Page 18 of The Girl Out of Time
“Don’t talk to your mother like that,” Father said.
“Like what?” She stopped herself from crossing her arms over her chest.
“And from the description, that’s the same young man you were playing shuffleboard with yesterday,” Father said, ignoring her stab.
“You were spying on me?”
“Iinquiredabout your companion after I saw you run away,” he said. “Another player told me this young man had attempted to get close to you.”
John. That little snitch. “Oh, as if John didn’t try doing the same!”
Father’s eyes widened, and Mother’s expression mirrored his in a second.
Oops.
“Emmeline, what’s going on?” Mother asked.
“Nothing!”
“So the gymnasium attendant, coming to tell me my daughter has not only snuck into the gymnasium during off-hours but did so with a member of the opposite sex, is nothing?” Father’s voice rose slightly.
“She did what?” Mother looked at him. “When?”
“This morning.”
Mother whipped her head back to Emmeline. “While you were supposedly ill?”
“Fine.” Emmeline spread her arms. “So I found a friend and wanted to spend some time with him. What’s so wrong about that?”
“Who is he?” Mother asked.
“What does it matter?”
“It matters because you’re a young lady—”
Here we go again.
“—and you cannot consort with whoever you please!”
“You’ll stay by your mother’s side or my side tomorrow,” Father said. “I’ll not have you cause any more trouble on this ship. And you’re not to see him anymore.”
“But—”
“You may go to your room now.”
Emmeline felt the rebellious need to ignore his directive—solely because he told her so—but at the same time, she wanted to be alone. So she left without another word, closed the door of her cabin behind her, and crashed onto her bed. She pressed the silk rose to her lips, but pleasant memories of the past evening were rapidly drowning in the looming misery of the future days.
She admired her father for how honorable and trustworthy he was, but in this case, it meant he’d stick to his words. She’d never see Leon again.
Sniffling, she turned off the electric lamp and went to sleep.
Chapter 5
Emmeline spent the better part of Sunday chained to her mother’s side. Through breakfast, hymn singing in the dining saloon, and an afternoon in the lounge, Mother kept her close at all times, with a touch on the shoulder, arm, or back here and there, as if wanting to make sure Emmeline hadn’t conjured up an illusion of herself and run away.
After a cup of tea and three rounds of bridge, Emmeline’s mind began to wander. She leaned back in her plush green-and-gold armchair and gazed out the window. The lounge, with its high ceiling, opulent oak and gold-embellished paneled walls, and stained-glass bay windows, looked more like a room in the Versailles palace than one on a ship. But the coals in the marble-topped fireplace were only a smokescreen for the electric heater, and if Emmeline closed her eyes and focused on the floor beneath, like Leon had instructed her when they played shuffleboard, she could feel the ever-so-slight sway.
When she opened her eyes again, a figure was standing outside one of the windows.
