Maybe This Time -- Section I

By Annie

Section I, Section II, Section III, Section IV, Section V

Prologue

May 9, 18--, Pemberley.

Alexander Darcy had never seen his father's face look so nervous in all his life. Something was seriously wrong with his mother. What it was, Alexander was uncertain. He had asked his two elder brothers and two younger sisters, but none of them had known what was wrong with Elizabeth Darcy either.

Fitzwilliam Darcy gathered his five children in the Pemberley library to tell them the news. Elizabeth was very ill, and the doctors did not know what was wrong with her.

"They suspect that she might have picked up the illness while we were in London last month, but even they cannot pinpoint when she may have contracted this disease," he said in a hushed tone. "And as they do not know what it is..."

His unspoken words hung in the air. They did not have a cure.

Jane, the elder of Alexander's sisters, tried unsuccessfully to control her tears. They slid down her cheeks unchecked, and their father put his arms around her in comfort.

"What can we do?" Victoria, his other sister, asked. "Is there anything..."

"I think the best thing is for all of us to be here, with Mamma," Jane said quietly. "She loves us so much."

"I agree," William, the elder of his brothers, added. "Mother always says that she gets her strength from her children."

Alexander glanced at a portrait that had been painted soon after Victoria had been born. It was far and away his favourite, as most of the other paintings in the house were of ancestors long dead and forgotten, and all of them were so serious! Even his mother's portrait was serious, although there was always a hint of her playful nature shining in her eyes.

But in this picture was all of her pride and happiness, with her children and husband around her. William had been standing, and although Alexander had only been three at the time, his mother had told the story of William running off while the portrait was being made so often that he could almost remember William scampering away, not heeding his mother's amused pleas to stop running and his father's less-than-amused orders. Edward and Alexander sat together in a pair of chairs, Edward being a pleasing child and Alexander too young not to heed his parents. Jane had been in her father's arms, and baby Victoria in her mother's.

And now my mother is dying. How can such a vital, beautiful woman die?

Alexander knew that she had lived a good long life. She was fifty-two, her husband sixty. She had borne five children for her husband, and had become a grandmother several years ago and since then, several times over. She was a renowned hostess, known for her generosity and friendly manner, her enjoyment of life, and her deep, passionate love for her husband.

Alexander had always felt close to Elizabeth. In a family of five, the middle child, he knew, tended to be overlooked. His mother had said herself that his Aunt Mary had hardly ever received much attention from either of their parents, and she made certain that Alexander knew he was loved and appreciated, even if his future were uncertain. William would inherit Pemberley, and Edward had already inherited Rosings, a trick of fate that the infamous Lady Catherine would not have appreciated. She had never spoken to her nephew or his wife, nor made contact with their children. When she died, she left everything to her daughter, who never married. Anne de Bourgh, however, had a great fondness for the Darcy children, especially for Edward. She had arranged for him to inherit her estate.

But for Alexander, there was nothing to inherit. For him, there could be a life in the military, or perhaps as a clergyman or lawyer or such. But none of that have ever appealed to him, and it was not out of pride or disdain for any of the professions. After all, some of his ancestors had been lawyers and clergymen. It was just that he had no interest in any of it, and he did not feel the inclination to deprive someone of their chance. His father was disappointed, and feared that he would become a wastrel.

Alexander sighed. He was seven-and-twenty, almost the same age as his father had been when he married his mother. Alexander saw no wife in sight for himself. What could he offer any woman?

Nothing. And that insured that he would never know the happiness his parents had found together...

But enough of that, he told himself. Perhaps he could help his mother...but only perhaps...

May 9, 199-, St. Louis

The tears surprised her, for Kelsey Madison Chandler had believed that she had no more tears to cry for her now ex-husband. But on that day, when the final divorce papers arrived, Kelsey gave the final ending to her once perfect marriage a good long sob. She felt she deserved to do it.

It had capped off just one of a series of lousy days for her as well. Her five-year-old daughter, Emma, had been home all day with a bad case of the chicken pox that had been spread to her entire preschool class. She was an active child for the most part, and being forced to stay in bed and not scratch the itchy spots on her arms, legs, and face drove her crazy...which in turn drove her mother crazy.

"Why couldn't you get this when you were older, like I did? Then I could tell you not to scratch because you'll have scars if you do. That was enough to make me stop scratching at my face," Kelsey grumbled under her breath as she brought Emma a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch.

Then, when she started up the washer with a large load of laundry, her washer began spewing a never-ending stream of bubbles all over her basement floor. Taking some of the clothes out didn't seem to help, because when she started it up again, the soapy water continued to stream out of her washer.

"Terrific," she muttered as she stopped the machine. "That's another two hundred bucks I can't afford to spend."

By the time that her mother had called to beg her once again to take John back, Kelsey felt like screaming. But she managed to keep herself under control, and tell her mother in a gentle but insistent voice that no, she wasn't going to take her husband back. Where her mother had gotten the ridiculous idea that John wanted to come back home was unclear to Kelsey. God knew, he had wanted the divorce fast enough. And she hadn't seen him since their court date nearly a month ago, when they had agreed that Kelsey would have custody of Emma, and John would see her on alternating weekends...or whenever he was in town and decided to bother.

Kelsey had just sat down in front of the television with Emma after popping Aladdin into the VCR to lull her to sleep when the mailman had come with the papers. And as Kelsey signed them, officially ending her marriage, she had started to cry.

Even then, her mind wandered to her other problems, like what she was going to do now. This just isn't your life, kiddo. Twenty-six and divorced, with a kid? And no real job? John's alimony check and child support will only go so far.

Kelsey sighed, thinking of the "if onlys" that had been creeping up on her lately. She could question why she had married John, why she'd stayed with him for so long, why she'd looked the other way. Why she hadn't written a short story or book idea in six years, or finished her college education like she'd been planning to. It all led to two inevitable conclusions. One, that she had been blind to a great many things. The other was that Emma had taken up a good part of her time.

Emma. The only truly wonderful thing that had come out of her marriage. The only person she had now, whom she could count on to love her no matter what.

Perhaps things would get better. Anything had to be better than the lie she had been living with John for the past six years. Perhaps she could find someone else to love...but only perhaps...

Chapter 1

Pemberley.

Alexander had hoped to be the one who brought the cure to his mother, but as days passed, it did not seem possible. The doctors had been brought in from all over England, and none of them could help her. As one doctor after another came in, examined the patient, and proclaimed to her husband that she was extremely ill, they were not sure what the cause was, and that they could only ease her pain, the hopes of the Darcy family grew dimmer. One doctor suggested an experimental treatment, but when Edward asked if it would work, the doctor did admit that she would probably die of the treatment if it did not.

He was immediately shown to the door.

Alexander looked down at the woman lying in the bed. She could not possibly be his mother, yet she was. His mother was a woman who may be in her fifties, but looked so much younger that people had difficulty believing that she had a son who was one-and-thirty. Before she had been struck by this illness, Elizabeth had been one of the lucky women for whom maturity had brought a deeper beauty. Her dark hair may have gotten a few silver strands, and her face may have gotten some lines to it, but when Elizabeth smiled, she could easily be considered the most beautiful woman in any room. And in those eyes, always, was that quick wit and intelligence which his father had told him was the first thing he had been attracted to.

Now, Elizabeth Darcy's hair had almost completely gone white. Her skin had seemed to turn gray during her illness. And her eyes, when they were open, were either dulled with pain or unnaturally bright with fever. In rest, she reminded Alexander of his Grandmother Bennet at that age, before she died when Alexander was sixteen.

And this illness was not only taking its physical toll on his mother, but it was slowly claiming his father as well. His father was not ill, except at heart, and yet his sickness was just as devastating as his wife's.

His father entered the room at that moment, his attention nowhere else but on the bed where his wife lay. He bent over her with the most tender expression in his dark eyes. When he saw this, a great fear clutched at Alexander's heart and he could only focus on one irrefutable fact.

My father shall die if she dies. He cannot live without her.

Alexander could not even think of losing his mother, much less both of his parents. Yet he could not help but remember the words of the doctor who, when asked to estimate how much longer Elizabeth had to live, said, "I would not give her more than two weeks, or a month, perhaps. You must prepare yourselves for her...."

Two weeks. A month. And that is all. Then she shall die. Alexander quietly excused himself from the room, not that his father heard him. He walked down the stairs and headed out the door, ignoring the calls from Victoria that she needed to speak to him. He loved his sister, but he was not in a mood to speak to anyone at the moment.

He stormed outside, into the warm, beautiful day that seemed to mock the tragedy that was about to happen. Ignoring the stables, he headed for the path leading to the maze--one of his favorite places to hide as a child, because there were so many places to lose oneself. And on the other side was the pond, his favorite place to relax and have fun. He was about halfway into the maze when he looked around him.

Green. Living things. And they were all living, when his mother was dying...

He tried to block it all out, concentrating only on the fact that perhaps in the maze, he could find a little peace and clarity, and perhaps find a way to help his mother more than he had. He had to be able to save her.

But the maze itself mocked him. It was as green as the grounds around it. It was not peaceful, it was not quiet, and finally, Alexander could no longer stand the torment.

"Why!" he screamed. "Why is all of this living, as if she is nothing! God, I would give anything to be able to save her life! I would do anything! Please, just let her live..." Alexander's knees buckled, and he sprawled onto the ground, fighting back tears, praying over and over, "Please, God, let me help her. Let me find a cure for this illness. She cannot die now. What would this family do without her?"

He remained kneeling for several minutes before he was finally able to stand, not caring that he had ruined a good pair of breeches, something his mother had scolded him over time and again during his childhood and teen years. He stumbled blindly through the maze, thinking that he would probably get lost even though he had known the way through it since he was three, hoping that perhaps he would for a change. Maybe he would get so lost that he would never return...

But how could he do that? His father was faced with the prospect of losing his wife. How could he add a son to that horrible reality? Even if it was the youngest son, the one who had no future anyway...

You cannot give up hope! You can still help your mother!

Alexander heard the small voice in his head, wondered if perhaps he was finally losing his sanity, and sighed. If anyone could help his mother, Edward or William would be the ones to do it. They always had before. Yet he had so hoped, that maybe this time, it would be himself being the hero.

Alexander sighed and looked around. It would have been funny under normal circumstances, but he had managed to take the right path through the maze even in his agony. He slowly made his way to the end, where he came upon an amazing sight.

The pond was not there. He was not certain what had happened to it, but it was gone. In its place was a...well, a cottage. It had to be a cottage, for it was far too small to be considered a house. But who lived there? And where had it come from?

He slowly stepped across the grass, his curiosity aroused...

St. Louis.

Kelsey sighed. If her mother called one more time to tell her that she had found her a man to date, she was going to tell her off. Of course, not one man "could compare to John in any way, dear, but you must start somewhere. And who knows? Once you've had a taste of the dating scene these days, you might just decide to ask him home."

That would happen over her dead body.

Emma had gotten over her bout with the chicken pox no worse for the wear. Kelsey had managed to keep her from scratching at them for the most part, and Emma was back to her normal, rambunctious self--which was currently at preschool. Kelsey was grateful for the respite, yet oddly sad not to have her daughter with her. For the past week, Emma had been uncommonly good, almost as if she had sensed her mother's sorrow and pain and responded in the only way she knew how.

The only problem Kelsey had with her was the one she'd always had--Emma asking to see her Daddy. Especially while she'd been sick. But how did you explain to a five-year-old that Daddy couldn't come when it was all she wanted? That even if she knew where Daddy was, there was no guarantee that he would come to comfort his ailing daughter?

For that matter, how do you explain any of this to a five-year-old? What does a child understand about divorce? Poor kid. But she felt it was better for Emma that she and John didn't remain married. Her parents had stayed married "for her sake," and Kelsey would never forget the battlefield mealtimes became during her younger years. They had finally divorced when Kelsey left for college.

Kelsey glanced at the college handbook she'd picked up a couple of weeks ago. It was strange to be thinking about going back, after nearly seven years away from it. All the things John had said before they'd married came back to her.

"You'll never need that education, baby. I'll take care of us both."

"What if we have a kid?"

"We'll name it little Kelsey."

"John, I'm serious! You make enough money to support us both, but not a baby."

"But the boss told me the other day that I was going places, Kelse. He believes in my potential. Soon, we'll be living so good, you'll want to have half a dozen kids and sit back and relax.

How naive she had been. John had had potential, and he had been promoted, and they had been living well. But he had to be joking when he said you could relax after having a child.

And he'd been wrong when he'd said she would never need an education.

For that matter, he'd been wrong about a lot of things. Why on earth had she listened to him?

Because you loved him, kiddo. You thought he was the best thing that had ever walked into your life, especially after your parents split up. And he made you believe that it was going to be happily ever after.

Kelsey headed into the kitchen to put the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. How could she even think of going to college? She had to get a job. But what could she do, a twenty-six-year-old whose last job had been ten years ago when she'd waited tables? With only a high school education and a year of college to her credit? What would she go back to college for, anyway?

Kelsey was about to put an empty glass into the dishwasher when she saw the man. Her throat closed up, and she would have screamed in fear except that she couldn't find her voice. She dropped the glass, which, being plastic, merely bounced a few times on the floor before rolling under the dishwasher.

Kelsey ran towards the closet, trying to find something to use to protect herself. She did not have a gun because she'd refused to let John have one in the house after Emma was born, so she reached for the first thing she saw...a cane that John had used as a prop in his Halloween costume last year.

It was a long minute before the door tentatively opened. Kelsey raised the cane, prepared to strike.

"Hello?" he asked in a soft voice.

Kelsey whacked him in the back of the head. She hadn't thought the cane was that heavy, but she apparently put enough force into the blow to make up for the lack of weapon power, for he was unconscious.

Chapter 2

As the body lay inert on the floor, Kelsey's throat eased up and she felt some of the tension leave her body. Her first instinct was to tie him before he awakened and tried to exact revenge for her clubbing him in the head, but she thought that perhaps that was extreme. Besides, he showed no signs of waking up soon. And by the time he woke up, the police would be there to take him away...

But before she could call the police, she noticed something odd about the man. A lot of somethings--and very odd. First of all, his hairstyle. Kelsey couldn't name one man who wore his hair like this man did, even if it was messed up.

Curious about the man who had broken into her home, Kelsey rifled through his pockets, looking for a wallet, but she couldn't find one.

Doesn't this tell you anything, kiddo? The man has no ID because he doesn't want you knowing his name, if he doesn't kill you. Now stop this nonsense and call the cops.

But Kelsey couldn't--because the next thing she noticed was his clothes. The pants, coat, vest, and shirt appeared to be of the finest quality, something her somewhat untrained eye couldn't help noticing, and they had obviously been tailored to fit him only. That in itself wasn't uncommon, except that she had never seen anyone wearing this style of clothes in her life.

Why be fitted for clothes that aren't in style? What sort of person would do that? You dress for success.

Even his shoes--well, they weren't shoes. They were boots, and not even cowboy boots.

All in all, this man was very peculiar. And fascinating.

And she really should've been calling the police, because as she was looking at his face, wondering about what color his eyes were and chastising herself for it, he groaned loudly.

Kelsey picked up the cane she had dropped.

Alexander opened his eyes slowly, saw a strange young woman raising the cane, and cried, "Don't hit me! Please!"

Kelsey looked at the weapon in her hand. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?" he snapped. Hearing her speak, he thought, An American. No wonder she hit me.

"I live here. This is my house."

He frowned. "A house? Madam, I do not know who misled you, but this is a cottage, nothing more. A rather strange one, I must say, but--"

"A cottage? Cottages are little tiny things situated in the middle of the woods inhabited by hermits and sprites. This," she said, with a wave of her hand for emphasis, "is a house. In the middle of a city. And it belongs to me--well, technically to my ex, but--what am I telling you this for? I'm calling the police!"

"I see no one around to hear your call."

Kelsey tried to figure out what that meant, but couldn't come up with anything.

"And this does not belong to you, or your--whatever an ex is. It belongs to my family."

Kelsey merely blinked. "You mean, it used to belong to your family. But it belongs to me now. We bought it four years ago, and we have the title and everything to prove it."

"No, madam, I mean that it belongs to my family. It is on our land."

"Your land?" Dear God, I've got a madman in the house and I haven't bothered to call the police!

"Do you find it necessary to repeat what I say? I said it was on our land. How else would I be here?"

"That's kind of what I'd like to know. You break into my house and now that you're awake, you haven't tried to do anything."

"Why would I do anything?"

"How should I know? I'm not you, am I?"

"Look, all I know is that I was walking through the maze that has been on my father's land for all my life and probably all of his, and instead of the pond that I was supposed to find, I found this...cottage."

"And all I know is that one minute, I was loading the dishwasher and the next, there was a strange man in my backyard. Coming into my house."

"And you hit me with that." Alexander motioned to the cane she still held in her hand.

"We agree on that, at least. And now I'm calling the police."

"You said that once before, madam--"

"Stop calling me madam! It's annoying."

"Then what, pray, would you like me to call you? I thought madam was stretching the truth a bit, considering the circumstances under which we began our acquaintance."

Kelsey knew when she was being insulted. Picking up the phone, she shakily began dialing numbers. When she finished, she looked at him again. She expected him to come over and jerk the phone out of her hands, or pull it out of the wall. Something.

Instead, he merely stared at the instrument as though he'd never seen it before. His look unnerved her, and she dropped the phone back into the receiver before anyone could answer her.

"Wh-what are you looking at?" she asked, nervous.

"What is that device you were using? What is it for?"

Kelsey looked at her phone as though she'd never seen it before, much less used it. It was as natural as breathing sometimes, using the phone. Yet this man...it was as if he'd never seen it.

"A phone? You've never seen a phone before?"

"Phone? What is that?"

Definitely crazy. "A telephone. Don't they have those in England?"

"I--no, they do not. I have not seen one before."

Kelsey began laughing. Alexander glared at her, certain she was finding amusement as his expense.

"Surely you've seen a phone before! You probably use one all the time! How else do you communicate?"

"By letter, of course. What other way is there?"

Kelsey's laughter died. "Who the hell are you? Did John send you as one final prank? He would," she said.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself earlier, ma--" he stopped before calling her what apparently offended her. "I am certain, however, you should not take offense." He was about to say something about how she had caused the lack of manners, but finally settled for simply saying, "I am Alexander Darcy."

"Alexander Darcy? Now there's an interesting name. I don't suppose you have a mother named Elizabeth or a father named Fitzwilliam, do you?" Kelsey asked with a smile.

Something in his earnest dark eyes caused her smile to fade. "You know of my parents, do you?"

"No, I don't...you're telling me your parents are really named Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam?"

"Why would I lie about such a thing?"

"I guess you're right. I just get the feeling that Jane Austen is looking down at this situation and chuckling. Imagine, in this day and age, a woman named Elizabeth marrying a man named Fitzwilliam Darcy."

"Why would that be such an oddity?"

"Because coincidence rarely happens."

"Coincidence? In my parents' courtship, there was a great deal of difficulty, but not much coincidence."

"I wasn't referring to your parents meeting and falling in love. I was referring to the names."

"What is wrong with their names? If the names mean anything, my mother was Elizabeth Bennet before she married my--"

"Your mother was who?" Kelsey's eyes widened.

"Elizabeth Bennet."

"A-ha. And I suppose that you have several aunts, named...oh, can I remember?...Jane, Lydia, Mary, Georgiana, and...Catherine?"

"Kitty. And I presume that you do know my family, Miss..."

Kelsey sighed. "Why I'm telling you this, I don't know. My name is Kelsey Chandler."

Kelsey. What an unusual name. Well, it suits her, I suppose. "Well, Miss Chandler--"

"It's Mrs. Chandler, but since I've given up that name, I suppose you could just call me Kelsey."

Given up the name of her husband? Why on earth would she do that? But he did not ask. Instead, he merely continued. "You must know my family well if you can name all of my aunts."

"No, I don't know your family well. I don't know them at all."

"Then how did you know--"

Kelsey saw the confusion in his eyes. It almost made her pity him, because there was something wrong with him, and she didn't know what it was.

"Look, that isn't your family. It can't be. But...perhaps I can help you find your family. We can call the police--"

"I know where my family is! They are upstairs in Pemberley, where my mother..." He couldn't finish.

Pemberley? Well, that settles it. You may be a harmless man, Mr...uh, Darcy, but you are truly not in your right mind.

"That isn't possible. It simply isn't," she said.

"I pray every day that I would wake up and she would be fine," he said quietly. "It has yet to happen."

Kelsey realized that he had continued speaking while she had been thinking of what one did with a delusional man in one's house. She couldn't let him go, but she couldn't turn him over to the police for breaking and entering. By now, she probably had no cause to have him arrested, anyway. She hadn't called them as soon as she'd knocked him out, after all.

"Listen, I don't know if you're under hypnosis--"

"What is that?"

Kelsey chose to ignore him. "--or if you've been hit by a car and temporarily lost your memory. God, this sounds like a bad soap opera twist! Anyway, there is no way that you can be who you claim you are."

"And why not, madam?"

Kelsey bristled with anger at his calling her madam again, but said nothing. "Because, Mr....Alexander, or whatever you're calling yourself, Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy do not exist. They never did, except in one woman's writing and the minds of everyone who has read about them in the hundred and seventy-five years or so since."

Alexander had never met a woman like her. She talked strangely--even more bizarrely than the few Americans he knew did. And she was claiming that his parents did not exist! She had to be mad.

"Of course they exist. How else would I be here?"

Kelsey closed her eyes and willed herself to say the right thing, without really knowing what the real thing was. "You don't seem to get it. They're fictional characters. And while a great many people have read the book and wondered what happened to them after the story ended, and some have even written about it, the fact remains that they are not real and never have been."

"Mrs. Chandler, I must presume that you are playing some sort of...prank on me, one that is not very amusing. Do you not think I would not know my own heritage?"

"I'm saying you don't know reality right now." Kelsey started to walk into the living room. Alexander followed close behind. She immediately walked to the bookshelves, not taking notice of his reaction to the room.

The room was very plain, he thought at first. But as he glanced around the room, he noticed a great many things that were strange. For instance, there was light coming from some sort of source overhead, but he saw no candelabra, no lamps. And the cottage had a ceiling, so the light was not coming from the sun.

The pictures hanging on the wall were not great works of art, but rather family portraits, and he wondered why they were not hanging in a great hall. They were of excellent quality, almost lifelike. The first one that caught his attention, of course, was the one of the only familiar face in the lot--the woman who had conked him on the head and had since made him feel as though he were still woozy. She was slightly younger in the picture, looking much happier than she was right then. She was holding a small child in her arms, presumably her own, since she was married. In the next picture he noticed, the child was alone and seemed to be laughing. Finally, there was a picture of...Mrs. Chandler, her daughter, and a man who had a possessive arm around both mother and child...Mrs. Chandler's husband.

Before he could continue to other pictures he saw sitting on shelves, Kelsey had found what she was looking for.

"Here it is," she said, holding the book out to him. Alexander reluctantly took it, reading the title silently.

Pride and Prejudice, it said. By Jane Austen. That name again, the woman Mrs. Chandler had said would be laughing at the situation.

"Why did you give me this?" he asked.

"I'll take it you've never read it," she said.

"No."

"Then right here, right now, you should. Because it's the only way I can think of to snap you out of the insistence you have that you're the son of...that you're who you say you are."

Chapter 3

Alexander thought that Kelsey's idea was a rather ridiculous one, but he believed that the best thing to do with one who was not quite right in the mind was to humour them.

"All right," he said. "I'll read this book. But I fail to see what good it shall do, for I am who I say I am."

Kelsey sighed. "No, you're--just read the book, okay?"

"What is it about? My parents? Did some descendant of mine write a book based on their courtship?"

This is really getting out of hand, Kelsey thought. "No. Like I've been telling you, the book was written by a woman--"

"I can yet see without spectacles, Mrs. Chandler, and I could tell that this book was written by a woman."

"Don't call me that...Mrs. Chandler."

"Then what should I call you? You have become cross when I call you madam, and now you are telling me that the name you gave me is not the one you wish to be called. And why do you not keep your husband's name?"

"Call me Kelsey."

"We are not on intimate enough terms to permit my calling you by your Christian name."

"And, God willing, we never will be. Listen, in this time--" Dear God, listen to what you're saying! "In this time!" "None of this matters. Just read that book."

"All right." He flipped open the first page and started reading. Almost a moment later, he chuckled.

"What?" she asked.

"This beginning. This is something my mother said she learned as a child."

"From her mother's knee, no doubt," she said. "Would you like to sit down?"

Alexander looked at the couch, then at the two chairs in the room. Deciding on the couch, he sat down. As he opened the book again, folded papers on the surface beside the couch caught his eye. It appeared to be a newspaper of some type. The young woman--Kelsey--turned to look at the pictures on the wall, and he picked up the newspaper. The first line to catch his eye was, The Year 2000: Are We Ready?

The year 2000? That is not for another hundred and fifty-some years, he thought. Then he saw the date on the top of the page.

May 16, 199-.

Alexander started to feel dizzy, as though Kelsey had hit him a second time. This was all very strange. According to the newspaper, the year was...the year...

"Is something wrong?" she asked, a look of concern replacing the frustration he had been getting used to.

"Is...is this paper accurate?" His voice was barely a croak.

"Well, for the most part. If they print something wrong, I'm sure they'll retract it tomorrow. Why?"

"The...the date."

"What about it? It's the sixteenth. Why? Is there something especially important about today? Were you supposed to break into someone else's house and convince them that you were the son of a pair of literary lovers?"

"Would you stop making me sound as though I were bound for Bedlam! I am not insane!"

"Then why do you keep trying to tell me that you're--"

"Because I am. Now, something...strange is going on here. I am not where I should be."

"I'll say. For one thing, you're in my house."

"Where...where are we at?"

"I just told you."

"No, I mean...what part of the world are we in?"

Alexander immediately regretted the words after he had said them, for Kelsey's face grew even more suspicious...and more convinced that he was mad.

"We're in America. You're in St. Louis, to be exact."

"St. Louis?"

"Missouri? You've surely heard of the place. Home to the Gateway Arch and the St. Louis Cardinals. Well, probably better known for the former than the latter."

"St. Louis Cardinals?" Why would a place be known for its birds?

"You don't get out much, do you?"

"I am beginning to suspect that I do not get out nearly enough."

"And is the year really 199..."

"Yeah. So?"

Alexander wasn't quite sure how to say next. How on earth did this happen? How did I get here? And why--

Suddenly, he remembered the last thing he had done before stepping onto the strange lawn. He'd prayed to God to find a way to cure his mother.

"I--I think I need to...I am still--" He rubbed the back of his head where she had hit him, feeling the knot.

Kelsey suddenly realized what was wrong, why this man was acting so strange. She sat down hard on the couch beside him. "Oh, no."

"What?"

"This is all my fault!"

"What is?"

"I hit you with the bat...and now you're not right."

"I am perfectly all right, just a little woozy. I was about to ask you if you would not mind if I stayed the evening, until I recovered sufficiently."

"You don't seem to understand. When I hit you with the cane, I must've hit something that affects your memory. You must have amnesia--oh, God! Just what I need!" she groaned.

"Amnesia? Are you suggesting that there is something wrong with me?"

"I thought we agreed that I did. That was why I wanted you to read that. Now I see that you've already read it, and you think that they're your parents because they're the last people you probably read about before you...but why did you come here?"

"I...I do not know." And he was right--he had no idea why, of all the places the maze could have taken him, it brought him to Kelsey Chandler.

"Maybe we'll never know." Kelsey let the weight of that sink in. "I'm so sorry. I was just so scared--you were--"

"It is all right. It is clear that there is not a man around to protect you...and have you no servants?"

Kelsey sighed. Well, you've really done it this time, kiddo. You managed to knock a guy so hard in the head that he thinks he's from another time. Might as well go along with him until he regains his memory.

"No, we don't. This is...oh, God! How do I get myself into these things?"

"Into what things?"

Kelsey gave him a wistful smile--the first genuine smile she'd had since he'd met her. Alexander was surprised at how pretty she was when she smiled, prettier than in the picture on the wall. "It's a long story. Maybe, if you're still around, I'll tell you someday."

Alexander breathed a small sigh of relief. Thank God, she seems to be accepting who I am. And now we can get on to finding a cure for my mother.

Kelsey stood up abruptly. Alexander, taught from childhood to stand when a lady stood, rose as well, but almost immediately came crashing back onto the sofa.

"You should rest," Kelsey said quietly.

"No--I need--" But when he struggled to sit up, he knew she was right. He was too weak to do much.

"Do you think you can make it from there to the guest bedroom?"

"The what?"

"It's just down the hall. You won't have to climb the stairs or anything. And I'll bring you some of the things John left behind--they might fit. You look to be close to his size."

"Oh...that should be fine."

"Good. Then that's settled. Now you go rest, and I'll...well, I have to pick up Emma from school in a couple of hours."

"Emma?"

"My daughter."

"Ah...and how far is her school?"

"It's only a few miles, but the traffic could take longer."

Alexander nodded. Her absence should give him plenty to time to search her house--for why else would he have been sent to this place, if it did not hold the cure for his mother's illness? Kelsey Chandler should be gone for a good hour or so, unless she had a swift carriage to get her to her child's school and back.

He allowed her to lead him into a bedroom. Without thinking, he slowly closed his eyes and allowed himself to rest for the first time in several days...

Kelsey smiled as she saw him fall asleep almost instantly. She felt so bad about what she'd done, but it couldn't be helped. As he'd observed, there was no one else around to protect her.

"Well, Mr. Darcy, what am I to do with you now?" she whispered softly into the silence. More importantly, how am I going to explain this to everyone?

Kelsey shut the door firmly behind her, uncertain of the answer to either question.

Chapter 4

A pusher? Moi? Just subliminal messages weaved in among the normal print, that's all! Thanks, everybody, for your comments! And now, back to the story...

Alexander awoke, unsure of where he was. There were two things he was certain of--he had slept much longer than he had planned, for the light was almost completely gone from outside the window, and that Kelsey Chandler had hit him much harder than he thought, for he had a splitting headache. He turned with a sigh to find himself staring into a pair of gray eyes he didn't recognize for a second. With a small gasp, he sat up.

"Hello," he said.

The gray eyes belonged to a small child, and after a second, he realized that she had her mother's eyes. And her mother's honey-brown hair. She looked to be about five or six.

"Hi," she replied. "Who are you?"

"I'm Alexander Darcy. You must be..." Alexander knew that Kelsey had mentioned her daughter's name. "Emily?"

"Emma," she corrected.

"Of course."

"What're you doing here?"

"Uh..." Alexander smiled. I wish I knew. And if I do not know, how can I explain it to you?

"Are you a friend of Mommy's?"

"That's right. Your mother and I are friends."

"Then how come I never saw you before?"

"Because...I live..." In a different time? A different place? According to your mother, a different reality? "I do not live near here," he finished weakly.

Emma nodded. "Mommy said that you hurt yourself today, and that's why you're here."

And I shall wager that she did not tell you how that injury came about. But of course she did not. It would not be prudent to tell a five-year-old about such a thing. "I hurt myself here, and your mother was kind enough to take me in."

"How'd you do that?"

"How did I do what?"

"Hurt yourself. Did you fall down from a bike? That's how I hurt myself...see?" Emma lifted up her arm to show some scrapes on her elbow.

"Uh...no. I...I ran...I fell on something in the backyard and hit my head on a rock."

"Did it hurt a lot?"

"Yes, it did."

"Does it still hurt?"

"Emma?" Kelsey's voice drifted down the hall. "Emma, where are you?"

"In here, Mommy!"

Kelsey appeared in the doorway a minute later. "Now Emma, what did I tell you about not disturbing Mr. Darcy?"

"But he was already awake."

"It was quite all right, Mrs. Chandler. I was...awake. And your daughter was not a bother."

Kelsey remained unconvinced, but she decided not to press the issue. "It's time for you to have a bath, Miss Emma."

"Can I have my rubber ducky with me? And lots of bubbles?"

"Well, we'll see about the bubbles. Come on, go get Ducky."

Emma raced out of the room to look for the toy.

"If you like, I can reheat some Hamburger Helper...there's plenty left over."

Having no idea what Hamburger Helper was, but so hungry as to be willing to eat anything, Alexander said, "It sounds wonderful."

"I'm really sorry if Emma woke you up."

"Oh, no. As I said, she was not a problem."

"Good. She's in a phase where she asks a lot of questions. It gets very tiring, and very complicated."

"Yes, I noticed."

"Right." Kelsey turned to go, but then said, "I'll get supper for you as soon as Emma's had her bath, okay?"

