Enchanted - The Dressing Room Affair [Time Travel Historical Romance Novella] (Entwined Together Forever) (4 page)

~*~

Katie awoke with a fright to the sound of her telephone blaring beside her ear.

“Hello?” Katie yawned into the phone.

“Katie? It’s Chloe.” The sound of her voice stirred a nagging at the back of Katie’s head. Hadn’t she forgotten something? “Did I wake you up? Sorry, I thought we were meeting for breakfast this morning.”

Katie snatched up the digital clock on her bedside. “
Gah! Dammit. Oh Chloe, I’m so sorry. I totally forgot. I had such a late night.” She kicked off the sheets. “You are not going to believe it when I tell you what I found out about the bracelet!” She jumped out of bed, feeling dreadful for nearly standing Chloe up.

“Are you okay
?” Chloe asked, sounding concerned.

“Yeah, I’
m fine. Stay where you are and order me a coffee and something hot. I will jump in the shower and be there in ten minutes.”

“Okay,” Chloe replied
, sounding much happier. “See you soon!”

Katie rushed into
shower, got ready, grabbed the book and put the bracelet on her wrist. She ran out the door and dashed down the street towards the café. She had to tell Chloe what she’d found out the previous night. Perhaps she would be able to make sense of it all.

Whe
n she got to their favorite café at the other end of the lane overlooking the river, Chloe was there waiting with a hot brew of coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs. The smell of food made Katie’s mouth water. She hadn’t realized she was famished, her growling stomach suddenly a loud testament to it.

With all the excitement from the previous night, she had forgotten to eat dinner.

“Thank you! I’m starving,” Katie said as she plopped down to join Chloe at the table putting the book down next to her. She set upon the fluffy golden eggs with gusto.

“What’s that?” Chloe asked with an inquisitive look at the old
book. Katie was too busy wolfing down her breakfast to reply. Chloe fidgeted impatiently. “Are you going to tell me what happened before I burst?! Spill already!”

Katie looked at her dear friend excitedly as she swallowed a mouthful of coffee. “Chloe,” she said with the most serious
face Chloe had seen since her mother’s disappearance. “What I am going to tell you is going to sound totally absurd.”

“… Okay,” Chloe replied, leaning away from her just a hair.

“We’
ve been friends a very long time, right?”

“Yes.” Chloe nodded.

“Right. So please be open to this, because I’m going to need your help to figure out the history behind this bracelet. I think it’s connected in some way to my mother’s disappearance,” Katie continued. “You have to believe me.”

Chloe seemed intrigued
. “Are you nuts or something? Of course I’ll believe you Katie. You’re my best friend. Now tell me what happened!”

Katie told Chloe all about the book and her m
other’s obsession with it. She explained the story of the two bracelets, James Walsh, and his true love from the future called Isabelle. By the time she was through, Chloe’s eyes were the size of saucers. She gave Katie a skeptical once-over.

“You’
re not seriously thinking what I think you’re thinking are you?” Chloe asked. 

Katie huffed in consternation.
“I don’t know what I am thinking Chloe. All I know is the following facts…” She counted them on her fingers. “One. My mother got sick and became obsessed with this book about James Walsh; Two. I kept finding her downstairs talking to herself, but she always denied it when I asked about it; Three. She disappeared without a trace; Four. She left me a note, talking about how wherever she was going, I couldn’t follow her; Five. I found this bracelet which is the exact same bracelet from the book; Six. James Walsh one true love’s name is Isabelle.” She opened her arms, exasperated. “What do you expect me to think Chloe? Freak coincidences?”

“I know, I know,” Chloe assured her. “But this is a bit
out there… even for you, Katie.” Chloe pulled the book towards her and started flipping through the pages.

“I knew I was going crazy,” Katie muttered, slouching back in her chair. “Thanks for verifying that for me, Chloe.”

Chloe fixed her with a wry smile. “Let’s go down to the antique shop after breakfast and see if Mr. Wallis can tell us more about the bracelet. At least we’ll know if it is the real thing or a fake.”

Katie brightened.
“That’s a good idea!”

