"Jula!" Jae called, beginning to get frantic. "JULA!"
"Dude, what's the big idea?" Jula asked grumpily shuffling into the room. "You're not going to die, that's obvious from here..."
"Don't be stupid!" Jae snapped. "Jula, you remember that I gave the colonel my book to keep before we left the 18th century, right?"
"Um, duh.."
"Yeah, well, I think I might have taken a 'souvenir' with me."
"Uh, in English, please, I'm too tired for the language of Jae..."
Jae scowled and in an impatient tone hissed, "Look in the bloody book on my bed!"
"Um, okay..."
Sidling over to the side of Jae's bed, Jula picked up the book and began to read, her eyes growing as large as saucers when she came to the end of what she was looking at.
"Oh my god... Jae, are you sure?"
"There isn't any other logical explanation for the gap; I'm sure, unfortunately."
"You're-"
"Yes. Apparently, and most unfortunately. I have to go back; if I don't, time will screw up..."
"So?"
"Jula, do you want to have an early Armageddon?"
"No, but how are we going to do this? Because somehow, I don't think going back this time is going to be as easy as it was before."
"I know." Jae replied. "I have to call Aidan."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Hello?"
"Aidan, it's Jae." said Jae, balancing her cell phone on her shoulder while flipping through the history book.
"Ah, Miss Barrington, calling so soon, are we? Do you need something?"
"Yes, yes, I do!" Jae nearly shouted with panic into the phone.
"Hey, hey, easy now, you're going to make me go deaf."
Jae was about to burst, but the calm tone of Aidan's voice deflated her anger.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I need to meet with you as soon as possible; unfortunately, I don't think tonight will work, but if you're available tomorrow..."
"Yes, around noon; we can meet at el Café del Fuego by the library if you like. Now, tell me, what happened?"
Damn him, he has the same calm, persistent voice that the colonel had... Jae thought furiously.
"Well, it appears, that there's a gap in time and I bought back a souvenir from the 18th century..."
Silence on the other end of the line.
"Aidan?"
"Yes?" Aidan replied finally with a sigh on the other end.
"Why didn't you answer me?"
"Because, Jae, I knew this would happen..."
"What?" Jae nearly shouted again.
"Let me explain-"
"Yes, do explain!"
"I've read that book so many times, that I have it memorized. I figured out a while ago that there was a gap in history, and I knew about the possibility of this happening, but I didn't dare say anything to you, even after I knew who you were." Aidan explained, his voice remaining calm.
"Why not?" Jae demanded.
"Jae, do you really think it would have gone well if I would have said to you, "Oh, I know your story, and by the way, you're pregnant with the child of a man who's been dead for over two hundred years"?"
"No, I guess not." Jae replied slowly in reluctant agreement. "But that still doesn't help things. What am I going to do?"
"You're going to have to go back. But it might not be as easy as last time."
"Why?"
"Things have changed; if you were to go back on the next open date two hundred plus years earlier, Col. Tavington would no longer be in South Carolina; he would have already been living in Ohio with his wife and son."
"What are you trying to say?"
" I'm saying that the colonel wouldn't be there for you if you were to go back the same way you did last time."
"Well, what other portal is there?"
"None, as far as I know. But there is some good news."
"Really?" Jae asked in mild sarcasm.
"Yes." Aidan replied confidently. "Middleton Place is not a time portal, and neither is the room in which you were in when you last got transported. The portal is only the painting. It doesn't matter where it is, it will always work the same way."
"And how does this help things?"
If we do some research and time things right, we might be able to get you back to the 18th century, but this time, on the Tavington family estate in Ohio."
Jae shook her head in confusion.
"In English, please?"
"We might be able to take the painting to our family estate, hang it in one of the rooms, and when the timing is right, send you back."
"Uh..."
Aidan sighed.
"Look, I know you're stressed out, and perhaps what I just told you was a bit of an overload, and my sincerest apologies if it was. Anyway, why don't we save further questions for tomorrow when we're both thinking more clearly.."
"Yeah..."
"I'll see you tomorrow then..."
"Yeah, tomorrow..."
"Oh, and Jae?"
"Yes?"
"Everything is going to be alright."
"You don't know that."
"You don't know that I don't know that."
"Whatever..."
"Just trust me. And try not to lose too much sleep over it."
"Again, whatever..."
There was a click on the other line as Aidan hung up. Slowly, Jae folded her phone, placing it back on her nightstand.
Aidan, you'd better have something good in mind, 'cause if you don't...
Letting her thought hang unfinished, Jae climbed into bed and fell into a fitful sleep.