"That is...okay."

"Good. By the way, I set some clothes for you on the chair over there." Kelsey pointed to a small chair with some clothing draped across it and then walked out of the room, calling, "Emma! Come on! If you're in the bathroom in thirty seconds you'll get to have bubbles in your bath!"

The pattering of small feet drifted further away. Alexander swung his feet out of the bed. When he stood up, he no longer felt dizzy, but his headache pounded with even more fury than before. He walked over to the chair and found clothing that was most unusual--a pair of breeches that were made of some rough blue material, with pockets not only in front but in back as well. The shirt was of a softer blue material, perhaps cotton, with short sleeves. There was no vest, no coat to go with it.

But this is a different time, he thought. The fashions are different. Mrs. Chandler's skirt was positively indecent, the way it only came to mid-calf. And that child of hers! She was wearing boy's pants! Is this where the future is headed?

As soon as he thought it, he chastised himself. After all, this future was where he was going to find a cure of Elizabeth. And he was apparently going to need Mrs. Chandler's help to get it.

He stripped out of the outfit he'd been wearing and put on the clothes. They did not fit perfectly--the pants, he felt, were a little too snug where they should not be. But the shirt fit just fine. And he had to admit, he rather liked the sensation of not wearing a coat and vest.

Alexander sat down on the bed again, waiting for Kelsey to return.

He sat at a table in the kitchen, a new experience for Alexander, who always sat in formal dining rooms--but then, the day had been full of new experiences. He ate while Kelsey washed dishes from the evening meal. When she was finished, she sat down at the table with him.

"What did you call this again?" he asked.

"It's Hamburger Helper," Kelsey said, smiling. He seemed as though he'd never had the dish before. Well, she supposed that he just couldn't remember whether or not he had. "Cheeseburger macaroni. It's Emma's favorite."

"I can see why," Alexander said. He'd had some of the finest meals a man could ever have, cooked by some of the finest cooks in the world, but for some reason, this tasted just wonderful to him. "You are a good cook."

Kelsey laughed--causing Alexander to look up at her in surprise. She had not laughed once since he had met her, and he was pleased to discover that she had a very pleasant laugh. Not a high-pitched giggle or a raucous chortle, but a soft, husky sound.

"Would you mind if I asked you something?" he set his fork down.

"Go ahead."

"What happened to Emma's father?"

The smile faded from her face, and Alexander immediately felt guilty. "I am sorry, I should not have asked. It is obvious that the mention of him still causes you great pain."

"It's not that...I got over the pain of losing him a long time ago."

"I understand. How long ago did he die?"

Kelsey frowned. "Die? John isn't dead."

"He is...but you said--"

"We're divorced. As of a week ago."

"Divorced?" Alexander was shocked, truly shocked. He had thought Kelsey a widow, but to discover that she had divorced her husband...well, no one he knew was divorced.

"Yes, divorced. Is that such a shock to you?"

"Yes, it is. You seemed like such a decent..." Alexander broke off when Kelsey's gray eyes darkened.

"Decent? What's wrong with being divorced, may I ask?"

"It simply is not done. And if it is, it is certainly never spoken of to a complete stranger."

Kelsey couldn't miss the disapproval in his voice. She'd heard it from everyone else, God knew, but from him, a man who didn't know her at all...

She finally exploded. "I am sick of people who think I should've stuck by John," she snapped. "I suppose you think it a mortal sin, but I refused to live a lie! I'd already lived one for the better part of my life. And I don't think that you should have the right to judge me because I got tired of living with a two-timing jerk who would rather spend his nights with bimbos at cheap motels than with his wife and daughter!"

Alexander was speechless. He had not expected her to become so angry, but perhaps he should have expected it. Some of what she had said did not make sense to him (he was pretty sure he knew what a bimbo was, but not for certain), but he knew that she was angry.

"I---I am sorry...Kelsey."

Kelsey crossed her arms across her chest and looked up at the ceiling. "Dear God, I hope Emma didn't hear me say that. It's bad enough that she hasn't seen John since the divorce."

"Where has he been?"

Kelsey lowered her gaze and looked at him. "I don't know. I don't think I care anymore."

"I am sorry. I should not have said anything."

"You're right. You shouldn't have." Kelsey stood up. "And I shouldn't have, either. But it's too late to take it back. I guess you're Catholic, huh?"

"No!"

"Then what's your problem with divorce?"

"It creates such a scandal, you know. And divorced people are never allowed back into society, you know."

Kelsey's brow furrowed again, uncertainty showing in her eyes under she remembered his problem. "Oh...right. I suppose in your society, it is a scandalous thing. But Mr. Darcy--"

"Please...if I am to call you Kelsey, you may call me Alexander."

"All right. Alexander, in...in today's society, divorce isn't the scandal it used to be, unless you're really famous or really rich. Of which I am neither," she said with a rueful smile. "And even then, it's not all that shocking."

"It...is not?"

"No. In fact, statistics have shown that over fifty percent of marriages will end up in divorce."

Alexander had been about to take a drink of...it looked like wine, but Kelsey had called it...cool aid, or some such strange name for a drink. But he stopped himself before he choked on it, for her "statistic" had him reeling.

"Fifty percent?"

"Over fifty percent."

"Dear God, what sort of world do you live in?"

Kelsey raised her eyebrows, and her eyes suddenly brightened. The gleam in her eyes was remarkably like the one he'd seen so many times in Elizabeth Darcy's, just before she did something mischievous. "Would you really like to know?"

Alexander knew he only had one purpose there--to find the cure for his mother and go home. But against his will and reason, and rebelling against what he saw in her eyes, he found himself saying, "Yes."

Chapter 5

Kelsey smiled. "Good. Then let's get started, because the first place to learn about life in the nineties is in the home." She stood up, motioning him to follow her into the living room.

Alexander stood up. His head was throbbing even worse than before, and he put a hand to his temple, as though that would do any good. Kelsey noticed the motion.

"Your head really hurts, doesn't it?" she asked softly.

"Yes, it does. You hit me, remember?"

"I'm not likely to forget."

"I do not suppose you have any laudanum or any such pain reliever, do you?"

Kelsey walked over to a cabinet and pulled a small bottle from the top shelf. "I have something that is more effective and won't make you drowsy--or so it says." She opened the bottle and shook out two small pills. She handed them to Alexander. "Take these with some of the kool-aid. Your headache should hopefully go away in a little while."

Alexander looked at the items in his hand, not wanting to trust her completely. "What is this?"

"It's aspirin--well, not aspirin. Tylenol. It works pretty much the same way. It's a painkiller."

"Are you certain?"

"If I weren't, I wouldn't have given it to you. Now take it." Kelsey opened the door of the freezer and took out some ice cubes. She put them in a dish towel and then knotted it to create a makeshift icepack.

Alexander swallowed the pills down. "What is that for?"

"For you. Put it...well, the back of your head might be the best place. Or wherever it'll do you the most good." Kelsey sat down again. "Maybe tonight's not the best time for you to begin remembering the twentieth century."

"As I have not lived in that century--"

Kelsey wanted to grumble that yes, he had, but her own guilt about why he couldn't remember kept her quiet.

"Would you like to hear of my family?" he asked.

Kelsey sighed. Much as she had loved Pride and Prejudice as a teenager, reality had long since caused the stars she'd had in her eyes to fade. Once, she had dreamed that she was Elizabeth Bennet, and that a wonderful man like Mr. Darcy was going to fall in love with her and they would live happily ever after...

And instead, you married John Chandler and lived unhappily ever after. And now you don't even have him.

"Sure," she finally said.

"Well, if you would rather not--"

"No, no. Tell me about...your family." It's not as though this is real, of course, except in his mind. And who knows? It might make for an interesting story someday.

"As you know, I'm the son of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy." Alexander noticed that her lips tightened in response to his statement, but he decided to continue. She obviously still believed there was something wrong with him. "I'm their third child, of five. The youngest son."

"Oh?"

"Yes. My brothers, William and Edward, are both older than I, and my sisters, Jane and Victoria, are younger."

"How old are you?"

"I am seven-and-twenty. May I ask for your age?"

"You mean it was polite for a gentleman to ask a lady's age..." Kelsey trailed off. Dear God, kiddo. Pretty soon, you're going to start believing him.

"Well, no. I guess that it is still not polite to ask."

"It isn't. And I'm twenty-six."

Alexander smiled, and Kelsey couldn't help noticing that he had a very open, honest smile--something John had never had. Funny how she hadn't noticed that until after they were married...

"So what did you do?"

"Do about what?"

"I mean, what job did you have? How did you make your living? Your oldest brother, Edward--"

"William is the eldest."

"Okay, then William inherits Pemberley. What professions did you and your brother take up?"

"Edward took possession of Rosings several years ago, after the death of Miss Anne de Bourgh. Edward was her favourite, and the obvious choice to--"

"Rosings? You mean where..."

"Yes. Great-aunt Catherine de Bourgh turns over in her grave daily. Sometimes, you can even hear her doing it."

Kelsey laughed. "And what about you? I guess you weren't so lucky as to have a place to inherit...maybe Longbourn?"

"No. My mother's cousin, Mr. Collins, and his wife had a son of their own."

"Then what vocation did you take up?"

"I didn't."

"How did you survive?"

"I still lived with my parents, for most of the time. I did not feel an interest in any of the pursuits I could have had."

"And there's no fortune for you to inherit when they die."

"I would prefer not to speak of their dying," Alexander said with a sudden ferocity that made Kelsey grip the table top with trembling fingers. Even though he had seemed harmless, she didn't know him at all. He could still be...

"I am sorry, Kelsey. I should not have shouted at you. But...I must tell you the important thing, the reason I am here. It is of far greater urgency than my seeing your world, as interesting as it may be."

"What's wrong?"

"My mother is very ill. The doctors do not know what is wrong with her, and they have been unable to cure her as a result. They do not...they think she shall die soon."

Kelsey saw the tears in his eyes, which he blinked back. When he had himself under control again, he finished. "I think the reason I am here is to find a cure for her."

"And what makes you think that?"

"Because I prayed for this very thing to happen. In the maze which led me here."

"You did? You prayed to be...sent to this place and time?"

"Not exactly. I prayed to be able to help my mother. I said I would do anything, and apparently, God had time traveling on his list for the 'anything.'"

"Then why are you here, and not at a hospital?" Kelsey told herself that she had to be able to crack his story, to make him see that he was not from a past that never existed.

"I do not know."

"Well, you aren't going to find a cure in my house. The strongest drugs I have are aspirin and caffeine, neither of which could really help your mother."

"Are you so certain that the cure cannot be found here?" Alexander felt his heart plummet. He had been hoping that maybe she had the cure, surely that had been the reason he had come to this particular place in time...

"Positive, unless your mother has a bad case of the flu. In that case, I have several cold remedies and some flu tablets."

"The flu? Influenza, you mean?"

"It's not as bad as you...probably...got the flu then."

"That might be it!" he exclaimed, his dark eyes shining.

"But the doctors would have been able to identify the flu, right? If they were the best you could get. And they probably would've had something that would've helped her get over it. I don't think there's an absolute cure for the flu, as I manage to get it every couple of years--"

"You get influenza every two or three years? Dear God, how have you managed to stay alive to the age of twenty-six?"

"I don't really think it's like the influenza you're thinking of. It's pretty mild--well, you don't think so while you're sick. But I don't think many people die of the flu anymore, unless they're really old or they have other complications."

"Oh." Alexander digested this information. Neither of them said anything. Finally, he continued. "I fear for my father the most. My mother is delirious most of the time, and not knowing how close she is to death...at least, I do not think she knows. But my father...he spends every moment he can with her, and the more she fades away, the more..."

"You don't think he'll live long after she..."

"No. She has been his whole life for over thirty years."

"I'm sorry, Alexander. If there was something I could do to help..." If this was true at all... Kelsey refused to finish the thought. His heartache was all too real, even if it was not the truth. "I would help you if I could."

"Maybe you can help. You can show me your world, and somewhere, I can find the cure."

"The best place to take you would be a hospital, but we'd have to know what your mother has."

"Could we not just describe her symptoms to a doctor and have his help immediately?"

"I suppose we could, but what if she has something that hasn't been discovered in this time, either?"

"You mean there are things this century does not have? It seems as though you have everything--except happy families, of course."

"There are a lot of things this century doesn't have. And believe me, cures for some diseases rank right up there on the 'don't have' list."

The happiness in Alexander's eyes faded. "Then she could still die."

"She could."

"We should begin looking for the cure at once. Let's visit a doctor tomorrow."

"One problem with that, Alexander."

"What?"

"The doctor would want to see the patient. How could we tell him that the patient is living in another time?" Or that the patient doesn't really exist? We'd be carted off the a psychiatric ward in seconds.

"They would certainly cart us off to Bedlam then, would they not?"

"Exactly."

"Then how do you propose we go about this search?"

"Maybe by starting at the library. That's always a good place to begin learning about people, you know, and things. And tomorrow, I'll take you around, show you the world..." Try to get your memory back so we can give up this search you insist on having.

"All right. That is what we shall do. Is Emma to come with us?"

Kelsey hadn't thought about her daughter, too engrossed in Alexander's story and the fact that it was all made up. "I can probably ask my mother or sister to take care of her, unless they're going shopping for the wedding."

"Wedding?" Is she remarrying already?

"Not mine. My sister's. She's getting married next week." And Kelsey was already dreading it--because even though she loved her sister, Madeline's constant "I told you so's" got on her nerves. And her wedding, coming on the heels of the divorce, seemed to mock Kelsey at every turn.

"I see." Alexander felt oddly relieved.

"How's your headache?" she asked.

He had been so caught up in telling his story and asking her how they could find a cure that he had not even thought about his head. He was surprised to find that it had stopped hurting.

"Your medicine seems to have worked, for it is not a problem."

"Good." Kelsey gave a small yawn. "I think it's time for me to go to bed. Emma wakes up at the crack of dawn, so keep your door shut unless you want her waking you again."

"I shall."

"I put a pair of pajamas in your room."

"Pajamas?"

"Clothes to sleep in. Jeans and a t-shirt are uncomfortable, so I wouldn't suggest you sleep in them."

"Do they belong to John as well?"

"Yeah. You don't mind, do you?"

"No...would he be bothered?"

"Oh, absolutely." Kelsey smiled, then stood up. "Good night, Alexander."

"Good night, Kelsey."

Alexander wandered back into the room he'd slept in earlier, remembering to shut the door behind him. As he changed into the 'pajamas,' noting that the bottom half fit much better than those 'jeans' had, he couldn't help but marvel at the day he'd had. He certainly hadn't thought that morning that he would be falling asleep a hundred and fifty years into the future.

And just what about Kelsey...a woman who was divorced, but that did not seem to matter in this age. She was utterly fascinating, not that he should be concentrating on such things. But she was also frustrating, and she obviously didn't believe that he was telling her the truth.

"I shall endeavor to work on that misconception in the morning," he mumbled under his breath as he lay down on the bed and drifted off to sleep.

Directly upstairs from him, Kelsey slipped into a pair of red boxer shorts and her Cardinals jersey, what she usually wore to bed. She thought of the visitor staying downstairs and wondered how she'd managed to get herself roped into this mess. He may have told a nice story, but it was all made up, and he had no memory of who he was. She had to keep remembering that.

"Tomorrow," she said as she crawled into bed, "he's going to have to start remembering that he's from the twentieth century."

Soon after, she fell asleep as well.

Chapter 6

Alexander awoke early the next morning, the sound of unfamiliar voices drifting into his room. For a moment, looking around at the walls (which were painted blue), the unfamiliar carpet on the floor, and most of all, the scene he could see from outside his window--was it his imagination, or did that blue carriage just speed by at such an incredible speed that he had no chance to see the horses?--he became disoriented. The lingering headache, which was not as bad as it had been the evening before, but still present, forced him to remember.

He was in the future. He was in Kelsey Chandler's house. And he had to remember what he had come for.

That settled, he walked out of the room in search of more of those tablets that Kelsey had given him yesterday, in order to get rid of his headache. On his way, he passed the room where the pictures were. Emma Chandler sat on the floor, her legs crossed, staring up at a box where a man and a woman were talking. It was the strangest thing, however, for the man and woman were only in black and white. There was no color to them at all.

"Most peculiar," he whispered.

The little girl had heard him, for she turned her head to look at him. "Hi," she said.

"Hello," he said, his voice a little rusty.

"Shh," she said, pointing to a large chair. "Mommy's still asleep."

Alexander looked at the form sprawled in the chair and nearly gasped. Dear God, has the woman no decency? He had never seen a sleeping outfit like this, except in...well, less-respectable places. And not even those were like this. The top was a loose-fitting shirt with tiny holes that showed her skin, and the bottom...showed far too much of her legs.

A woman would never be caught out of her room in such an outfit, and yet Kelsey Chandler had fallen asleep where anyone could see her.

"Can you turn this movie off?" Emma whispered. "I'd rather watch Animaniacs. They're on right now."

"Movie?" he asked. "What is a movie?"

Emma's confused look could have been a miniature duplicate of her mother's. "I don't know what it's called, but Mommy loves it. She fell asleep watching it."

"How do I turn it off?" Turn what off? he wondered.

"I don't know. Mommy knows how. Maybe we should wake her up."

"No, no...that is probably not a good idea. Your mother must have been extremely tired to fall asleep in a chair."

"She does that a lot. She has trouble falling asleep, and so she comes downstairs to watch a movie and then I find her in the morning. Do you like movies?"

Alexander decided that he should just play along. "Yes, I do."

"What's your favorite?"

"Uh...this one, actually. I like...this one."

"What's it called?"

"Um...It's a surprise. How about if we watch it together, and find out."

"But I wanna watch cartoons."

Cartoons?

A plaintive note in Emma's voice--even hushed as it was--caused Kelsey to stir. Stretching out her arms, she yawned loudly and opened her eyes slowly.

At the first sight of Alexander, she bolted upright and almost cried out in fear. But then she remembered who he was.

"Oh, it's you."

"Mommy, can I watch Animaniacs?"

"No...oh, well, yes. Are they on now?"

"Uh-huh."

Kelsey glanced at the clock...just after ten. "Are you sure, sweetie?"

"It's Saturday."

"Oh, right. Okay." Kelsey hunted for the remote control, found it on the floor next to the lamp, and pushed the off button.

Alexander's eyes widened as the two people in black and white disappeared, and colorful, surreal...what were those creatures? They did not appear human, or animal.

Whatever they were, they entranced Emma. She resumed sitting in front of the box.

"Emma, don't sit so close to the TV. You'll go blind."

Emma stood up and sat on the couch.

"How did you do that?" he asked softly.

Kelsey sighed. So much for him getting his memory back this morning. Well, what can you expect? It's only been a day. These things take time.

"Come on. I'll fix you breakfast and explain television and the movies," she replied.

"All right, but first..." Alexander trailed off, uncertain of how to ask this question. But he felt like he was about to die.

"Yes?"

"Where may I find a...ahm, a..."

"A what?"

"There was no...chamber pot in my room. I could not find one."

"A chamber--oh! Right this way." Kelsey led him back down the hall to his room, but instead of continuing to the end of the hall, she made a sudden turn. A room suddenly filled with light. "Tah-dah."

Alexander peeked into the room. It was small and painted white. There was a bathtub to one side, with a curtain made of some strange material to one side. There was a basin with a cabinet underneath, and in between the bathtub and the basin...

"Most unusual," he said. "And where shall I take it once..."

"Nowhere. You take off with my toilet and I'll shoot you. It's bad enough I had to pay two hundred bucks for the stupid washer." Kelsey, with a slightly red face, proceeded to explain to Alexander how the toilet worked, including a strong lecture on the toilet seat. Alexander's face was equally red. When she finished, she shut the door behind her.

"You'd better get your memory back soon," she mumbled as she headed for the kitchen. "I'm not sure I can take anything more like that."

After asking Kelsey for more aspirin, which she cheerfully gave him with a fresh cup of coffee (most unusual flavor, but not unpleasant, he thought), he said, "You were going to tell me about movies and..."

"Television," she said when he couldn't remember what it was called.

"What was that...box that Emma was watching?"

"That's the television." Oh, Lord, how do you describe television to someone who doesn't remember it? "And before I woke up, we were watching a movie."

"Ah. What was it called?"

"The movie? It's called The Shop Around the Corner."

"Why were the two people in the box only in black and white, and when you...stopped the movie, it was in color?"

"Because the movie is an old movie, made back when they didn't have color film...well, they must've had it, because it was made after Gone with the Wind, and it's in color."

None of this was making much sense to Alexander, but he did not say so.

"It's one of my favorites."

"Yes, Emma said as much."

Kelsey smiled as she took down the oatmeal. "James Stewart is my favorite actor. Of course, to Emma, he's just a man in a movie that doesn't have singing teapots and is therefore boring."

"Teapots do not sing."

"They do in animated movies."

"Animated?"

"Oh, Lord. This is going to be harder than I thought. Look, if you're really interested in movies and television, then a library really is the best place to take you, because it has books that would explain things better than I could."

"I see." Alexander smiled. "Then I suppose it is my good fortune that we shall be going to a library today."

"Maybe. If I can get my mother to watch Emma for the day, we'll go. Emma's a little too rowdy for the library."

Just at that moment, the phone rang, and Kelsey walked over to get it. "Hello?"

"Kelsey! It's me."

She almost groaned. "Hi, Mom."

"You sound like you just woke up, dear."

"I did."

"Oh, did I disturb you?"

"No...no, I was awake. I'm making breakfast."

"Good. Madeline wanted me to ask you if you would be able to go into the bridal shop sometime today for another fitting. She says that the dress still isn't quite right."

"How can one mess up a hoop skirt?"

"Now, Kelsey, you know how much Maddie wants this day to be perfect. She only intends to get married once."

Kelsey felt the cut, the unspoken words between them that had lain there since she had announced that she was getting divorced.

"Oh, honey, I didn't mean it the way it sounded--"

"Forget it, Mom. It's..." Kelsey wanted to say that she had meant it. Exactly as it had sounded. Instead, she said, "I might be able to make it. Would you mind taking Emma for the day?"

"No, not at all! I love to see my darling little angel."

Little angel? I wish I saw a little more of that around here.

"Good. Then I'll drop her off in about an hour or so."

"I'll be waiting for her. Kelsey, I meant to tell you this the last time I called, but Maddie didn't know for sure if he was coming--"

"Not another set-up, Mom, please. I'm not interested in dating anyone right now."

"But this is Ben's brother, Kelsey. The one who lives in California and makes plenty of money as an accountant or some such thing."

"I don't care if Ben's brother turns out to be a Tom Cruise look-alike, I'm not interested."

"Well, all right, Kelsey. But how do you ever expect to find another man if you--"

"I don't--" Kelsey looked at Alexander, who was staring at the phone in amazement. "As a matter of fact, I was just about to tell you something."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I know this is last-minute, but I wanted you to add another guest to the list."

"As this is Maddie's wedding, I can't add--"

Please. This is your wedding just as much as it is Madeline's. I ran off to Vegas to marry John, so this is all you're getting.

"Then tell Madeline to add him."

"Him? Did I hear you correctly, Kelsey Angelica?"

"Yes, you did. Him. Alexander Darcy, to be exact." Alexander was startled to hear her mention his name. He thought her quite mad to be carrying on a one-sided conversation, as though she were honestly talking to someone.

"When did you meet this man?"

Kelsey smiled. "Oh...I don't know. But he's just arrived in town, and he'll be around for a little while, so put him on the list."

"All right, dear. Maddie is going to have a fit, since she spent so long figuring out the seating, but she can do it for you."

"Thank you."

"How serious is this relationship?"

"He's just a friend, Mom. Nothing more."

"Does John know him?"

Kelsey did groan.

"Now Kelsey, that is no response to an innocent question."

"I have to go, Mom. Emma's hollering from the living room."

"All right. I'll be expecting you soon."

Kelsey hung up the phone and noticed Alexander's look.

"What?"

"Why were you talking to yourself?" he asked.

"I wasn't. I was talking to my mother."

"Oh? And where was she?"

"She was on the other end of the line. See, I have a number--a specific telephone number--that she can call if she wants to talk to me. Come here." Kelsey showed him the phone. "This allows me to hear her when she talks, and this allows me to talk to her."

"A most wondrous thing," he breathed. "You can speak to someone at the very moment you wish to."

"Yeah. It's pretty neat, when you think about it." Kelsey almost felt amazed herself.

"How does everything work in this time?" he asked.

Kelsey laughed. "Explaining my house alone would take a lifetime and a half, and that wouldn't help your mother at all."

"Quite right."

"How about if we skip breakfast and just have an early lunch? Mom can feed Emma lunch, and I'll treat you to McDonalds. I don't suppose you have any money, do you?"

"No. I do not carry money when I am in my own home."

It was on the tip of Kelsey's tongue to remind him that he was not in his own home now, but she didn't.

"Then it'll be my treat. Hey, Emma, how would you like to go to Grandma Madison's house?"

"Yea!"

"Okay, then. I'll get you dressed and we'll go."

"And what shall I wear? These..." Alexander looked down at his outfit.

"I'll get you some more of John's clothes."

"Would you mind not giving me breeches such as I had yesterday? They were most uncomfortable."

"The jeans? Oh, no problem. I think John left some other pants around."

Kelsey headed out of the room in order to get clothes. Alexander sat at the table. Who is McDonald? And why are we going to have to pay to eat at a person's house?

Chapter 7

Almost an half an hour later, the trio was ready to go out into the world. Kelsey had to admit--only to herself, however--that she was very reluctant to bring Alexander out into the open. After all, he wasn't in his right mind, and who knew what kind of gaffes he'd make in front of the rest of the world. In the end, she decided to take the risk to make him happy.

And almost immediately started regretting it.

When they stepped outside, a green car drove by at a fairly slow speed. Alexander, however, ran to the end of the curb to look at it.

"Where are the horses?" he called to her. "I see the carriage moving, but I see no horses."

"There aren't any horses," Kelsey replied. "People haven't needed horses to get around for quite some time."

"Have they not? Then what is that contraption?"

"It's called a car," Emma told him cheerfully. "This is so weird, Mommy. It's like he's never seen a car before."

"As a matter of fact--"

"He has, pumpkin, but not one like that," Kelsey interrupted before Alexander could finish. "Now let's get in the car and go to Grandma's."

Emma accepted the explanation easily. Kelsey opened a rear door and Emma hopped in, excited at the prospect of a visit to her grandmother's. Shutting the door, Kelsey started to get in the driver's door. Alexander, however, stayed outside.

She stepped out of the car. "What's the matter?"

"Uh, well, I am not certain I wish to ride in such a thing."

"You've never done anything out of the ordinary? Not that a car is like an airplane or skydiving, but I suppose you think...that a car is something bizarre."

"I do, and I also have reservations about a woman driving one."

"A wo--look, I have a driver's license," she said. "I've been driving for ten years. I know more about that machine than you do. So get in."

Alexander smiled. "You are quite right, Kelsey. I am sorry for what I said."

That made Kelsey stop. Rarely had she heard a man apologize for making a casual, yet sexist, comment. John and her father had never hesitated to say them, and could have cared less about their impact. And here was this half-insane man, apologizing to her!

"It's okay," she said. "But we need to get going."

"Right, right." Alexander looked at the door for a moment before grasping the handle and opening it himself.

If he had had any idea of what an insane driver Kelsey was, he would never have agreed to get in the death machine. Alexander clutched a strap above the door for dear life as Kelsey practically flew by houses and other vehicles. The child in the back seat seemed to think nothing of her own safety, for she was contented to sit in the back, singing along with the voices coming from nowhere--a radio, Kelsey had said it was called when he'd asked where she kept the orchestra in such a small place.

She came to a stop at another small cottage about fifteen minutes later, pulling into a driveway. Before she could say anything, a woman came at a brisk pace from the house--a somewhat younger woman than he was expecting. The other thing which startled him was how much she looked like Kelsey.

"Hi, Kelse! Hey, Emma! How's it going, squirt?" the woman said.

"Hi, Aunt Maddie!" the child said.

Aunt. So this woman actually was Kelsey's sister. The woman picked Emma up and swung her around, making her scream in delight.

"Hi, Madeline," Kelsey said.

"Mom's insi--" She stopped short at the sight of Alexander still sitting in the car. "Who's that?"

Kelsey turned to look at Alexander, wondering how she was going to explain him. The old friend story wouldn't work with Madeline, who knew every single one of her friends.

By then, Alexander had managed to get himself out of the car. On shaking legs, he walked toward them.

"That's Alexander Darcy."

"Oh, the guy Mom said you wanted to add to the wedding list. By the way, Kelsey, I thought that was a little last-minute, even for you."

"No, last minute would've been telling you the day of the wedding."

"How do you know this guy, anyway? Mom and I were trying to figure--well, we didn't know him."

Alexander looked at the two women, uncertain for a moment which one was Kelsey, for they were wearing almost the same outfit--jeans and white blouses.

"He's a friend of mine," Kelsey said, deliberately being vague.

"Come on, Kelse. How do you know him?"

"I just recently thought about buying the house near hers," he said before Kelsey could answer. "It's quite a lovely home."

Madeline wasn't quite buying it. "And you just happened to meet my sister?"

"Well, it is quite embarrassing how we met," he said with a grin. "See, I came up to the wrong house by mistake, and she, thinking I was entering her home to pillage, struck me with a cane."

Kelsey wanted to groan. Good Lord, was he going to tell her how he happened to show up next?

Her sister started laughing. "Only you could meet a man in such a way, Kelse," she said. "By the way, I'm Madeline Madison, Kelsey's twin sister."

So they were twins as well as sisters.

"Alexander Darcy," he said with a bow.

Kelsey sighed at the gallant but out-of-place gesture on Alexander's part. Madeline, however, smiled. "And he's a gentleman to boot. Shame on you, Kelse, for smacking him."

"Well, what would you have done if he had entered your home unexpectedly?"

"Probably the same thing. So, Alex, where are you from originally?"

"Derbyshire, England," he replied.

"And did you end up buying the house for sale?"

"I am still deciding."

"We really need to get going," Kelsey said before Madeline could keep asking questions. "I'm glad you're here, though. You wouldn't happen to have your alumnus card with you, would you?"

"I do. Why?"

"Because Alexander was wanting to do a little research and I thought a college library would be a better place to do it at."

"Sure. I'll be right back. Come on, Emma. Grandma's got some cookies for you."

Emma eagerly ran into the house, calling, "Grandma! I'm here!" Madeline followed her.

"Madeline Madison?" he asked softly.

"The greatest bane of her life--and all because my mother always loved the name Madeline, and didn't care what last name went with it. She's so excited about next Saturday that she's already got business cards printed up with Madeline Geiger on them."

"You somehow managed to escape such a fate."

"Kelsey was my mother's maiden name. Since she was an only child, she felt she was honoring her parents by naming me Kelsey."

"I have two cousins named Darcy, and my own father was named Fitzwilliam. Such a practice is not unusual."

Madeline came out of the house, carrying a small card with her. "Here it is." She handed it to Kelsey.

"Thanks."

"Mom wants to know when you're coming back."

"Oh...I don't know. I'm not sure how long our research is going to take," Kelsey replied. "Maybe before supper?"

"Mom's invited both you and Alex to dinner--if that's all right."

"Uh..."

"Terrific. I'll let her know they'll be two more. And don't forget to stop by the bridal shop for another fitting."

"Right," Kelsey said. "We have to go."

"It was nice meeting you, Alex."

"It was...nice to meet you as well...Madeline."

Kelsey pulled into a parking place at McDonald's and turned off the engine. "Come on, you're going to like this," she said when Alexander looked askance at the building.

"What sort of house is this, anyway?"

"It's not a house. It's a restaurant. I know they have those in England, so come on."

"We do, but they are not...they--"

"Fast food? You're trying to tell me you've never had a hamburger? You're sure to regain your memory once you've had a Big Mac."

"A what?"

Kelsey grinned. "You'll see."

Alexander walked into the restaurant, holding the door open for Kelsey. She entered, then headed for the counter to order. Alexander followed close behind.

"Where are the menus?" he asked as they waited in line.

"They're up there."

Alexander looked up to see prices and food items listed--such things called "french fries," "sodas," and "McNuggets."

"What is a McNugget?" he asked.

"It's something totally tasteless, so you don't want to eat it."

"Oh. Then what shall I get? French fries?"

"Sure." By then, it was Kelsey's turn to order. Before Alexander could say anything, she said, "We'll have two Big Macs, two orders of large fries, a medium Coke, and a medium diet."

