Section I, Section II, Section III, Section IV, Section V

Chapter 17

Alexander looked at her drawn face, grey eyes filled with the hurt and pain of whatever she was to tell him. "I did not mean that you had to tell me earlier today," he said.

"I want to tell you. You were right. I left you floundering at my mother's today, without telling you everything."

He nodded. "All right."

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Kelsey began her story.

"I was a junior in college, about twenty," she said. "I ran with a bad crowd in high school, but I was really an innocent. Most of the kids I hung out with had a lot of problems at home, and I'm not talking just verbal arguments like my parents had. They had parents who would beat each other up, and sometimes them. They were really tough, not like me. But they hung out with me because we were all looking for an escape. I'd never done anything truly shocking except for the arrest. I was hoping to make a new start when I moved out of the house. When Mom and Dad had announced that they were finally getting a divorce, Maddie buried herself in her schoolwork. And that's when I met John.

"He was a friend of the grad assistant in my psych class. The grad assistant asked me out, and John was his roommate. We went on our date, and came back to his apartment, and there was John, sitting on the couch watching wrestling. The grad assistant turned out to be a real creep. He asked me to join him in his bedroom and when I refused, he threw me out of the apartment and refused to give me a ride home. This was October, and it was kind of cold out.

"So I figured I was totally screwed, because my dorm room was five miles away from his apartment. I had walked maybe a few blocks when a car honked its horn behind me. I was terrified for a moment that some guy was about to attack me, and so I walked faster. That's when he yelled at me to please stop so he could give me a ride back. I turned around at the sound of his voice, because I knew it wasn't the creep...it was John.

"He started to take me back, apologizing for his roommate almost the entire time. He said that Daniel--that was his name--was a real jerk, and he couldn't figure out what a nice girl like me saw in him. That's got to be the corniest line in the book, and I fell for it. We got to talking and before I knew it, we were at this all-night cafe, drinking espressos and talking about all sorts of things. It was like I had found someone who was almost my soulmate. His parents were divorced, and mine were divorcing. We both liked classical music and hated country. He even liked Jane Austen, and most of the guys I ran around with had never even heard of her.

"So we just kept talking and talking, and before I realized it, it was morning. I told him that Maddie was probably worried about me, so he took me back to the dorm. Maddie wasn't all that worried, except when she realized that the man who dropped me off wasn't the one who had picked me up.

"A couple of days later, John called me--I figured he had gotten my number from his roommate, so I wasn't surprised to hear from him. He'd gotten tickets to see some musical at the Fox, and he asked me to go with him. I agreed. We ended up staying up all night talking again. I came back to the dorm. This got to be a pattern, only it was beginning to happen every night. I was falling in love, and nothing else mattered to me. Not school, not my parents, not Maddie. That's when she and I first started fighting. She thought I was getting involved with him too fast, and I told her that she knew nothing about it. As it turned out, of course, she was right.

"I was so convinced that he was the one, because of all the talking we'd done and all the things we had in common and he was absolutely fascinated by me. But I should have seen something that I didn't--he asked me quite often what I thought of having children, and if I believed that marriage was forever. Other things. He once asked me if I would forgive him anything, and that was after we'd started sleeping together. I told him that of course I would.

"Then he suddenly asked me to marry him. This was about a month after we'd known each other. We'd been sleeping together for about two weeks. He told me that he would be able to take care of me, that I could drop out of school and we'd be able to live on his salary. He was living in an apartment with a roommate, and he was suddenly going to be able to support two people? And that didn't even cover if we had a baby. I found out later--much later--exactly why he'd been so certain that he could support us both. His boss had told him that he had potential, but the company thought married men were better representatives. They're a very conservative corporation. Back then, I didn't care. He could have told me that was the main reason he was marrying me, and I still would've done it. Here he was asking me to marry him, and I loved him so much that I only had a few doubts. And those he took care of, because he had so much confidence. I believed him. And I married him."

Kelsey's voice tightened. "We eloped to Las Vegas. We were married in the Wee Wedding Chapel of Love. I called my family from a hotel room John rented. My mother was furious, because I'd married a man she'd never met and had only heard bad things about from Madeline. And given how she felt about me all my life, it only confirmed her stereotype that I was headed for trouble. Maddie was so angry with me, and we had the fight that caused us not to speak for two years. She essentially said that I had made a monumental mistake, and she wasn't going to be there to support me when I realized it. After that, I was absolutely terrified of my father's reaction, but all he did was ask me one question--he asked if I was happy. I told him that I was, and he said, 'I'm happy for you too, sweetheart.'

"I started crying. My father and I talked for two hours about the past, and how he felt he'd messed things up for me and Maddie. When I finally hung up, we had reached a new...well, we had a different relationship. It's better than the one my sister has with him, but she was Mama's girl so it's different for her.

"Anyway, when John and I returned from Vegas, I found out that he had arranged for us to get an apartment of his own. I didn't tell you what John did for a living, did I?" Alexander shook his head. "He works for Lymon, Ltd. as one of their executives. They're a conglomerate of sorts. He made pretty good money. He said he'd been saving it for something special, and he considered me to be it.

"Everything was so perfect in the first year we were married. I never questioned anything. When I became pregnant with Emma about four months after we were married, it seemed so right, to have the baby then. John had been promoted, and he was on the fast track to becoming a major part of Lymon, and I had dropped out of school and had nothing better to do with my life. A baby would be the perfect addition.

"After Emma was born...things began to change. It was little things at first. I knew John had really wanted a boy, and he was a little distant from Emma, but I didn't really notice it. He pronounced that he was pleased with his daughter, and he had run out and bought a storeful of toys for her to play with before I even came home from the hospital. But even then, I should've seen that he was really disappointed.

"Then he began to...it felt to me like he began to resent the attention I gave her. If I spent an hour reading to her so she would sleep, even if she went to bed at six, he would still be a little upset when I came back to him. Plus, Emma's birth was a very difficult one for me. I was in labor for thirty hours before she was finally born. Sex before Emma had been satisfactory for me, if not what I thought it would be..." Kelsey started to blush. "I had thought it would get better once I'd done it more. I'd told you before that I'd never slept with anyone but John, and..."

"You thought it was your fault, not his."

"Right. After Emma's birth, though, it wasn't even satisfactory anymore. And before I knew it, John and I were hardly ever..." Kelsey hung her head, not wanting to tell him this next part, knowing she had to. "There were nights when he would come home late from work, and I would be in the mood and he wouldn't be. The things I tried to get him to sleep with me...I didn't know that...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

"My mother came to visit me in the hospital, as pleased as anything with my daughter. She instantly 'forgave' John for running off with her wild daughter by welcoming him into her family with open arms. For a brief time, she paid a good deal of attention to me. And to Emma. I have a strange feeling, though, that Emma will immediately take second place to any child Maddie has, if and when she has children.

"Maddie still hadn't forgiven me...I can't say I blame her. We'd said so many hurtful things to each other that night on the phone. I immediately wanted to take them back, but you can't do that. So we didn't talk for another year, when Emma was a year old. Mom threw Emma's birthday party and Maddie was there. That's when we talked, but even then, we didn't forgive each other. I have a feeling that that's when John hit on her, even if she won't say. In time, we forgave each other. And we've grown closer...well, until the divorce. Maddie's not the type who can let something pass if she was right, and I got tired of hearing her saying 'I told you so' every day. But it's not like when I married him, otherwise I wouldn't be the matron of honor at her wedding."

Kelsey could feel herself rambling, not wanting to tell him the worst of it. But she knew she had to.