They quickly finished their breakfast. Katie packed the book away
and put the bracelet back on her wrist. She felt the same surge of sensations tingle up her arm. She ignored it as they hastened down to the Antique Store around the corner. Katie and Chloe loved the Antique Store. It had been there for years and the Wallis family had own it for generations.

“Hello
there, girls,” Mr. Wallis said as Chloe and Katie strolled inside. “I’ve not seen you in here for a long time. I am so sorry to hear about your mother, Katie,” he added sadly. 

“Thank you
, Mr. Wallis,” Katie stopped to pick up a beautiful hand painted vase that caught her eye.

“
How can I help you today, ladies?” Mr. Wallis asked kindly.

Chloe gave Katie’s arm a gentle nudge. Katie put the fascinating vase down.
“Well, Mr. Wallis, do you remember when my father bought that bedside table from your store – gosh, over 20 years ago now?”

“Yes I d
o, Katie. I remember it well. The darn thing sat in this store, right over there, for nearly twenty five years before that. No one wanted it for some reason. But the moment your mum laid eyes on it, she wanted it straight away. Nothing to be done. Took a real fancy to it, she did. I remember the day your father came into the store to buy it for her. It was supposed to be an anniversary present. He came to thank me a few days later. Said she was overjoyed,” Mr. Walsh explained to the girls as they listened intently. “What about it? Did you want to sell it back?” he asked the girls inquisitively.

“Oh no, Mr. Wallis,” Katie corrected quickly.
“I absolutely love it. It’s a keepsake in mum’s memory. The reason we ask is that yesterday, we were packing up her things and we found a secret drawer inside. When we opened it, we found this bracelet.” Katie held her wrist up. “We wanted to know if you could tell us if it was the real thing or just a piece of costume jewelry.”

“Sure can!” he beamed.
Katie handed the bracelet to Mr. Wallis and he looked at it very closely. “Just one moment, let me get my eye glass so I can take a better look at its authenticity,” he said as he walked towards the back of the store. He took the bracelet with him and then came back into the room, a picture of astonishment. “Where did you say you found it, Katie?” he whispered.

“In the secret drawer in the nightstand
my dad bought from you. It’s just some replica isn’t it?”

“On the contrary,” Mr. Wallis replied.  “This antique bracelet is very, very rare and valuable.
It is one of a pair from the 19th Century.” He looked closely at the bracelet from his foldable spyglass. “I never thought I’d actually see one, let alone hold it.”

“Really?” Katie questioned wi
th a triumphant smile as she looked over at Chloe and then back at Mr. Walsh. Chloe looked flabbergasted.

“Were you looking to sell it? I could find a buyer for you in a heartbeat for this one. There are so many people fol
lowing the James Walsh story who have been looking for the two bracelets for a very long time. Until today, I thought the whole thing was a farce,” Mr. Walsh explained.

“What would it be worth, just out of curiosity?” Chloe asked the antique owner.

He shrugged his shoulders, mulling it over as his head swayed to and fro. “Hard to say, but at a minimum I would estimate about five million in today’s markets because it is so rare. Probably twenty million, if you had both bracelets. Legend stipulates they have magic abilities that enable people to travel through time. Personally, I think that’s just folklore but… it adds to the value of the pieces.”

“F- five million?” she stammered.
Chloe, slackjawed, looked at Katie and then back at Mr. Wallis. “No way!”

Kati
e immediately chimed in. “It’s not for sale, Mr. Wallis. I would appreciate it if you kept this just between us. It’s something that my mum treasured and one of the only things that I have left of her.” 

Mr. Wallis nodded graciously.
“I totally understand, Katie. Your secret is safe with me.” He gingerly handed the bracelet back to Katie.

Mr. Wallis wished the girls well as he went back to dusting the antique furniture in the store. The girls thanked
him as they left to go back to Katie’s house where they would decide what to do with this new information.

~*~

~*~

When the girls reached the shop, Katie marched straight over to the locked dressing room.

“I don’t know why,
but I feel this room is somehow connected to this bracelet and my mum’s disappearance. Tomorrow I am going to see if I can find the key. Once and for all, I am going to find out what she’s hiding behind that locked door that she did not want anyone to see.”

Chloe left an hour later and told Katie to give her a call if she needed anymore help.

