by Carey Corp
Jamie met my gaze, his face like granite, his eyes blazing. “I’ll be right back, love.” He released my hand and stalked forward, shutting the bathroom door behind him.
I heard a startled, “Hey! Who’d you . . .”
Unable to resist, I cracked open the door and peeked through. Jamie, growling in Bob’s face, backed him down the hallway. “. . . owe her respect. And dinna show yourself until you are properly clothed.”
I bit my lip against a giggle.
“This is my house, and I’ll dress any way I want.” Bob jammed a finger into Jamie’s shoulder. “That girl is trash, just like her mother. She should be respecting me!”
I tensed just before Jamie’s fist connected with the Slob’s jaw with a loud crack, followed by a crash as Bob’s significant weight hit the floor. Jamie turned and met my wide-eyed gaze. He shrugged as if in apology, but there was no need. In fact, I had to suppress the urge to cheer. I flew out the door and threw myself into his arms. “You’re my hero, you know that?”
“And you are my heroine.” I felt his lips against the top of my head. “Now, can ye get dressed so we can go? I dinna think I’ll be welcome here much longer.”
In confirmation to his words, Janet came running down the hall. “What on earth happened?”
Jamie set me on my feet and stepped to one side as I pointed. “Bob had a little accident.”
“Sugar Dumplin’!” She shrieked when she spotted him crumpled on the floor moaning.
“Shall I stand guard while ye change?” Jamie asked.
“No, I’ll be fine. I think Bob got the message.” I held his gaze, my mind switching gears like a racecar driver. “But I have a million questions about Adam and the rings and Doon — ”
“Vee . . .” He rubbed my shoulder. “We need to get back to the airport. Change and then we can talk. I’ll be waitin’ outside.”
“’Kay. Just give me a few minutes. I need to say good-bye to my mom.”
Jamie searched my face, and seeming satisfied with what he found there, kissed my mouth and headed outside. I threw on my thrift-store outfit, and then wove my wet hair into a loose braid. With no other clothes to pack, I stared at my old room and then shut the door. There was nothing left of me here.
Janet waited in the living room, curled on the sofa, black mascara streaking her face. “So you’re leaving with His Lordship?”
I glanced out the window above her head and my jaw almost dropped at the gleaming Mercedes limo parked outside. It looked like something the president of the United States would ride in, all bulletproof and beautiful. The windows were dark, but I had to assume Kenna and Duncan were waiting inside. Then something Janet said struck a chord. “His Lordship?”
Janet waved a hand toward the window. “You know tall, blond, and gorgeous out there?”
I smiled. I’d used the same three words to describe him myself not so long ago. Now he was so much more. But the similarity in our thought process made me pause, when all I wanted to do was dash out the door.
Perching on the edge of the sofa, I took Janet’s hand. “Mom, what happened to your car?”
She sniffled and rubbed her nose. “When Bob’s brother, Randy, stayed with us for a while . . . When I came home from work one day, my car was gone, and so was Randy. The worst part is, I don’t know if Randy took it or if Bob sold it to pay his gambling debts.”
“I’m sorry.” The Slob was worse than I thought.
Janet turned, her red-rimmed eyes meeting mine. “Do you love that boy, Ronnie? Clearly, he loves you, but do you want to go with him? ’Cause if not, you and me, we could start over somewhere together.”
My eyes began to burn. A part of me wanted to take her with us, but I knew that wasn’t how it worked. “I do love Jamie, more than I ever thought possible. And I want to go back with him. I’m sorry, but where we’re going, there’s no way you can come.” Her mouth crumbled. “But Mom, you don’t have to stay here. You can do better than Blob . . . I mean — ”
Her giggle cut me off. “That’s actually kinda perfect.” Then her laughter dissolved into sobs. “I don’t . . . know how . . . to be alone.”
I took her other hand and squeezed her fingers tight. “Yes, you do! You took care of me when . . . when Dad took off. You’re stronger than you know.”
She wiped under her eyes. “You’ve changed. You’re not my little Ronnie anymore.”
I hadn’t been for a long time, but I didn’t need to say that. “Tell me you’ll try, Mom. Try to make it on your own. Then, down the road, you can be with someone because you want to — not because you’re afraid of the alternative.”