"About two years ago, John came home from the office early to tell me that it was time we revitalized our marriage. He said that we'd been getting stale. That hurt so much, because I thought we were doing okay. If there wasn't a lot of passion in our marriage, we still had a lot of things in common. We were still able to talk as friends for the most part. We had a child together, and that made every day seem like an adventure. I thought things were fine. Nothing seemed wrong.

"But here was John, saying that the marriage was stale for him. I...the irony was, I never wanted a marriage like my parents'. They stayed together only for me and Maddie, not because they loved or even cared about each other anymore. It would be safe to say they hated each other. And here I was, afraid that my husband didn't care about me anymore, and yet I wanted to stay together. I needed him. He was really my lifeline, because I stayed home with Emma. I hadn't finished my degree. I wanted to be a writer, but I hadn't had the time or the inclination to start writing...and of course, John said that we didn't need another income, so why should I bother taking a chance away from someone who deserved to be published and needed the money. I thought he was right. I was supposed to be so bright, and tough, and I fell for every stupid trick in the book without a whimper. All because I thought I loved him.

"John sat down a listed everything he thought was wrong with our marriage. He started with sex and ended with Emma. I...started reading manuals on how to be a better lover. It wasn't his idea, but he liked it when he found out I was doing it. God, they were so humiliating. I thought that...that if you loved someone, it was supposed to feel right. And at first, it did feel right with John, even if it wasn't perfect. When I started reading those books, it didn't even feel right anymore. And I went with his suggestions that we try the things...God, I was pathetic." This came out with such scathing disgust that Alexander wondered how she had ever gotten through it.

"As far as Emma went, John thought it would be a good idea if we hired a live-in nanny to take care of her. I told him that the idea was completely ridiculous, since I was home all day and could easily take care of Emma myself. But John told me that maybe it was trying to keep up with Emma that made me so exhausted at the end of the day...as though the fact that our sex life was virtually nonexistent was my fault. So I told him that maybe we could have a baby-sitter take care of her at times, so I could get out more. And he agreed that that would be the best thing. So we hired Sharisse...Shari. She was an eighteen-year-old college freshman who needed extra money. She seemed to be genuinely fond of kids, and Emma took to her right away.

"It was a surprise to me, but for a while, I found that John's idea had worked. I felt a lot freer when I wasn't tied to Emma constantly. It felt bad at first, but it made sending her to preschool a lot easier. Plus, I got back into life again. I didn't want to return to school, since that would mean homework which would cut into my time with John, but I found other ways of taking up time. I volunteered at the hospital. I shopped some days. I met with old school friends and got closer to Maddie. I believed...things were going a lot better in our marriage. John seemed happy. That was what mattered most." Kelsey's eyes began to tear, and she turned away. Alexander turned her around to face him again.

"Deep down inside, I knew John still wanted a son. I had been hesitant--they say you forget the pain of childbirth soon after, but really I hadn't. I still remembered the thirty hours of hell. We didn't discuss the issue much. Ten months ago, I finally made the decision. I was ready to have another baby. I was standing in the Galleria, in one of the stores, and I decided right there. I had to tell John, so I stopped by Lymon. His secretary told me that he'd gone home, so that's where I went." Tears rolled unchecked down her cheeks, and her voice quivered.

"I came home and didn't say anything. I didn't see Emma anywhere, but it was time for her nap so I wasn't bothered by it. I heard moaning...coming from upstairs. It was John. I thought he was sick, so I came running up to see if I could do anything...He was...in bed, with Sharisse. Making love to her, in the middle of the afternoon, with our daughter sleeping just down the hall...in my bed. I...I almost threw up. I was so horrified. Shari had the good grace to look embarrassed, and she quickly left. And then it was John and I alone.

"He started with the obvious excuses--it was a moment of weakness, Shari had come on to him, he didn't know what he was doing. All of these excuses conflicted with each other. Then he begged for my forgiveness, telling me that he would never do it again, that he was ready for us to have a son. Then he claimed that it was my fault, that if I had been better in bed, he wouldn't have needed to find someone else. But it didn't matter to me. I...started screaming at him to get out of my life and never to come back. I told him that I was calling a lawyer. All sorts of things. I didn't care that Emma was awake and heard everything, not that she understood much of it.

"He left that night. I filed for divorce soon after. He didn't contest it. In fact, he was more than generous...but he had a new girlfriend, a new life. And I had nothing. He had destroyed me."

Kelsey finally stopped talking, feeling for the second time that day as though she had let something go inside of herself, having finally told the whole story to someone.

"How have you managed to survive since then?" he asked softly, pulling her into his arms in a gesture of comfort.

"Day-to-day. The first few days, I cried and cried. Then I stopped crying, because I knew John wasn't worth it. Then I despaired, and wondered and feared over what would happen to Emma and me. I raged. I screamed--when Emma was at school, of course. I thought for a long time that it was all my fault, that if I had been what John needed me to be that he wouldn't have found someone else. I reorganized everything, getting rid of the bed I found them in. I had a lot of sleepless nights. And only recently did I finally accept that what happened wasn't only my fault. Part of the blame rests with John, too."

The sun had set, and the moonlight, though not as bright as the evening before, cast the objects in a silvery glow.

"I think," Alexander said, "that I wronged you."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because I was scandalised that you were divorced. I think now that you had every right to leave him."

Kelsey smiled--he didn't see, for her face was buried into his chest.

"Thank you," she said.

"And it makes me wonder if you shall ever trust your heart with anyone again."

Kelsey knew what he was asking, only she was so terrified to give him an answer. The night before, she had been willing to give him more than she had given anyone in ten months. But now, with her soul bared for him and him alone, she was so much more frightened.

"I don't know. I'd like to hope that someday, I'll..." Admit it, kiddo. You're beginning to trust him with it. Tell him that. But she couldn't, because in the back of her mind was the fear that he would end up breaking it by going home forever.

Alexander tilted her face up to look at him, then bent his head and kissed her. Kelsey instantly recognized that it wasn't an "I-want-you" type of kiss that they had shared last night in his room, or the "Thank-God-you're-still-alive" kiss they'd shared in the backyard. This was tender and soft and...Kelsey felt like she wanted to melt.

And you never once thought John kissed differently. With him, it was all one type. But you didn't care. And look at how this is going! You're getting involved with this man just as fast as you did with John!

But this feels right!

When the kiss ended, Alexander said, "Thank you for telling me everything. It means a great deal to have your trust."

"Thanks for hearing me out. I haven't told anyone...everything."

"Not your father or your sister?"

"No. I've been too ashamed to do it." Kelsey cleared her throat and said, "Tomorrow, we're going to cash in more of the coins and we're going to find out what's wrong with your mother. We can't have any more delays like we did today."

Alexander had wanted so much for them to talk more about what was going to happen between them, but her change of topic effectively cut off any hope of that happening. He decided to let her go.

He had a feeling that he was once again going to get little sleep, mulling over the nightmare of Kelsey's marriage in his mind over and over. Not even the medical books he tried looking through could erase the words and images.

Kelsey got her best night's sleep in ten months. And it came as no surprise to him that she did not awaken until almost eleven the next morning.

Chapter 18

The next five days were spent in the futile search for what was wrong with Elizabeth. Kelsey told Alexander that she was beginning to fear that they would never find the problem, then suggested that maybe it would be better for them to bring her to the future and have the doctors diagnose her problem.

They both agreed that that was the best plan, but the maze didn't open up. It remained as closed as it had ever since Kelsey had returned from Pemberley. And with each passing day, Kelsey saw Alexander's eyes get a little sadder, a little more nervous. But they kept up the search, and they kept trying to figure out what was wrong with his mother.

