The Time Traveler's Wife

The Mail Delivery

November 2001

"Hey," Carmilla says carefully as she turns into Laura's bedroom, fully clothed. It's early evening and she's at her desk, doing homework.

"Oh! Hey," Laura says after jumping a bit. "Sorry, I was gonna wait for you in the attic when I saw you hadn't traveled back here yet when I got home from school, but I needed the computer for homework."

Carmilla chuckles, looking at the clunky computer. "It's fine."

"I didn't want you to think I was still mad at you," Laura says.

Carmilla frowns. "Why would you be mad at me?"

Laura's eyes widen. "Oh. Uh. No reason. No spoilerish reason at all..." She laughs nervously. "Guess you're younger than 27, huh?"

"I'm 26," Carmilla replies.

"Noted," Laura says, turning on a camera she has nearby. "That means you haven't done the first vlog yet."

Carmilla shakes her head, sitting down on a chair Laura pulls over for her. She doesn't tell her she has seen it, though.

Laura begins recording and clears her throat. "Hi, lovely viewers! I'm Laura Hollis. I'm ten years old."

"I'm Carmilla Karnstein. I'm twenty-six."

"Wow, you're a natural!" Laura declares proudly. She turns back to the camera. "It's November 13, 2001."

Laura stands up and goes to her bookcase, reaching between two books and pulling out an envelope. She hands it to Carmilla, who looks it over. The handwriting is definitely hers, and reads, "Laura - Please don't open. And please give this to me the next time we meet."

She flips it over and finds that it hasn't been opened.

Laura huffs. "I may have been mad at you, but I'm not rude and nosey. Or... at least, not that rude and nosey!"

Carmilla chuckles. "Sorry, sorry."

"But I am curious," Laura says excitedly, bouncing onto her bed. "I've been waiting over a year to find out what's inside!"

"Who says I'm gonna read this out to you?" Carmilla teases.

Laura narrows her eyes. "Fine. Next time you need someone to deliver your own mail to you throughout time, find someone else."

"Doesn't seem like a fair trade for me at all," Carmilla continues, opening the envelope.

Laura rolls her eyes, but stays put on the bed.

"Hi, Past Me," Carmilla decides to read out loud. She would just cut herself off if it ventured into spoilers territory for Laura. "I know we've taken a firm stance against spoilers in the past. But every iteration of us have all seemed to agree that this one little spoiler is fine, because it'll give us the nudge we need.

Propose."

Carmilla's breath catches in her throat.

Her eyes scan the rest of the page and, while it seems to definitely be in spoiler territory for her, it's left vague for Laura's sake.

"Propose, but do it when it feels right. You're gonna need to go back to the bookshare and find a copy of Worthy of Trust and Confidence, by Kara A. McLeod. Pretty sure you can figure out what to do from there. It's what we've always done and what we'll always do because, no matter where or when, this is the only person who will always be your home. She'll always be your reason to stay. She'll always be the place you travel back to. We've known that, we've always known that."