen help Bogg into the house and Lady Johanna directed them to a guest room up a grand staircase.
Jeffrey followed Bogg and the footmen through the townhouse, eyes wide with wonder. It was huge and richly furnished – yet felt homey. And the house was decorated to the gills for Christmas.
A doctor arrived on their heels and he treated Bogg's head wound, giving him a couple of stitches near his hairline, and dosing him with something to help with the pain. The Earl stood in the doorway with Jeffrey who watched the procedure anxiously. At one point when the doctor had stepped over to a washstand, Bogg called Jeffrey over to him. "I don't want you to worry, I'm fine," he said to the boy reassuringly. Then he dropped his voice a little. "Just don't let anyone come near me with any leeches, okay?"
The Earl overheard and chuckled. "Not a chance, Phineas," he called. "My wife would never allow anyone to bleed a patient. We utilize the services of Dr. Fyffe precisely because he doesn't believe in it either."
The young doctor nodded. "Positively medieval," he said. "I believe our patient is slightly concussed so I'd like you to wake him every two hours for the rest of the day. I'll come back this evening and if he seems well and alert, we can let him sleep tonight."
Bogg grimaced. "I think I can get up—"
"No!" the three others in the room said in unison.
"If you don't stay abed, you will are likely to fall and injure yourself further," the doctor admonished him. "And my stitches are works of art, if I do say so myself. But moving around may mean you pull them out. And then you will surely have a fine scar."
"You are our guest, Phineas," the Earl added firmly. "We owe you for Jamie's life. We'll not let you go anywhere until the good doctor says you are fully recovered."
Bogg slept off and on throughout the day and shared a dinner tray with Jeffrey that evening in the room they had assigned him. There was a plate of meat and potatoes and vegetables for Jeffrey, with a fruit tart for dessert. And bread and broth for Bogg. He tried to steal a piece of meat from the boy's plate but Jeffrey pulled it away. "The doctor says you should avoid solid food until your stomach feels normal."
"It would probably feel more normal if I had some real food," Bogg muttered but while he was less queasy, he concluded the doctor might know what he was speaking of. After finishing a big bowl of chicken broth and a slice of good hearty bread with fresh butter, he felt himself drifting back to sleep.
There was a narrow but comfortable bed in the connected dressing room that was probably meant for a manservant so Jeffrey was able to stay with him through the night. In the morning Bogg felt nearly himself and rose from bed, famished. Jeffrey escorted him to the breakfast room having had the previous day to get to know his way around the large house.
"Can you believe this place?" Jeffrey whispered as they walked down a long hallway and descended the wide, stately staircase. "I assume we have a green light now, right? After you saved Jamie? Too bad. I bet Christmas here is something."
"I can't believe neither of us thought to look yesterday," Bogg muttered, pulling the Omni from the pocket of his jacket. "Bat's breath. Still red."
"How can that be?" Jeffrey asked.
"Maybe it was just a coincidence that we saved Jamie. We need to keep looking to figure out why the Omni brought us here."
They entered the breakfast room and the Earl and Countess jumped to their feet.
"Phineas!" Lady Johanna said, "we would have sent up a tray."
"I'm feeling much better. Thank you for-" he began. And his stomach interrupted, growling audibly as he smelled the food. Bogg colored and apologized. "I guess I need something more than broth today."
"Please sit," Lady Johanna said, laughing. "As you can see, I have a rather large husband with a hearty appetite and he has two brothers who are much the same. Large and always hungry! Please help yourselves to as much as you wish. There's always plenty, and our Cook is truly a wonder."
Bogg filled a plate with eggs and sausages and bacon, and more of the homemade bread he'd had the night before. A servant brought him coffee and he tucked into the food like a man who had missed a few meals. Which he had.
"Thank you for your help yesterday," Bogg said when he had at least begun to fill the hole in his stomach. "And for this delicious breakfast. It's the best I've had in a long while." He sipped from a cup of real coffee and smiled as he took a pastry from a tray offered by a footman. "Then Jeffrey and I will get going."
"Going?" she cried. "Oh, I absolutely cannot agree to that. The doctor has not yet pronounced you fully recovered. Or removed your stitches. I should think that should be a few more days. And—and it's nearly Christmas! I insist you and Jeffrey stay as our guests for the holiday. Unless you are expected somewhere by family? Or friends?"
"No, we don't have any family or friends around here," Jeffrey responded before Bogg could get a word out. He was still working his way through his heaping plate of food and was eying the pastries now as though he were actually starving.
"But we cannot impose on you, Lady Johanna," Bogg interrupted, ignoring a pleading look from Jeffrey.
"It is no imposition, Phineas," the Earl said. "We have other family arriving and I know they will all want to thank the man who responsible for saving our Jamie's life. And it would please my wife to have you both with us for the holiday. My brother Phineas is on the continent with the Army this year so we will be one short at our holiday celebrations."
Bogg frowned. "I'm afraid our bags were… lost at sea. In a storm. I fear we would not have adequate clothes for the celebrations—"
"And that poses no impediment. You and I are of a size. I can give you whatever you need."
"And Jeffrey is much the same size as Alistair was a year or two ago," Lady Johanna added "so we can provide for him too. Our oldest son will arrive this evening as his school term has ended. He'll come with my husband's sister and her family who live not far from Eton. And my husband's mother and aunt and uncle will also arrive later today. We'll be a merry party for the holidays, even more merry with the addition of the two of you!"
Jeffrey was listening avidly and Bogg read his desire to accept their hospitality in his eyes. He and the boy had celebrated Christmas with Jeffrey's great-great-grandparents the year before but it had been a simple, somewhat meager meal. He imagined Jeffrey was looking forward to seeing what this obviously wealthy English family's Christmas would be like. And they did still have a red light. Something needed fixing here. They could look for it from the comfort of Berwick House as easily as anywhere else.
