Chapter 18

Vicki moved to the window and looked out to the front lawn of Collinwood. She was growing afraid and concerned that Josette had not found her or had sent Jeanette to help her or assure her she would be home soon. Looking out at the wide expanse of the lawn she frowned and it marred her pretty features with the pucker of her eyebrows.

Since Jeremiah had locked her in the room she had not heard anyone in the hallway and she was concerned that no one would know she was here and at the mercy of her husband. He had ridden off in a furious hurry and it had given her pause and a small amount of relief.

However, she was just as sure that Jeremiah had gone off to get drunk and she did not want to be here held captive by her husband in a drunken rage. He had already killed one woman and she did not want to be another. Moving around the bedroom she had come to hate this place and this time. Feeling frustrated she sat on the window seat and looked down. Then she heard it a small click of the lock being opened and then the door opened just slightly.

Standing she moved cautiously towards the door and then jumped back when Daniel poked his head into the room. "Hello." He smiled and handed her the key.

"Aunt Naomi said to give you this and tell you to hurry and come down the back way to the kitchen, she is going to help you hide."

Vicki felt relief wash over her and she was so very grateful for the young man that did resemble David. "Thank you!" She enthused and followed him out of the door, stopping to pitch the key to the Jeremiah's room down the hallway. On feet that had become very fast she moved down the rear stairs and paused hearing the servants in the kitchen.

Daniel smiled, put his fingertip to his lips and winked. "Stepping out into the room he shouted, "There is a fire in the drawing room!"

The women grew concerned and rushed from the room. Daniel then motioned Vicki to come and she hurried down the stairs and out the rear door to an empty courtyard. Seeing a flutter of a cape she looked over and saw Naomi standing and waved to her.

Vicki not letting the grass grow under her feet dashed towards Naomi and rushed head long into her arms and held onto her trembling. "I know my dear he is getting out of hand and we need to protect you. Come, I have the perfect place for you to take refuge for now and he will not think to look for you there."

Releasing the woman that so looked like her mother she could not keep the tears from burning her eyes, she felt full of gratitude and relief.

"There is a small cottage not far from here, Joshua had given it over to one of our servants but he has long since died. I know you will be comfortable there and I have had it supplied. No one knows this place still exists except for Daniel and myself. He is a very resourceful young man and helped me put in food stores for you."

Vicki followed at a furious pace moving next to Naomi. "What about you, surely Jeremiah will try to bully you."

Naomi smiled and shook her head. "Let him try, I have already had my things sent along with those of Millicent, Sarah, and Daniel to the Old House where I understand Barnabas and Josette will be joining us shortly."

Naomi moved through the woods that skirted the back of Collinwood and stopped at a small stable. There she moved to a horse drawn carriage and turned. "I came prepared as you can see, once I take you to the cottage, I shall meet with the others at the Old House. So that when Jeremiah comes home tonight he will have half the staff and himself to live with. Let us see how he likes his new home being all alone in that great huge house." Vicki nodded but felt tense with each passing minute she was sure they would be discovered.

Naomi sent the horse at a trot down the road and watched the side roads to see if anyone was following. "He wants his Angelique he can have her. I made sure she stayed behind."

Vicki felt scandalous with the way she was making her escape from Collinwood with Naomi's help. She had grown quiet and sighed softly, "You know he will try to have me committed once he finds me."

Naomi reached over and gently patted her hands with her gloved hands. "Let him try, he has to find your first and this place is very isolated and as I said it is not a part of the Collins listed properties so he will have no idea that it even exists. My concern for you my dear is to keep you healthy and safe. You deserve so much more than that bastard has afforded you so far. I must say the two brothers were more alike than anyone could imagine. They were both controlling and very competitive and possessive."

Vicki nodded and watched them moving further away from Collinwood and for a moment she was at peace and no longer afraid. "But if he does find me he shall say I am mad and that I have made allegations of not being of this time or this world."

Naomi released her hold on Vicki's hand and smiled, "I know my dear, how do you think you got here to begin with?"

Vicki was stunned. "Excuse me?" Naomi turned those bright knowing eyes upon the girl's face and shook her head. "My dear Victoria, I know that he killed the original Katharine and that you ended up in the hallway upstairs. It was because I had searched for you."

Naomi kept that even tone to her explanation while maintaining control over the horses that pulled their carriage. "We needed you here. We needed for you to come to our time to our reality so that we could reset things right. You are pregnant and I am afraid that you must remain here to give birth to that baby girl you now house in your womb."

