Foundation of Love: The Gypsy Blessing 2 (16 page)

Elizabeth was afraid she knew what his question would be. Although she really didn’t want to discuss the pictures with him, she knew she must do so eventually. “Yes.”

He glanced at her through the mirror once again, then returned his gaze to the road. “Where did those pictures come from?”

Elizabeth closed her eyes and sighed. “I’ve been thinking... if you don’t mind, I’d rather wait to explain that until we get to the house. Jane will probably want answers, too, and I really don’t want to have to explain it twice.”

William nodded. “Fair enough.” He paused. “Are you okay?”

“I’m as well as I can be. Thank you for everything today. I’m sure it wasn’t easy...”

“To spend hours in a hospital waiting room?”

“Yes.”

“That’s never easy for anyone. I was more worried about you.” He quickly added, “And your family.”

Elizabeth nodded. “I called Mr. Hill earlier. He’s going to switch hours with me so I can see my dad during visiting hours in the morning, and then I’ll work the late shift. Are you returning to the city tomorrow?”

The dashboard lights were bright enough to allow Elizabeth to see his jaw clench, which usually happened when he was upset. “I think I’ll stick around a few days. Since your father gave me the keys to the house today, we’ll get started on furnishings. Mrs. Reynolds will be driving up tomorrow, too. We’ll get rooms at the hotel in the morning.”

“You, Georgie, and Mrs. Reynolds can stay with us until you have the house set up, Will.” She worried her bottom lip.
Then again, he might not want to stay with my family after he hears what I have to say about the pictures.

She watched his brow furrow in the mirror.

“Thanks, but we don’t want to over-stay our welcome.” An uncomfortable silence followed. William cleared his throat. “We’ve got about a half hour before we get to your car. Why don’t you see if you can catch a little sleep? It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

Elizabeth agreed and closed her eyes, though her thoughts ran too wild for sleep to overtake her.

~

The thought of spending more time with Elizabeth was tempting, but William decided he couldn’t possibly stay any longer at the Bennetts’ home with Mrs. Bennett and Lydia there, too. He sighed.

Besides, I could barely stop myself from taking her in my arms most of the day to try to ease her worries. Soon one of her anxious expressions is going to make me act again before I think, just like I did at the restaurant. That could only cause trouble.

William glanced in the mirror at Elizabeth. Her eyes were closed, and although he didn’t think she slept, he felt better that she was at least resting. He knew her to be exhausted; he couldn’t imagine her safely driving home from the restaurant, where she had left her car. He would head straight to the Bennetts and drive her to her car in the morning instead.

Chapter
10

Used to being rather independent, Elizabeth’s feathers were ruffled when she learned William had decided she was too tired to drive. However, she understood and appreciated the sentiment behind his decision and kept her comments to herself. Maybe he was right, but she was afraid that once she confessed about the photos to Jane and William, neither might want to drive her to retrieve her car in the morning.

Upon their arrival at the house, they found Jane waiting by the door. The look in Jane’s eyes told Elizabeth that as soon as they were alone, she would pounce with a list of questions, demanding to know details about the pictures on her phone earlier that day. Discretely, Elizabeth had told both Jane and William to meet her in the library in half an hour.

Now, she paced the library, waiting for them to arrive. Her thoughts ran wild with possible consequences of her carelessness. It had been sloppy and irresponsible to have allowed them to see the pictures.

Finally convinced that the photos really
were
predicting the future, and that she was sane after all, Elizabeth was afraid that her worst nightmares about this subject would come true.

Jane wouldn’t abandon her, she knew, but there was a good chance she’d insist Elizabeth should see a psychiatrist. She might quit her dream job and try to run Meryton Building Supply herself, thinking it would be too much responsibility for Elizabeth to take on after a break with reality such as this. Or she might confide in Tom, and he’d leave school to do the same thing. She couldn’t let either of them do it! Somehow, she
had
to convince Jane that she was not insane.

William would probably feel his initial misgivings about Elizabeth had been warranted after all. He’d grab Georgiana and get out of there as soon as possible, afraid to have his sister spend one more minute in the house with a nutcase such as herself. Well, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about his sister living with a crazy woman at their rented apartment in Longbourn any longer. After the store management duties would be taken from her, she’d most likely lose her job once the head of Darcy Construction told her uncle’s partners that he didn’t want her to have anything further to do with the Lambton project. She’d never get another job in the wake of the rumors that would start, and she’d never be able to try to open her own business without her license.