As the young woman behind the counter figured up their total, Alexander took another look at the place. It was rather clean, not too busy at the moment. The people who passed him by, however, still astonished him. There were young girls wearing short pants that were shorter than the ones Kelsey had been wearing that morning, with skimpy blouses. Some girls even had the immodesty to show their midsections. The young men he saw were dressed in sloppy outfits, usually some checked material with plain white shirts underneath.

Kelsey picked up their tray. "Where would you like to sit?"

"It does not matter to me."

Kelsey chose a window booth and sat down. Dividing the food between them, she said, "Do you mind being called Alex?"

"I do not think anyone ever called me that."

"Really? Not even your parents?"

"No. I have always been Alexander, and Darcy to my school friends." Alexander took one of the "french fries" and popped it into his mouth. Other than being rather hot, he thought it quite good.

"Good?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Try the hamburger."

Alexander unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite.

Kelsey took a bite of her own hamburger, waiting for his pronouncement--and who knew, even his memory returning.

"Most peculiar," he said. "Interesting flavor. I wonder if, when I return, I could get Cook to make me something like this?"

"Not unless she's the one who invented the secret sauce," Kelsey replied. But there was not mention of remembering having it before.

"You did not mention having a twin," he said.

"Well, it's not something I think about every day of my life."

"You are not close to Madeline?"

"We are, just not as close as we were before I married John. I dropped out of school, and Madeline got her college degree. And things...just sort of went in those directions."

"Why did you ask for her...alumnus card?"

"Because we'll be asked for ID to use the library, and I didn't graduate. Madeline did, and she's active in the Alumni Association, and thus she has access to the library." Kelsey smiled. "Being an identical twin has its advantages."

"When shall we go to the library?"

"When we're finished with lunch. So, what do you think of the twentieth century...thus...far?" Kelsey's voice faltered at the end. Dear God, I've got to get a grip! What am I saying? I'm not starting to believe him...am I? Of course not. I'm just playing along.

"It is rather unique," he said. "That's probably the best way I could put it."

"Unique," Kelsey repeated. "I suppose it is." With a smile, she continued eating.

Chapter 8

Kelsey hadn't been on the campus of Wallis University since she'd dropped out at the end of her freshman year, and her sense of direction was slightly off. But very quickly, she was able to find the library and keep Alexander from wandering off to get a better look at some of the things he'd seen, including a student whose hair was bright blue.

"Some strange mutation in this generation," he said when Kelsey had dragged him away by the arm.

"No, just some hair dye or Jello--that's what I hear they're using these days to color their hair."

Kelsey led him past the grand doors and into the air-conditioned sanctity and silence of the library within. The first thing Kelsey came to was a young lady asking her to sign in. Showing Madeline's card, she signed her sister's name to the register.

"Hi, Madeline. How's the wedding coming?" the woman asked.

"Very quickly," she replied, hoping that the woman wouldn't expect her to remember her name, because she didn't.

"And who is this?"

Oh, God. What if she tells Ben that "Madeline" was with another man?

"He's a friend. We're just here to look something up."

"Oh, well, okay. Go right ahead."

"Thanks."

"See you next Saturday."

"Right," Kelsey replied. "Come on, Alexander. We've got to get started."

They walked into the heart of the library. Alexander stared around at all the books.

"What? Don't tell me you don't have books. According to the book, Pemberley was known for--"

Alexander swung around to look at her. "You believe me."

"I didn't say that."

"Then why does it seem as though you are starting to?"

"I am merely going along with your misguided belief, that's all. I still think you're from this century. But I don't want to upset you, so I'm pretending as though you're sane."

Alexander didn't say anything, but his look said it for him--he was disappointed with her answer. He had clearly been hoping that she would believe him.

"To answer your question, I have seen books--many books--but not quite this many in one place."

"And you haven't even seen the other three floors," Kelsey replied. "That's all that's on them, books."

"How many books are there?"

"I don't know. I think something in the vicinity of a couple of million."

Alexander let out a strangled gasp. "How shall we ever find the book which will help my mother?"

"In all likelihood, there are several books written on health and medicine--several thousand, even. I'm sure we're not going to have a problem finding one which might hold the key to your mother's illness."

"However shall we find it in a library of this magnitude?"

"Using computers, of course."

"Using what?"

"It's easier to show you than to explain. If I remember right, the computers are this way." Kelsey walked toward where she remembered the computers to be--and was rewarded by the sight of the entire right side of the room being taken up with computers. Quite a few of them were taken up by students, more than Kelsey expected for a Saturday.

"Finals week must be coming up," she said quietly. "That's the only time I really remember sitting in front of a computer."

"Finals? Oh, you must mean exams. I remember when I had exams, it was a terrible time. All of that studying when most of it was entirely useless. I tried convincing my father of that, but got the standard lecture of all Darcy men had completed university studies for generations, and I was not to be the first to not do so."

Kelsey turned to look back at him. "Your father said that?"

"He did. You sound surprised."

"It's an awfully...autocratic thing to say. Arrogant, even. I thought...well, the story was..."

"My father was not like that often, do not mistake me. I had several friends whose fathers were much worse than mine. One bloke in particular, his father was excessively overbearing. So I never considered my father's actions to be out of the ordinary way."

"What was your father like?" Kelsey asked softly.

"It is a story for another time, perhaps. For now, we need to get to work."

Kelsey sighed. "Of course." Kelsey walked over to a free computer and sat down, motioning to Alexander to pull an empty chair over.

The screen was blank, so Kelsey tapped the mouse to make it come to life. Alexander nearly jumped when the screen went to black to bright green, with icons on one side.

"How is all this accomplished?" he asked.

Kelsey turned to him. "I have no idea. Like I said before, there are books which would explain how technology works a lot better than I can."

"Could we borrow these books? Would the person who owns all of this mind?"

"There is no one person who owns the library. It's owned by the school. And as for whether or not we'd be allowed to check out books, well...I don't know. I suppose I could call Madeline and ask if it would be okay. She would know."

"Would you call her, please?"

"Sure. But first, we need to look at whether or not there's anything to look up." Kelsey punched some buttons and a screen came up. She typed in a word, waited for the responses to come up, chose a few, and printed it out. Alexander did not leap out of his seat when the printer suddenly turned on, to Kelsey's surprise, but he did take an active interest in the machine, especially when the paper came out with printing on it.

"This is astounding," he said. "Almost like having a small printing press."

"It's not quite the same thing, but the same idea," Kelsey replied.

"Would you mind doing something for me?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"Would you put in Pemberley and see what you get?"

Kelsey looked at him strangely.

"I would like to see what has happened to my family's estates. This...computer would be able to help us, would it not?"

"It might, but it might not. I suppose we could try, though." Kelsey typed in the word he'd requested. There were several hits--mostly fictional accounts written by modern authors, all of them atrocious, or so Kelsey had heard.

"We must look these up," he said.

"No, Alexander, you don't want to do that."

"Yes, I do. That is why I asked you to look it up. After all, it is my family's history."

"It isn't your family's history," Kelsey hissed. "It's made up."

"Please," he said. "May we please look this up?"

Kelsey thought for a moment, realizing that this could be the break she was looking for. She would let him read the horrible versions, which wouldn't match his own "family's" story, and he would realize that he wasn't from the past, he wasn't the son of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, and most of all, that he was somewhat disturbed.

"Okay. We'll look it up. But let's find these other books first--they're what we came for, remember?"

"Right," he said.

Kelsey sat him at a table and told him to stay put while she went to get the books on the list. Alexander was no longer looking around at the world around him, because he was thinking of his mother. He had an alternative reason for wanting to see the other books.

He wanted to know when his mother would die. After all, this future seemed able to predict everything else about his mother and his father, so it should be able to tell him when his mother had died. Family historians would be able to tell him, at the very least. And perhaps, if she had lived past her illness, it would give him a hint of where he should look for the cure.

Lived past her illness, but not now. For the first time, a flooding sense of loss shot through his brain. He was standing one hundred and fifty years in the future. Everyone he knew was dead...his father, mother, sisters, brothers, even his nieces and nephews who had just been babies. They were all gone...and yet just yesterday, he had seen them all, all alive and well, except his mother.

Alexander was on the verge of breaking down when Kelsey reappeared, a thick stack of books in her hands. "These are just the tip of the iceberg," she said, setting them on the desk with a thud. "Why don't you stay here and look through these while I go call Madeline to ask if we can check some books out with her card?"

"All right," he said.

"You might want to start with this one." Kelsey help up the top book. "It lists the illnesses by symptoms, not just generally. And by the way, I picked up one of those other books."

"You did?"

She pulled one out from the middle of the stack. The title was Pemberley written by some woman named Tenant.

"Another descendant?"

"The Austen family sincerely hopes not," Kelsey mumbled. "I'll be right back."

Kelsey walked away again, leaving Alexander to stare at the thick stack of medical books she had brought him, and then at the thin volume containing his family's history. He decided to look at that one first.

Kelsey returned not ten minutes later, after having to talk not only to Madeline, who had insisted that it would be okay to check out books with her card, but also to Emma, who had wanted to tell her what Grandma had let her do (finger-painting). Then Kelsey's mother got on the phone to insist that she bring Alexander to dinner, which Kelsey tried to get out of but couldn't.

When she got back to the table, Alexander wore a look of complete shock on his face. It was unlike the looks he'd had for the telephone or computer, or even the look he'd had on his face when they'd gotten out of the car. This was ten times more frightening.

"What's wrong?" she asked immediately. "Did you find out what was wrong with her, and there's no hope at all?"

"No, no...it is not that. I did not even look at those books. It is this." He held up Pemberley.

"Oh, God. I knew I shouldn't have given you that book. It's completely stupid, but I thought..."

"I cannot believe that a woman would make up such lies about my family," he said. "Insinuating that my father ever became cold to my mother...and my brother! My mother never had any troubles at all having children..." Alexander blushed. "My Grandmother Bennet always said that she'd bred five healthy daughters, born to give their husbands sons. And my Uncle and Aunt Wickham did not have that many children in such a short time! They only have four children altogether, the youngest just fourteen. And my Uncle Bingley...it is just too dreadful to think about! Why would such a woman write this? What has my family done to her?"

Chapter 9

Kelsey sighed. "She doesn't have anything against your family," she finally said. "She never knew them as well as a lot of people think she should."

"It would seem to me that...that she never knew them at all."

"She probably read the book quite a lot. But when it came time to write the sequel, she thought it should be more Gothic...or something like that."

"Did she continue writing about my family?"

"Oh, no. No way I let you get your hands on the sequel to this book. It's even worse than this."

"I fail to know how it can get worse than this." Alexander looked down. "I am beginning to wonder if perhaps you are right--that I am insane."

"Oh, God." The guilt Kelsey felt was increased by the look of complete misery in his eyes. Why did I give him that? Why couldn't I have started out with something a little more harmless?

"But my parents existed, Kelsey. They were Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy...just like in this book. And they had all the right relatives, and...how can it all be possible?"

"Alexander..." Kelsey was trying very hard to figure out how she should put it. "Do you believe that they aren't real?"

"No, of course not! How else would I be here?"

"I don't know," she said quietly. "I wish I knew."

"I wish you would believe me," he said.

Kelsey looked into his dark eyes, almost feeling herself drowning. "I almost wish I could."

With a playful smile, he murmured, "Almost?"

Kelsey had not realized how close they were to each other until she felt his breath near her cheek. She thought that she could close the distance at any moment with a simple kiss...

Put your head back on, kiddo! What are you thinking? You don't even KNOW this guy!

"I..." Kelsey cleared her throat and deliberately moved away from him. "I think we should check out these books and then get Emma. I can tell my mother that you're still woozy from being hit yesterday, and that'll get us out of dinner with her. After finding out this, the last thing you want to do is be grilled by my mother."

"All right," he said.

Emma was furious over not getting the promised meal of lasagna, but had settled down enough to accept the plate of spaghetti and meatballs with two small slices of garlic bread which Kelsey gave her that night. She managed to eat most of what she'd been given.

Alexander, on the other hand, had very little appetite. He stared out the window, looking at the backyard.

"Is something out there?" Kelsey asked.

"The maze is gone," he said.

"What maze?"

"The one I came through to get here. It is gone."

"I'm sure it'll open up again when you find the cure," Kelsey said.

"A cure for what?" Emma asked. "Are you sick, Alex?"

"No, I am not unwell."

"Oh. Aunt Maddie said that Mommy scrambled your brains yesterday. Did you do that, Mommy?"

Kelsey closed her eyes and mentally cursed her sister for saying that in front of Emma. "No, I didn't scramble his brains, in spite of what Aunt Maddie might have said. I accidentally hit Alexander in the head when he came in, honey, because he came into the wrong house."

"You thought he was a bug--a bug--a booger?"

Kelsey coughed in an attempt to keep from laughing. "A burglar, sweetie."

"That's what I said. A booger."

Alexander chuckled.

"Grandma said that she was sad that you couldn't stay for supper, Alex. She wanted to know who you were and stuff."

I can just imagine, Kelsey thought.

"Why would she want to know that?" Alexander asked.

"Grandma says that you might've known Mommy before Daddy left, for all she knows."

Kelsey felt her cheeks burn as her mother's implication came clear.

"Grandma shouldn't speculate so much," Kelsey snapped before thinking. "Are you almost finished, Emma?"

"Mmm-hmm." Emma nodded her head emphatically.

"Then let's wash up and go to sleep, okay?"

Kelsey took a washcloth and wiped off Emma's hands and face, then took her upstairs to get dressed for bed.

Alexander subconsciously began picking up the plates of half-eaten food, something he had never done back home. But this was a different time, and besides, Kelsey had seemed rather upset when Emma had mentioned her father. He thought he'd be nice and help her out.

He found the place where Kelsey had thrown away dinner remains the night before and scraped the plates into there. Placing the dirty dishes in the sink, he then took the damp washcloth Kelsey had used on Emma, got it wet again, and wiped off the table.

Alexander was about to look for some soap to wash the dishes with when Kelsey came back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"You didn't have to do that," Kelsey said.

"I wanted to."

Kelsey smiled. John had never helped her clear the table. He had considered that her work to do.

"Thanks."

"I was going to find some soap for the dishes."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll put them in the dishwasher."

"What's that?"

Kelsey smiled and proceeded to show him the dishwasher, careful to tell him about not putting too many dishes in and not overfilling the containers the soap went in. When it started, she walked outside onto the porch. The sun was setting, a bright orange fireball on the horizon. Kelsey loved sunsets, because of the beauty and color they brought. She sat on the porch swing.

A moment later, Alexander joined her outside. "What did Emma mean when she said that your mother..."

"Hmm?"

"About our knowing each other, before your separation."

"Oh...something I really don't feel like talking about."

"If I told you about my family, would you be willing to tell me about yours?"

"It's a pretty long story. How long do you think you have?"

"It seems as though I have forever." Alexander smiled. "Do we have a bargain then?"

Kelsey slowly smiled. "I guess we do."

Chapter 10

Alexander sat down beside Kelsey on the porch swing and said, "Ladies first."

"I asked you to tell me about your family first."

"I was under a great deal of stress at the time, so I cannot be held accountable for what I might have said."

"Typical," Kelsey said with a laugh. "All right, I'll go first. What do you want to know about the Madison family?"

"Why did you become upset about what your mother told Emma?"

"If she'd known Emma was listening, she probably wouldn't have said anything. But then again, she might have." Kelsey sighed. "My mother once heard a saying about identical twins that goes, 'They are two halves of a whole, two parts of a soul.' I don't know where she heard it, or why it stayed with her after she found out she was having twins, but that's where my relationship with my mother begins.

"She repeated that quote to me many times during my childhood. When I was old enough to understand, I thought it meant that because Maddie and I were identical, we were exactly alike. You know, we had the same emotions, feelings, thoughts, almost like we were sharing one mind. And for a time, we did. But my mother didn't concentrate on the two halves part, but the two parts of a soul. She thought that meant that because we were once only one in her body, when we divided into two, we divided characteristics."

"That is the most inane thing I have ever heard," Alexander said.

"I know. But it was the way she believed it went. She thought that if one was good, the other had to be bad. If one was courteous, the other was rude. Plus, she was nearly thirty-five when Madeline and I were born. She was set in her ideas of what made a good girl. 'A good girl,' she would tell me, 'does not get into fights on the playground. A good girl does not tell the boy down the block that he's a poophead. A good girl does not come home with her pretty little dress dirty because she played baseball with the boys in the sandlot.'" Kelsey's voice rose in pitch until it became a mimicry of her mother's. "Madeline was the designated good girl in my family, leaving only one role for me."

"As the bad girl," he said quietly.

"Right." Kelsey didn't say anything as she gazed out at the yard. Finally, she looked at her toes. "Do you have any idea of what it's like, to be pigeonholed by the time you're seven? To have your mother tell her friends, 'I wish Kelsey could be more like Madeline. For a pair of girls who look so much alike, I've never seen two girls so different'? And it didn't stop there. Then there were all the groundings and the lectures and the frustration. And the times when you tried to be a good girl so hard that you wanted to scream, you were acting just as good--even better--than your so-called good girl twin sister, and not getting any credit for it."

Alexander's heart squeezed for the sad picture Kelsey was painting with the anguish in her voice, the pain in her eyes.

"Finally, when I was thirteen, I think, I decided to give up pleasing my mother. I realized that she was never going to budge on her ideas of what identical twins should be like."

"What did you do then?"

"I started enjoying life a lot more than I had up until that point." Kelsey gave him a small smile, which quickly faded. "Which only gave my mother more cause to find fault with me."

"Do you get along well with your sister?"

"Oh, sure. Madeline understood the way it had to be a lot sooner than I did, and even though I scorned her pity we got along well. I'm closer to her than I am to anyone else. I never resented her for what happened."

"Are you certain of that?"

"Well, I suppose I sometimes resented her. It hurt especially when we reached certain times in our lives--such as grade cards. We'd have identical grades, but Mom would always praise Maddie to the heavens and I would always get a small pat on the head and an amazed look, as thought we didn't have the same IQ's and she couldn't understand how I did so well."

"It goes along with the rest of her theory. If you have one smart sister, the other must be dumb."

Kelsey thought on that for a second. "You're right. I never saw it that way."

"What about your father during all this? Did he not care at all?"

"He was too busy. My father's a lawyer with some rather demanding clients. He was always at his office or out of town. He always managed to make it home for breakfast and supper, but..."

"But what?"

"My mother was resentful, especially when I hit adolescence. I...well, I wasn't always the perfect angel. In fact, I got in trouble when I was sixteen, for being out after curfew and for underage drinking. I was trying to live down to my reputation, you could say. She would become enraged at what she saw as his abandonment when she needed him around to instill firm values in me, and if not that, then to give me a good sound spanking. And my father, disappointed that he never had a son, could care less. They fought whenever he was home, in front of both me and Madeline. They finally divorced when the two of us went to college."

"You are hardly a problem to your parents now. What changed for you?"

"John did, indirectly. But really, Emma was the one who changed my life."

Alexander thought, Ah, now we come to her husband.

"It's funny. When I met John, my mother hated him. She said when we eloped that marrying him would be the biggest mistake of my life. And she was right. But now that we're divorced, she keeps trying to get us together. And Madeline! She tried warning me, too, with just as much success. In fact, we had a bitter argument...and we didn't speak to each other until Emma was two."

Alexander waited for her to continue, but she turned to him and said, "And now you, Mr. Darcy. What was life with your family like?"

Alexander could not deny the small feeling of relief and disappointment he felt. He had wanted to know more about her relationship with her husband, but at the same time, he had not.

"It was far more peaceful," he said. "My family was--is--do you realize that since I'm in this time and place, they are all dead?"

"I was hoping you--" Kelsey sighed.

"Would give up the idea that I am from the past," he said, frustration creeping into his voice. "Or is it that I would finally admit that I am not the son of who I say I am?"

"I'm sorry, Alexander. You have to understand that this is just too difficult to be believed. If I wandered into the past, insisting I was from the future, would you believe me?"

"I would."

"No, you wouldn't. You'd send me to a mental hospital."

"No, I--" But he knew she was right. If she had gone back in time, he would have insisted she was insane.

"Thank you," Kelsey said, knowing that he was admitting the truth to himself.

Alexander had just had one too many upsets that day. He could not explain it, but her insistence that he was not--that he could not--be real was driving him insane. He had no proof, no real way to be able to show her who he was.

"I think I am tired," he said. "Would it be all right if we put this conversation off until another time? It is pointless to tell you about my family, as you doubt their existence."

"Alexander, please--"

"No. Do not say anything. If you would be so kind as to tell me how I can get water for a bath, then I shall be bathing and going to sleep."

Kelsey almost blushed again. For heaven's sake, you'd think you'd never thought of a man bathing before! Kelsey Chandler, you should be ashamed!

But she couldn't help picturing him in the shower...even as she said that to herself.

Kelsey went back outside, the only light coming from a light bulb on the ceiling of the porch. Alexander was, as far as she knew, asleep, having spent nearly forty minutes in the shower ("A fountain in your own home. Enchanting.") and only leaving when the water turned icy cold.

She wandered out into the yard, illuminated only by the moon.

Could Alexander have been telling the truth? Could he really come from another time? Would that be easier to accept, if he were merely from another time, than accepting that he is the son of Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy?

Kelsey walked past Emma's swing set towards the fence which separated her yard from her neighbor's yard.

It would have been impossible for him to come from the backyard without the Thomasons noticing him, she thought. Unless, of course, he'd tried the front door and I just didn't hear him.

It suddenly caught her notice that even though her yard was lit up by the moonlight, her neighbors' yard was dark. There were no trees in their yard, and yet it was like the light wasn't touching anything there.

It was then that Kelsey noticed that the neighbor's house was gone completely...and in its place was a massive maze, opening up into her yard.

"The maze is gone." Alexander's words echoed in her mind.

Seeming to have little will to turn back, Kelsey walked into the maze. Although she would swear that she had never been in it before, she knew her way through it as sure as she knew her way through her own house. She soon found herself on the other side, in bright sunshine, as though it were the middle of the day.

And almost immediately, she came face-to-face with a man who was the image of Alexander...in about thirty years. He wore clothes much like those Alexander had worn when he first walked in her door.

He was staring at her in amazement, as though she had appeared from thin air. Which was not impossible at this point, she thought to herself.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Where did you come from?"

Kelsey froze. "I--I'm Kelsey Ch--Madison. Who are you?"

"I am the owner of this estate you trespass on, madam. I am Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy."

Chapter 11

Kelsey felt her legs nearly collapse underneath her. Darcy quickly came to support her, saying, "I did not mean trespass in such a negative light."

"It's not that," she said. "You...you have a son named Alexander, don't you?"

Almost immediately, his grip changed from supporting to grasping. "You have seen my son? When did you see him?"

Dear God, Alexander was telling the truth! But how could this be real? How can he be real? How can I be here?

"I...I saw him..."

"Please, you must tell me, madam. He has been missing for almost two days, without his horse and without a carriage...even without money. He left yesterday morning with no explanation, and my youngest daughter swears all he intended to do was take a walk."

He walked in my door yesterday, thinking that he was still on his estate. And what did I do? I clubbed him in the head! And if this is true, then...

Kelsey had little time to think. She had to come up with a plausible story for Alexander's disappearance, and she had to get back to him. He was in the twentieth century alone! He'd get in so much trouble without her!

And Emma! Oh, God, my baby! That maze has to lead back to my home! Please, God, please!

"Yesterday, I saw him. Late in the morning, he stopped at my...cottage--" Taking a look at Pemberley, Kelsey swiftly understood why Alexander didn't consider her house a real house.

"He did?"

"Yes. He said that he was too far from Pemberley to go back just for a horse, and he wanted to get to London as soon as he could. So my father loaned him our best horse and some money, and he left for London."

"Why did he go to London with his mother..."

"I had heard of Eliz--er, Mrs. Darcy's illness, sir, and my family's prayers are with her and you. Alexander went to London to see if perhaps there was a doctor there who could cure her."

"But we have sent for doctors from everywhere."

"Alexander insisted that he had to try again. And my father...well, he could not refuse him. After all, it might be able to save Mrs. Darcy's life."

"You are certain that he was going to London?"

"Yes, sir."

Darcy gave a sigh of relief. "Why did you not come to tell us this before?"

"Well, I thought you knew. He was supposed to send word when he reached London--he promised."

"Perhaps, in all of his worry, he forgot."

"Forgive me for saying so, Mr. Darcy, but it's pretty understandable."

"Of course, of course. Miss--"

"Madison," Kelsey said.

"Miss Madison, will you come to the house? I want you to tell my children and wife what you have told me. Elizabeth has been extremely worried. How she knew Alexander was gone, I do not know, as she has rarely been awake."

"Mothers know these things," Kelsey said with a certainty in her voice.

"And then you must allow me to repay your family for what you have done for Alexander."

"Oh, no, sir. That isn't necessary." What are you saying? Of course it's necessary! Let the man pay you!

"Of course it is. Alexander owes you for the horse and the money your father gave him, and I shall dispatch his debts."

"Well, thank you." Kelsey smiled.

"May I ask a question of you?" At her nod, he continued. "Does your father mind you wearing such attire?"

Kelsey looked down at her outfit. A blue tank top and baggy jeans. Demure in the nineties, scandalous here.

I wonder what Alexander thought, she thought with a smile.

"No, he does not. He's a modern father, though, one who believes in movement of the body and the ability to breathe in clothes."

Darcy smiled. "I once knew a young woman who would have gotten along with your father famously. But come. We must not delay."

Kelsey was led into the great hall of Pemberley, where a servant took Darcy's cane and didn't bat an eye at Kelsey's outfit.

"This way," Darcy said, leading Kelsey through a maze of doors until he came upon his family.

"Father," a young woman said softly. "Is Mamma..."

"There is no change," he replied. "Miss Madison, I would like you to meet my daughter, Jane." He motioned to the woman who had spoken. "My youngest child, Victoria...my eldest son, William, and my second son, Edward. Children, this is Miss Kelsey Madison."

"Do you happen to be related to a Thomas Madison? I was at university with him," William asked.

Kelsey almost said that yes, she was, because Thomas happened to be her father's name, but she said, "I do not think I am."

"Miss Madison has brought information about Alexander," Darcy said. "He is in London, hoping to find a cure for your mother."

"But we've tried every doctor around!" Edward exclaimed.

"Your brother remains convinced that he can find one who can help."

"We should not think badly of him," Jane said. "He shall surely bring someone back, at least."

"But how is he ever going to get to London? He has no horse, no money..."

"That is where Miss Madison and her family enters. Her father loaned Alexander money and a horse to get there."

"I did not know we had new neighbors," Edward said, a little suspicious of the newcomer. "When did you move here?"

"It was not long ago," Kelsey said glibly. "In fact, it was very recent."

"Edward, you should be grateful for her, not quizzing her," Victoria said.

"Quite right, sister. Sorry, Miss Madison."

"I am taking Miss Madison to see your mother, so if you would excuse us..."

His daughters and sons made their bows, to which Kelsey made a hasty curtsy before following Darcy out of the room.

Up the stairs they went, and into a bedroom where a single figure lay on the bed. Kelsey walked over to her immediately, as did Darcy. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her, tenderness and fear in his eyes.

"I had not realized she was so ill," Kelsey said. "Much worse than we thought."

"This is one of her worse days," Darcy replied. "She has good days and bad. Lately, they have been getting worse."

Elizabeth heard the voices over her bed and slowly opened her eyes. Kelsey felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"William? Who...have...you brought to see...me?" Elizabeth asked, her voice weak.

"This is Kelsey Madison, Lizzy. She has news of Alexander."

Elizabeth's eyes brightened a little. "Is he...all right?"

"He's fine." Or at least, he was the last time I saw him. By now, he could be in all sorts of trouble.

"Where..."

"He is in London, looking for a doctor who can cure you."

Darcy explained again how Kelsey had helped their son. Kelsey longed to tell this woman the truth, because she believed Elizabeth would have loved the tale, but she knew she couldn't. She probably wouldn't have believed her.

"Excuse me, Mr. Darcy, sir?" a servant came into the room. "Smythe said it was urgent."

"Of course...if you would excuse me, Elizabeth...Miss Madison."

"I should be going, too," Kelsey said.

"Please...stay a moment," Elizabeth whispered.

Kelsey couldn't say no. Darcy excused himself, and Kelsey took his place on the bed.

"There is more to this than you are saying," she said so softly that Kelsey had to lean over to hear.

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Alexander...is not in London."

"Of course he is. Where else would he go?"

"I do not know, but I just know that he is not...there."

"I can assure you, Mrs. Darcy, he is not wasting his...time."

And yet isn't that what you did today? He wanted to find a cure, and you handed him that book written by that horrid woman so he couldn't concentrate. And yesterday, you kept insisting that he was insane! You've done more to hinder his search than anyone else!

Elizabeth's eyes dimmed. "You are not saying anything."

"I'm not sure what you want me to say. Just believe me when I say that your son is well, and he's busy searching."

Elizabeth gave a ghost of a smile. "I believe you, Kelsey. Are you married?"

"I...I was."

"Widowed?"

Kelsey remembered Alexander's reaction to the news that she was divorced. "Yes."

"Then why do you keep your maiden name?"

Oops. Way to stick your foot in it, kiddo. "I...well, it is complicated. Suffice it to say that I prefer not to keep my husband's name."

Elizabeth nodded. "I understand. Did you have children?"

"One."

"What is her name?"

"Emma Caroline."

"It's a beautiful name."

"Thank you."

"Miss Madison?" Darcy had come back into the room. "Excuse us, dear. We need to settle some accounts, and then I shall return."

"Of course."

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Darcy."

"It...was nice to meet you as well...Miss Madison. Thank you. And...make sure to...take care of my son."

Kelsey nodded. Darcy was confused, but Kelsey didn't say anything.

"She thought he was with you, did she not?" he asked when they reached the Pemberley library.

"I believe she did," Kelsey replied.

Darcy reached into a safe and pulled out pound notes. "How much should I give you?" he asked. "A good horse costs...and how much did your father give him?"

"I don't know how much my father gave him. A few shillings, probably." Shillings? Is that the right term?

Darcy took out a heavy bag and handed it to her. "There should be enough in the pouch to make up for whatever your father gave Alexander, plus the horse."

"I cannot--"

"I insist, Miss Madison. Accept it with our thanks."

"Thank you, Mr. Darcy."

"I should be thanking you, Miss Madison. And should you see Alexander again before we do, tell him that we love him and that we hope he returns home soon."

"Of course," Kelsey said. Just then, a terrifying thought occurred to her. What if the maze is closed? What if I can't go back? Oh, God! What if I'm trapped here? And Emma's alone with Alexander?

Alexander awoke suddenly. It was most unusual for him, because he was a heavy sleeper by nature. But something called to him, something he could not identify, telling him to wake up.

He sat up in bed, looking around. It was still dark outside, and the small clock Kelsey had set beside his bed said it was midnight. Kelsey. Without knowing the problem, he knew it had something to do with her.

He threw back the covers and nearly ran down the hall, hoping that Emma would stay asleep. Kelsey was not sleeping in the chair he'd found her in. He could search upstairs, but he might wake Emma up, and he did not want that. Besides, he had a strange feeling that Kelsey was not there, anyway.

He headed outside, into the backyard. No Kelsey. Without thinking, he called, "Kelsey!" Fear coursed through his body, causing his heartbeat to speed up. Kelsey was missing--and he was alone in her world, knowing next to nothing about it.

"Where could she have gone?" he mumbled to himself. He walked into the front yard only to find that her car was still where she'd parked it earlier that day. "Oh, God."

She would not have left Emma alone. She would not have left without telling him where she was going. She...

Alexander ran back into the back yard, calling, "KELSEY!"

She reappeared from almost nowhere, right before his eyes. Her gray eyes were stunned, as though she had seen something she still couldn't quite believe. She was clutching a large bag.

"Kelsey," he whispered.

She looked right at him, taking small steps forward. He did not hesitate. Without regard for the heavy bag she dropped on his foot, he pulled her into his arms.

"Thank God you are safe," he said. "What happened?"

But before she could explain, he found himself being drawn closer to her. And before either of them knew what they were doing, he kissed her.

Chapter 12

When Alexander finally pulled out of the kiss, Kelsey asked, "What was that for?"

"Have you any idea of how worried I was about you? I thought you might have died!"

"How did you know I was gone? I thought you were asleep."

"I woke up."

Kelsey smiled.

"Where were you?" he asked.

