He rubbed at his temples while he digested the information I was giving him and he looked like his brain might come running out of his ears at any moment. Now and then he would shake his head at me and then return his gaze to the photograph and I wasn’t sure if he entirely believed me, or even if he could or wanted to.
“Look,” I said, rummaging through my wallet. Bank cards, this one expires in 2001. My video hire card, issued 1997.” I flung the cards towards him hoping it would help convince him.
“What’s a video?”
“It’s like a little plastic box you use to watch movies. It’s… Look it doesn’t matter, do you believe me or not?”
“I do. I do. I just…”
“What?”
“It’s just a lot to take in.”
I reached out and took his hands in mine. “I swear I’m telling you the truth.”
His fingers wrapped tightly around mine and he gave me a slight smile, though I could tell he was still apprehensive.
“How do you go back?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if I even want to anymore. Do you want me to go?”
“That’s not fair. I don’t want to stop you from being with your family.”
“Well, I sort of am with my family,” I joked, which made him smile. “And even if I wanted to go, I can’t. It doesn’t work anymore. My father never managed to get back here and I can’t spend every day looking at it hoping it will work again. I guess that’s why he had it locked away in the end, and why I’ve left it up here out of sight.”
“Will you tell them?” he asked, motioning his head towards the house.
“The Hopkin’s? No. They wouldn’t understand. I contemplated telling your sister when I first got here, but I kept it to myself. I didn’t want to end up carted off to an asylum.” He smiled again but remained silent and kept his head low. “Are you ok, Gwyn?”
“Just thinking,” he replied.
“About what?”
“I’m nearly 112 years older than you.” His smile turned into a laugh which eased the tension in the room somewhat.
“Well, you look good for it.”
When we heard footsteps coming along the floor of the barn downstairs we looked at each other in shock and terror. Gwyn, still undressed, scrambled for his clothes while I stashed away the contents of my wallet which were strewn around us, not wanting to explain either situation to whoever was approaching. He managed to get his trousers on just as Mair popped her head through the hatch next to us.
“Jesus,” he said. He seemed to relax a little but my heart still felt like it might beat through my chest. “You frightened the life out of me.”
“I don’t know what you two think you’re playing at,” she said, her face furious as she moved her head to look between us, “but I’d think you’d have more sense than to be doing whatever this is right under their noses. Have you no bloody sense?”
“We weren’t doing anything,” I tried feebly to protest.
“And I suppose my brother's shirt just fell off, did it? Get dressed and get inside and stop being so bloody ignorant.”
I’d never seen Mair so mad and I felt bad about having snuck away from the party for so long, but it was quickly side-lined when I realised how cool her reaction was to what she saw. Perhaps she was more progressive than most. Or maybe it was nothing new. Had Gwyn had many partners? Was I jealous?
“NOW!” she shouted, retreating back down the ladder.
Gwyn must have been able to see the fear on my face and he moved on his knees towards me and kissed me on the forehead. “It’s ok,” he said, face inches from my own. “She’s ok. Come to mine tonight. We’ve both got some things to explain, I think.”
Back inside the house, Gwyn made excuses for us that we had been debating some recent politics and lost track of time. Having no clue about any politics of either his time or my own I stayed as silent as possible and nodded along. Luckily, everyone seemed either too drunk or too high-spirited to pay much mind to the finer details.
As the festivities began to wind down and people started retiring to bed, Gwyn made a show about carrying on the party back at his house as an excuse to justify my leaving to go with him. Mair almost threw a spanner in the works by inviting Nellie and Nan to join us, but both declined in favour of their beds which left just the three of us walking through the village in the snow back to their cottage.
“What were you thinking?” Mair finally broke her silence as we walked past the church. “Of all the places. Have you no sense?”