Finally, on Friday, Kelsey put down the medical book she was looking through and said, "Alexander, we need to get our minds off this for one night."

"Would you like to go out to dinner?" he asked.

"No. We could order in, though."

"Order in?"

"Sure. Delivery service--one of the truly wonderful things about this century. Do you want Chinese or pizza?"

"Pizza," he said.

Kelsey picked up the phone and dialed Pizza Hut's number. When she got off the phone, she said, "It'll be here in about forty minutes or so."

Alexander nodded, then turned back to his book.

For the first time that day, Kelsey noticed what he was wearing. For one thing, it wasn't something she had picked out. He must've stuck it in with the rest of the things they had bought the other day at the mall. And she couldn't help but laugh when she saw it.

He wore a pair of snug black pants with a white polo shirt that was slightly too large for him. For a moment, Kelsey could picture him not only here in her time, but also back in his own. And she could also picture him in that outfit, soaking wet...

Which should tell you that you've been watching that movie a few too many times. It wasn't him who took a swim in the lake!

"What was your life like at Pemberley?" Kelsey asked. "I've told you everything about my life, and you've listened so patiently."

"My life at Pemberley?" Alexander smiled. "Oh, Lord, there is so much I could tell you."

"Then tell me everything."

Alexander sat back on the couch, looking at her sitting in the recliner. "You know some of the essentials."

"Only what you've told me."

"I mean, you know how my parents met. I've only heard parts of the story."

Kelsey laughed. "You're kidding. You mean your parents never got around to telling you about one of the greatest love stories of all time? Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy rank right up there with Romeo and Juliet and Jane and Rochester for pure romantic value. And they didn't go through half of what the others did."

"Jane and Rochester?"

"It's a fictional story."

"Ah."

"But we should save it for another time. How about if you tell me what happened when you were a kid."

"There are so many things I could tell you--like about the time my brothers and I went fishing, and my sister Victoria insisted on coming along. William....well, he thought he would be amusing and push her into the lake. She was furious, and so was my father. He said that we should have had more respect for women than that, especially sisters. Mama just looked at my father and reminded him of a couple of times when he had a little less respect for women than he was telling his sons...my father said that there were exceptions to that. And besides, she pushed him in first."

Kelsey laughed.

"But I suppose I had a normal childhood. I was loved by both of my parents--my mother in particular. Mama said that...since I was the middle child, I needed extra love. She did not want what happened in her family to happen to her children."

"That wasn't likely to happen."

"Things changed, though, when I became older. My eldest brother, William, would inherit Pemberley when my father died, and Edward inherited Rosings after the death of our Aunt Anne...well, Anne was actually a cousin, but she preferred that we call her aunt. My sister Jane married a son of Sir and Lady Hampton's, even though my parents were less than thrilled to have Lady Hampton as a relative even after all these years."

"Lady Hampton? Why didn't they like her?"

"She was Caroline Bingley before she married Sir James."

"Oh, that's right. I think you told me that once."

"And Victoria married the son of some friends of my parents', the Knightleys."

"You're kidding," Kelsey said with a laugh. "No, no, I see you're not. I shouldn't be surprised. After all, you're here, and you're real, so why shouldn't everyone else be?"

"What is so unusual about that?"

Kelsey wasn't sure what to tell him. "I've read a...history of your sister's in-laws. It's almost as interesting as that of your parents."

Alexander seemed to accept her answer. "At any rate, all of my brothers and sisters had settled down except myself. I was living on a small sum I had inherited from my grandfather Bennet, and generally doing well, but my father feared that I was wasting my life."

"Was there...someone special in your life?" Kelsey couldn't believe she was asking that.

"No...never. Not until--" He gave her a look which she instantly knew the meaning of.

"I spent a good deal of time in London with my cousins, Edward Bingley and John Wickham. We were an unusual threesome--my parents were fond of Edward, but not so of John. Some problem Father had had with John's father in the past."

Like he tried to elope with your Aunt Georgiana, and did elope with your Aunt Lydia.

"Still, my parents were hospitable to them both when we were around Pemberley." Alexander sighed. "But I still had no profession, no fortune, no future. When I return...if I cannot stay...that is what I must face. It is why I could never..."

Kelsey wasn't sure what he wanted to say, but didn't want to force him to say anything.

"And then my mother became ill. If she dies...I do not know what I shall do. My father shall die with her. I have seen that when he is with her."

Kelsey walked over to the couch and put her arms around him, comforting him as he had comforted her before. "It's going to be okay," she whispered in his ear.

"Mommy?" Emma stood by the doorway of the playroom, which was connected to the living room. "Alex?"

Kelsey and Alexander pulled apart from each other.

"Are you gonna be my daddy now, Alex?" Emma asked.

"Oh...honey, that wasn't what you--"

"You hugged him."

Before Kelsey could try to explain things to her daughter, Alexander had gotten off the couch and knelt before Emma. "If you would like for me to be your father, Emma, then I shall be."

"Alexander--"

"Is that what you want?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then that's what I am."

Emma threw her arms around Alexander, hugging him tightly. "Daddy," she whispered softly.

Kelsey's eyes watered at the sight of her daughter, so young and impressionable, accepting this man as her father. It seemed as though she had completely forgotten about John. Not that Kelsey could blame her. If it were up to her, she'd prefer forgetting John, too.

"How about if we play something while we wait for the pizza," he said.

"Alexander..."

Emma had already headed back to the playroom.

"I'll be with you in a minute," he called.

"Okay, Daddy!"

Alexander turned back to Kelsey.

"You don't know if you're going to be here forever," Kelsey said quietly. "If you go back, you'll break Emma's heart."

"I do not believe I shall be returning," he said. "I have been giving this so much thought, about what we should do about this. I...I would never ask you to return with me."

"I would go," she whispered.

"I could not ask you to return. My life is not as...modern as yours."

"I know that."

"But if you were to become ill, or Emma, or myself...we may not have cures as you have in this day and age. And the maze may close on us forever if we all return to my time. Besides, we would not have anything to live on."

"Didn't relatives sometimes stay in the family house forever?"

"Not men. Not me. I shall not be a charity case. I would not subject you or Emma to that."

"You think you'll stay in this time, then?"

"Yes, I do. I have waited twenty-seven years for something wonderful to come along. It has. I do not believe that God would take it all away from me now."

"You'd sacrifice your own family, your own life for this world? You don't know anything about this--"

"I could learn. I would love to learn. It would take me a lifetime to learn everything that has happened until now, and then I would have more to learn as technology seems to move faster than lightning in this time."

"But what about your family? You loved your mother so much that you traveled across time to try and save her life. The maze may close on you forever if you stay here."

"I think...I think my family would understand."

"But you're so close."

"And you are close to your sister and father. Could you leave them behind?"

"I think..." But Kelsey knew that it would not be easy. No easier than him leaving his family behind. "I think we've reached a stalemate."

"We have not. I made the decision that I would stay here. I shall take the chance that the maze shall stay open so I can see my family on occasion."

Kelsey shook her head, but the conversation was ended when Emma shouted, "Daddy! You said you'd come play!" Alexander turned to walk away.

"Alexander..."

"Yes?"

"Thank you...for telling Emma that you would be her father. Even if things don't work out in the end, at least she'll have had a father who loved her."

Chapter 19

The following morning dawned early for everyone in the house. It was Madeline's wedding day. Emma was the flower girl, and Kelsey, of course, the matron of honor. Emma was far more excited about her duties than Kelsey was about hers, because she was being required to walk down the aisle wearing a hoop skirt that she could barely fit through doors in.