Her family probably wouldn’t even be able to have her work at the store unless the position didn’t have anything to do with the public. At least she knew how to run a forklift. She could stack crates in the warehouse... if they’d let her.

Maybe she could talk her father into selling her a bit of land where she could build a really nice tree house and live like a hermit the rest of her life. It could probably work.

Elizabeth sighed deeply and walked over to the sliding glass doors. Blinking back the tears that threatened to flow, she concentrated on playing connect-the-dots with the stars, running a fingertip over the glass. She then opened her mouth wide and huffed a breath across it. The resulting fog showed the outline of the constellation.

William cleared his throat somewhere behind her, startling her. She turned toward him.

Gosh, he was gorgeous. When he smiled like he was doing right now, her insides did flip-flops, and her fingers itched to trace his dimples. Before he began living at the house, she had thought he didn’t shave every day because often when she saw him he had five-o-clock shadow on his chin. But now, she knew his beard just grew very quickly. He’d appear clean-shaven in the morning, and by lunch, he’d have stubble already. She liked that look—
really
liked it—although he was almost as good looking clean-shaven, too. William was one fine piece of eye-candy no matter how she looked at it.

“Great idea.” He gestured toward the window.

Elizabeth decided she might as well take advantage of this time as they waited for Jane. It might be the last chance she had to speak to him without having to see a disgusted expression—or worse, pity for
the crazy woman
—on his face. Poor guy, first his best friend’s sister went nuts, now his sister’s best friend. At least he couldn’t feel at fault about
her
losing her mind, as Anne had told her he did about Caroline.

“When I was a little girl, my father and I used to do this at night sometimes, so I could learn the constellations. I still do it when I can’t sleep or when I’m nervous.”

“You’re nervous about your father... but also about what Jane and I saw.”

She nodded and looked deeply into his eyes. Confidence flooded her senses, and she raised her chin. “Since Jane isn’t here yet, can you help me bring something down here from my room?”
Going through the trunk with them is probably the only way I’m going to convince them that I’m not coming unglued. And I
will
convince them!

“Sure.” He gestured for her to precede him and followed her up the back staircase.

Once in her room, she headed for the walk-in closet and started pulling at the trunk.

William helped her, and then picked it up. “It’s heavier than it looked.”

He placed the trunk on the bed to get a better grip before walking down the stairs. “Is it locked or do I have to worry about everything falling out if I move the wrong way?” He tried to lift the lid, but it didn’t budge.

“Shoot! I don’t have a key.” Elizabeth took a step forward and lifted the lid without a problem, then closed it. “Good, it isn’t locked. I don’t want to have to break into it—it’s too beautiful.” Elizabeth absent-mindedly ran a hand over the antique wood.

William frowned and tried to lift the lid again. It still didn’t open. “Why can you open it, but I can’t?”

Elizabeth’s eyes opened wide. “Are you joking?”

“No.” He tried again, putting some muscle into it. He shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense, but I can’t open it.”

A chill passed down Elizabeth’s spine, and she laughed nervously. “Well, at least you won’t have to worry about keeping it level.”

When they returned to the library, Jane stood. “I thought I might have missed you.”

Elizabeth rushed ahead to spread the towel she had grabbed from the bathroom onto her father’s desk so the trunk wouldn’t damage it.

“Oh, we’re finally going to open it!” Jane exclaimed with a smile. “I’ve wanted to see what was inside since the movers found it in the attic at the old house. But I thought we were going to talk about those pictures...”

“Close the door, please, Will?” Elizabeth requested, and William immediately complied.

Elizabeth placed a hand on the trunk. “What’s in this trunk will explain where those pictures came from. Before I explain anything, Jane, can
you
lift the lid?”

Jane tried but couldn’t open it. Elizabeth’s goose bumps doubled, and her breath quickened. She gestured for William to try again. The lid still wouldn’t open.

Elizabeth first met Jane’s gaze, then William’s. She took a deep breath and easily lifted the lid with one finger.

Jane gasped. “How’d you do that, Lizzy? Is there a latch or something?”

“None that I know of.” Elizabeth shook her head and whispered, “But she
did
say the trunk would open for no one but me.”

“Who told you that?” William asked.

“I think you’d both better sit down,” Elizabeth moved a few things around inside the trunk and found the letter. “Jane, do you remember when mom and dad went on their second honeymoon a few years ago?”