"Then we would be pleased to accept your hospitality," he said to Lady Johanna.
The two of them were soon outfitted in the clothing of England's upper class by the Earl's valet. The manservant named Colter was surprised that the clothing of the Earl' and his brother, who were taller and more muscled than almost any of their peers, fit Bogg perfectly. The boy Alistair was a year older and apparently taller than Jeffrey so Colter found clothes he had outgrown. With good wool coats, hats and gloves, the two set out to take a walk around the neighborhood.
"The Omni should have dropped us close to whatever is wrong. Keep your eyes open, Jeff," Bogg said as they strolled across the street into Hyde Park. It was crisp and cool. Some others were walking through the park but most people rode in carriages, slowly passing through the park trying to see, and be seen.
"My Mom loved Jane Austen's books. And all the movies about this period. My Dad used to say they weren't historically accurate but this seems a lot like what was in the movies."
Bogg listened to him rattle off the things he saw that were similar and what was different with half an ear and kept his eyes peeled for something that looked out of place. In a couple of hours, they returned to Berwick House, no closer to knowing why they were here.
"Phineas! Jeffrey!" Lady Johanna called from the front parlor. "Please come meet our family who have just arrived."
"Remember what I showed you earlier about what to do when you meet people," Bogg whispered before they entered the room.
"I got it."
"Lady Veronica, Sir Basil, may I present our guests. Phineas and Jeffrey Jones. Gentleman, my mother-in-law, Lady Veronica and her husband, Baron Keyes."
Bogg bowed in greeting and Jeffrey mimicked him perfectly. "It's a pleasure," he said to the older couple. Then he turned to Lady Johanna. "I apologize for not telling you something yesterday when we met. I was… a little bit out of my head. But-"
"You were seriously injured, while saving our Jamie's life," she cut him off, smiling. "Any lapse is forgivable under the circumstances."
The others in the room murmured their appreciation and Lady Veronica grasped Phineas' hand. "We would not have been able to bear losing him," she said. "We all owe you a debt of thanks."
"It was nothing, my Lady—"
"Nothing! Aidan was too far away when we saw it about to happen. No one else would have put themselves in danger for a stranger's child!"
"Well, as I said, it was my pleasure to help," Bogg said. "But I must correct one error. Jeffrey Jones is my adopted son. My name is Phineas Bogg—"
"Bogg!" nearly everyone in the room seemed to exclaim at once and Bogg and Jeffrey were taken aback.
"Your family name is Bogg?" Lady Johanna asked.
Phineas exchanged a side-glance with Jeffrey and nodded, wondering what had caused such a reaction in these people.
Lady Johanna began to laugh. "We must apologize to you, Phineas. For that response. For you see, our family name, my husband's family name, is Bogg also. His title is, of course, Berwick."
Shock ran over Phineas' face.
As they spoke, the Earl entered the room. "I overheard only the last bit but… your family name is Bogg?"
Jeffrey spoke up first. "It is. And I never met another Bogg before either."
Everyone in the room laughed and the Earl clapped Jeffrey on the shoulder. "Well you will meet quite a few in the coming days."
Lady Johanna finished the rest of the introductions to the Earl's sister and husband and the Earl's oldest son, Alistair. As well as three cousins. They had already met eight-year-old Lady Clarissa, a daughter between Alistair and Jamie.
Once introductions were done, Lady Johanna invited Bogg and Jeffrey to join them for tea.
"I must assume you are from a far-flung branch of the family," the Earl mused as they seated themselves, and Lady Johanna served tea. "Bogg is an unusual surname. Combined with Phineas, there must be some distant relationship."
"Not to mention the physical resemblance. Your hair is darker, Aidan as with your brothers. But you are all quite tall and well-built. Your father and his brothers had the same look. I have always surmised a Viking ship must have landed in Northumberland and found one of the local girls appealing—"
"Mother!" the Earl said, rolling his eyes and fighting a smile.
Jeffrey and Alistair and the cousins had made fast friends in the corner of the room, plied with their own dish of cookies from the tea tray and cups of hot cocoa. Young Jamie and his sister Clarissa watched them and played with a small kitten the girl had brought in with her.
"Jeffrey is your adopted son, Phineas?" Lady Johanna asked him after they had all settled.
"Yes, ma'am—"
"Please! Now we know we are family, you must call me Johanna."
That seemed quite informal for the English aristocracy but the Earl was nodding.
"And I'm Aidan," he said.
Phineas nodded. "Jeffrey's parents were killed in a c—a carriage accident a few years ago. He had no family willing to keep him so I took him with me. Now he is as much my son as if he was my blood."
"I understand that," Johanna said. "Alistair is my husband's son from his first marriage. His wife died trying to birth their second child. Now of course, Alistair is as dear to me as Clarissa and Jamie. I can barely recall which of them I actually gave birth to!"
After a cheerful dinner that evening, the entire house retired, planning an early start the next morning.
"We're going to some forest outside of London to search for a Christmas tree," Jeffrey said excitedly as he settled into the bed in the dressing room. He'd been offered a room of his own but Bogg had noticed Jeffrey generally chose to stay with him when that option was there. He knew that would change as the boy grew but for now, it gave him peace of mind knowing where Jeffrey was through the night – and that he was not suffering any nightmares. They happened only occasionally now but he preferred to be nearby for comfort when they did. "And also some kind of log—"
"A Yule Log," Phineas explained. "It's an ancient tradition. People find an especially large log that will be lit on Christmas Eve and burn in the hearth through the twelve days of Christmas."
