This Time...

Part One

Carol leaned back against the leather seat of the limousine. Tired of sitting and staring out the window she fought the urge to stretch. She had been in the back of the car for nine hours on the way to a place she had not been in fifteen years. She could no longer see very much outside the tinted window as the sun was only gracing the top of the green hills and the main road had been left some two hours ago.

She had almost wished she had worn a t-shirt and jeans, but instead she had worn something much more appropriate to her mother's station—a navy pencil skirt and an ivory blouse. She had kept her long brown hair down, and it reached her waist in silky tresses that would later fuss if they were not eventually put up.

This world of shadowed trees that lined the thin highway was her mother's world. Never once as a child Carol could have imagined that her mother longed to live a life style that to most would seem very unusual to the rest of the world. Once, she had come for three months to see what this world was like simply to satisfy her curiosity.

She had found a world filled with rules and love. The citizens gladly gave up the rest of the outside world to take part in this extended lifestyle.

Carol could not argue with the people she had met. She saw their happiness and the love they had for one another. Wasn't that what everyone wants in the world anyway? She had to remind her twenty-year-old self back then.

But she had also known the world was not for her. Children were raised outside of the lush, grand, sprawling estates. Her mother had returned to the everyday world with her as a baby. Not once Carol could remember that her mother seemed unhappy, until just before she returned to this hidden world. By then, Carol was an adult, starting to live her own life.

Her mother's friends had rarely ventured to go visit, but they had visited when Carol was young. To her young eyes then, there was nothing unusual about her mother's friends. To satisfy her own curiosity, Carol had returned with her mother. And she had been welcomed, and treated respectfully, as her mother was welcomed back.

And after three months, Carol realized that this was her mother's world. That it was a decision her mother had made to return, not because she had wanted to but because it called her. Carol could not deny her mother's happiness, but for Carol, she had dreams and those dreams had been cultivated without knowledge of the world her mother had been separated from while raising her.

Carol had kissed her mother's soft cheek with tears and then was driven away. In that time there had been letters, but not one visit. Her mother did not mind that her daughter had not chosen this life and this world. It was not for everyone and she had been satisfied her daughter had no words about where her mother had chosen to go.

Three days ago, as she came home from the grocery store, there was a black limo waiting outside her condo. It was the cloud that tainted the amazing weather in the middle of spring. In the car on the way home, Carol had hoped to take a walk before making dinner. Instead, the door on the far side of the limo had opened, and out stepped an older man with an elegant black cane. He wore a simple Navy suit and a grey tie. His graying hair was short. While the limo might have seemed out of place, he was not. The only trace that he was from her mother's world was the cane. There would have been other signs too, a ring, his belt buckle. But the cane was the first and most prominent symbol. It was a part of his rank in the society.

"May I help you with your bags?" he asked as if he had simply been sitting on the front step all this time.

Instinctively, Carol initially clutched the grocery bags closer to her. But then another memory returned.

"Sir Glen?" she whispered softly. He was still lean and strong, but there were more prominent lines when he smiled and there was much more grey than before.

"I do remember a time Child when I was 'Uncle Glen'." He kissed her cheek and took a bag from her. "You are the very image of your mother when I first laid eyes on her. She was a vision then, and you do her so much justice."

Carol trembled. There wasn't any good reason for Glen to here before her. "Please, won't you come in..."

"Carol!" a shrill voice from the condo above leaned over a rail.

Carol looked up. "Yes Mrs. Reynolds?" she asked knowing full well what that busy body neighbor was going to complain about.

"You can't leave that monstrous vehicle parked like that here! Tell that man whore of yours to take his toy and leave it at home if he's to come calling for you."

Carol looked over apologetically at Glen. Glen did nothing but sweep his hand to encourage her ahead.

"After you Carol." And as she led him to her door, the limo pulled away.

They climbed the concrete stairs up to the second floor, past Mrs. Reynolds, a lonely widow in a faded blue housecoat and a flowered dress.

"I've got my eye on you." She mumbled and slid back into her own condo, leaving the door open a crack.