Vicki's mind was beginning to real with this information. "Who are you?"" She stammered out her face growing pale with the thought of her being pregnant with Jeremiah's child.

Naomi smiled and led the horse on down the trail. "I am you in another time in another reality and I am your mother from your time. But I am also the one who was able to give you the powers of being a time folder. To cross through portals of time and dimensions to come where you are needed and oh my dear child you are needed desperately here."

Vicki knew there would be more explanation forthcoming and figured she would divulge the whole of this experience when they arrived at this cottage.

"Please tell me you plan to explain more to me when we arrive at our destination."

Naomi nodded and said softly, "I will do more than explain, I shall assure you that once we have this child, this timeline will reset and then we can allow you to go back to your time and your Barnabas."

A wave of such exquisite relief washed over her as she heard these words and she finally slumped back and relaxed.

"My dear it was never my intention to keep this from you but I had to let it play out. You see Jeremiah killed Katharine and Katharine's child would have been your direct decedent and we need this child to assure that we have a Josette that can travel through time to keep our time line straight."

Naomi kept her eyes to the shadow-ridden roadway while she explained. "Without this girl child you now carry we were doomed to destruction. Our future generations were slowly dissolving and disappearing into the void and becoming no more because of Jeremiah's hateful and thoughtless act of killing the original Katharine."

Naomi took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "We simply could not allow the man to destroy the future of Collinwood."

Vicki shook her head. "You do realize that by keeping me here we could risk a cascade affect and it could implode all our worlds"

Naomi shook her head. "It is a risk we have to take my dear. It is that important to our time line that we risk it all."

Vicki was beginning to feel a little heart sick, "But it is not your own timeline you put at risk there are thousands upon thousands of worlds that will be at risk."

Naomi nodded slowly, "I would have said that was true except that right now other time lines are fighting the demons assault from the hellmouth and that is why your Josette has not come searching for you."

This did give Vicki some cause for alarm. "I see, so she is in danger?"

Naomi nodded, "But she has some very strong allies helping her out. While they struggle in their fight with Baal, we shall allow time to pass here. I suspect you are about six weeks pregnant, the time here will not pass as it would back in your time and we shall allow this to play out and you shall give birth and afterwards, you may go back to your world and your life."

Vicki watched her pull the horse drawn carriage to a stop in front of a simple but clean looking cottage. Vicki stepped down out of the carriage and walked towards the front of the cottage. "It reminds me of the estate cottage back at Collinwood."

Naomi jumped down and moved to the front door and taking a key from her reticule she opened the door and pushed it open. Vicki stepped past her thanking her and stopped. The inside of the cottage was a clean and well kept as the outside had been. "its lovely and seems so peaceful here."

Naomi stepped in and smiled, "Daniel built your fire, in there is the bedchambers. There is a well out back so you should be able to draw water. The kitchen area is this way."

She led her around the cottage and showed her stairs that led to a second small bedroom in the attic. Then guiding her to a door that opened to another set of steps that led to a root cellar. Vicki sighed and nodded, "It is very much like the estate cottage in my time. Usually we had visitors staying there for the summer. Currently, my half sister Lydia is living in the cottage."

Naomi nodded, "She is the one that is pregnant by an incubus and they are attempting to rescue her from the demon."

Vicki had not known this and was immediately concerned. "Do not worry my dear they have some very good talent helping them with your sister's plight."

She then directed her to the small door that opened off of her bedroom from the main room of the cottage. Naomi blithely continued with the tour regardless of the fact she had just told her that her sister was being held by a demon.

"I rather like the garden out back. It is peaceful and there are places to sit" She opened the door for Vicki to peer out back and noted that is was peaceful looking and that several little settees had been placed along the meandering pathway.

"You will find that we were very thorough in setting it up for your comfort. Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide you with a servant or servants and you will need to tend to your own needs. We fear to bring a servant would only allow the possibility of Jeremiah finding you and we cannot allow that at this time. He cannot be allowed to take his rage out on you and risk the life of the child you carry."

Vicki was beginning to feel a bit isolated and sighed sadly she moved back into the house and moved to collapse upon the sofa that faced the fireplace.

"Will I be able to visit with you?"

Naomi frowned, "Not for a while my dear, I cannot afford for Jeremiah to follow me here and discover you." Naomi was looking with some concern upon the poor girl that had just had her whole life turned upside down again.

