Chapter 2

As I eased my late model Chevy Malibu through the oversized ornate iron gate and drove it up the tree lined driveway, I took a long look at the house.   It was in just as beautiful condition as it was in the eighteen hundreds; if not more so.  The way that the sunshine blended with its soft, pale yellow exterior and the pristine condition of its white trim and array of columns holding up the imposing portico made me realize that Nora was correct in labeling it majestic.  It had to be the most spectacular house that I’d ever had the opportunity to view and walk through -let alone own and live in-, but it emitted a sad and lonely vibe. 

I pushed aside the memories of Jason’s horrific sneakiness and vile treatment of me and the fact that I’d been poisoned while in that house and allowed myself to remember the long walks with Lance in the elaborate gardens and the beauty of our wedding night.  Perhaps Nora was right.  The house did hold some wonderful memories for me.  I just needed to pull them to the forefront of my memory bank and push the bad ones to the back.  Or, even completely out.  If that was possible. 

As I stopped the car in the circular part of the driveway near the front door and slowly got out, I could actually feel the sadness that the house emitted. It blended with the late fall chill and caused my body to involuntarily shudder. I hated the cold, but I had to accept the fact that winter was upon us and, although Virginia didn’t get the cold like New York did, it still got cold and snowy. 

I adjusted the fur collar on my coat so that it offered better protection against the elements.  My heart ached with regret over the emptiness of a house that had once been full of life.  Some of the life was happy and good while some was sad and evil, but all was vibrant.  Nora might have been right when she pointed out that the house needed life.  I considered how Lance would feel to see his house so lonely looking.  I felt, in some small way, obligated to do something about it. 

“If I moved in here, I’d want you to live with me,” I said as I searched my keychain for the key to the front door.  “I couldn’t live here alone.”

“Live here?” she asked. “Or, stay on the weekends?”

“I don’t know,” I moaned.  “It makes no sense to keep our two apartments when we have this enormous mansion at our disposal.”

“Have you any idea what a help not having to pay rent would be for me?” she asked with obvious relief as she got out of the car.  “I don’t make the same money as you do.”

I looked at her with surprise. “Are you in need of money?  You never said.”

“My financial struggles aren’t your problem,” she said with her chin held high as she stood next to me and waited for me to unlock the door, “but it would be a huge load off my back if I got rid of the burden of rent.”

“And the utilities,” I added as I inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it.

She raised her brows and said with enthusiasm, “That’s right.  Those too!”

“Okay, then,” I said as I swung the door open and stepped aside to allow her to enter first. “Let’s give notice to our landlords.”

“I’ll pitch in with the bills, of course.  I’d never think of becoming a mooch.  I’m no mooch,” she enthusiastically chattered as she practically skipped over the threshold wearing an enormous smile.

I chuckled.  “I’d dare say that Lance has all of that covered.  You just live here with me so that I don’t feel lonely and we’re good.”

“Seriously?  What a deal!” she squealed as she rushed to the door and rested her hand on the doorknob. “Will I get a key?”

“Don’t be silly.  Of course, you will,” I said as I dropped my keys into my handbag.  “Now, why don’t you go select your room while I make us some coffee and turn up the heat a bit.  This place feels cold and harsh.”

She giggled.  “It is winter, after all.”

I shuddered and said, “It’s still late fall.  Don’t rush things.”  Then, shaking my head, I added,  “Not that kind of cold and harsh.  A lonely kind of cold and harsh.”

“That will change once we’re in it,” she said with a happy smile.  “Is there hot chocolate?  This just feels like a hot chocolate occasion.”

“As long as it’s not teatime, I’m good,” I muttered as I made my way to the kitchen.

I listened to her muffled footsteps as she ran up the curved and highly polished oak staircase with its ornately designed, brick red carpet flowing like a waterfall down the center of its steps as I thought back about the hundreds of cups of tea that I’d been forced to drink while back in time with Lance.  I’d never developed an appreciation for tea as I did for coffee.  After having it shoved on me by Lance’s overbearing mother, Vivian, more times than I could count, I didn’t care if I never saw another cup again.

