Through Each Tomorrow, page 35
Libby smiled at me, but I could tell her thoughts and concerns were with her mother.
The boxy ambulance was waiting at the base of the gangplank, and a man in a suit approached Libby as soon as we stepped onto shore.
“Hello, Dr. Payne,” she said. “Thank you for coming.”
“My pleasure,” he told her, tipping his hat. “We’ll get your mother home as soon as possible and see what we can do to help her.”
“Thank you.” Libby let go of my arm and turned to me. “Again, your assistance has been invaluable. I won’t forget you, Congressman Hollingsworth.” She smiled and touched my arm. “Or our timeless connection.”
I put my hand over hers and nodded. “It was a pleasure, Miss Wells. I hope our paths cross again one day.”
Libby’s mother was placed in the ambulance, and Dr. Payne waited to help Libby get in with them.
“Good day, my dear,” I said, patting her hand. “God be with you.”
She gave me one final smile and then slipped into the ambulance.
The doors were closed, and the vehicle drove away.
A crowd had gathered to welcome home the ship, and they were forced to move apart to make way for the ambulance.
I stood there, watching to make sure they made it through.
“Father!”
I turned to the sound of my son’s voice as he pushed through the crowd on the opposite side of the dock as the back of the ambulance disappeared.
Henry was tall and handsome, with brilliant blue eyes and a passion for American history that he’d come by honestly from his path in 1774.
I smiled to myself, suspecting that I knew who Libby might be. From the moment I’d learned she was a time-crosser, I had to smile at God’s gracious love. Henry had spoken of Libby many times from 1774, but he knew from his studies at The College of William and Mary in this path that he was going to become the first spy hanged in the American Revolution in 1775. Because of it, he wasn’t at liberty to give his heart to her.
Little did he know that Libby also occupied this path. It wasn’t something I could tell him, not only because it wasn’t my place to interfere with God’s plans, but also because God’s timing was perfect. I knew that without a doubt. And if he intended to bring Henry and Libby together in this path, nothing could stop Him.
Because Libby was so surprised to meet another time-crosser, I assumed that she didn’t realize there were so many of them. I had chosen to keep a lot of information to myself. She’d asked if I knew of any other time-crossers, and I had told her I didn’t. She would learn the truth at the right time, I was certain.
But, for now, I would wait to see what God had planned.
“Charles!” Evelyn said as she moved through the crowd beside Henry.
I met her midway and embraced her. “Hello, darling,” I said as I kissed her. “Did you miss me?”
She laughed, her blue eyes sparkling. “More than you’ll ever know. Thankfully, I’ve been busy with meetings and spending time with Laura’s family.”
I smiled at the mention of our daughter, Laura. Soon after we’d married, we returned to Newport and adopted her from the Home for Friendless Children. She had filled our lives with joy and was now married with children of her own and living in New York.
“How are the grandchildren?” I asked.
Evelyn glowed with happiness. “Wonderful. They’re expecting us for supper tonight. I hope you didn’t forget to bring them presents.”
“How could I? Little Whitney wrote to me twice to remind me to bring her something special.”
The laughter in Evelyn’s voice warmed my heart.
“What about the summit?” Henry asked me. “Was your trip to Europe successful?”
I’d been meeting with European powers in England as a senior United States Representative from Virginia, trying to convince them to reduce armies and navies. Another war was looming, and we were doing everything to stop it from happening.
“It was . . . disheartening,” I said to Henry. “I’d rather hear about your meetings.”
His face lit up with excitement. “I introduced Dr. Goodwin to John D. Rockefeller. I think we’re close to convincing Mr. Rockefeller to take a look at Williamsburg. He’s interested in our vision to restore the town as a museum and is considering how he might invest in the venture.”
“I’m happy to hear it.”
“I know it’ll take some time,” Henry said, a shadow falling across his face, “but once I leave my other path, I’ll have nothing but time.”
