Chapter 7

We stood beneath the grand house’s portico and watched the last guest’s car make its way down the long, tree-lined drive.  The place felt eerily quiet after the recent drama and commotion.   Nora asked to be excused so that she could lay down for a while.  Unlike me, she had yet to go to bed since awakening the day before.  On top of that, she was feeling the effects of the excessive partying as the alcohol left her system.

We hadn’t had breakfast and it was approaching noon.  Lance had given his staff the day off.  He’d claimed that it was because they were traumatized by the violence on the premises, but I later discovered that it was because he wanted to be completely alone in the house with me and Nora when he explained just what it was that he needed us to do.

“I am actually glad that it is just you and me right now,” he said as he pulled out a platter of meats for sandwiches from the oversized double door refrigerator.  -Even though the house was dated, a good deal of upgrading was done to it.  Great care was taken to make sure that these upgrades didn’t detract from the old house’s stately image.  An example was the way that the stainless steel refrigerator blended into the décor to the point it was taken for granted that it had been there all along.  

Setting the meat platter on the breakfast counter, he arranged a loaf of bread and condiments near it.  Next to that he placed a pitcher of unsweetened iced tea.  Grabbing plates, glasses, and utensils from a cupboard that was conveniently located beneath the breakfast counter, he said, “I will let you make your own lunch, if you do not mind.”

We built our sandwiches in silence.  It was a comfortable silence.  Not only was the ambience both relaxing and natural, but I realized that I was only a few feet away from him, yet, I wasn’t trembling.  To my amazement, I felt more peaceful than I had in years.

I made a ‘humph’ sound as I bit into my version of a club sandwich.

“What?” he asked as he took a big bite of his hefty ham and cheese on marbled rye.

“It’s kind of sick that I’m so relaxed,”  I said with a mouth that still contained food.  Since I possessed impeccable table manners, this was odd behavior for me, but even talking with food in my mouth seemed okay.  “A woman was attacked just hours ago.  She’s in a coma and may die.  Yet, here we are, peacefully eating lunch as if we hadn’t a care in the world.”

“Sometimes, when a tragedy occurs, our mind rejects the reality of it.  It can seem surreal to the point that we become detached from it.  That is probably what is happening with you.  Believe me.  I have a lot of cares, my dear Esmerelda,” he said with a sad tone.  “I am just waiting until we are done with lunch to express them.”

“Melanie and I were anything but friends,” I said with a guilty tone.

“That does not mean that what happened to her did not affect you.  Shock you, even,” he empathetically stated.

“I’m not trembling anymore,” I confessed.

He smiled. “Good.  The bonding is complete.”

I furrowed my brows.  “I don’t understand what you mean by us bonding.   Bonding, how?”

He gave me a wicked grin. “It cannot have been that unmemorable an interlude.”

I could feel my face turning red.  “Oh.  Well… still.  I don’t get how we bonded.”

“I take it that you do not understand the law of physics?” he asked with surprise.

“I guess I don’t because I’m just not getting it,” I admitted.

He set the remnants of his sandwich on his plate and took a long drink of iced tea to wash down what he’d been masticating before speaking.  “When two people perform acts of sex with each other, their energies combine.   As a result of last night, I now have your energy in my aura and you have mine.  We are bonded.  Some people call it blended.”

“For how long?” I asked.

He thought for a minute. “It is somewhere between seven and twelve months,” he replied.  “We are all different, so some hang onto it longer than others do.”

“From one night of sex?” I exclaimed.

He grinned.  “It makes you think twice about having casual sex.  Does it not?”

I thought of Nora’s little roll with the stranger in the bushes and shuddered.  “Is this with everyone or just with people who are psychic?”

“Everyone,” he said as he popped the last of his sandwich into his mouth.  After chewing quickly and swallowing fast, he added, “It is because we are bonded and we are both psychic that you can help me.”

I scowled. “Wait a minute.  I need to know a little more about this energy sharing.  Let’s say that I have sex with you on Tuesday, but you’d had sex with someone else on Monday.  Whose energy am I mixing with?”

“Both of ours,” he replied.  “It can get quite crowded if you happen to be promiscuous in the sex department.  I am glad you aren’t.”

I can’t explain why, but I was suddenly offended by his comment.  It made me feel like a spinster instead of someone who had remained celibate for the last few years by choice.  “You’ve only just met me.  How do you know what I have or haven’t done sexually?”

He tapped his temple. “I have psychic abilities.  Remember?  It is not that I looked into your private life.  I do not have those skills, but I can see that your aura is clean.  That means that you have not been involved in a sexual act with another person in the last seven months, at least.  That is good enough for me.”

“How about you?” I asked with an accusing tone.  “You’re sure that I haven’t been with someone, but how do I know that you haven’t?  I can’t see your aura.  If what you say is true, then, for all I know, you could have brought the energy of multiple women to our little sex tryst last night.  Or men, for that matter.  I don’t know you or your preferences, after all.”

