Chapter Eight
We walked up to the grand house, and I couldn't help but feel like a complete ass. She was Lisa Manoban, of course she was. Sure my life needed more complications, and I needed to deal with a young rich lady who thought I was making her go crazy. We'll just pile that on top of all of the other crap I had to deal with. And we'll throw in the fact that she's drop dead gorgeous as well.
She led me up the staircase that took us to the front of the house where a very burly man held the door open for the both of us. Sure enough, I smelled something cooking, and it smelled divine. Burly Guy closed the door and hung up Lisa's hat and coat on a small hook behind the door.
"If you'd follow me, please," she said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Who's that?" I asked Lisa.
"The doorman, of course. His name is Thornesmith."
Oh, the doorman. Duh.
As we walked, I noticed plenty of other workers tidying up the place or ordering them around. It was like watching Downton Abbey. I realized then just how rich Lisa was. My hands began to sweat, and I ran them through my frizzy hair to try to tame it. The English weather was doing me no favors. I could feel my hair grow like it was a weed. It had a mind of its own.
"Miss Nancy, you remember our guest, don't you?" She pointed to me, and Nancy's eyes grew wide. She dropped her ladle on the stone floor and gasped. A young girl picked it up for her and Nancy didn't even notice.
"This isn't possible. How are ya here once again, lass?"
"That's what we came to ask you," I told her simply. "You knew about my great-grandmother and Mr. Lockhart. So it only makes sense that you'd know why I keep coming here."
As I spoke, she waved her hands wildly and shook her head.
"No. I'm not going to get involved in such a mess. I told ya the last time, I only met them that one time. Then they left for good. It was a while ago now. Lisa was very young then."
"Miss Nancy, you must know something more. I beg of you," Lisa pleaded. "You knew I wasn't well and you hid this from me all while watching me go insane."
Her eyes looked so sad. She had a point. If she thought she was going crazy, then Nancy should have told her. Her puppy dog look did a number on her, and I found even myself feeling sorrow for the master. She was good.
Nancy gave me a pointed look and said, "I told you not to speak to anyone! Now look what you've gone and done."
"It's not my fault. She spoke to me."
She looked to Lisa and patted her face. "I hated to see you in such pain, but I couldn't tell ya. I was hoping you'd go to America and forget all about it. I never dreamed she'd be back."
I should have felt awful that Lisa was going nuts here, but I actually thought it was adorable that she thought about me.
I do admit I thought about her more often than I wanted to. But I thought it was just a dream—a beautiful one.
Thinking back on what Nancy told me about meeting Mr. Lockhart, I remembered that she said he said he combined science and the magic of old to travel here. So Gram was right, magic was real and it existed in these books. That was explanation enough for how they arrived and how I got here. But the whys weren't known yet. What made them travel here and why this time period?
I sighed and leaned against the wall, feeling the effects of the heated kitchen and the day outside drain me. I would never get used to living in this year, not without air conditioning. All I could do was hope this was a short trip.
"Are you ill, Jennie?" Lisa asked coming toward me.
"I'm just really hot. I'm not used to the weather. It's cold where I'm from, and I think it's getting to me." I plucked my clothes away from my body and suddenly wished for a small bikini. Anything would be better than what I was wearing.
Lisa took me by the hand and led me through the door and out of the kitchen with Nancy following. We came to a small sitting room and Nancy opened the windows. A gust of wind blew in through the small window and I felt better. I could still use some air conditioning in this house though. What the hell did people do in this heat, besides die?
"The air is better in this room. You'll see that you will cool off faster," Lisa said. "Nancy, sit!"
Her voice was calmer but firm. Nancy knew something and she was hiding it. If Lisa didn't get her to talk, I was pretty sure I could make her. I cracked my knuckles and settled my eyes on Nancy. I tried for the tough chick look; I'm sure it did no good. With my frizzy hair and sweaty head, Nancy probably saw a train wreck of a girl in front of her.
She sat and played with her apron. "I remember that they told me the pages of the book were special. Mr. Lockhart was working on time-travel. Such a notion is ridiculous but nonetheless true."
I leaned forward and asked, "Did he say anything about the book itself? Why the pages are special?"
