They actually cast each other nervous looks. Good. They deserved to shake in their pants a little bit.
She wasn’t leaving Nicholas and it was time these two knew it. He looked drained of color when she met his gaze, so maybe he needed to know it, too. “Now, you can go and find someone else to take to the future with you, because it won’t be me. I won’t leave my husband. I couldn’t live without him.”
They looked as if they wanted to say more—to deny her, but then they both looked at Elia, oddly, at the same time. “She may go in your place.”
“What?”
“No!” Nicholas turned to her. “No.”
“The ladies want her,” Sir Gawaine said.
Nicholas spun around on him. “Find someone else!”
Gawaine and Luke drew their swords and Nicholas and Charlie drew theirs.
“Stop it this instant!” Elia warned them through tight lips. “Kes and I will not put up with this much longer. Now speak patiently with each other or we will leave.”
The men stared at her in silence for a moment.
“I will gladly show you patience, Elia,” Nicholas was the first to speak. “Please do the same for me. Do not consider this.”
“But I do,” she told him. “I want to go ahead and find Charles Lancaster and help him heal if I can.” She looked at Kes and smiled.
“Give this until morning to decide,” he allowed, “and if you do decide to go, at least you will have given me a little more time with you.”
She nodded and looked at Sir Gawaine.
“Wait,” Kes interrupted. “You said the brooch wasn’t working right. What guarantee is there that she will go to the correct time?”
“If she doesn’t,” Luke told her with a handsome smile. “We will go get her and try again.”
That didn’t sound too promising. Kes gave Elia a worried look. Elia smiled at her in return.
“We’ll talk more about this, yes?”
“Yes,” Elia echoed with a tender smile.
Kes hated to lose her. She couldn’t imagine how Nicholas must feel. She was sorry she had told him about Elizabeth.
“We shall meet you outside the inn in the morning,” Gawaine announced. “You will give us your decision then.”
They agreed, albeit, Nicholas did so sounding more like a bear than a man. He dismissed Charlie when his first vowed to keep what he’d seen and heard to himself. In fact, Charlie admitted with a laugh that he didn’t understand what in blazes they were all talking about anyway.
The three of them continued on to the inn in silence. Kes felt responsible for Nicholas’ pain. If she hadn’t come here, he wouldn’t have to give up the woman who’d been like a mother to him.
Oh, what would Elia do in the twenty-first century? If she insisted on going, Kes wouldn’t let her go in blind. The shock of everything would be too much. She had told Elia much already. Come to think of it, Elia always wanted to hear about her century.
When they arrived at the inn, Nicholas ordered three tankards of ale to be brought up to one of the rooms.
They had much to discuss.
Nicholas and Elia sat in two of the chairs by the hearth in the room, while Kes sat at the edge of the bed.
Elia listened patiently to Nicholas’ thoughts and concerns and did her best to explain to him that this was what she wanted, no matter the risks.
“I have no regrets, Nicky. Not one. But I want my own adventure now. ’Tis being offered to me. I must accept it.”
“But we will never see each other again,” he lamented. “’Tis like you are dying.”
Kes wiped her eyes. There had to be a way to find some good in this this.
“Find my father.”
Elia nodded. “I will do my best.”
Kes smiled and left the bed to kneel at Elia’s chair and took her hand. “I feel very happy about it. You can tell him about me. Tell him I told you about the time my appendix nearly burst when I was a baby, and how I wanted to marry a cartoon dog when I was a little girl. That should help him to believe you.”
Elia laughed. “All right, but what is appendix and a cartoon?”
Kes explained both, once again realizing how terribly shocking the twenty-first century was going to be. “Listen, Elia, when you get there, depending on where you land, just keep a clear head. If you are outside, remember East Sixty-second Street. Find a way to get there even if you have to walk. You’ll need money. You can ask people. There will be a lot of people. Oh, a lot, Elia.”
Her friend smiled, as if to reassure her.
“When you find East Sixty-second…say it. East Sixty-second Street.”
“East Sixty-second Street.”
“Good. Look at the doorways on the buildings. Find the number fifty-five. Go inside. You will see a man at a desk. Tell him you’re there to see Art Lancaster. If he tells you my father is away, tell him a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
“That is pretty.”
“It’s a line from a Shakespearean play. It’s a code my dad and I use to let the doorman know to let me in. If you know the code, you can get in. Now this is a lot to take in, so let’s practice while I tell you about cars and lights and horns.”
“Do you think he could have something to do with this whole King Arthur thing?” Elia asked her.
“Because his name is Arthur?” Kes laughed softly. “I doubt it, but he has always been very knightly.”
“His name is Arthur?” Nicholas looked up.
“Yes. Charles Arthur.
“Oh, what an adventure that would