"At least I get to change as soon as the ceremony is over," Kelsey said as she served Emma and Alexander bowls of Cookie Crisp. "And the pictures are taken. Maddie had to learn to walk, dance, and sit in that stupid thing because she insisted on wearing it until she got ready to leave."

"When do we get to put our dresses on, Mommy?" Emma asked cheerfully.

"Not until we get to the church, sweetie. You don't want to get it dirty, do you?"

"No."

"What is wrong with the dress?" Alexander asked.

"I guess hoops weren't quite the rage...or rather, they weren't quite as wide. My sister loved Gone with the Wind all her life, and she always swore that when she married, she'd have a wedding that could've come right out of it. And now she has. So that includes hoop skirts and corsets and all that stuff. I've worn this skirt three times, when I've been fitted for it, and all three times, I've felt like I was carrying a dead weight right around my waist. Those skirts are heavy. How did women ever stand them?"

"I--I never thought of it that way," Alexander said. "I have no doubt that you look beautiful in the dress, though."

"Yeah, well, I'm still changing out of it as soon as all of the pictures are taken. I've got another dress I intend to wear." Kelsey had in fact not had another dress until Alexander had insisted on buying the aqua dress last Sunday. Not only had it fit perfectly, as he had predicted, but it was suitable for the wedding. "Don't worry. When I picked up Emma on her last day of pre-school, I bought you a suit. You won't have to wear one of John's for the occasion."

Alexander had been wondering about that, but didn't respond one way or another.

The phone rang a minute later, just as Kelsey was sitting down to eat her cereal. "Hello," she said. "Hi, Maddie. Yes, we're awake..."

"I'm Aunt Maddie's flower girl," Emma said with a smile. "She said I get to throw petals everywhere."

"That sounds like a very important job," Alexander said.

"It is. Mommy said that if I do a good job, she'll let me stay up later tonight."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, so I have to be really good, cause I wanna catch the...the bucket."

"The bucket?"

"The bouquet," Kelsey corrected, putting her hand over the phone.

"That's what I said, Mommy. The bow-kay. Aunt Maddie said she'd try to throw it to me."

"What does catching the bride's bouquet signify?" Alexander asked.

"It means that I get married."

"Aren't you a little young to be getting married, Miss Emma?"

"No. Tommy Wallace said he'd marry me tomorrow if I caught it."

Kelsey giggled over the phone, which only made Maddie more upset than before, because she thought her sister was laughing at her.

"Would you give me away if I married Tommy, Daddy?"

"In a minute. But I think you might want to wait a few years, honey. There's more to marriage than just the ceremony."

Kelsey finally got off the phone with Maddie. "We need to hurry it up," she said. "Maddie's getting more nervous by the second and wants us at the church. I don't know who told her that eleven o'clock was a good time to get married."

Maddie, Kelsey noted, looked like she needed a good dose of smelling salts. Unfortunately, she might look a little like Scarlett O'Hara, but smelling salts hadn't come with the dress.

"I...I never thought I'd be this nervous," she said quietly as her mother fussed with her hair, even though it looked perfect. "I...Kelsey, you have to stay near me through this."

"I will, don't worry. Mom, where's Emma?"

"She's with your Alexander. Kelsey, did I hear her wrong, or did she call him Daddy?"

"Mom, this is my wedding day. Could you manage not to get into a fight with Kelsey until I'm on the honeymoon?"

"I just wanted to know--"

"I know you did."

"It's all right, Madeline. Yes, Mom, she's calling Alexander her father. I suspect that it's a phase she's going through, since John hasn't been to see her in a long time. She needs some man to identify with."

"Have you even attempted to contact John?" her mother asked.

"Mom, please!" Madeline pushed her hands away. "Not now."

"I have tried and tried, especially when she was sick. No response. I don't expect that I'm going to see him anytime soon." Kelsey was surprising herself with how calmly she was taking her mother's questions about John.

Her mother didn't push the issue further. Kelsey knew that she was eaten up with worries about the wedding, so for that reason she was grateful for the three-ring circus. Madeline said, "Mom, could you go see if Ben is anywhere nearby? In fact, just make sure he's here. But keep him out of my view, or else..."

"Of course, my dear. I'll go check." Laura Madison walked out of the room.

Madeline turned to look at Kelsey. "There's something about Alexander that you're not telling me, isn't there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just sort of strange. You go through hell with John, and all of the sudden, you're jumping into a relationship with a new man even faster than you got involved with John."

"This is different. A lot different. And there are some things about Alexander that...well, might seem a little bizarre."

"I don't doubt that."

"We're not sleeping together."

"Well, that's one good thing."

"It was his choice, too, not just mine."

"Really?" Madeline's eyebrows raised.

"Really. We've talked a lot, about our families, and friends."

"If I remember correctly, that's how you got started with John."

"Yes, but this is different. I'm older, I'm wiser, and Alexander is a completely different man. He's gone through so much, trying to figure out what's wrong with his mother."

"What is wrong with her? You never did answer that."

"We don't know."

"How come? I mean, this is one of the most advanced scientific ages ever. Surely doctors can figure out what's wrong with her."

Kelsey walked over to the door and shut it. "I shouldn't be telling you this on your wedding day. You'll think me insane. You'll think Alexander insane. And it'll drive you insane while you're supposed to be relaxing from all the mania and hoopla surrounding this wedding."

"Tell me anyway."

Kelsey took a deep breath and began telling her twin sister the tale of Alexander's sudden appearance eight days ago, her disappearance into Pemberley, and the problem with the maze not opening for them to get Elizabeth Darcy to the future. Madeline took it all in stride, asking a few questions here and there, but not seeming to disbelieve the story at all.

When Kelsey finished, Madeline said, "That has got to be the strangest thing I've ever heard in my life. If it were anyone but you, I wouldn't believe it. Hell, if it had been you several years ago, I wouldn't have believed it."

"But you believe me now."

"Yeah. And it makes a lot of things clearer--like why Emma said Alexander was having trouble working the microwave."

Kelsey laughed as she remembered the scene she and Emma had come in to on Wednesday, when Alexander had been trying to heat up his bowl of Cheerios.

"And other things."

"But it's strange, don't you think?" Kelsey smiled.

"Completely. But it's the truth. I hope things turn out the way you want them too, Kelse. I really do."

Madeline reached over to give her a hug.

"Kelsey? Could you come here for a minute? Emma's got her dress caught in something," their mother called.

"Oh, Lord," Madeline breathed.

"Calm down, calm down. I'm sure it's nothing." Kelsey walked out of the room, passing her mother on her way to find her daughter. She came into the empty chapel and realized that Emma was nowhere in sight. Kelsey ran outside, thinking maybe Emma caught her dress on one of the trees. But the only people who were outside were the minister, Ben's family, and a couple of women she didn't recognize. She waved to them, and they were startled to see her.

"Shouldn't you not be in Ben's sight?" one of the women called to her.

"I'm not Madeline," she said. "I'm her twin sister."

"Oh!" The woman turned to Ben and said, "My, she really looks like your bride, doesn't she?"

Kelsey turned away, heading back into the church, rolling her eyes. She headed into the choir room, which happened to be unoccupied. Looking for Emma, she nearly jumped when the door closed behind her.

"Hello, my sweet. You're looking beautiful."

Chapter 20

The voice was one Kelsey had heard in many a nightmare since he had left the house. It was cool, seductive. Kelsey slowly turned to look at him. He hadn't changed all that much in the ten months since they'd been separated. If anything, he looked even better than he had before. She took in the sight of his thick blond hair, those innocent blue eyes, the boyish smile. If she hadn't known him like she did, she might've thought he was an angel.