"Oh. That's weird but it might be fun. And it's better than a partridge in a pear tree," I guess." The boy yawned and fell immediately into sleep.
"A partridge in a pear tree?" Phineas muttered as he left the connecting door half open and then turned down the light next to his bed. "What's that got to do with Christmas?"
The next days passed in a blur. While Phineas kept his eye out for an anomaly in history, Jeffrey threw himself into the Christmas celebrations of the Bogg family of London. He was the first to spot the perfect Christmas tree in the woods outside London and jumped in to help haul the giant Yule Log into the house to be set up in the family's drawing room. In point of fact, Bogg ,Aidan and his youngest brother Ian did most of the heavy lifting. Ian and his young family had arrived that morning just in time to assist with the heavy log. The Bogg men thought it a point of pride to bring it in themselves, without the help of their servants. The townhouse was now fair to bursting with Boggs.
"How many bedroom do you think this house has?" Jeffrey had asked Bogg at one point.
"More than you would probably believe," the older Voyager laughed. "Big difference from the house where I grew up!"
"Or my family's two-bedroom apartment," Jeffrey agreed.
One afternoon when the weather was a little warmer, the younger children's nanny took them to the park and Alistair and Jeffrey, and two of the older cousins went along. One boy named Edward had a hoop that he rolled along using a stick while his brother Colin, Alistair and Jeffrey tossed a ball around. Later they walked down to the Serpentine, a small creek that ran through the park, and watched Jamie sail his toy boats.
"Hold on to the string," Alistair reminded him. "Or you'll have to go in and get them."
Jamie looked offended. "I always hold the string tight!"
Alistair shook his head and looked at Jeffrey. "Except for the time I had to wade in and get them…. I thought my mother would have an apoplexy when I got home. She was sure I'd catch numa—numan-"
"Pneumonia. My mother always said that too!'
"My father says she worries too much. But I think he likes it."
"Lady Johanna is great," Jeffrey said. "Really pretty and very kind. And nice. She reminds me of my Mom in that way too."
"She's not my 'real' mother," Alistair confided. "Least that's what some people say."
"Those same people would probably say that about Bogg and me," Jeffrey said. "But he's my father now, in every way that counts."
Alistair nodded. "My father thinks I was too young but I remember before we met her. He was so sad. Our house was… quiet. And sad. He tried to hide it but I could tell. My grandmother came to live with us after my real mother died but then my grandfather died and she went back to Berwick for a year. So then it was just my father and me. And the servants. When he found my mother, it changed everything."
"How did they meet each other?
There was an accident and she got hurt. My father said she was alone and so he brought her home to our house and called for a doctor. And… she never left after that. She got better. She would come to the nursery and play with me. And sing to me. And she talked Cook into letting her bake cookies for me. And my father too although he pretended they were just for me. I was only four then but I remember how she changed everything. Especially my father."
"I get it," Jeffrey said. "It was the same for me when B—my father found me. I was pretty much alone and missing my parents really bad. I felt sad. And alone…" he lowered his voice. "And kinda scared about what would happen to me. And now, everything's changed."
"Alistair! I dropped the string!" Jamie cried out, and the older boys raced over to the water's edge.
"Ach, no gittin' in the water, Lord Alistair," the nanny said. "Lady Johanna will no' like it."
"But my boat will sail away!" Jamie wailed.
Jeffrey spotted the stick Colin had been using to roll the hoop and handed it to Alistair. "Try this."
The older boy was a few inches taller than Jeffrey with longer arms and was able to guide the boat back to the shore and Jamie. Once it was safely grounded, he rolled his eyes at Jeffrey. "He ALWAYS holds the string tight." And both boys laughed.
Each evening Lady Johanna sat at the piano and played after dinner. She was a talented pianist, and had a beautiful soprano voice. Family members joined her on some of the most popular Christmas carols and Jeffrey and Phineas did too when they knew the words. Some of the older hymns were completely unknown to the young American but Bogg knew them all.
When she took a break to let her sister-in-law play for a while, Bogg complimented Lady Johanna's prowess and her voice.
"Thank you, Phineas," she said, blushing a little. "I learned from my own father, who was a talented conductor and pianist himself. I lost him a few months before I met Aidan. Sadly we lost my dear mother a few years before that. As an only child with no family to speak of, I was blessed to have landed – married, into such a wonderful family."
"They remind me of my own family," Bogg replied, then laughed at his own statement. "Although we were poor. Very poor, to be honest. There was a lot of love though. Like here."
"That is what really matters, isn't it? Where were you raised, Phineas?"
Phineas knew the Earl's titular seat was not far from where he'd grown up near the Scottish border and he guessed the family would be familiar with everyone with their surname in the vicinity.
"Oh, we moved around a lot," he said. "I can't really say I'm from anywhere specifically. I'm more of a citizen of the world."
Dinner was announced and they all made their way into the dining room. Jeffrey had been surprised to hear Bogg's voice was a rich tenor that blended well with the other men's voices on 'Good King Wenceslas.' The older Voyager still surprised him now and then.
"I didn't know you could sing," he said as they headed into dinner.
"You don't know a lot of things about me," Bogg retorted.
"I definitely didn't know you were related to the English aristocracy."
Bogg chuckled. "I didn't know that either."
The next day was Christmas Eve and the entire family with Jeffrey and Bogg decorated the Christmas tree. Lady Johanna had explained that the tree was a tradition she inherited from her German father. They strung popcorn and cranberries and she had helped all the children to make small ornaments to hang on the tree. A papier-machė star was placed on top by Lord Aidan and his daughter.
