The Curse of Clan Ross

by L. L. Muir

  His eyes had gone dry but he was finding it hard to blink them wet again. Ewan was putting on his boots for him, but he hadn’t noticed when the big man had taken a knee.

  “Ye’re going to be needin’ these on, Monty.”

  “I am.” He was? Just when he believed he might be ready for a fine long rest, Ewan wanted him to go somewhere? “And just where would I be goin’ in me boots, cousin?”

  Ewan finished and stood. Watching him stand made Monty dizzy enough to drop his torso back to the bed.

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell ye, Monty.” Ewan’s hands were back on his hips. “Ye’re not yerself, ye ken? Ye can no’ lead yer clan the way ye’re actin’.”

  Monty sat up quickly, reaching for a sword he couldn’t see clearly. Finally, he realized it wasn’t in the corner where he’d left it.

  “This is about the tomb.” Panic welled in his veins only to boil with the wine in his belly and splash up inside his chest. “We cannot tear it down, Ewan. Ye know that.”

  “And we won’t tear it down. We won’t.”

  Ewan, bless him, wouldn’t let him down. Unlike Luthias, Ewan would never turn on him. They’d been as brothers all their lives.

  “But Monty, ye need to be free of this place. Free of the ghosties and memories. Far enough away so ye can’t imagine yer Jillian is calling for ye.”

  It wasn’t panic, but anger now that cleared his muddled mind.

  “Ye wish to rule the clan.” He nodded. “I see.”

  And he’d thought nothing in this life could cut him deeper than he’d already been cut.

  “Ye see nothing, ye great arse.” Ewan flung the tray from the table, food flying against the wall. He then pulled the table over in front of Monty and sat upon it. “I’ve never been so ambitious, ye witless bastard, and ye ken it well enough. I know ye’re thinking of how Luthias turned on ye and for what ye once believed of Ivar, and ye must stop.”

  Breathe? Vomit? Cry? Just what was Monty supposed to do here? For the life of him, he couldn’t decide for himself. His belly threatened to take the choice out of his hands.

  “Ye’ll go away, Monty. Ye’ll get yer mind right again. And when ye come back—”

  “The Gordons will let me rot.”

  “Ye daft mon.” Ewan grumbled for a bit. “Ye think I don’t ken that?”

  “Ye can no’ send me to the MacKays. The Gordons would treat me as a king compared to the MacKays.”

  Oh, how he wished to sleep, but sleeping wasn’t wise when his fate danced in the palm of someone else’s hand.

  “Monty, ye’ll be goin’ to the Muirs.” Ewan held up a hand. “Now, now, then. It won’t be as bad as all that. They’ll see to ye. They’ll keep their tongues tied in a trusty knot. And they’re keen healers, aye? Maybe they can help hasten yer heartwounds to closing.”

  Ewan stood and moved the table back. Out of reach. Not a good sign, that.

  “And?” Monty took a deep breath, but it only served to relax him more. Sitting up was no longer convenient, but he barely felt his shoulders bounce against his bedding. Ah. That was it, then. “My bastard cousin has drugged me.”

  Ewan’s head swam above him, shaggy blond hair reaching down toward his face. His greasy beard stayed well away, praise God.

  “Aye, laddie. I did. And when ye return, the tunnels will be sealed.”

  Monty could do nothing, move nothing. He couldn’t stop the tears from filling his eyes or overflowing their swollen banks.

  “Ewan, ye must leave her some air...and light...and water.”

  CHAPTER FORTY

  “No.”

  “Now Jillian, I can certainly understand how ye’ve no intention of ever again following a suggestion of the Muir sisters, but I tell ye it was Quinn’s idea to bid ye fare-thee-well in the Great Hall.”

  Maggie had her back against the bedroom door, but Jillian couldn’t believe the woman would actually try to stop her if she didn’t go to a no-longer-a-surprise farewell party.

