Emma K. To Emma B.


Emma yawned as her stomach growled. “At least there is not another soul around to see me in this pitiful state...” Emma sighs. She was cold, hungry, tired, sore and lonely. Her husband, Mr. Knightley, and their two year old daughter Elizabeth was a full days ride ahead of her. And they were right atop his horse, not on a wagon as Emma is, which, believe it or not, is less bumpy. She wasn’t able to leave with her husband the day before because she had been terribly sick. Mr. Knightley wanted to stay with her so that they may still travel together, but Emma had insisted that he go ahead so her sister and her family wouldn’t worry. They were going to visit her sister, Isabella Knightley, because Emma was five months pregnant with her second child. Emma wanted her sister to see her while she was pregnant, and she wanted Isabella’s child to meet his second cousin before it’s born because they didn’t get to do that before Elizabeth was born.
Emma smiled and chuckled to herself. “How odd that my sister and I married the Knightly brothers. Yet, if Isabella had never married her Mr. Knightley, I would never have met my Mr. Knight-Uh!” Emma jumped as the wagon went over a large bump. She clutched her stomach with one hand as the baby inside started shifting. “Oh, am I ever sorry, little one.” Emma whispered to her baby.

Only half an hour later, Emma had to stop the horse and wagon at the side of the road because the extremely bumpy road had made her sick again. When she finished, Emma shakily stood and climbed back into the wagon. She peered ahead, looking at the road for bumps as the horse slowly started going again. She relaxed and urged the horse to go faster when she saw that there seemed to be no more bumps. She urged the horse to a fast trot to make up for lost time. Emma hoped that she could catch up with her husband before he got to her sister’s house, even though that didn’t seem likely.

Night was approaching fast. Emma urged the horse to a gallop. She could see lights of a little village in the distance. What Emma didn’t see was a large ditch in the road, which the front wheels promptly got stuck in. Emma flew forward due to the momentum. She flew past the horse and landed on her back, where she fell unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


When Emma awoke, stars filled the dark, cloudless night sky. “Oh, whatever happened?” Emma said, slowly sitting up. A boy who looked to be about 16 sat next to her with a young Golden Retriever.

“Why are you in my backyard?” the boy asked.

“B-backyard? Whatever is that? And however did I get here? And where ever are we?” Emma said, putting a hand to her forehead, feeling if she had a fever. The dog scooted towards her and laid it’s head atop her stomach. Emma smiled slightly and petted it.

“I don’t know. I came out here to look at the stars with my dog Sandy and you were just laying there. I was going to scream, but then I remembered that I am 17 years old and I don’t do that anymore. Siobhan helped me learn to not scream, unless someone is trying to hurt me or someone close by.” The boy nodded very matter-of-factly. “But people touching me or yelling at me still makes me nervous. Siobhan said that I might always feel that way when people touch me or yell.” Emma nodded. She liked this boy very much. He was very polite and sweet.

“Young man, where ever are we?” Emma asked, remembering the situation.

“My backyard.”

“Is that like a garden?”

“We have a garden.” The boy pointed to a patch of vegetables a little ways away.

“How far away are we from Mr. and Mrs. Knightley’s estate? Not mine, of course. I want to get to my sister and her family.”

“Who is Mr. and Mrs. Knightley?”

“Oh... You don’t know... How far away are we from London?”

“Not far! I can take you there. I went there to find my mother after I found out my father killed a dog. I used to not like to be near my father after that, but Siobhan and a nice therapist helped me realize that it is OK for me to be with my father because it was an accident of anger and my father and my mother took classes to help them not be angry. But then they argued a lot again so my mom moved back to London. But that’s OK because my father would never hurt me and I don’t like London.”

“Why were you afraid your father would hurt you?”

“He killed Wellington, Mrs. Shears poodle. That was two years ago.”

“Why did he kill Wellington?”

“Father was mad at Mrs. Shears. Mrs. Shears was helping us after Mother left, and Father thought that she would move in with us or we would move in with her, because he thought they were good friends. But then they had lots of arguments and Father thought that Mrs. Shears loved Wellington more than us and when Mrs. Shears chucked him out of the house he killed Wellington with a garden fork because he was so mad and the dog was being mean too.”

“My... What did you do?”

