Page 100 of Right Place, Right Time
‘Good. I’m glad you do.’
I feel bad now for making light of the situation and I want to make it up to him.
‘You know, if you really want to go back to 1904 to see your mother, Ben, then I think I can help you do it. If you’re absolutely sure, that is?’
Ben’s dark brown eyes, that always seem to twinkle, suddenly shine that extra bit brighter. ‘Eve, I’ve never been surer of anything in my whole life – all one hundred and thirty years of it.’
34
‘Are you absolutely sure about this, Ben?’ I ask him the next day as we wait for the moment when the sun moves onto the hidden building in Clockmaker Court.
‘Perfectly sure,’ Ben says, standing tall next to me. Adam and Barney are already down in the office waiting.
Yesterday was a tough one for many reasons.
After I returned from Ben’s shop and reported our conversation back to Adam and Barney, I then talked to both Harriet and Luca separately on the bench under the oak tree, while Adam and Barney took it in turns to watch their shops. I told them what we now knew and asked whether either of them wanted to join Ben in attempting to return to their past lives.
Harriet’s reply was simple – a very clear and adamant no. She told me she was incredibly happy living here with Rocky and she never ever wanted to go back again. But she wished us luck on our quest to help Ben.
‘What you’re doing is wonderful,’ she told me before she returned to Rocky. ‘If anyone deserves a last moment of happiness, it’s our Ben. We’ll miss him here in Clockmaker Court, of course – it won’t be the same without him. But I know he’s doing the right thing for him.’ Then, to mysurprise, she hugged me. Which was so unlike Harriet that it actually left me speechless as she walked back across the court to her shop.
Luca’s answer to my question was undecided. He wavered between wanting to go and being scared to return. ‘I need to think about it, darling,’ he told me eventually. ‘It’s such a big decision. I’m just not sure yet.’
‘That’s absolutely fine,’ I told him. ‘I know it’s a tough decision to make.’
‘Are you cross with me?’ Luca asked anxiously. ‘Because I didn’t tell you my secret?’
I hesitated. Even though I know why Luca and the others have never said anything, I couldn’t help but feel a little upset by them keeping their past lives a secret from me.
‘No, I’m not cross as such – how can I be? If you’d told me the truth, I’d have thought you were crazy. It’s not your fault you had to keep it a secret. But it does feel like I don’t truly know who you are any more.’
‘Oh, beautiful, I’m so very sorry,’ Luca said, taking both my hands in his. ‘Of course you know who I am – I’m exactly the person you knew before. I’m just a few decades older than you thought! Look on it like I’ve had really good Botox, if it makes it easier!’
He was right, of course. These people are exactly the same people that I knew before. Their personalities aren’t any different now I know where they came from – they are just older and they’ve been carrying the weight of a huge secret with them for many years. A secret that I already know is going to weigh heavily on my shoulders now I’m a part of it too.
‘It might do,’ I said, smiling at him. ‘You know, I wondered why my Luca was such an expert on the SecondWorld War. I thought you were some sort of secret history buff. Little did I know you actually came from that era.’
‘Ha, I nearly gave myself away that evening, didn’t I? Annie and Ed were really impressed by my knowledge too.’
‘It’s a shame you weren’t related to them. It would have been nice for you to find out something about your family.’
‘Who said we aren’t?’ Luca raised his eyebrows mischievously at me. ‘I found out Ed’s grandmother is actually my second cousin.’
‘What?’
‘I couldn’t tell them that, obviously. But it was good to know I have some family still in this life, even if I can’t find out too much about what happened to my own from back then.’
‘It’s amazing the pull you feel towards anyone who might have been your family, isn’t it?’ I told him, thinking of Dotty and the incredibly strong connection I felt towards her.
Luca nodded. ‘That’s what I’ve always found lovely about Clockmaker Court. We’re like a little family here. For whatever reason, we’ve all been orphaned from our original families, but because of that, we’ve all bonded and made our own unique little family right here.’
‘Gosh, I’ve never really thought about it like that. That’s really lovely, Luca, thank you.’ Leaning forward, I gave him a big hug. ‘You know, if you do decide to go back, I’ll support your decision, of course. But I will miss you terribly.’
‘Not as much as I’d miss you, my lovely.’
Now, as I stand waiting with Ben just in front of the oak tree, I’m reminded once more of those conversations.For today is the day we are attempting to send him back to 1904.
We all gathered to say goodbye and it was a tearful few minutes as Ben bade farewell to everyone. Now we are all waiting for the minutes to tick by until the sun moves into the right place and it’s the right time to instruct the portal to open on our requested year.
