April 2016 Friday Howenstowe

"What's in the satchel?" Barbara asked as they strolled arm-in-arm up the hill. The light was fading and lazy, yellowy lines stretched across an azure sky. The light gave the trees an olive hue and the ocean to their left looked soft and ethereal.

"You'll see."

"You know they all think we're coming up here to...well…"

"Make love?"

"I doubt that's the terminology they're using but yeah, basically."

"Well we might, I don't know, but that's not the reason we're coming up here."

"Then what is?"

Tommy leant down and kissed her cheek. "Be patient. You'll find out soon enough."

They continued to climb. "It's lovely up here. You've never brought me before."

"I didn't want to be presumptuous. It's known locally as the lovers' circle. It has special meaning for our family."

Barbara was curious but sensed she should let Tommy reveal his secret at his own pace. He was like an excited boy and she could tell he enjoyed being mysterious. He had lost so much of the tension that he had carried and she was glad that she was a factor. She squeezed his hand. It was very liberating to be able to love him openly.

At the top of the hill they came to a flattened section. "Oh, it's beautiful."

In a glade surrounded by tall trees lay an ancient stone circle. There were eight stones the height of Tommy, each rough-hewn and irregular in shape. In the centre of the circle there was a taller, heavier stone. "Archaeologists say this circle has been here for nearly three thousand years. They think it relates to the solstices in some way."

"Ritual sacrifices maybe?"

"You have a very vivid imagination Barbara. Rituals certainly but no sacrifices I'm sure. We were never allowed to play here as children because mysterious things are said to have happened."

Barbara looked around. She found the way the setting sun lit up the stones both romantic and eerie. "Told you so! So you brought me up here to shag somewhere forbidden?"

Tommy laughed as he led her near the centre stone. He opened his satchel. "No, I brought you here because this is a tradition that goes back to William, the Third Earl."

"The randy one."

Tommy smiled lovingly at her. "I prefer to think of him as the romantic one, but yes, the randy one."

"Definite family resemblance then based on last night."

"Shhhh." Tommy laughed then pulled something from his pocket that Barbara could not see. He opened his satchel that was slung over his shoulder. "These are the coins I had made for tomorrow."

"Ooh, can I have a look?" Barbara was interested to see the five hundred silver pounds.

"Soon. Barbara, there's a tradition William started. He brought up a satchel of gold and presented it to Lady Katherine, his future wife, as an indication of his wealth and ability to look after her. So I have brought up the satchel to represent my wealth and ability to care for you."

"With fake coins?"

Tommy grinned at her. "Stop it. This is supposed to be romantic."

"Sorry."

Tommy sunk onto his knee onto the strategically placed blanket and took her hand. In his other hand he held two small objects. "Barbara these rings were Elizabeth's. Thomas left them next to the box in the Library with a cryptic note saying they were only to be worn on the two hundredth anniversary and never any other time. Tomorrow is that day but I want them to be more than fancy dress. William proposed to his wife up here and every other earl up to my father did the same. Now it's my turn. I want you to accept these rings as a symbol of my love and my promise that we will always be together. I can buy you your own rings when we go back to London but for now these will do. Barbara Elizabeth Havers, will you do me the great honour of agreeing to be my wife?"

Barbara knew she was nodding and could sense Tommy smiling but she could not see through her tears. "Yes," she croaked, "yes. Yes!"

Tommy slipped the wedding ring onto her finger followed by a surprisingly modern looking diamond ring. Tommy had always been fascinated that the style of Elizabeth's ring was so modern. He stood up and kissed her.

Barbara moved backwards under his kiss and bumped up against the stone. As he kissed her she felt as if she was spinning and falling, almost uncontrollably. "Wow!"

"Wow, indeed. That was quite a kiss future Mrs Lynley." Tommy looked up and frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know. Something's different."

Barbara looked around mildly alarmed. "What?"

"The trees are smaller."

"What do you mean? How can the trees shrink?" She looked around. "Oh! They have. Tommy this is creepy. We should go back."