“I took Father’s cashpoint card and went to the train station. Then I got a ticket to London and I got off the train at the station in London and I got a map of London and I found Mother’s house. I stayed there until Mother took me to Father’s, and we stayed with Father until Mother got a bed-sit, which is a small room in a big house that lots of people share. The next big event that happened after that was Father got Sandy for me, and then when Mother got the flu I had to stay with Father for three days but that was OK because Sandy stayed with me all the time. And Father and I planted a vegetable garden too.”

“My...”

“I left out a lot of details because Siobhan said that when you are talking to someone or telling them a story you don’t need to say all the little details, like how in the bed-sit Mother had to clean the toilet before I could use it because strangers were using it too and sometimes I wet myself because someone else was using the bathroom.”

Emma gagged and said “I don’t know of anyone who would want to hear that...” Then she laid back down because her arms were getting tired. She yawned as a door opened behind them. Emma sat up to see who it was.

“Father!” The boy stood up and walked to greet his father. The father stepped into the backyard, right into a ray of moonlight. Emma saw his face and got up to run to him.

“Mr. Knightley! Oh, my dear Mr. Knightley!” Emma threw her arms around the boy’s father. He gently pushed her away.

“Ma’m, I’m afraid that I am not who you think I am. My name is Ed Boone, Christopher Boone’s father.” Ed put a hand out to Christopher, with his fingers spread, like a fan. Christopher did the same thing and touched his fingertips to his father’s fingertips. Emma watched them as the information registered in her brain. She then fell to her knees with her head in her hands and cried. Ed told Christopher to go inside and start making tea before helping Emma to her feet again. “Please come inside and have a cup of tea. Then you can sleep in the guest room and we will talk tomorrow. Sound good?” Ed led Emma inside to the living room. She sat down on the couch and Christopher handed her a cup of tea.

“Thank you, Christopher and Mr. Boone.” Emma didn’t look either of them in the eye as she took sips of her tea and quietly cried.
“Please, call me Ed.” Ed said before going to find a nightgown that had belonged to Christopher’s mother. He gave it to Emma as he led her to the guest room. No one had spoken a word since they had tea. Emma broke this silence by saying “Thank you both so much. I think I owe it to you to at least tell you my name - Emma Knightley, daughter of Mr. Henry Woodhouse, wife of Mr. George Knightley.” Then she closed the door to the guest room before Ed or Christopher could see her tears.

In the morning, Ed showed Emma how to work the shower and where all the towels and soaps were after she had gotten sick all over herself. He started the wash to clean the gown and bed sheets before he went to the kitchen to make breakfast.
As it was a Saturday, both Christopher and Ed were home and were going to go to the zoo later. Emma wondered if she should go while she showered. They are both so nice, and Christopher told me all those things while I only told them my name... Not to mention I don’t even know how I got here or where I am or how to get back... She couldn’t bear to even think of home. Might this be where I’m supposed to raise my child? Is that why Mr. Boo - Ed looks so much like my Mr. Knightley? And Ed was so very caring and nice when he helped me clean myself up... my Mr. Knightley had never done that, he always told a servant to clean... And I do like this house and... what was it called? Oh yes, the backyard. And the... zoo? Sounds fascinating... Oh, what am I to do? Emma thought and prayed and thought some more before finally getting out of the shower. She saw that clothes had been laid out for her on the guest bed. There was also a note that said:


Dear Emma,


Please take these clothes. They used to belong to Christopher’s mother when she was pregnant, and you’re about the size she was, so I thought they might fit. I didn’t want you to get your dress dirty at the zoo. The llamas have a bad habit of spitting only on women.










Sincerely,











Ed Boone


P.S. I really hope you can stay with us for a while, even if all we know about you is your name.

Emma could tell that Christopher had written the last part. She decided she would go to the zoo with them and wear the clothes Ed had given her. She unfolded the clothes, expecting to see a cheap, plain dress. Instead, she saw mens clothes like the ones Ed and Christopher wore. Emma could very clearly see that she wasn’t anywhere near her sister’s estate and she wasn’t to getting there anytime soon, seeing as she had no idea as to how to get there. Emma also could tell that things here were very different. So Emma put on the clothes and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. She found a brush and brushed her hair, but she simply could not find hairpins anywhere. She looked at herself in the full body mirror on the back of the door, trying to see what she could do to look better. After a moment, she began to admire the way the sky blue v-neck clung to her chest before flowing over her stomach, and she admired how the jeans gently hugged her thighs and calves, and how the very top, stretchy part fit comfortably over her pregnant belly. Emma looked at her hair and realized she liked how long and wavy her hair was. To be honest, she never knew her hair was that beautiful all on it’s own because she had never seen her hair down. A big smile erupted on her face and she confidently walked to the kitchen, not caring that she had no shoes or stockings on or that her poise wasn’t absolutely perfect or anything she had worried about at home.