The task took nearly all afternoon as the spruce was twelve feet tall and almost as wide. It had been given pride of place in the large drawing room, in the front window. When it was done, little Lady Clarissa pronounced it "magical," and Jeffrey concurred. "That's the biggest Christmas tree I've ever seen. Except for Rockefeller Center—"
Bogg nudged him to remind him to be careful about what he said. New York's Rockefeller Center would not exist for at least a century.
An informal family dinner was followed with tea service in the drawing room, in the flickering candlelight of the Christmas tree. With ceremony, the Earl and his eldest son lit the Yule log and they all enjoyed another selection of carols from Lady Johanna.
Bogg sat comfortably on a settee in the back of the room and quietly sipped his tea. Jeffrey sat on the floor at his feet, his head leaning on Bogg's knee. Lady Johanna sang "Joy to the World," followed by the haunting Coventry Carol and a few other traditional songs. Her voice lulled everyone into peaceful reverie.
"O Tannenbaum" was followed by "Silent Night."
"Sleep in heavenly peace…." Jeffrey sighed and felt his eyes closing, letting Lady Johanna's beautiful voice soothe him.
"Christmas future is far away. Christmas past is past.
Christmas present is here today, bringing joy that will last….
Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light..."
Jeffrey's eyes flew open. Rising silently to his feet, he sat down next to Bogg. The older Voyager's eyes were half-closed but he cast an affectionate smile at Jeffrey and put his arm around the boy's shoulders as Jeffrey leaned in.
"Bogg! I think I know what's wrong here," he whispered.
Bogg snapped to attention.
"What? Did you see something?"
"No, I heard something. That song that Lady Johanna is singing? It's from a Hollywood movie. My Mom loved it and we watched it every Christmas. Bogg, Lady Johanna's from the future!"
When the two were alone in their room, Jeffrey launched into the stream of questions that had occurred to him. "How can she be from the future, Bogg? I mean, she's not a Voyager. Do other people bounce around in time besides Voyagers?"
Bogg raised a hand to halt his litany of questions. "I don't know," he said slowly. "I've never run into another time traveler before. Not one who wasn't a Voyager."
"Well, maybe… maybe she just—maybe she just met another Voyager some time in the past! And learned the song from them… That might be it."
Bogg exhaled forcefully. "Voyagers know not to do anything to change the timeline, kid. You know that. Would you teach a song from the future to someone here, or in any time zone we visited?"
"No. 'Cause you'd clobber me if I did," Jeffrey said.
Bogg looked heavenward. When had he ever "clobbered" the kid? Yet Jeffrey seemed to think it was a possibility at any time. Or at least he talked like it was.
"I've been thinking about a few other things that are… unusual," Bogg said as he sat on the bed. "All the Christmas decorations. I don't think that was common in England in the early eighteen hundreds. And Lady Johanna's prohibition on a doctor bleeding a patient. Her insistence on her children washing their hands all the time. She said because it's polite—"
"But it's also to fight germs! My Mom was a stickler about hand-washing."
"We need to speak with her," Phineas said. "Once the celebrations are done tomorrow."
"It'll be bad, Bogg," Jeffrey said quietly as he began to worry his lower lip. "If she doesn't belong here. And we—we have to make her leave."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, kid," Bogg said gently. But the cold pit forming in his stomach came from the very same fear.
The family hosted more family for Christmas lunch the next day and the meal lasted several hours. More than thirty adults and children were gathered around the table as Cook and the footmen brought in a huge roasted turkey and a beef roast. The footmen followed with trays of vegetables and roasted potatoes, and traditional Yorkshire Pudding.
Jeffrey took one and whispered to Bogg, "Why are we having the pudding during the meal? I thought that was dessert."
"Not this one. This is more like… bread."
"And they call it pudding too?" Jeffrey muttered, shaking his head. "And these are the people who invented English."
But the boy ate heartily. And he was mesmerized once the main meal was cleared and the lights were lowered. Cook and her staff brought in several large Christmas puddings, and set them ablaze to applause from all of those gathered.
"You have outdone yourself once again," Lady Johanna told the gathered staff members including the kitchen workers who had been called into the dining room. "Thank you all for this magnificent feast!"
"And Happy Christmas to all of you," the Earl added. "Please go enjoy your own Christmas lunch now."
The employees bowed their thanks and left the dining room while Lady Johanna, Lady Veronica and the Earl's sister set about serving the Christmas pudding. They ladled vanilla custard on each serving and everyone passed them down the long table.
Jeffrey looked at his serving for a moment, then took a tentative bite. "Wow" he whispered to Bogg. "This is the best thing I ever tasted!"
The Earl rose and lifted his wine glass. "To each and everyone at our table today, we wish you Happy Christmas! May the coming year bring to fruition every fond wish your heart may hold. I give special thanks to have Phineas and Jeffrey at our celebrations this year. Thanks to Phineas, we also have young Jamie here. And to Johanna, my heart, the lady who brought light and laughter and song back into my life, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for another wonderful Christmas. I look forward to a lifetime of more such holidays. And Mondays and Tuesdays and—"
"Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday!" young Jamie cut in.
"You forgot Sunday," his elder brother called.
"Sundays are like holidays… aren't they?"
Everyone laughed and Jamie smiled, pleased to have said something funny even if he wasn't sure what.
"As long as my family is together and well and happy, every day is a holiday for me," Lady Johanna said.
"Hear, hear!" The assembly called their agreement and around the room glasses clinked as Christmas wishes and more toasts were exchanged.
Bogg and Jeffrey exchanged an apprehensive glance, knowing they might soon disrupt the happiness of this family.
Later that evening, when all the company had departed and the children and older guests went to their beds, Bogg asked Lady Johanna if he and Jeffrey could speak with her privately. She nodded and led them to her husband's study, where he was pouring two glasses of brandy. The only light in the room came from a low-lit lamp and the hearth.
