Trapped in the Melody by Kathryn Kaleigh

Author:Kathryn Kaleigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kathryn Kaleigh

CHAPTER 28

EMMA

We had no more arrived at the White’s house, than the ball was cancelled.

One the White’s staff approached the driver as soon as we arrived. We could hear them talking, but their words were muffled.

The staff member walked off and we waited while our driver, Virgil, climbed down and opened the door. He was bundled in his wool coat, but his nose was red from the cold.

“What is it Virgil?” Father asked, “what’s going on?”

“Dr. White said everybody who lives nearby should go on back home,” he said.

“What’s happened?” Father asked.

“The weather,” he said. “Dr. White doesn’t want you all to get stuck here with the storm coming in.”

“Can we make it back?” Mother asked Father. “It’s already dark.”

I looked outside. I’d been right. Big fluffy snowflakes were falling like raindrops outside the carriage. So they had been snow clouds. I should have said something.

“We can’t stay here?” I asked, feeling trepidation about traveling in this cold weather.

“It’s only an hour,” Father said. “Dr. White is probably right. Once the roads freeze over, it could be days before we can get home again.”

I nodded. The thought of having to stay here for days with a bunch of strangers who couldn’t travel was far more unsettling than just going home. At home, we had plenty of firewood to keep us warm through the storm. I’d much rather be snowed in at home than here.

Father apparently agreed.

“Take us home, Virgil,” he said.

“Yes, Sir.” Virgil said, closed the door, and climbed back up on his seat.

“We should have known,” Mother said, looking at Father. “Do you think they’ll ever get to the point where they can predict the weather?”

“Maybe.” Father just shrugged and turned to gaze out the window.

If he was from the future, as Mother said, then he was really good at hiding it.

I wanted to ask him about it, but Mother shook her head just enough to warn me against it. I didn’t understand this and probably never would.

Maybe they had agreed not to talk about it.

I settled back in my seat and snuggled into my cloak. At least I’d gotten what I wanted. Sort of. I was getting to go home.

We’d been riding for about fifteen minutes when we came to a bridge over a little tributary that ran into the Mississippi River. It was barely a waterway at all, dried up half the time.

The carriage stopped.

Father waited a minute, then stuck his head out the window.

“What’s wrong, Virgil?”

“Looks awfully slick, Sir,” Virgil said.

“It’ll be alright,” Father said. “The temperature isn’t cold enough for it to freeze.”

“You want me to cross it?” Virgil asked.

“It’s the only way to get home,” Father said, then pulled his head back inside and closed the little window.

“How do you know, Father?” I asked.

He turned and looked at me and for a moment I thought he was actually going to answer. That he was going to tell me something useful. Something maybe about him being from the future.

But as the front carriage wheels hit the bridge, I grabbed hold of the seat.

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