Ed looked up from where he was cooking eggs, bacon, and sausage. “Want so- Oh my gosh, you look better in that than you did in your dress!” Ed exclaimed, almost dropping an egg on the floor.

“Thanks Ed,” Emma said, “and good morning to you too.”

“Oh yeah, good morning!” he replied, ducking his head so she couldn’t see him blushing. Christopher walked in just then, dressed but still looking sleepy.

“Good morning, Christopher.” Emma said as she sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

“Good mor-” Christopher stopped in his tracks and stared at Emma. “M-mother!?” He gasped. Ed put three plates full of food on the table and saw the look on Christopher’s face. The poor boy looked like he had seen a ghost.

“Christopher, are you okay?” Ed asked.

“I think that he thinks I’m his mother,” Emma said, confused by Christopher’s reaction to her. Sandy walked in and walked right up to Emma, putting his paws on her stomach, trying to comfort Emma. The little baby inside Emma started to push on Sandy’s paws, constantly moving and shifting itself and Sandy’s paws. Christopher shook his head and laughed, as did Ed. Emma also laughed, which made the baby move even more. Sandy finally barked and went outside after seeing that everyone was happy. “My, that is a great dog you have, Christopher.” Emma said before turning to her breakfast.

After breakfast they went to the zoo and made it a point to stop at all the different animals. Emma was like a kid in a candy store, or like a kid visiting the zoo for the first time. She especially loved the tigers and lionesses. Emma felt right at home with Christopher and Ed, and she adapted to their world of cars and electricity and things very quickly. She didn’t even think about her home or family except for when the baby kicked or people told them congratulations on the baby. But by noon, she stopped correcting them and let the other people believe that the baby was Ed’s, and Ed seemed to like that.