She shook her head.
"I'm sorry, lass. Just that he was trying to make history and Grace was the only one who could use the book. It was she that brought Mr. Lockhart. That's all I know. I swear it. May I go?"
"Yes. Ask Henrietta to bring Jennie something to drink."
She shuffled off like a scared child while I leaned back against the uncomfortable chair.
"That makes no sense, but I'll deal with it when I get home. Lockhart might have some books in my library that will explain this."
It was the only thing I could think of. It wasn't like I could ask anyone to help me find answers. Everyone would think I was nuts.
"Your library?" Lisa inquired.
I laughed at the fact that I had to explain this to people now. "I own a library. My Gram died and now it's mine. That is if I can get back to it."
"So you're a librarian then."
"I guess so. I'm also a college student. It's not what I want to be doing, but it's my life currently."
She nodded and I sensed that she felt the same. "Going to America isn't what I desire."
Her expression turned serious.
"Why? What would you do if you could do anything?"
"I wouldn't be doing what my father wants of me. I would move to London and start my own trade company. But alas, I am my father's only child."
It was funny how things worked out in life. One minute you are living and dreaming of your future and the next you're living someone else's dream.
"We don't get to choose our lives like they tell us when we're little, do we?"
"No," she agreed. "We certainly do not. Being a child is much more innocent of a time and I often wish I was one again."
A young girl brought out a tea service and set it up at a table in the next room.
"Come, let's have tea. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have with you," Lisa said as she walked into the room.
A smile crept upon my face at her words. She wanted to spend time with me, and the strange thing was, I wanted to be here. It made me forget about the library and my responsibilities.
She pulled out a chair for me as I sat as gracefully as I could in yoga pants. She smiled when I sat and shook her head.
"What?" I asked suddenly worried that I did something wrong or that I looked funny to her.
"Your clothing is shocking to me. I'm not sure if I'll get used to how different you dress." A blush ran across her cheeks.
Yep, I looked like a dork.
Great. Any guy back home would like my tight pants, but coming here, it's different.
"Next time I travel I'll make sure to dress more to your liking," I said smartly.
She held up a hand and her smile grew even wider. "No. Please. I'm trying to say that I enjoy your clothing. I like the way they look on you. I'd like to inspect the material if I could."
"You want me to take my clothes off?" I acted very offended, even though taunting her and making her blush grow wider was my real goal. "I thought the people in this era were supposed to be gentlemen."
"Jennie, I do apologize. I didn't mean to say that I'd like to take them off myself…oh dear. I mean that when you take them off to change, can I inspect them? Oh bugger!"
She'd thrown her hands up in the air and went quiet.
"Lisa, really it's okay. I get what you're saying. You've never seen material like this, right?"
"Precisely, I never intended to offend you in any way." She sighed with relief and ran her hand through her hair. She must do that when she's nervous because I had seen her do it before. I'd love to run my own fingers through her thick locks if she'd let me.
Lisa had one of the most attractive faces I'd ever laid eyes on. It was one of those faces you saw only in movies and it made you wish you were born in another time period.
"I know that. I liked seeing you squirm. It was enjoyable," I said honestly. "In my time, men are very blunt. They'll tell you they want to take your clothes off with no hesitation. It's actually nice to see a someone try to defend her virtue, is all."
She shook her head, all serious now, and poured my tea.
"Men are different in your time, that's for sure. It is very impolite to discuss matter of dress with a lady, and I'm sorry that I did. Yet, something tells me that I was the one who was more embarrassed. Am I right?"
I nodded. "It's no big deal to me. I'm used to it."
She stopped pouring and looked up at me sadly. "You're used to men being demeaning?"
"Well, when you put it that way, I guess the answer is yes."
She sat the tea down and gave me sugar and cream and stirred my drink. When she was done, I picked it up.
"That makes me sad to hear, Jennie. May I speak frankly?" I sipped my tea and nodded once more. "You deserve a true and honest gentleman, for you may be the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes upon."
Now I was blushing furiously. A fire took hold of my face and I hid behind my teacup. No one had ever called me beautiful besides my Gram or maybe even my parents. Not my friends and especially not stranger. When a man saw me, he saw a conquest, and when I saw a man, I challenged them and showed them that I too didn't want anything but a good time.