"Mrs. Reynolds, this is my Uncle Glen. He's come for a visit." Carol leaned over to introduce him.

"Uncle! A likely story." They heard her scoff. "A woman as well kept as you does not have an 'uncle'." And with that, the door slammed shut and the sound of the dead bolt sliding across punctuated the bitter busybody's comment.

Again, Carol looked up to Glen and this time he only smiled. Carol fumbled with her keys and opened the door and they entered.

The apartment was clean. There was nothing that could have been there while she had been gone nearly nine hours.

Glen walked to the island and placed his canvas bag on top and started unpacking it. Carol began to put things away from her bag.

"Can I get you something? Tea? Coffee?" she offered as she put away her groceries.

"Tea would be wonderful." He found a kitchen chair and settled into it, his cane just across his lap.

"Is my mother all right?" Carol asked as she put the kettle on the white stove to boil.

Glen shook his head. "I am afraid she is in frail health Carol. It is not advisable that we move her. She is comfortable. She has said nothing about you, but it would do her a world of good to see you."

Carol's mind reeled. "She's said nothing in her letters."

Glen only shook his head sadly. "I had wanted to bring you back earlier. She is ... stubborn."

"She wouldn't have let you come if there was any hope." Carol selected a glass mug and began to steep the tea. She suppressed a sob.

"Milk?" she asked

"No, thank you." Glen watched Carol. "Please sit with me."

"There is nothing anyone can do?" Carol looked up. "I have money..."

Glen reached over and took Carol's hands. "It's not money Child." He said softly, "it's her time. Do you wish to travel with me tonight or do you need some time?"

He sipped from his cup watching with concern as Carol worked through the news.

Carol bit her lower lip. "I'll need a few days. I have work to arrange so I can leave."

Glen put down an ivory business card and slid it across the glass table to Carol.

"This is the number for the limo and driver. My majordomo. He'll bring you to your mother. If you need anything, tell him, he'll get it for you." Glen put down the mug and stood up. It was the first time they mentioned the difference between their worlds.

"Sir Glen, please, tell her I will come." She could not meet his eyes. Glen smiled as if she had.

Glen said nothing and let himself out. "Sara, you did a wonderful job raising such a beautiful and gifted daughter." He said to the air around him.

The next few days were a blur.

The phrase, "My mother is very sick, I need to see her." Had been repeated so many times at work, just the very image of what she might see when she finally made it to her mother's side was filled with personal stories from her co-workers.

It seemed unusual to her co-workers that Carol would now mention that she had family. It did seem sudden, but Carol had been very quiet and never shared with her co-workers. However, if Carol needed to bring it up, it must be true. She never would have left if it weren't important.

But in two days, she had packed. There had been the usual things of necessity, but then there had been one gift from her mother she had brought with her back to the 'real world'. She had never been able to convince herself to get rid of the leather cape, a gift from her mother before she had left.

It felt odd to still have it. She had believed when she had opened the package that she would have eventually donated it to charity. Yet, after all this time she had hung onto it. And even now, she wondered if her mother had hoped that she would return to her mother's world, and take a place in its society.

And so it was carefully cleaned and then put into her bag. If nothing else, she remembered that how you dressed was as much an indicator of your status within the society as what title you carried.

And so early in the morning a man dressed inconspicuously as a limo driver waited patiently at the door and took Carol's bags down to the limo. She never saw his eyes, as his cap was pulled low. When asked his name he only shook his head and opened the door to let her into the darkened insides of the vehicle and she was driven away only moments later.

Part Two

As it had grown later, Carol had grown more restless being alone in the back of the vehicle. She had enjoyed the assortment of food she had found in the limo, but she now had a needed to get up and move about. But just when she felt she could no longer stand being in the back of the limo, it stopped on a long drive way.

She looked up and saw the alabaster building that looked very much like a Greek temple. The door opened and she slid out.

"Welcome Miss Carol." Said a man dressed in ornate green robes, as if he had stepped from the pages of Ancient Greek history. Even his sandals were laced up his well-muscled legs. "I am Mr. Jacob, Lady Juliana is unable to see to your welcome, but she wishes you a pleasant stay here. She will be here in the morning."

