Chapter Three
Amelia had never thought of herself as the type of woman that was prone to tears. At least until she met Cooper. She had cried over him in the barn when she realized he was leaving her, she had cried over him in the spare room when she thought she'd have to leave him, and she'd cried to defend him from her father. Perhaps because there had been so little worth crying about before she met and fell in love with him.
She would have welcomed tears, standing in the hotel room, out of time, holding Cooper's instructions. But all she felt was shock and an icy fear. Tangoing across the dance floor to save her life, she had thought she was terrified. She was wrong; yes, there had been uncertainly but mostly determination. All her fear was magnified without Cooper. She had so many questions and no one to ask them to. Why had Cooper written this now? What did he know that she didn't? Is that why he had fought so hard to keep her from going to the speakeasy? Had he frowned upon her drinking because he wanted her to have a clear head? And, most importantly, is that why he's been so insistent she wear the cloaking device? And leave the basement with it but without him?
Her knees collapsed, causing her to crumble to the floor. This couldn't be happening. None of it. Suddenly, nothing felt real. Not her beautiful dress, not the paper in her hands, not the even the memories of sitting in the time machine. For a moment, she thought she was going to vomit but she was too weak to move.
Amelia had failed him. Cooper, the only man she had ever loved. She had forced him to do something he hadn't wanted to do, and now she was paying the price. She had been too proud and sure of all her research, she had failed to heed the warnings that even Cooper himself had given her. She had selfishly agreed to leave the basement first, to wear the cloaking device.
"No." It sounded like a hiccup. "No." Longest, deeper, more primal. A wail. "Noooo!" She doubled over, her face hitting the plush carpet and, at last, the fourth "No!" came out as a sob. Time, never a concrete concept in Amelia's life, felt especially fluid and she lost all track of it as she lay there keening.
"Why the tears? I thought you wanted an adventure, and we certainly got one."
Her head snapped up and she saw Cooper standing in the doorway, his key still in his hand. "Cooper!"
"Oh, Amelia!" He came swiftly to her side, ducking down on his knees, pulling her upright to lean against his chest, his strong arms about her. "I did not realize you were so upset. I shouldn't have been flippant. Is this a post adrenal stress effect? Symptoms can include uncontrollable crying and exhaustion. But you seemed so calm in the speakeasy and then out in the alley, you seemed to have the situation firmly in control."
Barely able to speak between her sobs, Amelia pressed the time machine instructions into Cooper's chest. "I - thought - you - weren't - coming - back."
He kissed the top of her head. "Do you honestly think I'd plan to abandon you like that? I would do everything in my power, I'd fight with everything I have to get back to you. I just wanted you to know they were there in case you needed them. This emotional response is completely unexpected."
Hearing him say it, Amelia realized that she'd been foolish for the second time in one night. First, by making him go to the speakeasy and then by believing that he had planned to leave her or that he knew something she didn't. Hearing him say it aloud made her understand how stupid it was to have believed that for even a second. She had let all that lying to the police and her over-active imagination run away with her.
"It was just so awful after I left you and I thought you would be here when I got back," she said, pulling back to wipe her tears off her face.
"I was afraid to take the closest subway because the entrance was swarming with policemen. I thought my evening dress would give me away. I walked for a long time, passing a couple of other entrances before I thought it was safe enough to go down and then I had to change trains twice." He brushed his hand along her hair. "I'm sorry. If I had known how you'd react, that I'd find you here sobbing like this, I would have risked the closest subway to get back. You were just so strong and calm and in control. I was so proud of you." He licked his lips and then whispered, "Have your menses started?"
"No! What a thing to say!" Amy yelled, weakly slapping his chest. "I was terrified!" Cooper put his hands up in surrender. She bit off another angry word and wrinkled her brow. As much as it pained her to admit it, Cooper had a valid point. Was all this emotional upheaval and irrational belief that Cooper would strand her alone in time in some way related to her cycle? She hadn't had birth control for a several days now, her period should have started without it. And yet it hadn't yet. But then she'd always been so irregular. Well, it didn't matter now. Cooper was here and they were safe. "It has nothing to do with that and I can't believe you'd resort to that! I was genuinely terrified and the whole thing was awful and I thought I'd never get away and then you weren't here and I thought you left me this note for a reason and -"
"I'm sorry. I'm not good at all this yucky, squishy uterus stuff," he said, interrupting her. He looked so confused and lost, Amelia couldn't help but forgive him. "Amelia, tell me what happened. What do you mean you thought you'd never get away? Did they question you or hold you? Arrest you? You seemed so confident, not like you were frightened at all. You were incredibly convincing, I was in awe. The policeman seemed to believe everything you said. If I hadn't known better, I would have believed you, too. I wanted to find this fat, blond, mustached monster and punch him myself, and I knew he was a lie."
Amelia smiled in spite of her fear and frustration and confusion and annoyance. 'So many emotions tonight!' she thought. Time travel was not for the faint-hearted and weak. "I think maybe it was too convincing." Then she told him the story about Officer O'Reilly and the sick sister and the cough medicine.