He chuckled and shook his head.  “I do not bat for the other team and, like you, I am particular who I have sex with.  Rest assured, it was only you and me in the bed.”

I couldn’t explain why, but the realization that he hadn’t had sex with another woman in some time made me overwhelmingly elated. A sudden mischievousness overtook me and I just had to say in a teasing manner, “So, you only need to worry if I’ve had sex with someone else? Not that I’ve had sex?”

His momentary look of surprise before his quick wit kicked in was priceless.  “Do not get me off track or this afternoon will find us both back in the bedroom.  Voyeurism can be quite fulfilling, you know.”

My abdomen contracted and chills of erotic ecstasy skirted about my body as memories of our foreplay just hours earlier returned.

After heaving a sigh in an attempt to regain control of my wayward person, I asked, “Just what is it that I needed to be bonded with you for?  I mean, if you’re also psychic, why do you need me?”

One of the attributes that my profession required was to know when to speak and when to keep quiet.  So, I patiently waited while he walked over to the window and stared out of it for a moment before giving me his explanation as to why he needed me.

It was nothing like what I’d expected.

“I spoke to you and Nora about the fact that magic was real, but has been oppressed over time until it is now believed to be a myth.  What I didn’t get into was the fact that there are multiple dimensions of time.  These dimensions operate both independently and simultaneously.  Someone with the knowledge and skills can travel these dimensions.”

“Are you talking about time travel?” I asked with both disbelieve and interest.

He nodded.

The look on my face was all that he needed to know that he’d have to explain just a bit more before I’d be on the same page with him.

Taking my hand, he gently pulled me off the counter height stool.  “Come with me.  I want to show you something.”

I asked no questions as I allowed him to lead me, once again, up the servant’s stairs and back into the servant’s quarters.   This time, instead of taking me in a lover’s embrace, he stood me before a sofa that was upholstered in the gaudiest lemon yellow fabric that I’d ever seen.  I was so taken aback with my dislike for the sofa that it was a few moments before I realized that it was the oval mirror hanging on the wall behind it that he wanted me to look at.

  “This house was built on an energy vortex that allows those with the skill and wisdom necessary to move from one dimension to the other.  This mirror acts as the portal to those dimensions,” he said.  After staying silent and waiting for a question from me that never came, he continued.  “I came from one of those dimensions.”  When I gasped, he hurriedly said, “Do not worry.  I am not saying that I am a freak or an alien or the like.  I am just saying that I was born in a different place and at a slightly different time.”

“What does that mean?”  I asked.

“It means that our future was tampered with by an evil magician to prevent us from finding each other,” he said with bitterness.

“I’m confused,” I murmured.

“I am not surprised,” he said.  “It is confusing even for me.  Let me try to explain a little better.”  He scratched his chin in a way that gave me the impression it was a habit more than satisfying an itch.   “My family has always put great stock in bloodlines.  It was not uncommon for marriage contracts to be signed between families while the husband and wife were still in infancy.   Such was my case.”

The blood drained from my head as my heart fell out of my chest and landed in my stomach.  The agony of it seized my entire body to the point I felt temporarily crippled.  Was my perfect dream bachelor actually telling me that he was a sneaky, womanizing, married man?  Had I concerned myself with Nora’s encounter with that pill popping fella when I should have been worried about my own with Lance?”

“You’re married?” I hissed as I slapped his face so hard that the tips of my fingers went numb.  The action not only released my pent up outrage, but it grounded me enough to keep me from fainting.  “How dare you?”

His hand flew up to his reddened cheek.  “I am not explaining this correctly.  I am not married. I am just promised…”

“Oh,” I bellowed with a shaky voice, “and that’s better?”

“I am promised to you, Esmerelda!” he shouted.

My mouth flew open and snapped shut several times without a word being uttered as I absorbed the impact of his confession.

“That makes no sense,”  I finally said in a soft tone that was in stark contrast to the one I’d only recently used on him.

“If you will stay calm and not hit me anymore, I’ll do my best to explain,” he said with annoyance.

I looked at the handprint on his cheek.  He deserved an apology, but I wasn’t ready to offer one.  So, I sat quietly and waited for him to explain this craziness to me.

“I was born in the year eighteen-ten.   You were born in eighteen-fifteen.”  When I went to speak, he held his finger up and said, “Stop.  Let me finish, please.”

I rolled my head to get the tension out of my neck while discreetly scoping the room for possible escape routes.  It was clear that this man’s mind was impaired.  I was surprised by the fact that I hadn’t picked up on it earlier.  I made an excuse for my failure to be a good judge of character by explaining to myself that, because I wasn’t working a case, his good looks and charismatic personality got the better of me.

