Moonlight Wishes In Time (26 page)

Mattie clamped her hands over her mouth
.

“
No, you’re right, of course,” she said through muffled fingers. “I can’t believe I suggested such a thing.”

“I understand your concerns, Miss Crockwell
. I do,” William reassured her. “If Sylvie’s presence makes you comfortable, then you will have no concerns. She will stay by your side while I am away.”

“I know she will,” Mattie murmured as she resumed pacing
. “She’ll keep me out of trouble.”

“And yet you still seem distressed, Miss Crockwell,” William said as he watched her alternately wring her hands and clasp them behind her back
. “What troubles you?”

She paused, and he held his breath
. Her eyes, when she turned, gave him the sensation of being swallowed whole—a not unpleasant experience, he thought.

He thought he heard her to say “I’ll miss you,” but he wasn’t quite certain.

“Here you are,” Mrs. Sinclair said as she rounded a corner of the garden, clearly seeking them out. “I presume from your downcast face, Miss Crockwell, that William has informed you he must go to London for several days.”

“Yes, I have just told her, Mother,” William said, “and assured her that Sylvie would stand in my stead to assist her as needed.”

“Of course, we are all available to assist Miss Crockwell, William.”

William failed to understand his mother’s resistance
to Mattie, for resistant she was. She had yet to show Mattie the warmth he knew her to be capable of, offering instead a cool demeanor, which never failed to chill him when he witnessed it. He could not imagine how Mattie contended with it, and suspected she wished herself home and well away from the lot of them.

“Thank you,” Mattie murmured
. “I think I’ll just…” She paused and looked toward the house. “I’ll just return to the house. I have a headache.” She turned as if to leave, but paused. “When are you leaving?” she asked William. She kept her eyes averted from his mother’s gaze.

“Within th
e hour,” he said. Her face drooped, but she nodded and hurried away. This was not how he had intended to say goodbye, he thought with anger. What if their moon theory proved wrong? What if he returned and she were gone?

He turned to his mother
, who followed his eyes as he watched Mattie stride away quickly, her skirts caught up in an unladylike fashion.

“Please explain to me, Mother, why you must continue to treat Miss Crockwell as an unwanted guest.”

“I beg your pardon?” his mother said indignantly. “I do not think I have been unkind or cruel to Miss Crockwell.”

“No, Mother, not unkind or cruel, but you have been as cold as a fish to her
. That is not like you,” William said with an anger he rarely felt toward her. “It is not Miss Crockwell’s fault that she arrived on our doorstep. She was unconscious. I am sure she did not simply prance over to our garden and decide to faint there. You must see how frightened she is,” he said.

“I do not know where Miss Crockwell comes from, William, and I continue to feel what I believe is a very natural reserve regarding the entire matter,” she said in a frosty voice
. “I do not know that she has not foisted herself upon you with this story of time travel via moonbeam in order to gain your sympathy, perhaps with an eye toward acquiring your fortune through marriage.”

William turned an incredulous eye upon his mother.

“Madam, I understand that you have had a difficult time believing in Miss Crockwell’s origins, but I assure you, she does not have designs upon me or upon my fortune. I would be honored if she did.” William could have bit his tongue, to so declare himself in front of his mother in such a premature fashion.

“William
! Do not tell me that you have become enamored of this…this chit,” his mother remonstrated with a shocked face. “You hardly know her.” She nodded in the direction of the house. “However, it does not signify. You have agreed that she will return to wherever she hails from in less than one month’s time.”

“It is true, Mother
. To my surprise, I have become inordinately fond of her, and yes, she will return to wherever she comes from in one month’s time,” William said with a hint of bitterness. “In the meantime, please try to find it in your heart to warm to her. I remind you again that she is very frightened, has no idea what transpired to bring her here and desires nothing more than to return to her own time.”

“Although I detect more than a hint of re
proach in your voice, William, which I do not welcome, I will attempt to ‘warm’ to Miss Crockwell as you ask. But you must assure me that you have no intention of offering her a proposal of marriage.”

William looked down at his mother, her chin set, her eyes harder than he was used to seeing
. Why did she dislike Miss Crockwell so much?

He shook his head
. “I can make you no such promise, Mother, and I am sorry that you must ask it of me. Please be assured that I have no current intention of asking Miss Crockwell to marry me, but that may only be because I fear she will leave, or that she may have no choice and may be forced to leave.” He sighed heavily as he gazed at the house, Mattie no longer in sight. “But I will make you no such promise.”

Mrs. Sinclair echoed his sigh
. “You are such a foolish romantic, William.”

“So you have told me before, Mother
.” He bent to kiss her cheek. “I must go if I am to arrive before nightfall. Please be kind to Miss Crockwell. I am still unclear as to the source of your concerns regarding her, but do it for my sake.”

“I will try, my son,” she said.

A short while later, William poked his head into the library in search of Mattie, having had no luck locating her in her room, the sitting room or with Sylvie in her bedchamber.

He spied her seated in an armchair, a book in her lap
. She had apparently been gazing out the window onto the lawn, but jumped up as he entered the room.

“Please sit, Miss Crockwell
. Do not let me disturb you.”

She retook her seat.

“And what book do you have there in your hands, Miss Crockwell?”

“
Sense and Sensibility
,” she said. “Although I’m having trouble deciphering some of the text,” she murmured. “The print is a bit different from ours.”

William seated himself at the edge of the chair facing her.

“I am pleased to see you utilizing the library, Miss Crockwell, and urge you to read as many books as you like.” He hesitated for a moment as he regarded her. Her eyes looked suspiciously wet.

