The Time Heiress (28 page)

“Certainly,” said Cassandra quietly.

“And leave your address here with Caroline. We will write you as soon as we hear news of Cass and the others.”

“Yes, of course.”

Nick and the reverend shook hands, then came to join the two women. Nick kissed Sarah’s hand in farewell, and Cassandra embraced Reverend Williams as they said their goodbyes. Soon the father and daughter were out the door and gone. Caroline, who had been standing near, began to take off her bonnet but Cassandra stopped her.

“Caroline, I have one more favor to ask of you tonight, and it is a big one.”

“Anything, ma’am, I am at your service.”

“Can you find me a hackney coach?”

“But Carter is just now leaving. Why don’t you have him come back for you?”

“No, I do not want to bother Carter again. Miss Bay, Mr. Stockard, and I are going to leave tonight. If the coach driver is amenable, we will pay him to take us all the way to Boston. If not, he can take us to the post house, and we will hire a carriage there.”

“But Mrs. Reilly, why tonight? I do not understand.”

Nick jumped in. “Because they are already so very delayed. They have obligations, people who expect them. I must get them back.”

Cassandra tried not to glare at him.

“I understand. I will go right away. Probably I can find one on Fifth Avenue.”

“Shall I go with you?” asked Nick.

Caroline pulled up her skirt immodestly to mid-calf and showed them a sheathed knife stuck into a garter. “In Ireland, I lived on the streets where I raised myself and my brothers and sisters. No one is going to bother me, I can promise you that.”

“Very good, Caroline,” Nick said with a laugh.

Cassandra said, “Thank you. I will make sure Miss Bay is ready.” She issued Nick a cold stare and went back up the stairs. She knocked gently on the door of Evie’s room, but didn’t wait for a response before she eased it open.

The woman was sitting on the bed, waiting for her, wearing her diamond earrings.

“Are you ready?” Cassandra asked.

 “Yes,” she answered quietly.  

“Very well, then. Meet me downstairs.” Cassandra went to her room, grabbed her two bags, and hauled them down the stairs. Nick and Evie were waiting for her in the entryway. She took the envelope out of her pocket and set it down on the letter table inside the front door. She knew Caroline would not fail to deliver it to Reverend Williams.

“What is that?” asked Nick.

“It does not matter to you.”

“What, exactly, is your plan?” he asked her.

“Just let me handle it.”

She heard a carriage come rattling up the street and stop in front of the gate. A moment later, Caroline opened the door and reported breathlessly: “He said he would take you all the way to Boston for fifty dollars, but I got him down to forty-five!”

Cassandra smiled at her. “Very good.”

Nick picked up one of Cassandra’s bags, grabbed Evie’s off the porch, and took them out to the carriage.

Anna Mae came hurrying out of the kitchen. “Where do you think you two are going?”

“We are leaving, Anna Mae, we have to,” said Cassandra.

“Without a basket of my victuals to take along? Oh, no you are not!” She ran back into the kitchen as fast as her girth would allow.

“Anna Mae, no! We do not have time!” Cassandra called after her. Evie just stood there, gazing at Caleb’s painting in the parlor, which was visible from the entryway.

“Won’ take but a minute!” the woman called from the kitchen. Cassandra sighed and heaved her other bag out to the street, Evie following. The coachman was putting the other bags on the roof.

Anna Mae appeared with a covered basket.

“Just some ham biscuits I already had made up, apples, cookies, and a jug of cider.”

Cassandra smiled at her warmly. “Thank you Anna Mae. You are truly wonderful, and I will miss you.” She gave the woman an affectionate hug.

Anna Mae followed her out to the carriage and grabbed Evie in her arms. “You take care of yourself, darlin’ girl. You are gonna be alright, I promise. You!” She pointed at Nick while still embracing Evie. “You get these ladies back safely, you hear? They are two awfully precious gals.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Tears ran down Evie’s face.

“Shhh, hush now,” Anna Mae continued. “Get on up in that coach.”

Evie hugged and kissed Caroline and did as she was told.

Cassandra embraced Caroline as well. “I think Miss Bay left some clothes for you,” she whispered. “And the earrings on the dresser in my room are for you as well. I left a little box for Anna Mae with some nice items that she might like: handkerchiefs, bonnets, and such, but do not tell her yet, or she will not accept them.”

“Oh, ma’am, you should not have.”

Cassandra put her fingers on her lips. “It is our secret. There is also an envelope for the reverend inside on the table. See that he gets it, will you?”

“Of course.”