My gaze wandered in the direction of the ambulance, and I couldn’t help but wonder when or if Libby and Henry’s paths would ever cross again. I hoped they would.
“Let’s get your things,” Evelyn said as she slipped her arm through mine. “And we can keep talking on the way home. Henry, I want to hear all about your ideas for Williamsburg. Your father and I would also like to be considered as investors.”
“And as a congressman,” I added, “I can help you get other funding.”
“I appreciate the offer,” he said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I’m happy that we’re moving in the right direction.” Henry grinned as he put his hand on my back. “I’ll go speak to the porter about your luggage.”
I watched Henry walk away, his hands in his pockets and focus on the horizon. I prayed for his endurance to face the coming years.
“What’s on your mind, Charles?” Evelyn asked as she wrapped her arms around me and watched our son.
“I just met Libby on the ship.”
She pulled back. “The Libby?”
“I believe so.”
“Interesting.” She returned to my embrace. “I both envy and dread what Henry will go through over the next few years, but if I know anything, it’s that God is faithful, and He will not leave Henry’s side.”
“I don’t know what will happen,” I agreed, “but I have a feeling it will be beautiful.”
She smiled at me. “If it’s anything like our story, it will be.”
“I don’t think it will be anything like our story,” I said as we started to follow Henry. “But if it ends as well as ours, then it will be amazing and worth all the trouble to get there.”
Evelyn chuckled and took my hand. “Come. It’s getting late, and I’m eager to get you home.”
I glanced toward the gangplank where I’d said good-bye to Libby, but something told me it wasn’t good-bye forever.
Only time would tell.
Historical Note
Once upon a time, I created a character named Congressman Hollingsworth. He appeared briefly in When the Day Comes, the first book in my Timeless series. At the time, I never imagined that he would become the hero in book six, so I had him make a random comment about his other path starting in 1541. Six books later, I realized that he not only needed a story, but also a first name. Until now, I’ve chosen to set each book in a period that was familiar to me. But if Congressman Hollingsworth—now known as Charles—was born in 1541, his story would take place approximately twenty-five years later, and I had very little knowledge of the 1560s. I quickly learned that the most interesting events happening at that time were the intrigue in Queen Elizabeth I’s court and the plague ravaging London. I decided to have Charles live at court with his stepsister, Cecily, and thus began my quest to learn all I could about Queen Elizabeth and her courtiers. I read several books and articles for research, but the most helpful book by far was Elizabeth I and Her Circle, by Susan Doran.
Since I wanted to set the story during the plague, I needed Charles to be twenty-four in 1563. Unfortunately, I had already given him a birthdate of 1541, so I had to fudge the years a little. If I could time-cross back to When the Day Comes, I would have had Congressman Hollingsworth’s other path begin in 1539. I hope you can forgive this little change.
I only knew the basics about Queen Elizabeth when I began my research. I didn’t know anything about her courtiers or life in the palace in the sixteenth century. But everything I learned was so fascinating, I couldn’t wait to include it in Through Each Tomorrow. One of the things I learned was that Elizabeth played favorites with the men in her life, and she was drawn to handsome, confident, intelligent men, especially those who were good dancers (who isn’t?). Her closest male companion was Lord Robert Dudley, a friend from childhood. It was well known that they were in love, and he wanted to marry her, but Lord Robert was already married to someone else. When Lord Robert’s wife mysteriously died falling down a flight of stairs less than two years after Elizabeth became queen, the scandal was so intense, Elizabeth knew that they could never marry. But that didn’t stop them from being close or from living in adjoining apartments.
