Chapter 10

When it came time for us to leave the Westervelt Mansion and return to the respective homes of each girl, we all got very nervous again. We were going 'home' to families that we had never met. These were the families of the women whose bodies we occupied. The four of us spent our last night together. Until now, we had paired up according to our room assignments. When the guests had left after the engagement party, we continued to stay 'doubled up'. Martha and I had spent many wonderful nights together, as I'm sure Elizabeth and Roberta had. But for tonight, we came together for one last 'indulgence'. It was very early in the morning before we had all fallen asleep in each other's arms.

After lunch, the following day, we said goodbye to Anne and her father. We had all thanked Betsy, Doris, and the rest of the staff earlier in the day. It would be almost four more months before we returned here. And we still had no idea when we would be allowed to return to our own time. One of the stable hands drove us to the train station. All trains had resumed normal schedules during the past couple of weeks.

We all traveled together to Roberta's home. Our plan was to impose ourselves in numbers so as to confuse the situation. We hoped to learn enough about each household so that the family member in our company could slip in without too much difficulty. At each house we would inundate the family and staff with questions designed to learn as much as possible about the household, in as short a time as possible. At Roberta's home her mother greeted us. We all started rapid firing questions at her as we attempted to confuse her. It worked so successfully, that Roberta was able to assume her rightful position without difficulty. We decided that she should remain there rather than continuing on with the rest of us. We stayed with her overnight so that she would be as comfortable as possible before we left. During the afternoon we had met her younger brother and sister when they arrived home from school, and that evening we had met her father. He was happy to see that his daughter was home again. She looked a little uncomfortable the first time that he hugged her, but she adapted quickly. When some comment or other was made about her not knowing something that she should, we used the excuse that she was tired after the long trip, and the time away from home. From our experiences at the Westervelt's, we had learned the subterfuge techniques necessary to cover-up a lack of personal history knowledge.

Roberta indeed felt comfortable enough for us to leave her the next day. We had decided to travel to Elizabeth's home next. Since Martha and I were from the same city, if things worked out well with Elizabeth, then we would leave her and travel to Hartford by ourselves. We actually went through Hartford on our way to New Haven. At Elizabeth's home, both her mother and father were away. The maid that let us in greeted us as if she knew us all very well. As with Roberta's mother, we confused her with so many innocent sounding questions, that within 15 minutes we knew enough for Elizabeth to get by. Elizabeth asked her to help with her things, and she led us to Elizabeths's room. Then she showed Martha and I to spare bedrooms. We spent the next two days with Elizabeth, until her parents returned, with Elizabeth's younger brother. By then the staff had provided enough information for Elizabeth to feel that she could comfortably stay in the household. A gallery of pictures, on the walls and on the fireplace mantle in the parlor, had filled in most of the blanks.

Our troupe size had been halved as we headed for Hartford, and home to Martha and Amelia. Arriving in Hartford, we stepped off of the platform of the, not very old, ancient passenger coach, that was pulled by a billowing steam engine. I made arrangements with a freight wagon driver to take my things to my home. I paid the fee that he had to collect, then gave him a generous tip of a freshly minted dime. Martha and I hired a carriage to take us to her family's house. The cab driver carried her trunk and suitcase up onto the front porch. He smiled broadly when I tipped him a dime for his efforts.

A servant had heard the commotion on the front porch and opened the door. He stepped out on the porch and smiled warmly at Martha. "Welcome home, Miss Martha. The house just hasn't been the same with you away for so long."

Of course Martha didn't know his name, but she smiled warmly and said, "Thank you. It does seem like a long time, doesn't it? I'm very happy to be home again. You remember my good friend, Miss Turner, don't you?"

"Of course. It's nice to see you again Miss Turner", he said smiling.

I said, "Thank you."

Just then we heard, "Who is it, James?" come from inside the house.

"It's Miss Martha, and her friend, Miss Turner, madam."

An older woman stepped out onto the porch and rushed over to Martha. Embracing her she said, "It's so nice to have my baby home. I've missed you so much." Separating from her she held out her arms to me. "And Amelia, it's wonderful to see you also."

I went to her, and we embraced and touched cheeks.

She led us inside while we all talked at the same time. James brought Martha's trunk and suitcases inside the house, and set them in the foyer. He began to carry them one at a time to her room. Before he carried the last one, we excused ourselves so that we could follow him. We told Martha's mother that we wanted to freshen up a little after our trip. She said that lunch would be ready soon, and that we should not to be too long.

We followed James as he made his last trip to Martha's room. After he had deposited the case on the floor, he left. Martha's room was by far the largest, and most elaborately decorated, of my friend's bedrooms. Her closets were full of beautiful dresses. She would lack for nothing in this household. We used the bathroom and freshened up, then went back downstairs to join her mother.

We had just sat down to lunch when James announced that, " Miss Turner's mother is here."

Mrs. Fuller said, "Don't keep her waiting, James, show her in."

I rose as a stunning woman of about 40 walked into the room and rushed to embrace me. She said, "When your trunks arrived, I knew that you would be over here. I couldn't wait to see you again. You look wonderful darling." She pulled away from me to say, "Martha, you're looking well. And Louisa, how have you been? We haven't seen each other in ages." She touched cheeks with both Martha and her mother.

Mrs. Fuller said, "Kathleen, it's been far too long. Can you join us for lunch?"