Nick nodded to Caroline then helped Cassandra into the coach, and got in behind her. The driver urged the horses, and they took off down the street. Once they turned the corner, Cassandra stuck her head out the window. “Driver, stop please.”

He brought the horses to a halt and Cassandra got out, while Nick looked at her, perplexed. She went to speak to the man, who regarded her with surprise. “We are not going to Boston,” she said. “I will give you one hundred dollars to take us to Broadway between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets. Leave us on the sidewalk with our luggage and never utter a word about it to anyone.”

The driver just looked at her, mouth open.

“You got it?” she said.

“Yes, ma’am!”

“All right, let’s go.” She got back in the carriage, closed the door, and they drove off in the direction of Broadway.

Within ten minutes the vehicle arrived at its destination. The women and Nick emerged and the driver flung their bags off the roof and onto the street. Cassandra extracted the promised money from her bag and gave it to the man, who drove away.

“Go on,” said Cassandra to Evie, indicating the alleyway. It was so late, the street was virtually empty.

Evie took in her surroundings once, deeply inhaled the pungent air, then heaved her heavy bag up with both hands.

“I will bring it with me, Evie, don’t worry about it,” said Nick.

“No! I want to.” She lugged it into the alleyway.

Cassandra watched her while simultaneously keeping an eye out for passersby. She looked down Broadway once, and when she looked back, Evie was gone.

“You go now,” she said to Nick.

“No, I will go after you,” he replied.

“Nick, this was my journey, I am responsible. I will be the last one to go.” Her determined gaze met his.

He sighed and picked up her bags. 

“Don’t you have a bag?” Cassandra asked him.

Nick looked like he had just remembered it. “Yes, I do. It is in my room at the Dylan Hotel. There is nothing of value in it though, nothing that would cause a problem. The hotel can keep it. There is some money in it, but not so much. It will be their pay for my keeping their room key.” He fished the key out of a pocket and showed it to her with a wan smile.

“Go on,” she said. 

Checking to see that no one was watching, he moved into the alley. Cassandra kept an eye on the street, until a thud from behind made her turn around and look. Nick was still moving into place, but then he disappeared.

She looked up the block. It was empty. With Anna Mae’s basket hanging from the crook of her elbow, she walked into the depths of the alley. A glint of metal caught her eye, and she thought she saw the shape of a gun lying among the trash bins.

She was plunged into blackness. When she opened her eyes, a soft green light glowed before her. The door of the chamber slid open, and the first face she saw was her son’s. James grabbed her into his arms while tears slid down her cheeks.

“What took you so long to get back, Mom?” James asked. “We were getting really worried.”

“Yes, I am sorry,” Cassandra replied. “We have a long story to tell, but what matters is that both of us are fine.”

Jake hovered anxiously near Evie, who was pale and quiet. Shannon stood near him, her hands on her hips, looking from one woman to the other. Nick had moved away to the lounge.

“They will have their debriefing in the morning,” commanded Professor Carver. “The travelers need to rest.” He put an affectionate arm around Cassandra. “I am so glad to see you.” His warm, brown eyes were full of tenderness. “I am so glad you are both okay!”

“I apologize that we worried all of you,” Cassandra said, returning his squeeze with an arm around his waist. She put her other hand out to grasp James’ shoulder. “I promise it will all be explained tomorrow.”

“Nick!” Professor Carver called out. The man jerked around to look at him. “You can decontaminate and go on to the hotel with the rest of the team for the night.”

“Where are your other clothes, Nick?” asked Shannon with some irritation in her voice.

“I had to leave them there,” said Nick. “Sorry.”

Shannon sighed. “Well, get decontaminated at least, so I can attend to these ladies.”

After Nick, Jake and James had gone through the process, as everyone coming in contact with the travelers was required to do, they left the two women alone with Shannon and Professor Carver. While the travelers had been gone, the lab had been reconfigured to include two small sleeping pods, where they would spend their first night back. Shannon first took Evie into the decontamination room, essentially a shower stall, where cleansing light rays eliminated any diseases or parasites that she might be bringing with her from the past. She was then told to shower with water and soap, and given pajamas. Shannon gave her a mild sedative; then left her to the privacy of her pod.

Cassandra followed the same routine. Their suitcases were left untouched, the basket from Anna Mae decontaminated as well, and then stored in the fridge, after which Shannon left for the night. Professor Carver slept on the sofa so the women would not be alone.

In the morning, Cassandra awoke to the smell of coffee brewing. She emerged from her sleeping chamber to find the professor preparing a pot. She let him pour her a cup and sat down with him at a small table with two chairs.

