Swindon - December 1989 (Chapter 10 & Epilogue)
CHAPTER 10
My father was waiting for me. I took a detour to change out of my dress and into something less extravagant. My hair was pulled back in its normal ponytail. I didn’t need to knock this time. As I approached the door, my father opened it to allow me to enter.
“Hello Sweetpea,” he said quietly. There was no enthusiasm in his voice. I waited for the door to close before I spoke.
“Landen was researching a new book. Was it about Pheces?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“Dad, now is not the time to be vague.”
“Yes, it was about Pheces. It’s a little more complicated than that.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “But it will come out in its own time.”
“Pheces found out and followed him to Fandom. Does he have the Chronoguard under his control?”
“Rogue agents. They can see it, but can’t quite get there. You and Friday will still be safe there.”
“But not Landen.”
“Pheces is determined. He doesn’t care about you. He wants Landen, and now Landen is somewhere he’ll never find.”
“I know.”
“You figured it out,” Dad realised with a small smile. “Smart girl. My smart girl.”
“When I was pregnant with Friday and needed to hide from Goliath, you mentioned taking me upstream and downstream, but those would be too easy to navigate. Then you mentioned…”
“Sideways,” we said together.
“Henshaw at SO-3 still owed me a favour.”
“You said that if I went there, through to this other timeline, I wouldn’t remember my former life at all.”
“That’s right.”
“Tell me what happened.”
My father took a deep breath and leaned against the edge of his desk. “That morning they were close to getting through to Fandom, so I stopped in. You were asleep and frozen but Landen wasn’t. I explained the danger. He didn’t care that he was in danger, but when I said it put you and Friday in danger…well, he didn’t think twice, of course. We sideslipped him somewhere safe. It will take the rogues a lifetime to find him. Maybe two.”
“He doesn’t remember me. He doesn’t remember us.”
“Not while he’s there, no.” My husband was safe, but at the price of not knowing who I was. “Think of it as a temporary witness protection deal. Trust me, Sweetpea, Pheces’ time will come and Landen will be able to come back safe and sound and he’ll remember everything.”
“And in the meantime?”
“In the meantime he’s safe. You’re all safe.”
I was finding it hard to breathe. I closed my eyes for a moment and looked slowly around the room, anywhere but at my father’s face. I was afraid that if I looked at him, the tears making my eyes shine wouldn’t stay where they were for long. My jaw tensed as I processed the information. “I just got him back,” I choked out. I bit down hard on the inside of my lip, trying to compose myself. It hurt. Everything hurt. I loved him and he was gone again, and I either had to let him go for now or risk losing him forever.
“You’ll get him back again.” His voice was different. It was the voice he only used when he was making a promise.
I sucked in a deep breath and steeled myself to ask my next question. “Can I see him?”
“Henshaw owes your mother a favour too,” my father replied with a smile. “And I knew you’d ask.”
He took my hand and checked the chronometer on his arm. With a twist and a push of a button that definitely hadn’t been there before, the office around us disappeared and was rapidly replaced with a cold, paved town street. It was familiar, and yet not. I let go of my father’s hand and looked at our surroundings. I went to ask where we were, but it wasn’t necessary.
“Swindon.” My father pointed to a shop door on the corner. The sign hanging outside above the door indicated it was a second-hand book store. I looked back at him and he nodded. “Don’t be long.” I nodded and looked around again, putting my hands in my pockets to warm them before crossing the street to get to the book store.
A small gold bell rang above my head as I pushed the glass door open and stepped inside. The smell of old books was rich in the stuffy air along with the unmistakeable smell of freshly brewed coffee. The books weren’t so much on the shelves as stacked neatly in piles on the various flat surfaces around the room.
“Won’t be a minute!” a muffled voice called from the back. Muffled or not, I knew that voice anywhere. I straightened and watched as he emerged from the tea room at the rear of the store. “You caught me making tea,” he admitted with a grin, wiping his hands on his shirt. He had a bad habit of doing that, no matter what was on his hands. I must have been staring, because he tilted his head. “Can I help you with something?”
“Jane Eyre,” I said, saying the first title that came to mind as I snapped out of my reverie. “I’m looking for a copy if you have one.”
Landen’s smile widened. “I think we can manage Jane Eyre,” he assured me, not showing even a glimpse of recognition. He hurried off to one of the piles seemingly chosen at random and looked through the stack.
“Are you the owner?” I asked eventually.
“Only as of a few days ago, but guilty as charged,” Landen said, crossing to a different pile near me. He leaned over the table precariously and offered a hand. “I’m Landen.”
Pressing my lips together and mustering a smile, I shook his hand. “Thursday.”
“Sorry?”
His surprise caught me off-guard. “My name is Thursday.”
He grinned. “Sorry, I don’t mean to. It’s just an unusual name. Although I suppose I can’t complain with a name like ‘Landen’. It,” Landen retracted his hand and went back to looking for Jane Eyre, “is a pleasure to meet you, Thursday.” He frowned and peered over his glasses at the books he was ploughing through. I watched him, unconsciously memorising his face. “You know,” he said, “I think all of the Austen might still be out in the back. I’ll go take a look for you. Feel free to take a look around,” he flashed a grin again. “If you can find anything around here. Be back soon, Thursday.”
I watched him go and disappear into the back room. By the time he returned with book no doubt in hand, I was already out the door and halfway across the street, headed for my father. I didn’t look back. I couldn’t.
It was time to leave.
EPILOGUE
The day after my father returned us to our normal timeline, the timeline of dodos and the gravitube, Goliath and SpecOps, I was packed and ready to return to Fandom. The television blared with news stories about Pheces’ decision to resign as Commissioner, but his determination to remain a prominent figure in the private sector. Richard III was back in tour around the country. SpecOps-27 was back safely in the hands of Victor Analogy and Bowden Cable.
“Are you sure you can’t stay longer?” Mum asked, smothering Friday in goodbye cuddles and kisses that he enjoyed greatly.
“I really should get back. I’ll try to stop in for Easter.”
“Your room’s always there,” she replied and pulled me into a hug. “He’ll be back.”
I nodded, but didn’t say anything in response. I had said my goodbyes to all of the others. Well, most of the others.
“Farewell, dear lady, you have done the world a great service,” Kit Marlowe said with a slight bow.
“What will you do now?” I asked.
“Your Mr Analogy has offered me temporary employment. Then I think I shall travel. I’ve heard of a great land in a place called Anaheim owned by a man named Disney.”
I nodded. “Take care, Kit.”
“And to you.”
Mum handed me Friday and gave me another hug and a kiss on the cheek before I pulled out my Jurisfiction travel book. It was time to return to Fandom.
I began to read.
[OOC: THE END. Finally!]