Was Lisa right? Did I deserve more? If so, who in the hell would I find in my world to treat me like that?
"Why would you say that? Look at me, I'm in my Yoga pants and a T-shirt and I'm sipping tea in your gorgeous home. I'm not beautiful, I'm plain." I was defensive now. This was not the best reaction.
She took my hand as I set down my cup. "Please, never say you are anything but extraordinary. Why do you think I spoke to you when you first came? Because you blended into the background? No, because, Jennie, you stand out."
What the hell was going on here? Was she actually flirting with me? God knows I wanted her to flirt with me. She was everything I looked for, but ten times better. Lisa wasn't typical; she was the one who rode the white horse and became your gallant knight in shining armor. Except there was one problem, she lived in a book. She was a book boyfriend!
I wasn't even sure if she was an actual living human being. I saw her breathe and eat and drink, but was she real solely in the book? I couldn't help but want to ask her all these questions. I really wanted to know how it felt to be a book character, but then again as I sat here with her, I guess I became one myself. And maybe a character didn't know that they weren't real. They lived their lives as the author wrote it out.
The more I thought about it, the stranger it became. Was she fiction or not? I had to know the truth, but for now, I would bask in the delight she gave me.
"Are you embarrassed?" she asked, pulling me out of my trance.
"No. I think I'm shocked. No one has ever said that to me," I admitted.
"Would you like to see the rest of the house?"
Lisa had changed the subject before things got awkward, thankfully.
"I'd really like to, yes. I don't think the hot tea was such a good idea. I'm even hotter now than I was before." I stood, and she took my hand and wrapped it in her arm. She felt warm, but a good warm.
She led me through the rest of the downstairs showing me a huge parlor and eventually we made our way upstairs. The tapestries that hung around the wall were astounding; everything in this house was like that. It was an honest-to-God mansion, and I was in it walking around and breathing it all in. It was the most beautiful place I had ever been, and I was in it with Lisa. I felt giddy suddenly, and I had to fight to push the feelings back down.
"I've seen this room," I admitted when we passed by the room I changed in.
"Ah. I was going to show you the library, not the guest bedroom."
We walked through the hall and into a library that was nothing I expected: wall to wall books from floor to ceiling. In the corner a large fire place that thankfully was not lit. The other corner held a door that led out to a small balcony.
"It's beautiful, Lisa."
"I thought you'd enjoy it. Yet, you did say you didn't like being a librarian, so we do not have to stay in this boring old room."
"No! No, please. I like it here," I admitted. She laughed softly to herself.
"The girl who wishes a different career for herself loves books after all. Hmm."
She was teasing me and I liked it. Letting my hand go, she sat in a large overstuffed chair.
"I enjoy it here as well. It helps me think."
I scanned the walls and the books and asked, "What do you think about?"
"Loads of things, really. Mostly how I can get out from under my father's thumb and start my company. Then I laugh to myself over such an idiotic notion."
I stopped and looked at Lisa. "You can do anything you want. You're a grown up, aren't you?"
"Why yes. I'm twenty. Jennie, it isn't easy for someone my age. I simply cannot break free like that. I'd lose his support and his trust. And a man like my father has many allies and a child cannot defy her father."
She'd lose her money, and for a person in this time, money and status was everything. I got it, I really did. Money and status were important in my time, too.
"You know, everything we talk about defines us by our time periods we live in." I pulled a book from the shelf and inspected the cover. "We aren't simply just a woman right now. We're 'Lisa's World' and 'Jennie's World.' The things we speak about won't be the same. I won't be able to help you get through what you're going through because I simply won't understand. Things in my world are so much different. They aren't that complicated."
She bit her thumb and looked incredibly sexy while doing it.
"So, if they aren't so complicated, why are you a librarian instead of at finishing school?"
Damn it. She had me there. I turned and faced her, fully aware that I had no answer for her. The room started to spin suddenly and the colors of the books swirled together.
"Oh no!" I said as Lisa stood and tried to catch me, but I fell too fast out of her world and back into mine.