  “I tell ye my brother hasn’t been this animated in a great long while. Can ye not do it for him, lass?” The woman moved aside and opened the door. “Ye have no idea the sacrifice he’s makin’ for ye.”

  Oh, now tears were a bit over the top. What had the man sacrificed? A morning of tourist fees?

  Maybe tourist fees actually were that important.

  “I’ll go. But I won’t miss my flight.”

  “Dinna fash about that, lass. Ye’ve a good hour before ye’ll need to leave here. I’ll make sure yer bags are down and yer taxi waitin’.” Maggie’s smile faded. “And whatever will make my brother happy, will make us happy enough for him.”

  The woman was sobbing before she made it very far down the hall. No doubt about it, Castle Ross was a sad place for a lot of people.

  No one had ever thrown Jillian a surprise party before, but one thing she assumed was that she would walk into a quiet room and people would say, “Surprise!” Apparently the UK version of such a party was to have all the guests milling about having a good time, and the surprised should just walk in and start mingling.

  The hall was not quiet. In fact, the party would have gone on just fine without her. She decided to find Quinn, give him a thanks and good-bye, then slip out the front door and wait outside for her cab.

  “Jillian! Oh, there she is. Jillian!”

  Right veiny hand holding lemon punch—Loretta.

  “Jillian I would like you to meet someone.” She turned to a very handsome man with black hair and green eyes. “Wickham, this is our Jillian. She’s the one you came here to see.” Loretta looked behind him. “Where’s your ladyfriend gone off to?”

  “I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.” Wickham turned to Jillian. “How do ye do?” He shook her hand, looked her up and down, and whistled.

  Jilly couldn’t help but laugh.

  Maggie turned up at Loretta’s elbow and said something in Gaelic Jillian must have misunderstood. Maybe her ears were still tuned to a medieval Gaelic station. She thought Maggie said, “The toilet might contain Jillian’s grandmother.” Then Maggie ran back out of the Hall.

  Lorraine showed up and exchanged a nervous look with her sister, then gave Wickham an elbow usually reserved for her sister.

  Wickham noticed Jilly noticing.

  “Oh, don’t worry about Lorraine. She’s my sister and she throws her elbows around no matter what decade she’s in.”

  “Sister?” Jillian started counting fingers. “Are you kidding me?”

  This time the old woman looked like she was going to strangle him, but he just grinned at her.

  “Ye see, Jillian, I’m trying to impress my new gal by bringing her here to meet ye, the one who ended the Ross curse. Ye know, the prophesy.” He looked behind him. “We’re actually from the 50’s, see? The nineteen fifties.”

  Lorraine tried to grab him by the ear, but he ducked like he’d ducked that move all his life.

  “Relax, Lorraine. If anyone understands time-travel, don’t ye think Jillian would?” He turned back to her. “In fact, my brother and I came up with a right genius way to travel—yeouch!”

  Lorraine had his ear then. He looked around twenty-five, but an elder is still an elder, Jilly supposed.

  “It’s time to go, Wickham. It was wonderful to see you, but you’re messing in our nest, here. You really are.” Lorraine looked anxiously behind her. “As soon as she comes back, you need to go.”

  “But Ivy needs to meet Jillian. Then we will go.”

  Lorraine’s face was a thundercloud when she turned back to him.

  “Wickham. Listen to me. Ivy must not meet Jillian. I know you don’t understand, but you’ll have to trust me.”

  Wickham nodded. “Okay, okay. We’ll go.” He threw his arms around Lorraine. “It was good to see ye, sis. I always told ye ye’d live to be a hundred.”

  Lorraine whacked him on the head.

  “A violently beautiful hundred.” He grinned, then turned to Loretta. “Tr
y to teach her kindness, Retta. It’s never too late, ye know.”

  Lorraine came forward and pulled Jillian aside.

  “What time is your flight, dear? Wouldn’t you like a nice cup of tea before you go?”

