Ask a Shadow to Dance (20 page)

So sharp. Her mind was whirling now; he could see it in her eyes. “The year where we are right now is 2009.”

She said nothing for what seemed a really long time. “2009.”

“Just as you did on the riverboat, you’ve come into the future more than a hundred and twenty years.” He let the information sink in slowly before continuing. “When I met you at the Peabody, and in your room last night—both times—I traveled back through time from 2009e to 1885 .” He let her consider it, saying nothing more until she was ready.

Lisette stared at him for almost half a minute. “Why do women wear men’s trousers in 2009?”

He burst out laughing. He should have known she would focus on something intensely interesting to her, as a woman.

“Did I say something funny?”

He apologized for laughing. “They aren’t wearing men’s trousers. Women wear pants and jeans all the time in 2009e.”

“I see.” She straightened her spine.

“Just wait until you see what women wear in the summer, when it’s hot. When they go swimming.”

She didn’t say anything, then leaned suddenly toward him and whispered, “Did you really . . . that is, did you kiss me last night, or did I dream it, the way you said I dreamed about your brother and that doctor?”

“I made love to you. And you loved me right back.” The blush again. “I’d like to make love to you again.”

“Right here?”

“I’d rather take you home with me first.”

Lisette’s eyes twinkled. “Well, then, I suppose—”

He didn’t wait for her to finish before kissing her as he’d wanted to since she appeared in the hotel. When her arms came around him, he gathered her as close as he could manage with all the clothing she wore. What a difference from last night, with only her nightgown—and then nothing at all—between them. She obviously wore a corset and who knew what else beneath that dress.

Lisette tried to pull back, but he whispered, “It’s all right. Do whatever you want to do.”

Her eyes widened just before they closed and her mouth opened beneath his.

Chapter Twelve

His mouth on hers felt exotic. His tongue knew such interesting things to do, and the feelings running through Lisette made her want to shed her corset, get rid of all these clothes, and love David the way she had last night. Never, in eight years of marriage, had James given her any pleasure when he’d taken his privilege. He’d never touched her the way David had, or kissed her  much, and never, never, had he expected her to enjoy what they were doing. He’d just ordered her to “hang on,” and told her, “This won’t take long.” And it never had, thank goodness.

Last night, she’d forgotten everything she’d been taught about how a lady should not enjoy or participate in such activities. Thinking about how she’d behaved should make her want to hide her face in shame, but she couldn’t be ashamed of giving and receiving such pleasure. It made David so happy when she responded. She had learned things about a man’s body she’d never known. Suddenly, seeing David again meant everything.

“You’re smiling.” He kissed her lightly, then waited.

“I’ll tell you later.
When we’re alone again.”

“I can’t wait.”

“Should I read the article now?”

David pulled it from his shirt pocket. “Before you read this, you need to know when it was published. It was in last Sunday’s
Commercial Appeal
.”

“
Commercial
? When did the paper add that word to its title?”

“I don’t know. What was it in eighteen eighty-five?” He handed the article to her.

“
The Appeal
.” She unfolded it carefully and read the headline. “’The Night the
Cajun Star
Vanished?’ But David—”

He motioned for her to read.

Her heart beat faster as she read about the
Cajun Star
disappearing without a trace. “David, this can’t be the same riverboat—”

“Read the whole article,
then we’ll talk about it.”

She read to the end. “I don’t understand. The
Cajun Star
is going to disappear after it leaves Memphis on the twenty-first of November and never be found again? That’s ridiculous! What’s going to happen to it?” Her mind jolted. “I mean, what happened to it? It’s hard to remember where we are—when we are.”

“No one ever knew or found out. It doesn’t matter, not really. Since we know it’s going to happen.”

“What difference does it make to us? It’s unfortunate, of course, for those who will be aboard, but—”

David took her hand. His eyes were gentle and moist, his smile apologetic. Why had he become so melancholy?

“We know the boat is going to disappear. It gives us the advantage. Did you read the list of passengers?”

“No, should I?” A shiver of fear darted through her. “I’m on the list, is that what you’re telling me? I can’t be. I won’t be on the
Cajun Star
. I just arrived in Memphis. Why would I be leaving?”

David took the article and pointed to two names. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her name and her father’s!

None of it seemed real. Not this place, or this article, this strange room with artifacts from the future—her future. The only thing real was David, holding her hand, waiting for her to digest these incredible facts. He must have known how difficult this would be to accept. She couldn’t accept it. She had no plans to be on the
Cajun Star
when it left Memphis a few days from now. The idea of her father leaving—but not Aunt Portia—made even less sense. It had to be a mistake.

David pulled her into his arms and held her for a moment. “You don’t have to be afraid. I’m going to be there with you.”

She pulled away. “With me? But you—” He pointed to the article again. She read the name beneath his finger.
David Ingram Stewart
. Dear Lord, no. “You’ll be on the boat, too? I don’t understand why any of us would be on that boat.”

“Neither do I, but it’s obvious that something is going to happen to make us board that riverboat. We’ll have to leave the boat before midnight.” He stroked her arm then tilted her chin upward. “I promised you were not going to be hurt again. Remember?”

“But David—”

“Do you believe something has brought us together? It can’t be coincidence. People don’t travel through time for no reason. Last week if you’d told me I’d be going back to 1885, I would’ve suggested counseling with Doctor Townsend.”

