Page 18 of The Uprising
Cara stroked George’s forehead and kissed his cheek. ‘You’d better change out of that damp t-shirt.’ She passed him a fresh one from a newly laundered pile on the nearby chest, and then nipped down to put the kettle on. They sipped their hot tea in bed, but couldn’t settle down to sleep again, so they chatted until the early hours about the possibility of saving Robert from his inevitable premature death. Whichever way they looked at it, they couldn’t see a way to change his fate without jeopardising the fate of the Crown.
‘Perhaps Eddie will have a suggestion about what we can do,’ said Cara, yawning.
‘Did you speak to him since he called the other week?’
‘No, it’s been quite a while. I’ve been so busy whizzing back and forth, it’s no wonder I lose track of time. I don’t remember him calling.’
‘What? We were sitting in the kitchen. It was that evening with the out-of-the-blue torrential rain and I was making spaghetti.’
‘Ah...that explains it. I think it was the moment I first travelled to Tudorville after so long. Now I think of it, I wondered if the call triggered the vortex. What did Eddie say?’
‘Funnily enough, he said he’d been having vivid dreams and it was usually a sign he would travel again. You spoke to him.’
‘It’s a blur.’
‘I didn’t know you’d gone at that second,’ said George, shifting back down into the bed, and covering them both with the duvet.
‘Let’s call Eddie tomorrow. I can’t speak to him in Tudorville because he’s with the children. I can’t say a word to anyone; not even my friend Margaret, obviously. She’d think I was crazy,’ said Cara.
As the sun rose and the birds tweeted jubilantly in the trees, proclaiming the arrival of a bright new day, Cara and George drifted off to sleep in the comfort of one another’s arms.
Grosvenor Square, London, 1848 - Victoriana
When George realised he had been transported back to Victoriana, only a year had passed in present-day time, but eight years had gone by since his previous visit.
Cara had aged slightly but was as stunning as ever. George turned to kiss her goodbye, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, positioning her body against his as they stood in the charming, sunny vestibule of the large elegant townhouse.
‘Don’t forget we have a dinner engagement tonight with Edward and Carlos,’ she said.
‘How could I forget those two, my love? I’m looking forward to seeing them. I’ll be home in a few hours and we can while away the afternoon together. As long as the queen doesn’t have other ideas, that is.’
‘That sounds wonderful. I have my own ideas about what we can get up to this afternoon, so please do your best not to be detained.’
George walked at a brisk pace along Park Lane on his way to Buckingham Palace. He had a ten o’clock audience with Queen Victoria. He wondered whether Albert would be there too; the prince had been absent of late, absorbed in his many projects.
When the queen first summoned George, he was surprised to see the royal couple didn’t present the same close-knit unit as when they were newly-weds in 1840. The prince and the queen had been besotted with one another back then but seemed to have grown apart.
George had been relieved to witness that he and Cara were as much in love as ever, and their marriage was a tremendous success. All seemed much as he had left it, other than they were now back in London after their sojourn in Seville.
He’d been coming and going between present day and Victoriana for a while now. One day he’d woken up and he was here. George still didn’t understand how time travel worked, but he understood enough to know there was no point fighting it because he would lose. If the vortex called, you had no choice but to enter.
He and Cara had dared hope that this part of their life was over, but now he was experiencing the same frustrations as Cara when she travelled between the present-day and Tudorville.
He’d used the Cornelius code, and Cara had no idea what he was talking about. George sighed. It would be so much easier if both of them were conscious of all the timelines all the time. Or would it? Perhaps it was this way for a reason.
George had a philosophical approach to life and liked to believe that everything-happened-for-a-reason, but he struggled to understand the reason for their multiple timeline travel.
Cara’s friend, Sylvia said they were time travelling again for their Twin Flame mission, and their souls were being called to evolve in a spiritual sense, and their lack of memory in the timelines signified they weren’t fully awakened yet. He thought some of what Sylvia said was a load of romantic poppycock, but he couldn’t argue with the reality of time travel.
Sometimes he wished they could live an ordinary life again like their recent happy year in present-day York, but on days such as this he was thrilled with the joy of being alive in 1848. What could be more exciting than serving Queen Victoria in her prime? By some strange twist of fate, he was blessed, and today he felt it.
The footman ushered him into the grand drawing room where the queen liked to receive her callers.
‘Good morning, Lord Cavendish,’ Queen Victoria greeted him with a warm smile. ‘It’s good to have you back in London. It seems the past years you’ve spent most of your time between Seville and York, and while you’ve been of great service as my spy at a distance, it’s far more convenient, and entertaining, may I add, to have you nearby as my confidant.’
She smiled and gestured for him to take a seat on the dark red velvet chair opposite her.
‘I’m always honoured to be of service, Your Majesty. It appears we have more than enough troubles in our own backyard to keep us occupied.’
