“Here it is,” Willow said later that day as she and Julian were reading in the library on the settee. She leaned toward him so he could see what she’d found.
He turned to her.
“It says that iron is the natural enemy of fairies,” Willow said. “It’s why children’s bedframes are often made of iron and why mothers leave something made of iron like scissors, a knife, or a fire tong near the cradle of an infant. The iron is thought to prevent a fairy from stealing the child and replacing it with a changeling.”
Julian frowned. “Fairies aren’t evil, are they?” From reading his grandfather’s journals, he’d gotten the impression that fairies offered protection, rather than harm.
“The myths around them indicate they can be good or evil.”
Julian’s mind went back to the fairy in the gazebo. “I don’t get the feeling that the fairy we saw was evil. She seemed to be as much a prisoner here as we are.”
Willow nodded. “I don’t think she’s evil, either, especially considering the pink and purple colors that were keeping us from releasing her. Maybe Violet trapped her in that cage and is keeping her there to serve her purpose.”
Julian hadn’t considered that possibility. Perhaps he and Willow were being held here with the fairy for some dark purpose.
“Anyway,” Willow continued as she glanced back at her book, “this is the first reference I remember coming across about fairies and iron. I’ll keep looking for more. I know there’s other things in this book about it. I just can’t remember exactly where. It’s not like there’s a chapter dedicated specifically to iron.”
Julian released his breath and turned his attention back to the book he was reading on fairies and leprechauns. It was ironic if one thought about it. This whole time, he’d been looking forward to being able to pass from one day to the next. He hadn’t once bothered to consider what might happen if he did. He couldn’t help but think that whoever Violet was, she had something planned for him and Willow.
But why? What made them so unique?
He glanced at the desk where he’d left his grandfather’s journals and his notes about the things his grandfather had been doing. His grandfather had been obsessed with finding a fairy. He hadn’t come out and said why. It almost seemed like he was afraid to admit what was happening. Whatever it was, his grandfather seemed to think if he didn’t find that fairy, it was going to bring disaster to the family.
Could it be possible that his grandfather had succeeded and that the fairy in the gazebo was the one he found?
No, that didn’t seem right. That fairy was trapped in a cage that glowed pink and purple colors when he or Willow touched it. That had to be a fairy Violet had imprisoned. So had his grandfather found another one and brought it here? If so, was it also caged?
His gaze went to Willow. Her head was bowed over the book in her lap. Though he realized there were more important things to give his attention to, he took the moment to stare at her.
It was a pleasure just to watch her. The pleasure went beyond physical desire. Perhaps this was the beginning of love.
He wondered if this was what Francis felt when he looked at Lady Kimberly. Julian had thought Lady Kimberly was a kind lady, but nothing ever stirred up within him when she was around. There was something, however, that seemed to affect him when he was with Willow, and the more time he spent with her, the stronger the feeling became.
Willow glanced up from the book and turned her gaze in his direction. Eyes wide, she asked, “Is there something you found while reading?”
Face warm, he shook his head. “I was just taking a break. I’ll get back to reading now.”
Without waiting for her to respond, he forced his attention back to the book in front of him. He didn’t consider himself to be shy around ladies. He’d talked and danced with plenty of them in London.
But none of them were Willow.
Ignoring the thought, he forced himself to read the words in front of him. He had promised the fairy he would search for a way to release her. The answer was somewhere. If it wasn’t in a book or a journal, then it was somewhere within reach.
If we are able to free the fairy and ourselves from the curse binding us here, will Willow return to her time?
He stopped reading the book. He didn’t like thinking that Willow might return to her time. Magic had brought her here, and it was continuing to keep her here. What if she had the option to go back to the future? Would she take it?
He didn’t suppose it was possible for him to go with her if she had to go back. That thing in the hallway had only worked one way. Was it possible that she would choose to stay here with him? And if she could choose, would she? He was tempted to ask her about it. He even opened his mouth to ask. But, in the end, he turned his attention back to the book and continued to read.
***
“I wonder if there are any other places touched by magic on this property,” Willow said that evening after dinner.
