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  When the girls gave Darci a blank look, she let out her pent-up breath. Her daughter and niece had abilities that Darci thought might outstrip hers. They could work together to make objects move, and Darci thought perhaps they could read minds. She could block them from reading her mind, but too often the girls knew things that only mind reading could have told them.

  “Will you tell us a story?”

  “Do you have a favorite?”

  “Tell us a story that no one has ever heard before.”

  “How about if I tell you about two little girls who look just like you and are magic? One is named Hallie and the other is named Isabella.”

  “Is it a true story?”

  “Yes, but it hasn’t happened yet, not for a hundred and sixty-one years.”

  “Do they live on the moon?”

  “No, but men have been to the moon, and people drive automobiles everywhere.”

  Smiling, Darci began to answer questions about what the world would be like in a hundred and sixty-one years, and this took so long that she never got around to telling about Hallie and Isabella. When the girls were yawning, she kissed their foreheads, tucked them in, and said good night. At the door, a sleepy Hitty said, “I wish you’d stay. We don’t like Miss Colby, but you’re nice. I’m going to pray that you stay here and be our mother. Papa says that God answers prayers.”

  Darci could think of nothing to reply to that so she left the room, closing the door behind her. In the hallway, she leaned against the door. Should she stay or leave?

  It was the thought of her daughter and niece that pulled her away from the door. If she stayed these little girls would get a mother and a father, and Darci was sure that, even without any powers, she could help the Victorian world.

  But what about her own daughter and her niece? Neither Hallie nor Isabella would have a mother. Hallie would have no parents at all, and Isabella would have only her father, Darci’s father. And what good would he be? Darci thought. The man would be so miserable that he’d neglect both girls.

  “Are you all right?” Adam asked, smiling down at her.

  When she looked up at him she wanted to slide her arms about his waist, as she’d done to her husband a thousand times. And from the look in his eyes, he’d welcome her touch.

  But as he stepped toward her, she said, “I’m starving.”

  Adam laughed, a laugh that came from inside him. “Don’t tell me that you’re like Diana and can eat more than the gardener.”

  She wanted to laugh with him and tease him back, but she didn’t. “I’m not Diana,” she said softly. “And you’re not my husband. This is not my house and your children aren’t mine.”

  “No, of course not,” Adam said, and stepped back from her, the veil coming down over his eyes again. “Perhaps we should join the others for dinner,” he said. “I have a good cook and she has roasted a joint of meat that could feed half the armed forces.”

  “We’ll see if it’s enough,” Darci said and swished her skirt as she walked ahead of him. I cannot stay, she said to herself. I cannot stay. I cannot stay.

  Chapter Thirteen

  DOWNSTAIRS, DARCI AND ADAM SURPRISED JACK and Lavender entangled in each other on the parlor sofa. From the look of the empty glasses on the table and Lavey’s glazed expression, Jack had been plying her with drink. Darci was embarrassed by the sight of them, but not so Adam.

  “Good, you haven’t eaten yet,” Adam said, ignoring their disarranged clothes and Lavender’s hair, which was cascading messily down about her shoulders. Darci wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but Lavender looked even more beautiful than usual. “Shall we go into the dining room?” Adam asked.

  As Jack helped Lavender to stand, Darci got behind him. “You are truly despicable,” she hissed in his ear. “How could you do that to her?”

  He tossed a roguish smile over his shoulder. “In college I majored in drinking and fornicating.”

  “You can not do this to her. She’s to marry someone else tomorrow.”

  “Nope. I’ve decided for sure that I’m going to stay here.”

  She wanted to say more to him, but he clasped Lavender’s arm close to his body and walked with her toward the dining room. He didn’t seem to be the least bit affected by the alcohol he’d consumed, but Lavender was obviously quite happily drunk.

  Behind them, Adam took Darci’s arm and led her into the dining room. The room was as quietly and as lavishly rich as the rest of the house. The tablecloth was pristine white linen, and on it were porcelain dishes that Darci’d seen only in museums. There was a huge silver platter with a haunch of roast beef the size of a car engine. Half a dozen bowls were brimming with steaming vegetables, relishes, sauces, and breads. A sideboard held two cakes, three pies, a tart, and a big pudding with a white sauce dripping down the top of it.

  “And you want to leave this,” Jack said under his breath to Darci.

  “They don’t all eat this way,” she answered back.

  Adam held out a chair for Darci, and Jack seated Lavender, but she slipped to one side and he had to push her upright.

  “Should we tie her to the chair?” Darci said under her breath to Jack, but he just grinned.

  Adam sat at the head of the table, Darci on his left, Lavender on his right, and Jack beside the woman he loved.

  “I thought we’d serve ourselves tonight,” Adam said, “so I’ve dismissed all the staff except the nanny, and she’s upstairs. Please pardon the lack of courses and formal service.” He seemed oblivious to the undertones of what was going on around him, but Darci was sure he was aware of everything.

  Jack was looking at Lavender, not interested in Adam Drayton, but Darci was watching him intently. Her Adam was good at disguising what was really on his mind. Due to his good acting, the only way Darci knew when her husband was planning to do something dangerous was when his aura changed colors. Which took her back to the day he disappeared. Why hadn’t his aura changed that day?

  “And what do you have on your mind, old man?” Jack asked, finally seeming to be aware that Adam had something to say.

  “Miss Marshall was telling me some rather interesting things tonight, and I also overheard her telling my daughters about the future.”

  “Did she now?” Jack asked, raising his wineglass to Darci as though to say that she had a big mouth.

  “I’m interested in what caused you two to come back—if you did, that is.”

  Jack looked at Lavender to see if she was listening, but she was smiling at nothing and seeming to hear little. “We did, but I’m not sure how we did. The why is easy. We came back to save my dearest Lavender. She’s to—” He lowered his voice. “There would have been an accident tomorrow, but we’re going to prevent that.”

  “Can you do that?” Adam asked.

  “Yes, we can,” Jack said with conviction.

  “But mightn’t that change things?”

  “Change history?” Darci said before Jack could speak. “That’s been my worry. If we change anything at all, it could affect everything in the future.”

  “Why does everyone assume that to change the future means only bad?” Jack asked. “Every movie has it that if you change history one tiny bit, then the future world will explode. What if to change history were to make it better? What would happen to the world if someone assassinated Hitler?”

  “Hitler?” Adam asked.

  “Mass murderer on an unimaginable scale,” Jack said, his eyes on Darci. “How do we know that if we save Lavender we don’t change the world for the better? Did you know that she wanted to be a doctor? She couldn’t because—”

  “Because she’s a woman,” Darci said, thinking about his words. “What you’re really saying is that if you stay here with her you might be able to change the world for the better.”

  Jack leaned back in his chair, his wineglass in his hand, and looked at her. “You could, too. If both of us stayed, with our combined knowledge, and what I know how to do, we could eliminate