"You'll never believe me," she said quietly, before realizing that of all the men in the world, she was standing before the one who would believe her.

"I believe myself to be a man with a healthy imagination. Tell me what--" Alexander went silent as the knowledge of where she could have gone registered. The only way she could have disappeared suddenly and then reappeared so mysteriously was if...

"I missed the maze," he said.

"Yes, you did."

"And you..."

"I went through it. I found Pemberley. I found your family."

Almost as though an electrical current went through him, he gasped, "And do you now believe me?"

Kelsey's smile was brighter than anything the moon could produce. "Yes, Alexander. I do believe."

After pouring them each a glass of brandy--she hated the stuff, but apparently, Alexander didn't--they sat on the couch.

"Is my mother still alive?" he asked.

"Yes, she is. But she's so weak, Alexander. And she's getting worse. When I think that you were trying to help her and I was trying to avoid it because I thought you were crazy...you must hate me."

"No, Kelsey. I could never hate you."

"She was awake when I was there. Not completely lucid, I'm afraid, but awake. I got the strangest feeling that..."

"That what?"

"Well, it was almost as though she knew who I was. In fact, when I left, she told me to take care of you."

"Take care of me? I presume you did not tell my family that I was in the future."

"I told them you were in London, looking for a doctor. I only lied a little bit."

"I see."

"But when I told your mother...she knew that I wasn't telling the complete truth. It was very strange. And that's when she told me to take care of you."

Alexander smiled. "She would say that. How did you explain your presence in my world?"

Kelsey told him the tale, about the story she'd made up, how Darcy had seemed to accept it, and meeting his brothers and sisters. Then she remembered the bag of money Darcy had given her, which she had set on the coffee table.

"I wonder how much is in here," Kelsey said. "Surely just a few pounds or so."

"I suspect a great deal more than that," Alexander said, opening the bag and overturning its contents onto the floor. A multitude of coins tumbled out of the bag, followed by three oil-cloth wrapped packages. Alexander immediately set out to count the coins as Kelsey looked at the other three packages.

"Do you know what's in here?" she asked, holding one of the packages up.

"No. Open it and find out."

Kelsey slowly opened the cloth, a little nervous at what might be inside. She gasped when the overhead light reflected from the contents. "Oh, Alexander," she whispered. "I think your father goofed up."

"What do you mean?"

Kelsey withdrew a beautiful ruby necklace from the cloth. "He couldn't have meant to give us this."

"Perhaps he did. Why?"

"This is worth quite a bit of money, even in today's market. Rubies..."

"Oh, now I know what that is! That was a birthday gift my father intended for my mother! In fact, I distinctly recall her getting it as a gift, along with a bracelet, earrings, ring, and tiara to match. Strange that they should end up in this bag, with some money."

Kelsey then knew what she would find in the other bags, and she was right. The bracelet and ring turned up in one bag, the tiara and earrings in the other.

"Amazing that they weren't crushed from the weight of the money," she said.

"But if you recall, Kelsey, they were at the top. They were never crushed at all."

"Well, when you go back, Alexander, you must return these to your mother. I'm sure she's wondered where they disappeared to years ago."

"No, she has never done so."

"You're kidding. If someone, especially my husband, had ever given me such things, I would've had them under lock and key."

"Well, that goes along with the other thing I remember. She never liked rubies. She wore them a few times, because my father had given them to her, but when the season was over, she put them away and never wore them again."

"Oh, that's sad," Kelsey said. "Your father must have been upset."

"Actually, no. He agreed with her."

"After all the money he'd spent on her gift?"

"Well, he did not think rubies suited her complexion too well. She teased that it would have looked better on Caroline, I think it was."

"I believe it would be. Caroline Bingley."

"Lady Hampton," he corrected. "She married a cousin of my father's."

Kelsey chuckled. It seemed hard to imagine Caroline Bingley as a married woman, but then, she had to marry someone.

"So they put it aside, and neither thought about it. I wonder if Father even recalled that it was in that bag when he gave it to you." Alexander smiled. "So do you think this would be enough to take care of whatever expenses you have in the care of me?"

"I believe the money alone would have taken care of it, but we're not selling the jewelry. You have to take that back with you."

"All right, I see that you shall not be budged on the issue."

"How much money is in there?"

"Quite a bit, actually. About a thousand pounds."

"A--thousand--" Kelsey nearly choked. "Can your father afford that?"

"His income far exceeds ten thousand a year. Wise investments on his part have increased his fortune over the years. He probably stored that away for an emergency and forgot about it. Do not worry. He did not impoverish himself to give that to you."

"It's quite a bit of money, though."

"Do you think he knew what my mother knew?"

Kelsey shook her head. "If he did, he didn't say anything."

"Well, we can convert this into your currency and you should have a little money to tide us over until we find the cure. Perhaps that would even pay for the doctor." He frowned. "How could we ever persuade a doctor to come to another century to cure my mother?"

"She might need hospital care," Kelsey added. "That would cost quite a bit. And how would we get her out of your century and into here?"

"That would be the easy part. It would be convincing my father to let her go that would be hard."

"What about the maze? What if we find the cure and can't get through?"

"Surely fate would not do that to us. We have to be able to get through, otherwise..."

"Maybe we should concentrate on finding a cure for her, first. Then we'll figure out the rest."

Alexander nodded. "You are right, Kelsey."

"Right now, I think I could use some sleep--about ten hours' worth. Today has been quite a day." Kelsey stood up and started to leave.

"Kelsey?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you for believing me."

"I didn't have a lot of choice in the matter, you know." She smiled.

"You have more choice than you know." He stood up and walked toward her. She didn't move as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her again.

Kelsey felt as though she'd been hit by lightning. She couldn't pull away, and honestly, she didn't want to.

Excuse me? Miss I-don't-want-another-man-in-my-life is wanting to make out with a guy who doesn't even come from this century?

Alexander picked her up in his arms, carrying her like one would a child. Kelsey didn't notice when he opened the door to his room and laid her on the bed.

Warning! Warning! Kelsey Angelica Madison Chandler, what the hell do you think you're doing??? You just divorced John and you have a small kid upstairs who could wake up at any time and you're down here about to make love to a stranger! You don't even know who he is!

Kelsey cursed the fact that she'd given Alexander the button-down pajama top when her hands fumbled with the buttons.

"Kelsey," he murmured, looking down at her. "Are you certain that this is what you want?" He stopped her hands.

"Isn't this what you want?"

"It is...believe me. But I think that maybe this is not the right time."

"We hardly know each other."

"Exactly. And the past two days have hardly been ordinary for either of us. We should probably take more time to get to know each other..."

"Right." Kelsey sat up.

"Plus, you have only recently divorced your husband, and I have sensed that you--"

"Right again."

"You are cross with me."

"No! No, Alexander, I'm not mad. I know that you're right."

"Did it start this way with your husband?"

"With John? Not really. I was young, innocent, and I didn't know any better. And it never felt..."

"It never felt what?"

"I don't know. I wish I did. Maybe then I'd understand." Kelsey stood up. "Good night, Alexander."

"Good night, Kelsey."

Kelsey made her way up to her room slowly, wondering at herself. When she started to change into her usual sleeping outfit, she realized that the word she'd been looking for was "perfect." John had always complained that she'd never been good in bed, that she was too high-strung and not responsive enough. That that was why he'd sought out other women. That since she didn't like sex, she should be grateful that he'd stopped bothering her.

"You're just not that type of girl, Kelsey. That's part of why I married you, because I knew right away that you'd be a wonderful mother." He'd said that when she'd found him in bed with Emma's nineteen-year-old baby-sitter. And right after that, he'd suggested that they have another child.

"A boy this time, honey. That way we'll have a matched set. I'm willing to try if you are.

After five years of marriage, she'd discovered that everything she'd ever believed in was a lie. And that's when she'd asked for a divorce.

Not that type of girl...not that type... Kelsey bypassed the jersey and shorts for the black silk teddy she'd bought several months after Emma was born, when John had started falling asleep the moment he got into bed. Of course, now she knew why. But she'd intended to wear it some romantic evening...and never got around to it.

Putting a robe over the outfit, she calmly walked back down the stairs and down the hall. Alexander's door was shut. Kelsey slowly opened it, hoping he wasn't asleep yet.

"Come in, Kelsey," she heard him say before she saw him sitting on the bed. "I had a feeling you would be back."

Chapter 13

"You--you did?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"Yes. I do not know why."

"You heard me coming down the stairs," Kelsey replied with a smile.

"That may have had something to do with it."

Kelsey took tentative steps towards the bed, her fingers fumbling with the tie on her robe.

"Kelsey, don't." He said this very slowly, almost hesitantly.

"Don't what? Don't you want to make love to me?"

"I...it is not that I do not want to. Believe me, I do. I just..."

"Just what?"

"I do not think this the right time. We have only known each other for mere days."

"We've been through so much already. How often is it that you go forward an hundred and fifty years? Or that I meet you? And we may not have long together."

"That should not be the sole reason for such a major decision."

"I don't understand you, Alexander. If I were standing in any other man's bedroom, offering myself to him, he would take me up on it faster than I could ask him to use a condom."

"A what?"

"Never mind. But you're not."

"Would your husband have taken you up on the offer?"

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"He has to do with everything. From what you have told me, your husband was a first-rate bastard. A man who left his wife and child for...bimbos. That would be other women?"

"Yes."

"And that hurt you."

"Of course it did! How would you feel if it happened to you? If your wife married you because you were husband material and not exciting in bed?"

"There are a good many marriages in my age based exactly on such a thing."

Kelsey frowned. "I suppose you think I divorced him with no cause."

"It is not that at all. I think you had very good cause, and in this age, since you are permitted to do so, you did what a lot of women in my time would have loved to have done."

"Is there a point to this argument?"

"I am just saying that we should not make love simply because you are wanting to drive demons out of your bed." He sighed. "And I do not think I would wish to make love to you unless you were my wife."

Kelsey raised her eyebrows. "You're telling me you're a virgin?"

"I--well, I--" Alexander blushed. "I cannot even believe we are having this conversation."

"Are you?"

"A lady should not ask such things, and I should not answer them. However...n-no, I am not."

"I didn't think so."

"Have you ever been with another man besides your husband?"

It was Kelsey's turn to blush. "No. I may have run with the bad crowd, but I always believed in waiting for the right person to come along. I thought--at the time, I thought John was the right one. And so I married him."

"Do you think I am the right one to start over with? In your heart?"

Kelsey sat on the edge of the bed with a frustrated sigh. "I don't know! I thought so when I came in here. I still think...I don't know how I feel right now. I'm just so confused."

"This whole thing is so confusing. To you and me."

And here you go, trying to make things even more confusing by wanting him to sleep with you. You're a real genius.

"You...must think I'm pretty...that I'm a brazen...hussy to come in here."

"I think you absolutely beautiful...and very courageous...but I do not think you a hussy."

"Courageous?"

"Yes. I know what it took for you to believe in me, and to make the decision you made tonight. And I am..." Alexander was beginning to think he was making a muddle of the whole thing. "I am not saying what I want to say very well."

"I was just thinking that myself. We've both pretty much screwed up this opportunity, haven't we?"

"I suppose we have."

Kelsey's shoulders sagged, causing her robe to gape open and reveal the satin underneath. "You probably think it would be scandalous to sleep with a divorced woman. Or maybe it's just--"

Alexander knew where this speech was headed, so he leaned over and kissed her with all the passion and longing he felt.

When he broke it off, he said, "Do not think, for a single moment, that I do not want you. But I do not wish to...take advantage of you when you are still unsure, when you are still hurting from your ex-husband's betrayals. Can you understand that?" He held his breath, fearing that she was about to explode in fury.

"I...think so."

"If we did end up together tonight, you might end up regretting it, and hating me. I do not wish for that to happen, either."

"You're being noble," Kelsey said. "And you're right. John and I would've been finished in the time it's taken us to talk about why we're not going to have sex."

"See? I do not want to be like him." Although, my sweet, it is becoming more tempting as each moment passes. "I do not want our relationship to be a mirror for you of the one you had with him. I want ours to be unique."

"You think we're not unique? Think of how we met, and everything that's happened since then. I assure you, Alexander, any other man would have go far beyond this to be considered unique."

He chuckled. "I think you should probably go back to sleep. After all, Emma wakes up earlier than the roosters."

"Right." Kelsey was the one who initiated the kiss, and was the one who reluctantly broke away by standing up. "Good night, Alexander. And...thanks."

"Good night, Kelsey."

Kelsey slowly trudged back upstairs, took off her robe, and slipped out of the teddy. Putting on the jersey and shorts she had rejected earlier in the evening, she flopped into bed and pulled a cover over her.

Even though he had, in essence, turned her down, she couldn't help feeling a lot more respect for him than she might have. It wasn't so much that she was such a great catch, but the fact that he had wanted to make love to her--and hadn't--made her feel...

Respected? You're dealing with a man from another century, kiddo. A man for whom real love leads to marriage. That's how his parents hooked up, remember? And if he found a woman he loved, he'd wait until after he married her to--

Marriage. Kelsey sat up suddenly. That's the way he'd treat the woman he wanted to marry. With respect.

Kelsey shook her head. Utter nonsense. You're divorced and he's an hundred and fifty-some years old. Older than that, even! No way does it ever work out. He probably wants some fresh young girl from his time, with his values, who doesn't have a kid, who hasn't been divorced.

Kelsey knew she wasn't going to get much sleep that night, because even though she'd rejected the idea that Alexander might want to marry her--someday--it was a nice thought.

If an impractical one. After all, he wasn't from this time, he had no job, no credentials, no identity...

It was going to be a long night indeed.

Chapter 14

Alexander spent the rest of his night much as Kelsey had spent hers--wondering what the future held, for him, for Kelsey and Emma, for his mother. Well, he knew what the future had held for her. That was beside the point. He had to find that cure.

But he had so many other things to wonder and worry about in this time, and as he walked down the stairs the next morning, his first problem was how Kelsey was going to react to him when she saw him. As it turned out, he had no reason to be nervous, for Kelsey merely smiled as she always had, offered him some food called Fruit Loops, and sat him beside Emma while she talked to her mother on the phone. He was still a little amazed by the ability to speak to someone in such a fashion, but even in his awe he noticed the tension in Kelsey's voice as she spoke to the other person on the line. With a tightness, she finally said, "I promise we'll be there, Mom. Yes. Noon. Me and Emma and Alexander. All right. Bye." Hanging up, she sighed.

"I don't suppose you have trouble like this with your mom, do you." Kelsey sat down in the chair opposite Alexander's.

"No. My mother loved all of her children equally."

"Well, by skipping out on dinner last night we only postponed the inevitable. My mother is demanding that we put in an appearance at the family lunch this afternoon. She's invited Ben's family--my sister's fiancee, remember? And she even mentioned that my father will be there, which is a big surprise since he generally tends to avoid her company. So we have to go."

"Why? Do you not want to see your family?"

"It isn't seeing my family that worries me. It's how they're going to react to you that's the problem. And what they're going to ask you. And how you're going to respond."

"I shall simply say what I told your sister yesterday--that I went to the wrong house, you hit me, and we became friends."

"It's too simple. My mother's going to want details--like did we know each other before, why are you staying with me now, are we..." Kelsey blushed and stopped herself from finishing the last question. "Emma, sweetie, are you done with breakfast?"

"Yeah," Emma said. "I can tell Grandma that Alex only came here the other day."

"That'll help." Kelsey smiled. "Now, how about if you go play outside."

Emma cheered up at the suggestion, and went outside to play on her swing set. Kelsey got up from the table to watch her from the kitchen window.

Alexander finished the possible question. "She will ask if we are lovers."

"Yes."

"We aren't. You and I both know that."

"But my mother doesn't, and even though we'll both deny it, she'll suspect. And she'll believe the worst in spite of what Emma tells her. And then she'll start in about John."

"Your ex-husband will not be there, will he?"

"No. Not even my mother is that cruel. But don't be thrown when she starts telling you about what a nice guy he was, and how successful he was at his job, and what a terrific father he is to Emma, even if he hasn't seen her since the divorce. Not even when she was sick."

"Does she know why you are divorced?"

"No, I didn't tell her. I was afraid it might get back to Emma. John's not much, but he is her father. And my mother's lips are a little too loose to tell her."

"Does Madeline know?"

"She suspects." Kelsey turned back to Alexander. "We need to get started finding a cure for Elizabeth. The sooner she gets well, the better I'll feel. I'm sure you're thinking the same way."

"Yes, I am."

"I thought last night that you must really hate me--for causing you to lose precious time in helping her."

"But I told you--"

"I know what you said. But I still couldn't help thinking that...that she might die before we get back."

"Kelsey, try not to think badly of the situation. We shall begin anew today, looking for the cure in the books you got at the library. And we shall find it. I am sure. It shall all work out for the best."

And what then? she couldn't help wondering. Do you go back to your world forever? Or do you stay here? And what happens to us? She had resolved, however, to keep her own selfish desires out of the whole equation. Elizabeth was real, and she was dying.

"I say we get started now," Kelsey said firmly. "You go get the books. They're in the living room--"

"Actually, I took them to my room intending to go through them last night. But I fell asleep and then you were missing."

"Right. We can sit out on the back porch to keep an eye on Emma."

Two hours later, after Kelsey had asked Alexander to list as many of his mother's symptoms as possible and they began to look through the books to find illnesses which matched as many of the symptoms as possible, they both felt as though they had made a little progress. Emma merrily played on the swing set, then at her sandbox. Kelsey knew she'd need a bath before they left, so she told Alexander to keep reading.

"Can I have my ducky in the bath?" Emma asked as Kelsey grabbed towels out of the closet.

"We don't have time to play today. We have to get ready to go to Grandma's. And you want to go to Grandma's, don't you?"

"YAY!" Emma shouted.

"Emma, keep your voice down. You don't want Mommy going deaf, do you?"

Emma laughed at the thought as she tromped into the bathroom, Kelsey close behind. Quickly filling the tub with warm water, she undressed Emma and set her in there.

"Mommy, is Alex gonna stay with us for a long time?"

Kelsey had been about to put shampoo in Emma's hair, but she stopped. "I don't know, sweetie. He might."

"Oh."

"Would--would you like Alexander to stay with us?"

"Yeah. He's funny, Mommy. I woke up last night, and he read me a story."

"He did?" Why didn't he tell her?

"Yeah. He read 'Aladdin.' And he did the voices good."

"Are you saying Mommy doesn't do the voices well?" Kelsey smiled.

"No...but Alex did them like a boy would. He liked the story. He said it re--remanded him of a tale he'd heard."

"Reminded, sweetie."

"That's what I said, Mommy."

"So you like Alexander, huh."

"Yeah." Emma sat still while Kelsey washed her hair, a rarity for her. "Mommy, why don't Daddy come see me no more?"

Kelsey's heart tightened. The moment of truth. She had wondered when Emma would finally ask that question.

"Well, honey, sometimes...Mommies and daddies don't get along very good. And when that happens, it's better that they don't live together anymore."

"You mean like Grandma and Gramps?"

"Right."

"But why don't he come to see me? He said he would."

Kelsey cursed her ex-husband once again for not coming to see Emma. You promised so much, John, to both of us. I can deal with your dishonesty, but your daughter can't. "He's a very busy man, honey." God, that's so inadequate to tell her. But what else is there? The truth? She wouldn't understand it even if I told her.

"I think I don't want Daddy to be my daddy anymore."

"Oh, Emma, you shouldn't want that."

"Why not? He don't want me to be his little girl."

"I'm sure he does. He just doesn't have time to--"

"Then how come he didn't come when I had the chicken pox?"

"Chicken pox isn't a serious illness. If you were really, badly sick, he would've been here in a minute." At least, I hope he would've been.

"I told Alex that I had the chicken pox, and he asked me if they'd ever go away. I said that they'd already gone away, and they weren't coming back."

"What did Alexander say to that?"

"He said that he was glad I had gotten better."

"He did?" Kelsey absentmindedly began rinsing Emma's hair.

"Uh-huh. I asked him if he would come to see me when I was sick. He said he'd be there. Do you think he would come if I was sick?"

"I think he would."

"Then I want him to be my Daddy."

Kelsey accidentally sprayed herself in the eyes with the shower nozzle. "You what?" she asked after turning off the water.

"I want Alex to be my Daddy. Can I tell him?"

"No! You can't do that--he--" Kelsey wiped her eyes.

"Why not? He said he'd come see me when I was sick, and he reads me stories and he likes Fruit Loops and he's funny and he makes you happy."

Kelsey turned startled eyes to her daughter. How much the young know, she thought suddenly. "He does? Why do you think that? You've only known him two days."

"Cause you smile. You didn't smile before Alex came."

"I did so. All the time."

"But you really smile now. And you like Alex. I can tell."

"How can you tell that?"

"Because you looked at him when you were on the swing this morning."

"I looked at a lot of things this morning, Emma."

"But you looked at Alex a lot."

Kelsey let the water out of the tub.

"Please can Alex be my daddy?" Emma pleaded.

"Honey, I can't say whether or not Alex is going to be able to stay. He might leave tomorrow, or the day after that, and if he does, he may never be able to come back."

"But he likes you, too. He looks at you all the time too."

"He does?" Kelsey was startled to hear Emma say that.

"Uh-huh."

"I tell you what. Alexander's mother is very sick right now, and he's here to find her a doctor to help. When that's over, maybe then..." What about then? Does he go back through the maze, never to return? Should you hold out the hope to Emma?

"Promise?"

"I--I promise. We'll ask him then." And I could be setting my own daughter up for the biggest heartache of her life. Dear God, what am I doing?

Kelsey led Emma back to her room to get her dressed, not noticing that Alexander had ducked into his room at the last minute.

Sitting on his bed, he thought back to the conversation he'd overheard. He hadn't meant to listen, but when he'd heard his name, he couldn't pull away.

"I want Alex to be my daddy.

Alexander had not realized that Emma liked him that much, but she must have. They'd had a nice long talk the evening before, when he'd thought Kelsey was sleeping. He hadn't wanted to wake her, so he'd read Emma another story and they had talked about her illness and a little about her father.

"He may never be able to come back."

He had to be able to come back. Surely God would not be so cruel as to finally send him the woman he had been waiting for only to wrench him back to his own time.

But how could you two live together? Could you leave your family behind forever in order to live in this century? Could you ask Kelsey to come to Pemberley to live with you? And what about Emma? And how would you live, without a profession or money or estate? It simply would not work.

Yet even as he thought it, Alexander was prepared to make it work. He wanted Kelsey to be his wife. He'd known that long before he'd kissed her last night.

But did she love him? Could she love him, after what her husband had done to her?

"But you looked at Alex a lot." "You really smile now."

Alexander was beginning to suspect that maybe she could love him. And as for himself, well, there was not a doubt in his mind.

He loved her. He loved her for her bravery, her wit, her determination, her spirit, that sweet smile of hers, those stormy grey eyes which flashed silver one moment and smoky another...and yet, it was something more than that, something undefinable. It was everything about her.

"Alexander?"

Kelsey stood in the doorway.

"Yes?"

"I thought maybe you'd prefer dressing up the first time you meet my mother. It's probably a good idea."

"Of course. What shall I wear?"

Kelsey held up two suits. One was blue, with an ugly tie. The other was gray, casual, and Kelsey's personal favorite. Even if it had belonged to John.

"If we had time, I would have purchased something new," Kelsey said. "You can't go wearing John's leftovers forever. But we don't. Tomorrow, we'll exchange the money your father gave us and buy you something then, but for now..."

"I like the gray one."

"Okay." Kelsey laid it on the bed beside him. He could smell the fragrance she was wearing...it reminded him of the garden at Pemberley.

"You look lovely."

"Thank you." Kelsey felt like she was sixteen again, unsure of how to take a compliment, scared to admit what she felt. "You should get a move on if we're going to make it to my mother's in time."

"Of course."

He dressed fairly fast, combed his hair (wishing that he had something that would keep that unruly curl from falling onto his forehead), and stepped into the living room where Kelsey and Emma awaited him.

And thus they went to Kelsey's mother's house.

Chapter 15

Kelsey nearly groaned when she stopped in front of her mother's house. There were many cars already blocking the driveway, so she pulled her car off to one side and cut off the engine.

"Is something the matter?" he asked.

"They're all here already. I'd hoped we'd be able to introduce you to them one at a time, but it looks like we're going to have to wing it." Kelsey opened her door, then opened up Emma's. Emma hopped out, shouting, "Grandma! Gramps! Aunt Maddie! Uncle Ben! I'm here!"

Kelsey couldn't prevent a smile from sneaking across her face at her daughter's enthusiasm for the family, wishing for a flickering moment that she could feel the same. But she was too old and too wise for such emotions anymore. Today was going to be nothing short of sheer torture, for her and for Alexander.

"Courage, my sweet," he said softly in her ear. "We shall conquer this. We shall."

And with his calm assurance, Kelsey walked toward the front door, Alexander a couple of steps behind.

Before she could open the door, it flung open as her mother stood there. "Kelsey Angelica, it's about time you arrived," she said. "Where have you been?" She gave an arch look at Alexander, as though she suspected he was behind the entire thing.

"Emma needed a bath, and so did I. We ran a bit behind, that's all. Nothing to worry about," Kelsey replied.

Alexander looked at the petite woman with the gray hair and the sharp yellow-brown eyes. She looked nothing like her daughters, so he figured that they had inherited their looks from their father.

"This is Alexander Darcy, Mom," she said. "Alexander, this is my mother, Laura Madison."

"It is nice to meet you, madam," he said crisply, almost bowing before he remembered that that was not done in this time. Instead, he smiled.

"Nice to meet you, too, Alexander. I've heard a lot about you from Emma and Maddie."

I'll bet you have, Kelsey thought.

Alexander was soon introduced to the other people present, which included Madeline, her fiancee, Ben Geiger, Ben's parents, and finally, sitting in the living room watching television, he was introduced to Kelsey's father.

"This is Josh Madison," Kelsey said with a small smile. "Dad, this is Alexander."

Her father stood up, and with a smile in his gray eyes, shook Alexander's hand. "I have heard some things about you. Most of them have come from my ex-wife, though, so I'm not believing half of them."

Alexander instinctively liked this man, and he liked him even better when he gave Kelsey a gentle hug and asked, "How's it been for you, kid?"

"I've been okay," she replied.

"Good. I don't want you wasting one day of your life wanting him back, you understand?"

"Yes, Dad."

"Kelsey! Kelsey, you simply must bring Alexander in here for a minute!" Madeline was heard to call.

"Undoubtedly at your mother's behest," Josh Madison mumbled. "Lord help me, I love your sister to death, but I wonder about her at times."

"Well, the official summons has been issued, Dad. We can't avoid it anymore. Would you like to come and listen to the story or hear it again later?" she asked.

Alexander was mystified about the relationship she seemed to have with her father. She had said the evening before--good heavens, had it all only happened last night?--that she had not been close to her father.

"I would rather hear your version of it," he said, following them into the dining room where everyone was assembled.

"They won't start in until lunch is served," Kelsey told Alexander in a hushed voice as they walked into the room. Indeed, there seemed little reason to talk at that time, for Madeline, Mrs. Madison, and Mrs. Geiger were continually running in and out of the room, carrying dishes and plates and silverware. Ben and his father, who were both investment bankers, were talking about the business.

"Would you like for me to sit next to you, Kelse?" her father asked.

"I think I would," Kelsey replied. "The extra shoulder to cry on in case it gets bad."

"Why do you continue to insist that this shall be like facing a firing squad?" Alexander asked. "I have seen nothing so far to suggest that is shall be so bad. In fact," he added, with a pointed look at her father, "things are better than I thought."

"That's because you haven't lived through one of Laura's lunches," Josh said. "God, some of the things that happened at the dinner table!"

"Dad, I think some of your own advice would come in handy now," Kelsey said quietly. "Don't think about it. And don't regret anything."

"Sweetheart, the thing I regret the most is you. You married the first piece of scum that came along because--"

"Dad..."

"Let me finish. I may not have a chance later with your mother glorifying him. You married John because I wasn't there often enough to notice."

"I married John because I thought I loved him. That's all it was. You can't go blaming yourself. I don't."

"Dinner's ready!" Laura announced.

Josh immediately sat down in one spot, but before Kelsey could sit beside him, Alexander asked, "Does your father know?"

"Yes." She didn't need him to specify what he was asking.

Later he would have the matter cleared up, but he had a feeling he knew the answer already. Even if Kelsey and her father were not close when she was younger, they were much closer now.

It began almost exactly after grace, which was said by Ben. Before Kelsey could finish putting a dab of potatoes on Emma's plate (Emma sat between Alexander and Kelsey), her mother casually asked the first question.

"So...Alexander. Where exactly are you from? England, of course, that's obvious."

"I am from Derbyshire," he replied.

"Where in Derbyshire?" Mrs. Geiger asked. Her question was far more innocent, as she didn't know the object of the exercise.

"From...from Lambton," he replied, knowing that saying "Pemberley" was not the right thing.

His belief was confirmed by Kelsey's small sigh of relief.

"I don't think I've ever heard of the place," Mrs. Madison said.

"It is rather small."

"How long have you lived there?"

"All my life."

"Until recently," Madeline corrected. "You were looking for a house to buy in St. Louis. That's how you met Kelsey."

"Exactly. Unfortunately, family circumstances forced me to come to America and find a place here."

"Family circumstances?"

"My mother is very ill. One of the best doctors in America can be found here, I am told. I am hoping he shall be persuaded to help her."

"What's wrong with your mother?" Ben asked.

"We are uncertain," he said.

"Alexander told me that one doctor diagnosed her with a brain tumor, another with water on the brain. Several different doctors, several different opinions," Kelsey said in explanation. God help us both if they discover the truth.

"Oh, that is so sad," Mrs. Madison said with genuine sympathy. "I hope this doctor can help her."

"So do I," he said. If we can find one in time. Kelsey exchanged glances with him, and he knew she was thinking the same thing.

"How do like America so far?" Madeline asked.

"Very well," he said. "It is a most unusual place, though. All sorts of strange things that we do not see every day in England."

Kelsey smiled.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the table. Finally, Mrs. Madison asked, "What do you do for a living?"

"Do?"

"What job do you have? What do you work at?"

Alexander had known before what they were asking, and he was uncertain how to answer. He could not say that he did nothing, for he had learned that everyone in Kelsey's time did something. Her father was an attorney, her ex-husband was a businessman of some type, her sister was a biologist. Only Kelsey herself had no profession, and he had meant to ask her why. He had a feeling that it had something to do with her ex-husband.

"Do you do anything?" her mother asked, the tone of her voice suggesting something Alexander could only identify as disdain.

Kelsey wanted to groan. Alexander hadn't been able to think fast enough for her mother.

"I was just thinking of something," he said. "I am a professor."

"Oh, really? For what college?"

"Cambridge," he lied. "I teach British history."

"You do? How fascinating--I adore British history. Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria--" Madeline said.

"Jack the Ripper, Bloody Mary," Kelsey muttered. Her father chuckled.

Alexander was uncertain as to the identity of "Jack the Ripper," but he recognized the other names. "I was always fascinated myself by my nation's history. I still am."

"Why aren't you at school now?" Mrs. Madison asked.

"Because, Mom, his mother's sick. He's looking for a cure. He took a leave of absence," Kelsey said. "Why else wouldn't he be there?"

"I merely asked a question, Kelsey."

But all of your questions are never mere questions.

"My daughter tells me that you've known Kelsey for only a couple of days." Mrs. Madison clearly didn't believe it.

"Yes."

"I've never been to England, Mom," Kelsey said warningly.

"I didn't say you had, dear. She also told me that you accidentally came to the wrong house and Kelsey hit you in the head."

"That is correct, madam."

"How are you feeling?" The unexpected question threw Alexander off for a moment, and had it not been for the fact that she was still highly suspicious, he would have thought her concern genuine.

"I am over the ill effects of the blow."

"I'm glad to hear that. I don't know what got into Kelsey. Probably a moment of wildness or something."

"More like a fear for her life," Mr. Madison said before taking a bite of his potatoes. "She didn't know the man, Laura. As they've both said."

"Did you decide to buy the house?" Mrs. Madison steamrolled on, ignoring her husband.

"No. It was not suited to my needs."

"Where else are you looking?"

"I have been looking at places in...well, around."

"And so you're staying with my daughter."

"She has been very gracious in putting me up. I must confess that I am often a nuisance."

Kelsey shook her head, and with a private smile, looked at her plate.

"Did you happen to know her husband?"

