Evermore

Chapter 1 My World Is Half Asleep

Wilson was sitting in front of a secretary staring at a written list. A table next to him was covered in piles of papers and files. He dug around, upsetting a stack of books.

"You know you're cleaning that right? I won't have Katie wasting her time picking up after that disaster you call research notes. Especially after you complained for years about the maids losing them."

The speaker stood in the doorway frowning. Her hair had once been chestnut brown but was now streaked with gray. Her eyes, a light blue, were currently fixed on the scientist in exasperation.

"I'm aware Mother. I prefer to keep track of these things myself regardless. Did you need something?"

Sarah Higgsbury frowned at her son. "The tea today? The tea we should be attending in an hour and a half." She looked pointedly at the clock behind him.

"Ah! That tea. Err, not tonight...?"

His mother groaned. "Wilson you accepted the-"

"With all due respect Mother, you accepted for me. I'm sorry, I'm in the middle of something rather important at the moment and can't spare the time."

"You've been working nonstop since you came home two weeks ago! After three months of complete silence you show up and then you immediately hole yourself up in this library and refuse to go anywhere!" She was worked up now and began to lecture in earnest. Wilson buried his face in his hands, all too familiar with this particular mood.

"You can't just disappear for six months, spend half of that time not even writing your mother to let her know you're alive and well, and then come waltzing home and expect to continue being a hermit! I'm aware you loathe society. I don't expect you to attend every tea, musical, dinner, and dance ball of the season. But you must get out of this house more! For your own well-being or if you care so little about that, for mine."

Wilson ran his hands down his face. His mother had a point of course. The Constant had been kind enough to not take as much time as it could have from him. Returning after what he would swear was at least a year and a half(by various calculations) to find only three months had gone by had been both a blessing and a curse. He had made his way back to his family home in Boston as swiftly as possible, to discover his mother was deeply disturbed by her only child's extended silence.

Since then he'd been searching everywhere for a sign of Willow or the others. On the darkest days, when leads seemed to all run cold, he feared he'd been the only one to escape. At other times he was filled with determination to find the woman who had come so far to save him from himself no matter what the cost. None of this made him patient with the quagmire of upper society in Boston. Still, maybe Mother had a point. Taking a few small breaks might help him work better and would certainly make her happy...

"Tell me when the next social affair is and I vow to be there. His mother crossed her arms."

"The next three."

"Three?!"

Sarah stared at him, one eyebrow raised. "You owe me more than one Wilson, you know very well you do."

Wilson groaned internally. "Very well Mother, the next three. Just write it down please." He turned back to the secretary.

Sarah sighed. "I'll write it down and remind you each morning and evening." She eyed the mess distastefully. "Goodness knows you won't find it if I set it down in that nest of papers you insist on keeping around." She started to turn, but paused and stepped across to lay a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. "Try to at least sleep tonight dear. I'm worried you'll make yourself ill at this rate." She left, closing the door behind her.