“Elton,” she said quietly, so as to not wake Evie. “Why did you let Nick come for us?”

“I knew you would be unhappy about it, but he felt so very strongly, and, you know, after the trouble you had in England, we were all nervous.”

Cassandra felt a wave of aggravation. The trouble in England had not been her fault. But she forced the feeling aside. “Well, I understand the concern, but it was not necessary. I will admit that things got out of control for a bit, but ultimately, we handled it. We would have been back last night with or without Nick. He could have messed things up further, you know. As it is, I still do not know what he said to the people he encountered or what he did while he was there.”

“You haven’t asked him about it?”

“I am too angry with him. I think it was jealousy that made him come after me.”

“I’m sorry I gave into his concerns. I didn’t realize he was acting solely on emotion.”

“He has changed, Elton. Anyway, there is a lot to tell, but Evie needs to be part of the telling.”

“Very well. Let’s have some breakfast.”

“Oh!” she quietly exclaimed, “have I got some breakfast for you!”

She retrieved Anna Mae’s basket of food, extracted two of the ham biscuits, gave one to the professor, and watched him take the first bite.

“Dear God, these are exquisite,” he whispered. “Not to mention the fact that we’re eating food prepared yesterday by the hands of a woman who lived over two hundred and sixty years ago! You couldn’t find ham like this now if you wanted to, smoked in someone’s hand-built, little ol’ smokehouse. And the biscuits! Smooth as silk, buttery; they melt in your mouth.”

“I am sure she makes them…made them…with lard.”

“I don’t care; they are absolutely heaven.”

One each was enough to fill them up, but the professor tossed an apple up and down and sniffed at the cider. “Two-hundred and sixty-nine year-old apples!” He couldn’t resist a bite of oatmeal cookie.

Cassandra left him to enjoy the food and went to dress in the clothes she had left behind for herself in the lab, while the other scientists began to file in. Evie finally roused and scurried into the bathroom to dress. Cassandra didn’t want to begin the account of their journey without her.

Eventually James, Shannon, Yoshi, Professor Carver, Jake, and Evie were all present and they squeezed in around the coffee table in the lounge area of the lab. The suitcases were still closed on an examining table nearby. Nick had slunk in and found himself a seat, but Cassandra still couldn’t look directly at him. She began to relate all that had happened, from meeting Reverend Williams, Miss Johnston and all the others, to going to live at the house on Fifteenth Street, meeting Thaddeus Evans, the trouble with the Vanderhoffs, and how they were looking for the runaways and Evans. She went on to tell how they fled to Astoria, then escaped on the boat up to Albany.

Nick spoke up then and told his story—that he’d met the reverend and his daughter at the church, that they’d been making a plan to find the missing persons, and that he helped them escape the fire. It was all he told, but it irritated Cassandra that he came off as the hero. She suggested they take a break and motioned Nick to join her near the front door. There, he moved to touch her shoulder, but she backed away.

“I hope you know that I mean it. We are through.”

“Cassandra, I beg you to give me another chance. You are angry just because I was concerned about you and risked my life to come and save you?”

“What are you talking about? You did not save us, not by any stretch of the imagination. We got ourselves back to New York and I got you back to the portal. Your actions only said to me that you were being hasty and irrational. That, and your attitude before I left, makes me uncomfortable. I feel you are too…possessive.”

“Cassandra, we belong together. We can work this out.”

She ignored his overture. “I also plan to speak to Elton about your continuing to work with us.”

“Oh, really?” A sneer formed on his face. “I see how it is. Well, you just do that. Maybe I’ll start up my own team again. I don’t need Carver.”

“You are too impulsive to be a responsible traveler, Nick. I do not trust you, and I plan to make those sentiments public when I publish my account of this trip.”

He moved closer to her. “You just try.”

Her voice rose. “Is that a threat?”

James quickly walked to his mother. “You okay, Mom?”

“Nick was just leaving,” she said, turning away from him.

“All right, I’ll go. I hope you come to see things differently, Cassandra.”

Cassandra ignored him as she strode across the room to join the others.

James stood tall before the other man. He opened the lab door.

Nick looked over the room. The other scientists were quiet now, observing the scene. Professor Carver stood with his arms folded, his face stern. Nick looked back at Cassandra. His eyes traveled up and down her body once, then he turned and stalked out the door. James closed it and locked it. Cassandra could feel that her face was hot. Evie came and took her arm and they went into the small kitchen.

“Let me get you some water,” Evie said to her.

“I am sorry about that,” Cassandra said to her.