This time, Julian was sitting at the desk with the candle next to him. She was sitting on the settee next to the candelabra. The book was open in front of her, but her gaze was directed at the window. He followed her gaze but didn’t see anything but the outline of the grass and trees in the moonlight.
She looked at him. “I didn’t see the entire property in the future. I only went for a walk around the manor. I don’t recall seeing anything else that was purple. But if I did, it wouldn’t stand out if it was small, would it?” Without waiting for him to respond, she added, “There were the purple nails!”
“Nails?”
“Yes, the ones holding the sheet that covered the mirror that turned out to be a portal between our times. But that was something evident, too. I noticed the sheet the first time I was in that hallway.” She paused, her expression thoughtful. “I searched all through this enormous house when I was in the future, and I don’t recall anything pink or purple except for the nails.”
“There were never nails holding up a sheet over that portal in all the years I’ve been here.”
“The sheet was meant for someone in the future to discover. I have no idea if it was there all along or if Violet waited to put it there when I was due to arrive. Though, if I recall right, the nails were old. If they were old, then that sheet had been there the entire time. I think everyone else ignored it. The only reason I removed it was because I was stuck on this property and got bored.”
“Or maybe you were able to remove the sheet because you signaled the end of the title.”
Her gaze returned to him. “Is a title really that important in England?”
“It’s a gentleman’s legacy. It’s the one thing he has to give to those who come after him.”
“I wonder why Greg Westmore wasn’t trapped here since he was the last man to hold the title. The lawyer only told me a little about him. I never even knew Greg, but I briefly remember the lawyer saying he was the last earl of the estate. I didn’t know what that meant at the time. Being the earl of anything didn’t make any sense to me. All I understood was that I was the next in line to inherit this estate. Greg did have a child. I think it was a boy, but the child died shortly after birth. After that, he and his wife divorced, and he never remarried. That’s all the lawyer told me about him.” She winced. “I’m sorry.”
He wondered if things would end up the same way if the coachman managed to get the missive to Francis. He hoped the course of history would be different now. If Julian wasn’t going to have children, then he hoped Francis would live to marry Lady Kimberly. If they married, it was very possible they’d have children. Perhaps the family line would continue through them.
That was, of course, if the world beyond this property still existed. Without someone coming here, it was impossible to know what was happening beyond the moat.
Since Willow turned her attention back to her book, Julian forced his gaze to the book he was reading. He finished the page he was on and turned it. His eyes widened in surprise. It was a map similar to the ones his grandfather had drawn. He brought the candle closer to the page and studied it. He recognized the general location of the Irish cities, but there were some areas marked on the page that indicated possible fairy septs. He was sure he’d seen one of these areas drawn in detail in one of his grandfather’s journals.
He sorted through the journals until he found the one that contained the maps his grandfather had made. He sorted through each page in the journal until he noticed the one that matched the map in the book. Well, it wasn’t an exact replica, but it was close.
He placed the journal right beside the book and marked the similarities and differences. South of Dublin were mountains. While the map mentioned possible fairy septs, the book didn’t go further than that. His grandfather, however, had gone into more detail. It labeled the septs by name. Julian turned the page in the journal and saw that the next map focused in on one mountain in particular with a series of forests and rivers. His grandfather had given names to the forests and rivers that did not match anything he found in the book. Julian bet each forest was given a particular name that designated a specific family of fairies.
Julian recalled reading the entries about the trips his grandfather had taken to Ireland. His father had mentioned that Julian’s grandfather loved to hike through the mountains. His father had also said Julian’s grandmother had become increasingly upset with Julian’s grandfather as time went on. His father had told Julian that she had termed the trips as “endless pursuits that led to nothing”. Given the fact that Julian’s grandfather had spent twenty-seven years doing this, Julian could understand why, but after seeing the fairy in the gazebo, he suspected his grandfather was desperate to save someone, or something, he loved.
There had to be something that linked his grandfather with Violet, if one could assume Violet hadn’t aged any more than the three animals in the stables had. Could magic keep someone immortal?