Cooper smiled at the end. "Amy Fowler? Not bad. It could be your nom de plume. But it needs something else, I think . . ." He shrugged before his face turned serious. He put his hands up, a palm on each of her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Amelia. You're so brave and strong and you were so brilliant in the alley. I expected you to be waiting up, pacing, angry at me for taking so long to get back."
"I am angry that you took so long to get back," Amelia said, but without any real force behind it.
"And I'm angry with you for breaking your promise to me. You were supposed to run." His voice was firm, but his hand moved softly on her cheek.
"I promise I'll never disobey you again," Amelia said softly, chastised.
"Disobey?" He raised an eyebrow. "What is this, 1886? Besides, you and I both know that's only setting you up for failure."
She was finally able to chuckle as Cooper stood and put a hand out. "Come on, it's late. Let's get you to bed."
Once settled in, Amelia assumed she'd drop right off to sleep, the exhaustion finally catching up with her. But she found sleep an elusive thing as she tossed and turned.
"Hey, come here," Cooper said softly, taking her hand and pulling her closer to him in the dark. "Tell me a story . . ."
Looking in the bathroom mirror, Amelia frowned. Maybe it was too much. Coming back to the hotel, swinging her robin's egg blue Tiffany's bag, she loved it. She felt powerful and fashionable. It had been a lovely day, despite her residual disappointment that Cooper had gone to his appointment with Tesla without saying good-bye, even though she'd understood that he was trying to be kind, that he was allowing her to sleep in after such a late and frightening night. She knew that his meeting was early, he had told her that, hadn't he, just yesterday before they went to the speakeasy? And hadn't he said that it would probably be too early for her to get up, which was, she had to admit, just as good as telling her that he would gone when she woke up? Determined to prove her strength to him, that she was just as brave and as strong as he thought she was, she had followed his suggested itinerary to the letter - until of course she hadn't, thus the frown in the mirror.
Cooper was safe, still on the same time as her, and that's all that mattered. He was only gone this morning because he had a plan and Cooper was loath to deviate from any schedule, she reminded herself as she walked in the park. So she window shopped, bought the most exquisite pair of jet and diamond earrings and a pretty silver bangle for Bernice's birthday at Tiffany's (and a few classic items that they could sell at a great profit in the future), bought her first edition of Agatha Christie's newest mystery to add to her growing collection, and went back to the park to read it on one of the benches. The weather was sunny and crisp, the perfect autumn day.
Until a trio of young flappers walked by and she was plucked by a whim. All week, she'd struggled with pins, and only ended up feeling frumpy for it. Well, why not, she had reasoned, sitting in the salon? And it wasn't as though Cooper's suggestions were actual instructions, even if she had thought about them that way this morning. If last night had taught her anything it was that life could change suddenly, that risks had to be taken, that she was much better at being bold than being fearful.
Now, she heard the door to their suite open, and she rapidly replaced her cloche hat. But that only made her frown more at how much it emphasized the possible mistake instead of hiding.
"Amelia?" Cooper called.
"In the bathroom!" she yelled back. She took a deep breath and turned toward the door. She stooped with her hand on the gold knob and added in a rush, "But don't come in!"
"What's wrong?" She heard the anxiety in his voice, the sound of his steps approaching. "Are you sick?"
"No, I'm not ill."
"Oh, you're angry with me, aren't you? I knew I shouldn't have left this morning; it's why I cut our meeting short. It's just that you looked so peaceful sleeping. Amelia, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have left today, even if that was the plan. I should have realized you'd still be experiencing stress about the events that occurred. Post-adrenal stress can last up to forty-eight hours. I should have at least left a note, I see that now. Please forgive -"
"No, it's not that." She bit her lip. Amelia was not upset with him about this morning, it had been his plan all along, and she understood his need for order, his desire to meet one of his heroes. Yes, she was confused and a little hurt when she realized he was gone, and there had been some bitter moments that she tasted the aftereffects of her fear - both the rational but focused fear from the speakeasy and the irrational and jumbled fear later in the hotel room - but as the whole escapade had been her fault to start with and because it had ended up well enough in the long run, she couldn't be angry with him. "I'm not angry with you. Really, I'm not. I knew you had an appointment." Another deep breath. "Cooper, I did something I don't think you'll like. I think I'm the one that needs forgiveness." She opened the door slowly.
Watching Cooper's face carefully, she reached up and took the cloche off, smoothing down her newly bobbed hair with her hand. His eyebrows went up in surprise and his mouth opened just enough she could see the edges of his ever-so-slightly crooked front teeth.
"You hate it," she said flatly.
"I - uh - well, I didn't expect it." Still his mouth did not close all the way.
"You hate it."
"Do you?" He licked his lips and then pursed them together with force. He looked rakishly handsome, with his bow tie hanging loose around his neck and his jacket slung over his shoulder.
