From the living room, Dad called out, “Tansy, how are we supposed to move this?”
Oh. The diaper bag. I went to go talk to him. When I reached the family room, Dad and Nick were fingering through the bag. Dad took out a bright gold bottle. “Why did you change this stuff? The police are going to wonder why we have golden baby toys, diapers, and wet wipes in a place thieves just left.”
“I gave the enchantment back to Chrissy,” I said. “But I wanted to have some gold first. I didn’t know the police would be checking it.
Sorry.”
335/356
Dad stared at me in surprise. “After all the trouble you went through to get the enchantment, you gave it back to Chrissy? Why?”
“It put all of us in danger during the Middle Ages,” I said. “I didn’t know if the danger would stop once we got back home. Chrissy said that kings, giants, and pirates come after you if you can produce gold.
Besides, the enchantment was never meant for humans, so it hurt my heart. And,” I added more quietly, “I traded it for something Hudson needed.”
“Ahh,” Nick said, like the last sentence explained everything.
My father sighed and turned the gold bottle over in his hands.
“You’re probably right. Unending wealth might have its downsides. All those servants getting in the way. The car insurance rates on our Ca-dillacs.” He let out another sigh. “I sure hope Hudson appreciates whatever you got him.”
“I hope so too,” I said.
Nick picked up a gold pacifier. “Gold is worth thousands of dollars a pound. We still have a pretty good fortune here.”
“The bag is too heavy to move,” Dad said. “We’ll have to take it piece by piece to the safe in my closet. That way, the police won’t see it.”
I helped Dad and Nick move a few of the lighter items. It was hard for me to carry much while I was toting around a baby.
When I went to check on Hudson, he was done with his haircut and was on the phone. I didn’t have to listen for long to figure out it was someone at the police station. He was giving a description of our cars and their destination.
Which meant the police would be here soon and I would have even less of a chance of speaking to Hudson privately.
When he hung up, I said, “I need to talk to you about something.” 336/356
“Right. In a minute.” He walked toward the family room. “Where is everybody? We need to go over our story to make sure we get it straight.”
“They’re moving gold from the diaper bag into my dad’s safe.”
“What?” he asked, but we reached the family room and he saw what was happening. He went to help, shaking his head at me as he did. “You know, if you could have waited until after the police left to create ducky-shaped treasures, it would have made things easier.” I followed after him. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Gold?” he asked, and the way he said it sounded like it was the last thing he wanted to talk about.
“Not gold specifically. I want to tell you what happened after you guys came back home.”
“Oh, Robin Hood then.” He sounded even less thrilled by this subject.
“No, not Robin Hood either.”
Hudson picked up the last of the gold items, a pair of booties, and headed toward my father’s room with everybody else. He motioned for me to come with them. “We can talk later; we need to go over our story before the police get here.” Loudly enough for everybody to hear, he said, “Okay, last night while your parents made dinner, Nick and I were sitting at the table doing homework. The doorbell rang and you went and opened the door without looking through the peephole first.”
“Oh, I get to be an idiot.”
“No, you’re just the trusting sort. The medieval bandits pushed their way inside with their swords drawn. They made us change clothes, then held us at sword-point in the kitchen while they robbed your house. We already know what Robin Hood and the Merry Men look like, so we shouldn’t have any problems giving descriptions.” 337/356
We had reached the closet. While my dad tried to make everything fit into the safe, Hudson went on describing details of our night. He ended with, “Stetson will be Sandra’s nephew that she’s babysitting. We have to hope he doesn’t vanish during the investiga-tion, because, yeah, there’s no good way to explain that.” I looked at Hudson impatiently. “Now can we talk for a minute?”
“Sure.”
The two of us headed back to the family room while Nick and Sandra stayed behind to help Dad. I stroked Stetson’s back and tried to think of the best way to break the news to Hudson. “Well …,” I said, and didn’t say anything else for a moment.
He tilted his head, trying to read my expression. “Is this about you moving to some luxury apartment in New York?”
“No, it’s about your wish.”
“What wish?”
“The wish you would have made.” It was the wrong place to start.
He looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about. I tried again. “You see, after the rest of you left, I made a deal with Chrissy—” He didn’t let me finish. “You what? ”
“It worked out well,” I said. “At least I think it did. I’m not really sure yet.”
He let out a groan and put his hand over his eyes. “Tansy, Chrissy made a mess of your wishes. Haven’t you had enough near-death experiences?”
I didn’t answer. We were in the family room, and I could see a police car pulling up in front of the house.
“What deal did you make?” he asked.
I still didn’t answer. How could I tell him what I’d done and why I did it when he was glaring at me?
338/356
“You said it was my wish,” he said. “How am I involved? What’s going to happen?”
The doorbell rang. The police were here. Hudson turned to me, waiting for my answer.
This might be it, I realized—the reason Hudson and I didn’t get together in the future. He was mad at me for interfering in his life, for making changes without consulting him.
“I changed the past,” I said.
“Right. You gave Robin Hood The Change Enchantment.”
“No, I mean, your past.”
He gave me a puzzled look. “What? My past in the Middle Ages?” There was a knock at the door, and then a man’s voice called,
“Hudson?”
Hudson turned away from me. “That’s my dad. I’ve got to let him in.”
He walked to the door and as soon as he opened it, his father stepped inside. He was tall, like Hudson, with streaks of gray coloring his hair. His features were sharp, imposing even, but his eyes softened when he saw his son. “Hudson,” he called with relief and gave him a hug. “You’re all right? Everyone is okay?” Hudson nodded.
His father kept his hand on Hudson’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, son.
We’ll get the men that did this.”
Well, the police chief was probably going to be disappointed in that regard.
Hudson’s father kept patting his shoulder as though he didn’t want to let go. “I’ve never seen your mom so worried. We were calling people half the night looking for you.”
“Mom?” Hudson repeated.
“I already called her. She’s on her way.” 339/356
Hudson turned to me, but he didn’t speak.
“That past,” I said.
Hudson paled and then flushed. He turned back to his dad. “Mom is coming?” He didn’t sound like he believed it.
Mr. Gardner smiled wearily. “I know, I know. Neither of us will get a word in edgewise about the robbery until she’s had her say, but I couldn’t let her keep worrying about you.” Hudson gazed through the living room window, where a car had screeched to a stop in front of the house.