The next day, Katie called a locksmith to open the dressing room door and fit it with a new lock. Chloe was busy with errands, but promised to pop over later to see what was behind the door. She gave Katie a phone call in the morning, telling her that if the prince charming from their childhood adventures was in there to make sure he had a handsome, rich brother and be sure to give him her number.

Kat
ie giggled and promised Chloe she would keep an eye out.

It was half past ten
when Katie finally heard the shop’s bell chime. She had been unpacking more stock, preparing for an influx of customers formally invited to the annual council ball. It was a big event to celebrate the coming of spring. The theme this year was the mid 19th Century. She wanted to make sure she had enough stock to cater to the demand. The theme was actually Katie’s idea. After reading her mother’s book, she thought it was a great historical theme for the community to celebrate this year and the committee loved the idea.

As Katie looked up, a short stocky red ha
ired man came into the store. “Are you Katie Mackenzie by any chance?”

“T
he one and only,” Katie replied with a smile.

“Top of the morning to you!”

“And to you, sir. You must be the locksmith?” she asked politely.

“Y
es indeed ma’am,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. “My name is Sean Flannery. How can I be of assistance?”

“Well Mr. Flannery, if you could assist me in changing the lock on this old dressing room door so that I can see what junk is in there and clean it out
, that would be greatly appreciated,” Katie instructed as she led him towards the room in question. She put her hands on her hips. “This door has been locked for over twenty years. My mother lost the key and never bothered to get it fixed.  I’m hoping to expand the store, so I’ll need more fitting rooms. I really want to use this one, but I can’t seem to open it. Do you think you can help?” Katie said looking back at Sean the locksmith.

“Piece of cake, lassie. I will have it opened in a jiffy. I can cut you a new key t
o replace the one that you lost,” Sean replied as he grabbed his toolbox and walked towards the door lock.

“Is there any chance of keepin
g the same shape key? I love old door keys. It helps maintain the ambience of the store and its history,” Katie inquired hopefully.

“Sure, I have lots of people with old locks w
ho want to do the same thing. I always keep some in the van.”

Katie got out of th
e way to let the locksmith work his magic. She had butterflies in her stomach. This would be the first time the dressing room had been opened since she was born. And for some reason she had a feeling that the bracelet, her mother’s disappearance and the book had something to do with what was hidden behind that door. She was determined to figure it out. Not knowing what happened to her mother was always at the back of her mind and if this room could somehow put the pieces of the puzzle together, then she was ready to become a detective and solve the mystery of her mother’s disappearance once and for all.

A little while later, Katie was roused
from her day dreaming by Sean. The locksmith handed her an invoice and the new key. “Here is the key, Miss Mackenzie. Is there anything else you will be needing today?”

“No that’s perfect
. Thank you,” Katie replied excitedly as she took the key from his hands and ushered him to the door.

Af
ter the locksmith left, Katie felt a tingle of anticipation. She returned to the dressing room to finally see what was behind the locked door.  It was very musty at the back of the store. It was dark and there was not much light, something Katie would have to fix as part of the store makeover she was planning to do over the summer. Katie slowly turned the new key in the lock that Mr. Flannery had cut and started to open the door. She stopped.

She did not know what was holding her back
. She took a deep breath, grabbed the door handle, and swung it open. She could have sworn that, just for an instant, she could smell her mother’s perfume inside. She went to flick the light switch, but the bulb was blown.

“Dammit all,” Katie cursed
. “Figures.”

Katie fetched a new bulb,
came back, and changed it, stubbing her toe twice on what was probably a chair leg. She flipped the light on. The dressing room was bigger than she envisioned. It seemed to go further into the cavity of the wall than the other smaller changing room in the store. There was a stunning antique chair in the heart of the room. The wood and carvings matched her jewelry box. More surprising still were the matching jewels encrusted in the armrest.

How bizarre
,
Katie thought to herself. They all looked exactly the same. She dusted her fingers over the jewels.

Katie sat down in the chair that was facing towards an oval mirror in the corner of the dressing room. As she
stared into her reflection, it was almost like there was an electric current pulsing through her body. The air was thick with what she could only describe as… magic.