"I don't know. It was a split second decision. And I loved the feeling afterwards, the lightness, the breeze on my neck, but now . . . I think maybe I overreacted, thinking I was proving something after last night didn't need to be proven." She shrugged and looked down at her T-strap spectator heels. "You love my braids."
"Amelia," Cooper said softly, throwing his jacket aside with one hand and reaching for her cheek with the other, "I love you for far more than your braids. It's your hair and if you want it like this, well, who am I to stop you?"
"I'm glad you realize that." Amelia lifted her chin.
Cooper chuckled and wrapped his arms about her waist. "Besides, now I can see your neck. And the bangs emphasize your beautiful eyes."
Amelia was about to point out he could see her neck in the braids, too, but her throat was too busy being kissed. "Mmmmmm," she purred instead.
The kisses continued around the side, and he moved the angled front of her hair back to kiss beneath her ears. "Nice earrings," he mumbled. "Are they new?"
A giggle barely escaped her lips before he whirled her around to kiss the back of her neck, just below her freshly sharp hairline. Then his hands were lifting up her argyle sweater.
"Cooper, stop," she said. "You know we can't."
He growled but stopped, his hands on her waist. Since the mysterious birth control malfunction, they'd been celibate all week. But at this moment, especially, she really wanted him. She wanted that physical reminder that he was still here, that he would always be here, whenever here might be.
"We can do other things," he purred into her neck again. "Please. You've been wearing the most fabulous costumes all week."
"Yes." Before she could continue, the sweater was over her head, and Cooper was unhooking the flimsy period bra. She moaned when his hands made contact with her breasts, her long strand of fake pearls thumping again his knuckles. Oh, how she wanted this. "Other things. Let me take off my pearls."
"Leave them on." Cooper kissed into the back of her neck again, and then his lips started to trail their way down her exposed spine. He paused to tug at the waistband on her pleated skirt, and she obliged him by reaching down to unbutton it as he returned to fondling her breasts.
She moaned again, letting the skirt fall. He pulled down her colette-style underpants, and she kicked them out of the way with her skirt. "My garter."
"Leave it," he said as he knelt to kiss her naked bottom, just to the side of one of the frilly straps heading down to clip into her thigh-high stockings.
"But it's not historically accurate," Amelia explained with a gasp as Cooper's tongue traced its way back up. "It's from Victoria's Secret. I just couldn't bear the thought of wearing another type of corset."
"Thank God," Cooper moaned, kissing her tailbone and spreading her legs with his hand, finding the center of her with his finger. "You can wear it anytime."
"Oh, Cooper . . . " Amelia grasped the edge of the door jam for support.
Then his broad shoulders were between his legs as he twisted beneath her. He glanced up at her, his blue eyes ablaze beneath her dangling pearls and breasts, the front of her new bob falling forward.
"You are so sexy," he murmured, trapping her hips with his hands and burying his face in the apex of her thighs.
Several delightful minutes later, Amelia screamed, "Oh, Cooper!" and pounded the door frame as she climaxed. Then Cooper's strong arms helped to lower her to the floor next to him. He put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead. Amelia looked up at him as she reached over to unhook his belt. Leaning back again the wall, lifting his bottom so she could pull down his pants, Cooper groaned softly as she first released and then stroked him. Amelia rotated on her knees and bent over, making sure she was looking him straight in the eyes when she took him in, her shiny new hair bobbing up and down at the side of her head as she pleasured him.
"Amelia," he said horsely, his breath shallow, "come up here. I want to make love to you."
Lifting her head, letting him go, Amelia said, "We can't."
"Please? Your eyes! That hair! I can't take it!"
Amelia shook her head weakly. "I want to but . . . we can't."
"Just once," Cooper begged. "Nothing will happen."
"That's not the way it works, and you know it," Amy said.
"Get up here and prove to me that I'm wrong," Cooper said. Then his face changed. "Please, Amelia, I thought I'd lose you last night, I have never been so frightened as when we had to get out of that speakeasy, and I was terrified watching you with that policeman. I only pretended I wasn't afraid when I got back because you were so upset. Please, I love you and I never want to be separated from you again."
Biting her lip, Amelia wavered. Why, oh, why, did she want him so badly? She, too, needed this physical reminder that they were as close as they could possibly be, that they were locked together no matter what obstacles history put in their path. She shuffled forward to raise herself over him, but he grabbed her and rolled her, running his hands along the tops of her stocking and up to her lace garter, squeezing her bottom beneath the elastic straps. Her heels and pearls were still on. "Yes?" he whispered into her ear.
"Yes," she said back and then he was in her. She groaned deeply in satisfaction. Oh, how she'd missed this.
Breathe in, breath out. Hold him close, never let him go.
"You won't regret it, I promise," he said, kissing her softly, raising her leg up higher, slipping deeper into her, setting a pace. Just like dancing.
"I'll regret nothing."
To be continued . . .
What's that, you say? An M-rated Amelia story? Things have changed, it seems ;-)
As always, thank you in advance for your reviews!
