BLURB: MIRROR, MIRROR
Lindsey
Baker is intrigued by everything about the middle ages, but when she purchases
an antique mirror and a costume to attend a Renaissance Faire, she suddenly
finds herself transported back in time.
There she finds she’s been called by a witch to right a terrible
wrong.
Graham
loves Prudence, but he can’t marry her because he’s landed gentry, and she is
only the baker’s daughter. Before
Lindsey can return to her own time, she must convince Graham to marry against
his father’s wishes. Unfortunately, she
also finds herself falling for the handsome gentleman.
Can she find her way back
to her own time, or will she be stuck in a time when women had no rights?
EXCERPT: MIRROR, MIRROR
“Fool-born child! Watch where
you are walking. The master will have your hide for getting mud all over his
clean shirts.”
Someone pulled her ear—hard—and Lindsey yelped with pain. She was tugged up into a kneeling, then
standing position, before she opened her eyes.
She realized in the first moment she was no longer in Oregon.
“Where is your cap? If the
master sees you with your hair hanging down all over your face, he will switch
us both.”
She stared wide-eyed as a large, buxom woman bent down, picked up
dirty white shirts from the ground, and thrust them into Lindsey’s arms.
“‘Tis not here. Take my extra one.”
The woman grabbed Lindsey’s hair, balled it, and shoved it into a long,
sleeve-like cap, which came to Lindsey’s forehead and fell down around her
shoulders. Balancing the load of shirts
with one hand, she felt the cap. Not a
shred of her hair was showing.
“Um, thanks,” she said.
“Well, donna be thanking me now.
You just watch what you be doing next time, clumsy girl. Now march back into the washhouse and get the
mud off those shirts. When you have
finished, hang them out to dry. Then get you into the kitchen and help cook
with dinner.” The woman brushed her
hands off; then she smoothed her apron and marched through a courtyard toward a
large stone house.
Dumbfounded, Lindsey stood where the woman left her. She looked down at herself and saw she still
wore her second-hand clothes from St. Vincent de Paul’s. Her feet were bare. Then she noticed the woman
walking away from her was also barefooted.
Despite the muddy courtyard, the air was warm and so was the soil. But
where am I? As she looked around, the structure of the
buildings reminded her of pictures from her British History course in college.
In the opposite direction from which the woman took, Lindsey noticed
a path leading to a small outbuilding.
Smoke rose from a chimney. She
trudged back to the washhouse, opened the door but stepped back outside when
her eyes began to tear, and the heat blasted her face. Do
people actually work under these conditions? With the door opened, some of the smoke and
steam cleared, and she was able to see a large wooden tub sitting on metal legs
straddling hot coals. Lindsey dumped the load of shirts into the tub, picked up
a stick and stirred the load in the water.
Before long, her muscles ached, and she had blisters on her hands. Once
the tears began, there was no stopping them.
Until this point, she hadn’t thought much beyond putting one foot in
front of the other. She collapsed on a
small overturned crate and with head in hands, had a good cry.
With red, puffy eyes, and stuffed nose, Lindsey looked up when the
door opened. A wizened old woman leaning
on a cane shuffled in. She looked at
Lindsey with questioning eyes. “Is it
really you, Mistress?” she asked.
“What do you mean? Who am I
supposed to be?” Lindsey responded between sobs.
The old woman began to dance.
“It worked! It worked!”
Lindsey wiped the tears from her eyes with the bottom of her
skirt. “What worked?” she asked,
realizing this woman might know what happened.
“Why
the summoning I did for Mistress Prudence.
So you’re the one, eh?” The old
woman pinched Lindsey’s cheek and turned Lindsey’s face from side to side to
get a good look. “Well you do look like
the young Mistress.
When are you from, then?”
“You did say when, not where?”
“Of course. I know you’re not
from now, foolish simpkin. I brung you
here.”
“This morning it was 2011.
I’m not sure what year it is now.”
“‘Tis the year 1421, and you need to get busy, little missy. You need to get the Master to accept Prudence
as his bride. Soon as you do, we can
send you back from whence you came.”
Lindsey stood and looked down at the little woman. “Just how do you
propose I do that? Who is this master,
anyway?”
“Why, he be the master of the house.
He loves our Prudence, he does, but his father wants him to marry for
money. He’s just distraught our Master
is. I wager you be a smart woman. You
can get our Master to marry you. I canna help you anymore, but I’ll be watching
you.” The crone turned and shuffled
toward the door.
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1 comment:
Tina, thank you for hosting me today. I know this isn't your regular day for visitors. My brother, Vince, was born 70 years ago today. He was my protector, my confidant, and my friend for many years. He passed away in December, 2011. I looked for a piece I had written about him when I was a child but couldn't find it. I often see pieces of him showing up in my male characters. Happy Birthday Vin wherever you may be.
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