It’s no wonder, then, that there were rumors that Elizabeth and Lord Robert had a child. In 1561 (not 1563, when my story is set), the queen was bedridden with an illness that made her body swell, and she was kept from the eyes of the court. Twenty-six years later in 1587, a man named Arthur Dudley was detained by the Spanish after a shipwreck on the Biscay Coast, under suspicion of spying. When questioned, Arthur claimed to have been born in 1561 and that he was the child of Queen Elizabeth and Lord Robert Dudley. There are three letters that still exist from his interviews. He claimed that Elizabeth’s lady in waiting, Kat Astley, summoned a man named Robert Southern to the castle to take a newborn baby. The child would be raised as a gentleman in London, taught how to dance, and speak several languages. Upon Southern’s deathbed, he confessed to Arthur about his royal origins, fearing for both his and Arthur’s lives. Soon after Arthur recounted his story, he disappeared from history and was never heard from again.
Scholars refute the claim that Arthur made, but I thought the story was too good to pass up! It was purported that Queen Elizabeth was a virgin throughout her life and took pride in that title. She never married, despite the advice of her privy council, and eventually the crown was passed to her distant cousin, James VI, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots (who had been beheaded for conspiring against Queen Elizabeth).
By 1578, Lord Robert had proposed to Elizabeth several times and was tired of being rejected. He married Elizabeth’s widowed cousin, Lettice Knollys, in a secret ceremony, without the queen’s knowledge or consent. The queen was so enraged, she banished Lettice from court and never allowed her to return, and she did not speak to Robert for several years. Lettice was one of the queen’s maids of honour and someone who played a part in my story. By 1563, when my story is set, Lettice had been a maid of honour for four years. She was considered one of the most beautiful women in the court and was often paraded in front of visitors and dignitaries as the standard of English beauty. Elizabeth felt betrayed by her cousin and her favorite when Lettice and Lord Robert married, and she never fully recovered.
As for nicknames, the queen offered them to her favorites, and it was Lord Robert that she called Eyes. I chose for her to call Charles Eyes in my story because in previous books, Charles’s blue eyes were commented on as being brilliant and unique.
The queen loved competitions and entertainments and was fond of royal tennis and jousting, to name a few activities. When I learned that there was a royal tennis court at Windsor Castle (also known as real tennis), built in the fifteenth century, I was so excited! I had already planned a tennis fundraiser in 1883 and loved this time-crossing connection.
As for jousting, I learned that King Henry VIII, Elizabeth’s father, sustained a brain injury in a jousting match in 1536. He was unconscious for two hours, and it’s believed he suffered lifelong complications, some affecting his personality. It wasn’t long after his accident that he had his second wife, Anne Boleyn, beheaded. Elizabeth was only two when her mother died. It was this accident that gave me the idea for Charles’s amnesia. I had often wondered what would happen to a time-crosser if they suffered amnesia in one path, and this was an opportunity to find out.
Cecily was introduced in Every Hour Until Then, book five in my Timeless series. She is Kathryn and Austen’s daughter and inspired by several of the maids of honour in Queen Elizabeth’s court. There is little known about these women, but they were noblewomen who served the queen with devotion and dedication. They weren’t allowed to get involved in political matters but were relied upon to keep their eyes and ears open, and report back to the queen. The maids of honour slept in a cramped dormitory with a chaperone, and even after they were married, they continued in the service of the queen, some through multiple pregnancies. It was rare to have a position open up in the queen’s household, but when one did, the competition was fierce for those coveted spots.
When I began to brainstorm Through Each Tomorrow, I was sitting with my daughter Ellis. I knew that one path would have to be in the 1560s and the other would have to be in the 1880s, since Charles appears in When the Day Comes as an older gentleman in 1912. As I thought through the cast of characters who had already been introduced, and who might be living in the 1880s, I remembered Hope and Grace’s cousin, Rachel Howlett, who had died giving birth to a child in the Salem gaol in 1692. She had made a comment to Hope when they met, saying, “My other path is 1882. ’Tis a grand life there. Nothing like this one. There, I have servants. Here, I am one.” The moment I remembered that comment, I sat up and looked at Ellis and said, “I know who the heroine of this story will be!” I had to do a little maneuvering to make sure no one was related to each other, and then I began to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I quickly realized that this was the perfect opportunity for Rachel/Evelyn to heal, and I love a good redemption story.