“I will.” She sniffled and wiped her nose. “I’ll try.”
“Good.” I gave her an encouraging nod and decided right then, I’d send her some money before returning to Doon. The MacCrae coffers could handle it. I just prayed she’d keep it to herself and really use it to make a fresh start. I released her hands and stood. “I need to go.”
Janet rose and wrapped me in a tight hug.
“Mom, do you have any idea where Dad is?”
She stiffened in my arms.
“I’d like to try and speak with him. Maybe see him before I go back to Do — I mean Scotland.”
“Last I heard he was shacking up with some bimbo in Indianapolis. He’s not going to want to see you.”
I pulled away. Despite all the time that had passed, she still hated him for abandoning us. For the first time I saw how that hatred kept her frozen in time, never able to move on with her life. “How could you possibly know that?”
“When are you going to get it through your head that he doesn’t care about us anymore?”
It was an argument we’d had over and over. I’d insist Dad needed us and might be too ashamed to reach out, while Mom would argue he didn’t give a fig.
“Stay away from him, Veronica. For your own good.”
“And you don’t think he’d want to see his only daughter before she leaves the country, maybe forever?”
Her face hardened. “No. I don’t. All that selfish jerk cares about is his freedom.”
This coming from the woman who’d treated me more like a roommate than a daughter. I couldn’t hear any more. “I have to go.”
“Vee, wait.” She touched my upper arm. “I’m . . . I’m sorry. About your daddy. About me. Everything.”
She hadn’t really been a parent to me for years, but she was still my mom. I turned into her arms and we held each other for a long time. Until we heard a groan. “Janet . . .”
I disentangled myself from her arms and looked into her watery eyes. “Remember what I said. You can make it on your own.”
She nodded, the muscles in her throat contracting. My own chest tight with emotion, I turned and walked out, shutting the door on my past.
CHAPTER 16
Mackenna
Whizzing along the Indiana highway, I was experiencing a My Fair Lady moment: homeless, bus station girl taken under the patronage of a Scottish prince, who buys her sparkly flip-flops that fit. It was loverly riding in the back of a modern limo with no impending Doonian disasters to spoil the moment.
Stevens lowered the tinted window that separated us from him. “Your pilot called, sir. There’s a hurricane shutting down the eastern seaboard. It’s doubtful you’ll be able to fly out before Sunday.”
Vee, who was seated backwards next to Jamie, angled her body to better see the driver. “So we’re stuck here for the weekend?”
“Yes, miss.”
A sensation much like relief blossomed in my chest. I wouldn’t be quitting the modern world just yet. But the news that brought me respite had the opposite effect on Vee. Her brows lowered as her eyes sparked with concern.
With a gentle touch to her cheek, Jamie murmured, “It’ll be all right, love.” Then to Stevens he replied, “We’ll need accommodations at the finest inn in Indianapolis.”
“Very well, sir. I’ll arrange for it.”
The driver raise
d the partition between us. I had to hand it to Stevens, he hadn’t batted an eyelash when Jamie said the word inn. Knowing the MacCraes, the man was being well paid for his discretion.
Vee swiveled around to regard both MacCrae brothers. “What about Adam?”
Gruffly, Jamie answered, “Adam is under guard in the dungeon.”
“Aye.” Duncan gently squeezed my hand. “He’ll no’ be causin’ any more mischief in Doon.”
Still unsettled, Vee chewed anxiously at her lip. “We think he’s working for Addie.”
“Fiona discerned the same thing,” Jamie stated. “She found the spell responsible for pushing ye out of Doon in the witches’ book and translated the first bit.”
Duncan nodded. “That’s how we knew where to look.”
“Aye. Fiona sensed that ye’d been transported to America. With Adam in Doon, Adelaide was able to cast some sort of sending spell that carried the both of you back to your former places in the modern world. Fiona thinks the Rings of Aontacht protected you from the witch’s first two attempts. That’s why Adam took the rings.”
Squeezing my hand tighter, Duncan supplied, “We wouldna have known if Emily hadn’t gotten away.”
Vee heaved a sigh of relief. “So, she’s okay.”
