Bitter Oath (New Atlantis) - By Nhys Glover Page 0,29

commode with water?’ Liv asked.

‘Commode. That’s the word I was looking for. For little kids, we call them potties. Do you think you’ve got that? If not, please ask me anytime, and I’ll go over it all again. It will take a while for stuff to sink in.’

‘Jane, I am most appreciative of all you have done for me since my arrival. But I think Rene is right. Is it possible for you to adjust your language to suit me for the moment? I am struggling to understand you. What does “stuff to sink in” mean?’

Jane laughed, and covered her beautiful face with her hands. ‘Sorry, sorry. I get carried away. We all speak English here, but there are so many versions of it, depending on when and where a person comes from. Let me see if I can translate. It will take some time for the information to make sense, and for you to remember it. How’s that?’

‘Excellent. And I will most assuredly ask you if there is stuff that has not sunk in yet.’

Jane clapped her hands in delight. ‘I’ll have you talking like a twentieth century woman in no time!’

‘Twentieth Century? This is two hundred years into the future?’ Liv’s voice wobbled.

‘Ouch! Hmmm. Not quite. Do you truly want an answer to that right now?’

Liv thought about it. Somehow she had imagined this ‘future’ they were talking about was in her children’s time, or her grandchildren’s. But Jane was suggesting it was much further ahead than that. Did she want to know when, right now? Why not? It was only a number, after all.

‘I would like to know when this is.’

‘Okay. Let’s move back into the bedroom, in case you have to sit down in a hurry.’ When they were near enough to the bed, Jane went on. ‘You come from 1810. I came from 1968. This is 2334.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

‘Oh, dear!’ Liv gasped as her head began to spin.

Before she lost her balance and fell, Rene raced into the room and caught her. He lowered her tenderly onto the bed.

‘Perfect timing, Lancelot. Were you hovering in the hall?’

‘Yes. I had a feeling you might push the envelope just a bit too far. Sometimes you are the wisest and most insightful woman I know. Then, when you get excited, you tip back to being a kid again.’

‘A kid? Jane is a goat?’ Liv couldn’t stop herself asking.

‘No, no. A kid means a child. Jane is very young. It is easy for us to forget that,’ Rene informed her as he stroked her forehead with his cool, dark fingers. It was totally inappropriate that he should be sitting on the edge of her bed stroking her forehead while she reclined. But in that moment, she didn’t care. It felt warm and safe and comforting.

‘Point taken old man, do you want to take over for a while? I’ve covered the basics, and I wouldn’t mind slipping out to sort out a few things for tonight. I was supposed to have worked today.’ She grimaced at him, reminding him how he had disrupted all their lives.

‘Sorry Janey, I didn’t mean to sound patronising. You have been a real friend, and I appreciate it. Go, do what you need to. I will take care of Liv until you return. Apologise to Julio for me, and tell him I will keep my hands to myself.’

Jane giggled. ‘It’s hard for someone as old as you not to be patronising, Frenchie. And I will make sure Julio isn’t lonely while I’m gone. See you later.’

With that, she gave them both a little wave, and disappeared out the bedroom door. Liv was suddenly acutely aware that they were in her bedroom, alone, with no one else in the house.

Rene must have realised the same thing because he cleared his throat, and shifted his position on the bed. His strokes became more tentative.

‘Please don’t stop,’ Liv found herself saying, despite her nervousness and fear.

Rene resettled on the bed. Half reclining beside her, his strokes became more confident. Liv shut her eyes, and thought of nothing but his touch. It had been such an overwhelming day. First, there had been his unexpected arrival, and the meeting with her father. Then there had been the realisation that Rene was a mystery in need of solving. Next had come her outrageous incursion into his bedroom – hiding in his wardrobe, for goodness sake. Finally, there had been the trip through time to this world they said existed five hundred years