Bogg wondered whether this was a discussion to have with the Earl present since he didn't know whether the man might have any clue about his wife's possible origin in another century.
"Phineas, Jeffrey. Please come in. Johanna told me you may have something you wish to discuss." He handed one of the brandies to Bogg and took a seat in a wing chair. Johanna perched on its arm.
The two Voyagers hesitated but the Earl waved them to the other wing chair and an ottoman. "We have no secrets between us, my wife and I. But she suspects perhaps you two do?"
"I overhead Jeffrey mention Rockefeller Center," Lady Johanna admitted, smiling at the boy. "I loved that tree too. And then I knew you two and I have something in common."
Bogg exhaled, immediately sure the best option in this situation was to be honest.
"We are Voyagers," he said. "We travel through time, giving history a help when it starts to get off track. We were sent here—to London in 1813, because something is not right."
The Earl's eyebrows rose slightly but Lady Johanna started. "And you believe… what is 'not right' is me?"
Bogg shook his head. "We don't know, Johanna. This situation is not what we generally run into. In fact, I've never even heard of another such situation. Maybe you can start by telling us how you came to be here."
"Only Aidan knows the whole story," she said. "Or as much as I know. I was born in 1978. My father was an orchestra conductor who was born in Germany. And my mother was Belgian. I was born in the United States but we moved around a lot. My father worked all over Europe and throughout the U.S." She smiled at Bogg. "Like you, I am a 'citizen of the world," you might say."
She sighed, then continued. "My mother and I always traveled with Father. I learned to play and sing and to love music from them. When I was a teenager, I was accepted to Juilliard—"
"Juilliard in New York City?" Jeffrey exclaimed. "That's a tough school to get into."
"I had finished only a year when my mother became ill with cancer in 1997. She had the best doctors but… she was gone in a few months. I continued at Juilliard and lived with my father who had taken a job in the city." She looked at Jeffrey again. "At Lincoln Center—"
"I love Lincoln Center!" he responded, then caught a quelling look from Bogg.
"Please finish, Johanna," Bogg said.
"One day he had a heart attack and he was gone too, a few months before I was due to graduate."
The Earl reached out and laid his hand on his wife's hand and she gave him a shaky smile. "I was alone then. There was no other family. And because of the nomadic way we had lived, I had no great friends anywhere. In December of 1999, I attended my graduation. I was awarded a special honor as an accomplished pianist. But there was no one to- I was the only one there with no one in the audience."
She paused, blinking back tears. "I left the auditorium feeling… so alone. I walked through the city for hours, trying to decide… what to do next. I had an offer to join a touring orchestra and had already given notice on my apartment lease. But the idea of taking up the life of my father—moving from place to place, never putting down roots—it depressed me. Even the music that I loved didn't fill the loneliness as it once had. I was walking past Penn Station when it began to snow and suddenly I knew I should take a train to New England. To take time to think. And maybe enjoy a real white Christmas."
"That's a great movie," Jeffrey exclaimed, and Johanna chuckled. "Yes, it is. It's nice to talk with someone who knows that! So I take it you are from the future also?"
"New York City, too. My Dad taught history at Columbia. Bogg found in me 1982-"
"Jeffrey, let Johanna finish her story," Bogg reminded him.
"Oh, yeah. How did you get from New England to old England?" he asked.
She shrugged uncertainly. "That's not entirely clear even to me. I was on the train and a strange man sat next to me, and began flirting with me. He kept asking me where I was going, and whether I would be visiting family, or a boyfriend. I tried to be polite but not encourage him. But he was very persistent. At one point another older man approached him and said he was assigned the seat next to me but the pushy man pointed to other empty seats around us and told him to take one of those. I was boxed in by him but finally I told him I needed to use the rest room. When I came out the older man was waiting for me and he suggested we take a seat in the next car. He had kind eyes and when we were seated, he said, "I'm sorry it took me so long, Johanna. I was about to spill a drink on that boor if you had not thought of a way to get away from him."
"He knew your name?" Bogg asked.
"Yes. He seemed to be concerned about the time and pulled out his pocket watch. And then suddenly the train came to a violent stop and began to topple over. I imagine we derailed. Or hit something on the track. I slammed my head and tumbled out of my seat. The man next to me was hit by a suitcase that flew out of the overhead. He had his hand on my arm but it was torn away as the train car tipped and we were both sent flying. He lost his grip on his watch and it fell near to me. I didn't want him to lose it so I reached out to pick it up and then I must have passed out. When I woke, Aidan was crouching above me and I was on a street in Mayfair. In 1803."
"Bogg! The pocket watch. It must have been an Omni!" Jeffrey said.
Bogg nodded. "Did it look anything like this?" he asked, taking his Omni from his pocket and showing it to Johanna and Aidan.
Johanna's eyes widened and the Earl reached into one of his desk drawers. "No, it didn't look like that," he said, taking something out and placing it on his desk. "It looks exactly like that."
Bogg and Jeffrey stared at the second Omni on the desk.
"I think this was an extraction that went wrong," Bogg said.
"A what?" Johanna and Aidan asked in unison.
"I told you we're Voyagers," Bogg said. "We all start out in our own time but something brings us to the attention of the Voyager leaders. If they believe we would be good candidates for the Voyager Academy, they take us from our timeline at a point when our leaving will not impact that stream of history. We call it an extraction." When he finished explaining, Johanna asked the next logical question.
"So, I would not have survived that train wreck?"
