Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) (5 page)

Emma replied, “Well, that won’t be for
another three months, so you have plenty of time!” She rubbed his
back; how the slightest touch from her sent a rush of desire
through him.

“What about you Zach? I’ve been here
for a couple of days and have barely had a chance to get to know
you. Where are you from?” He asked, trying to break down this wall
that Zachariah had been building.

Zachariah relaxed and said, “I’m
actually from here in Davenport. I grew up in the town and met Emma
when I was 16; we became fast friends. She’s a cool girl,” he said
with a grin and lightly nudged her with his hip. “I got to know
Daniel when he was young and we have become best friends over the
years.”

“Do you still live in town?” he
asked.

“No, I actually live here
now.”

Well that was an
unexpected response. Todd knew they were close, he just didn’t know
they were
that
close.

“One, big, happy family,” Emma sighed
with a laugh.

Their conversation carried on with
ease and Zachariah’s hostility towards Todd seemed to relax. Todd
was certain that Zachariah had feelings for Emma and that he was
jealous that she was paying attention to him. She was admittedly a
fan, after all.

That reminded him, “Oh! Emma, I keep
forgetting to thank you for suggesting me to the film’s execs.
Daniel told me this was your doing. I’m forever in your
debt.”

“You’re very welcome, you deserve it.
I’ve seen your other work and you just don’t get enough credit or
recognition. You’re very talented and have such a range; comedic,
dramatic…and you’re easy on the eyes,” she winked.

He was taken aback, but was pleasantly
surprised by her response. He leaned over and murmured into her
ear, “You’re not so bad yourself, you know.”

She smiled at him and turned to
Vivienne, “Hey Viv, you want to sing a song for us?”

Vivienne beamed and walked
off towards the DJ, who handed her a microphone after she charmed
him into letting her take over for a song. She began to belt out
Etta James’
At Last
.

Todd turned to Emma and asked, “Care
to dance with me?”

“Of course,” she replied as she
followed him out to the dance floor with Zachariah’s eyes watching
them walk away.

He took her waist and was about to
take her hand, but before he could do so she draped both arms up
onto his shoulders.

Todd felt a bit
discouraged as he knew how to properly slow dance with a woman.
Instead, he felt like he was at an 8
^th
grade dance, but he was
still glad to be alone with her.

“You look absolutely breath-taking
tonight, love,” he said while looking down at her.

“Thank you,” she grinned wide. “I have
to say, I certainly wouldn’t kick you out of bed for eating
crackers!”

“Uh…awesome!” He laughed. “Hopefully
you wouldn’t have any reason to kick me out of bed...”

This time she smiled, but didn’t
respond, and he was afraid he had gone too far.

“So, what’s the deal with you and
Zach?” He asked. “Are you dating him? You seem awfully close to be
just friends.”

“
Ohhh
…I’ve been waiting for you to
ask that!” She narrowed her eyes playfully at him. “Zach and
I…well, it’s complicated. We go way back and…well, I can’t say that
he’s my boyfriend, but…”

“…but there’s a history,” Todd
interjected.

She chuckled, “You could say
that.”

They danced in silence after that,
their bodies pressed against each other and moving to the music. He
inhaled the sweet smell of Burberry perfume once again and ran his
hands along the curve of her waist and the small of her back. Her
whole body tingled from his slightest touch, feeling him lightly
moving his hands along her sides. As the song ended she looked up
at him and blew him a seductive kiss.

“
Thank you for the dance,”
she said and turned away to rejoin Zachariah and Declan.

By now a stray autumn storm had begun
to rage outside; lightening flashed and lit up the entire lawn out
front. The wind was angrily howling, causing the rain to whip at
the windows. The lights flickered a few times, but thankfully they
never lost power. It was somewhat creepy being in such an old house
with lightning and thunder, like something out of a horror
movie.

Todd was able to get to
know a lot of the cast and crew by mingling through the crowds and
introducing himself. He felt like a new person here—the heartbroken
and shy Todd was left back in London. He was hitting the dance
floor with his new friends, drinking plenty of beer, and having the
time of his life. He had a flash of unknown nostalgia when he
realized that
he
was at a party at Davenport Manor and imagined the parties
that had taken place in that very ballroom decades, even centuries,
before.

Once everyone began to wind down,
one-by-one people moved into the parlor where Emma had lit a fire
in the oversized fireplace. By now, most people were feeling no
pain and Todd was beyond tipsy himself. He was seated on the couch,
scooted down, legs sprawled out, and his head resting back. Emma
came to sit next to him and patted him on the thigh.

He lazily rolled his head toward her
and said, “Hey there Wino, how ya feelin’? You’ve been tossing back
red wine like it’s water all night! I don’t know how you’re still
standing.”

She laughed, “I guess I have a high
tolerance. And you look like you might have had one-too-many
beers…”

“
Nooooo,” he replied while
clumsily shaking his head. “Tell me something Emma. Do you like
me?” Here came the liquid courage.

“
Of course I like
you!”

“
No, I mean
like
me. Because I like
you…a lot…too much…you’re hot.” He exhaled deeply.

She couldn’t help but giggle at his
drunken babbling. “You’re hot, too.”

He took her hand and was
shocked by her icy fingers. “You’re so cold! Let’s move closer to
the fire and warm you up…or we could go to my room and I could warm
you up myself.” He covered his face and moaned in embarrassment,
“
I did not just say that out
loud…”

This was
so
not him. He had been
out of the dating game for so long and he was entirely too drunk to
attempt to effectively flirt. And it seemed that the liquid courage
was doing all the talking for him.