“Aye,” Jamie confirmed. “Doc Benoir says she’ll be just fine.”
As the limo gently swayed down the highway, we lapsed into silence. No matter how many times I kept trying to wrap my brain around Adam’s treachery, I still felt baffled. Searching Duncan’s face, I demanded, “Why would Adam help a witch?”
“Likely he’s convinced that Adelaide’s in love with him — just like what happened with Lucius Jobe. Once Adam pledged his body and soul to her, she could make him do whatever she wished.”
Vee had also mentioned Lucius Jobe — that he’d entered into Doon out of misguided love to Adelaide, but that was as much of the story as I knew. “Remind me what Lucius did?”
Jamie answered me, but his eyes kept straying to my best friend as he spoke. “At one point in the late seventeen hundreds, the Rings of Aontacht were lost in the modern world. Addie got her hands on the emerald ring and coerced Lucius Jobe to use it to enter Doon on her behalf, since she couldna enter herself. Lucius arrived in Doon with the claim that his dreams led him to the ring and the bridge.”
The story finally clicked. “Oh yeah, that’s why everyone in Doon was so suspicious of us when we first arrived.”
Duncan squeezed my hand and continued where his brother had left off. “Once inside the kingdom, Lucius poisoned livestock, killed a couple of farmers, and was finally caught tryin’ to breach the border that surrounds the witches’ cottage. He claimed idle curiosity had caused him to trespass, but the king didna believe him.”
Vee leaned forward, her gaze darting from one brother to the other. “What do you think Lucius was trying to do?”
“Nobody knows for certain.” Jamie shook his head. “They were too terrified to think to question him. Lucius was sentenced to death, but before he could be hanged, he took his own life.”
Twisting the tip of her braid around her finger, Vee mused, “It makes sense that Lucius and Adam were after the same thing. Were you able to get any information out of him?”
Duncan exchanged a look with Jamie. “I wish it were that simple. After Emily escaped . . . When we finally cornered Adam, he’d cut out his tongue.”
“Cut out his tongue?” Vee’s wide blue eyes locked on mine as my stomach churned and I tried to un-see the image of Adam with a gushing mouth, bloody knife in one hand, tongue — wriggling like a lizard tail — in the other.
“Aye.” Duncan nodded. “That way he’ll no’ be made to talk. Fergus’s men are working on getting information . . . by other means.”
With a frown, Vee asked, “You’re sure Doon is safe?”
“Aye.” Jamie looked back and forth between his girlfriend and me. “Just to be sure, Fiona is translating the rest of the spell in the hope of learning what Addie and Adam planned to do next. She’s also trying to figure out how they communicated with one another.” Jamie paused and met Vee’s worried gaze.
“Regardless, my queen,” Duncan interjected, “we dinna have a choice. We canna fly in a hurricane.”
Vee bit at her lip, a tipoff she was not convinced. “So what do we do now?”
Jamie exchanged another glance with Duncan. He hesitated as if suddenly unsure of himself. “I’d love to see a wee bit o’ the modern world.”
Mouth quirked in amusement, Vee shot me a quick glance as she bit back a smile. “Indiana isn’t all that exciting.”
As if the state itself took offense to her words, the Indianapolis skyline appeared outside of Duncan’s window. Jamie’s eyes went wide as he gawked in awe. “It is to me. Surely we can find a way to pass the time.”
Vee reached back to twist her hair around her fist. “I dunno.”
Such fol-de-rol, as Cinderella’s fairy godmother would say. Even if I hadn’t been witness to the exchange at the thrift store, I would still be able to tell from her behavior that she wanted something. Something that was very possible now that Jamie had appeared. Time to wave my magic wand. “Vee wants to go to a charity fund-raiser in Bainbridge tomorrow night. It’s formal.”
“Kenna!” From her position across from me, she kicked my ankle.
“Ow! Tell me I’m wrong, that some part of you doesn’t want to get all fancy and go to that event on the arm of a freakin’ hot prince.”
The freakin’ hot prince in question made a uniquely Scottish sound of offense. “Och! I’m sittin’ right here.”