Standing in the kitchen, I closed my eyes and remembered the kitchen of the nineteenth century.  It was located in what was now considered the basement, but what they’d called the lower level.  The kitchen, food stores, laundry, etc. were all on the lower level.  Sometime over the centuries, it was brought up onto the main floor in the back of the house.

I wondered what they’d done with the rooms in the basement, but decided to put off investigating for a while.  After all, it wasn’t like I was on a time schedule to check out the place.  I owned it.  My priority was to find the hiding place of that darned magic box.

I’d spent just enough time in the kitchen with Lance when we’d first met to have gotten a decent idea of where things were, so it wasn’t long before I had a tray with two steaming cups of hot chocolate ready to take into the parlor to enjoy.

Nora bounded into the room just as I’d set the tray onto the coffee table.  She sat on the long, antique sofa and cradled her cup in her hands.

“It’s such a gloomy day today,” she said as she blew gently on the liquid to cool it down enough for her to drink.  “Boy, it’s taking quite a long time for the house to warm up.  You turned up the furnace, didn’t you?”

I slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand.  “I got so involved with this that I forgot.”

“I’ll get it,” she said as she lept to her feet and rushed into the hall where the thermostat was located.

“You knew just where to go,” I said with surprise and appreciation. “I’d have been hunting for ages.”

“I did a bit of exploring while I was waiting for you to come back,” she explained.

“You knew that I’d be back?” I said.

She shrugged.  “I hoped.  Anyway, I knew that one of you would be coming back to tell me what was up.  So, I killed time by exploring.”

A thought struck me and I eagerly asked, “Did you happen to explore on the top floor?”

She shuddered and vigorously shook her head. “I was alone, remember?  I kept to the main rooms; away from creepy, lonely ghost hangouts.”

“I already told you that walls don’t stop them,” I said with mild impatience.

“Maybe not, but the walls make me feel safe,” she replied.  “As do lights.  I think I’ll turn some on.  The sun’s shining, but it’s not making its way in here very well.”

Just as she said that, I thought that I saw a figure flash past the archway leading to the foyer and disappear into the shadows, but I said nothing to her.  For all I knew, it was my overactive imagination conjuring things for my mind to worry over in a house that held the energy of centuries of living in it.  Knowing how she felt about ghosts and other things that went bump in the night, I knew that it was best for me to keep quiet until I was certain that I’d actually seen something.  As well as what it was that I’d seen.

“Did  you pick out your room?” I asked.

“I took the one that Lance put me up in.  I spent enough time in it that I got used to it,” she replied. “What room are you going to take?”

“I’m not sure yet,” I said as I thought back on who occupied what room when I went into the past.  “The room that Lance put me in on the weekend when we first met was the one that I occupied while in the past.  I want to sit in that one and the one that was his and see which one speaks to me the strongest.”

I hadn’t told her everything that happened while I was in the past.  So much of it was still too painful to speak about.   Therefore, I couldn’t admit that the room that I’d stayed in was also the room where Jason had manipulated and sexually used me in order to obtain my magic.

“Which room did you spend your wedding night in?” she asked.

“His,” I said with a faint smile.

“That would be the one that I’d pick,” she offered. “It’s sure to have the best memories attached to it.”

I looked at her and grinned with relief.  “You’re absolutely right.  It might also have a hint of what’s happening with him now.”

“I’m still having trouble understanding how time happens all at once,” she mused with a scowl.

“It really is confusing,” I replied.  “Yet, in some way it makes sense.  “If you believe in quantum physics, it states that there are timelines with markers that separate things that are occurring in each vibrational reality.  Whatever reality you’re in is the one that your consciousness experiences. What I’m still having difficulty with is how Lance could travel back and forth, yet he can’t stop things from happening.  How can that be?”

She threw her hands shoulder height with her palms extended toward me and shook her head. “You’re asking the wrong person.”

I sighed.  “Maybe someday things will come together like a great big jigsaw puzzle.  Until then, let’s look for that box.”