David was trying so hard to help her understand. “Yes, I believe there’s a reason for all that’s happened, even though I don’t understand what it could be.”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually.”

“I think, instead of worrying about the future, we ought to decide how to get through the next three days.” Andrew’s face flashed through her mind, but she didn’t mention him to David. “Right now I should be getting home. Caring for my father is a full-time job. I must be there to help. With this new illness—”

“I wish I could help.”

“David, that would be wonderful! I’m sure doctors have found cures and treatments for all sorts of things in a hundred years.”

“You can’t imagine.”

“You’ll have to tell me everything that’s happened between 1885 and 2009.”

“I’ll bring you a book—a history of the United States from the Civil War on.”

“That would be wonderful. A book that tells about the future. What a novel idea.”

He frowned. “Some things will disturb you.
Wars. And a depression that crippled the country.”

Did she want to know these terrible things to come? “Surely there were
good things, too.”

“Men have walked on the moon.”

“On the moon! David, you can’t be serious. It’s impossible to go to the moon.”

He grinned. “It happened in 1969. ‘
One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’ Neil Armstrong.”

The idea of someone actually walking on the moon made all of this seem like something from a Jules Verne novel.

David gripped her hands tighter. “I want to go home with you. I can’t stand the thought we might be separated and not be able to find each other again. When we learn why all of us are going to be on the riverboat, maybe there will be something I can do to change it.”

“Of course.
You may stay at our home. As long as you don’t leave the house, you won’t need different clothes or money—which I’m assuming is quite different now from the money we have. If it’s changed as much as women’s clothing …”

“You’re incredible, Lisette. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were raised in modern day Memphis, just down the street from my house.”

What on earth did he mean by that? “I assume you’re complimenting me. Thank you. I suppose.”

“You aren’t going to have any trouble at all skipping a hundred years into the future. You’ll love all the freedom you’re going to have. And,” he squeezed her waist, “you’re going to love not having to wear all those clothes.”

Lisette sat up straighter. “With women wearing so little clothing, it’s no wonder that men--” She started to say men were lustier and more playful in bed, but she still wasn’t used to being that frank. Surely propriety wasn’t one of the things that had been discarded, along with most of the clothing she was used to wearing. Or, for exactly that reason, maybe it had.

“No wonder men do what?”

“Never mind. I’ll tell you later.”

“When we’re alone? I can hardly wait. I’m betting you can hardly wait to get out of that awful corset.
As you saw, women dress comfortably now. They don’t wear corsets or stays—”

“No corsets? However do they keep their figures?”

“Eating salad. I promise, the first time you wear jeans and a T-shirt, you’ll never want to go back to one of these heavy dresses again.”

“You consider this dress heavy? Later on in the winter—” She looked away, suddenly overcome with the memory of the newspaper article and that terrible word—‘vanished.’ “I might not be alive this winter, if the article is true.”

“Of course you’ll be alive. You’ll be here, with me, wearing jeans and T-shirts and planning where you want to go next.” He kissed her quickly. “Listen to me, Lisette. Are you listening?”

She nodded, her mind too jumbled to speak.

“I’m going to take care of everything. You have to trust me.”

She had to tell him what was in her heart.

“I love you, David.”

His expression was so strange; she couldn’t tell what he was feeling. But then he folded his arms around her and kissed her until she felt dizzy with desire. His eyes actually filled with tears.

She couldn’t help staring at every person they passed when they walked downstairs. Especially the women. There were about as many wearing dresses or skirts as there were in trousers, but the skirts were shockingly short for grown women. At home, young girls were permitted to wear skirts which were only mid-calf in length, but with leggings. These women allowed their bare skin to show beneath their skirts. And some of the women were as old as Aunt Portia!

David watched her with amusement, laughing from time to time as though it were the funniest thing he’d ever seen. It was certainly the strangest, and in some ways the funniest thing she’d ever seen as well. She could not help gawking when an especially ludicrous example presented itself—a young girl wearing a skirt that did not reach even the top of her knees. What would it feel like to expose bare skin to sunshine and wind that way? She had to be honest and admit she couldn’t wait to find out. It would assuredly embarrass her half to death, but it would be thrilling too. Imagine. No corsets. Being able to breathe without stays poking her ribs and making every breath an ordeal.

The shop windows in the Peabody, with their displays of clothing and toys and all manner of merchandise totally unfamiliar in the 1880s, enticed her inside to buy one of everything to take home and show Aunt Portia. The hats were extraordinary, the shoes ridiculous, and the odd vehicles David called cars and buses whizzing past the hotel outside made her want to ride in one of them. David promised she would someday.

By the time they got back to the lobby, her head was swimming from all she’d seen and her dazed mind needed a rest. But later she’d love to see this new and wondrous place that seemed as foreign as the pyramids of Egypt. How much had the world changed in a hundred years?

“David, are there still pyramids in Egypt?”

“Of course.
In fact, there’s a pyramid right here in Memphis.”

“In Memphis?
You must be joking.” The memory of the lighted pyramid she’d seen that first night on the riverboat flashed through her mind. “Then it was real? The one I saw by the lighted bridge?”

He grinned. “The pyramid here in Memphis is shiny metal with a glass dome that lights up at night. It’s a place where they wanted to hold exhibits and have examples of Egyptian art and civilization, but primarily, they have sporting events. I’ll have to take you sometime.”