Page 48 of The Lovers
“It is and it isn’t. I get attached to them, you see. They become real, but I can’t share what I’ve seen with anyone. People in the archeological community would ridicule me and question my scientific data. All I can do is find evidence to support what I have seen. It’s sort of a backhanded way of doing research, but as long as I find what I’m looking for, I can use my knowledge to tell their story.”
“You possess an incredible gift. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”
“I’m not ashamed, just wary of telling people about it, I suppose. I’ve often wondered if I inherited this ability from one of my parents, but I guess I’ll never know.”
“Do you think it’s genetic?” Rhys asked, his eyes aglow with wonder.
“Isn’t everything, to some degree? I can’t imagine that I got this ability out of nowhere. Someone along the line must have had the same gift. Only I’ve got no one to ask.”
“Yes, I can see how that would be frustrating for you. Still, I think it’s incredible. So, you know who our lovers are, do you?”
“I know who the woman is. I’d decided to start with her. I can see glimpses into her life every time I hold her brooch in my bare hands. I usually use latex gloves when handling artifacts around other people, for fear of going off into a trance.”
“Is that what happened when I came upon you that day by the institute? You looked as if you were a million miles away. Or a few hundred years in the past,” he quipped.
“Yes.”
“And I interrupted.”
“You sure did,” Quinn replied with a grateful smile. She’d been terrified of Rhys finding out, but he was totally fine about it. There was no derision or sneer of contempt. He looked fascinated.
“So, can you tell me about her? Elise,” he said the name slowly, savoring it. Until that moment she’d been a nameless, faceless relic of another time, but now she had a name and, once Quinn described her, she’d have a face.
Quinn felt a pang of sadness as she began to speak, her voice low for fear of disturbing the dead. Hearing Elise’s name spoken out loud had a strange effect. It was almost as if Elise was there, watching Quinn with those bright blue eyes, a small smile tugging at her lips. Quinn had known of her existence for only two weeks, but already Elise had taken over her heart, and Quinn felt a strange kinship with the young, friendless girl who was sure to meet with a tragic end.
“She’s young and very pretty. What I found surprising about her is that despite her upbringing, she is quite spirited and doesn’t just accept her fate. I expect that’s what led to her untimely death. Elise understands the role of women in her time, but she can’t come to terms with the fact that she is nothing more than some man’s property.”
“So, what we have here is the typical story of a young woman being married off to an older man and expected to produce an heir to title and fortune?”
“Not quite. You see, Elise’s husband was impotent, but he needed an heir desperately and that weighed heavily on his mind. He was a wealthy man and needed a son to leave his estate to.”
“What about his daughter? Could she not have inherited or produced a son for Asher to leave his estate to?”
“His daughter was what they calledfeeble-mindedin those days. I suppose she might have been on the autistic spectrum or was severely learning disabled. She had some speech, but it was on a level of a three-year-old. Marrying her off would have been an act of unbelievable cruelty, not that any man in his right mind would want her for a wife, unless his only interest was in her wealth. To be honest, I’m not even sure if Barbara was physically able to bear a child. She was in her late teens when Elise met her, but she looked like a prepubescent girl.”
“So, what happened?” Rhys asked. He leaned forward in his eagerness to hear the story, which Quinn found endearing. He was like a little boy, desperate to learn how the tale ended.
“Asher used his illegitimate son, James, to get Elise with child and then banished James as soon as Elise conceived for fear of them having formed an attachment to one another.”
“And had they?” Rhys asked, a playful twinkle in his eye. He could sense a dramatic twist coming on, and the filmmaker in him was in heaven.
“Elise did warm to him after a time, but there was someone else in the picture. Elise had been in love with a young man called Gavin Talbot who worked for her father.”
“But she married Lord Asher nonetheless.”
“She did, and we have proof of that. But what I found no trace of was any mention of a child, and we know from Dr. Scott’s analysis that Elise had given birth to at least one child.”
“She might have miscarried late in the pregnancy or given birth to a stillborn. It happened often enough.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s possible since there’s no record of a baptism. I just can’t help wondering if there are, in fact, any living descendants.”
“Perhaps you will see something that will answer that question,” Rhys suggested, watching her with interest. “I do envy you. I wish I could see it all for myself.”
“I’ve made peace with my abilities, but when I was a child, I wanted nothing more than to be normal. Seeing the past scared me.”
“Who was the first person you saw?”
“My grandmother Ruth. I loved her, you see, and seeing her fear and suffering during the war scared me to death.”
