Page 15 of Enchanted in Time
“Agreed!”
“But now you need to go. You don’t want to be too late getting to the ball!”
“We’ll take you down to the coach, Mommy!” Emi cried excitedly, already putting on her sandals. Leon was also slippingon his shoes, and even Marco was putting on his sneakers. The three of them raced ahead as Hannah hesitated and looked around. She had no matching shoes! Which of her well-worn high-heeled sandals would look best? The dress was so long that no one was likely to see what she wore on her feet. Even so, she heaved an inward sigh. She had no wish to embarrass herself at this event, to ruin this strange and wondrous experience with worn-out and inappropriate footwear!
Frieda pulled something out of the bag that held her sewing things. It was a pair of red velvet slippers—like something out of a fairy tale. They had a low heel and a pretty buckle that glowed in the same red as the shoes themselves and Hannah’s dress. They were simple and classic at the same time. “I brought these for you. Put them on, Hannah.”
“Where did you get these, Frieda? They’re not from this century, are they?”
Frieda chuckled and winked at her. “I have my sources. Now come try them on.”
Hannah took the slippers and put them on her feet. They fit like a glove. And they were so delightfully comfortable that she couldn’t help wondering how she would ever manage to wear another pair of shoes. She looked at her neighbor, beaming. “They fit perfectly, Frieda!”
Her elderly neighbor smiled and nodded in encouragement. Hannah felt a bit as if she were doing her neighbor a favor and not the other way around. She gave the elderly woman a hug. “Thank you.”
In her full dress, she could only take the high, narrow steps at a very slow pace. Frieda followed behind her and was helping to lift her skirt off the floor when something occurred to Hannah. “Sometimes at night, a couple of drunks will be wailing out on the street. That often startles Leon and Emi awake, and then they’ll cry out?—”
“I shall take care of them until you return, just as if they were my own children.”
Hannah sighed with relief.
As they stepped out onto the street, she paused. Astounded, she again surveyed the magnificent fairy-tale coach and six white horses. Her gaze fell upon the elderly gentleman who was sitting on the box and giving her a friendly look. He climbed down from the coach box, doffed his shiny top hat, and bowed deeply. As he did so, the few white hairs on his head blew back and forth in the wind. Then he opened the door to the coach. “My dear lady, if you would kindly step inside. We don’t want to be late.”
“Oh, Mommy, how magical!” Emi cried as she and Leon jumped up and down, each one outdoing the other.
Incredulous, Hannah looked at the coach, the coachman, and the horses and pinched her arm. Was all this really happening? Her arm hurt where she’d pinched it.
A loud honking sound came from behind the coach. A man in a dark sportscar was yelling out the window, “What are you doing? Keep moving, Grandpa! I’m in a hurry!”
So he could see the coach, too.
“One moment, please, dear sir!” the coachman called out in a kindly tone.
A group of teenagers, all hunched over their smartphones, was walking by on the other side of the street. One of the girls looked up and whacked her friend in the side. “That’s fire! Look, Kat, are they shooting a movie over there?”
“I’ll google it quick. Is the one in the red dress an actor?”
Hannah smiled and gave her two youngest children a big hug. “Now you listen to what Frieda tells you, all right? Promise?”
“Yeah!” Emi and Leon answered at one and the same time.
“You, too!” She turned to her oldest child and hugged him close.
Marco nodded.
“We’ll be fine!” Frieda exclaimed, beaming. “Your angels are in good hands with me, Mrs. Meyer—Hannah, I mean.”
Hannah smiled and hugged her neighbor, who laughed out loud. Then she turned to her three children, who hadn’t been out of her sight for a single day since Andrew’s death, and she hesitated. Should she really do this? Should she get in the coach?
The coachman held out his hand to help her climb in, and Frieda nudged her from behind. “Come now, off you go—a prince must not be made to wait!”
6
The coachman steered the horses out of the bustling city and onto a smaller side street. Hannah immediately noticed they had left the big city and main road behind. The loud honking and reckless passing maneuvers that had followed them up to now had finally ceased. How impatient people were these days! And people hadn’t gone as quicky before, either.
A short while later, they were galloping down the small road leading directly to the forested area that was the site of the Lichtenberg Castle ruin. It was an idyllic forest. The birds were singing, and the light of the summer evening sun was casting a golden glow on the leaves and needles of the trees and shrubs that rose up on either side.
Hannah was growing more and more nervous with every passing minute. She kept looking out the carriage window at the forest. She was trying to make out the way they were going, but the window was too small. She couldn’t see ahead. When the path turned, she looked back again, and on catching a glimpse of the bumpy road, she froze.
