The Hands of Time (32 page)

“Sweetheart, you said yourself that your sister is an art restorer
,
and that this man, Blackburn will be regarded as a famous painter in your time.  There are no guarantees, but this is your only way of sending any kind of message to the future.  Louisa has a one in a million chance of coming across this painting, but it
is
a chance worth taking.  Now take your sketch and go.” 

He followed me out of the bedroom down the stairs
,
and went across the hall to visit with Uncle Thomas who was now bedridden and cantankerous, especially since his wife, Lottie
,
died in the
s
pring.  I could see Charles through the window, throwing a ball to two-year
-
old Finn who was toddling about
,
thrilled to be getting the attention of his
fourteen
-
year-old
uncle. 
I put a hand on my belly
,
wondering if the painter would notice that I was pregnant.  Probably not.  I was only four months along
,
and the folds
of the gown hid my swelling stomach.  I hoped it was a girl this time. 

Joseph Blackburn was already in the salon that was to be
used
as a studio for the durati
o
n of his stay.  His paints and brushes were meticulously laid out on a table covered with a canvas cloth
,
and he was wearing a paint splattered smock as he set up the canvas. 

“Ah, Mrs. Whitfield.  I am all ready for you,
Ma’am
.  Please take a seat and make yourself comfortable.”  Mr. Blackburn was a charming man
,
and I felt at ease in his company, although I knew that Alec would be popping in from time to time to make sure the man was not taking
any
liberties with his wife. 

“Mr. Blackburn, before we begin
..
.  There
’s
something I would like you to paint into the portrait.  It means quite a lot to me
,
and I want it in a place of prominence.”

“As you wish, Mrs. Whitfield,
” he
reached out a hand and took the sketch from me, unrolling it and holding it up for a better look.

“An interesting choice,” he said with a smile.  “I will
paint it on that table at your side where the morning light can fall on the Cupid.”  I could see he was amused, but I didn’t care.  I was sending a message through time.

An exerpt from
A Leap of Faith
:
a sequel to

The Hands of Time
--
Coming Soon

Prologue

The Present

Louisa sank to her knees in front of the newly erected gravestone, not caring about the mud left by last night’s rain.  The morning was misty and cool, with raindrops sliding like tears off the surrounding trees
,
and onto the forest of wet gravestones below. There was
n’
t a person in sight, leaving the cemetery eerily silent and sinister.  Even the birds dared not sing.  She rested her head against the rough, cool granite and ran her fingers reverently over the names of her parents, etched into the monument.  It’s been a year; a whole year of grief, guilt and terrible loneliness.  The date of death would have been the same for both of them
, had
her father
not
managed to hang on for a few more hours, surviving past midnight, therefore
,
dying a day later than her mother. 

Thank God, Doug had been there to comfort her
,
and lead her sobbing from the Emergency Room of Lennox Hill Hospital on that terrible day.  He made all the arrangements for the funeral
,
and contacted all the necessary people, leaving Louisa cocooned in her grief.  But Doug was gone now too.  He had accepted a transfer to the Shanghai office and left New York three months ago.  In all fairness, he did ask her to come, but Louisa had refused.  She had her own plans
,
and they would be much easier to carry out with Doug out of the way. 

“Mom.  Dad,” Louisa whispered, “I’ve come to say goodbye.  I would never have contemplated this had you still been alive, but there
’s
no longer anything to hold me back.  There
’
s no one left to stay for.” 

Louisa had never told her parents the truth.  She simply couldn’t find the words.  Valerie wasn
’
t dead, as everyone believed her to be.  Louisa had found her, quite by accident, in a painting that came to the museum from some estate sale in Virginia.  The painting was dated 1608, but it was her sister - no doubt about it.  There was another painting, from
several
years later, of Valerie’s children, Finlay and Louisa. 

Valerie was alive and well, living in the
seventeenth century
.  She had cleverly inserted a clue into both paintings, probably hoping against hope that her art restorer sister might somehow come across her message from the past.  The hideous cupid clock was in both paintings, set to the same time. 
8
:
10
-
2010
; the year that Valerie
disappeared
when she turned the hands of the clock in the antique shop while browsing for souvenirs.  She couldn’t stand it when something was out of place and tried to set the clock to the right time. How could she have known that the Cupid clock was a time device, one that had already sent one young woman back into the past? It took Louisa some time to figure out Valerie’s message, but she had, and she traveled back to England to confront Mr. Taylor, an eccentric hermit posing as a shopkeeper in a small English village. He told her the truth then
,
and knowing that Valerie didn’t suffer some gruesome death had been a relief, if a minor one.    

Louisa wiped the tears coursing down her face and continued her monologue.  “I
’
m going to find Valerie.  Don’t worry about me.  I
’
ll be all right.  I
’
ve been getting ready and I will not go unprepared like Valerie did.  When I find her, I will give her your love.”

Louisa kissed the headstone and slowly raised herself up.  Her flight to England was leaving in the late afternoon
,
and she still had to drive out to JFK, return her rented car
,
and check in.  She wouldn’t have any luggage, just the few items she was bringing with her to the past.  She wouldn’t need the rest of her possessions any longer.

“Goodbye.”  Louisa turned away and briskly walked out of the cemetery.  It was time to go.

Notes

The colony of Virginia wasn
’t
officially established until 1607, but I
exercised
creative
license
, as I wanted my characters to come to America.  Virginia was mentioned as early as the sixteenth century by Queen Elizabeth and Walter Raleigh, who was granted a charter to start a colony.  Although the first colony failed, there were several attempts to colonize the region
, starting
as early as 1587
,
when 150 colonists went out to
establish a colony on Chesapeake Bay. 

There was
also
trans-Atlantic trade between America and England in the seventeenth century,
conducted
mostly by the Virginia Company of London, which had been established in 1575. 

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