Ask a Shadow to Dance (26 page)

Lisette shook with laughter—and so did David.

“I knew it!” he said, wiping his eyes. “What happened then?”

“No one said a word. Mama smiled, passed around bowls of mashed potatoes and snapped beans, a plate of hot, flaky biscuits, then spooned gravy from the rock stew onto her potatoes.

“Jacob and I did the same. Everything was delicious, and we even licked the gravy off the rocks. Papa did, too, without a word. After supper was over, he got up from the table, said, ‘Cecelia, that was the best gravy you’ve ever made,’ and went to the parlor for his after-dinner cigar.

“Jacob and I helped clear the table. Mama washed and dried the rocks carefully, then put them away in a cabinet, as though they were part of the China dishes. He never said another bad word about Mama’s cooking.”

They all laughed together and David made a promise to himself to bring this lady with them into the twenty-first century if he possibly could. Joe would love her. David already loved her. And he knew without asking, Lisette would never leave Aunt Portia alone, at Andrew’s mercy. If they were to be happy and secure, in whatever future awaited, it had to be a future without Andrew Westmoreland. The idea of their running away and leaving Andrew here, while the four of them started new lives elsewhere, grated on David, even with the Morgan house protected. There had to be another way.

Lisette touched his arm. “David? What are you so deep in thought about?”

“Nothing.
Just thinking about eating rocks. Will you ever serve rocks for dinner?”

She grinned mischievously. “Not if you don’t ask for them.”

“Believe me, I won’t.”

Portia’s eyes drooped.

“We need to let Aunt Portia sleep.”

Lisette gave him the strangest look.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No, not at all.
I think she’ll be pleased to have you call her Aunt Portia. After all, she’ll soon be your aunt, too.”

That idea pleased him. He replaced the chair and noticed for the first time its legs were arranged so it fit exactly in the corner, facing into the room.

“What an odd chair. What’s it called?”

Lisette smiled. “It’s a corner chair.”

He felt foolish. “A perfect name for it. I don’t dare ask why it’s made that way.”

“When soldiers were on duty, they often had to sit in the corner. Being able to face directly out from the corner made their sentry duty easier.”

Every piece had a story. It could take years for him to hear them all.

In Lisette’s bedroom, they undressed and got into bed. She came into his arms, resting her head on his chest.

“Tomorrow is the day,” she said softly.

“Yes. November twenty-first.
‘The Night the
Cajun Star
Vanished’.’”

They
lay for a long time before she whispered, “Love me, David. This could be the last time.”

Chapter Sixteen

The next morning David asked Lisette to list every piece of furniture and décor in the house—a gargantuan task, considering the Victorian decor. Aunt Portia insisted on helping her, stating she’d felt much worse during the yellow fever epidemic that afflicted Jacob. David said this inventory was essential for the house to be preserved exactly as it was, without anything “borrowed” or stolen during the next hundred years. Lisette used the odd pen he’d left on her bedside table the night he’d appeared in her room. He called it a ballpoint, named for the tiny ball on the end of the pen point which turned, pulling ink from the barrel of the pen downward so the ink would flow continuously onto the paper. It was quite ingenious.

David was a treasure house of information about inventions that were commonplace in his Memphis, yet completely unknown in theirs. Movies, for instance. She could not imagine being able to capture on a screen the actions of people in a room. Yet David said it was done all the time, with video cameras and DVDs. Or was it DDVs? She couldn’t remember. It excited her and made her eager to visit his Memphis. Seeing such wonderful inventions, riding in cars and vans and airplanes—flying machines!—would be as fascinating as traveling across the country as she’d always longed to do.

David said it was possible to see the entire world without ever leaving the parlor, with an invention called the television. He talked about satellites, machines orbiting the earth—a mind-boggling notion that left her astonished every time she thought about it—bouncing electrical signals from one place on the earth back to another place in less time than it took to blink. They had to be powerful, extraordinary things.

Writing with the ballpoint pen was an adventure. What other marvelous things would she see and do if they actually made it to his world?

She continued writing, glancing at Aunt Portia from time to time. What would Aunt Portia think of such inventions? What of her father? As addled as he was now, would he even know he’d been transported into the future more than a hundred years?
Undoubtedly not, so it wouldn’t be traumatic for him to do such an unbelievable thing. Aunt Portia would be as enthralled as Lisette to experience such an adventure, though. As a child she’d asked questions by the thousands but Aunt Portia never grew impatient. “How can you learn if you don’t ask questions?” she would say, and “The only stupid question is the one you don’t ask.”

David was equally eager to answer a thousand questions about the Memphis where he lived and prone to ask the same number of questions about this Memphis. How could the two cities be so different, yet in other ways so much alike? It would seem things change while people stay much the same. No matter what age a person lived in, or what sort of machines and progress might be available, human nature remained constant. People would always want the same things: food, shelter, warmth when it was cold, to be cool when it was hot, and the freedom to be happy. It was their freedom Andrew had threatened this past week. Yet, for an entire day they hadn’t heard from him at all. Rather
than feeling more at ease because of his absence, Lisette felt apprehensive, knowing he’d never give up so quickly. He had to be planning something.

“The gilt curio cabinet, the Medallion table, the Boulle table, and the Canova statue, ‘The Kiss.’” Aunt Portia glanced around the parlor. “That seems to be everything.”

“We have to give this list to Mr. Rogers today when we sign the papers. There may be time later on to list anything else you think of.”

Aunt Portia motioned for Lisette to sit beside her on the settee. “Child, does this doctor of yours know what it would mean to me for this house to be loved and cared for through the next century and beyond?”