The book did say that fairies could live for centuries, possibly even a thousand or so years. They aged much slower than humans. Was it possible Violet was a fairy?
He looked over at Willow. “Can fairies become human?”
“No, they can’t become human, but according to some legends, they can masquerade as one.” Willow straightened up in the settee. “Violet can’t be a fairy. If she was, why not just work her magic directly on me and send me here? Why wait for me to walk through a magical mirror? Violet needed the help of the cat, owl, and horse to maintain the place. She was unable to do all of it on her own. And, we shouldn’t forget, she brought a fairy here and trapped it in a cage. A fairy wouldn’t have to go through all of this trouble when she could do the work herself. Whoever Violet is, she needed help to accomplish her goals. Whatever those goals are.”
Whatever those goals were, it involved him and Willow. And for some reason, they had to be here on this property and in this time.
“My grandfather must have known something about the fairy in the gazebo, or he knew Violet intended to bring the fairy here,” Julian said. “He spent almost thirty years searching for a fairy. He took a lot of trips to Ireland and made journals full of maps. Most of the things I’m finding are maps. I think he finally found a group of fairy families in the mountains just south of Dublin.”
“Do you think he actually found a fairy to help him?”
“Let me check something before I answer that question.”
He turned the page of the journal. He hadn’t seen it at the time, but it just occurred to him that the following pages in the journal right in front of him were maps of the same mountain but from different perspectives. He hadn’t gone through this entire journal yet, but as he flipped through it, he noticed his grandfather had marked areas where he had expected to find fairies, but those areas were crossed out. Fairies, it seemed, were extremely difficult to find.
Considering how one was hidden in a gazebo, invisible to the human eye, Julian could understand his grandfather’s frustration. Without the help of the cat and owl, he and Willow wouldn’t have even suspected the fairy was there.
He came toward the end of the journal and saw that the last few pages were blank. Surprised, he went to the last entry his grandfather had made. It was another map. The area his grandfather drew this time was a group of trees that were intersected by two different rivers. His grandfather had marked an arrow at the intersection.
There was nothing crossed out on this particular page. Julian checked the date on the last entry. His grandfather had made it four years before his death.
“I think he found the fairy he was looking for,” Julian told Willow.
She set the book aside and hurried over to him. “Where did he put it?”
“I haven’t found anything about that,” he said. Afraid she’d be disappointed, he added, “I still haven’t gone through the last journal. There might be something in it about what happened. I’ve been going through these journals in the order he wrote them. At first, his focus was on finding out everything he could about Ireland and the folklore over there. Then, he spent years drawing maps and traveling there. He filled up three journals’ worth of maps. Then suddenly, he stopped. This is the last map he drew.”
He moved the candle so that he could put the journal in front of her.
She leaned toward him, and he suddenly wondered what she would have done if he had kissed her earlier that day when they were at the gazebo. Would she had welcomed it? She hadn’t pulled away from him when he kept holding her hand after they left the gazebo.
“I suppose the arrow indicates where he probably found the fairy,” she said.
He forced his attention back to the map and cleared his throat. “I think so. He had arrows on the other maps, but those were crossed out.”
“They were?” Before he could respond, she turned to the previous page in the journal.
He rose to his feet so he could get a better look at the page she was looking at. He pointed to the arrow that was among all the trees he had drawn. “He thought he could find one here, but the cross he marked through the spot he was looking at indicates he didn’t. He made this map six months before he made this one.” He turned the page to the last map his grandfather had done.
“I didn’t notice that he posted dates in the lower corner of the pages.” She turned to the previous pages and studied the dates. “They vary. Some are a year apart, and others are only months apart.”
“Yes. I’m sure that’s why my grandmother ended up going to London and taking my father and uncle with her.”
“The poor man. He must have felt all alone. He knew something but couldn’t tell anyone.”
“The last journal has no maps in it. There’s only words. I’m going to start on it tomorrow since it’s late.”
“That’s a good idea. I’m too tired to read anything else. Nothing I’ve reread has told me how to get a fairy out of a cage. I don’t know how we’re going to get her out of there.”