  Beware of Mormons pushing tea. If it wasn’t on a t-shirt somewhere, it ought to be. Something was up, and if the Muirs wanted Jilly gone, she wasn’t going anywhere. Last act of defiance, and all that.

  Jillian gave Lorraine her most brilliant smile then removed the old woman’s hand from her shoulder before looking deep in those glassy blue irises.

  “Not on your sweet aunt’s fanny.”

  A young woman, dressed, well...in a dress, came running through the archway into the hall. Her bell-shaped green skirt came just past her knees and she teetered on a matching pair of very old-fashioned pump heels. She wore a pair of honest-to-goodness cat-eye glasses as a head band and clutched a small beaded purse in her white-gloved hands. She tossed her head around until she saw Wickham.

  Suddenly the man’s clothing made sense. His jeans were what Grandma had called high-waters; tight against his leg and not long enough to get wet while walking through large puddles. His hair was smoothed away from his face and he wore a bomber jacket that looked as if it he’d gotten it off a real pilot.

  Jilly suddenly believed every word he’d said. They had to be from the nineteen fifties, or else this was all staged by the Muir sisters. She’d reserve judgment for as long as she could.

  “Come on, Ivy. We’ve got to run, now.” He held out a hand to her.

  “Wickham, you’ve got to help me.” She grabbed his lapels and pulled him close. “Those people! I heard them plotting to kill someone. We can’t just leave, we have to stop them.”

  Wickham dropped his smile.

  Lorraine grabbed Jilly’s arm and turned her toward the archway, but Jilly kept turning until she was again facing Wickham and the girl. In an impressively smooth move, she also got her arm free. In a heartbeat, she was running toward Wickham, to put the young man between herself and Lorraine.

  And as she stood there, one hand on Wickham, the other on Ivy, it struck her.

  “The toilet contains my grandmother...my grandmother is in the toilet,” she said aloud, turning to Ivy. “My grandfather wasn’t wicked, he was Wickham.”

  Lorraine winced and stopped trying to get to her through the couple. She then looked at Jilly. “You should have trusted me, missy,” she said softly.

  “Wickham, who is this woman, and why is she running from your sister?” Ivy clutched Jilly’s grandfather a bit closer.

  “Ivy, this is the woman we came to see. Her name is Jillian.” He put a steadying arm around Jilly’s grandmother and turned her to face Jillian properly. “Jillian, this is Ivy MacKay.”

  Ivy reached out the hand not twisted in Wickham’s jacket and grabbed Jilly’s fingers. “Jillian is the name of the woman they plan to kill, Wickham!”

  Loretta walked up behind Lorraine. “That’s why we couldn’t find any record. We thought MacKay was her married name.”

  Jillian took stock of her grandmother. Ivy MacKay was standing in front of her once again. It was a miraculous chance to tell her grandmother everything she’d never dared say before. True closure. A foot away.

  But in Ivy’s eyes she saw fear, not meanness, and that fear was for Jilly. Maybe it always had been.

  What this woman deserved was some hope, but how much could she bear to hear at her young age? Then Jilly remembered what a tough old bird Ivy MacKay had turn out to be.

  “Ivy, honey, I’m going to be your granddaughter, and you are going to own oil wells and make an embarrassing amount of money.” She left out the part about living alone and lonely except for an awkward, quiet granddaughter who was headed toward a similar destiny.

  Whether from heartbreak or shock, Jilly’s remaining energy spilled out of her boots and she wobbled as she patted her young grandmother’s hand.

  “And if you think someone around here is going to kill me, you’ve misunderstood. I’m already dead.”

  Wickham freed himself from Ivy just in time to catch Jilly as her knees gave out. He pulled her up against him.

  “Nice catch, Grandpa.” She searched his face for some likeness of herself and found it in his eyes. “You don’t look very surprised. You could at least admit you didn’t know I was your granddaughter when we were introduced.”