Half past noon, they got lunch out of the car and sat at a picnic table. After a moment of silence, Emma decided to tell Ed and Christopher about her life. “When I was young, I would always match people with someone I thought they would marry. And it usually worked out, sometimes a little to well though... After my older sister, Isabella, married Mr. Knightley, my husband’s brother, my governess, Ms. Taylor, married a man everyone had thought would never marry again. If it hadn’t been for me, they might’ve been right. But when Ms. Taylor left, I began to terribly miss her, as did my father. We were alone then, with my sister being gone. Well, my Mr. Knightley started coming around all the time before Ms. Taylor’s marriage, and we became fast friends, so my father and I weren’t completely alone. Mr. Knightley convinced me to stop matchmaking, and I did stop. I stopped because my last success hurt me, and because I had no one to match. But that all changed when Harriet Smith came along.
We became best friends very quickly, and I became involved in her love life very quickly as well. You see, she fell in love with a farmer named Robert Martin. We were noblewomen, me by birth and Harriet because she was the adopted daughter of the headmistress of the finishing school. Because of our status and his status, I convinced her to reject the farmer’s proposal. I then matched her with Mr. Elton, and hatched a plan to get them to fall in love. It both worked and backfired horribly. You see, Harriet and I would do things like visit the sick and poor and bring them food, and I would give Harriet all the credit. I also left them alone as much as possible, and I never stood in between them. Harriet fell madly in love with Mr. Elton, while Mr. Elton somehow fell in love with me! After a Christmas party that Harriet was too sick to attend, Mr. Elton proposed to me. I of course rejected him and told him that Harriet loved him. It was a very awkward carriage ride, and it broke my heart telling her what happened... It took her several months to get over him.When she did get over Mr. Elton was around the time Mr. Churchill came to town.
Mr. Churchill was visiting his father. While he was there I thought that I fell in love with him. Or was that his second visit? You see, he came, left and came back not too long after. Oh yes, I remember now. I thought that I loved him after the first visit, but while he was gone I never thought of him unless he was mentioned by another person, so I concluded that I was not actually in love. When he came back though, I thought that Harriet had fallen for him. We were out picking strawberries with Mr. Churchill and some other ladies and Harriet said that she had fallen for a man. I told her that she had great taste, thinking she was talking about Mr. Churchill, but not to pursue him or get her hopes up unless he seemed to show signs of having the same feelings for her. Later, she visited me, wanting to talk. I also wanted to talk to her, but about a different matter about the same man.
The other day I had gone on a picnic with the young Miss Bates (the old Mrs. Bates was her mother, but they were both quite old actually), Mr. Knightley and a few other people. I spoke badly of Miss Bates in front of her and everyone. I had essentially had called her stupid. She went off into the surrounding field or forest, I cannot remember which. Mr. Knightley followed her to offer comfort. As we were getting the carriages ready to go, he approached me and we kind of had a row... Well, he told me that what I said wasn’t kind at all and that because of who I am the other people who were there would copy me and that he didn’t even know if I was capable of being kind. I had just turned around and silently cried form the very beginning.
So that was what I had wanted to talk to Harriet about, but before I could she told me that she was in love with Mr. Knightley. Then we kind of had a row about how I had thought she was talking about Mr. Churchill and she was talking about Mr. Knightley that day when we went strawberry picking. Well, again, it was really a row... But we were both kind of upset and flustered. And once the misunderstanding had been fixed, I turned my back to her and cried. That was the moment when I realized that I was in love with Mr. Knightley...
Mr. Knightley went on a trip soon after that, to visit his brother. The entire time he was gone, I was worried that he would come back and propose to Harriet. I worried so much that he was going to propose to Harriet that I believed he was going to do just that. When he came back, I almost didn’t let him talk. Then he said that usually when he goes to his brother’s he can clear his mind, but seeing my sister all the time kept reminding him of me so he couldn’t think straight... He proposed and I of course said yes... and he moved in with me, so that my father wouldn’t have to deal with both his daughters and the governess leaving him. I believe that was actually Mr. Knightley’s idea... he was a very kind man...
More recently, about five months ago, I found out that I was pregnant with our second child. Mr. Knightley and I were very glad and Elizabeth, our two year old daughter, was in the best of moods for a whole month she was so happy. Anyway, two days ago we were going to go visit my sister. Isabella has a little boy, about a year older than Elizabeth, and I wanted him to meet his next cousin before it was born because we never visited while Elizabeth was in my womb, and we had not seen them in a year. But, two days ago, I was simply too sick to leave, but I told my husband to go so my sister didn’t worry. Yesterday I had barely been sick, so I packed up and left, all by my lonesome. The road was incredibly bumpy, so I got sick again in the evening. But after that the road seemed to be smooth, so I urged the horse to a gallop as night fell, to try to get to the nearest town so I could sleep in an inn. I guess the wagon got stuck in a hole or ditch because I went flying forwards. The next thing I know Christopher is leaning over me and I’m in your backyard.” Emma finally finished her long story. She sighed and felt like a giant load had been taken off her shoulders, but the weight on her chest remained.
“Wow... all that led to you being here... I don’t think it’s a coincidence, Emma.” Ed said, reaching across the table and taking her hands in his. “We have no idea how you got here or how you could get back. I look exactly like your Mr. Knightley and you look exactly like Christopher’s mother. You have adapted to this time as if you have been here your entire life. Christopher already trusts you, even though you are pretty much a stranger. We all accepted you from the very beginning, even Sandy. And even though we haven’t even known each other for a full ...” Ed trailed off. Emma had started crying, her head bent. Her tears fell on their hands.
“Yes.” Emma said, looking up. “Yes, I want to stay. Yes, I want to live you. Yes, I would love nothing more than to become Emma Boone.” Emma said, sniffling.
“You just read my mind, Emma,” Ed said, trying not to cry himself. Christopher had the biggest smile on his face, and he was tearing up too.
On the way home, Emma and Ed started making plans for their wedding in one month. And that night, Emma was able to tell her family the great news.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Emma!” Mr. Knightley ran across the cloud to Emma, but he ran into an invisible wall just in front of her. Elizabeth followed him, trying to reach her mother. Isabella and her husband walked through a door and joined them, along with Harriet Smith.

“Hello, everyone. I wanted to tell you that I am fine and.. Oh, I should probably begin with telling you that we are all sharing a dream. Now then, um... The wall, separating you guys from me... That is there because while you guys are all living in the same moment, the same time. I, on the other hand, am living in a moment a few centuries after you. I-I don’t know what happened, but I am here now, with a very bright future ahead.” Emma smiled.