Alexander set down his fork. "I think you misunderstand something, madam. Since I am a man who is more comfortable in dealing directly with things, I believe we should clear something up, for a grow tired of this game of cat and mouse."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Then let me make it clear. I have never met Kelsey's former husband, and from what I have sensed from others and Kelsey herself, I have no great desire to ever do so."

"Perhaps Emma should leave the room before you continue," Kelsey said.

"Nonsense, Kelsey. I see no reason why Emma shouldn't hear this. After all, there is nothing you can say about John that can hurt her," Mrs. Madison said.

Alexander noticed that Madeline gave her twin a sharp look, and Alexander knew that Madeline had full knowledge of the truth about her sister's marriage.

"Mom, I think Kelsey's right. Emma shouldn't hear--"

"Hear what?" Emma asked, her grey eyes bright. "What's wrong with Daddy?"

"Nothing, honey. Absolutely nothing," Mrs. Madison said. "I take it you haven't allowed John to see Emma since the divorce."

Kelsey nearly bit her tongue to keep from saying anything.

Alexander could not quite figure out this family. Madeline, he had noticed before dinner, was treated as though she were a precious gem by her mother, with a little indifference from her father. But the roles were reversed when it came to Kelsey.

They are identical twins, and yet they are treated so differently that they seem separate entities altogether. How different from home, where Mama and Father believed that equality was important.

What puzzled Alexander even more was how Kelsey was reacting to what her mother said. He recalled the furious banshee he had released by criticizing her for divorcing John. And yet here was her mother, accusing her of far worse things, and she said nothing.

"I refuse," Kelsey said quietly, "to discuss John with anyone unless my daughter is out of the room. Don't go near the subject again until she's gone."

Mrs. Madison looked as though she wanted to argue with her daughter, but the expression on her daughter's face indicated that she wasn't changing her mind.

Dinner conversation turned mundane by then, as Madeline quickly began talking about her upcoming wedding. The Geigers were clearly uncomfortable about the family squabble, so they kept talking to Madeline. Kelsey's father struck up a conversation with Emma about the chicken pox and then about school, while Kelsey, Alexander, and Mrs. Madison said very little.

When the meal was finished, Kelsey suggested that Emma go play with the old toys her grandmother kept around for when she visited. Emma wandered off. Mrs. Geiger volunteered to help clean the kitchen and Mr. Geiger soon followed her. Ben looked as though he wanted to join his parents, but he stayed behind with Madeline.

Kelsey wasn't about to let her mother start this conversation. It had been a long time coming.

"Mother," she said, "I don't know why you went from hating John when I married him to thinking him a saint, but you have."

"I came around, Kelsey. I changed my opinion. And clearly, you did too, or else you wouldn't have left him."

"I didn't leave him. I threw him out."

"And I could never understand why. He was a good provider, a wonderful father, a nice man."

"He was an unfaithful louse," Kelsey snapped, feeling a weight the size of a small boulder lift from her shoulders. "He cheated on me with Emma's babysitter, for God's sake. Did you expect me to forgive him for that? Daddy didn't do that to you, and yet you divorced him."

"Your father and I had nothing in common anymore. Why we divorced is irrelevant. At least we stayed together for you and Madeline."

"We would have been better off if you'd just divorced when we were younger."

"I can imagine how you could say such a thing. You were always a wild child. I had hoped becoming a mother yourself would change you."

"It did change me. But I swore that I would never stay with anybody just for Emma's sake, and I meant it."

"You think it's better that Emma see you living with a man you claim to barely know?"

Kelsey could have withstood anything her mother said--except insulting Alexander.

"Alexander Darcy is one of the finest men I've ever met," Kelsey said in a low voice. "He is a complete gentleman, an interesting man, and most importantly, I think he'll probably turn out to be a wonderful father for Emma if we ever decide to get married. Regardless of what you might think, Alexander and I are not sleeping together. I didn't know him before the divorce. And I don't think Emma is adversely affected by his presence in my life. If anything, she benefits."

Mrs. Madison said nothing. Kelsey continued, "You asked if I 'let' John see Emma. If he were to show up today, asking to exercise his visitation rights, I'd let her go. The fact is, he hasn't come to see her, not once. He's seen her twice since he left, once on her birthday and then only for an hour or two. He didn't see her when she was sick. I tried calling, but he never called back. He just didn't care. And yet this man is who you would rather have in your daughter's life."

"What do you know of Alexander Darcy?"

"I know that he's a warm, caring, giving man who would never hurt me or Emma like John did. A man who is willing to go through...hell and back to save his mother's life. A man who is hit in the head by a woman and yet doesn't hold it against her. A man who..." Kelsey looked at him, her eyes shining. "Who is funny and intelligent and...simply wonderful."

Alexander had wondered how Kelsey had felt about him, and had thought that she could not possibly love him.

But now, he was beginning to believe that she could. He smiled.

"And I think you owe him an apology for this debacle this afternoon."

Mrs. Madison looked a bit disgruntled, but she acknowledged her daughter's command and apologized to Alexander, which he accepted graciously.

"If you would excuse me...I think I'm needed in the kitchen," Mrs. Madison said, heading away from the group in the dining room.

"Way to go, kid," Josh Madison said, smiling. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go. I'll see you at the wedding Saturday, okay?"

"All right," Kelsey said, giving him a kiss. Madeline followed suit, and he left.

Ben walked out of the room to speak to his father about something, leaving Kelsey alone with Alexander and Madeline. She looked at her sister.

"You knew."

"I did. You see...John wasn't only interested in the baby-sitter."

Kelsey felt the blood drain from her face. Dear God...

"He came on to me once or twice, right after you'd been married. He said that you weren't interested in sex, and that maybe since we were so opposite in everything--he'd heard Mom's saying about identical twins, too--maybe I'd be the fiery one in bed." Madeline blushed. "I told him to go to hell. He told me never to say anything because..."

"We weren't speaking. He probably said that he'd tell me you'd come on to him, and that I'd believe him."

"Exactly."

"Oh, Maddie...I'm so sorry."

"No, it's not your fault. You just had the misfortune of marrying a real jerk. I'm glad to see that you've found someone a lot better." She smiled at Alexander.

"Thank you."

Madeline stood up as though she were about to leave when she thought of something. "You know, I never really held with Mom's notion of identical twins being different parts of things. You know that, right?"

"Right."

"I really hated the way she used to treat you, Kelse. But I knew that she'd never change. You knew that, too."

"Yeah. It just took me a lot longer to catch on."

Madeline nodded. She seemed to want to say something else before changing her mind. As she walked past Kelsey, she gave her a hug. She gave Alexander a hug as well, then went in search of Ben.

"Well," Kelsey said, "what do you think of my family?"

"I think we really should have had a longer talk about your ex-husband before today."

Kelsey gave him a grim smile. "We've already had enough unpleasantness today. Let's avoid it for a while."

He supposed that would be all right. In light of what had happened that afternoon, he proposed that they go shopping even though he would rather be hung by his fingernails. He was rewarded by the sight of Kelsey's smile when she agreed to the idea.

Chapter 16

It was easier than Kelsey expected to find a place that would exchange the English pounds given her by Darcy. Hoping that her luck would hold and they would still be open, she brought in about half of the money. The older man in charge of things calmly took her bag and began counting, but something must have caught his eye because he stopped suddenly.

"Miss...may I ask where you obtained these coins?"

Kelsey went cold. He wasn't about to accuse her of stealing them, was he? "Why?"

"Because I don't think we can exchange them. I don't think you'd want us to."

"Of course I want you to exchange them. That's why I brought them in here."

"You don't understand, miss. These coins are...well, perhaps not as valuable as some, but worth some money. More than the value they would have if they were present-day..."

Kelsey took a moment to realize what he was saying. I am such an idiot! Of course the money in the bag would be from the last century, and not this one! Was Alexander's father going to pay you in crisp, clean dollars from this century when he doesn't belong to it? "H-how much money do you these coins would collect?"

The man named a sum which sounded reasonable to Kelsey. "That sounds okay, to exchange that much money for the coins."

"No, miss. That would be how much one coin would bring. And some of these--especially in such excellent condition--would probably bring much more."

About one thousand pounds, he gave us...and it's going to turn out to be so much more...

"D-do you know where I could find a buyer for them?"

"Absolutely." He named off several places, recommending one in particular. "If you tell the lady that I sent you, she'll probably give you the best deal," he said.

"It's hard to believe that there are people who collect old coins," Kelsey said.

"A great many things astonish me in this world, dear." He smiled. "You never did tell me how you came by the coins."

"My...fiance's father willed it to him after he died. I don't think he knew how valuable it was." To say the least.

Thanking the man profusely, Kelsey collected the money and headed out of the store in a daze. Alexander sat in the car waiting for her, listening to Mozart. Kelsey slid into the car, placing the money in his lap.

"How much did the exchange bring us?" he asked.

"I don't know yet."

"What? He would not take our money?"

"No, he couldn't. Alexander...the money in that bag may not be the rarest of things on earth, but it's worth some money to collectors."

"People collect money? They do not spend it?"

"Oh, sure. They spend money that has...well, money has value. But they spend money from this time. Something from your time is worth more because it's older...like an antique."

"This is peculiar," he said.

"That's what I thought. Your father gave me that money which equaled a thousand pounds in your time. In this one, it's going to net us quite a bit more."

"How much more?"

"I think...something close to two or three hundred thousand dollars."

"Is that good?"

Kelsey smiled. "Oh, yes. It's very good."

"Then we shall have enough money to purchase me new clothing?"

"I think so."

"Excellent."

The woman who had been recommended to them happened to be open, and her eyes lit up at the coins Kelsey handed her. "This is most unusual," she said. "Why are you selling them? They'll probably go up in value."

Kelsey refused to tell her that they needed the money, for that might cause her to bring down what she'd be willing to pay. Instead, she said, "I don't collect, and neither does my fiancé. We thought it would be better to give them to someone who would appreciate them."

After receiving three thousand dollars for the few coins she brought in, Kelsey and Alexander headed to the mall.

"I still cannot believe that she gave you so much money for so little," Alexander said as Kelsey hunted for a parking space.

"Well, believe it. God, do you know what this means? I won't have to worry about expenses, or bills, or having to work--I can take day classes in the fall when Emma's in kindergarten." Kelsey suddenly stopped to let a car out, then took the empty spot. When she stopped the car, she said, "But..."

"What?"

"That's not really my money. That's yours. I lied to get it."

"Nonsense." He got out of the car. "You've given me much more than merely a horse and some spending money for London."

"But I don't think I should keep it all." They started walking to the entrance.

"It is yours. Consider it a gift for all you have done for me."

"What have I done for you? I doubted you, I yelled at you, I--"

"Cared for me and defended me to your mother. Now there is an end to the subject. You shall keep the money."

Kelsey smiled at his unbudging tone of voice. "There is a benefit for you as well, you know. Providing that we find what's wrong with your mother, we can now afford a doctor to take care of her."

"Have we decided how we are going to treat her?"

"I thought we had this morning. We decided that when we found out the cause of her illness, and there was a cure, that we would sneak her out of Pemberley and bring her here...and she could have the best medical care now. Money isn't a factor anymore."

"Of course. What about my father?"

"We'll leave him a note."

"Since you seem to have everything under control, all we have to do now is find out what is wrong with her and pray there is a cure." He opened the door for her with a smile.

"Exactly." Kelsey linked her arm through his and asked, "Where would you like to start first?"

Alexander sighed. "I suppose you would like to shop for smart bonnets and gown lengths and such."

"Hardly. I have plenty of clothes. We're here to get some things for you."

"Oh."

"And to look around."

"I see."

Kelsey led him past something she called a video arcade. When he said that he had never heard of such a place, she led him in. Teenagers seemed to make up the general populace of the store, and he saw no clerks anywhere.

"What is this place?" he asked.

"It's where kids hang out and have fun, play some games. Want to play one?"

"Uh...no, I do not believe so."

"C'mon! You have to play pinball, at least."

"Pinball?" he mouthed to himself as she led him to a large machine. She stuck two quarters in and punched a button. She then proceeded to play the game.

"What is the purpose of it?" he asked when she finished.

"To just have fun. To relax, concentrate. I used to be addicted to pinball when I was in high school. Your turn."

Kelsey stuck two more quarters into the machine and punched the button again. The lights on the machine suddenly lit up at him and a voice said, "Press your luck!"

"It's technology again, is not?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm. Pull this back." She pointed to a lever. He pulled it out, but held on to it. "Now let it go," she told him. He let go of it, and was confused when she said, "Keep your eye on the ball!"

So he did. And it slowly began to roll down to the other end.

"Now, push these buttons--they'll move the flippers. The point is to keep the ball from going into the hole and ending your game."

His game ended very quickly--he was so amazed by flashing lights and buzzers and such things that he had trouble keeping his eye on the ball.

"Interesting," he said. "May I play again?"

Kelsey laughed. "I knew it--I've made you an addict, too. Maybe we should do our shopping and then come back."

"All right," he said reluctantly. They left the arcade and started walking around.

"This reminds me of London," he said. "Shops everywhere. Except here, they are all in one building."

Kelsey walked him by a bookstore and he stopped suddenly. "So many books," he said. "And they are all so new." He stood, transfixed, in the window. "Amazing."

"They never had bookstores in England?" she asked, confused. Pemberley had a lovely library (or so she'd read). But when he turned his head back to her, his dark eyes were gleaming with laughter, and Kelsey crossed her arms. "You're joking."

"Yes, I am." He chuckled.

"Very funny, ha ha ha." But Kelsey laughed for real, shaking her head as they went past a Zales store.

"Let us stop a moment," he said.

"Maybe that's not a good idea," she said.

"Why? I would love to buy you something."

"I don't need any jewelry. I rarely wear any."

Alexander was tempted to argue, but decided not to. After all, she was right. Why waste their money on things which would not be used? His father could do such things, but he could not. So they passed by Zales.

She passed by several clothing shops which seemed to have nothing but women's clothes, occasionally stopping to admire something in a window display. He had been tempted to tell her to go in and buy something, especially when he had seen a beautiful aquamarine gown that he knew would look stunning on her. Yet she trudged on, not buying anything. He made a note of the store the dress was in, hoping to convince her to go back later.

They continued to walk around--a couple more book stores, some stores which sold electronic equipment, stores filled with nothing but candy--a most unusual thing for him. A store which sold nothing but little bottles and pamphlets--Kelsey told him that that was a health store. A store filled with female accessories.

"I am beginning to wonder if we shall ever find a men's store," he said.

"So am I, but I know it's here somewhere. I just haven't been there in quite a while. Ah! Here it is!" She stopped in front of a store with young men in the window, dressed in casual outfits.

"How do those people manage to stand so still?" he finally asked, having wanted to ask the question since they had passed the first store window. "It amazes me."

"They aren't real," Kelsey said. "They're mannequins."

"Mannequins?"

"Yeah. They're made in factories to look like men and women so that clothes can be put on them. Then they're put in windows like this one, so everyone can see the merchandise and go in and buy it. Just like we're going to do." Kelsey led him inside.

A salesman immediately came up to them. "Can I help you?" he asked politely.

"We're looking to buy a few outfits for this guy here. I don't really know what he'd like, so we're going to look for a little bit."

"Just let me know if you need anything," he said.

Kelsey thanked him and wandered around the store, looking at outfits and wondering how good Alexander would look in them.

"We shall need him to measure me for clothing," Alexander said.

"No, we don't. It's already made."

"Who knew my size?"

"No one did. I know John's size, which matches yours, so I know what you'll be able to wear and what you can't. The rest is just a matter of taste."

Alexander was confused, but refused to ask any more questions. Kelsey immediately chose several shirts she thought he would like, and before Alexander could ask if maybe he should be choosing the outfits he would be wearing, he realized that he rather liked the things she was picking out.

Before long, they had a nice big selection of clothes to wear. He tried on a few things, feeling ridiculous but knowing that she wanted him to do it, and finally made his decisions. When Kelsey went to pay for the clothes, Alexander gasped at the price.

"Are things this expensive?" he asked.

"No," she said. "Well, clothes are. But they'll wear well and last a long time. That's important."

After leading him on a merry dance through the rest of the mall, stopping only to let him try a slice of something she called pizza (divine, if a bit messy), they were about to leave when Alexander noticed that they had come back to the store with the aqua dress. Kelsey again looked at it, and finally, he said, "Let's get that."

"It doesn't come in your size," she replied.

"Very funny," he mimicked her. "That is for you, and we both know it. Come." He led her into the store, and before she could object, he had asked the saleslady to bring one out in Kelsey's size.

"She doesn't know my size," Kelsey said. The woman had already disappeared, and a minute later, returned with the dress--in Kelsey's size. "I should at least try it on. It might look bad on me."

"It shall look perfect and you know it," he replied. "We shall take it."

Kelsey paid for the dress, which Alexander carried as they left the store.

Kelsey put Emma to sleep, hoping she would stay there. Coming back down the stairs, she saw Alexander on the swing, staring out at the neighbors' yard. Two books lay at his side, one open to a page he had been reading when his attention had been caught by something.

"The maze isn't open tonight," she said.

"No, it is not. I do not think the cure can be found in these books," he said quietly.

"We're going to find it, Alexander. You have to believe it."

"I desperately want to believe it." He looked at her. "When you keep your hope, I do believe it."

Kelsey smiled, moving the books aside and sitting next to him. "You really do, don't you?"

"Of course."

Kelsey's smile faded and she said, "I think maybe it's time I told you everything about John."

Chapter 17

Alexander looked at her drawn face, grey eyes filled with the hurt and pain of whatever she was to tell him. "I did not mean that you had to tell me earlier today," he said.

"I want to tell you. You were right. I left you floundering at my mother's today, without telling you everything."

He nodded. "All right."

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Kelsey began her story.

"I was a junior in college, about twenty," she said. "I ran with a bad crowd in high school, but I was really an innocent. Most of the kids I hung out with had a lot of problems at home, and I'm not talking just verbal arguments like my parents had. They had parents who would beat each other up, and sometimes them. They were really tough, not like me. But they hung out with me because we were all looking for an escape. I'd never done anything truly shocking except for the arrest. I was hoping to make a new start when I moved out of the house. When Mom and Dad had announced that they were finally getting a divorce, Maddie buried herself in her schoolwork. And that's when I met John.

"He was a friend of the grad assistant in my psych class. The grad assistant asked me out, and John was his roommate. We went on our date, and came back to his apartment, and there was John, sitting on the couch watching wrestling. The grad assistant turned out to be a real creep. He asked me to join him in his bedroom and when I refused, he threw me out of the apartment and refused to give me a ride home. This was October, and it was kind of cold out.

"So I figured I was totally screwed, because my dorm room was five miles away from his apartment. I had walked maybe a few blocks when a car honked its horn behind me. I was terrified for a moment that some guy was about to attack me, and so I walked faster. That's when he yelled at me to please stop so he could give me a ride back. I turned around at the sound of his voice, because I knew it wasn't the creep...it was John.

"He started to take me back, apologizing for his roommate almost the entire time. He said that Daniel--that was his name--was a real jerk, and he couldn't figure out what a nice girl like me saw in him. That's got to be the corniest line in the book, and I fell for it. We got to talking and before I knew it, we were at this all-night cafe, drinking espressos and talking about all sorts of things. It was like I had found someone who was almost my soulmate. His parents were divorced, and mine were divorcing. We both liked classical music and hated country. He even liked Jane Austen, and most of the guys I ran around with had never even heard of her.

"So we just kept talking and talking, and before I realized it, it was morning. I told him that Maddie was probably worried about me, so he took me back to the dorm. Maddie wasn't all that worried, except when she realized that the man who dropped me off wasn't the one who had picked me up.

"A couple of days later, John called me--I figured he had gotten my number from his roommate, so I wasn't surprised to hear from him. He'd gotten tickets to see some musical at the Fox, and he asked me to go with him. I agreed. We ended up staying up all night talking again. I came back to the dorm. This got to be a pattern, only it was beginning to happen every night. I was falling in love, and nothing else mattered to me. Not school, not my parents, not Maddie. That's when she and I first started fighting. She thought I was getting involved with him too fast, and I told her that she knew nothing about it. As it turned out, of course, she was right.

"I was so convinced that he was the one, because of all the talking we'd done and all the things we had in common and he was absolutely fascinated by me. But I should have seen something that I didn't--he asked me quite often what I thought of having children, and if I believed that marriage was forever. Other things. He once asked me if I would forgive him anything, and that was after we'd started sleeping together. I told him that of course I would.

"Then he suddenly asked me to marry him. This was about a month after we'd known each other. We'd been sleeping together for about two weeks. He told me that he would be able to take care of me, that I could drop out of school and we'd be able to live on his salary. He was living in an apartment with a roommate, and he was suddenly going to be able to support two people? And that didn't even cover if we had a baby. I found out later--much later--exactly why he'd been so certain that he could support us both. His boss had told him that he had potential, but the company thought married men were better representatives. They're a very conservative corporation. Back then, I didn't care. He could have told me that was the main reason he was marrying me, and I still would've done it. Here he was asking me to marry him, and I loved him so much that I only had a few doubts. And those he took care of, because he had so much confidence. I believed him. And I married him."

Kelsey's voice tightened. "We eloped to Las Vegas. We were married in the Wee Wedding Chapel of Love. I called my family from a hotel room John rented. My mother was furious, because I'd married a man she'd never met and had only heard bad things about from Madeline. And given how she felt about me all my life, it only confirmed her stereotype that I was headed for trouble. Maddie was so angry with me, and we had the fight that caused us not to speak for two years. She essentially said that I had made a monumental mistake, and she wasn't going to be there to support me when I realized it. After that, I was absolutely terrified of my father's reaction, but all he did was ask me one question--he asked if I was happy. I told him that I was, and he said, 'I'm happy for you too, sweetheart.'

"I started crying. My father and I talked for two hours about the past, and how he felt he'd messed things up for me and Maddie. When I finally hung up, we had reached a new...well, we had a different relationship. It's better than the one my sister has with him, but she was Mama's girl so it's different for her.

"Anyway, when John and I returned from Vegas, I found out that he had arranged for us to get an apartment of his own. I didn't tell you what John did for a living, did I?" Alexander shook his head. "He works for Lymon, Ltd. as one of their executives. They're a conglomerate of sorts. He made pretty good money. He said he'd been saving it for something special, and he considered me to be it.

"Everything was so perfect in the first year we were married. I never questioned anything. When I became pregnant with Emma about four months after we were married, it seemed so right, to have the baby then. John had been promoted, and he was on the fast track to becoming a major part of Lymon, and I had dropped out of school and had nothing better to do with my life. A baby would be the perfect addition.

"After Emma was born...things began to change. It was little things at first. I knew John had really wanted a boy, and he was a little distant from Emma, but I didn't really notice it. He pronounced that he was pleased with his daughter, and he had run out and bought a storeful of toys for her to play with before I even came home from the hospital. But even then, I should've seen that he was really disappointed.

"Then he began to...it felt to me like he began to resent the attention I gave her. If I spent an hour reading to her so she would sleep, even if she went to bed at six, he would still be a little upset when I came back to him. Plus, Emma's birth was a very difficult one for me. I was in labor for thirty hours before she was finally born. Sex before Emma had been satisfactory for me, if not what I thought it would be..." Kelsey started to blush. "I had thought it would get better once I'd done it more. I'd told you before that I'd never slept with anyone but John, and..."

"You thought it was your fault, not his."

"Right. After Emma's birth, though, it wasn't even satisfactory anymore. And before I knew it, John and I were hardly ever..." Kelsey hung her head, not wanting to tell him this next part, knowing she had to. "There were nights when he would come home late from work, and I would be in the mood and he wouldn't be. The things I tried to get him to sleep with me...I didn't know that...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

"My mother came to visit me in the hospital, as pleased as anything with my daughter. She instantly 'forgave' John for running off with her wild daughter by welcoming him into her family with open arms. For a brief time, she paid a good deal of attention to me. And to Emma. I have a strange feeling, though, that Emma will immediately take second place to any child Maddie has, if and when she has children.

"Maddie still hadn't forgiven me...I can't say I blame her. We'd said so many hurtful things to each other that night on the phone. I immediately wanted to take them back, but you can't do that. So we didn't talk for another year, when Emma was a year old. Mom threw Emma's birthday party and Maddie was there. That's when we talked, but even then, we didn't forgive each other. I have a feeling that that's when John hit on her, even if she won't say. In time, we forgave each other. And we've grown closer...well, until the divorce. Maddie's not the type who can let something pass if she was right, and I got tired of hearing her saying 'I told you so' every day. But it's not like when I married him, otherwise I wouldn't be the matron of honor at her wedding."

Kelsey could feel herself rambling, not wanting to tell him the worst of it. But she knew she had to.

"About two years ago, John came home from the office early to tell me that it was time we revitalized our marriage. He said that we'd been getting stale. That hurt so much, because I thought we were doing okay. If there wasn't a lot of passion in our marriage, we still had a lot of things in common. We were still able to talk as friends for the most part. We had a child together, and that made every day seem like an adventure. I thought things were fine. Nothing seemed wrong.

"But here was John, saying that the marriage was stale for him. I...the irony was, I never wanted a marriage like my parents'. They stayed together only for me and Maddie, not because they loved or even cared about each other anymore. It would be safe to say they hated each other. And here I was, afraid that my husband didn't care about me anymore, and yet I wanted to stay together. I needed him. He was really my lifeline, because I stayed home with Emma. I hadn't finished my degree. I wanted to be a writer, but I hadn't had the time or the inclination to start writing...and of course, John said that we didn't need another income, so why should I bother taking a chance away from someone who deserved to be published and needed the money. I thought he was right. I was supposed to be so bright, and tough, and I fell for every stupid trick in the book without a whimper. All because I thought I loved him.

"John sat down a listed everything he thought was wrong with our marriage. He started with sex and ended with Emma. I...started reading manuals on how to be a better lover. It wasn't his idea, but he liked it when he found out I was doing it. God, they were so humiliating. I thought that...that if you loved someone, it was supposed to feel right. And at first, it did feel right with John, even if it wasn't perfect. When I started reading those books, it didn't even feel right anymore. And I went with his suggestions that we try the things...God, I was pathetic." This came out with such scathing disgust that Alexander wondered how she had ever gotten through it.

"As far as Emma went, John thought it would be a good idea if we hired a live-in nanny to take care of her. I told him that the idea was completely ridiculous, since I was home all day and could easily take care of Emma myself. But John told me that maybe it was trying to keep up with Emma that made me so exhausted at the end of the day...as though the fact that our sex life was virtually nonexistent was my fault. So I told him that maybe we could have a baby-sitter take care of her at times, so I could get out more. And he agreed that that would be the best thing. So we hired Sharisse...Shari. She was an eighteen-year-old college freshman who needed extra money. She seemed to be genuinely fond of kids, and Emma took to her right away.

"It was a surprise to me, but for a while, I found that John's idea had worked. I felt a lot freer when I wasn't tied to Emma constantly. It felt bad at first, but it made sending her to preschool a lot easier. Plus, I got back into life again. I didn't want to return to school, since that would mean homework which would cut into my time with John, but I found other ways of taking up time. I volunteered at the hospital. I shopped some days. I met with old school friends and got closer to Maddie. I believed...things were going a lot better in our marriage. John seemed happy. That was what mattered most." Kelsey's eyes began to tear, and she turned away. Alexander turned her around to face him again.

"Deep down inside, I knew John still wanted a son. I had been hesitant--they say you forget the pain of childbirth soon after, but really I hadn't. I still remembered the thirty hours of hell. We didn't discuss the issue much. Ten months ago, I finally made the decision. I was ready to have another baby. I was standing in the Galleria, in one of the stores, and I decided right there. I had to tell John, so I stopped by Lymon. His secretary told me that he'd gone home, so that's where I went." Tears rolled unchecked down her cheeks, and her voice quivered.

"I came home and didn't say anything. I didn't see Emma anywhere, but it was time for her nap so I wasn't bothered by it. I heard moaning...coming from upstairs. It was John. I thought he was sick, so I came running up to see if I could do anything...He was...in bed, with Sharisse. Making love to her, in the middle of the afternoon, with our daughter sleeping just down the hall...in my bed. I...I almost threw up. I was so horrified. Shari had the good grace to look embarrassed, and she quickly left. And then it was John and I alone.

"He started with the obvious excuses--it was a moment of weakness, Shari had come on to him, he didn't know what he was doing. All of these excuses conflicted with each other. Then he begged for my forgiveness, telling me that he would never do it again, that he was ready for us to have a son. Then he claimed that it was my fault, that if I had been better in bed, he wouldn't have needed to find someone else. But it didn't matter to me. I...started screaming at him to get out of my life and never to come back. I told him that I was calling a lawyer. All sorts of things. I didn't care that Emma was awake and heard everything, not that she understood much of it.

"He left that night. I filed for divorce soon after. He didn't contest it. In fact, he was more than generous...but he had a new girlfriend, a new life. And I had nothing. He had destroyed me."

Kelsey finally stopped talking, feeling for the second time that day as though she had let something go inside of herself, having finally told the whole story to someone.

"How have you managed to survive since then?" he asked softly, pulling her into his arms in a gesture of comfort.

"Day-to-day. The first few days, I cried and cried. Then I stopped crying, because I knew John wasn't worth it. Then I despaired, and wondered and feared over what would happen to Emma and me. I raged. I screamed--when Emma was at school, of course. I thought for a long time that it was all my fault, that if I had been what John needed me to be that he wouldn't have found someone else. I reorganized everything, getting rid of the bed I found them in. I had a lot of sleepless nights. And only recently did I finally accept that what happened wasn't only my fault. Part of the blame rests with John, too."

The sun had set, and the moonlight, though not as bright as the evening before, cast the objects in a silvery glow.

"I think," Alexander said, "that I wronged you."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because I was scandalised that you were divorced. I think now that you had every right to leave him."

Kelsey smiled--he didn't see, for her face was buried into his chest.

"Thank you," she said.

"And it makes me wonder if you shall ever trust your heart with anyone again."

Kelsey knew what he was asking, only she was so terrified to give him an answer. The night before, she had been willing to give him more than she had given anyone in ten months. But now, with her soul bared for him and him alone, she was so much more frightened.

"I don't know. I'd like to hope that someday, I'll..." Admit it, kiddo. You're beginning to trust him with it. Tell him that. But she couldn't, because in the back of her mind was the fear that he would end up breaking it by going home forever.

Alexander tilted her face up to look at him, then bent his head and kissed her. Kelsey instantly recognized that it wasn't an "I-want-you" type of kiss that they had shared last night in his room, or the "Thank-God-you're-still-alive" kiss they'd shared in the backyard. This was tender and soft and...Kelsey felt like she wanted to melt.

And you never once thought John kissed differently. With him, it was all one type. But you didn't care. And look at how this is going! You're getting involved with this man just as fast as you did with John!

But this feels right!

When the kiss ended, Alexander said, "Thank you for telling me everything. It means a great deal to have your trust."

"Thanks for hearing me out. I haven't told anyone...everything."

"Not your father or your sister?"

"No. I've been too ashamed to do it." Kelsey cleared her throat and said, "Tomorrow, we're going to cash in more of the coins and we're going to find out what's wrong with your mother. We can't have any more delays like we did today."

Alexander had wanted so much for them to talk more about what was going to happen between them, but her change of topic effectively cut off any hope of that happening. He decided to let her go.

He had a feeling that he was once again going to get little sleep, mulling over the nightmare of Kelsey's marriage in his mind over and over. Not even the medical books he tried looking through could erase the words and images.

Kelsey got her best night's sleep in ten months. And it came as no surprise to him that she did not awaken until almost eleven the next morning.

Chapter 18

The next five days were spent in the futile search for what was wrong with Elizabeth. Kelsey told Alexander that she was beginning to fear that they would never find the problem, then suggested that maybe it would be better for them to bring her to the future and have the doctors diagnose her problem.

They both agreed that that was the best plan, but the maze didn't open up. It remained as closed as it had ever since Kelsey had returned from Pemberley. And with each passing day, Kelsey saw Alexander's eyes get a little sadder, a little more nervous. But they kept up the search, and they kept trying to figure out what was wrong with his mother.

Finally, on Friday, Kelsey put down the medical book she was looking through and said, "Alexander, we need to get our minds off this for one night."

"Would you like to go out to dinner?" he asked.

"No. We could order in, though."

"Order in?"

"Sure. Delivery service--one of the truly wonderful things about this century. Do you want Chinese or pizza?"

"Pizza," he said.

Kelsey picked up the phone and dialed Pizza Hut's number. When she got off the phone, she said, "It'll be here in about forty minutes or so."