Tommy was not easily scared but the hairs on the back of his neck rose. "Yes, come on. We'll go and share our good news."

He gathered up the blanket and they left the clearing without looking back. They almost ran down the hill to the Howenstowe. As they drew closer Tommy stopped. "What?" Barbara whispered.

"The house. The lights are wrong, almost as if it's lit by lamps."

"Maybe your mother is taking this anniversary a bit too seriously."

"Mother is unlikely to forgo creature comforts just to create an experience. Besides all the cars have gone. Hillier's, Simon's and Winston's were all parked here when we left."

"Yeah, weird." Barbara surveyed the grounds. "All the gardens are different too. Tommy, what's going on?"

"I don't know." Tommy felt disoriented.

The front door opened and two large hunting hounds bounded out into the night. "Bloody hell, where did they come from?" she asked.

Tommy pulled Barbara behind the hedge. "I don't know but I don't think we should just walk up to the house."

They huddled together while they tried to get their bearings. As they watched a horse galloped down the drive. A rider dressed in early nineteenth century peasant clothing dismounted and ran to the house. He knocked loudly on the door. "I 'ave a message for 'e master!"

The door opened and a butler stood with a lamp held high peering out into the gathering night. "Wyllow, why are you here at this hour? The master is having supper."

"It's importan'. 'Bout the King."

"Come inside, mind your muddy boots." The door swung shut behind them.

Barbara gripped Tommy's hand hard. "King? Tommy, what's going on?'

"I don't know but if I said we went up the hill in twenty sixteen and came down in eighteen sixteen what would you say?"

"That it's impossible."

"Do you have a better explanation?"

Barbara looked around. "No, to be truthful, but we can't travel through time. It's impossible. I saw a programme on TV once with Professor Brian Cox. He said it was only possible to travel forward in time, not backwards."

"Do you believe everything you see on TV?"

"No but…Tommy, this isn't real. It can't be. We're detectives. We can work this out. There has to be a reason, something logical. Peter playing a prank perhaps."

"And how did Peter shrink the trees and change the layout of the garden in less than an hour?"

Barbara felt a chill run down her spine. "Tommy, I'm scared."

Tommy put his arm around her. "We're safe for the moment. We just need time to think and work this out. There's a secret room under the garden. We'll go there and be safe. Then we can think everything through."

"Are you sure?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"We could go and see the master."

"You mean knock on the door of my great-great-great-great-grandfather and say "good evening Sir, we're from two hundred years in the future. We just wondered if we could have a bed for the night while we work out how to get back?' Oh and by the way we look identical to you and your wife. Yes, that'll work."

"Okay so that's not a good plan. Let's go to your hiding hole."

They carefully threaded their way through the shrubbery until they were out of sight of the house. Tommy led the dash across the garden to the secret entrance. He had last been in here when they had been explaining to Helen about his mother's unfaithfulness on the weekend of their engagement party. He took a deep breath. This was a nightmare on so many levels but he had to be strong for Barbara. "In here."

The room was full of sacks of grain on one side and coal on the other. It was hardly comfortable but it felt safe, at least until the morning. Tommy threw the blanket he was still carrying over some grain bags. "Here sit down while we think."

"Thanks."

He sat next to her and pulled her into his arms. They sat silently for several minutes until Barbara spoke. "If we have, somehow, travelled through time then we might be able to travel back. Maybe if we go back to the stones and lean on them and kiss. Maybe if we take the rings off it'll reverse it and we'll get back."

"It's worth a try I suppose. We have to do something. I don't think we should go until morning though. The path is too rough without any light and might be worse two hundred years ago."

"You mean now."

"Yes, now." Tommy checked his watch. "Well at least my watch still works. Although it seems time travel takes a while. It's nearly eleven. We should get some sleep and get up before dawn to go back to Druid's Hill."

"Okay. I'm sorry."

Tommy cuddled her close to him. "Why? You did nothing wrong. Neither of us did. We have just walked into something we can't explain. At least not yet. One thing is for sure, we'll never forget the night I proposed!"