But she knew John Chandler a lot better than that.

"Hello, John," she said, her voice almost toneless.

"It's been a long time, Kelsey."

"Not long enough in my opinion."

"You look beautiful."

"You said that already." Kelsey frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited."

Dear God, no. Maddie, please! You couldn't have!

"Well, actually, I called your mom, and she told me to drop on by. She said there was some interesting things going on since I'd left."

"Yes. Emma was sick."

"She was? What was wrong with her?" John didn't seem all that concerned, and Kelsey impulsively thought that she should tell him Emma had had pneumonia.

"She had the chicken pox."

"Oh. That's nothing to get excited about. I got them myself when I was her age."

"And I suppose you asked for your mother the entire time? Or your father? And that parent didn't bother to show up, even when I was frantically trying to get a hold of you?"

"It wasn't as big a deal as you made it sound."

"What if it had been? Tell me what illness you'll consider serious enough so that when I call you, I can tell you that your daughter is seriously ill."

"You're taking this the wrong way, Kelse. I only meant that Emma was in good hands, and she didn't even have to go to a doctor."

"She asked for you, John. Just like she'd asked for you when she fell on the playground and skinned her knee, and when she had nightmares about monsters under the bed and Mommy wasn't enough of a buffer against them."

"If you were that concerned for Emma, you shouldn't have divorced me. It was your action that's been causing our daughter pain, not mine."

"And if you'll recall, the reason I took that action is because I found you in bed with Sharisse! Did you honestly think I was ever going to forgive you for that?"

John was caught off-guard. Clearly, he hadn't expected his once-meek wife to take the offensive as she was.

"You were such a wonderful mother and wife, Kelsey."

"You didn't think so while we were married. In fact, I seem to recall that you wanted a better bed partner who happened to spend a little less time with the child she was mothering. How am I doing so far?"

"I didn't come here today to fight."

"Then why did you come? To make amends? To get me to take you back? Did the divorce cause Lymon to take away everything you'd gained because you married me?"

"We were good together, Kelse. We still can be."

"Don't feed me that line. I learned the hard way how fake it is. And don't tell me that my mother hasn't said anything about Alexander Darcy, because I know she has. That's why you're here today, isn't it? Because you can't stand the idea of me having a new man in my life."

"Who is Alexander Darcy?" John might have seemed confused, but Kelsey knew him better than anyone had ever known him. He knew exactly who Alexander was.

"I just asked you not to insult my intelligence. You did enough of that when we were married."

"All right...your mother told me that there was some guy in your life that she didn't like at all, and that she wanted me to give our marriage another chance. She said that you really wanted me back, that you were just using this guy to make me jealous."

"And you believed her?"

"She is your mother."

"And you know good and well that she doesn't know the first thing about what motivates me. Never has, never will. And neither will you."

"Then what's the story with this guy? Is he that good in bed? Is that why you're keeping him around?"

Kelsey reached out to slap him, but John grabbed her wrist before she could.

"You were a much nicer girl when you kept your claws in." He let go of her wrist.

"And that's what caused you to run to other women, remember? You said that I was so spiritless that you had to find others. You are so hypocritical!"

"I liked you nicer."

"Well, I didn't. I like myself now. I never did when I was married to you."

"Who is this guy, anyway?"

"He's no one you've ever met. He's someone who would never hurt me the way you have."

"That tells me everything."

"Good. Then we have the picture clear. He's absolutely nothing like you. And I thank God for it."

"Then perhaps you can explain why my daughter is calling him Daddy!"

"Because her real father hasn't bothered to see her since her birthday!" Kelsey snapped. "You think that you can disappear from a five-year-old's life and have her still love you when you come back nearly eight months later? It doesn't work that way. For Emma, you were gone so long that she thought you didn't love her anymore. And you know something? For a child of five, I think she's very perceptive. Although I live in dread of the day when she discovers that you never loved her at all."

"I loved her--and I still do--very much! You've just twisted her mind against me."

"You've done a good job of that yourself. You didn't need my help." Kelsey was afraid she was beginning to sound like a screaming banshee, but she wasn't about to let him squeak back into Emma's life--or her own. "And don't pretend with me. From the second the doctor announced that the baby was a girl, you were disappointed. You wanted a son--a little John Chandler, Junior to follow you around and idolize you and grow up to be just like you."

"I wanted a son. I'm not going to deny it."

"But you had a daughter. A daughter who needed you. And you abandoned her. So don't think I'm going to allow you for one minute to just waltz back in here and act as though you've done nothing wrong."

"So just who is this man who apparently has 'waltzed' into your lives and taken my place?"

"He's the man who tucks Emma into bed at night, and reads her stories. He's the man who finally got her to ride a bike with the training wheels. He's the man..." Kelsey felt herself one step from falling off the edge. She had defended Alexander to so many people in the past week, without giving the real reason why he was so important in her life. Without telling anyone what she'd known since she'd looked into those chocolate brown eyes of his. And finally, she took that step she'd been fearing so much. "He's the man I've fallen in love with."

John no doubt had a good many things to say on that subject, but he didn't get the chance to say them. At that moment, the door to the choir room opened, and there stood Madeline in her wedding dress--with Alexander.

"Who is this?" Alexander asked, before recognizing the man from the pictures in Kelsey's living room.

Madeline, of course, needed no time at all to recognize her former brother-in-law. "You son of a..." With all the fury she possessed, Madeline punched John in the jaw.

Chapter 21

If someone had come upon the scene at that moment, they probably would've laughed at the sight of two identical young women dressed in hoop skirts standing over the prone figure of the man on the floor.

Alexander remained in the doorway, looking at Kelsey and Madeline, then looking at John. He had a feeling that if Madeline were anything like Kelsey--and, being identical twins, he had not a doubt that she was--she had a lot of strength.

"This wasn't right," Kelsey said quietly.

"It felt good to me."

"No--I should've been the one to punch him. God knows I had enough right to."

"Yeah, but you're not as strong as I am. If I hit him, he feels more pain. That should be the main objective."

"But he was my ex."

"And he put the moves on me while he was married to you. Besides, he was going to ruin my wedding day."

Kelsey's shoulders shook with silent laughter. "Only you, Maddie. Only you."

"What was he doing here?" Alexander finally spoke.

Kelsey turned to look at him, not completely comprehending until then that he was there. "He..." She didn't want to betray her mother's part in John's presence.

"Mom called him, didn't she?"

"I...I think..."

"Out with it, Kelse. She did, didn't she?"

"Well..."

Maddie put her hand up. "She did. God, I can't believe her! Why did she do such a thing?"

"Because she doesn't like Alexander. It's the same thing as with John."

"It doesn't make any sense, Kelsey. She loves Ben like he's her own son. Yet you've become involved with two completely different men--and we're going to extremes when we say 'different'--and she hasn't liked either one of them."

"Don't ask me to explain Laura Madison's motives for anything. I gave up trying to figure her out when I was thirteen."

"Perhaps this is her way of telling you she loves you."

Kelsey shook her head. "It's her way of pigeon-holing me again. I was rebellious as a child, rebellious as an adult. Rebellious people don't marry normal men, they marry rebels like themselves. I guess...that's what she thinks I'm attracted to."

"You were the first time around."

"No. I fell for an image. And when it faded, all I was left with was this." Kelsey was tempted to give John a good kick, but decided that kicking a man when he was out cold wasn't her style.

But oh, was she tempted.