"Victoria, I know this is a lot to put on you especially now that you have discovered that you are pregnant. I only ask that you be patient and we shall see to your comfort and your needs and get you home as soon as it is feasibly possible. I know you will be feeling alone and isolated and I am sure that Daniel will find a way to come and visit you. He is quite fond of you."

Vicki glanced away from the cheerfully burning fire and smiled. "As I am of him. Oh what of my clothing?"

Naomi nodded to her bedroom. "You will find them neatly packed away in the dresser, trunks and the small closet. I was very cautious about cleaning your room out. Understand my life will not be easy either. I will be fighting against my own instincts to want to come to you and mother you during your time of confinement."

She sat by her and took Vicki's hand in hers and spoke softly. "But to do so will only put you at risk, that is why now while I know that Angelique is occupied with other duties and Jeremiah is in Collinsport that I am taking this time to make sure your comforts are met and that you are reassured that although I shall be with my son and his wife, you will be in our thoughts and prayers."

Vicki looked down at their hands and slowly she removed her hand and folded her arms over her chest and went back to studying the fire. "Naomi do we not have elementals in this timeline that offer their help?"

Naomi stood and moved to sit across from Vicki in one of the delicate fireside chairs and sighed. "My dear when he killed Katharine we lost contact with all our supernatural friends and our abilities were curtailed considerably. That is why you are so important to us now. I know we are asking a lot from you but we need you so very badly that it has put us all at risk in some form or another."

Vicki thought a moment. "Then tell me this why is your timeline not under attack by those from the hellmouth or from Baal?"

Naomi frowned and stood moving to peer out the window she sighed deeply, "As I said we lost a great deal when he killed Katharine. The timeline you come from for this world is now under the control of Baal and all that is left of Collinwood is in ruin and darkness, it collapsed in and allowed the demons to run with free access in the world. The battles that are being done now are by the citizens of what is left of our future."

The thought of total anarchy made Vicki shiver and she shook her head. "He really messed up the whole word didn't he?"

Naomi turned and looked over at the woman that would one day be her or she would be her mother and smiled sadly. "Yes, he really did muck up our lives and the lives of any future Collins Family Members. That is why we did what we did and we hope that you can forgive us for our actions."

Vicki shrugged lightly "Who is to say that if it were me and I was in the same position I would not have done the same thing. I am just worried about my Josette and my sister."

Naomi nodded and then looked over at the mantle Clock. "Well my dear as much as I hate the thought of just leaving you here alone, I must. I will need time to get back to the old house and prepare it for my son's homecoming."

Vicki stood and moved to the door with her. "You know for as much as things here are the same they really are different from my world. Jeremiah looks like Quentin Collins from my time, Angelique looks like Josette from my time, your Barnabus looks like someone I know as Willie Loomis, And Peter Bradford looked like my husband, my Barnabas."

She smiled a bittersweet smile. "His wife Julia looks like Julia Hoffman a doctor I know and trust from my time."

Naomi smiled and sighed. "Sometimes the paths we take make changes we do not expect or can comprehend but I understand why you feel so off balanced here with so much disparity in the people you know."

Vicki sighed softly, "I suppose I am glad that in some respects they are different. I don't know how I would have felt seeing my Barnabas with my Angelique as Josette."

Naomi smiled, "But how do you feel about Your Barnabas as Peter Bradford with your Julia?"

Vicki cocked her head and thought a moment, "I suppose I am not that upset about it, I always wondered had I not come back from the past if Barnabas would have eventually ended up with Julia as his wife."

Naomi stepped out of the cottage and moved to the carriage. "Well for your information only Peter and Julia will remain at Collinwood with Jeremiah. I am sure though knowing Jeremiah as I do that they will eventually join us at the old house."

Vicki watched her step to the carriage taking her seat. "My dear do take care and I will send Daniel in a few days on horse back with some more provisions. And as soon as I can come with out risk, I shall come to visit and check on your well being."

Vicki stepped back and smiled waving bye to her and watched the carriage disappear down the road and then from sight. Turning she looked the area over and sighed. This it seemed would be her home and sanctuary for the next few months. Then she felt it, a slight twinge in the lower part of her abdomen. Yes there was new life growing there and she smiled rubbing her hand over her stomach and then made her way to the cottage.

"Well it's going to be you and me baby girl. So lets see what we can find to feed ourselves and then something to read and then bed, I am exhausted."