Lisette kissed her cheek, which was almost back to normal. David’s medicines were miraculous. “I’m sure he does. Did you hear him call you Aunt Portia last night?”

She nodded. “It made my heart flutter to hear it. Are you going to marry him?”

“Yes. I know it seems terribly sudden.”

“True love is always sudden, child. When Jacob saw your mother for the first time, her golden hair gleaming in the New Orleans sun, he whispered, ‘Portia, do you see that woman? I’m going to marry her.’ He did, too. When he gained an introduction, Brianna blushed like a rose. I knew then he was right. They were meant to be together.
Just as you and Doctor Stewart are meant to be together.”

“Don’t you think you could call him David?”

“You don’t think he’d mind?”

“I think he’d love it.”

“I would, indeed.” David came into the parlor. His smile enhanced his handsome features, which, to Lisette, were the most alluring, kindest features she had ever known.

She went to meet him. He kissed her, right there in front of Aunt Portia, but Lisette didn’t mind. She could tell from Aunt Portia’s smile she approved.

“Please, Miss Morgan, call me David.”

“Only if you’ll call me Aunt Portia.”

He went to where she sat and looked carefully at her face. “You look as if you feel better this morning. I’m surprised to see you up and around so soon.”

“I have a wonderful doctor.”

“How is the inventory coming? Are you going to be able to finish by noon?”

“We just did. Aunt Portia has been helping me. I couldn’t have done it without her. We started upstairs, where there were fewer pieces, and left the parlor until last. Listing every last piece would take days, I’m afraid.”

“I wish I’d brought my video camera. We could take pictures of everything. Best inventory you can make when time is short.”

“A camera?
Do you own one, David?”

“As a matter of fact, I own several. I have a thirty-five millimeter camera, a video camera, and a digital camera that transfers pictures into a computer or a printer.” She frowned. “I’ll explain later. Someday, you’ll be using every device I’ve told you about.
You too, Aunt Portia.”

She smiled but didn’t seem overly excited. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling ill again?” Her face appeared to be flushed, as though she might have fever.

“No, child. I’m fine. I just wish we could live here in this house, as we have for more than thirty years and not have to worry about riverboats or heathens or inventories.”

David sat next to her. “I have an idea how we may be able to grant your wish.” He looked at Lisette before he spoke again. She had no idea what he was about to say.

“I haven’t discussed this with Lisette. It occurred to me late last night. What if the four of us were to leave Memphis before the riverboat leaves here tonight? We’ve insured the safety of the house. Andrew won’t be able to touch it after we’re gone. We’ll go to the Peabody, hold hands, think about Memphis in two thousand nine, and leave. Your house will be waiting for you, only more than a hundred years older. There would be some differences, I’m sure, but if all goes well, you’ll still be home.”

A rush of apprehension overwhelmed Lisette. “
David, that would solve practically everything. Why does the idea frighten me?”

“Because leaving the place where you grew up, where you’ve lived practically all your life is always traumatic and difficult. The Memphis where I live is so different, it might as well be another city altogether.
Another world. I think you’ll love it, though, once you’ve had a chance to get to know it.”

“I know you’re right.” She still felt anxious, but didn’t voice it. “Why haven’t you mentioned this before?”

“Because I felt there was going to be a reason why we were compelled to board that riverboat tonight. As far as I can determine, that reason simply doesn’t exist.”

“Won’t it change history if we don’t disappear with the boat?”

“Not if we disappear into 2009 instead.”

What he said made sense. Still, it frightened her to think they might be challenging time itself. David went on, trying to convince them.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful, Aunt Portia, to live in a beautiful city where yellow fever is a thing of the past, and where there are medicines to cure diseases that kill people now?” he said, with pride in his voice.

Aunt Portia gasped. “You mean you actually have medicines to cure yellow fever?”

“Not only to cure it, to prevent it with a vaccine that makes a person immune for about ten years. Where I live, no one has to live in fear of cholera or yellow fever, smallpox, pneumonia or diphtheria.”

Tears glistened in Aunt Portia’s eyes.
“A miracle. It sounds like heaven.”

David laughed. “Well, not exactly heaven, but I think you’ll enjoy living there. I’m not sure how we’ll all cross into two thousand nine at the Peabody but we’ve already accomplished the impossible.”

“After what we’ve seen in the last week,” Lisette said softly, “I think I could believe almost anything.”

She could tell Aunt Portia was tired. The inventory and such challenging ideas were taking their toll on her. “Let me help you upstairs. David and I will
take the list to Mr. Rogers so he can put it with the trust. I’ll get Sedonia to come into the house, in case you need anything. She’s already back to cooking and cleaning. David’s medicines have worked a miracle on her, just as they did with you.”

“Yes, a miracle.” She gave David a long look. “We only need one or two more, isn’t that right?”

His answer was a hopeful smile. They helped Aunt Portia upstairs and back to bed. Lisette worried about her. The beating she’d taken from Andrew had depleted her energies severely.

Back in the hall, Lisette whispered to David, “Is she really going to be all right?”

“In time.” He rummaged in his pockets, looking for something, then frowned when he didn’t find it.

“What’s wrong? What are you looking for?”

“I’ve lost the newspaper article—the one about the
Star
.”

“It’s probably in Aunt Portia’s room. You read it to her last night.”

He smiled. “You’re right, I’m sure. Last night we were still on the list. I have no idea what might happen if we don’t board the
Cajun Star
at six o’clock this evening. To keep history as close to right as possible, I think we should cross over at the Peabody when the boat sails.”