"You're past it now," Madeline said with a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I saw Dad a minute ago. I'll see if he wouldn't mind handling this little problem for us."

Madeline gathered her skirt in her hands and walked out of the room. John slowly began to stir.

"Kelsey? What the hell did you do to me?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"You did. You hit me."

"No. Maddie hit you. Remember her? My wonderful sister, who you tried to get into bed and then threatened if she told me about it?"

"I never did anything like that."

Kelsey made a sound of disbelief. "Sure you didn't. And you weren't with Sharisse, either."

"Where's Emma?" he asked, standing up.

Alexander saw the blood drain from Kelsey's face, and for the first time, he saw fear light her eyes. Not even when she'd been standing over him had she been as frightened as she was now.

"Why?" she asked in a quavering voice.

"Because I want to see her. She's my daughter, by God, and I'm going to see her. And I think it's high time I exercised some visitation rights with her. You made me see the light, Kelsey. I'm going to spend a nice long weekend with her. And perhaps I'll take that month I'm entitled to with her now that it's summer."

"She's...she..." Kelsey's face was beginning to turn grey. "You can't do that." But her voice was very small.

"I most certainly can. You signed those papers two weeks ago, sweet. They say, and I quote, 'John Chandler is to have visitation with the minor child Emma Caroline every other weekend and entitled to a visitation period of no less than one month during the time said minor child is not in school.' It's my understanding that Emma finished her year of pre-school just yesterday."

"But--but--"

"So where is she? I think it's high time she remembered that I am her father, not some gigolo who struts into her mother's bed." John smiled. "And who knows? Maybe Emma will like living with me so much that we might have to go back to court to reevaluate the custody arrangement."

Kelsey was shaking, trying to tamp down her terror. She knew he was right, that he could take Emma away with him. And even though she would think later that there was no way Emma would never want to live with John permanently, at that moment, she was horror-struck at the idea that it could very well happen.

"I somehow doubt that shall ever happen," Alexander said with even more of a chill in his voice than John could ever achieve. There was more than coldness in his voice--there was authority, arrogance...

Dear God! He sounds like his father! Kelsey was struck by that thought and clung to it. It was all she had to keep her sane.

"And who the hell are you to say that?"

"I am the 'gigolo' who has not been in your wife's bed, in spite of what her mother may have said. I am Alexander Darcy. And you, sir, are a repugnant, worthless knave who never deserved the honor of having Kelsey for your wife, much less having Emma for a daughter."

"Oh, I see. So, he's a gallant gigolo, is he?" John turned back to Alexander. "I don't see where this concerns you, but Emma is my daughter, and I'm taking her with me right now. Now where is she?"

"If you even contemplate taking Emma anywhere, I shall personally insure that you-"

"What? Sleep with the fishes? This guy doesn't look Italian. Should this be where I become frightened and say, 'Oh, I'm sorry. I won't even consider taking my daughter for a visit. After all'--"

"After all, a right which is not exercised within a reasonable amount of time is considered legally lost," a voice came from the doorway. "And I think that not seeing Emma in eight months just might be considered a reasonable amount of time."

Kelsey turned to see her father standing there, Maddie right behind him.

"He's threatening to take Emma away? I'll kill him!" Maddie shouted.

"Maddie, calm down! He's Emma's father, isn't he? He has a full legal right to see her!" the third voice belonged to Kelsey's mother.

"I would be more than willing to let Emma participate in your wedding, Madeline. I think that more than gracious considering that you just punched me. But after that, she comes to stay with me."

"I think that if you come near Emma I'll slap you with an injunction so fast you won't hear it coming. You're supposed to give Kelsey twenty-four hours' notice when you plan to spend time with Emma, and a week's notice of when you plan to spend your month. I don't think any of this qualifies."

"I'll just say that Kelsey ducked my calls. I'll say that she refused to let me see my daughter. I'll say that she's brainwashed her mind--"

"Joshua, stay out of this! It is none of your affair. It's John and Kelsey's."

"Laura, will you shut up! You played God today in inviting John to the wedding, and look what you created! Maddie's wedding is a mess. Is that what you wanted?"

Laura Madison, the woman who always had something to say about everything....said nothing.

And into the gaping, ugly silence that filled the room came a small voice.

"Daddy?"

All eyes turned to look at Emma, in her pretty peach flower girl's dress, her hair neatly curled and pulled back in a peach bow. Emma turned to look at each of them, the familiar and unfamiliar.

John bent down to greet his daughter, a smile on his face but clearly not in his eyes. There was no inner warmth in that smile, no true joy to see his child evident to anyone in that room, except perhaps to Laura.

Emma, however, did not run to John. She looked up at the face of the man who had become her father in her heart, if not in fact. "Daddy?" she repeated, walking over to Alexander and holding her hands out to be picked up. Alexander's smile was bright and genuine as he took the child in his arms.

The world came crashing back to focus for Kelsey. Her daughter had chosen more clearly than anyone could ever understand. She took two steps and stood by Alexander and Emma.

"What's he doing here?" she whispered.

"Don't you remember me, sweetie? I'm your daddy," John said in a saccharine voice one reserved for two-year-olds.

"No. Alex is my daddy," Emma said, putting her arms around Alexander's neck.

Alexander gave John a very calm look. "There is no place for you in this girl's life," he said. "She does not want you. And you do not deserve her. I would advise you to stay out of her life."

"What makes you think that's what I want?"

"You do not care for her. Why take out your frustration on a child? Think of Emma," he said. "She does not deserve to be treated cruelly. You may not have much of a conscience, but I would hope that you would never stoop to harming an innocent child to further your own motives."

John looked at Emma for a long minute before turning his eyes to Kelsey. She didn't turn away as she might have once. Finally, without saying a word, John walked past her and out of the room.

He barely got two steps out of it before Maddie punched him again...once again knocking him out.

"Madeline!" Mrs. Madison gasped.

"I would advise you not to say anything, Mother. You have managed to turn my wedding into a disaster, and I can't figure out why. Whatever motives you had for bringing John here, I don't want to know them. I don't care. Just don't ever do it again."

"But--I thought it would be best for Emma--"

"John threatened Kelsey with Emma! What sort of father does that? Daddy never would've put us in the middle!" Madeline balled her fists and closed her eyes, clearly needing to calm down before she continued. "In the future, you might want to remember that Kelsey is Emma's mother. If anyone should be able to determine what's best for Emma, it is her. Now, would someone please get this creep out of here so I can get married?"

Kelsey sat down, her hoop skirt flopping forward. She immediately stood up again, but her legs were barely able to support her. Alexander said, "How about if you go keep your Uncle Ben occupied, hmm?"

Emma smiled, completely oblivious to what had just happened around her. Alexander gave her a kiss on the cheek and she scurried out of the room in search of Ben.

"Thank you," Kelsey said. Alexander put his arms around her and held her in his embrace until she had finally stopped shivering.

"He's not coming back, Kelsey. I promise you, he won't come back."

He wanted to say something about what he'd heard when he and Madeline came into the room...had she meant it? Did she really mean what she had said, about loving him? Or had her words been meant as some sort of shield to protect Emma from John? He had to think positively, he had to believe that she loved him...

"Kelse? Alexander? It's time," Madeline said quietly.

Alexander moved reluctantly out of Kelsey's arms but kept a hold on her hands. "You look absolutely beautiful," he said. "And decently dressed for the first time."

"I feel like a doily," Kelsey said. "So you'd better enjoy it this once, because I don't intend to dress up like this again."

Alexander laughed, feeling the tension drain away. Kelsey, he was relieved to see, laughed as well, and the fear in her eyes subsided.

