Page 47 of The Uprising
‘Yes, that’s it. Our bedchamber—that way we’ll seeChelsea at Dawnevery morning as we awaken. What a perfect way to start the day.’
She turned to George and kissed him. ‘Thank you so much. I adore it. It’s the most gorgeous picture I’ve ever seen.’
‘I knew you would love it,’ he said. ‘I wished I could take a photograph of the river for you when I was on my way over, and then I found this.’
‘A photograph. How on earth would you take a photograph? You need all kinds of special equipment for that, don’t you? I was reading about it recently.’
‘Yes, it’s such a shame. In the future, we’ll all have camera’s in our pockets, but for now we’ll enjoy this glorious painting instead.’
‘A camera in our pocket? However, do you come up with these strange notions?’
George laughed, and said, ‘Never mind about my vivid imagination, let’s drink our tea and then go and see about a frame, shall we?’
‘That sounds lovely. Is the danger over, then? Is Swifty safe now?’ Cara asked.
‘I think we are all safe now that the police are onto the gang who kidnapped him. I spoke to the Chief of Police who isan excellent fellow. He said they have a handle on where they’re holding him, and that they are petty criminals. He doesn’t believe there is any serious danger, and they are going to rescue him later.’
‘The poor boy must be terrified,’ said Cara.
‘I have every faith in his fortitude. The police are hoping he will lead them to the ringleaders who they suspect are planning more serious attacks across the country and against the Crown, so they’re monitoring them carefully.’
‘You talk as though you know the boy well. I had understood you’d only met him briefly for the first time at the palace, the other day.’
‘Let’s just say, I get a sense about some people, and I knew immediately we could trust him.’ George shrugged.
‘Well, I hope he feels the same, after his terrible ordeal, or he may wish never to see you again.’
‘Oh, he’ll see me again, all right,’ said George.
Cara studied her husband’s smiling face. Sometimes she was curious about his strange responses—it was as though he knew something she didn’t; as if he could see far into the future. She trusted him one hundred per cent, so she shook off her suspicion.
Rose Cottage, York - Present day
Cara and Eddie waited for George to return from taking a phone call in the study, so he could fill them in on more details of his Turner escapade. So far, all they knew was he’d been successful in purchasing a painting.
‘George must have inadvertently created a quantum time loop,’ said Eddie, rubbing his thumb back and forth across his bottom lip.
‘A what? What on earth is that?’
‘It’s a virtuous circle of time, whereby what originally happened has now been rewritten. George buying a Turner will carve out an alternative history and reset the course of the previous timeline. If my theory is correct, it will now be as if the painting wasn’t recorded previously. We have no way of knowing what happened to it in the first round of events or whether it was ever exhibited.’
‘Does it matter?’ asked Cara, frowning.
‘Let’s hope not,’ he replied.
‘Oh no, that sounds dark. Do you think there will be repercussions from such a small tweak of events?’
‘As in, aside from you being able to sell an undiscovered Turner work of art for millions of pounds?’
‘Um, well, yes...when you put it like that, it doesn’t sound like a small tweak,’ said Cara.
‘To answer your question—honestly—I don’t know, but we will see soon enough as things unfold.’
Cara looked at Eddie and considered his prediction of a quantum time loop. ‘Why didn’t you mention this before?’
‘I didn’t want to worry you unnecessarily,’ he said.
George wandered into the kitchen.