“Miss Crockwell
.” He paused, searching for words. “Please do not allow my mother to distress you. I understand that I leave you in her care and that of my sister, but my mother is possessed of a generous heart. I acknowledge that she is withholding that from you, and I am unclear as to her motives.”

Her drawn face relaxed as he spoke, and he hoped he had eased her worries, if only in small measure.

“I’m sure she’s just worried about you, William,” Mattie said with a faint smile. “Mothers…you know. I’m just a strange woman who showed up on your doorstep. I’m sure she’s worried that I might have ‘designs’ on you.”

William’s cheeks bronzed at her astute observation.

“I will not deny I have heard something of that nature,” he conceded with a resigned smile.   

“But s
he doesn’t need to worry, does she?” Mattie stated flatly. “I’ll be gone soon.”

William swallowed hard.

“Not so soon, Miss Crockwell. We still have some weeks.”

“Yes,” she murmured
.

He studied her face,
but suspected she masked the emotions normally expressed on her countenance.

“I must go, Miss Crockwell,” he said, rising from the chair
. She rose as well. “I only wished to bid you farewell.”

“Thank you,” she said with her head downcast.

He reached to raise her chin.

“I am not certain that I can do without you as well, Miss Crockwell, albeit for different reasons than you, I suspect
.” With a heavy heart, he dropped his hand, bowed, and left the room without a backward glance, fearing he might take her into his arms in a most ungentlemanly manner.

****

“I am of a mind to walk in the garden this beautiful morning. Would you care to accompany me, Miss Crockwell?”

Mattie froze in the act of buttering her toast as Mrs. Sinclair spoke to her
. Sylvie’s eyebrows lifted as she regarded her mother.

“Um
…okay, sure,” Mattie stuttered. Oh, boy. What was coming? There was no hint in Mrs. Sinclair’s studied expression of pleasantry of what she would say. Mattie looked toward Sylvie, who shrugged her shoulders and favored her with a sympathetic smile. It seemed Sylvie would not be included in the walk.

“Sylvie,” Mrs. Sinclair began
, “would you be a dear and attend to our correspondence? I am afraid I am sadly behind in responding to invitations.”

It was confirmed
. Sylvie would not be joining them. Mattie wondered if Mrs. Sinclair was going to send her “packing,” not that she had anything to take with her except the pink robe and slippers currently residing in the large mahogany cupboard in her room.

Breakfast finished all too quickly in Mattie’s opinion, and she found herself out on the lawn with Mrs. Sinclair as they strolled toward the gardens
. Well, Mrs. Sinclair strolled. Mattie felt like she waddled on rubbery legs, which threatened to give way at any moment.

“Miss Crockwell,” Mrs. Sinclair began
. Mattie cringed.

“I apologize for my behavior these past few days
. My son has made it very clear to me that I have been…
cold
to you. Those are his words. And he is correct. I have been unusually reserved in my treatment of you, withholding warmth or kindness.”

“Oh, no, Mrs. Sinclair” Mattie said hastily
. “In all fairness, you have been very kind and generous in allowing me into your house, feeding me and clothing me.”

Mrs. Sinclair nodded graciously
. “Thank you, Miss Crockwell. I hoped I had been polite, if nothing else.” She sighed. “But William is disappointed in me, and I hate to disappoint my children. He feels I could be warmer toward you. He states you are frightened by your circumstances, and that I have inadvertently added to your worries by my behavior.”

Mattie held her tongue
. She couldn’t argue this point. Her heart beat happily with the thought that William had spoken to his mother about her, and that he actually understood some of what she felt. She was scared, that was true—of not being able to return to her time, and of returning and never seeing William again.

“Please be assured, Miss Crockwell, that I will continue to endeavor to protect you from discovery, and I will guide you in our ways as
necessary. I vow to be more…tolerant of your ignorance of our customs. I admit that I have judged you unnecessarily in this regard, and for that, I beg your forgiveness.” She paused. “I have been skeptical regarding the circumstances of your arrival, and am only now coming to believe that something untoward has occurred, and that you are not of our time.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Sinclair,” Mattie responded
. “It
is
true.” She offered nothing more, still herself skeptical about the other woman’s motives.

“Shall we sit?” Mrs. Sinclair asked as they neared the bench where William and Mattie sat the day before.

Upon sitting, Mattie held her tongue and waited to see what else Mrs. Sinclair had to say. She really doubted that she and Mrs. Sinclair had suddenly become the best of buds.

“Your eyes reflect your distrust, Miss Crockwell,” Mrs. Sinclair said after a quick survey of Mattie’s wary face
. “I am to blame for that, I fear.”

Mattie waited
. What could she say? She really was at the woman’s mercy, and had no inclination to go wandering off the property in search of another place to stay.

“Let me speak frankly,” Mrs. Sinclair said as she shifted her body to face Mattie
. “If, in fact, you have come from the future, you and William believe it is likely you will return on the next full moon. My concern, Miss Crockwell, is that my son will have become so infatuated with you, that he will seek to accompany you to your future and that I shall never see him again.”

Mattie stiffened
. Mrs. Sinclair voiced the hope that Mattie hadn’t wanted to put to words—the dream that William would somehow come back with her. But the stark look of fear that passed across Mrs. Sinclair’s face for a brief moment gave her pause. Mattie’s foolish fantasies of life with William lost their appeal at the unexpectedly bleak look on the older woman’s face as she contemplated the loss of her son.

Mattie
chose her words carefully.

“Mrs. Sinclair. Please don’t
worry about that. William doesn’t think of me that way. He’s just being kind to a stranger, and trying to protect me because I’m a bit lost. When and if I go, he’s not going with me. I don’t think that’s possible, and I am absolutely sure he would never leave his home and his family.” She had no trouble sounding firmly convinced. She said nothing that she didn’t truly believe.