Chapter 22

If Madeline's wedding day started off horridly, it ended as beautifully as anyone--especially her sister--could wish for. Maddie looked absolutely radiant as she walked on her father's arm toward Ben, and Ben looked just as excited as she was.

When the ceremony was over, and the pictures had been taken, Kelsey headed to the bridesroom to change her clothes. She had arranged with her father to have him take Alexander and Emma to the reception, not fearing for a moment that Alexander would have any problems without her around.

She had thought that Madeline's friend Stacy would be there to help her out of her dress, but when the door closed behind her, Laura Madison stood there.

"Mother! What are you doing here? You should be at the reception with Maddie."

"I thought it best if we had a talk."

Kelsey recognized her mother's tone. God knows, she'd heard it often enough when she was a teenager. That tone of voice preceded a long lecture on her behaviour.

"I think I have to agree with Maddie. Not today. I don't want to be late for the reception."

Laura stood behind her daughter and started unbuttoning the dress.

"I know you think I don't love you, Kelsey, but I do. I love you very much."

"You have a funny way of showing it, inviting my ex-husband here today. I'm just curious, though--how bad a picture did you paint of Alexander that finally convinced him to come?"

"John decided to show up the moment he heard you were living with that man."

"I somehow doubt it."

"It's the truth. He couldn't bear to hear that you had found another man. He wanted to get back together with you. He was jealous, Kelsey."

"And that's what you wanted, wasn't it? That's why you called him."

"I honestly didn't believe he would show up today. I thought he would at least wait until after the wedding."

"Yet you told him where I could be found. Strange. Sounds to me like you wanted him to come here. Perhaps as a reminder of the fact that we were once married?"

"Believe what you will, Kelsey. I was only doing what I thought was right."

"You know...you hated John when you met him. And you conveniently changed your opinion when Emma was born. Why?"

Laura had finished undoing the last button, and Kelsey pulled the dress off. "I had thought you'd married John to spite me, and at first, I didn't like him. He was smug and arrogant."

"He never changed. Why did you?"

"Because he was determined to get you to settle down that he gave you a daughter within a year of your marriage. I knew that having children would finally get rid of your streak of rebelliousness. And I was right."

"Emma was an accident. We didn't plan on having a baby. And when she was born, John was so disappointed that she wasn't a boy that his attitude toward her led to what happened today."

Laura's shoulders drooped as she untied the strings of the hoop skirt, then started on the corset. "I realize that now."

Kelsey was surprised. Was her mother finally admitting that she was wrong? "I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I don't expect you to give it. But I am sorry for today."

There was something about this apology that rang false for Kelsey. For a second, she didn't know why her mother was even extending it. But only for a second.

"The only reason you're really sorry is because you managed to ruin Maddie's wedding day, not that she let it bother her after John left. As far as I'm concerned, you should be extending this apology to her, because you--"

"It is more than that. Kelsey...when your father and I escorted John out of here, he said some terrible things...about you, about me. About...about...."

Kelsey was suddenly freed from the corset, and was able to take her first really deep breath at the same time she grasped her mother's unfinished statement. "He said something terrible about Emma."

Laura nodded. "And he began to say that he suspected she was not his."

Kelsey snorted. "Good. Then maybe he'll stay away from her from now on."

"Kelsey!"

"Don't start again with me, Mom. Emma made her choice today when she chose Alexander. She wants him for her father, not John."

"Yes, I suppose she did decide."

Kelsey took out the aqua dress she'd bought last weekend.

"That is beautiful! Where did you get it?"

"Famous Barr."

"Were they having a sale?"

Kelsey couldn't very well say that Alexander had bought the dress, because her mother was suspicious enough of her relationship. Yet she didn't really have the money to buy it herself...or so her mother thought.

"Yes, they were."

"Well, I've gotten you out of the dress and I've tried my best to say I'm sorry. I need to go now."

Kelsey nodded. "All right. I'll see you at the reception."

Her mother walked toward the door when she stopped and looked back at Kelsey. "I never knew Madeline was strong enough to be able to knock a man unconscious."

"I have a feeling there are a lot of things you don't know about Maddie," Kelsey replied with a smile.

The first person Kelsey's eyes sought out when she arrived at the reception was Emma. She knew it was a reflex, and it would be for quite some time...until she was able to forget what happened that morning.

Emma was over in one corner, playing with some nieces of Ben's. With a sigh of relief, Kelsey's eyes searched out the other person she was looking for, and found him even more quickly than she had Emma.

Alexander knew the moment Kelsey entered the room. The way she looked in her dress took his breath away, and he was pleased to have been proven right--the dress had been perfect for her. The velvet bodice, held up by thin spaghetti straps, was round cut and not overly revealing. The dress was fitted to the waist, and then the satin skirt gently flared to her knees. She looked like an angel.

Alexander excused himself from the conversation he'd been in with one of Ben's relatives and headed over to her.

"You look beautiful," he said. "And I was right. That dress is perfect."

"Did you even doubt it?" Kelsey laughed.

"No."

After the dinner and the toasts (Ben's brother jokingly mentioned that Ben had caught a tiger by the tail, if Maddie's activities that morning were true), the traditional first dance between the bride and groom (to "All for Love"), and then the dance between the bride and her father ("Daddy's Little Girl," a song which almost made Kelsey cry), everyone was allowed out on the dance floor.

"Would you like to dance?" Alexander asked.

"Sure," she said. She led him out to the dance floor, where the DJ had just started playing "Right Here Waiting." Kelsey put one hand on Alexander's shoulder and placed her other hand in his. He put one hand on her waist and the two danced slowly. They didn't waltz, but merely rocked back and forth, looking into each other's eyes. Kelsey barely heard the words she must've heard a million times when the song was popular--she knew them by heart, and they had more meaning today than they probably ever would again.

The song ended far too soon to please either of them, and the next song played was a fast song. Kelsey kept Alexander on the dance floor, where many other couples had started dancing. Everyone seemed to do something different, and Alexander wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do. He felt like a complete idiot at first, but soon, he found a natural rhythm and appeared to know what he was doing.

Kelsey laughed at the sight of Madeline trying to dance while wearing a hoop skirt. Maddie caught sight of her and walked over.

"That's right. Laugh all you want. We'll see how well you can dance in a wedding dress someday," she said, giving Kelsey a big hug.

"If I were to wear a wedding dress, I wouldn't choose a hoop skirt."

"They have their disadvantages. But they do look beautiful," she said.

"I agree," Alexander said with a smile. "You made a beautiful bride, Mrs. Geiger."

"Mrs. Geiger. I like the sound of that. Madeline Geiger...oh, to finally have a normal-sounding name." She sighed contentedly as she walked away to visit more guests.

"She disappeared rather quickly," he said.

"She's probably going to do that all night."

The song ended, and Alexander proclaimed that he needed a drink. Kelsey pointed him in the direction of the bar and walked over to say hello to some of the relatives she hadn't seen in quite a while.

She was talking to her Aunt Amelia when something unexpected came up.

"You know dear, you and Maddie always reminded me of my grandmother. We have a few pictures of her when she was your age, and I tell you, the resemblance is remarkable."

Kelsey had heard this from her Aunt Amelia several times. She let her attention wander and searched for Alexander, who was waltzing with Madeline on the dance floor. She chuckled, yet he looked so much more comfortable than he had in dancing to faster music.

"...such a tragedy that she died so young. And of such a mysterious illness."

That caught Kelsey's attention. "What?"

"My grandmother Ann. She died of Lennox-Norton disease* when she was only forty-five. Of course, they didn't know it was Lennox-Norton back then. And such a shame."

