Bitter Oath (New Atlantis)(27)

She felt her heart lift for the first time since they had received notification of her return date. They still had two weeks. It wasn’t nearly long enough, but it would have to be. She would make it be enough. For both of them.

Arms wrapped around each other, they left the Facility, and headed home on the moving pathway. When had the villa by the sea become home? From the very first day, she realised. As strange and unbelievable as everything had seemed back then, she had still felt the comfort of home.

‘Do you remember the meal I tried to cook you in that first month? I was so determined to be a good wife to you. And what a disaster it was. Everything was so different here. I couldn’t work out how to use the stove. Or how long to leave the vegetables to cook.’

‘And the shock on your face when you found out that the meat you thought you were cooking wasn’t meat at all!’ Rene gave a sad chuckle.

‘I suppose I was never cut out to be a cook. I am a better scientist.’ She was proud of her use of that word. It was one that would not be current for a hundred years or more after her time. But scientist was what her studies had made of her. She would like to have been able to continue her studies back home, but as her time would be short, her plan was to make the rounds of her sisters, to say goodbye. They would not realise that was what she was doing, but there were things she needed to say to each of them. Most of all, she just wanted to let them know how much she loved them.

Unlike most people, she would have her chance to gain closure before her death. She would get her chance to say her goodbyes.

‘You are an extremely capable scientist. I have appreciated your assistance over the last year, Livy. I hope you know that. And I have appreciated your belief in me. I have needed that.’

‘I am glad. I have achieved two major goals in my life. I was able to present my grandfather’s work to the world, and I have been able to assist you in yours. Knowing how your work will change the face of the planet, in the years to come, is wonderfully fulfilling.’

His arms tightened around her, and he dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. ‘Without your work, I would never have found the giant earthworm my tribe spoke of so reverently. Your life has mattered. And not just in terms of work. Without you, I would never have known what it was to love. I knew, as I watched you walking toward me on our wedding day, that no matter what, I would never regret a moment of our time together. I am so damn sorry I forgot that. I’m so damn sorry I’ve been so tied up in my own pain to care about the pain I was causing you.’

‘It is in the past now, my beloved. Let us focus on the future weeks. Let us make them the best in our lives.’

He stopped and turned her toward him, as the pathway continued to move under them. Ignoring the startled looks of the passers-by, Rene leaned down, and claimed her mouth. The kiss was as deep and tender as any he have given her.

It was more than enough.





CHAPTER FOURTEEN





They stood at Start Point wearing the clothes they had worn at this time the year before. To Liv it felt like a lifetime ago. And yet, in other ways, it felt like she had barely been here any time at all. But she knew this world now. Understood it. She recognised the strange ‘machines’, which displayed scrolling information in the air, as ‘computers’. Knew they trawled the combined knowledge of the past in search of candidates for Retrieval. She also knew that the object sitting, unnoticed, at the back of the dais, was the device that programmed all the ‘PA’s – the Portal Activators – and the Portal at Start Point itself, with the ‘molecular data’ required for time travel. To her, it looked just a like a big, black, metal box.

How strange and indecent she had found the white clothing the inhabitants of New Atlantis wore. Now the empire line dress she wore, and the tortured ringlets in her hair, felt strange and uncomfortable. She would never feel the silky texture of that fabric against her skin again.

Nor would she feel the naked body of her husband against her skin again. Once they were back in 1810, all of the intimacy they had shared would have to end. He would be a stranger with whom she could not spend time alone, unchaperoned.

Last night’s love-making had been bitter sweet. And no matter how much she wanted to experience the bliss of one more ‘orgasm’ as they were called, her body was too sad to go there. But it had been enough to feel her beloved losing himself in his passion. And as the tears poured down her cheeks, she had kissed his sweating neck and breathed him in for what might be the very last time.

‘I will always love you. Always…’ he had said into her hair, the beloved weight of his body pressed into hers.