Rather than look his way, I kept staring Vee down until she broke. “I don’t know,” she mumbled. “Okay, maybe I’ve fantasized about attending, but we’ve got other things to worry about.”
“Actually we don’t. We can’t leave until Sunday, Jamie said so. So I vote we should make the most of this unexpected weekend in the Midwest. Who’s with me?” I grabbed Duncan’s hand and lifted it with mine high into the air. A second later, Jamie’s arm shot up.
Outnumbered, Vee halfheartedly raised her hand. “Fine.”
“I suppose we should shop for tomorrow night, then.” Jamie rubbed his hands together. “Gowns for ye lasses. Proper attire for m’ brother and me.”
“Oh, Duncan and I aren’t going with you,” I hastily replied. Getting dolled up and facing down Steph was my bestie’s revenge fantasy, not mine.
Vee favored me with the Evil Highney. “You’re not?”
“Well — I mean — we kinda —” Doing some cracking of my own, I pleaded silently with Duncan for help.
“Nay,” he chuckled, amused by my sudden loss of bravado. “We’re going to have a romp about Chicago.”
To quell Vee’s look of betrayal, I amended, “But I’ll still need something fabulous to wear. So I’m in on the shopping.”
Eyes glued to the passing urban scenery, Jamie asked, “Do you have a local shop in mind?”
“We’ve got something better than a shop.” Vee grinned impishly at me, and as I read the lustful look in her eyes, we both said, “We’ve got the mall.”
CHAPTER 17
Veronica
Jamie sauntered toward me carrying a double-stuffed cookie and a supersized blueberry slushy, the boyish grin on his face doing funny things to my heart. For the first time since I’d known him, he was immersed in the joy of the moment. He took an enormous bite of the dark chocolate and icing-stuffed concoction, and his eyes rolled back in his head.
“Mmm . . .” He paused in front of me before taking another bite. “We need to get the recipe for this and take it back to Mags.” At least that’s what I thought he said around his food-stuffed mouth.
“Ya think?” I stood on my toes and kissed a glob of frosting off of his dimpled chin. “We’ll add it to the list, alongside corn dogs, jalapeño poppers, cherry Coke, cinnamon-sugar pretzel bites . . .”
I watched as he finished the cookie in two bites and then licked
his fingers.
“Seriously?” I’d been laughing so much since Jamie showed up at my bathroom door in Bainbridge that my cheeks hurt, but I couldn’t stop the giggle from escaping. “Get a napkin, pig-boy.”
He lifted his chin, stared down his nose, and adopted a formal British accent. “’Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers.”
“Is that Shakespeare?”
“Aye.”
Slapping his arm, I ranted, “I can’t believe out of all the Shakespeare you have stored in that brilliant brain of yours, that’s the line you choose to quote to me.”
I turned to stalk away, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back against him, his warm breath stirring the hairs by my ear. “The course of true love never did run smooth.”
“You can say that again,” I mumbled as I took his hand, and tugged him away from the Tollhouse Café. “I’m thinking you should slow down on the junk food for a while.”
Jamie narrowed his eyes. “Lass, I’m a Scotsman. We eat sheep’s brains and haggis for breakfast. I think I can handle a wee bit o’ junk food, as ye call it.” Jamie rubbed his flat stomach while taking another long draw of slushy.
“You have no idea what’s in junk food. It has all kinds of chemicals and preservatives your body isn’t used to.”
But Jamie’d already moved on. Like a child at Disney World, his attention ping-ponged from one thing to the other with no transitions. I listened as he contemplated the pros and cons of installing skylights in the castle roof. But a part of me was distracted by the miracle of the moment. If he’d been born here, in my time, this would be a typical date for us — strolling through the mall, checking out the shops, grabbing a bite to eat — or several bites in Jamie’s case. Just like average American teenagers.
Being on his arm, everyone who saw us knowing we were together, made me feel like a kite on a string. But then I glimpsed a mannequin dressed in a formal gown and tiara, and I crashed to earth in a sudden downdraft. We weren’t average teens. A kingdom of people relied on us to lead them, and awaited our return, and I was what? Feeling giddy to show off my gorgeous boyfriend, as I shopped and he devoured funnel cakes?