"What...what was wrong with her?" Kelsey had never heard of Lennox-Norton disease and thought it a rather dumb name. "What is this disease?"

"Named after the co-discoverers of the illness. It has a medical name, but I never remember it by that. Grandmother Ann suddenly became ill--quite unexpectedly. She hadn't been around anyone who was sick, nor had been anywhere where it was contaminated or anything. She had swings of being violently ill and then being almost calm. Very fatigued. High fevers which eventually led to a coma and then her death."

Kelsey mentally ran down the list of the symptoms Elizabeth had, thinking that maybe, just maybe, they'd finally come upon a diagnosis...from her own aunt.

"And did they discover what caused her illness?"

"Yes...some sort of rare parasite. But they didn't discover that until years later."

"Do you know if they have a cure for it?"

"They most certainly do. I helped pay for some of the local research done on the disease myself. If they catch it in time, it can be treated and the person recovers fully."

Kelsey gave her Aunt Amelia a kiss on the cheek. "You are just too wonderful, Aunt Amelia. Excuse me."

She was barely able to keep herself from running to the dance floor and pulling Alexander away from Madeline. When the song ended, she motioned for him to join her.

"Alexander," she said, "I think we've got a cause for your mother's illness."

* Author's note: Lennox-Norton disease is not, as far as I know, an actual disease. I just made it up.

Chapter 23

Alexander was stunned. He had expected her to say a lot of things, but that was the last one he'd thought she'd say.

It was at about that time that the DJ announced, "All right, everybody! It's time for our blushing bride to throw her bouquet! Eligible ladies, this could be your chance to be the next lucky woman! Head on out there!"

"We should go," Kelsey said.

"But Emma wanted to catch the bouquet," Alexander replied. "We should stay until after that."

"All right," she said. "Emma! Come on, sweetie! Aunt Maddie's going to throw her bouquet!"

Emma came running up to Kelsey, grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the gathering group of young women eager to catch the flowers. Madeline stood about ten feet away from them, a smug smile on her face as she looked at her sister.

"Everyone ready!" she called, turning around. "One...two...three!" She threw the bouquet over her shoulder with a deliberate direction--right to Kelsey. It landed squarely into Kelsey's hands...and then dropped out of them onto Emma's head. Emma grasped them before they fell to the floor.

"I got the bow-kay, Mommy!" Emma shrieked with delight.

"That was a wonderful catch, Emma!"

"Now I get to marry Tommy!"

The guests laughed as Emma ran over to Alexander, calling, "Daddy! I get to marry Tommy tomorrow!"

Madeline walked up to Kelsey with a smile. "That was a wonderful job of deliberately dropping the bouquet," she said. "Not interested in getting married?"

"I think Emma would've been disappointed if I had caught the bouquet." Kelsey's smile faded. "I hate to say this, but I have to cut out of here."

"Why? The party's just started. It's only four o'clock. I was going to wait until later to throw the bouquet, but..."

"Listen. I think I know what's wrong with Alexander's mother, and if I'm right, then we need to find out if...if we can bring her back. I think that's what the maze was waiting for, for us to figure out what was wrong with her."

"How did you--"

"Aunt Amelia. She told me that our great-grandmother had died of a disease that's caused by a rare parasite. They have a cause--and a cure. If that's what's wrong with Elizabeth, then we have to bring her back as fast as we can."

Maddie nodded. "Lennox-Norton Disease."

"You knew?"

"I could've told you that's what she died of, but I wouldn't have thought...I wouldn't have connected it to what's wrong with Elizabeth. But of course, I haven't seen Elizabeth, either."

"Well, then you understand that we need to go."

"Of course."

"Congratulations, Maddie. Give Ben all my love, and have fun on your honeymoon."

"I intend to." The two sisters hugged, and Kelsey said, "Come on, Emma. It's time for us to go."

They sat in the living room. Alexander had changed into pants and a button-down shirt, while Kelsey still wore her aqua dress.

Kelsey flipped through one of the books. "There's only a mention of it here, nothing more. It's a minor disease which had prevalence in the fifties when there were quite a few cases of it. They found the cause after three years of research and a cure by the mid-sixties."

"Is it what my mother has?" Alexander asked.

"I believe it is."

"Then there's a cure?"

"Definitely...if it's not too late."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God."

"It explains why you ended up here. Lennox-Norton is very rare. You needed to find someone who had lost a family member to the disease in order to figure out what it was."

Alexander stood up and walked into the kitchen. Kelsey reached for another book.

"Kelsey! KELSEY, IT'S OPEN!"

Kelsey threw down the book and ran into the kitchen. She could see it from the window--the maze had opened up.

Alexander's eyes were shining with hope. "It's open. It's time we went to get her."

Dr. Austin Falk was about to finish his rotation for the evening when the couple came in. The young woman led the way, while the young man held a limp form in his arms. It was an older woman who appeared to be very ill.

"We need a doctor!" the young woman cried. "This woman needs a doctor right away!"

"What's the matter with her?" Dr. Falk asked as a nurse rushed forward.

"I don't know," she said. "She's been sick for about a week or two, with bad fevers and...and it hasn't gone away. It's not the flu, I think it's something worse."

"All right. We'll get her to a room. We'll need to get some information on her."

"What do you need to know? Just get to treating her!" the man said.

"We have to have some background information--"

"She's dying!"

"All right, all right. Get her into a room. Ma'am, we'll need you to stay behind."

"Okay." Someone had brought a gurney, and the man placed the inert woman on it.

"What's the patient's name?"

"Elizabeth...Madison."

"Next of kin?"

"Her son, Alexander. And myself, her...daughter-in-law, Kelsey."

Kelsey answered questions while Alexander paced back and forth, praying for his mother's recovery. When they'd gone back through the maze, it had been very late at Pemberley. His mother had been sleeping, and whether it was the sleep of a coma or just resting, he did not know. He prayed they were in time. He prayed his father would forgive him for doing nothing more than leaving a note which read, "I have taken Mama to a doctor in London who refuses to leave there. Will return home when she is better."

"I think I've seen this before, though," Kelsey said, lying. "Or at least, I think I have. My grandmother succumbed to a disease they called Lennox-Norton when I was a child. This is reacting an awful lot like that."

"We'll check for that first, then."

"Is there a chance that she'll make it? I mean...we didn't even think of what might be wrong with her until now. She's been sick for about two weeks."

"I'm not going to lie to you, Mrs. Madison. If she's got Lennox-Norton, this is a critical period of time for her. It could go either way. We'll hope for the best, and if she's been in good health up till now, she should pull out of it. But there's always a chance..."

Kelsey nodded. "Thank you."

They were waiting in the emergency room, waiting for word on Elizabeth's condition. None of the doctors who had been passing by had been Elizabeth's doctor.

"Elizabeth Madison?" he said with a chuckle.

"Well, Elizabeth Darcy might've cast suspicion on the whole thing. I didn't want that happening."

"I suppose you are right."

"And I wasn't about to give her John's last name."

"Good decision."

"Alexander...when Elizabeth gets better...what happens to us?"

Alexander smiled. "Whatever you want to."

"No...I mean it. What happens? Do you suddenly disappear? Or do you stay?"

"I do not know." He was a little nervous to ask the question. So much had already happened this day... "Do you want me to stay?"

"I rather think I would," she said.

Alexander had a feeling that this was as close as she was going to come to admitting that she loved him. He was about to say that he loved her when he recognized Dr. Falk.

There was a grim look on his face as he approached.

Continued in Section V