As for the Whitney family, I fashioned them after the Vanderbilts, who were a fascinating group of people. The feud between sisters-in-law, the way the Whitney family made their fortune, and their rise in social status in New York and Newport all come from the Vanderbilts.
Alva and Alice Vanderbilt’s rivalry was world famous and often reported about in the newspapers. Among other things, Alva Vanderbilt built a ginormous summer cottage in Newport called Marble House between 1888–1892. Not to be outdone, one year later Alice Vanderbilt began to build The Breakers, easily the largest and grandest home in Newport (I could fit four of my houses in her great room alone, since it measures 250 feet by 150 feet, and is 50 feet tall). Sadly, Alva’s marriage to William Vanderbilt ended in 1895. It was well known that William entertained showgirls and domestic servants on his yacht and did not hide it from his wife. He had a mistress in Europe and flaunted her in front of Alva, which caused the final rupture in their marriage. Their divorce was scandalous, especially since the elite rarely divorced, but Alva was granted full custody of their children, the right to remarry, and Marble House in Newport. To learn more about the Vanderbilts and the other wealthy Gilded Age families, I highly recommend a book called The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy by Anne de Courcy.
In 1883, the grandest of the mansions had not yet been built, but the social elite had already descended upon the town for their summer holidays. It was a very common pastime to attend fundraisers in Newport and to go to the Newport Casino for tennis, lawn bowling, billiards, dancing, etc. I loved discovering that the International Tennis Hall of Fame is currently at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island. It was there, in 1881, that the first US Lawn Tennis Championship was held. The winner was Richard Sears, who won the title for seven years in a row. This championship eventually became known as the US Open.
During the Gilded Age, young people would picnic, swim in the ocean, or, a bit later, have bicycling parties. Afternoon teas were popular, as were evening dinner parties and balls. And every afternoon there was a grand promenade on Bellevue Avenue as people went calling on each other. Newport society was run by the wives and daughters of the wealthiest families, and the husbands and adult sons often stayed in New York City, only coming to Newport for weekend trips or special occasions. They were known to come by yacht or private train cars. For this reason, there was a shortage of young men for dances and parties. It wasn’t uncommon for a hostess to inquire from a commanding officer at Fort Adams to send over officers, from good families, to play bridge or to dance. These men were required to wear their uniforms so none of the young heiresses would waste their time on them.
Since I knew that orphans would play a part in my story, I was happy to discover that there was an orphanage in Newport. The Newport Home for Friendless Children was created in 1866, right after the Civil War, at 24 School Street. The organization has undergone many transformations over the years, and it eventually became a charity organization that helped thousands of families during the Great Depression and offered a daycare for working mothers. When orphanages became obsolete in the 1960s, they transformed into an emergency short-term care center. In the 1990s, they opened a homeless shelter for women and children and expanded to other locations. In 2009, after 145 years at School Street, they built a new multi-service community center in Middletown, Rhode Island, and now run as a state agency called Child & Family. You can learn more about their history by visiting their website www.childandfamilyri.org/our-history.
There are so many other little details, real people, and events that I tucked into these pages. I hope this story, and the others in my Timeless series, inspire you to dig deeper. As always, it is a pleasure to bring real history to life. Thank you for allowing me space to share my passion.
—Gabrielle
Discussion Questions
1. This story is set in two very different centuries, 1563 and 1883. If you had to pick one of these two eras to live in, which one would you choose and why?
2. In 1563, this story explores the intrigues of Queen Elizabeth I’s court. What do you think was the most interesting aspect of this lifestyle?
3. Would you have wanted to live at court with the queen?
4. In the sixteenth century, there was very little known about the origin of insects, allowing Cecily to be the first to “discover” it. If you went back in time, what is one thing you’d like to discover? (It can be scientific, an invention, new land, etc.)
