“Please don’t,” she groaned, leaning over. “I can’t think about things like that.”
“Sorry, but we need to be careful. What if we get the wrong Uncle Julian?”
“If he grabs us and tries to throttle us, we’ll know we have the right one. And this is almost twenty years before when we came. The other one won’t look the same. And he’ll be wearing ridiculous clothes like you are now.” She was beginning to relax enough to make a joke at Owen’s expense and ruffled the lace cuffs hanging out of his richly adorned jacket sleeves.
“They dressed like peacocks back then,” he said scornfully. She took him in, smiling broadly. He did look handsome, though. “Your gown is pretty, though. You do look like your mum.”
She held out the heavy, pale green fabric, admiring the fine stitches. Her mother always took such care with everything she made. “She said this was the first gown she designed and helped to make when she first arrived in this time. This ball we’re going to see is where she thinks my father fell in love with her. But she said she was already in love with him. I’ve already heard stories like that, but it makes such a difference knowing she came from a different time. I don’t know why it should, but it does.”
“I imagine she gave up a lot to be with him. My mum only had to move a few miles away to be with my dad and it seems like she was over here most of the time anyway. It’s odd she used to be friends with Lucy’s mum. Er, your aunt, I suppose.”
No one spoke about her father’s twin sister. Ariana wondered if they’d ever get the whole story about that.
“I’m wearing it because she hopes if my father sees me in it, he’ll remember what’s important and see reason,” she said, gently straightening some of the small, tidy ruffles. It was hopelessly out of style for her own liking, but it was a beautiful gown. “I think he should see reason when he sees I’m all right and tell him Nick didn’t have anything to do with it.”
Owen snorted. “He chickened out is more like. And the only thing your Da knows is that the scoundrel did kill you once. Or tried to.” He looked briefly confused but shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what really happened. Uncle Julian won’t want to leave anything to chance.”
“What do we do if that’s the case?” She couldn’t let her father kill Nick. She didn’t think her family could recover from that.
Owen didn’t look pleased and she suspected he secretly wanted Nick completely out of the picture. “If we have to, we’ll bash him over the head, truss him up, and take him back that way.” He snickered, then immediately sobered. “Let’s pray he sees reason.”
“Let’s pray we’re not too late.” She gathered her courage and nodded toward the attic door. “I guess we’re stalling again. Let’s go see if there’s a party afoot and then look for him. I do hope mum’s right and this is when he came.”
He took her hand and led the way down the spiral stairs, both of them keeping their heads low to avoid more cobwebs. As they got to the lower floors Ariana heard music drifting up from the direction of the big formal dining room that was used as a small ballroom whenever they had such parties at the Scotland estate.
“Let’s go outside and look in from the terrace,” Owen suggested. “Less chance of us being seen.”
It was a good idea so she followed. The somewhat stilted music got louder and she nearly jumped out of her skin when someone hit a wrong note on their violin, causing a painful squealing sound followed by a smattering of laughter from the revelers.
“The village musicians were as bad back then as they are now,” she said, realizing they must have been the exact same musicians, just much younger. She knew them. In fact, she probably knew most of the people who were in there dancing, but they wouldn’t know her at all.
Outside on the terrace they found a spot hidden behind an overgrown potted shrub where they could see inside.
“There,” Owen said within seconds of getting settled in his spot. He pointed, his finger following a couple on the dance floor.
Because it was dark outside and the ballroom was lit up spectacularly for the occasion, she could easily see inside. She was distracted by trying to pick out all the differences to the room she knew, trying to recognize the villagers’ younger selves. Finally, she settled on who Owen pointed at and gasped.
Her mother and father. They danced almost scandalously close together and she could see how radiantly happy her mother looked. Her father looked somewhat befuddled, as if he really were falling in love right before her eyes. Her vision grew cloudy with tears but they were tears of happiness and wonder and she didn’t bother to wipe them away.
“You could be twins,” Owen said.
“She was so lovely,” Ariana said at the same moment, blushing at inadvertently giving herself a compliment. “It really is the same dress, just in better shape. And he’s even more of a peacock than you are.”
She wished she could race into the crowd of dancers and throw her arms around them both. As if sensing the urge, Owen put his hand on her arm and they continued to watch in fascination. Aunt Serena appeared a few moments later, directing some servants who were laden with covered trays. Ariana had always thought petite, blonde Serena was beautiful, but this younger version of her beloved aunt took her breath away.
“Da said mum used to be a real snob,” Owen said, smiling at the mother who didn’t know him yet. “But I think she’s just a bit shy and it came across like that.”
Ariana nodded,