‘And I will always be with you. Not even death will keep us apart.’ It was a promise she had no idea whether she could keep. She knew that life went on after death. She believed in Heaven. But whether she would be able to cross time to be with him, she wasn’t sure. But if determination was a factor, then she would be able to do it. She loved him that much.

She cast a glance in his direction. He looked so different in his 18th Century costume, her grandfather’s journal under one arm. His hair had been grown longer in a couple of days, so he could tie it back in the little pigtail. The lock she had come to associate with him, was gone, cut short as a fringe and swept to the side. Even his skin was paler; the sun darkened skin had been lightened to match the long months he was supposed to have spent inside. Her own suntanned face and arms were now as pale as they had been the year before. To her own eye she looked anaemic. What had Rene seen in her back then, when he had these lovely, natural women around him all the time? She must have seemed as starchy as her cotton petticoats had been.

As they waited for their scheduled departure, she saw a group of people coming toward them. She identified Jane and Julio, Cara and Jac, Maggie and Travis, and several of the scientists she had been working with on Rene’s project. Tears stung her eyes. They had come to see her off, even though she had told them not to.

As one, they approached her, their sadness an entity in its own right, walking with them.

‘You didn’t think we’d let you get away without us saying a proper goodbye, did you?’ Jane kept her voice chirpy, but Liv could hear the effort it was taking.

‘Thank you, everyone. You have become such dear friends to me in the last year. I will miss you all.’ Her voice was little more than a croak, and Rene wrapped his arm around her to steady her wobbly legs. He had done just that a year ago. How often had the awful stays stopped her breathing properly, and threatened to cut off her ‘oxygen’ supply. Those foolish vapours she had thought were a necessary part of being a woman had been nothing more than the result of her clothing. How ignorant she had been about so much.

‘Take this,’ Maggie stepped forward and held out a small golden object. She took it carefully, and studied it for a moment in awe. It was a miniature of Rene, obviously painted by Maggie. The gold filigree setting covered the picture so that it looked to the outside world as simply a pretty locket. ‘You can’t take photos back with you, so I thought this might do the job. Jane reminded me of the one Julio bought her. You can always say Rene gave it to you as a gift for inviting him to visit. Probably not socially acceptable, but he is from the New World, so he can be forgiven.’

Maggie smiled at her, but Liv could see the tears in her dark green eyes. Travis tightened his grip on his soulmate’s waist. They were such a handsome couple.

As the others said their goodbyes and their well wishes, she felt Rene becoming stiffer and stiffer at her side. This was as hard for him as it was for her. He was grieving for her, even though they were not yet parted.

‘Time to go,’ he said, as the Portal lit up behind them. With a sad wave goodbye, she allowed him to draw her up the stairs of the dais. Then, with a last glance over her shoulder at the world she had come to love, she stepped with Rene into the shower of lights.

She had known what to expect this time, but it was still a shock to the system. When the infinitely long step had been taken, and the light behind them blinked out, she almost fell from the dislocation of it. Rene’s strong arm around her waist kept her upright.





1 July 1810, Harrogate, Yorkshire, ENGLAND



The guest room in Foxmoor Manor looked old and threadbare to her, as she looked around her in dismay. It felt as if she had stepped back into a medieval castle. And the room was chilly, for all it was a warm summer’s afternoon outside. The Persian carpet underfoot gave little comfort from the hard floor boards beneath it. It had seemed such a modern Manor House to her a year ago, having been built only sixty years before.

She could see the valises sitting on the floor next to the four poster bed. A year ago, or was it just ten minutes ago, she had been rummaging through them, looking for some indication of Rene’s mysterious identity. It was laughable how right they had been. But Portia could never know the truth of what she had discovered in this room. No one could.

Rene reluctantly let her go, and walked to the locked door. His plan was to go back down to the library with the Journal, and she was to return to Portia’s room shortly after. She would tell Portia she had to hide in the wardrobe while he was there. It was the truth, as far as it went.