Alexander nodded, then turned back to his book.

For the first time that day, Kelsey noticed what he was wearing. For one thing, it wasn't something she had picked out. He must've stuck it in with the rest of the things they had bought the other day at the mall. And she couldn't help but laugh when she saw it.

He wore a pair of snug black pants with a white polo shirt that was slightly too large for him. For a moment, Kelsey could picture him not only here in her time, but also back in his own. And she could also picture him in that outfit, soaking wet...

Which should tell you that you've been watching that movie a few too many times. It wasn't him who took a swim in the lake!

"What was your life like at Pemberley?" Kelsey asked. "I've told you everything about my life, and you've listened so patiently."

"My life at Pemberley?" Alexander smiled. "Oh, Lord, there is so much I could tell you."

"Then tell me everything."

Alexander sat back on the couch, looking at her sitting in the recliner. "You know some of the essentials."

"Only what you've told me."

"I mean, you know how my parents met. I've only heard parts of the story."

Kelsey laughed. "You're kidding. You mean your parents never got around to telling you about one of the greatest love stories of all time? Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy rank right up there with Romeo and Juliet and Jane and Rochester for pure romantic value. And they didn't go through half of what the others did."

"Jane and Rochester?"

"It's a fictional story."

"Ah."

"But we should save it for another time. How about if you tell me what happened when you were a kid."

"There are so many things I could tell you--like about the time my brothers and I went fishing, and my sister Victoria insisted on coming along. William....well, he thought he would be amusing and push her into the lake. She was furious, and so was my father. He said that we should have had more respect for women than that, especially sisters. Mama just looked at my father and reminded him of a couple of times when he had a little less respect for women than he was telling his sons...my father said that there were exceptions to that. And besides, she pushed him in first."

Kelsey laughed.

"But I suppose I had a normal childhood. I was loved by both of my parents--my mother in particular. Mama said that...since I was the middle child, I needed extra love. She did not want what happened in her family to happen to her children."

"That wasn't likely to happen."

"Things changed, though, when I became older. My eldest brother, William, would inherit Pemberley when my father died, and Edward inherited Rosings after the death of our Aunt Anne...well, Anne was actually a cousin, but she preferred that we call her aunt. My sister Jane married a son of Sir and Lady Hampton's, even though my parents were less than thrilled to have Lady Hampton as a relative even after all these years."

"Lady Hampton? Why didn't they like her?"

"She was Caroline Bingley before she married Sir James."

"Oh, that's right. I think you told me that once."

"And Victoria married the son of some friends of my parents', the Knightleys."

"You're kidding," Kelsey said with a laugh. "No, no, I see you're not. I shouldn't be surprised. After all, you're here, and you're real, so why shouldn't everyone else be?"

"What is so unusual about that?"

Kelsey wasn't sure what to tell him. "I've read a...history of your sister's in-laws. It's almost as interesting as that of your parents."

Alexander seemed to accept her answer. "At any rate, all of my brothers and sisters had settled down except myself. I was living on a small sum I had inherited from my grandfather Bennet, and generally doing well, but my father feared that I was wasting my life."

"Was there...someone special in your life?" Kelsey couldn't believe she was asking that.

"No...never. Not until--" He gave her a look which she instantly knew the meaning of.

"I spent a good deal of time in London with my cousins, Edward Bingley and John Wickham. We were an unusual threesome--my parents were fond of Edward, but not so of John. Some problem Father had had with John's father in the past."

Like he tried to elope with your Aunt Georgiana, and did elope with your Aunt Lydia.

"Still, my parents were hospitable to them both when we were around Pemberley." Alexander sighed. "But I still had no profession, no fortune, no future. When I return...if I cannot stay...that is what I must face. It is why I could never..."

Kelsey wasn't sure what he wanted to say, but didn't want to force him to say anything.

"And then my mother became ill. If she dies...I do not know what I shall do. My father shall die with her. I have seen that when he is with her."

Kelsey walked over to the couch and put her arms around him, comforting him as he had comforted her before. "It's going to be okay," she whispered in his ear.

"Mommy?" Emma stood by the doorway of the playroom, which was connected to the living room. "Alex?"

Kelsey and Alexander pulled apart from each other.

"Are you gonna be my daddy now, Alex?" Emma asked.

"Oh...honey, that wasn't what you--"

"You hugged him."

Before Kelsey could try to explain things to her daughter, Alexander had gotten off the couch and knelt before Emma. "If you would like for me to be your father, Emma, then I shall be."

"Alexander--"

"Is that what you want?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then that's what I am."

Emma threw her arms around Alexander, hugging him tightly. "Daddy," she whispered softly.

Kelsey's eyes watered at the sight of her daughter, so young and impressionable, accepting this man as her father. It seemed as though she had completely forgotten about John. Not that Kelsey could blame her. If it were up to her, she'd prefer forgetting John, too.

"How about if we play something while we wait for the pizza," he said.

"Alexander..."

Emma had already headed back to the playroom.

"I'll be with you in a minute," he called.

"Okay, Daddy!"

Alexander turned back to Kelsey.

"You don't know if you're going to be here forever," Kelsey said quietly. "If you go back, you'll break Emma's heart."

"I do not believe I shall be returning," he said. "I have been giving this so much thought, about what we should do about this. I...I would never ask you to return with me."

"I would go," she whispered.

"I could not ask you to return. My life is not as...modern as yours."

"I know that."

"But if you were to become ill, or Emma, or myself...we may not have cures as you have in this day and age. And the maze may close on us forever if we all return to my time. Besides, we would not have anything to live on."

"Didn't relatives sometimes stay in the family house forever?"

"Not men. Not me. I shall not be a charity case. I would not subject you or Emma to that."

"You think you'll stay in this time, then?"

"Yes, I do. I have waited twenty-seven years for something wonderful to come along. It has. I do not believe that God would take it all away from me now."

"You'd sacrifice your own family, your own life for this world? You don't know anything about this--"

"I could learn. I would love to learn. It would take me a lifetime to learn everything that has happened until now, and then I would have more to learn as technology seems to move faster than lightning in this time."

"But what about your family? You loved your mother so much that you traveled across time to try and save her life. The maze may close on you forever if you stay here."

"I think...I think my family would understand."

"But you're so close."

"And you are close to your sister and father. Could you leave them behind?"

"I think..." But Kelsey knew that it would not be easy. No easier than him leaving his family behind. "I think we've reached a stalemate."

"We have not. I made the decision that I would stay here. I shall take the chance that the maze shall stay open so I can see my family on occasion."

Kelsey shook her head, but the conversation was ended when Emma shouted, "Daddy! You said you'd come play!" Alexander turned to walk away.

"Alexander..."

"Yes?"

"Thank you...for telling Emma that you would be her father. Even if things don't work out in the end, at least she'll have had a father who loved her."

Chapter 19

The following morning dawned early for everyone in the house. It was Madeline's wedding day. Emma was the flower girl, and Kelsey, of course, the matron of honor. Emma was far more excited about her duties than Kelsey was about hers, because she was being required to walk down the aisle wearing a hoop skirt that she could barely fit through doors in.

"At least I get to change as soon as the ceremony is over," Kelsey said as she served Emma and Alexander bowls of Cookie Crisp. "And the pictures are taken. Maddie had to learn to walk, dance, and sit in that stupid thing because she insisted on wearing it until she got ready to leave."

"When do we get to put our dresses on, Mommy?" Emma asked cheerfully.

"Not until we get to the church, sweetie. You don't want to get it dirty, do you?"

"No."

"What is wrong with the dress?" Alexander asked.

"I guess hoops weren't quite the rage...or rather, they weren't quite as wide. My sister loved Gone with the Wind all her life, and she always swore that when she married, she'd have a wedding that could've come right out of it. And now she has. So that includes hoop skirts and corsets and all that stuff. I've worn this skirt three times, when I've been fitted for it, and all three times, I've felt like I was carrying a dead weight right around my waist. Those skirts are heavy. How did women ever stand them?"

"I--I never thought of it that way," Alexander said. "I have no doubt that you look beautiful in the dress, though."

"Yeah, well, I'm still changing out of it as soon as all of the pictures are taken. I've got another dress I intend to wear." Kelsey had in fact not had another dress until Alexander had insisted on buying the aqua dress last Sunday. Not only had it fit perfectly, as he had predicted, but it was suitable for the wedding. "Don't worry. When I picked up Emma on her last day of pre-school, I bought you a suit. You won't have to wear one of John's for the occasion."

Alexander had been wondering about that, but didn't respond one way or another.

The phone rang a minute later, just as Kelsey was sitting down to eat her cereal. "Hello," she said. "Hi, Maddie. Yes, we're awake..."

"I'm Aunt Maddie's flower girl," Emma said with a smile. "She said I get to throw petals everywhere."

"That sounds like a very important job," Alexander said.

"It is. Mommy said that if I do a good job, she'll let me stay up later tonight."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, so I have to be really good, cause I wanna catch the...the bucket."

"The bucket?"

"The bouquet," Kelsey corrected, putting her hand over the phone.

"That's what I said, Mommy. The bow-kay. Aunt Maddie said she'd try to throw it to me."

"What does catching the bride's bouquet signify?" Alexander asked.

"It means that I get married."

"Aren't you a little young to be getting married, Miss Emma?"

"No. Tommy Wallace said he'd marry me tomorrow if I caught it."

Kelsey giggled over the phone, which only made Maddie more upset than before, because she thought her sister was laughing at her.

"Would you give me away if I married Tommy, Daddy?"

"In a minute. But I think you might want to wait a few years, honey. There's more to marriage than just the ceremony."

Kelsey finally got off the phone with Maddie. "We need to hurry it up," she said. "Maddie's getting more nervous by the second and wants us at the church. I don't know who told her that eleven o'clock was a good time to get married."

Maddie, Kelsey noted, looked like she needed a good dose of smelling salts. Unfortunately, she might look a little like Scarlett O'Hara, but smelling salts hadn't come with the dress.

"I...I never thought I'd be this nervous," she said quietly as her mother fussed with her hair, even though it looked perfect. "I...Kelsey, you have to stay near me through this."

"I will, don't worry. Mom, where's Emma?"

"She's with your Alexander. Kelsey, did I hear her wrong, or did she call him Daddy?"

"Mom, this is my wedding day. Could you manage not to get into a fight with Kelsey until I'm on the honeymoon?"

"I just wanted to know--"

"I know you did."

"It's all right, Madeline. Yes, Mom, she's calling Alexander her father. I suspect that it's a phase she's going through, since John hasn't been to see her in a long time. She needs some man to identify with."

"Have you even attempted to contact John?" her mother asked.

"Mom, please!" Madeline pushed her hands away. "Not now."

"I have tried and tried, especially when she was sick. No response. I don't expect that I'm going to see him anytime soon." Kelsey was surprising herself with how calmly she was taking her mother's questions about John.

Her mother didn't push the issue further. Kelsey knew that she was eaten up with worries about the wedding, so for that reason she was grateful for the three-ring circus. Madeline said, "Mom, could you go see if Ben is anywhere nearby? In fact, just make sure he's here. But keep him out of my view, or else..."

"Of course, my dear. I'll go check." Laura Madison walked out of the room.

Madeline turned to look at Kelsey. "There's something about Alexander that you're not telling me, isn't there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just sort of strange. You go through hell with John, and all of the sudden, you're jumping into a relationship with a new man even faster than you got involved with John."

"This is different. A lot different. And there are some things about Alexander that...well, might seem a little bizarre."

"I don't doubt that."

"We're not sleeping together."

"Well, that's one good thing."

"It was his choice, too, not just mine."

"Really?" Madeline's eyebrows raised.

"Really. We've talked a lot, about our families, and friends."

"If I remember correctly, that's how you got started with John."

"Yes, but this is different. I'm older, I'm wiser, and Alexander is a completely different man. He's gone through so much, trying to figure out what's wrong with his mother."

"What is wrong with her? You never did answer that."

"We don't know."

"How come? I mean, this is one of the most advanced scientific ages ever. Surely doctors can figure out what's wrong with her."

Kelsey walked over to the door and shut it. "I shouldn't be telling you this on your wedding day. You'll think me insane. You'll think Alexander insane. And it'll drive you insane while you're supposed to be relaxing from all the mania and hoopla surrounding this wedding."

"Tell me anyway."

Kelsey took a deep breath and began telling her twin sister the tale of Alexander's sudden appearance eight days ago, her disappearance into Pemberley, and the problem with the maze not opening for them to get Elizabeth Darcy to the future. Madeline took it all in stride, asking a few questions here and there, but not seeming to disbelieve the story at all.

When Kelsey finished, Madeline said, "That has got to be the strangest thing I've ever heard in my life. If it were anyone but you, I wouldn't believe it. Hell, if it had been you several years ago, I wouldn't have believed it."

"But you believe me now."

"Yeah. And it makes a lot of things clearer--like why Emma said Alexander was having trouble working the microwave."

Kelsey laughed as she remembered the scene she and Emma had come in to on Wednesday, when Alexander had been trying to heat up his bowl of Cheerios.

"And other things."

"But it's strange, don't you think?" Kelsey smiled.

"Completely. But it's the truth. I hope things turn out the way you want them too, Kelse. I really do."

Madeline reached over to give her a hug.

"Kelsey? Could you come here for a minute? Emma's got her dress caught in something," their mother called.

"Oh, Lord," Madeline breathed.

"Calm down, calm down. I'm sure it's nothing." Kelsey walked out of the room, passing her mother on her way to find her daughter. She came into the empty chapel and realized that Emma was nowhere in sight. Kelsey ran outside, thinking maybe Emma caught her dress on one of the trees. But the only people who were outside were the minister, Ben's family, and a couple of women she didn't recognize. She waved to them, and they were startled to see her.

"Shouldn't you not be in Ben's sight?" one of the women called to her.

"I'm not Madeline," she said. "I'm her twin sister."

"Oh!" The woman turned to Ben and said, "My, she really looks like your bride, doesn't she?"

Kelsey turned away, heading back into the church, rolling her eyes. She headed into the choir room, which happened to be unoccupied. Looking for Emma, she nearly jumped when the door closed behind her.

"Hello, my sweet. You're looking beautiful."

Chapter 20

The voice was one Kelsey had heard in many a nightmare since he had left the house. It was cool, seductive. Kelsey slowly turned to look at him. He hadn't changed all that much in the ten months since they'd been separated. If anything, he looked even better than he had before. She took in the sight of his thick blond hair, those innocent blue eyes, the boyish smile. If she hadn't known him like she did, she might've thought he was an angel.

But she knew John Chandler a lot better than that.

"Hello, John," she said, her voice almost toneless.

"It's been a long time, Kelsey."

"Not long enough in my opinion."

"You look beautiful."

"You said that already." Kelsey frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited."

Dear God, no. Maddie, please! You couldn't have!

"Well, actually, I called your mom, and she told me to drop on by. She said there was some interesting things going on since I'd left."

"Yes. Emma was sick."

"She was? What was wrong with her?" John didn't seem all that concerned, and Kelsey impulsively thought that she should tell him Emma had had pneumonia.

"She had the chicken pox."

"Oh. That's nothing to get excited about. I got them myself when I was her age."

"And I suppose you asked for your mother the entire time? Or your father? And that parent didn't bother to show up, even when I was frantically trying to get a hold of you?"

"It wasn't as big a deal as you made it sound."

"What if it had been? Tell me what illness you'll consider serious enough so that when I call you, I can tell you that your daughter is seriously ill."

"You're taking this the wrong way, Kelse. I only meant that Emma was in good hands, and she didn't even have to go to a doctor."

"She asked for you, John. Just like she'd asked for you when she fell on the playground and skinned her knee, and when she had nightmares about monsters under the bed and Mommy wasn't enough of a buffer against them."

"If you were that concerned for Emma, you shouldn't have divorced me. It was your action that's been causing our daughter pain, not mine."

"And if you'll recall, the reason I took that action is because I found you in bed with Sharisse! Did you honestly think I was ever going to forgive you for that?"

John was caught off-guard. Clearly, he hadn't expected his once-meek wife to take the offensive as she was.

"You were such a wonderful mother and wife, Kelsey."

"You didn't think so while we were married. In fact, I seem to recall that you wanted a better bed partner who happened to spend a little less time with the child she was mothering. How am I doing so far?"

"I didn't come here today to fight."

"Then why did you come? To make amends? To get me to take you back? Did the divorce cause Lymon to take away everything you'd gained because you married me?"

"We were good together, Kelse. We still can be."

"Don't feed me that line. I learned the hard way how fake it is. And don't tell me that my mother hasn't said anything about Alexander Darcy, because I know she has. That's why you're here today, isn't it? Because you can't stand the idea of me having a new man in my life."

"Who is Alexander Darcy?" John might have seemed confused, but Kelsey knew him better than anyone had ever known him. He knew exactly who Alexander was.

"I just asked you not to insult my intelligence. You did enough of that when we were married."

"All right...your mother told me that there was some guy in your life that she didn't like at all, and that she wanted me to give our marriage another chance. She said that you really wanted me back, that you were just using this guy to make me jealous."

"And you believed her?"

"She is your mother."

"And you know good and well that she doesn't know the first thing about what motivates me. Never has, never will. And neither will you."

"Then what's the story with this guy? Is he that good in bed? Is that why you're keeping him around?"

Kelsey reached out to slap him, but John grabbed her wrist before she could.

"You were a much nicer girl when you kept your claws in." He let go of her wrist.

"And that's what caused you to run to other women, remember? You said that I was so spiritless that you had to find others. You are so hypocritical!"

"I liked you nicer."

"Well, I didn't. I like myself now. I never did when I was married to you."

"Who is this guy, anyway?"

"He's no one you've ever met. He's someone who would never hurt me the way you have."

"That tells me everything."

"Good. Then we have the picture clear. He's absolutely nothing like you. And I thank God for it."

"Then perhaps you can explain why my daughter is calling him Daddy!"

"Because her real father hasn't bothered to see her since her birthday!" Kelsey snapped. "You think that you can disappear from a five-year-old's life and have her still love you when you come back nearly eight months later? It doesn't work that way. For Emma, you were gone so long that she thought you didn't love her anymore. And you know something? For a child of five, I think she's very perceptive. Although I live in dread of the day when she discovers that you never loved her at all."

"I loved her--and I still do--very much! You've just twisted her mind against me."

"You've done a good job of that yourself. You didn't need my help." Kelsey was afraid she was beginning to sound like a screaming banshee, but she wasn't about to let him squeak back into Emma's life--or her own. "And don't pretend with me. From the second the doctor announced that the baby was a girl, you were disappointed. You wanted a son--a little John Chandler, Junior to follow you around and idolize you and grow up to be just like you."

"I wanted a son. I'm not going to deny it."

"But you had a daughter. A daughter who needed you. And you abandoned her. So don't think I'm going to allow you for one minute to just waltz back in here and act as though you've done nothing wrong."

"So just who is this man who apparently has 'waltzed' into your lives and taken my place?"

"He's the man who tucks Emma into bed at night, and reads her stories. He's the man who finally got her to ride a bike with the training wheels. He's the man..." Kelsey felt herself one step from falling off the edge. She had defended Alexander to so many people in the past week, without giving the real reason why he was so important in her life. Without telling anyone what she'd known since she'd looked into those chocolate brown eyes of his. And finally, she took that step she'd been fearing so much. "He's the man I've fallen in love with."

John no doubt had a good many things to say on that subject, but he didn't get the chance to say them. At that moment, the door to the choir room opened, and there stood Madeline in her wedding dress--with Alexander.

"Who is this?" Alexander asked, before recognizing the man from the pictures in Kelsey's living room.

Madeline, of course, needed no time at all to recognize her former brother-in-law. "You son of a..." With all the fury she possessed, Madeline punched John in the jaw.

Chapter 21

If someone had come upon the scene at that moment, they probably would've laughed at the sight of two identical young women dressed in hoop skirts standing over the prone figure of the man on the floor.

Alexander remained in the doorway, looking at Kelsey and Madeline, then looking at John. He had a feeling that if Madeline were anything like Kelsey--and, being identical twins, he had not a doubt that she was--she had a lot of strength.

"This wasn't right," Kelsey said quietly.

"It felt good to me."

"No--I should've been the one to punch him. God knows I had enough right to."

"Yeah, but you're not as strong as I am. If I hit him, he feels more pain. That should be the main objective."

"But he was my ex."

"And he put the moves on me while he was married to you. Besides, he was going to ruin my wedding day."

Kelsey's shoulders shook with silent laughter. "Only you, Maddie. Only you."

"What was he doing here?" Alexander finally spoke.

Kelsey turned to look at him, not completely comprehending until then that he was there. "He..." She didn't want to betray her mother's part in John's presence.

"Mom called him, didn't she?"

"I...I think..."

"Out with it, Kelse. She did, didn't she?"

"Well..."

Maddie put her hand up. "She did. God, I can't believe her! Why did she do such a thing?"

"Because she doesn't like Alexander. It's the same thing as with John."

"It doesn't make any sense, Kelsey. She loves Ben like he's her own son. Yet you've become involved with two completely different men--and we're going to extremes when we say 'different'--and she hasn't liked either one of them."

"Don't ask me to explain Laura Madison's motives for anything. I gave up trying to figure her out when I was thirteen."

"Perhaps this is her way of telling you she loves you."

Kelsey shook her head. "It's her way of pigeon-holing me again. I was rebellious as a child, rebellious as an adult. Rebellious people don't marry normal men, they marry rebels like themselves. I guess...that's what she thinks I'm attracted to."

"You were the first time around."

"No. I fell for an image. And when it faded, all I was left with was this." Kelsey was tempted to give John a good kick, but decided that kicking a man when he was out cold wasn't her style.

But oh, was she tempted.

"You're past it now," Madeline said with a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I saw Dad a minute ago. I'll see if he wouldn't mind handling this little problem for us."

Madeline gathered her skirt in her hands and walked out of the room. John slowly began to stir.

"Kelsey? What the hell did you do to me?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"You did. You hit me."

"No. Maddie hit you. Remember her? My wonderful sister, who you tried to get into bed and then threatened if she told me about it?"

"I never did anything like that."

Kelsey made a sound of disbelief. "Sure you didn't. And you weren't with Sharisse, either."

"Where's Emma?" he asked, standing up.

Alexander saw the blood drain from Kelsey's face, and for the first time, he saw fear light her eyes. Not even when she'd been standing over him had she been as frightened as she was now.

"Why?" she asked in a quavering voice.

"Because I want to see her. She's my daughter, by God, and I'm going to see her. And I think it's high time I exercised some visitation rights with her. You made me see the light, Kelsey. I'm going to spend a nice long weekend with her. And perhaps I'll take that month I'm entitled to with her now that it's summer."

"She's...she..." Kelsey's face was beginning to turn grey. "You can't do that." But her voice was very small.

"I most certainly can. You signed those papers two weeks ago, sweet. They say, and I quote, 'John Chandler is to have visitation with the minor child Emma Caroline every other weekend and entitled to a visitation period of no less than one month during the time said minor child is not in school.' It's my understanding that Emma finished her year of pre-school just yesterday."

"But--but--"

"So where is she? I think it's high time she remembered that I am her father, not some gigolo who struts into her mother's bed." John smiled. "And who knows? Maybe Emma will like living with me so much that we might have to go back to court to reevaluate the custody arrangement."

Kelsey was shaking, trying to tamp down her terror. She knew he was right, that he could take Emma away with him. And even though she would think later that there was no way Emma would never want to live with John permanently, at that moment, she was horror-struck at the idea that it could very well happen.

"I somehow doubt that shall ever happen," Alexander said with even more of a chill in his voice than John could ever achieve. There was more than coldness in his voice--there was authority, arrogance...

Dear God! He sounds like his father! Kelsey was struck by that thought and clung to it. It was all she had to keep her sane.

"And who the hell are you to say that?"

"I am the 'gigolo' who has not been in your wife's bed, in spite of what her mother may have said. I am Alexander Darcy. And you, sir, are a repugnant, worthless knave who never deserved the honor of having Kelsey for your wife, much less having Emma for a daughter."

"Oh, I see. So, he's a gallant gigolo, is he?" John turned back to Alexander. "I don't see where this concerns you, but Emma is my daughter, and I'm taking her with me right now. Now where is she?"

"If you even contemplate taking Emma anywhere, I shall personally insure that you-"

"What? Sleep with the fishes? This guy doesn't look Italian. Should this be where I become frightened and say, 'Oh, I'm sorry. I won't even consider taking my daughter for a visit. After all'--"

"After all, a right which is not exercised within a reasonable amount of time is considered legally lost," a voice came from the doorway. "And I think that not seeing Emma in eight months just might be considered a reasonable amount of time."

Kelsey turned to see her father standing there, Maddie right behind him.

"He's threatening to take Emma away? I'll kill him!" Maddie shouted.

"Maddie, calm down! He's Emma's father, isn't he? He has a full legal right to see her!" the third voice belonged to Kelsey's mother.

"I would be more than willing to let Emma participate in your wedding, Madeline. I think that more than gracious considering that you just punched me. But after that, she comes to stay with me."

"I think that if you come near Emma I'll slap you with an injunction so fast you won't hear it coming. You're supposed to give Kelsey twenty-four hours' notice when you plan to spend time with Emma, and a week's notice of when you plan to spend your month. I don't think any of this qualifies."

"I'll just say that Kelsey ducked my calls. I'll say that she refused to let me see my daughter. I'll say that she's brainwashed her mind--"

"Joshua, stay out of this! It is none of your affair. It's John and Kelsey's."

"Laura, will you shut up! You played God today in inviting John to the wedding, and look what you created! Maddie's wedding is a mess. Is that what you wanted?"

Laura Madison, the woman who always had something to say about everything....said nothing.

And into the gaping, ugly silence that filled the room came a small voice.

"Daddy?"

All eyes turned to look at Emma, in her pretty peach flower girl's dress, her hair neatly curled and pulled back in a peach bow. Emma turned to look at each of them, the familiar and unfamiliar.

John bent down to greet his daughter, a smile on his face but clearly not in his eyes. There was no inner warmth in that smile, no true joy to see his child evident to anyone in that room, except perhaps to Laura.

Emma, however, did not run to John. She looked up at the face of the man who had become her father in her heart, if not in fact. "Daddy?" she repeated, walking over to Alexander and holding her hands out to be picked up. Alexander's smile was bright and genuine as he took the child in his arms.

The world came crashing back to focus for Kelsey. Her daughter had chosen more clearly than anyone could ever understand. She took two steps and stood by Alexander and Emma.

"What's he doing here?" she whispered.

"Don't you remember me, sweetie? I'm your daddy," John said in a saccharine voice one reserved for two-year-olds.

"No. Alex is my daddy," Emma said, putting her arms around Alexander's neck.

Alexander gave John a very calm look. "There is no place for you in this girl's life," he said. "She does not want you. And you do not deserve her. I would advise you to stay out of her life."

"What makes you think that's what I want?"

"You do not care for her. Why take out your frustration on a child? Think of Emma," he said. "She does not deserve to be treated cruelly. You may not have much of a conscience, but I would hope that you would never stoop to harming an innocent child to further your own motives."

John looked at Emma for a long minute before turning his eyes to Kelsey. She didn't turn away as she might have once. Finally, without saying a word, John walked past her and out of the room.

He barely got two steps out of it before Maddie punched him again...once again knocking him out.

"Madeline!" Mrs. Madison gasped.

"I would advise you not to say anything, Mother. You have managed to turn my wedding into a disaster, and I can't figure out why. Whatever motives you had for bringing John here, I don't want to know them. I don't care. Just don't ever do it again."

"But--I thought it would be best for Emma--"

"John threatened Kelsey with Emma! What sort of father does that? Daddy never would've put us in the middle!" Madeline balled her fists and closed her eyes, clearly needing to calm down before she continued. "In the future, you might want to remember that Kelsey is Emma's mother. If anyone should be able to determine what's best for Emma, it is her. Now, would someone please get this creep out of here so I can get married?"

Kelsey sat down, her hoop skirt flopping forward. She immediately stood up again, but her legs were barely able to support her. Alexander said, "How about if you go keep your Uncle Ben occupied, hmm?"

Emma smiled, completely oblivious to what had just happened around her. Alexander gave her a kiss on the cheek and she scurried out of the room in search of Ben.

"Thank you," Kelsey said. Alexander put his arms around her and held her in his embrace until she had finally stopped shivering.

"He's not coming back, Kelsey. I promise you, he won't come back."

He wanted to say something about what he'd heard when he and Madeline came into the room...had she meant it? Did she really mean what she had said, about loving him? Or had her words been meant as some sort of shield to protect Emma from John? He had to think positively, he had to believe that she loved him...

"Kelse? Alexander? It's time," Madeline said quietly.

Alexander moved reluctantly out of Kelsey's arms but kept a hold on her hands. "You look absolutely beautiful," he said. "And decently dressed for the first time."

"I feel like a doily," Kelsey said. "So you'd better enjoy it this once, because I don't intend to dress up like this again."

Alexander laughed, feeling the tension drain away. Kelsey, he was relieved to see, laughed as well, and the fear in her eyes subsided.

Chapter 22

If Madeline's wedding day started off horridly, it ended as beautifully as anyone--especially her sister--could wish for. Maddie looked absolutely radiant as she walked on her father's arm toward Ben, and Ben looked just as excited as she was.

When the ceremony was over, and the pictures had been taken, Kelsey headed to the bridesroom to change her clothes. She had arranged with her father to have him take Alexander and Emma to the reception, not fearing for a moment that Alexander would have any problems without her around.

She had thought that Madeline's friend Stacy would be there to help her out of her dress, but when the door closed behind her, Laura Madison stood there.

"Mother! What are you doing here? You should be at the reception with Maddie."

"I thought it best if we had a talk."

Kelsey recognized her mother's tone. God knows, she'd heard it often enough when she was a teenager. That tone of voice preceded a long lecture on her behaviour.

"I think I have to agree with Maddie. Not today. I don't want to be late for the reception."

Laura stood behind her daughter and started unbuttoning the dress.

"I know you think I don't love you, Kelsey, but I do. I love you very much."

"You have a funny way of showing it, inviting my ex-husband here today. I'm just curious, though--how bad a picture did you paint of Alexander that finally convinced him to come?"

"John decided to show up the moment he heard you were living with that man."

"I somehow doubt it."

"It's the truth. He couldn't bear to hear that you had found another man. He wanted to get back together with you. He was jealous, Kelsey."

"And that's what you wanted, wasn't it? That's why you called him."

"I honestly didn't believe he would show up today. I thought he would at least wait until after the wedding."

"Yet you told him where I could be found. Strange. Sounds to me like you wanted him to come here. Perhaps as a reminder of the fact that we were once married?"

"Believe what you will, Kelsey. I was only doing what I thought was right."

"You know...you hated John when you met him. And you conveniently changed your opinion when Emma was born. Why?"

Laura had finished undoing the last button, and Kelsey pulled the dress off. "I had thought you'd married John to spite me, and at first, I didn't like him. He was smug and arrogant."

"He never changed. Why did you?"

"Because he was determined to get you to settle down that he gave you a daughter within a year of your marriage. I knew that having children would finally get rid of your streak of rebelliousness. And I was right."

"Emma was an accident. We didn't plan on having a baby. And when she was born, John was so disappointed that she wasn't a boy that his attitude toward her led to what happened today."

Laura's shoulders drooped as she untied the strings of the hoop skirt, then started on the corset. "I realize that now."

Kelsey was surprised. Was her mother finally admitting that she was wrong? "I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I don't expect you to give it. But I am sorry for today."

There was something about this apology that rang false for Kelsey. For a second, she didn't know why her mother was even extending it. But only for a second.

"The only reason you're really sorry is because you managed to ruin Maddie's wedding day, not that she let it bother her after John left. As far as I'm concerned, you should be extending this apology to her, because you--"

"It is more than that. Kelsey...when your father and I escorted John out of here, he said some terrible things...about you, about me. About...about...."

Kelsey was suddenly freed from the corset, and was able to take her first really deep breath at the same time she grasped her mother's unfinished statement. "He said something terrible about Emma."

Laura nodded. "And he began to say that he suspected she was not his."

Kelsey snorted. "Good. Then maybe he'll stay away from her from now on."

"Kelsey!"

"Don't start again with me, Mom. Emma made her choice today when she chose Alexander. She wants him for her father, not John."

"Yes, I suppose she did decide."

Kelsey took out the aqua dress she'd bought last weekend.

"That is beautiful! Where did you get it?"

"Famous Barr."

