Restoration -- 3
Date: 9/18/98
From: Krystina

Little Windward Island, several weeks later

Angelique was going through some papers in the study of the late Sky Rumson. As the weeks had passed, Angelique had slowly gotten her strength back, and had begun to become more acclimated to this strange new world of the 20th Century. Even though she had a cook and a full-time staff at her disposal, Angelique had been determined to learn how the numerous "gadgets" of this time worked, and she had learned her way around a modern kitchen fairly well. It was ironic, she thought, how desperately she had wanted to get out of domestic work when she first met Barnabas in 1795, but it was so different now, for she was a lady of means who was able to do as little or as much as she chose, and she very much enjoyed the change. Angelique again was grateful for the fact that she had always been able to adapt easily to her surroundings. Barnabas had told her in 1840 how amazed he was at the change in her, how no one would have ever known she had originally been a servant, and how well the role of a refined lady became her. Angelique had cherished that compliment from Barnabas, because as much as she loved him there was a part of her that had always felt she still was not good enough for him. One of the things that had meant so much to her after she and Barnabas had achieved a sort of reconciliation after she had removed his curse in 1840 was that he had begun to treat Angelique with respect and treat her as an equal, and as someone he had genuine affection for. The tragedy for Angelique is that she sensed that he had come to feel something more for her after she had saved Quentin and Desmond, but she had been robbed of that when Lamar Trask had viciously shot her.

Barnabas was never very far from Angelique's thoughts, but she had had so much to occupy her since she arrived at Little Windward that she had had little time to try and find out if Barnabas had successfully returned to this time.

Acquainting herself with her role as the young widowed Mrs. Rumson had proven a formidable yet exciting task for Angelique. She spent hours pouring through all the files and papers she could find in order to find out just who Angelique and Sky Rumson had really been. It amused Angelique to think that she had been what was called a fashion model, which is how supposedly she had met Sky. Angelique had had a hard enough time adjusting to the very short skirts women wore in 1971, and she could not envision herself modeling such things professionally, but the collection of magazines in her house showed her otherwise--she had obviously had quite a successful career as a model. Another thing that puzzled her enormously was that the portrait of herself that Angelique had conjured up in 1795 somehow hung in the Rumson home. From the articles she had read, the story was that Sky had first met Angelique at a costume ball dressed like she was in the portrait, and that the painting had been commissioned later. Angelique had no idea how her 1795 portrait had made it to 1971, but the fact that a portrait of herself as Mrs. Barnabas Collins hung in a home Angelique had shared with another husband showed her that even in modern times and even while married to another man, Angelique could never completely let Barnabas go.

From what Angelique could tell, the Rumson marriage had been a happy one until Sky had become involved in some shady business deals and had died mysteriously. There had been a number of debts to pay after he died, Angelique had discovered, but she had still been left very comfortably off. Angelique silently thanked the unknown Mr. Rumson for providing her the means to adapt and live in the modern world so readily.

As Angelique was sorting through the papers in her hand, Simms brought in that day's mail. Angelique had received a number of invitations and notes from friends of her modern counterpart, but she had refused all invitations, saying she was not yet ready to resume her social life. However, as Angelique glanced through the envelopes on the tray in front of her, one letter caught her eye. It had a return address of Elizabeth Stoddard, Collinwood, and was postmarked Collinsport, Maine. Angelique remembered reading the name Elizabeth Collins Stoddard in Julia's diary in 1840, and she quickly opened the envelope. In it was a cordial note asking how Angelique had been, and updating her on the news of Mrs. Stoddard and her family. One passage in the letter quickly caught Angelique's eye. In it Elizabeth had written that her cousin Barnabas had returned from an extended trip abroad the month before, and that ever since then he had been very despondent. He had not talked much about his trip, Elizabeth wrote, but Elizabeth gathered that Barnabas had met someone while he was abroad and that the relationship had ended badly.

Stunned, Angelique let Elizabeth's letter drop to the floor. After a few minutes she picked it up and read on. At the end of the letter Elizabeth said that Angelique was welcome to visit at Collinwood any time she wanted, and that Elizabeth and her family would love to see her.

Angelique felt that this was the answer to her prayers. So Barnabas HAD made it back to the 20th Century safely. He also seemed to pining away for her, if she had read the letter correctly, which means that perhaps her instincts in 1841 WERE correct, that Barnabas was going to tell her that he was at last able to return her love, right before that cursed Lamar had taken her life.

Ringing for Simms, Angelique told him that she would be paying a visit on her friend Mrs. Stoddard and that she wanted to leave within the next few days. Writing a letter to Elizabeth notifying her of her impending visit--she still preferred writing to telephoning--Angelique silently prayed that Barnabas would be as happy to see her as she would him.

To be continued..