Jane answered in the affirmative.

“Remember when everyone came for dinner to hear about their trip and Lydia’s vacation?” She fingered the ancient wax seal on the paper in her hands.

“Yes.” Jane’s eyes shined with recognition. “You were upset because you thought someone pulled a prank on you while you were home alone, and it scared you half to death. Something fell over in the attic above your room.”

“It was
this
trunk that fell over. I’ve come to believe that it was not a joke after all, and nobody in our family had anything to do with it... at least no one in our immediate family. The contents were scattered across the floor. As I was putting everything back, I found this letter.” She held it up to show them the direction. “The last name is spelled wrong, but it was addressed to me, and the date there
is
the date that I found it.”

“You wrote the date on there so you’d remember when you found it?” William asked.

Elizabeth shook her head. “I didn’t touch it except to break the wax seal and read it.” She unfolded the letter and removed the sketch. “This was what I saw first.” She handed it to Jane. Will looked over Jane’s shoulder. “That is
exactly
what I looked like at the moment I broke the wax seal on this letter—right down to the dust smudges on my clothes and face, and the missing slipper. It completely freaked me out.”

Jane handed the picture to William so he could examine it more thoroughly.

“Even after seeing the picture, I had to believe it was a joke, but... well, recently, things have been happening that make me think it wasn’t.” Elizabeth hesitated until William looked up. “Do you want to hear what the letter says?”

Her audience nodded.

“Again, she spells my last name wrong here, with one
t
.” Elizabeth began reading aloud, but stopped part-way through. “This part is very important. Please listen closely.”

It was not until the morning of my twentieth birthday that the letters began to arrive in the post. I thought them only odd at first, for there was no direction telling me from whom they came. Each letter contained only a drawing—some consisting of more than one sheet—but that was all. They were beautifully crafted, and since most depicted people that I knew, I kept them. However, I soon began to doubt my sanity. Only after my sister confirmed that the events shown in the pictures actually were occurring
after
I received them, as I had thought, did I believe the pictures were not a product of my imagination
.

Elizabeth lowered the letter and looked up at Jane and William. She pointed to the letter. “This is
exactly
what’s been happening to me. I started receiving the pictures on my twentieth birthday, but with modern technology, they come as photos to my cell phone.” She continued reading:

In the bottom of this trunk, I have placed a package that contains my journal and all of the sketches that I received during the time that fell under the blessing. I trust they will answer many of your questions.

The final drawing I received is the one that you hold in your hand. It is interesting for me to see—it seems that the style of ladies’ dress will change dramatically over two hundred years. I envy that you are able to wear trousers.

I cannot explain how I am aware of the date that you will find this letter, nor that your name will be the same as mine. I cannot prove that the drawings come to me as a result of the gypsy blessing. I cannot tell you why I believe that my trunk will open for you only,

Elizabeth looked up from the page and raised an eyebrow.

and that you will experience the same effects from the blessing as I have. I simply
knew
these things the moment I laid eyes on this drawing, as surely as I know my own name, the same way that I have been intuitively aware of many details about the sketches I have received. I believe you will appreciate that statement soon, as well.

The best advice I can give you now is that you remember to believe in the impossible, dear girl.

Do not fear; in the end, the drawings will lead you to complete happiness—that which you never dreamed could be possible!

Yours, etc.,

Elizabeth

Elizabeth looked up again and examined both their expressions before saying, “I know it sounds fantastic, but you’ve both experienced this yourselves—you both
saw
those pictures come in right before my father had the stroke. Up until today, it didn’t work that way. They came a while before it happened, almost like some...
thing
was trying to convince me that I wasn’t nuts with some sort of
test pictures
or something. But tonight, when I heard that tone—the only time my phone makes that noise is when I’m about to get a picture that will come true—tonight, when I heard it, I
knew
I had to look at those pictures immediately or something terrible would happen. That’s the only reason I was so careless and let you both see the photos.” She swallowed hard. “But right now, I have a strong feeling—just like the other Elizabeth said—that you two were
meant
to see those pictures. I needed you to help me with that situation.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she looked directly at William. “I never would have been able to keep my father from falling to the floor and injuring himself further. I needed your help, Will.” She looked at Jane. “And Jane... something else is going to happen... I have a feeling that I need to convince you now, because I’m going to need you to believe me without question when it comes.”