“I am too. I did not know Nick was like that.”

“He has changed. He is not like he used to be.”

Shannon called out from the lounge. “I’m going to start examining your luggage, ladies, if you don’t mind.”

Cassandra heard a clasp click open.

“What?” cried Evie. “No!”

She ran the few steps back into the lounge with Cassandra following.

“What the hell?” Shannon exclaimed.

She had opened Evie’s suitcase and it lay exposed on the table.

Evie ran to it. “No!”

Everyone craned in to look while Evie shrank back, her hand covering her mouth. Shannon carefully lifted a rolled canvas from the suitcase. She unfurled it with care. She gasped and slowly turned it around for them all to see. It was a painting of a field, green and brown, dotted with endless white cotton. The white starkly contrasted with the black figures bent over the plants. She carefully handed it to Yoshi and picked up another, gingerly unrolling it. It was a picture of a group of dark-skinned men and women huddled around a fire, a ramshackle cabin behind them, a small child standing in the doorway staring, his eyes bright in the darkness. The suitcase was full of the rolled up canvases.

Cassandra turned and stared at Evie. “You took Caleb’s paintings!”

“We were going to take them to Canada,” she said breathlessly. “But, once I decided not to go,” she looked around the room at everyone staring at her, “he sent them with me for safety.”

“But you took them knowing they would be going into the future,” Cassandra began slowly. “Those paintings were never supposed to survive. They were supposed to have burned in that fire, or disappeared somewhere in Canada—history dictates that the paintings did not survive, am I right? Caleb Stone is an unknown artist—”

“Except for his painting of the river crossing. But,” Evie added quickly, “you said that a person could bring artifacts into the future with them.”

Cassandra was speechless for a moment. “Things that might have survived otherwise, things that no one would miss—small things—souvenirs…this, this could change the future in a way that was never meant to be!”

Everyone was asking questions at once about Caleb and the paintings.

Evie cut through the confusion. “I do not care!” she shouted. “I do not care if the paintings were not supposed to survive. Who are we to determine that? Yes, so I changed history. Now the paintings have survived. Now we have them, and Caleb Stone will be revered as one of the greatest American painters of all time. We should have them. What I did was right, and I do not regret it. Because of me, all of Caleb’s works will live on forever! And I am glad!”

Everyone was stunned. One by one, Shannon extracted the paintings while they watched. Each was more beautiful than the last. Evie had saved all his work, all seventeen canvases. The one missing, the eighteenth of Caleb’s masterpieces, was the painting that at that moment was hanging in All Angels Church a few blocks away.

*****

Evie had forgotten all about the press until she stepped outside into the summer sunlight two days after returning to the present. She’d been sequestered in the lab, going through a debriefing process and answering questions about her intentions for the paintings for two days. She was sick of the cramped little space and the scientists who served as her inquisitors. Cassandra was not among them. She had been excused to return to Boston. She’d been so furious with Evie, she hadn’t been able to stay in the same room with her, so Carver had let her go. But in spite of the fact that she regretted hurting Cassandra, she was glad she’d brought the paintings back. Though she hadn’t been allowed to keep them, she had been successful in her own, personal mission. Her reason for going on the trip was fulfilled.

Her bodyguard was at her side in an instant as the paparazzi swarmed, flashing their palms at her to capture her image, and yelling her name.

“Ms. Johnston, how was your trip?”

“Elinah, look over here! What was it like?”

She ignored them and ducked into the car. It sped off to her loft apartment downtown.

*****

For two weeks Evie holed up in Soho, not venturing outside, but ordering all her meals in, refusing to see friends, thinking, dreaming about Caleb, worrying about the paintings. She finally received word that there would be a hearing by the MIT Chronology Department’s Board of Directors and that she would be expected to be there to tell her story.

Several days after the hearing, Professor Carver called her to his MIT office. When she entered, Cassie was there. She did not rise to greet Evie, but they said their hellos without undue awkwardness. When she had seen Cassandra at the hearing, they had not spoken, but Evie thought she had answered the questions about their trip in an unbiased and even sympathetic way.

The professor held in his hand a small, flat device. He tapped it and a document opened and hovered in the air for all of them to examine.

“Will you read it, Professor?” Evie breathed. “I can’t do it.”

He scanned it and looked over at Evie. “It’s an interesting decision.”

Evie held her breath.

      “They want to sponsor an exhibit.”

“What?”

“They want to display the paintings. They would like it to open next spring, displayed here at the school. If it is successful, it will eventually tour.”

Evie looked at Cassandra who had an air of sphinx-like mystery about her.