Fading With Time

Proof Positive

Chapter 16

                Elizabeth sat there in shock with the hidden door standing wide open in front of her.  She hadn’t really expected to find anything in the attic.  To her dismay though she had stumbled across more than she had bargained for.

                The hidey hole had been constructed to blend in so seamlessly it was no wonder she had missed it.  If she hadn’t heard the distinct change in creak accompanied by the hollow echo her footsteps had created with each pass she wasn’t sure she would have found it in the first place.  The door was three board widths wide and just as long creating a perfect square.  Someone had shortened the floorboards in the room to create a place for the small compartment.  The boards for the door were laid so that the seam was minimal and hard to see.  Two little hinges had been attached to the two end boards spacing them far enough from each other that they weren’t necessarily overly visible.  They were simple in construction and fairly flush leaving little to be sticking up to catch a foot on.  The three boards that made up the top were spaced to match the rest of the boards on the floor.  A minute notch had been cut off a top corner of an end board leaving a hole just big enough for a small finger to fit into.  It was an impressive little set up really.

                Elizabeth was less shocked by the presence of the hiding spot then she was by the fact that it had things inside of it.  Her heart thundered in her chest as she reached a shaking hand into it.  She was almost too afraid to bring out the contents.  Her fingers cramped with the effort she made not to squeeze too hard.  Lifting her hand back out she held an oversized envelope within her tense grasp.  It almost resembled a manilla envelope.  Laying it aside she reached back in feeling around blindly to make sure it was now bare of anything else.  Once appeased she closed the lid shut and turned her attention back to the only thing she had found. 

                Lifting in her hand fine dust fell from it drifting to the floor.  Turning it over she lay it on her lap while she worked the stiff twine loose.  The flap cracked as she opened it and poured the meager contents onto the floor.  Placing it to the side she turned her attention back to the things that had fallen.  There was a piece of folded parchment, a smaller envelope, and a photograph.  Elizabeth chose the picture first eager to see who it was.  Wiping the surface free she scrutinized the face of the man seated in it but had no idea as to his identity.  Even turning it over proved fruitless as no information had been written upon it.  Laying it on top of the discarded packaging she then picked up the paper.

Dear Lizzy,

                I hope we have done it.  I did as we discussed and created the perfect place to hide our correspondence.  I must say this is all so overly exciting.  I have written to William.  He is aware of our plan.  He awaits to hear from you.  In truth I do as well.  I will barely be able to contain my curiosity as I wait for his return letter.  You are to let him know that you have received the things I have sent.  As I sit here writing to you I am jittering all over in my seat.  I have not even finished it yet and I find I am already much too impatient to hear news back.  How silly of me is it not?

                I have informed mother and Ruth that you are away working on another portrait.  I have included a photograph of your subject.  I have come up with the perfect way to drum up business.  I have taken out an advertisement in a magazine, on your behalf of course.  I explained to mother that I am going to be your assistant for the time being.  That way she does not wonder why I am answering your mail.  Anyone who would like an artist’s portrait is to send inquiries to our address.  From there I will pick those that qualify and request a photograph be sent.  What is the requirement you ask?  I will tell you dear friend.  They must live a fair distance away.  It is perfect you see.  Mother will not question your absences as you are traveling for work and the enquirer will think nothing of sending a photograph since they live too far for you to travel alone.  I have out done myself with this plan! 

                Since there is no way for you to talk directly to me unless you travel here I had to enlist my brother.  It is not like he did not know about you anyway.  Anything you need for your work simply let William know and I shall acquire it.  The only thing I am not entirely sure of is how we will get those portraits here from your time.  Any suggestions would be helpful.  Yes, you have read right.  You will actually need to create the portraits in order for our ruse to be successful.  I have included the first person to patron your services.  Do not let me down.  I shall leave my letter here since there is still so much to do.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Although I look forward to seeing you more. 

Yours Truly,

Annabel Bennett

                By the time Elizabeth had finished the letter, her breathing coming in sharp pants.  It had been real.  All of it had actually happened to her.  The idea was too large for her brain but there was no denying it.  The proof sat in her hand sent to her by Annabel herself.  If she weren’t partially freaking out at the moment she would have laughed at the tone of the letter.  It read so much like the young woman she had gotten to meet.  How she managed to travel to the Bennett’s she still had no clue.  Her eyes stared at the words on the paper.  They blurred out of focus however as her mind turned over what Annabel had said.  There wasn’t anyway for Elizabeth to send something back to her in return.  The only reason that William had gotten her letters to begin with was because of the paper she had been using from his own personal stash.  It wasn’t the same thing though.

                She sat there turning the problem over in her mind dismissing one thing after another.  The only solution she could to see was that Elizabeth herself would have to take each piece back with her.  She knew that as long as she used things that existed within the house in both times that it was possible.  She would have to set up an area in her studio downstairs compiled with what little supplies made it through the years along with the easel and canvas.  She began to make plans only half believing they would really be able to pull any of it off.  She was absently picking the things up in preparation for heading back downstairs.  It wasn’t until her fingers lifted the smaller envelope that she remembered it was even there.

                Her eyes drifted down to the object in her hand.  Everything had been returned back into the larger envelope except for this one.  Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest as she recognized the smaller envelope immediately.  She should since she had a small box of the same one’s downstairs in her bedroom.  Her name was scrawled across the front of it in William’s familiar handwriting.  She had wanted to believe Annabel more than anything when she had told Elizabeth that he had received her letters to him.  It was completely different seeing proof of it for herself.  Once she read it her unfounded hopes that he was getting them would become a reality.  Her palms dampened with moisture as her heart beat like a drum.  Everything she had conjured in her imagination possibly now sat in her trembling hands.  The possibility of her reality changing caused her mouth to go dry.  What would she do if what she had thought was impossible proved to be tangibly within her reach?  She hadn’t given it any thought previously since she wasn’t much of a dreamer anymore.  Maybe if the events since she moved had happened to her before she had lost her family, she would have fantasized about it all instead of waving it off.  She could toss around conjecture all night not getting anywhere.  The only thing that could sway her now was inside the envelope in her hand. 

                Turning it over to reveal the unsealed flap she took a deep breath.  She sat there trying to coax herself into opening it.  The only problem was she wasn’t sure she wanted her life to change anymore.  She had been through so much already in such a short time.  Did she really want to go down this particular rabbit hole?