“If my grandfather found a fairy like we think, maybe he brought it here. Maybe that fairy can release her.”
“I hope so.”
Since there was nothing else to do for the evening, he blew out the candle on his desk and closed the journal. All at once, his exhaustion began to catch up to him. It’d been a long day, and while he found some answers, there were still more questions.
There never seemed to be a lack of questions. The more he and Willow sought answers, the more questions there seemed to be.
He went to the candelabra on the table next to the place she’d been sitting and picked it up. Then he turned to face her. He took a moment to let his gaze sweep over her. It wasn’t the first time he’d done so, but it was the first time he considered what it might be like if she was Lady Blackwell. She certainly looked the part in the gowns the maid had altered so that they fit her perfectly. Then there was the fact that the maid styled her hair in a manner befitting this century.
He recalled the strange clothes and hair style Willow had had when she crossed over into his time, and that image of her just didn’t fit here. But she fit here now.
Perhaps they could change the future for the better. Already, he had done everything he could to warn Francis not to come here. That meant Francis should go on to live and marry Lady Kimberly. Maybe that meant Julian could go on to marry, too. A marriage with Willow would be very pleasant. Even if they always remained unable to leave the property, they could still make a life here together.
“Julian, are you okay?” Willow asked.
Bringing himself out of his thoughts, Julian forced his attention back to the present. He took a good look at her and noted the curious expression on her face. She really was lovely to look at. He’d like to have the pleasure of looking at her every day for the rest of his life.
He cleared his throat. “I’m fine.” He took her by the arm and led her out of the room. “It’s been a long day. We need to get a good night’s sleep.”
She nodded. “You’re right. We do. I was starting to fall asleep while reading.”
“Then it’s good we stopped when we did.”
They reached the stairs, and he noticed the way she leaned into him. If they were more comfortable with each other, he wondered if she would rest her head on his shoulder. He’d once spotted a lady doing that with her husband when a footman had opened the door of a carriage and thought it was a sweet gesture of affection. It was supposed to be private, of course. The lady hadn’t intended for him to be passing by at the moment to see it. And he had thought that was all the more reason why the gentleman was fortunate.
He knew so little of his parents’ marriage. His mother and father never said anything to make him think they didn’t get along, but there had been a shadow that hovered over their marriage. Perhaps it had something to do with the duel his mother had called a foolish event in his father’s life.
A senseless thing, were his mother’s exact words.
Had it been senseless, or had it been necessary?
The thought startled him, and he paused on the steps.
Willow stopped, too, and turned to look at him. “What is it? Did you forget something in the library?”
“No. I was just thinking about that duel my father was in. What if my father had to do it? What if he had no choice?”
“Well, you said a gentleman has to go into a duel when his reputation is at stake.”
“Yes, but what if there was more than his reputation he was worried about?”
“Your father never spoke to you about the duel though, right?”
“Right, he didn’t. It was only my mother who did, and she didn’t tell me anything except it was senseless.” He paused. “What if it only seemed senseless to her because he knew something she didn’t? Maybe he couldn’t say anything to her because she wouldn’t have believed him. It’s not like I’m about to go around this place and tell the servants there’s a fairy trapped in the gazebo, that I can’t leave this property because of an invisible barrier, or that you’re from the future. They’d never believe any of it.”
“But the butler did see us at the bridge.”
“He saw us at the bridge, but he didn’t see the colors we did, and he didn’t feel the barrier we felt.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Yes, that’s true. He probably thinks we just don’t want to leave.”
He nodded. “Yes, that’s how it would seem to him. And to the servants, it seems like no one was ever stuck in time for two centuries. They would think we’ve gone mad if we said anything to them about it. What if my father couldn’t tell me or my mother what happened because we wouldn’t be able to understand his reason for being in the duel?” Recalling the missive he’d received all those years ago, he added, “That duel had something to do with this curse we’re in. Remember the pieces of the missive we found in the fireplace?”
“Yes, I remember.” She bit her lower lip then said, “Fairies have magic. Even a caged fairy can do something, despite her limitations. I wonder if the fairy can recreate the message.”
“You really think that’s possible?”