Moving with ease she hardly felt comfortable. She rummaged through the food stores and found something to make her some soup. After eating she moved about the cottage becoming familiar with the layout and had discovered that Naomi had provided her with enough books to keep her occupied for a while.

Moving to her bathing chambers just off her bedroom, she brushed her teeth with the makeshift toothbrush she had fashioned and then moved to her bed and drew back the coverlet and lay down. "I am so tired little one." Then remembering she needed to bolt the door, she moved back to the living room and stopped dead in her tracks.

Standing in the middle of the room was a savage dressed in doe skin leggings and covering over his mid extremities, she noticed that he was wearing feathers in his hair and his face was painted with a black streak of grease paint across his eyes.

Vicki recognized him as a member of the Abenaki tribe. From what she could recall from her history she knew that they would sometimes form raiding parties and during the revolutionary wars Henry Hamilton had paid for scalps. She looked with concern at the ax he held in his hand. His reaction to seeing her there had been an immediate defensive position.

Taking a deep breath she slowly raised her hand up in an attempt to reassure him she meant him now harm. "Please do not hurt me, I am pregnant." He grunted at her and then looked to her stomach then to her. He pointed to the sofa and she slowly moved to the sofa and sat slowly on the edge.

Then he advanced towards her and grabbed her hair pulling it away from her scalp and raised his axe. In that moment Vicki screamed and closed her eyes and waited for death to claim her. Then it happened. There was a change in the air and then the room filled with the presence of four figures that held out their hands to the brave and shook their heads.

Together they spoke and Vicki knew that the elementals had returned because she now carried their hope. The brave staggered away from Vicki releasing her hair and falling to his knee to babble in the language of the first people.

The lovely elementals floated over the room to form a protective barrier around Victoria. "You must not harm this one she carries the hope of all peoples future. She is sacared, if you care for mother earth,"

Earathei moved forward her gown a soft luminescent green in her dark brown hair lay a circlet of flowers that held like a halo around her hair that flowed down her back and over her shoulder. "Then you will respect a new mother of all. Fieria shimmered and glowed in the soft radiance of the fire and she smiled at the brave.

"Ingnachanuk, you have seen me many times I have helped you. I must tell you now the old father would not like for you take this one's scalp."

The luminescent shimmer of the pale blond known as Carmanea shimmered and moved like the gentle flowing spring fed streams of his youth. "Know that she is protected and as Fieria said the old one would be upset with you."

Finally the shifting one that moved and brought with her a soft flutter of wind around the room, "I am she that is known as Aureliegh, I am wind and will not be kind nor gentle to your lands should anything untoward happen to this one, she is protected Ingnachanuk, so go back to your tribe and bring the word that in seven months time there will be great joy to cover this land for she will bring the child that will secure all of our futures and banish the darkness that was foretold."

Ingnachanuk had fully understood each of them they had spoken in his tongue and he was in awe and now bowed low to them and then crawled to Vicki's feet and looked up with great sadness and regret in his gaze he spoke softly and reached for her hand and drew it to his forehead and spoke from the heart.

"I am sorry my lady of hope, I did not know and I am very sorry for what I almost did. Please find it in your heart to forgive me and allow me to leave and spread the word that the child of hope will arrive and she will be blessed and bring our people great joy."

Vicki looked to the elementals and smiled, "I understood him?" She was amazed that they had allowed her to communicate with the young brave. "Go in peace brave warrior and know I forgive you."

He stood and bowed then moved on silent footfalls to the door and was soon gone from sight. Vicki turned and smiled to her newly made friends. "I am not of your world but know you all well and thank you for saving my life"

Aureliegh smiled and spoke for the others that now fell silent, Vicki knew they usually spoke as one because they worked as one though they were earth, wind, fire, and water.

"Little mother, we may be banished from the future but you are our future now how could we not come forth and protect you. We will not allow anyone thing to harm you. We knew of your great sadness at being brought here and then your feelings of being abandoned and it affected us all."

She turned to indicate her sisters. "As you have us under different names in your time, we are still sisters and will protect and love you just as if you were our own Katharine that should have been in this time." Vicki was truly touched by such a show of solidarity and sentiment to her and her needs and she felt the sting of tears with her gratitude feeling her body drawn into what could only be termed as a group hugs. Closing her eyes she spoke softly, "Sisters I won't be alone after all."