“As soon as you were born, they put us together in the nursery.  It was a centuries old practice that many abandoned, but not our parents.  Understanding the law of physics, they knew that, as we lay side by side night after night, our energy would bond.  By the time we reached maturity, we’d be better suited for each other as husband and wife.  They would separate us, of course, when you hit puberty, but those early years of being exposed to each other would have a positive impact on us.   From the time you began to crawl until the time that you were stolen away, you and I literally shared a bed.”  His eyes were moist with memory. “I loved you from the first time I cuddled your tears away while we waited for the wet nurse to feed you.  The emptiness I have felt all of these years has been excruciatingly difficult to overcome.  In fact, I never did.”

I raised a brow at his outrageous story, but stayed silent.

“I mentioned magic was real,” he continued.  “Back then, it was easier to perform because there was not the use of electricity like today.  Electricity can interfere with true magic.”

Since I could care less about energy messing with something that I didn’t believe in, I asked about something that was equally unbelievable.  “Why was I stolen?” 

His face lit up.  “You believe me?”

I shrugged.  “I need to hear more.”

The light left his face as he struggled to continue his story.  “This is so difficult to explain, but I’ll keep trying.  There is another custom in our families.  If the eldest does not marry by the time he is thirty and have a baby within a few years after that and the boy next in line does marry and has children, then the younger brother inherits the family fortune.  It is a crazy and antiquated custom to prevent the eldest from shirking his duties to keep the family line going.”

“So, you have a younger brother? Is that it?” I asked.

He nodded.  “He is as evil as the day is long.  He is in league with my equally evil uncle.  They intend to do away with my father so that my brother can inherit right away.  With the family wealth at their disposal, there is no telling what they would do.  I can assure you that it would be self-serving.”

“I don’t understand,”  I said with genuine confusion.  “Why didn’t you just marry? You’re not yet thirty.  Go get married and stop him.”

“That is why I am here,” he said, softly.  “My evil uncle commissioned a magician to send you into the future when you were just four years old.  He knew that I wouldn’t marry anyone but you.  How could I?  You are the love of my life.”

“Not even to save your father?”  I asked incredulously.

He sighed.  “If I hadn’t found you before the eve of my thirtieth birthday, then, yes, I would marry someone else.  It was a last resort plan.”  He smiled.  “Now that I have found you, I do not need to entertain that tortuous idea any longer.”

I didn’t know what to say.  It was a fantastic tale to be sure.  Admittedly, I didn’t remember much about my childhood prior to the age of six or so, but that didn’t mean that I’d been sent through time.  Many children had difficulty remembering their early years. Besides, I had loving parents who raised me and were still living.

It was an absurd thing to even entertain.  

I needed to escape this madman.  I decided to cut to the quick.  “Just what is it that you want me to do?”

“I need you to come back with me so that we can marry and stop my brother,” he bluntly informed me.

“Excuse me?” I said with disbelief.  “You want me to travel back in time?”

He moved in front of me and took my hands.  “I have been searching for you for years.  Because of my many trips into the future, I am very aware of the stark changes in society and their mindset.  I know without a doubt that you wouldn’t survive in that time.  I do not expect you to stay.  I am just begging you to return with me long enough to put a stop to Donald’s plans.”

“I’m not quite grasping this time thing,” I admitted.  “Wouldn’t the house and money be in his control in this time?”

“I have held things together with magic.  That will end on my thirtieth birthday,” he said with regret.

“If we’re supposed to marry and have children, how do you figure I can come back here?” I asked. “Is the gestation time for pregnancies shorter in your time?”

He seemed unbothered by my flippancy.  In fact, to my surprise, he looked encouraged by my questioning.  “There is a loophole.  If I marry before my thirtieth birthday, but my wife dies before we produce an heir or she proves barren, I am free of the obligation.  I wouldn’t kill you.  I would just make it look like you died and send  you back here.”

I pulled my hands from his and placed my fingers against my temples. “This is a nightmare.”

“I suspect that the magician my brother and uncle commissioned is the one who harmed Melanie.  I am under suspicion for her attack.  If I get blamed for it  and she dies, I’ll go to jail and won’t be able to return with  you and stop my brother.  Even if she awakes, I have no doubt that the attacker took on my appearance.  Either way, I’ll get the blame,” he said with bitterness.  “Every time I have come to the future in search of you, he has tried something to make it so that I cannot return before I turn thirty.  If ever.  The only reason that he hasn’t succeeded is because I hold a bit of magic myself.  It is not much, but it is enough to stave off their antics.  For now, anyway.”

I suddenly felt exhausted.  “I need time to absorb what’s being said and think on this.”

“I’ll take you to your room to rest,” he offered.

“Was this the house that we shared a room in?” I asked.

He smiled and nodded.

“Take me to that room,” I gently ordered.