“Fairies can do many things. They’re important magical creatures. Leprechauns can grant wishes and hide gold at the end of rainbows, but fairies can do much more.”
That would explain his grandfather’s obsession with finding a fairy as opposed to a creature like a leprechaun. “Tomorrow we’ll go back to the gazebo and see if the fairy will help us restore that missive.”
“If she’ll help us, maybe we can use the information to help her somehow.”
His excitement over the possibility dimmed a bit when he considered she might not want to stay if she was able to leave the property. He debated whether he should voice his concerns as they continued up the stairs.
He couldn’t allow the curse to continue just to keep her with him. That would be wrong. She had to have the freedom to leave if that’s what she wanted.
When they reached her bedchamber, he gently stopped her before she went into her room.
“Willow,” he began, his voice soft, “I want you to know that having you here has been the best thing that’s happened to me. It’s not just because it made time move forward for me again. I mean that I’ve enjoyed your company immensely. Even if there wasn’t a barrier keeping us here, being with you would be wonderful.” Hoping to ease some of the awkwardness he was feeling at admitting his feelings, he playfully added, “And I’m not just saying that because you’re the first lady I’ve spent time with in over two centuries.”
As he hoped, she chuckled, and he felt much better. He hadn’t appreciated just how difficult it must have been for Francis to ask Lady Kimberly if he could be her suitor. He recalled telling Francis to just come out and say what he wanted. Now he understood it was much easier to tell someone to go up to a lady and tell her how he felt than to actually do it.
“I like spending time with you, too,” Willow said. “If I had to be stuck with anyone, you’d be my first choice.”
Taking that as a hopeful comment, he asked, “If we figure out a way to break the curse holding us here, would you be willing to stay with me?”
“Yes, I would.”
Her answer came out as almost a whisper, and he caught the tint of pink in her cheeks that told him while she was pleased with the topic, she experienced the same uncertainty about where things were going that he did. That made him feel more at ease, and this sense of ease emboldened him to take the next logical step.
He brought his hand up to her face and took a moment to caress her cheek. Her skin was as soft as it looked. He cupped the side of her face in the palm of his hand then lowered his head so his lips could brush hers. She didn’t back away, nor did she tell him to stop. Encouraged, he kissed her again, and his heartbeat sped up when he felt her respond to him. He brought his hand down to her waist and drew her closer to him. She, in turn, put her arms around his shoulders and deepened the kiss.
Now there was no doubt in his mind. She felt the same way he did. They would make a good match. While they needed to figure out the details of what to do about the curse, at least he was assured they would be together regardless of the outcome.
When the kiss ended, he whispered, “I suppose it’s too soon to ask you to marry me?” Before she could answer, he added, “I thought I should take advantage of the moment since things are going my way.”
“When you know you’re with the person you’re meant to be with, I see no point in waiting.”
“Then if I send for a vicar first thing in the morning, you’ll say yes when he performs the ceremony?”
The flush of shyness returned to her cheeks, but she answered, “I’ll say yes.”
This was going much better than he had hoped. He parted from her and pinched his arm.
“What are you doing?” she asked in surprise.
“Making sure this isn’t a dream.
She laughed. “If it was a dream, I’d tell you.”
“That wouldn’t work if you were part of the dream.”
He could tell his response had taken her by surprise.
“You said you’ll marry me, and since we’re not dreaming, you have to follow through with your word,” he said.
Amused by his joke, she laughed again. “I’m not going to change my mind. There are some things you just know, and I know I want to be with you.”
This time when he brought her into his arms, he didn’t feel quite so awkward. He gave her another kiss. He would have lingered forever at her lips had he not been pestered by a certain part of him that wanted to do more than kiss her. She was a lady. More than that, she was to be his wife. He would do right by her and wait until they wed before going further.
“I look forward to seeing you in the morning,” he whispered.
“I look forward to seeing you, too.”
Daring to risk tempting the male part of him a bit more, he gave her another kiss. But he had to keep it short. He might have noble intentions, but he was only human. He wished her a good night and waited for her to go to her bedchamber before he retired for the night.