"Is my mother here?" Carol asked.

"No Miss Carol. She is still several hours away." The man apologized. "You are still in the 'Transition Zone'. We do not let the limos past this area. You will continue on in carriage. She is at Sir Glen's Estate. My lady's home here is often mistaken for a hotel. So sometimes we take in guests such as your self. But not all our guests receive the same amenities. You have anything you wish, including myself at your full disposal."

Carol debated getting back into the limo and demanding to go further this very instant, but the thought of another full day in the limo was unappealing at that very instant. She shuddered at Mr. Jacob's offer not interested in him at all.

"If I could just have a room to rest and take a bath, I shall be very grateful to you and your Mistress for the night."

Mr. Jacob bowed his head respectfully. "We have a room ready, a bath will be drawn."

He motioned to the front entrance at the top of the stairs. Carol climbed the stairs and then briefly looked back. Mr. Jacob was gone. She went through the doors and to her amazement Mr. Jacob was there by the reflecting pool in the main entrance.

"This way Miss Carol."

She was led down a hall to a grand wooden with a red carpet runner in the middle of the wide staircase.

"Just the first room on your right. There is a girl in there drawing your bath. If you want anything, you have just to ask her." And again Mr. Jacob disappeared.

Carol briefly wondered if Lady Juliana enjoyed keeping the genders of her household separate but it was not for her to make a comment on how Lady Juliana controlled her own home.

Carol wearily climbed the stairs and slid open the door to her room. A young woman with a white toga and simple gold braided belt was in a tiled room beyond the bedroom. She had a large urn of water that she carefully tipped into the freestanding tub. Carol looked at the inviting soft bed with a red canopy and gold braided pillows, feeling as if she hadn't slept in days.

"Miss Carol, when you are ready." The servant said softly waiting by the door, her eyes down cast.

Carol went into the white tiled room and felt the steam of the bathroom draw her in. Heedlessly, Carol began to remove her blouse and was startled when the woman gently pulled away the blouse.

Carol almost grabbed it back to cover her tan lace bra. Recovering, "Please, I will be fine. I would like to bathe and rest. I do not need your assistance."

"As you wish." And the servant slid away.

Once naked, Carol slipped into the water and leaned back. As the water touched her skin, she sat up, pinning her hair in a bun and then leaning back in the tub. She closed her eyes.

After some time, she reluctantly rose from the bath and found a red towel waiting on next to her. Carol dried herself off and then lay in the bed, with the towel wrapped around her body. She returned to the bedroom and found that her belongings had been unpacked, to her surprise; there was a photo of her mother on the nightstand.

"I'm here Momma." She whispered, not even wondering how the picture was able to be here on the nightstand.

For the first time in days, she slept.

The sun drifted between the curtains of the room and slowly, Carol's eyes opened. The servant from last night had returned and slowly opened the curtains.

"Lady Juliana requests that you join her for breakfast." The servant was apprehensive; guests of Carol's status were very unusual. One could make an assumption that the guest was in process of making their decision to join the world. There had been no mention if Carol was going to join them as a servant. But servants were not taken to grand rooms such as these. It was only right to treat her as an honored guest but they were all curious as to what her real purpose being here was.

Carol slowly stretched and slid from the bed. Carol's sense of belonging was well placed by her three-month stay. She would not make any demand of a servant for a task she had no interest in doing herself.

"Shall I set out your clothes Miss Carol?" asked the servant. And dressing and bathing were her tasks to do alone.

Carol thought about it.

"My mother, I will get to see her today. Please put out the black dress." Carol slipped into the bathroom.

The servant sensed Carol's hesitation when she was done with the bathroom and she slipped away so Carol could dress in peace.

Carol had been surprised now that it was morning of how easily it was for her to order someone around. And how she could recall all the sense of protocol and how people treated her because she was lumped in one of the tiers of this society differently due to the fact her mother was so honored and that she did not belong to this world directly.