“Y-You mean you know how to get back, right?” Mr. Knightley asked, his hands pressed against the wall. Emma looked away.

“Well, no, but, you see, I woke up in the yard of a Mr. Ed Boone and his son Christopher Boone. Ed looks exactly exactly exactly like you, Mr. Knightley, but he’s... nicer. And he’s already a parent, and Christopher is 17, so he knows how to raise children, and Christopher is the sweetest kid you ever met...” Emma trailed off as Mr. Knightley took a step back from the wall. “I... Oh, Mr. Knightley... Everyone... I-I am to marry Ed, because we don’t know how I got here or how I would get back... Oh! And I look exactly like Christopher’s mother. Is that a coincidence? And you have an exact mini of me, Elizabeth, not to mention my sister and her child. It’s not like I won’t be with you guys in some way.”

“My dear sister, why ever are you talking so improper?” Isabella asked.

“I’ve adapted to this century already. It’s how they talk. To them it’s proper.” Emma replied. “Anyway, all I wanted was to tell you guys that I am fine, and I want to make a request.” She turned to Harriet. “I know that your husband passed only a few months ago, but seeing as the mourning time is over, I want you to marry Mr. Knightley, the last man you were in love with before you married. Harriet, you have a son that is exactly like your late husband. He will always be with you, and he will always love you. And he would never want you to raise your son all by yourself, would he? Please marry. Neither of you would make good single parents.” Emma looked at her family and friends. “I love you guys, that’s why I brought you all here and why I am going to go now. None of us should hang onto the past. We need to move on and be happy.” Emma nodded, signalling the end of her speech. “Does anyone else have anything to say?” She asks.

“Is this the only way things can be?” Mr. Knightley asks. Emma nods.

“Yes, I’m afraid so. Trust me, if there was a way I could get back, I would be there with you guys already.” Emma’s image flickered for a moment. “I-I gotta go, I think I’m going to be sick-” and with that, she disappeared. And that was the last time they ever saw Emma.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Epilogue

It has been five months since Emma Knightley decided to become Emma Boone. Ed and Emma had a wonderful wedding, even though all the chairs on Emma’s side were empty except for her twin girls, Nova Rayne and Safina Melody. They had been born three weeks early, which was fine with Emma and Ed, one reason was because the girls were able to go to their parents wedding and their own baby shower. The two month old babies already love their big step-brother, and Christopher loves to hold them and give them bottles.

Back at the Woodhouse estate, Harriet is expecting Mr. Knightley’s child. Her son, Robert Martin Knightley, is about to turn two, and Elizabeth is about to be two and a half. Elizabeth and Martin love being brother and sister, practically twins because they are only six months apart. Neither can wait for their new sibling, and their parents are just as happy and excited. They have already decided that if the baby is a girl it’s name will be Emma Woodhouse, and if it’s a boy it will be Christopher Boone.

Both families lived long, happy lives. Christopher moved to Houston became the best astronaut ever to join NASA, and Sandy was the first pet dog to go into space. Nova moved to Austin, TX and became a psychologist for the FBI, and sometimes people paid her to go hiking with them and record everything that happened, in case they died (after hiking the Appalachian Trail she quit doing this and started breeding her pitbull and husky once a year for extra money). Safina became a professional ballerina in London, married a professor of music at Harvard and had two sets of twins (Henry and George, then Harriet and Emmaline) who all grew up to be dancers or professors. Grayson won the lottery at 18, bought several acres of land outside of Swindon and started a non-profit horse and farm dog rescue and rehabilitation center. Emma died in bed surrounded by grandchildren, grand-dogs and great-grand-puppies (Nova never went anywhere without her dogs), Ed died in his sleep soon after Emma’s death. Emma was almost 80 and Ed was one month away from being 90.

Harriet and Mr. Knightley had a daughter, and three years later they had a son. Robert, Elizabeth, Emma and Christopher all grew up to be very respectable noblemen and women (they all matched each other up though. But, they all married someone that the others said was perfect for them, and they each had a son and a daughter.). Elizabeth even married into the royal family and became queen. Harriet collected pictures and letters throughout the years for Emma, and on her deathbed she gave Elizabeth the pictures and letters to preserve until they could be given to Emma Boone (Emma did get them. She got it the morning after she first arrived in Swindon). Harriet and Mr. Knightley died of the black plague after coming back from a trip to China within days of each other.