Bogg hesitated a moment. "I'm not certain, just putting together puzzle pieces and trying to fit them into what we already know. But yes, that's what I think. I was washed overboard from a ship at sea in a bad storm. And Jeffrey fell out the window of a high-rise. And we became Voyagers. I think the Voyager assigned to retrieve you must have been hurt or killed in the attempt. I'm not sure why his Omni wasn't set to automatically bring you to Headquarters but maybe in the crash either he or you accidentally reset it to this time."
"Well this is where she is now," the Earl said firmly. "And it's where she belongs. It would … affect things greatly if Johanna were not here."
Bogg nodded slowly. "I—I know that. But something is wrong here," he said, opening his Omni. The red light was glowing.
Aidan looked intrigued by the light on Bogg's Omni. "When I first saw Johanna, she had this other in her hand. I took and opened it, hoping something inside would help us identify her. There was a green light. But it went out almost immediately."
"The red light didn't come on, when the green went out?" Jeffrey asked anxiously.
"No. And I've looked at this… Omni… many times over the last ten years. There has never been a light of any color."
Bogg looked at Jeffrey. "It must have been damaged in the train crash. And because the power went out, Voyager headquarters couldn't track the Omni and find Johanna."
"But now you are both here. And your red light means Johanna being here is a problem?" Aidan asked.
"Apparently. And I have no idea what we are supposed to do to fix it," Bogg said, sitting back in the chair.
They decided a good night's sleep might make things clearer and before they retired, Aidan asked Bogg to ride with him in the park in the morning.
Bogg rose early and saw Jeffrey was finally sleeping peacefully. The boy had been restless with worry during the night. At one point, Bogg rose and went to sit on the narrow bed in the dressing room, next to Jeffrey. He'd laid a hand lightly on the child's back, knowing from past experience that often was enough to settle him down. It had worked this time, too.
Bogg met Aidan in the stables where he went right to the horse he had ridden before, an especially large black stallion named Blackbeard.
"It still surprises my brothers and I that this devil horse has taken to you. And lets you ride him. Few outside the family can say that," Aidan chuckled as he mounted his own horse.
Bogg nuzzled the horse. "Is it because you know I sailed with your namesake?" he whispered in its ear. Then he let the groom boost him into the saddle and the two men headed off to the park.
There were few people about at this hour and Rotten Row was deserted when they arrived. It gave them a chance to gallop their horses, which could not be done later in the morning when much of Mayfair would be milling about.
"They needed the exercise," Aidan called over after a few runs. "Let's head home now."
"Aidan, I have something to tell you. Let's walk the horses a bit," Bogg said.
When they were leading their horses at a leisurely pace, Aidan took the bull by the horns. "You have come up with a solution?"
Bogg pressed his lips together. "Not a full solution but a next step. I think Lady Johanna has to return to Voyager Headquarters with Jeffrey and me—"
"No! Not unless you can guarantee that if you do, you will be able to return with her?"
"I—I can't guarantee what they will say or want to do. I can say that the Voyager leaders are good people. Our Code does not let us interfere with how history is supposed to happen. And it does not let us cause harm to others."
"It would do great harm to my family if Johanna were not with us," Aidan said firmly.
"I know. I give you my word, Aidan, I will treat her as though she was a member of my own family. And—I will bring her back to you. Once we know why we have a red light…"
He and Jeffrey spoke with Lady Johanna and her husband after breakfast and while she was reluctant at first, the lady turned out to have an adventurous streak. Once she was had obtained Bogg's promise to return her safely home, she became excited at the prospect of traveling through time once again.
Bogg, Jeffrey and Johanna landed softly on the grass outside of Voyager Headquarters and walked into the building. They asked for Professor Garth- and then all hell broke loose. Johanna was indeed a Voyager candidate who had been lost in the failed extraction. Over the course of several hours, a meeting of senior Voyager leaders was hastily called and Voyager Vivian Daniels was requested to try to make some sense out of the competing timelines that now existed. She was the head of the historical analysis unit.
"Voyager Bogg," Professor Kane admonished him, "you should have returned without the Voyager candidate so we could assess the situation. This is highly irregular."
"Yes, sir, I understand that. But once it was clear her extraction did not go as planned, I felt it was imperative to address this situation so that everyone involved can agree to a solution."
"It would have been easier to do that without the subject being here in our midst," he harumphed.
"Yes. I… should have considered that," Bogg said, looking apologetic. He took his leave from the room quickly, pulling Jeffrey along.
"And it would have been easier for them to disrupt her life, and her family's, if she wasn't looking them right in the face," Jeffrey said quietly so that only Bogg could hear him. "That's why we brought her, isn't it? Smart."
A full day and more passed before Voyager Vivian was able to provide a coherent accounting of how the timeline had been changed, and whether it would have any later implications. That had given Bogg and Jeffrey a chance to give Johanna a tour of Voyager Headquarters and acquaint her with the amazing things Voyagers do. And how the Voyagers Code guided all of their actions.
"I would have been thrilled to do this," she said. "Before I met Aidan and had a family." She pursed her lips and thought more. "For a little while, at least."
Jeffrey and Bogg exchanged a worried look when she was not watching. Being a Voyager was not a short-term occupation.
"I don't know how Aidan will explain my absence for so long," she continued. "Where will he say I've gone? And how?
"That you don't have to worry about," Jeffrey said, smiling. "The Omni can return you back to one minute after you left. So you really will not have been gone at all!"
Johanna laughed. "That actually makes my head ache."
Finally the Voyager leaders summoned Bogg, Jeffrey and Johanna into a meeting to determine how they could fix the problem in the timeline.
Professor Garth opened by saying that the decisions made would be based solely on the Voyagers Code not to interfere with history as it was supposed to have happened.