"Breakfast is being served in the Blue Room. Down the stairs, through the main hall on the left." The servant said returning to find Carol putting her hair up.

"Thank you."

In the blue room, there was a small table and in a blue suede chair sad Lady Juliana. Carol entered the room saying, "Thank you for your hospitality..."

Juliana stood up to greet Carol.

"It was the least I could do."

Carol stopped half way between the door and Juliana. "Julie?"

Lady Juliana held her ground, her cane beside her chair. With a reminiscent smile she mournfully said, "No one has called me Julie in a long time Carol. I believe you were the last to do so."

"Please have a seat, you must be hungry. I know you are eager to see your mother."

Carol followed mechanically, unable to raise her eyes to Julie. If her days had been long before, today would be even longer.

Part Three

Carol had been twenty, so going to what would have been colloquially described as a 'sex party' was not going to be a problem. Certainly, she did not have any wish to be there with her mother, but curiosity was getting the best of her. After all, if this is where her mother wanted to be now that Carol had decided to move out and live on her own, then at least she wanted to know her mother would be safe and happy here.

So Carol followed her mother into the festival. She was a seated guest, as was her mother. Already some of the guests were playing with their partners sexually. Carol was embarrassed but did her best to suppress her interest and at times jealousy as she watched the men and women fondle and whisper to each other in the more common rooms of the estate. Her mother had a man kneeling next to her, a servant from the estate they were visiting.

"Would you care that I please your daughter as well?" asked the servant impishly to her mother.

Maternal instinct had flooded her mother, but before her mother could say a word, Carol had risen.

"I'm going to wander." She told her mother. The servant did not seem at all disappointed, but Carol was privately relieved that he paid her so very little heed and was totally engrossed in her mother.

"Just be careful my dear." Her mother said.

Carol headed along the hallway that over looked the garden. Seeing the tall hedges standing like soldiers with only torches casting long, dark shadows into the night made her want to go outside. She found a door and headed onto the terrace. She sat on a marble bench and ran her finger along the beaded groove on the edge of the bench.

It had only been three weeks. And now, tonight, unsettled her. The couples enjoyed each other's company oblivious to her. Watching them seemed wrong.

There had been boyfriends in high school. And she had watched her friends make out then. But now there seemed to be something different. All these adults had found this world and made it their own. It wasn't just about the heady lust that she had thought was love as a teenager. Their love here seemed more purposeful, more meaningful. She was jealous of her mother's skill in being flirtatious. She was jealous of the companions who found comfort in other's arms.

She gave herself a tight hug.

Miss Julie had been in the maze looking for a servant when she came out and saw Carol sitting on the edge of the terrace.

"Hello." Julie had said, realizing that Carol was lost in thought as she climbed the stairs that were hidden by a large manicured hedge.

Carol's head snapped up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Carol looked at Julie, realizing that the woman in the body hugging blue dress that went from her neck straight down with what Carol would later call 'a window to her cleavage' was nearly her own age. Julie's hair blonde was up in a French knot and not a tendril of hair was out of place. And the moonlight shone from behind her casting an eerie midnight halo around her.

"I didn't see you inside." Carol said softly. Carol shrunk away. Her mother had warned her that not all companions were of the calm, peaceful variety. Most of her mother's friends were very pleasant and had never given her the feeling of pressure or even lecherous looks over her body. No one had taken her aside and asked if she was intending on staying. And certainly no one seemed to pressure her to stay. But without her mother next to her, she was very unsure of herself. And she wasn't quite sure why.

"I was needed elsewhere as Lord Xavier sent me on an errand." Julie explained. "I am Miss Julie. You're new."

The rehearsed line came easily to Carol. "My mother is Lady Sara, returned after these years. I am here for a while."

"Guests as you are, are very rare." The comment slipped from Julie before she knew it had.

Carol dismissed it; she knew her presence was unsettling to most who were here. She wasn't even considering living here and adopting this way of life. She had seen some beautiful things, but she wanted to find other ways of life before deciding this was the one. But the butterflies in her stomach kept telling her something else.