She ran her fingers through his hair
and he turned to look at her. She was very close to his face and
happily gazed into his glassy eyes for a moment.

“
Can I kiss you,
Emma?”

“
No, you’re a tad too
trashed and this conversation should be saved for more sober
times.”

Reluctantly he replied, “Okay. But, my
bedroom door is always open for you,” and a big grin spread across
his face.

She kissed the top of his head. “I’ll
keep that in mind. Trust me, this is taking all the willpower I
have. You should go to bed though. Do you need help getting
upstairs?”

“
Nah, I’m good,” he
replied as he climbed off the couch. He staggered up to his room
feeling slightly defeated as he was hoping that the night would
have ended with Emma with him.

The next morning, Todd woke up to an
overcast sky and a hangover from the night before. He replayed his
conversation with Emma over and over in his head, trying to figure
out just how much of a history she had with Zachariah. She didn’t
seem too keen on elaborating. The way she flirted with Todd made
him think she may be interested, but at the same time it seemed she
was playing hard-to-get. A tease maybe? He couldn’t seem to stop
thinking about her blowing him a kiss last night, the touch of her
hand running through his hair. He kept thinking he should have gone
in for the kill and kissed her, but he just wasn’t that bold. He
wasn’t confident that it would have been welcome.

Since they were going to start filming
the following day, he decided he would lock himself away in his
room, stay in his sweats, and dive into the script to have it
perfected. He hadn’t spent much time in his room since he got
there, so he wanted to take advantage of the lazy, cold, and gloomy
day. He pushed the antique chaise lounge to face out the
floor-to-ceiling window and get to work.

The storm from the night before had
done a bit of damage from what he could see outside and down below.
Debris scattered about the grounds and old trees tipped over in the
woods in the distance. Somehow they would have to get the grounds
cleared since they were scheduled to begin filming in that area. He
hoped nothing had happened to Cottage One; he couldn’t bear to
think of such history being wiped out in one fell swoop.

As he settled in to the chaise with
the script in hand, he took one final glance out the window before
getting to work. Out in the distance in the woods he saw four
people surveying the damage. He was certain one was Emma—he saw her
long, black hair from this far away. It looked as though the others
might have been Zachariah, Vivienne, and Declan, judging by their
hair and statures, but they were too far away to be sure. There was
a knock on his door that made him jump in his seat. He got up to
answer it and there stood Daniel with his script in hand as
well.

“Morning, buddy! I came to see if you
wanted to go over lines since we have scenes together tomorrow,” he
said.

“Sure! I was actually just kicking
back and planned on studying anyway—it’ll be good to react off each
other.”

Daniel followed Todd into the room and
pulled up a chair by the chaise. Todd plopped down and Daniel
scooted up so he could kick his feet up. After some small talk and
exchanging who had the worse hangover, they flipped to the page to
start on.

Todd glanced up for a moment and he
saw the large trees that had fallen being moved. He did a double
take because he could swear he saw Emma holding one of the trees
up. Then, he saw the other three people each pick up a tree and
follow suit. Impossible! He jumped up out of the chaise to get a
better look out the window.

“What the heck?!” He shouted. Everyone
moving the trees stopped and looked up in the direction of his
window.

Todd flew out of his room, leaving
Daniel behind, and ran down the long corridor, practically tripping
over himself running down the stairs. He had to get outside to see
if his mind had been playing tricks on him—it just wasn’t right. He
ran through the foyer and just as he was passing the parlor he
heard voices. He stopped short, slowly turned around and walked
towards the great, arched doorway. Lounging on the furniture,
talking and laughing, were Emma, Zachariah, Declan, and
Vivienne.

Confused and feeling a bit insane,
Todd entered the parlor. “Hello…” he hesitated.

“Hey, good morning, man,” Zachariah
replied. “How are you doing after last night? Pretty wild party,
eh?”

Todd rubbed his forehead and nervously
laughed at himself. “Actually, I think I may still be drunk! I
could have sworn I saw you all outside just now. I thought I saw
Emma picking up one of those huge fallen trees…” he rapidly shook
his head and blinked hard.

Emma burst out laughing, “I think you
need to go back to bed, m’dear!” She pushed up the sleeves of her
shirt and showed him her arms, “Do these little arms look like they
could pick up one of those trees?”

Still breathing heavy from running, he
looked toward the window and then the front door, clearly
disturbed.

Emma got up off the couch and came
over to him. Concerned, she asked, “Hey, seriously, are you
okay?”

“What I saw…it was
so
real
,” he
replied, shaking his head in bewilderment.

“There’s no one out there, love. I
have landscapers coming this afternoon to clear them out, but right
now I think everyone is inside.” She looked at his face, but he
wasn’t looking back at her. He was still trying to see across the
room and through the window, hoping he would at least see a person
out there. “Have you eaten yet? Why don’t you go and get something
to eat, you did put back a few beers last night.”

Todd hesitantly nodded and slowly
walked away towards the kitchen, running his fingers through his
still-messy hair.

Emma turned back to Zachariah,
Vivienne, and Declan and became serious.

“That was close…” she said as she sat
back down on the couch.

Chapter 4

Filming for the fifth
installment of the
Ticking Through
Time
films began and the house was buzzing
with energy. The films were about a group of young time travelers
and each film was set in a different place and time period. This
particular film took place at Davenport Manor in 1814 and used
actors to play William, Victoria, Emma, Christopher, and Elizabeth.
The producers had consulted with Emma and Daniel about their
ancestors’ history and had the costume department study their
painted portraits. They wanted it to be as true to life as
possible.