Johanna raised her hand. "I am not certain I'm comfortable with that," she said. "I come from a time when even physicists have accepted that timelines are not necessarily linear. In fact some speculate that there are… alternate timelines—"
"Yes," Professor Garth interrupted. "That's why our research and analysis unit exists. Sometimes it's not… simple to know which timeline we should focus on. Voyagers Bogg and Jones are field Voyagers who are part of the team that gives history an assist when something goes radically wrong. Other Voyagers spend their entire careers working on one or maybe two pivotal times in history, ensuring history according to the root timeline, happens as it is meant to."
"Oh," Johanna said, wrinkling her brow.
Bogg laid a hand on her arm. "Let's listen to what Vivian found out. Once we know, we can… figure out what to do."
"Thank you, Phineas," Vivian said. "Well, this was the most complex timeline I have ever worked on. It took the team a while to find the true continuing thread that should exist, and that aligns with past and future events that are important to history."
She cleared her throat. "Johanna, you were meant to leave your own timeline in the year 2000 as you did. We can find no further events in which you were involved or that relied on your presence to happen as they should."
Johanna nodded slowly. "Well, I didn't ever think I would do something memorable to anyone but my own family but… it is a little upsetting to know it for certain."
Vivian smiled. "Oh, but I did not say that. It seems your timeline is meant to pick up in 1803. And your contributions to history are several. Your husband is one of a few English peers who will support important reforms in England over the coming decades. It appears your influence on him and your ability to persuade other more reluctant peers, is important to those things happening."
Johanna smiled. "Really? Aidan has… grown more open in the years we've been together—"
"I thought your home and family are a little less rigid and restrictive than the typical Regency household," Bogg said. æObviously your presence made that difference."
"Yeah! I knew you belonged there!" Jeffrey added.
Vivian cleared her throat to regain the room's attention. "Your elder sons Alistair and James will both make important contributions during the transition from the Regency to the Victorian era that is coming. James will be a proponent of industrial improvements that will bring new prosperity across the country. Oh, and your daughter will be a key founder of an organization that will care for orphans."
"Clarissa has a kind heart. I am glad to hear she does not lose it."
"And your youngest son—"
"She only has two sons," Jeffrey interrupted Vivian. "Alistair and Jamie."
Vivan grinned and pressed on. "Your youngest will be critical to the developing relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States of America in the coming decades. That 'special relationship' plays a big part in the coming century." She looked down at her notes. "Jeffrey Bogg will be a very renowned and important Foreign Secretary."
"Jeffrey?" the youngest Voyager asked quizzically.
Johanna touched her stomach gently. "I wasn't sure. I haven't even told Aidan yet," she laughed. "But if it's a boy—"
"It is," Vivian said.
"I think Jeffrey is a wonderful name." She looked at Bogg apologetically. "We already have more than our share of Phineases in the family!"
The three time travelers appeared through the ceiling of the Earl's study and gently came to rest on two chairs and a the settee. The Earl's eyes widened with shock.
"Why can't it work like that every time, Bogg?" Jeffrey griped.
The Earl had jumped to his feet. "What happened? You just—just left…."
Johanna laughed. "Truly? We were gone for nearly two days in our reckoning. I have much to tell you—"
"The only thing I want to know now is if you are home for good, my dear," he said, looking at Bogg and Jeffrey.
"She is!" the boy said quickly. "She belongs here. In fact, she's a Voyager too—"
"Jeffrey, let's take this one step at a time, okay, kid?" He turned to Aidan. "Let's all sit down and we'll try to explain. But—Johanna is here to stay."
"Thank the Lord," Aidan said. "It was not that I do not trust your word but I worried you might not be the only voice that mattered."
"Let's have tea," Johanna said, going to the bell pull and ringing for a servant. "I do admit I missed a good tea while at Voyager Headquarters."
"Maybe they'll bring some more of those lemon cookies," Jeffrey said, causing the three adults to smile indulgently.
"What? I'm a growing boy! And anyway, Bogg's idea of good food is beef jerky. I like to get something good when I can…"
"When have I ever not fed you?" Bogg asked him quietly as they waited for the tea tray.
Once the tea had been delivered and the doors were closed again, Bogg and Jeffrey explained to Aidan that Johanna was indeed a Voyager. But she was always meant to be the type who stayed in one place and contributed in small ongoing ways to keeping an important timeline on track over many years. And the one here in England over the coming decades was critical to future history in many ways.
"As a couple, and a family, you will contribute to seeing England through the a lot of changes in the next few decades," Jeffrey told them. "Like when your son Jeffrey—"
Bogg smacked Jeffrey's head lightly as Johanna rose and went to her husband. He took her into his arms and kissed her. Bogg pulled Jeffrey to his feet.
"Let's give them some privacy," he explained as he steered the boy out of the study.
"Ewww. This guy is starting to remind me a lot of you—"
They dined en famille that evening as most of the rest of the family had left in the morning. Aidan had asked Ian, his youngest brother, to remain another day. And he requested that Bogg and Jeffrey stay, too. After dinner, he called them all into his study and took down a large leather book from the shelf behind his desk.
"Phineas, if you don't mind my asking, how did you come to be named Phineas? It's not a common name in Scotland, or England."
Bogg smiled as he took a small glass of brandy from Ian. Johanna and Jeffrey had settled themselves on the settee with a cup of tea and a mug of cocoa, respectively. And a plate of Jeffrey's favorite cookies.
"Well, there's a simple explanation. My mother was a religious woman, and she named all of her children for the saint on whose feast day we were born. Mine was Phineas. My brother Ian on the feast of St. John… the Baptist, I think. And James on the feast of St. James the Greater. My sisters Therese and Anne got their names the same way. Why do you ask?"
