Part 4

I was in some sort of salon or living room, with Mr. Delvile standing behind me.

“If you are afraid to admit you love me, just because my parents don’t approve, what can I do?” he was asking. “I’m willing to be brave if you are.”

That confused me. Cecilia did love him, why would she let his parents get in the way? Then I remembered James, Jessibelle, and his parents. Rich families were different, and in either world there wasn’t much escape.

I almost wanted to answer for Cecilia, but I didn’t feel that would be fair. I just stood there silently.

I went upstairs and began to cry.

After a few minutes I heard a knock on the door. I looked up and it was Mr. Delvile again. As I looked at his face I could see a strange expression.

He looked at me. “Jesse…” he said. It was James, my James.

I sat there in shock. “James… what happened, what brought you here?”

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“Do you think we’re going to find Brock here too?” I asked.

“No, I don’t think this has anything to do with helping Brock,” he replied. “I think it has to do with helping Cecilia, but I’m not sure how.”

“I think all she needs help with is James Delvile,” I replied. I didn’t say “you”, somehow the physical differences were barely noticeable when he had that expression on his face, and I knew he was my James for now, not Mr. Delvile.

He looked out the window. “Are those stables out there for horses?” he asked.

“Evidently,” I said. “That’s how people get around here.”

He grinned. “Come on! This will be cool if I can manage it.”

“Cool?” I asked. But he was already dragging me out the door.

He brought me down to the stables. There was a young man there who seemed very shocked to see us. I didn’t know if was the mere fact that we were hanging around in front of the stables or the fact that James was dragging me by the hand.

“May I have my horse, please?” asked James.

The young man continued to stare but eventually nodded and said, “Certainly, Mr. Delvile.” He disappeared for a bit and came out with a white horse, saddled and ready. James jumped right into the saddle. Then he leaned over and pulled me up in front of him. I was shocked, and evidently the stable helper was too; he gave us wide-eyed look and disappeared again.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

“Not too different from Ponytas,” he replied. “Even I can ride them, after all the lessons I had when I was a kid.”

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Where do you want to go?” he replied.

“I want to wake up and look for Brock!” I said.

“A commendable attitude,” he replied. “But since we can’t seem to control that, let’s enjoy ourselves a little bit.”

“When did you get so smart?” I asked.

He smiled and shrugged. “I don’t have a bad reputation to uphold here.”

I actually enjoyed the horseback ride, especially since James’s arms were around me. I decided to take his advice and forget about the real world for a little while. I would be back soon enough, and I would be glad, but there were advantages to being here if James was with me.

Soon we were stopped in front of a field of flowers. James dismounted and helped me down. We walked together until he found a tree to tie the horse to, and then he suggested we sit down. He held my hand and smiled at me.

“So, you think Cecilia and James Delvile are in love?” he asked me.

“He said so. But she can’t seem to admit it to him, his parents don’t like her or something.” I saw a light go on in James’s eyes when I said that.

“Well, at least he has the brains to go against his parents, I say Cecilia deserves him.”

“I guess…” I replied.

James leaned forward and put his arm around me. Even though he was technically in someone else’s body, just as I was, I thought only of my James.

“So do you think I deserve you? I went against my parents a long time ago.”

“You’re full of surprises today, James,” I replied.

Then he leaned over and kissed me.

“What brought this on?”

“I realized how I felt when you were actually willing to be decent to the twerps when they really need help. And then when I ended up here, I guess I feel like I have nothing to lose.”

“But we will go back.”

“And I hope I’ll be able to kiss you there too,” he said.

Then we kissed for what seemed like hours. The sun was starting to set.

I was lying down with my head pillowed on James’ shoulder.

“I’m getting sleepy,” I murmured.

“Me too,” he replied.

“What will happen when we go to sleep… Cecilia and Mr. Delvile will wake up like this!”

“And if they don’t die of shock, they’ll probably enjoy themselves,” finished James. “Maybe that way their problem will be solved, and we can stay in our own world from now on.”

“You kissed me as part of a plot?” I asked. But I was smiling.

“No, I kissed you because I love you.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that so I closed my eyes. Soon I woke up again, but I was lying next to James in the dark near the mountains again. I could see the blue of his hair and I knew everything was normal.

James opened his eyes and looked at me.

“Did that really happen?” I asked.

“Depends on how you define reality, I guess,” he said.

He leaned over to kiss me, but we heard coughing noises. Ash, Misty and Meowth were there.

“Brock is stuck in there somewhere, but we need to move rocks to get to him,” said Ash. “You’ve got to help.”

“If it’s some kind of landslide, there might not be a way to help,” I answered.

“It’s not like that, it’s just some rocks that fell to block a tunnel. Maybe Arbok can move them?” asked Misty.

“Come on,” said Meowth. “Stop paying attention to each other and get in there.”

I ignored him, and spoke to Misty.

“Arbok’s good at tunneling in ground, not moving rocks, but we’ll do what we can.” I wanted to show James I was still willing to help. And after all this I did feel sorry for Ash and Misty, and even concerned for Brock.