"Were they having a sale?"

Kelsey couldn't very well say that Alexander had bought the dress, because her mother was suspicious enough of her relationship. Yet she didn't really have the money to buy it herself...or so her mother thought.

"Yes, they were."

"Well, I've gotten you out of the dress and I've tried my best to say I'm sorry. I need to go now."

Kelsey nodded. "All right. I'll see you at the reception."

Her mother walked toward the door when she stopped and looked back at Kelsey. "I never knew Madeline was strong enough to be able to knock a man unconscious."

"I have a feeling there are a lot of things you don't know about Maddie," Kelsey replied with a smile.

The first person Kelsey's eyes sought out when she arrived at the reception was Emma. She knew it was a reflex, and it would be for quite some time...until she was able to forget what happened that morning.

Emma was over in one corner, playing with some nieces of Ben's. With a sigh of relief, Kelsey's eyes searched out the other person she was looking for, and found him even more quickly than she had Emma.

Alexander knew the moment Kelsey entered the room. The way she looked in her dress took his breath away, and he was pleased to have been proven right--the dress had been perfect for her. The velvet bodice, held up by thin spaghetti straps, was round cut and not overly revealing. The dress was fitted to the waist, and then the satin skirt gently flared to her knees. She looked like an angel.

Alexander excused himself from the conversation he'd been in with one of Ben's relatives and headed over to her.

"You look beautiful," he said. "And I was right. That dress is perfect."

"Did you even doubt it?" Kelsey laughed.

"No."

After the dinner and the toasts (Ben's brother jokingly mentioned that Ben had caught a tiger by the tail, if Maddie's activities that morning were true), the traditional first dance between the bride and groom (to "All for Love"), and then the dance between the bride and her father ("Daddy's Little Girl," a song which almost made Kelsey cry), everyone was allowed out on the dance floor.

"Would you like to dance?" Alexander asked.

"Sure," she said. She led him out to the dance floor, where the DJ had just started playing "Right Here Waiting." Kelsey put one hand on Alexander's shoulder and placed her other hand in his. He put one hand on her waist and the two danced slowly. They didn't waltz, but merely rocked back and forth, looking into each other's eyes. Kelsey barely heard the words she must've heard a million times when the song was popular--she knew them by heart, and they had more meaning today than they probably ever would again.

The song ended far too soon to please either of them, and the next song played was a fast song. Kelsey kept Alexander on the dance floor, where many other couples had started dancing. Everyone seemed to do something different, and Alexander wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do. He felt like a complete idiot at first, but soon, he found a natural rhythm and appeared to know what he was doing.

Kelsey laughed at the sight of Madeline trying to dance while wearing a hoop skirt. Maddie caught sight of her and walked over.

"That's right. Laugh all you want. We'll see how well you can dance in a wedding dress someday," she said, giving Kelsey a big hug.

"If I were to wear a wedding dress, I wouldn't choose a hoop skirt."

"They have their disadvantages. But they do look beautiful," she said.

"I agree," Alexander said with a smile. "You made a beautiful bride, Mrs. Geiger."

"Mrs. Geiger. I like the sound of that. Madeline Geiger...oh, to finally have a normal-sounding name." She sighed contentedly as she walked away to visit more guests.

"She disappeared rather quickly," he said.

"She's probably going to do that all night."

The song ended, and Alexander proclaimed that he needed a drink. Kelsey pointed him in the direction of the bar and walked over to say hello to some of the relatives she hadn't seen in quite a while.

She was talking to her Aunt Amelia when something unexpected came up.

"You know dear, you and Maddie always reminded me of my grandmother. We have a few pictures of her when she was your age, and I tell you, the resemblance is remarkable."

Kelsey had heard this from her Aunt Amelia several times. She let her attention wander and searched for Alexander, who was waltzing with Madeline on the dance floor. She chuckled, yet he looked so much more comfortable than he had in dancing to faster music.

"...such a tragedy that she died so young. And of such a mysterious illness."

That caught Kelsey's attention. "What?"

"My grandmother Ann. She died of Lennox-Norton disease* when she was only forty-five. Of course, they didn't know it was Lennox-Norton back then. And such a shame."

"What...what was wrong with her?" Kelsey had never heard of Lennox-Norton disease and thought it a rather dumb name. "What is this disease?"

"Named after the co-discoverers of the illness. It has a medical name, but I never remember it by that. Grandmother Ann suddenly became ill--quite unexpectedly. She hadn't been around anyone who was sick, nor had been anywhere where it was contaminated or anything. She had swings of being violently ill and then being almost calm. Very fatigued. High fevers which eventually led to a coma and then her death."

Kelsey mentally ran down the list of the symptoms Elizabeth had, thinking that maybe, just maybe, they'd finally come upon a diagnosis...from her own aunt.

"And did they discover what caused her illness?"

"Yes...some sort of rare parasite. But they didn't discover that until years later."

"Do you know if they have a cure for it?"

"They most certainly do. I helped pay for some of the local research done on the disease myself. If they catch it in time, it can be treated and the person recovers fully."

Kelsey gave her Aunt Amelia a kiss on the cheek. "You are just too wonderful, Aunt Amelia. Excuse me."

She was barely able to keep herself from running to the dance floor and pulling Alexander away from Madeline. When the song ended, she motioned for him to join her.

"Alexander," she said, "I think we've got a cause for your mother's illness."

* Author's note: Lennox-Norton disease is not, as far as I know, an actual disease. I just made it up.

Chapter 23

Alexander was stunned. He had expected her to say a lot of things, but that was the last one he'd thought she'd say.

It was at about that time that the DJ announced, "All right, everybody! It's time for our blushing bride to throw her bouquet! Eligible ladies, this could be your chance to be the next lucky woman! Head on out there!"

"We should go," Kelsey said.

"But Emma wanted to catch the bouquet," Alexander replied. "We should stay until after that."

"All right," she said. "Emma! Come on, sweetie! Aunt Maddie's going to throw her bouquet!"

Emma came running up to Kelsey, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the gathering group of young women eager to catch the flowers. Madeline stood about ten feet away from them, a smug smile on her face as she looked at her sister.

"Everyone ready!" she called, turning around. "One...two...three!" She threw the bouquet over her shoulder with a deliberate direction--right to Kelsey. It landed squarely into Kelsey's hands...and then dropped out of them onto Emma's head. Emma grasped them before they fell to the floor.

"I got the bow-kay, Mommy!" Emma shrieked with delight.

"That was a wonderful catch, Emma!"

"Now I get to marry Tommy!"

The guests laughed as Emma ran over to Alexander, calling, "Daddy! I get to marry Tommy tomorrow!"

Madeline walked up to Kelsey with a smile. "That was a wonderful job of deliberately dropping the bouquet," she said. "Not interested in getting married?"

"I think Emma would've been disappointed if I had caught the bouquet." Kelsey's smile faded. "I hate to say this, but I have to cut out of here."

"Why? The party's just started. It's only four o'clock. I was going to wait until later to throw the bouquet, but..."

"Listen. I think I know what's wrong with Alexander's mother, and if I'm right, then we need to find out if...if we can bring her back. I think that's what the maze was waiting for, for us to figure out what was wrong with her."

"How did you--"

"Aunt Amelia. She told me that our great-grandmother had died of a disease that's caused by a rare parasite. They have a cause--and a cure. If that's what's wrong with Elizabeth, then we have to bring her back as fast as we can."

Maddie nodded. "Lennox-Norton Disease."

"You knew?"

"I could've told you that's what she died of, but I wouldn't have thought...I wouldn't have connected it to what's wrong with Elizabeth. But of course, I haven't seen Elizabeth, either."

"Well, then you understand that we need to go."

"Of course."

"Congratulations, Maddie. Give Ben all my love, and have fun on your honeymoon."

"I intend to." The two sisters hugged, and Kelsey said, "Come on, Emma. It's time for us to go."

They sat in the living room. Alexander had changed into pants and a button-down shirt, while Kelsey still wore her aqua dress.

Kelsey flipped through one of the books. "There's only a mention of it here, nothing more. It's a minor disease which had prevalence in the fifties when there were quite a few cases of it. They found the cause after three years of research and a cure by the mid-sixties."

"Is it what my mother has?" Alexander asked.

"I believe it is."

"Then there's a cure?"

"Definitely...if it's not too late."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"It explains why you ended up here. Lennox-Norton is very rare. You needed to find someone who had lost a family member to the disease in order to figure out what it was."

Alexander stood up and walked into the kitchen. Kelsey reached for another book.

"Kelsey! KELSEY, IT'S OPEN!"

Kelsey threw down the book and ran into the kitchen. She could see it from the window--the maze had opened up.

Alexander's eyes were shining with hope. "It's open. It's time we went to get her."

Dr. Austin Falk was about to finish his rotation for the evening when the couple came in. The young woman led the way, while the young man held a limp form in his arms. It was an older woman who appeared to be very ill.

"We need a doctor!" the young woman cried. "This woman needs a doctor right away!"

"What's the matter with her?" Dr. Falk asked as a nurse rushed forward.

"I don't know," she said. "She's been sick for about a week or two, with bad fevers and...and it hasn't gone away. It's not the flu, I think it's something worse."

"All right. We'll get her to a room. We'll need to get some information on her."

"What do you need to know? Just get to treating her!" the man said.

"We have to have some background information--"

"She's dying!"

"All right, all right. Get her into a room. Ma'am, we'll need you to stay behind."

"Okay." Someone had brought a gurney, and the man placed the inert woman on it.

"What's the patient's name?"

"Elizabeth...Madison."

"Next of kin?"

"Her son, Alexander. And myself, her...daughter-in-law, Kelsey."

Kelsey answered questions while Alexander paced back and forth, praying for his mother's recovery. When they'd gone back through the maze, it had been very late at Pemberley. His mother had been sleeping, and whether it was the sleep of a coma or just resting, he did not know. He prayed they were in time. He prayed his father would forgive him for doing nothing more than leaving a note which read, "I have taken Mama to a doctor in London who refuses to leave there. Will return home when she is better."

"I think I've seen this before, though," Kelsey said, lying. "Or at least, I think I have. My grandmother succumbed to a disease they called Lennox-Norton when I was a child. This is reacting an awful lot like that."

"We'll check for that first, then."

"Is there a chance that she'll make it? I mean...we didn't even think of what might be wrong with her until now. She's been sick for about two weeks."

"I'm not going to lie to you, Mrs. Madison. If she's got Lennox-Norton, this is a critical period of time for her. It could go either way. We'll hope for the best, and if she's been in good health up till now, she should pull out of it. But there's always a chance..."

Kelsey nodded. "Thank you."

They were waiting in the emergency room, waiting for word on Elizabeth's condition. None of the doctors who had been passing by had been Elizabeth's doctor.

"Elizabeth Madison?" he said with a chuckle.

"Well, Elizabeth Darcy might've cast suspicion on the whole thing. I didn't want that happening."

"I suppose you are right."

"And I wasn't about to give her John's last name."

"Good decision."

"Alexander...when Elizabeth gets better...what happens to us?"

Alexander smiled. "Whatever you want to."

"No...I mean it. What happens? Do you suddenly disappear? Or do you stay?"

"I do not know." He was a little nervous to ask the question. So much had already happened this day... "Do you want me to stay?"

"I rather think I would," she said.

Alexander had a feeling that this was as close as she was going to come to admitting that she loved him. He was about to say that he loved her when he recognized Dr. Falk.

There was a grim look on his face as he approached.

Chapter 24

Almost instinctively, Kelsey and Alexander rose from their seats. Both of them focused on the young doctor standing in front of them.

"Well?" Kelsey asked, terrified at what his look meant. Dear God, what if we were wrong? What if she doesn't have Lennox-Norton disease after all? What if...

"It's going to be touch-and-go for the next forty-eight hours, because she definitely has Lennox-Norton."

"But she's still alive," Alexander said.

"She is, and in very weak condition. I would say that the two of you convinced her to come to the hospital just in time...but she could still die. We're treating her with drugs and will be monitoring her progress every couple of hours. If she's still alive in forty-eight hours, she's most likely going to make it."

Kelsey threw herself into Alexander's arms, giving him strength. The doctor had said that she could still die. She was on the brink of death.

When she let go of him, Alexander shook the doctor's hand and said, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, Mr. Madison. We still have a long way to go," Dr. Falk said, with a small smile. "But I have a feeling that your mother is going to survive. If you would like to see her, she's being moved to ICU."

With that said, Dr. Falk was called away to treat another patient.

"ICU?" Alexander asked.

"Intensive care unit," Kelsey replied. "She's not considered a pressing emergency, but she's still critical."

"Where is it at?"

Ten minutes later, Alexander was standing over his mother's bed. Since only one relative was allowed in the room at a time, and since Kelsey wasn't technically a relative, Alexander was alone with Elizabeth.

"I suppose you never thought you would find yourself here, did you, Mama?" he said softly, looking down at her. Though she was still unconscious, and her skin was extremely pale, Alexander thought he could see where she had improved a little. "A hundred and fifty years into the future. It is quite unlike what our Jane imagined when she used to tell us stories. But 'tis a most marvelous place. There are things here that you would have to see to believe...like cars. Kelsey drives like a maniac, but she does seem to know what she's doing."

Elizabeth didn't respond. He didn't expect her to.

"I guess you know who Kelsey is, don't you? You gave her a message when she accidentally wound up at Pemberley, to take care of me. She's done such a wonderful job, and she's found out what's wrong with you. And she helped bring you here. I think you know what a fantastic person she is, so loving and giving. If you got to know her, you would love her. She is so warm and funny and tender-hearted...and when she smiles, I feel as though I have never seen another as bright. Not even yours, Mama, sorry. And her eyes...God, her eyes are just fascinating. I could spend all day looking into her eyes.

"You should see her with Emma, Mama. She is such a wonderful mother. She's the woman I would want raising my children...the one I intend to have children with. That is what I wanted to say. I am planning to marry Kelsey, just as soon as you are better. I do not know if you shall be able to see me married...there are things I am altogether uncertain of. Yet there was a purpose for my coming to America in this year. More than just finding you a cure for your illness. I truly believe that I was sent to this time for Kelsey...and Emma. They needed me. No one has ever really needed me before, not like they do. It is a wonderful feeling. But I suppose you know that already. You have Father."

Alexander realized for the first time what keeping her for two days was going to do to his father. He would tear himself apart, wondering if she had survived the trip, and if she had survived the treatment. "I could not tell him the truth, so I told him we were in London. How could I explain everything without sounding insane? And yet how can I be insane, when you are here getting well?"

He sat down. "There is just one sad thing about this whole business, and that is that I shall probably never be able to go home again. When you are better, you shall go back through the maze and it shall no doubt close forever. You shall never know what became of your son. You are no doubt thinking, Alexander, is she truly worth it? But Mama, you know me too well to doubt my answer. Kelsey is worth more than the whole world could offer me. Mama, I love her." He smiled at Elizabeth. "Surely you can understand how that feels, to be willing to do anything for love."

He took her free hand in both of his. "I could not ask her to come home with me. If this experience has taught me anything, it is that our time is far too dangerous to live in for someone like Kelsey...and I would never subject Emma to anything dangerous, either. And I would hate to see society change them both forever...Kelsey would probably never truly be happy in my time. She is too modern. And Emma...Emma should grow up to be exactly the way she is now, wild and open and funny. Perhaps she could do that at Pemberley, but...we could not stay there indefinitely. I would not feel it proper or right."

"Mr. Madison?" A nurse walked into the room, carrying a tray of needles and bottles with her. "It's time for a few blood tests."

"Are you certain that that is safe? To take blood from her?" he asked.

The nurse gave him a peculiar look, but her face smoothed out, thinking him concerned over her condition. "I assure you, she'll be fine."

Alexander didn't think he was up to watching someone poke at his mother with sharp instruments, so he excused himself and walked back into the waiting room. Kelsey was on the phone with her next-door neighbor, who was watching Emma.

"We should be home early in the morning if I can convince Alexander to get some sleep. Hmm? Oh...put her on...Hi, sweetie. Yes, Alexander's mother is here. No, honey, you can't. They won't let you in to see her because she's too sick. You might give her germs...I know you're over the chicken pox...we'll see...when she's feeling better, maybe...I don't think she'd mind at all...okay...I love you too...yes, Daddy sends his love...yes, I promise, we'll give her a big kiss from her granddaughter. Bye." Kelsey hung up the pay phone and turned to see Alexander. "How is she?"

"The same."

"Emma...wanted to come see her. She asked if it would be all right if she called Elizabeth 'Grandma.' I told her it would be all right."

"My mother would love Emma."

"I hope so." Kelsey smiled. "You look like you're ready to drop. How about coming home and--"

"Nice try, Kelsey. I am not setting foot outside of this hospital until my mother wakes up and is all right. Or, if the doctor is to be believed, two days from now."

"They know what they're doing."

"I know. All the same, I intend to stay with Mama." He rubbed the back of his neck. The lump Kelsey had given him had long disappeared. "If you would feel more comfortable going home to Emma, that would be all right. I know John frightened you today."

"John is a no-good two-timing jerk, but he's not a kidnapper. In the morning, I'll call my mother and ask her to take care of Emma until this is all over."

"Why did you not..."

"The reception. Remember? It's probably still going on."

"Of course. It has been a trying day."

"Yes, it has. Alexander, I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier, but thank you for coming into the choir room earlier today and..."

"Allowing your sister to do what I wanted to? Do not thank me for that. I was going to, but I did not wish to spoil her wedding day."

"Things might have gotten a lot worse if you hadn't been there. I think I might have let John take Emma if you hadn't been there."

"No, you would not have. You do not give yourself enough credit, Kelsey. The moment John attempted to find Emma, you would have done what Madeline did. Only you would not have stopped with two punches."

Kelsey smiled. "Probably not. I'm surprised that you didn't challenge him to a duel."

"Duels are illegal even in my time, Kelsey. Besides, I am not nearly very good with pistols, which are all that people seem to use these days as weapons. I am a much better swordsman."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"If I had called him out, he would have been chosen the weapons. That is the way it would be."

"I see." Kelsey led Alexander to a couch and took a seat beside him. "You know, when your mother finally wakes up, she's going to ask questions about how she got here. She'll probably want to go home to your father first thing."

"And he shall probably shoot me when I return with her for giving him such a fright," he replied. "I must admit, it was not well done of me."

"It was the only thing you could do under the circumstances. I have a feeling that your father will probably forgive you when he sees your mother alive and well, knowing it's all thanks to you." She pressed her cheek against his shoulder, and he instinctively put an arm around her. "You avoided the topic, by the way."

"What topic?"

"Of how we were going to explain to your mother what she's doing here. And how she got here."

"We shall simply tell her she is in London under the care of a peculiar doctor, who prefers her to come to him rather than the other way around. This is inconvenient, Kelsey, to have to go to a hospital."

"Would you rather the doctor drag all of this stuff to your house just for a visit?"

"I suppose that would be a tad inconvenient."

"More than that."

"At any rate, she is in London, and all of the gadgets and gizmos are of the doctor's invention and only used by him. She shall never realize that she left her own century."

"You hope. Elizabeth never struck me as being quite that gullible."

"She believed that my Uncle Wickham was the wronged party after my grandfather died."

"How did you know that? I thought you said you knew nothing about..."

"I read the book last night, by that lady named Austen. It was quite interesting...and quite accurate. Unlike that other book that you gave me in the library."

Kelsey groaned. "Look, that was a mistake. It was a work of fiction, and it was wrong of me to give it to you."

"That is all right. I forgave you almost as quickly as I realized that it was all made up."

"The point is, I don't think she'll buy the story so easily."

"But she'll accept it. That is the point. And she won't speak of it to Father."

Kelsey raised her head and faced him. "Alexander, if you were to stay in this time, what would you do for a living?"

"I...I do not know." He thought of something. "I shall ask my father for more money from our time, to bring to this one. We shall sell it to those who want it, and live off the income of that. How does that sound?"

"I suppose that would work. But...if we...Alexander, there's a problem with your staying in this time."

"What is that?"

"Technically...you don't exist."

"I most certainly do. I am here, am I not?"

"I didn't mean in the physical sense. I meant in the documented sense. There's absolutely no proof of your existence in this time. You haven't been born. You haven't got a Social Security number. I...I made up one for your mother when they asked. You've never paid taxes, you've never gotten an education, you've never had a job. Nothing. See the problem?"

"Not quite."

"If you want to do anything without the government suddenly cracking down and thinking you're a spy or something, you have to have proof of your existence. And if you live in this time, you'll have to prove this in order to...to get married."

He smiled. "Now I see the problem. How does one go about getting this proof?"

"I have no idea. I only ran around with the petty criminals when I was a kid. It's been a while. And...the only person I know who might know is my father. That's stretching it a bit at that." She sighed. "We'd have to tell him, and he might not believe me as easily as Maddie did."

"You know what I think?"

"What?"

"We should wait until this crisis has passed before thinking any more of how we're going to bring me to life in this century. When my mother is well and safe at Pemberley, then we shall get around to creating a past for me." And getting married, my darling. That's the important thing.

She again rested her head on her shoulder. "You're right."

"Of course. Am I not always?" He did it deliberately, trying to get her to laugh. And it relaxed him as well.

Now he felt as though he could get through the next two days without going mad. At the end of the road was the promise of marrying Kelsey.

Chapter 25

It was still a long forty-eight hours. Elizabeth changed very little, and every time Kelsey got a look at her, she thought that she hadn't changed at all, until she began noticing that her skin had slowly gone from gray to chalk white and finally, the tiniest bit of color. Alexander, as he had sworn, did not set foot outside of the hospital in the entirety of the time his mother was unconscious. Emma stayed with Kelsey's mother, who sent her best wishes and prayers for Elizabeth. Emma asked time and again why she wasn't allowed to see her "Grandma Darcy," but she was able to accept that Alexander's mother was very ill, and that she was sure to get better, and then she could see her.

Kelsey began to worry about Alexander's health as the hours tolled on. She remembered his own words about his father worrying over his mother as she became weaker...but here, Elizabeth seemed to be getting better. He could have slept, but he refused to. Kelsey asked Dr. Falk if he could persuade Alexander to sleep, and if not, then to give him something that would make him sleep. As they passed into hour thirty-six, Alexander, having discovered the wonders of espresso, appeared to be wide awake.

"You're going to be awake for a month if you keep drinking those," Kelsey said when she caught him with another mug of coffee. "Where do you get them from, anyway? The only coffee the hospital has is that weak stuff you get from the machines."

"There is a small coffee shop across the street. I have arranged to have one sent me every hour or so."

"Good God," Kelsey said. "You're going to overdose."

"I shall be quite all right."

"You should sleep," she said.

"I do not need to sleep. I need to stay here and---"

"And what? If something happens with Elizabeth, I'm sure you'll be awakened and hear it. The hospital can bring an extra cot into her room."

"No, no. That shall not be necessary." Alexander put a hand to his head.

"Something wrong?"

"A dreadful headache."

"A side effect of having too much coffee. Would you like me to get you some aspirin?"

"I would appreciate it, yes."

Kelsey smiled. Alexander was concentrating too much on his headache that he did not notice her gray eyes gleaming with a purpose. "I'll be right back."

Kelsey immediately hunted down Dr. Falk--who was about to leave. "Could I talk to you for a second?" she asked.

"Mrs. Madison, if it's about your mother-in-law's condition..."

"Actually, this is for me. I'm having trouble sleeping--"

"Nice try, Kelsey. If you're still wanting Alexander to sleep, talk to him. You're not going to persuade me to give him something he doesn't want to take."

"Then could we get some highly overpriced aspirin? He has a headache."

"Now that you can get in the pharmacy. You might want to give him Tylenol 3."

"Something with codeine? Dr. Falk, I think you've got the right idea there."

The doctor wrote out the prescription, which Kelsey took to the pharmacy across the street to have filled. When she returned fifteen minutes later, Alexander said, "That took you long enough."

"I had to get it at the pharmacy so it would be cheaper," she replied.

"But we have no need to hold back on money. We appear to have plenty of it."

"Yes, but we agreed only to spend as little of it as possible until Maddie and Ben return from their honeymoon and we can ask Ben to help invest it for us. At any rate, here it is. Tylenol."

"Ah, that painkiller you gave me before."

"Yes."

Alexander took two tablets cheerfully with some coffee.

"That's enough of that," Kelsey said, pulling the mug out of his grasp.

"All right. If it makes you so extremely nervous to have me drink coffee, then I shall stop."

Kelsey checked her watch--it was nearly four in the morning. Twelve hours to go, almost, until Elizabeth hopefully awakes...good God, how are we going to make it to then?

"You know what I have been thinking?" he said, yawning.

"Tell me."

Alexander pulled her into his arms. "I have been thinking of how much I have gained in the past week. I have gone from the third son of a wealthy family, forced to either earn my living, live off of my relations, or marry extremely well...being loved by none save my parents and siblings...feeling like the worst sort of wastrel...to being a man with a child, and money of my own...and a woman who...well, a woman who cares for me. A woman as wonderful as you. I love you, Kelsey Angelica Madison." He deliberately left off the "Chandler."

Kelsey felt her eyes fill up with tears. She had heard the words before, spoken by a man she had thought she loved just as much. And before, they had sounded honest. Until that moment, however, they had never meant as much as they did just then. Spoken by a man who was completely in love...with her.

The tears spilled over, quickly falling down her chin. She was about to speak when she realized that Alexander's weight, which had been supporting her, was suddenly being supported by her.

Alexander had fallen asleep...and rather quickly. She couldn't prevent a smile from escaping. A nurse happened by just then and said, "You look like you'd want a cot for him."

"He is a bit heavy."

With Alexander resting in a cot in the same room with Elizabeth, Kelsey found herself unable to sleep. So she sat down and kept up Alexander's vigil at Elizabeth's bedside. She looked down at the woman who seemed so unlike Kelsey's picture of her. Of course, she was about thirty-some years older than she had been in Kelsey's mind. But her somewhat unhealthy pallor changed things.

Kelsey caught the band of gold on Elizabeth's ring finger, feeling her own empty hand. She'd thrown John's ring off her finger as quickly as she'd been able to. She had never known the happiness in marriage that this woman had known.

"You have...no idea...of how much I envy you," Kelsey said quietly to the still form. "You have had everything I ever dreamed of...of course, I didn't think you real when I imagined them, but how could I? You had a wonderful husband...wonderful marriage...wonderful children." Kelsey looked over at Alexander, then back at Elizabeth. "You would be so proud of Alexander, and the way he's handled himself in this time. He's been so sporting about the whole thing, really. I don't think I could've forgiven someone who had bashed me in the head. We've only had a couple of bad arguments, and one of those was over my being divorced."

She sighed. "Listen to me, talking to a practically comatose woman who only knows me as the girl who helped her son out. And I lied about that." She gave a short, stifled laugh. "I guess you'll forgive me, though. I hope so."

Kelsey looked out at the window. The sun was beginning to dawn.

"I wish I knew what to do. I can't go back to Alexander's time. I don't think he'd ever consider asking me...even if would be the most convenient solution. And I can't ask him to stay here...even if he's decided on it. It's too difficult for him to be able to stay here. I mean, it would be next to impossible for us to create an identity for him. It would be easier for me to go back...but I have a daughter. I couldn't allow her to become sick with some trifling problem when I know how to cure her...and wouldn't be able to. And what if she got something like you have? I would die if she did...as surely as Mr. Darcy would if you died. And Alexander..."

Kelsey's thoughts drifted away. Her eyes searched for the sunlight, streaming into the room. "I'm so scared. I think I've done something completely stupid, because I've fallen in love with him. I haven't even been able to tell him. I told my stupid ex-husband, but I couldn't tell him. Because if I do...he'll think he has to stay. And he has to go back."

"Why...do you...believe he...must go back?"

Kelsey had only heard that voice once in her life, but she knew it as well as the owner's son would. She turned around to see a pair of keen brown eyes looking at her with curiosity.

"You're awake."

"Of course I am."

"D-do you remember anything about your illness?"

"Flashes...doctors...painful treatments. And my Fitz...looking so scared. And...I..." Elizabeth's eyes brightened. "I remember you."

"You do?"

"You are Miss Madison."

"Mrs. Chandler," Kelsey corrected. "But I hate that name, because it's...a long story. You can call me Kelsey."

"Elizabeth..."

"I know."

"Where...where is...my..."

"It's a long story, too. But I think you're finally going to get well."

"I...seem to have plenty of time, Kelsey."

Kelsey related as much of the story as she thought Elizabeth could bear, telling the lies that she and Alexander had concocted with as much honesty as she could muster. She motioned to Alexander on the other bed, confessing that she'd given him the equivalent of a sedative in order for him to sleep.

"Now I feel bad, because he so wanted to be awake when you regained consciousness," Kelsey said in conclusion.

"I am sure he shall thank you for it in time."

"I somehow doubt that."

Elizabeth gave her a ghost of a smile. "I know my son...he shall forgive you."

"Can you forgive me? Your husband knows very little about where we've taken you."

"I somehow believe he knows nothing."

"Well..."

"I understand. He shall, too. Now I must ask...what did you mean...when you said..."

"She's awake? Oh, thank God, she's awake," a voice at the door said. It was one of the nurses. There were so many of them that Kelsey had long since lost track of their names. "I'm going to call Dr. Werner, since Dr. Falk's already gone." The nurse left as quickly as she'd arrived.

"Why is everyone so amazed...at my recovery?" Elizabeth asked.

Kelsey hadn't mentioned what had caused her illness, or how close she'd come to dying. "You had an illness called Lennox-Norton Disease. If we hadn't gotten you here when we did, you probably would've died. The last day and a half...have been perilous."

Elizabeth's faced turned pale, and Kelsey was contrite. "I shouldn't have said that."

"No...it is good...that you did. I...how could I have gotten..."

"Some sort of parasite. It's found in certain wooded areas in England and here in Amer--"

Elizabeth's eyes widened at the slip. "I am in America?"

"I...I..."

"I hear that we've returned from the dead," a new voice said.

You have no idea, Kelsey thought with a small smile.

"I...certainly seemed to have done such."

Kelsey smiled even wider. Elizabeth was going to be all right.

She was going to live.

Chapter 26

Over the next several days, Elizabeth slowly began to regain her health and strength. If she would never completely have either of these as she had before her illness, both Alexander and Kelsey agreed that it was a small price to pay. She was still alive.

The doctors were very pleased with her progress, and Dr. Falk worried only about some memory lapses, which no one could tell him were caused by the fact that his patient had never set foot in the twentieth century. So he merely attributed it to the high fevers.

But as Elizabeth became better, Kelsey's heart grew heavier. The doctor had come to visit Elizabeth for the last time, for he had informed them that she would be well enough to leave that evening. Kelsey knew she had to go home...to Pemberley.

And just as surely, she knew that Alexander had to go with her.

She was uncertain when the thought had struck her that Elizabeth, for all that she was over her illness, was going to be unable to return to Pemberley alone. She was still had very weak legs, and if she fell trying to walk through the maze--which, when Alexander had asked her about it, she could remember but could not recall how to get through--it was possible that no one would find her. There were so many complications that Kelsey could no longer see past them.

And the only solution was ripping at her heart.

As Kelsey looked at mother and son, she saw small similarities--he looked more like his father than his mother. But those eyes...they were almost identical. Kelsey smiled as Alexander told her something that made her laugh...and her eyes danced. This was more the woman Kelsey had pictured.

Emma had been in to see Elizabeth, to Elizabeth's delight. She had laughed at Emma's calling her "Grandma," and when Emma had asked if she was sure it was okay, she had said, "Of course, for I consider you a granddaughter already." Emma had been happy, and glad to see that her new Grandma was better.

Alexander hadn't been happy to hear that Kelsey had accidentally told Elizabeth of her being in America, but no one had thought to mention that she had not only left the country, she had left the century. But some things don't need to be told to be understood, and Elizabeth knew instinctively that she was in a very strange time indeed. And she asked few questions, except of her son. She asked for the truth from him, and he had thus far managed to dodge her inquiries.

Kelsey had wondered about that, why Elizabeth seemed to accept everything. She asked Alexander, who had then confessed that she was asking a great deal about the whole situation when they were alone.

"She never asks me," Kelsey said.

"She has no right to. You are a virtual stranger to her." Alexander gave her a short smile, thinking of how much he'd told Elizabeth about her when they were alone, and how he intended to stay in America and marry her. Elizabeth had been pleased, for even though he'd startled her by telling her about Kelsey's being divorced, she had understood that he didn't care about it at all.