"While you were … 'out' with Johanna and Jeffrey I started thinking about things. And you just confirmed what I was thinking."
"What's that?" Jeffrey asked, unable to contain his curiosity. He knew next to nothing about Bogg's life before he became a pirate and then a Voyager. Johanna and Ian had similar expressions on their faces.
"Let me tell you a story first. Almost two hundred years ago, our family was living near what is now the family seat in Berwickshire. We were not… rich. Or titled in those days. A great-great-great-great-great uncle named Phineas ran away to sea. Perhaps he went willingly, if not he was conscripted by some ship's captain. Either way, he never returned. Young Phineas was fourteen at the time."
"I love this old story," Ian said, not fully understanding where his older brother was going with it.. "It gets better," he assured Jeffrey.
Aidan continued, "About five years after he left, a priest came to the small cottage where the family lived. He said he had met Phineas in the West Indies and when the young pirate learned he was returning to England soon, he gave him something and asked him to see it made its way to his family. It was a small doll, dressed like a woman of the Islands, and stuffed with straw. His mother thought it was meant as a sign that he was still alive, at least when he had given the doll to the priest. She treasured it. One day, one of his younger sisters was playing with the doll and the family dog. A seam ripped, and a package spilled out. Inside there were ten jewels, rubies, diamonds, sapphires and emeralds. And six perfect pearls. Apparently Phineas' share of a bounty or two."
Bogg's face had gone still as he listened, and he wasn't sure he was breathing.
"Johanna is wearing the last of the pearls."
"Wow! That's the biggest pearl I've ever seen," Jeffrey said eying the one hanging on a strand of smaller matched pearls.
"Our five times great grandmother was a shrewd woman, and a widow by then. She used one jewel to purchase an education for her younger sons. Another paid for the purchase of a small shipping company once the younger sons were capable of running it. It allowed them to sell the turf farm on which the family had eked out a meager living for generations, and move into town."
"Turf farm?" Jeffrey interrupted. "Bogg, your family had a turf farm too!"
Bogg swallowed hard, but found he could not speak. So Aidan went on with his story.
"Over the years the business thrived, and they sold the jewels slowly, investing in the business as needed or to purchase property. One son moved to London and the business expanded quickly after that, into importing and other businesses. Ian runs the shipping company now."
"I always had the sea in my veins," he said. "My brother Phineas was a soldier in his heart, but I wanted the sea. I sailed for a few years until I met Deirdre and decided it was time to settle."
"Over time, our family became one of the wealthiest in England," Aidan said, "greatly owing to the stash of jewels they used to invest wisely over generations. And the fact we don't tend to be drinkers or gamblers or…. Involved in other expensive habits," Aidan said with a look at his wife. She laughed and waved him on with his story. "And when a family has wealth, well, let's say the Crown is not so shrewd with its blunt, and will eventually come calling, looking for a loan."
"The first loan brought a Viscountcy into the family. And in my grandfather's years, it was a more sizable loan and so he became the first Earl of Berwick. I'm the fourth Earl, after my uncle who died not long after coming into the title, and my own father."
As he spoke, Aidan opened the green leather book to a place he had marked with a ribbon. He turned it around so the others could read it. Always curious about history, Jeffrey jumped up and began looking at the family tree, tracing it back to—"
"Wait! That great-great however many times Uncle Phineas, he had brothers named Ian and James? And two sisters named Therese and Anne?"
Now Ian was on his feet too, eying the family tree.
"I wasn't completely sure until now—" Aidan started.
Ian interrupted him, looking from his brother to Bogg and back to his brother. "You're saying… you're saying THIS is great-great-great-great-great Uncle Phineas? Why does he look younger than you?"
"I believe I am saying exactly that," Aidan said, giving his brother an exasperated glance. "And I'd say he looks younger than both of us." Then he casually handed a handkerchief to his wife who was now crying silently. "And we have our many times great Uncle Phineas to thank for everything we have. And for bringing Johanna back to us now."
He looked directly at Bogg and raised his glass. "To Uncle Phineas!"
Ian's shock was still on his face but his manners kicked in and he raised his glass. "To Uncle Phineas!"
Bogg thought he should get to his feet, but he wasn't sure his shaking legs would hold him. And at the moment, words failed him too. He blinked back tears as Jeffrey came to sit beside him, giving him a hard hug around his chest.
"We can't possibly thank you enough," Aidan said. "You would be welcome to stay and be part of THIS family—"
Bogg shook his head. "We're Voyagers," he said, finally finding his tongue. "We have work to do. But… I thank you. We thank you."
"Then perhaps you'll return now and then, for Christmas or whenever it suits you," Aidan said. "You will always be welcome."
Johanna nodded. "And you must come back and meet Jeffrey's namesake. In fact, we'd be honored if you would be his godfather, Phineas…."
Later that night, as they prepared to Omni off to their next assignment, Bogg and Jeffrey left the last of their Regency period clothing in the guest room they'd been using and donned their own clothes.
"I won't miss that outfit," Jeffrey said. "It was itchy and that cravat thing nearly choked me."
Bogg grinned. "Jeffrey, if you weren't complaining, I wouldn't know you were around."
"Like you loved wearing all those suits and that weird tie every day," Jeffrey said.
"No, my regular clothes are a heckuva lot more comfortable," Bogg agreed as he looked into the mirror. "But it was worth it to find out… to find out my family was okay." He was surprised when Jeffrey flung himself into the older Voyager's arms.
"Bogg," Jeffrey said quietly, "maybe you never have got to see them again. But… you took real good care of your family. Just like you take good care of me."
Bogg rested his chin on Jeffrey's head for a moment. "Thanks, kid," he said. Then he pressed the lever on his Omni and they were off to their next adventure.
THE END