Barbara laughed softly then reached up and kissed him. "There's no one I'd rather be stuck in the past with."

"Me either." Tommy kissed her gently.

"Tommy?"

"Mmm?"

"I've never made love in the nineteenth century before. It would be a shame to waste the chance."

He grinned mischievously against her cheek. "Well we are dressed practically I suppose."

April 1816 Saturday Howenstowe

Tommy woke with the rooster. It was a little later then he planned but he woke Barbara with a loving kiss. "Come on let's see if we can get home before anyone knows we dashed back two hundred years to make love."

Barbara stretched her back. "It was just as good as it was in the twenty-first century but your bed is much more comfortable."

The first rays of dawn rose behind the hill as they climbed. Tommy felt a wave of apprehension wash over him. Last night it had seemed logical that they would be able to reverse the event. Now he approached the circle he was less certain. They found the exact spot. They kissed passionately and leant back against the stone. Apart from the dizziness of the kiss nothing happened. They tried removing the rings, reversing the promise of engagement, cursing and appealing to all gods, pagan and beyond. Nothing worked.

"We're stuck here!" Barbara screamed with a tinge of hysteria. "in the bloody eighteen-hundreds, with no sewerage, no electricity, no TV."

"It might not be permanent. We have to get back."

"And if we can't? How are we going to survive? We haven't got any money; we don't know anyone. And what if people mistake us for Thomas and Elizabeth? What the hell do we do?"

Tommy tapped his satchel. "We have five hundred pounds. That'll get us somewhere comfortable."

"Tommy, they're replicas. It's not real."

"Will anyone here know that?"

"Guess not, at least not at first."

"We can walk into another town, find an inn and get a decent rest. Then I'll try to find someone who can help."

"A witch you mean? Great, we'll be burnt at the stake."

"Don't be so melodramatic Barbara. No, not a witch. I'll find a Druid. They worship at the stones. They must know something."

"Great, so our future depends on a crazy man in a hooded robe who believes in fairies and will probably sacrifice us on the stones!"

"Reports of Druid sacrifices are exaggerated Barbara. Druids were originally members of the educated elite. Modern druids don't believe in anything specific, just the spirituality of nature. I am sure they understand the power of the circle."

"Yeah, by sacrificing us!"

"Barbara, I don't want to fight with you. I'm as confused and worried as you but arguing with each other won't help."

Barbara closed her eyes and turned her face to the sky. She took a deep, calming breath. "I know. I'm sorry Tommy. We have to stay strong for each other."

Tommy kissed her tenderly. "That, my love, is what we do best."

April 2016 Saturday Howenstowe

Dorothy was searching for her son. "Has anyone seen the lovebirds this morning? I've looked everywhere."

"No, I checked their room and their costumes are still gone and no sign of them," Judith replied. "Did they come back last night after their walk? Maybe one of them had an accident."

"Well ride up to Druid's and check!" Dorothy barked.

As Judith left their guests filed into the dining room for breakfast. "Has anyone seen Barbara or Tommy?" Dorothy asked, "they're missing."

"Missing? Probably still in bed," Hillier quipped looking decidedly pleased with himself.

"We checked. I've sent Judith up where they went walking but they seem to have vanished. What are we going to do for the parade?"

After Judith returned with only the small box that had for two centuries housed Elizabeth's rings a full scale search was launched. Hillier co-ordinated the police and Dorothy contacted key men in the village to mount a search. Peter even called out the life guard to patrol the coast.

To keep busy Winston set up a whiteboard in the library and started filling in key facts like the time and location they were last seen and a map of the area. He organised for their police id photos to be emailed down and printed them off for distribution. He manned the radio while Hillier was organising a helicopter search. What Winston could not tell anyone was that he had a very strong sense that he would never see Barbara alive again. He took the precaution of getting their fingerprints and DNA profiles just in case.

Author's note: Thanks for your reviews. I often don't say it, but I do enjoy reading how you respond to my stories. As you can see this one is a little different and I have borrowed the theme for this section, but none of the characters or storyline, from Diana Garbaldon's Outlander.