Then
, something at the bottom of the mirror caught her eye. It was very dusty, so Katie moved closer to see what it was. She grabbed the corner of her t-shirt and wiped away the dust at the bottom of the mirror. She jumped back and gasped in disbelief.

“No way,” she mused a
s she stared at the words looking back at her in the carved wooden mirror. ‘Entwined together forever’.  She slipped her mum’s bracelet off her wrist, glanced inside, and read the same words… ‘Entwined together forever’.

This was all
too much for Katie to swallow. It was downright weird. She turned around and walked out of the change room, locked the door with the new key and went straight to the phone to tell Chloe what she found.

Katie rubbed the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “She’s going to think I’ve lost my marbles for sure this time
,” Katie muttered while the phone rang.

Chloe answered the phone in
her normal, chirpy voice. Katie hoped she was alone and unoccupied.

“Hey Kat
e! Did you find our handsome prince in the dressing room yet?” When Katie did not laugh, Chloe’s giggles tapered off. “What’s up, honey? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Everything is fine, Chlo
e. I – I need you to come to the shop as soon as you can,” Katie said, trying to stay calm on the phone. It was no easy task when really she felt so giddy with disbelief that she thought she was about to faint at any moment.

“Be right over!” Chloe exclaimed.

“She’s going to think you’ve lost the plot,” Katie groaned to herself as she put the phone away.

Chloe was such a bubbly individual… except when it came to dealing with matters that weren’t parallel to reality.
Chloe was studying to be a pediatrician, preferably working with children who had life threatening illnesses. Her mother, Ruth Murphy, was an amazing doctor. She passed away from a sudden heart attack five years ago. Chloe wanted to carry on in her mother’s footsteps to continue on her amazing work and dedication to helping sick children live long and healthy lives.

Katie and Chloe weren’t that different when it came to loving their mums.

This was Chloe’s last year at the u
niversity and Chloe was tenaciously dedicated to being the best in her field. She spent most of her days either studying or at the hospital doing her practicals… in between drilling gorgeous doctors over lunch of course.

Chloe rushed through the door to find Katie just standing in the middle of the store
, staring at the dressing room door. She combed her fingers through her windblown hair, trying to tame it back into submission.

“What’s the matter?” Chloe breezed
towards her friend of over twenty years, who looked quite pale and confused.

Katie turned and looke
d at Chloe. “First, tell me I’m not going mad.”

Chloe frowned, puzzled at the peculiar request. She gave the other woman a careful once-over. “You look fine to me.” She smiled.

Katie let out a breath she had been holding in since she walked in the door. “There’s something you have to see.” She guided her over to the dressing room. Chloe peered over her shoulder. Katie unlocked the door and turned the light switch on. Chloe flanked Katie into the room, amazed at how big it was. The first thing she noted was the antique chair.

“Oh, Katie, this is beautiful! I
s this what you wanted to show me?” Chloe shuffled over to the chair. Chloe spotted the jewels in the arm rest carvings. She looked up at Katie. “These look familiar. Where have I seen these before?” Chloe blanched when she remembered. She stared at the jewels on the chair and the jewels on the bracelet on Katie’s wrist. “No way,” she gaped. “They can’t be the same. That’s just too freaky!”

“
Oh, you think that’s strange? They are the exact same jewels as the ones on my jewelry box too. And that’s not all. Come look at this.” Katie showed Chloe to the mirror and indicated the words carved into the wood: ‘entwined together forever’. Katie removed Isabelle’s bracelet and then showed Katie the same words engraved on the inside of her bracelet.

Chloe’s wide eyes darted between all the items. She shook her head, dazed. “If you’re going crazy, then so am I. There is something super weird
going on here.”

Katie nodded. “I totally agree. I think the sooner we
find out more about this Lord James Walsh, the sooner we can put the pieces of this puzzle together. Do you want to come down to the library with me and see if we can shed some more light on this chair, mirror, and bracelet?”

“Are you serious?
” Chloe laughed. “Hurricanes couldn’t keep me away now. Let’s go!” Both girls grabbed their coats. Katie locked the store and they headed towards the library to learn more about the mystery of the 18th century bracelets and the 19th Century Lord James Walsh.

~*~