But Elizabeth was about to be discharged from the hospital...and dear God, how were they ever to get her from the hospital to Kelsey's house without her wondering at everything this world had to offer? At stoplights and cars and neon signs and...

"We shall simply have to risk it by telling her..."

"The truth?"

"Kelsey..."

"She's a very trustworthy sort. I'm sure she won't tell your father."

"I think this century would be too much for her."

"It wasn't too much for you."

"But--"

"No, no. You should tell her. She's going back to her century soon." Kelsey struggled to keep her voice level, thinking the thought which had been her constant reminder of the truth in the days since Elizabeth's awakening.

And in the end, it had been much easier telling Elizabeth the truth. She had laughed at first, thinking that they were teasing. When she realized that they were in earnest, she had a million questions, but Kelsey said they had no time to answer them just at that moment. They were off for home and the maze, and Kelsey's final moments together with Alexander. She was dreading it most of all.

Dreading it so much that she could barely muster a smile for Elizabeth's astonishment at the world her son had brought her to. She gawked at everything, and when she begged for Kelsey to stop in front of the arch, Kelsey couldn't resist. She had been amazed at anything being that high, and wondered how they had been able to build it. Kelsey had wished that they had been able to leave the hospital earlier, for she had a feeling that taking Elizabeth up in the arch would've been an interesting experience. So they settled for just looking at it, the sun glinting off the steel.

At last, they reached Kelsey's house. They reached the end of the road. She'd sent Emma to her grandmother, not wanting her to have to witness the good-byes that were about to take place. Slowly leading Elizabeth into the house, Kelsey could see even from the front yard that the maze was in place, beckoning for the return of the people it had allowed to pass.

When they reached the backyard, Alexander set Elizabeth on the porch swing (with an admonition not to rock it too hard, as he had one day quite by accident) and walked up to Kelsey. He'd noted her sadness and despair all afternoon but had not an opportunity until then to quiz her about it.

"Is something wrong, Kelsey?" he asked softly, cupping her chin in his hands.

"No...of course not. It's just going to be so strange, having to explain to Emma how...she's never going to see...her Grandma Darcy ever again."

"I am trying to be optimistic about the maze. I think that it shall be open for holidays and special occasions...children, birthdays...deaths. For I am realistic. My parents will someday die."

"How would you explain this world to them, Alexander? How would we explain your world to Emma? No. The maze will open one final time...for Elizabeth and..."

"And what?" Alexander was clearly confused.

"Have you not thought it all out? Are you truly considering letting your mother go back alone?"

"I..." He obviously hadn't thought about it.

"She's going to need someone who remembers clearly what the maze is like. And someone strong enough to get her through it without collapsing. She needs you, Alexander."

Kelsey had been fighting the lump that had risen in her throat as she spoke. "And that maze is only going to open once. I've been thinking about it...it opened three times before, for specific reasons. The first, to let you come here, where you could find the cause. The second, for me to go back, so I wouldn't think you insane and refuse to help you...and you were clearly going to need me." She sighed. "And the third time was for us to bring your mother here. And remember that it only opened after we discovered the cause. Dr. Falk told me that we were lucky to have mentioned Lennox-Norton, because it's a rare disease and they wouldn't have looked for it right away. In the time it would've taken them to rule out everything else, she could've died. And that's it. Since she's better, clearly the maze will open tonight...and once you've gone back, it'll never open again."

"I refuse to believe that."

"You have to! Otherwise we'll be getting each other's hopes up and...and we'll never be free."

"Free for what?"

"Free to live our own lives."

"Is that what you wish, Kelsey? To live your own life, free of me?"

"No!"

"Then why do you consign me to life on the other side of the maze? I am here, I always shall be."

"No...I know better. You'll disappear."

Alexander suddenly understood the fear. "I'm not John. If it were John..."

"John wouldn't have cared enough for his mother."

"He would disappear. I love you, Kelsey. I shall come back, and we shall be together always."

"I can't ask you to do that. How would you live in this world?"

"Would it be better, I suppose, to ask you to live in mine? I know your hesitations. They are mine as well. I would never ask you to live in my world. I could not."

"I..."

"Would you? Could you? How would you explain to Emma that there is no more television or preschool or cars or anything she has become accustomed to?"

"She's young."

"Not young enough. And there are other problems."

"You have to go. I...I know you'll have to go, now."

"I agree. I shall go. But I shall return."

Kelsey fought back tears, refusing to cry. "I hope to God that you're right."

"You shall see. I shall go through it, and it shall not go away until I have returned. Our love..." Alexander suddenly paled. "Love."

Kelsey turned away.

"You have not once said...but I thought...do you?"

Kelsey thought that maybe it would be best to tell him no, that she didn't love him. He would return to his own time and...

Believing that she didn't love him. Believing a lie.

I'd lived a lie once. I refused to live one again!

Our love...

"I love you," Kelsey said, the tears finally rolling down her cheeks.

Alexander suddenly found himself crushing her to him, tears in his own eyes as he finally heard the words he'd wanted to hear since he'd known her. "That shall be enough to get us through it," he said. "I shall return to you. I could not leave you behind." He smiled. "I could not leave Emma behind. Especially not now. Trust me."

Kelsey nodded. "I do."

"Good. Then believe that I am going to return."

She nodded again.

Elizabeth had been watching them from the swing, a soft smile on her face as she remembered days from long ago, the courtship of herself by her husband.

"It's time for you to go," Kelsey said softly.

"Right." Alexander walked up to the porch and extended a hand to his mother. "Mother, this might very well be the last time we walk together."

"I understand."

"If it is...tell Father that I love him. And Will and Edward and Jane and Victoria. Tell them all that I love them..."

"Of course I shall. But we must go, or I may never get back to your father."

Alexander smiled and put his arm around his mother for support. They walked slowly toward the maze, Kelsey walking behind them in case Elizabeth should fall.

Alexander turned back to look at her, then told his mother to wait a moment, allowing her to hold onto the swingset for support. He tipped Kelsey's face up to look at his and kissed her.

A kiss for love. "I love you, Kelsey," he said. "And I shall be right back."

"Promise me."

"I promise." He reluctantly let her go, then walked back to Elizabeth. They entered the maze, and Kelsey stood rooted by Emma's sandbox, unable to move anywhere. Praying that it wouldn't disappear.

And feeling her last hope fade when it did. With a choked cry, Kelsey finally sank to the earth, gasping for breath, feeling as though she were about to die. Alexander was gone.

Forever.

Conclusion

Pemberley. June 21, 18--.

Fitzwilliam Darcy was working in his library when he caught a familiar sight outside his window. The figure had gone through the maze and had stopped at the water's edge, looking out with pain and longing. He knew that the figure would stand there for a good long while.

He knew it was Alexander.

The night of his wife's return to Pemberley was one that he would remember for quite some time. Even as the family rejoiced in the good health of Elizabeth, they all felt sorrow for Alexander's loss. Elizabeth had, in the privacy of their chamber, related the story to him as she knew it. Furious as he had been at his son for practically abducting Elizabeth, and grateful beyond words that he had been able to find a cure, he knew exactly how much Alexander grieved for his lost love. It had been the one thing which had prevented him from giving him a stern lecture.

As Darcy had held his wife in his arms, Alexander had disappeared suddenly, heading back toward the maze. When he came to the end of it, however, his roar of shock and rage could be heard in London. Yet not even that had startled his parents as much as the bleak hopelessness on his face when he had come back into the house. Never in all his life had Darcy seen his son in such a sad state, not even during Elizabeth's illness. It was clear that Elizabeth's life had exacted a high price for his son.

And there was absolutely nothing Darcy could do to help him.

"Oh, Fitz, he is so unhappy." He heard his wife's voice behind him. He turned at the sound, marveling as he had so often in the month at the sight of his wife alive and well. After preparing himself for her death, it seemed as though God had given them a miracle.

And He had. Yet even miracles did not come free.

"Did he truly love this girl?" Darcy asked. "He barely knew her."

"How long did you know me before you fell in love?" Elizabeth asked with an impish smile.

"It was longer than two weeks."

"Oh? According to Lady Hampton, you made a comment about my exceptional eyes a scant week or so after we met."

"I did not love you then, however. I was fascinated by you."

Elizabeth put her arms around her husband. "Alexander loved her. You should have seen the two of them together. It was almost...magical."

"Was it?"

"Yes. And there was her daughter! Emma just adored Alexander, and he was equally enamored of her. You would have been amazed, Fitz. Our youngest son, playing games with her and treating her as though she were his own daughter. And he was never much one to be so paternal, you know."

Darcy sighed as he saw his son abruptly head back through the maze. "That's peculiar."

"What is?"

"Usually, Alexander stays at the edge of the pond for quite a while, almost as though he expects to be magically whisked away again. He's left after a mere quarter of an hour there."

Elizabeth sighed. "Kelsey was right. She said that the maze would open up one final time...and it did."

"Lizzy...when you came back...why did Alexander come with you?"

She wrinkled her brow, trying to remember what she'd heard that evening in Kelsey's backyard.

"I believe," she said finally, "that they were concerned about my ability to walk. I must confess, they were right--I practically collapsed soon after we entered the house. Kelsey said that Alexander had to take me back to be certain that I reached the house safely. Alexander believed--right until the moment when he went through the maze after we returned--that he would be able to go back. He believed that their love was strong enough for the maze to stay open."

"And it was not. Would that not suggest--"

"You did not see this girl's eyes when Alexander and I entered the maze. She was so terrified, so sad...she loved him. The maze was open only to find a cure for me, not for Alexander to find true love at last."

Darcy leaned his cheek on the top of his wife's head. "Perhaps we should try to find a way to help Alexander."

"The only way that can happen is if he finds his way back to Kelsey."

"That event is not likely to occur, however, so we must find a way to help him get past Kelsey and find someone else."

"If I had refused your proposal that day at Longbourn, would you have found someone else?"

"I--well, Lizzy, this is different. At least you were living in the same century as I."

"You would not have."

"Of course not. Yet Alexander is not me."

Elizabeth replied, "That, my dear Mr. Darcy, is the problem. If you could not have me, you would have eventually married, possibly without love. Alexander is too much of a romantic. He always was. He shall probably never marry."

The two of them watched as Alexander trudged slowly toward the house.

"My poor baby," Elizabeth murmured. "He helped me when I needed it. Maybe this time, I can help him. I hope to God that I can."

St. Louis. June 21, 199-.

The first days were the hardest. Kelsey had been forced to tell Emma that Alexander had gone away with her new Grandma, never to return. After Emma had cried for most of the night--Kelsey crying right beside her--she then had to get on with the business of living again. John had called to ask for his month with Emma, and Kelsey didn't argue when he made the request rather suddenly. John had been surprised, but had said nothing when he picked Emma up.

With Emma gone, Kelsey had had little reason to leave the house. She'd gone to see Madeline and Ben when they'd returned from their honeymoon, and to see her father about how to sell the coins she had been given without getting into a heap of trouble. Her father had suggested an ingenious solution in which she found the coins "disguised" as checkers in a box of old games she'd bought at an auction. Of course, getting him to give her ideas had forced her to tell the whole story to him. He had listened sympathetically then given her the idea. From Ben she received advice on the best way to invest her money, and she followed it.

But it meant nothing next to the emptiness she felt without Alexander. The emptiness that was so deep and unending that she'd long since run out of tears to shed. She had found the white polo shirt he'd bought and started wearing it around everywhere. She felt closer to him when she wore it. Everything brought memories back to her. When she'd watch a movie, or television, she'd think of the morning she'd had to explain it to him. When she stepped into the shower, she remembered his words upon first seeing it. Driving her car reminded her of his belief that she drove like a speed demon. When she sat on the porch swing, she remembered the two of them sitting together, talking for hours about her family, about his, about life.

Kelsey had been sitting on the porch swing for quite a while when Madeline came to see her, bearing a Twinkie with a lit candle stuck in it..

"Happy birthday, sis," Madeline said quietly.

Kelsey turned to look at her. "Happy birthday to you, too."

"Mind if I sit?"

Kelsey swung her legs off the seat to make room for her twin. "Make a wish and blow out the candle," Maddie said.

Kelsey could think of only one wish she wanted, and blew out the candle without thinking twice. When Madeline had taken the candle out and handed the snack cake to her, Kelsey asked, "How's Ben?"

"He's doing good. He's concerned about you--we both are. First Alexander disappears, apparently forever. Then John calls and says that he wants Emma to spend her month with him, leaving you alone."

"Having John take her for the month was probably the best thing for her. At least it dulled the pain of not having Alexander for a daddy anymore. God, why did I let her get her hopes up? I knew he couldn't come back!"

"You had to have hope," Madeline said. "So when does she come back?"

"She should be back in an hour or so. John was pretty agreeable to the whole arrangement, getting her back for my birthday."

"John's been pretty agreeable overall lately."

"He's still a slimeball. He's called once a week to let me know how much Emma's enjoying her time with him, and that she remembered that he was her daddy, and...oh, God. She thinks Alexander left her just like John did. She told me the night before John came to get her that she was sorry she'd asked him to be her daddy."

"She's just a little girl, Kelse. She's very confused about everything."

"She's not the only one." Kelsey's chin quivered, the only outward sign of how badly she was doing. "It just doesn't seem fair. I finally found something wonderful, and he had to...I shouldn't be surprised that it didn't last. Nothing in my life ever does."

"Listen, it's not because of you! It's nothing you've done wrong. It was just fate."

"Why? Why did he have to be such a gentleman that night? Then at least I might have something to remember..."

"Kelsey, listen to what you're saying! You're a woman of the nineties talking of having a baby as a remembrance."

"I could afford a baby." Kelsey looked at her sister. "Thanks to Ben."

"Thanks to Alexander's father giving you the money."

"It's all I'm ever going to have. Alexander's gone, and he's never coming back."

"Listen...I came over to invite you to dinner tonight. It's just going to be me and Ben and a few of our friends--"

"Oh, no. Forget it. I don't want to be set up with any of your friends."

"I'm not trying to set you up. It's going to be a group, not an intimate dinner setting."

"And it just so happens that a couple of single, attractive young men will be included."

"Well..."

"Thanks, Maddie. I appreciate it, but I'm not interested."

"Then at least come to dinner because it's your birthday."

"It's Emma's first night home..."

"Then we'll come here."

"What?"

"We'll bring dinner here, that way I can see Emma. How about it?"

"All right."

Madeline soon left her sister, planning to call four of her friends, two of whom happened to be single, attractive, and male. She refused to let Kelsey doom herself to a life of unhappiness, not after her life with John.

She intended to get her sister to start living again.

Pemberley.

Alexander stared out at the water for a short time. He was drawn to the pond at least three or four times a day, going through the maze with the hope that he would find Kelsey on the other side. It never happened.

He wondered every moment about her--what she was doing, how Emma was. If she thought about him as much as he thought about her. In his heart, he was convinced that she was hurting as greatly as he was, and he felt even worse for causing her such pain.

He kept thinking about that final night in her backyard, when she had looked at him with such love and hope in her eyes that he had almost thought of waiting until his mother was even stronger to go back. Yet they had both known that the maze might have disappeared, trapping Elizabeth in the future when she belonged with Darcy. And that would have been just as cruel as what had happened to them.

He finally decided to give up. This, he tried convincing himself, would be the last time he went through the maze in the hopes of finding Kelsey. She wasn't going to be given back to him. He wasn't going to go back to her.

But you cannot give up hope. If you do, what have you left? Nothing.

Alexander slowly started walking back through the maze. When he was finally back within sight of the house, he noticed his parents looking at him from the library window. He gave them a small wave and a pathetic smile, then continued walking. He had just reached the front doors when he heard a commotion and a sudden, high-pitched screech.

St. Louis.

"Emma? Honey, where are you? Sweetie, I know you're not happy about Alexander not being here when you came back, but that's no reason to get mad and refuse to see Aunt Maddie! You haven't seen her since she came back with Uncle Ben. Come on, Emma."

Kelsey sighed. Not fifteen minutes after Maddie had left, Emma and John had come back. Her daughter had returned with high hopes to find that Alexander had decided to come back, and when she hadn't found him, she had become furious with Kelsey. John had luckily left before that happened. Now she was hiding from her and Kelsey couldn't for the life of her figure out where she was. She checked her usual hiding places--the closets, the basement, the attic (although Emma had stopped hiding in there because she was afraid of spiders)...even under her bed and in the kitchen cabinets.

It quickly became apparent that Emma was nowhere to be found.

Kelsey's heart began speeding up in rate as she ran out of places to look for her. She ran outside, calling, "Emma!"

But Emma wasn't playing in the garage, or in the backyard, or in the car or under the porch. "Emma Caroline Chandler, you'd better come out now or you'll be grounded for a week!" Kelsey couldn't keep the anger from her voice, but she felt her breath coming faster, and a chill had crept through her at top speed. She went through Emma's hiding places again and didn't find her.

"EMMA!" Kelsey's fear intensified, as she realized that her daughter wasn't anywhere.

Pemberley.

Alexander ran from the house to the direction of the maze, which was where he thought he'd heard the noise. It was, in fact, where he found what he sought, as an undergardener appeared, holding a small figure tight to him. The creature was struggling for all she was worth, trying to get away. It made it difficult for Alexander to see her clearly.

"I want my mommy!" she screamed. "MOMMY!"

"Shut up, ye little brat!"

"MOMMY! HELP!"

Alexander gasped as the little girl turned, giving him an unmistakable view of her.

It was Emma.

"Emma!" he shouted, starting to run toward the little girl who could not possibly be there.

Emma recognized the voice. "Daddy! DADDY! Let me go! That's my daddy!"

"Don't be ridiculous, ye brat! That's the master's son, Mr. Alexander."

"Let her go!" Alexander commanded.

"But Mr. Alex--"

"I said, let her go." The arrogance which had worked so well with John worked with this man with much more ease, as the man reluctantly let go of Emma. She immediately ran toward Alexander, who pulled her into his arms and hugged her so hard that she said, "Daddy, you're hugging me too tight."

"Sorry, sweetheart. W-what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to go to Tommy's next door, but I found myself in these bushes and I couldn't get out so I started crying and that bad man heard me and pulled me out and tried to take me away."

"Tommy is the next-door neighbor?"

"Mm-hmm. I decided that I wanna wait to marry him, though."

Alexander couldn't stop the ripples of laughter which coursed through him. "God, I am glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see you too, Da--" Emma stopped. "Why did you leave us, Alex? Mommy was so sad, and so was I."

"I did not wish to. I had to go."

"Are you gonna come back with me to stay?"

"I--I--"

The bushes...the MAZE! Dear God, Emma went through the maze, which meant that it was still there, still working...

"I believe I am," he said.

"And will you still be my Daddy?"

"If you want me to be...but first, Emma, we must do something. Come."

Alexander was relieved that his siblings were gone to London, for he would only have to explain this to his parents. And that would be hard enough. He led Emma into the house, where the butler was waiting.

"Mama! Father! You must come see who is arrived!" Alexander called. He could not prevent the joy he felt from showing even if he had wanted to.

The moment Elizabeth entered the foyer, Emma shouted, "Grandma!" and ran to her. Elizabeth was unable to pick her up, but bent down to give her a hug.

"Hello, little one. What are you doing here?" she asked.

Emma smiled. "I don't know. Aren't you glad to see me?"

"You have no idea how much," Elizabeth said. "Would you like to know who this is?" she asked, motioning to Darcy.

"Gramps?" Emma asked with a smile.

"Why, yes. How did you..."

"He looks like Daddy."

"Gramps?" Darcy mumbled the title to himself, but smiled nonetheless. "You must be Emma."

"I am," she said cheerfully. "Pleased to make your aquariams."

"Acquaintance," Alexander corrected.

"Acquain--acquaints."

"It's a big word for a little girl," Darcy said. "Where's your mama, Emma?"

"I don't know. At home, I guess. Alexander, can we go home now? It's Mommy's birthday, and Aunt Maddie's too."

"Her birthday? I did not know it was her birthday." Alexander smiled. "I do not have a gift for her."

"That's okay. I'm sure Mommy won't mind."

I hope you are right, Alexander thought. He turned to his parents. "The maze has brought Emma here. It shall surely take us both back."

Elizabeth's dark eyes glimmered with tears. "Oh, Lord...if I had known this was good-bye, I...oh, Alexander!" She threw her arms around her son.

"I have faith that the maze shall open up more often now," he said. "We shall surely see each other again. It may not be good-bye forever."

"I pray that is so."

Alexander turned to his father next, who gave him a hug. "I shall miss you, son," Darcy said gruffly.

"I shall miss you as well."

"How shall you survive in the new world? What shall you do?"

"We have money," Alexander said. "The money you gave us was quite valuable in Kelsey's time."

"Then you shall have more of it as a wedding gift," Darcy said.

"Oh, no--"

"I insist. You...you never had much in the way of an inheritance. Just some money from your Grandfather Bennet and some jewels...and I lost those."

"Jewels?"

"Yes. Some rubies I had given your mother that she loved dearly but did not think they suited her. She intended to give them to your bride...and I lost those."

Alexander laughed. "Then those were meant for Kelsey all along."

"What?" Darcy frowned in confusion.

"The rubies were in the bag of money you gave Kelsey when she was here."

Darcy saw the humor and laughed as well. "Fate does work in mysterious ways," he said. "Do not let Kelsey believe that they are Elizabeth's cast-offs, for Elizabeth did love them. Yet they were not for her. It seemed as though she knew they would be better for another."

Alexander nodded. Darcy retreated to the library and returned a moment later with a heavy bag of coins. He handed them to his son. "Spend them well," he said with a smile, tears shining in his eyes.

They mirrored Alexander's own.

"Why's everybody crying?" Emma asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Alexander said. "Everything is going to be all right, Emma. At last."

St. Louis.

Kelsey had frantically called all of Emma's friends, starting with Tommy and ending with her preschool teacher. None of them knew where she was. She had called Madeline to tell her not to come over because she couldn't find Emma. Madeline had told her to call the police, but Kelsey knew they wouldn't do anything for another day or so. Two, even. Forty-eight hours.

When Emma didn't turn up at a friend's, Kelsey started hunting the house again. She was so engrossed in the search that she almost missed the sound of Emma's bright laughter...sounding like it was coming from the backyard.

Kelsey heard it, however, and came running down the stairs and through the kitchen, stopping only when she saw her daughter standing in the yard. At first, she didn't even concentrate on who else was standing with her, or the fact that the maze had just disappeared in the background. All she saw was her daughter, alive and apparently unharmed. After seeing this for herself, she saw the person who was patiently waiting for her to notice him.

"Mommy! Look who I found!" Emma cried before Kelsey could say anything. "It's Daddy!"

Kelsey's face turned pale, and it seemed as though she were about to faint. Alexander rushed over to her and took her in his arms.

"You're here," she breathed. "It's really you...isn't it?"

"It is." He smiled. "Emma tells me that today is your birthday. I hope I make a suitable gift."

"What are you--how--why--"

"I do not know."

"Are--are you going to..."

"I intend to stay. Forever," he whispered. He couldn't resist temptation any longer, however, and so he kissed her. "I kept my promise."

Emma giggled shyly as they continued kissing.

"I love you," Kelsey said softly.

"I know. I love you. And this time, I am here to stay."

Kelsey smiled. "I know."

They slowly started to walk into the house, Emma running ahead of them.

"Tomorrow," Alexander said, "I want to learn how everything works in your world. I want to read all about history. I want to--"

"Tomorrow," Kelsey interjected quietly, "I want to wake up in your arms and experience the feeling of knowing that I'll be there for the rest of my life."

Alexander smiled. "That sounds wonderful to me."

Epilogue

It had taken Kelsey and Alexander nearly a month to prepare for the wedding, even though they had been ready to marry each other since the evening of his return. In fact, they would have preferred marrying much sooner, as Alexander had continued to insist of celibacy until their wedding night. Legality, however, had been an obstacle to their marriage that they could not avoid. Kelsey and Alexander could not marry until he had a legal identity. Obtaining one for him required them telling their story to her father.

Joshua Madison was suitably dubious about his daughter's tale, and even suspected her would-be groom of some deceit and malevolence, but when he looked deeper than the surface, he realized that even if it wasn't the truth, it was enough for Kelsey and Alexander. There was a light in her eyes that indicated a peace she'd never known, that her father had never seen within her. It glowed even stronger when she was with Alexander. So Mr. Madison set aside any misgivings he might have had and welcomed Alexander into the family in the best way he could. He set about getting Alexander proof of his existence in the twentieth century.

It took a good deal of money and nearly three weeks, but by the time the deed was accomplished, Alexander George Darcy had a birth certificate proving that he'd been born on December 9, 19-- to William and Lisa Darcy, progress reports and a high school diploma indicating that he had an education, and other documents which looked so authentic to Kelsey that she almost believed them real. When Alexander had looked on his wedding gift from his future father-in-law, he had jokingly asked of his bride, "Does this mean that I am now allowed to marry you?"

"Legally you are," she replied.

Yet even as they made their happy plans together, a shadow of sadness was cast over the wedding. Kelsey knew that Alexander dearly wished his family would be able to join them for the wedding. Every evening, he would look out the kitchen window three or four times for a minute or more, looking for the maze. It was when she caught him at it that she had nightmares. They were all the same--Alexander disappeared through the maze again and never returned. Against what he wanted, she sometimes hoped that the maze never opened again. Then she would feel guilty, because the Darcy family was a wonderful one, and she would have liked to have them at the ceremony as well.

Emma made note of none of this. She was making plans to call herself "Emma Darcy" when she went to kindergarten in the fall, even though Kelsey had explained to her time and again that Emma would keep her last name because Alexander wasn't technically her father.

"But Mommy," she said, "you get to be named Darcy. Why can't I?"

"Because...because it's not allowed."

Emma, of course, could not understand why it was not allowed, but she made no further argument.

"Kelsey Darcy," Kelsey mumbled under her breath. "I suppose it could be worse."

After all, Alexander might not be here at all. And you wouldn't be this happy.

As rushed as Kelsey was during the final days before the wedding--simple affairs were not as simple as they looked--she would not have traded it for anything. She loved being involved with flower arrangements and dinner plans (since the wedding guests were limited to family and close friends only, they were holding an intimate dinner at her mother's after the ceremony) and everything that went with getting married. She and Alexander were finding many different collectors for their coins, which were selling rather well--better than either had expected.

Kelsey couldn't help but wonder, however, what had happened to the rubies that had been in the bag that Alexander's father had given her. She prayed that she hadn't misplaced them, even though it was unlikely that she would ever be able to give them back to their rightful owner. She had looked everywhere and had yet to find them. She'd even asked Alexander if maybe he'd given them back to Elizabeth before he'd left, but he insisted that he hadn't.

The rubies were soon forgotten in the midst of dress fittings and final preparations as the day came closer.

July 24, 199-.

The morning of her wedding, Kelsey awoke at sunrise having gotten very little sleep. Alexander was staying with her father, so that he wouldn't be able to see her before the wedding--if there was one thing that Kelsey wasn't going to court on her wedding day, it was bad luck. Madeline was in the guest room, now empty. Alexander's belongings had been moved into the master bedroom with hers. Kelsey tiptoed down the stairs, careful not to wake anyone up. She walked into the kitchen, marveling that only about two months earlier, she had been thinking that she would never fall in love again, that her life was essentially over.

On this morning, she had never felt more alive. She was about to marry the man she loved. She had plenty of options for the rest of her life. She could do anything.

Pouring water into the coffee machine, she glanced out her window for a quick second...and froze.

Standing in her back yard, huddled together and clearly out of their element, stood Alexander's family. His father and mother, brothers William and Edward with their wives, sisters Jane and Victoria with their husbands.

"Hello?" she said tentatively.

Darcy turned to look at her immediately. "Miss--er, Mrs. Chandler," he said.

"Hello, Mr. Darcy. It's good to see you."

He walked up to her and gave her a strong hug. "It is good to see you as well. For I am now able to say what I have wanted to say since my son and wife returned--thank you. I cannot express my gratitude enough for what you have done for my family."

"Don't thank me. Thank Alexander."

"I have, I assure you."

Kelsey smiled at Elizabeth, truly happy to see that she seemed to have regained all her strength and had no lasting effects of the illness. "It's good to see you, Elizabeth."

"It is good to see you as well."

The question had to be asked. "How did all of you get here?"

"It was a most curious thing," Victoria said. "Father sent each of us a message saying it was imperative that we return to Pemberley. We were all afraid that Mama had had a relapse, but he said that he had had a feeling that he should send for us. He was correct, for the...dear Lord, it was the maze. It opened up and allowed us to come here."

"I hope you haven't been here long," Kelsey said.

"We only just arrived," Jane replied. "Thank you, Kelsey."

Each of the siblings thanked her for saving their mother's life. Kelsey insisted every time that it wasn't necessary.

"Alexander's going to be so happy to see you," Kelsey finally said when they had finished. "He had hoped so much that you'd be here for the wedding."

"This is your wedding day?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes, it is."

"Then it appears that our maze shall open to the future for important events," Elizabeth concluded. "Alexander appears to have been right after all."

"So it would seem." Kelsey felt a contentment that surpassed anything she'd ever experienced.

Now their wedding day was going to be perfect.

Kelsey was in the bridesroom she had been in only the month before with her sister. This time, however, she was the nervous bride, pacing back and forth and insisting to her mother that she was just fine. Instead of the hoop skirts Maddie had picked out, Kelsey's gown was a simple affair, an off-the-shoulder form-fitting gown of ivory satin and lace.

"Do you think it's not wedding-y enough?" she asked, looking at her reflection in the mirror.

"Kelse, you're going to be standing with a big bouquet of flowers in front of a preacher with a groom standing next to you. Don't worry. It's a wedding." Madeline got Kelsey to stop pacing long enough to stick the final pin in her hair which would hold the veil in place.

"I wish I had been able to see the look on Alexander's face, when he saw his family had arrived."

"I did get to see him. A happier man I've never seen--well, except for the night of our birthday, when I arrived to find him returned. I think Ben got it on tape."

Kelsey chuckled. "I just hope no one asks me about Elizabeth's rubies," she said, her smile fading. "I can't believe I lost something so valuable."

"Neither can I. But remember--if you can get through today, then the only person you have to tell is Alexander. His family goes home after the ceremony."

"That isn't much consolation."

A knock at the door caused Kelsey to jump. Madeline, who was much calmer, answered it. It was Darcy, and he was wearing a bright smile.

"I have a wedding gift for the bride," he said.

"You do? But I thought--"

"From the groom. He had wanted to give it to you later, but felt it would be more useful now," he added, handing Kelsey a flat package. "You look beautiful, my dear."

"Thank you." Kelsey pulled a package out of her purse. "Here--something for Alexander. It's...nothing much." She'd bought him a gold wristwatch, knowing he'd wanted one since he'd seen them in the window of a store.

"I am sure he shall appreciate it were it valuable as rubies."

Kelsey's face drained of color, and she could only smile weakly as Darcy left the room.

"Well? What is it?" Madeline asked, looking as though she were about to grasp the package out of her hand and open it herself.

Kelsey reluctantly undid the package. A jewelry box lay within. When she opened the box, she gasped. Madeline looked at what she had and gasped as well.

"Dear God," Maddie whispered. "Are those real?"

"Yes," Kelsey replied. "They're--" That's when she saw the note. She picked it up and started reading.

My wonderful, beautiful bride-to-be,

You must forgive me for my deception, but I wished to surprise you with this gift. For it is a gift, handed down from my mother to me, and from me to you. She loved these rubies but did not feel they were for her. I knew in my heart that they were meant for you. I would ask that you wear them today.

I had thought to tell you so many things as we prepare on this day, of all days. I thought maybe I would quote Shakespeare. Yet all I can think of to say in the end is that I love you. And I shall love you forever.

Alexander

Kelsey's eyes watered slightly, but the fear of ruining her makeup enabled them to hold them back. "They're Elizabeth's. Would you mind?" she asked, holding up the necklace and bracelet--with the earrings, all that she would wear that day. Madeline hooked the clasps on the necklace, then the bracelet. Kelsey, with trembling hands, put in the earrings. She looked at herself in the mirror again.

It was the perfect touch.

"Kelsey? Dear, it's time," her mother called.

All of Kelsey's imaginings could not have prepared her for the sight of Alexander standing at the altar, waiting for her. The look on his face as her father led her down the aisle to him quite possibly matched her own.

As she looked into his eyes, she saw so much more than their present happiness. She saw their future. And even though the future would not always be as perfect as that day was, she knew it would not matter. Alexander was going to be there with her through it all.

This time, it was going to last forever.

The End

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