  “Aye, lass. I admit it. I’m pleased to know ye, but I’m even more pleased Ivy and I will be grandparents together.” He made sure Jilly could stand, then stepped back to Ivy. “But ye know my sisters. If ye were a brother of theirs, could anything truly surprise ye?”

  Lorraine laid a hand on Ivy’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about the lass, Ivy. My sister and I have things in hand. You have to trust sometimes.”

  Loretta walked to the Great Hall door and pulled it open. “You have to go, brother, before any more secrets slip.”

  Behind Lorraine, Quinn finally entered with a returning Maggie on his arm.

  “It’s them!” Ivy cried out and pointed. “They were the ones! Jillian, run!”

  Everyone turned to Quinn, who lifted his brows and shrugged, his hands open in innocence. Wickham tried to calm Ivy while glaring daggers at Laird Ross. Lorraine calmly ushered them out the door and eventually, Ivy’s complaints stopped.

  Oh yeah, Ivy MacKay was not going to like that.

  “I don’t know what she was talking about,” Quinn said behind her.

  “Jillian, dear?” Lorraine stood with her arms crossed. The first tears Jilly had ever seen from the woman were coursing down her cheeks. Loretta joined her and gave her a squeeze and Jilly suddenly understood.

  “You didn’t get to say good-bye.” Jilly wrung her hands. It was her fault Wickham and Ivy had been hurried away. “I’m so sorry.”

  Lorraine wiped her face with her trusty handkerchief while Loretta clung to her, staring at the floor.

  “Are you worried he’ll go back and tell you about the tomb?”

  “No. He won’t. He never makes it back.” Loretta cleared her throat and pulled out her own hankie.

  Yes, Castle Ross sucked.

  “Jillian, dear.” Lorraine had her control back. “It was a wonderful treat to see our Wickham again. You can stop feeling sorry about it. However,” she raised her brows at Loretta, then the rest. Quinn, Maggie, and the rest of the family gave her their full attention. As did Jilly. “If you were Ivy MacKay,” she continued, “and you’d just seen what she has, what do you suppose she’ll do when she’s presented with a granddaughter named Jillian?”

  Of course. “I’d do whatever I could to keep her away from Scotland.”

  Her head spun with memories—of warnings, of paranoia, of the sadness lurking in her grandmother’s eyes at the mention of her wicked grandfather.

  Quinn stepped forward. “One mystery solved, then. But there is a new one. I have a little going away present for ye.” He took Jilly’s arm securely in his grasp. “Now, it’s inside the tomb, but ye’ll want to see it.”

  She shook her head and tried to pull away. Maybe her grandmother had heard something sinister after all.

  “Jilly. Trust me. I believe it’s a message from yer husband.”

  Halfway to the workroom, with a plethora of flashlights and a contingent of Muirs and Rosses in tow, Jilly followed Quinn and his sister like a soldier’s wife hurrying to the mailbox. Then suddenly, she stopped.

  “Holy crap.” She began turning in a circle while realization dawned. “Holy crap!”

  “What is it, Jillian, dear?”

  Hoooly crap!

  “Do you have something you’d care to share with the rest of the class, dear?” Lorraine stopped her with a gentle hand.

  She noticed Quinn and Maggie never said a word. The Muirs, for all their years, were not a patient bunch.

  “Holy crap.” She turned and looked at the rats who, she’d just realized, were now her great aunts. “I’m a bloody Muir.”

 
Their smiles beamed blue in the odd light.

  “Perhaps we could help you find your sister, Jillian, dear.”

  “I’ve a feeling she has one, sister. The talented ones are always born in pairs.”

  Jilly “holy crapped” all the way to the workroom.

  # # #

  “Only Jillian and I, if ye don’t mind, ladies.” Quinn hugged his sister and put her aside.

  Boy was he in a good mood.

  Once inside, he reached down for her, but she hesitated.

  “Is he not worth it, Jilly?”

  A second later, she was lifted up into the near-darkness.

  “What is it? I bet I know. He tried to leave me air, and light, and water, didn’t he?”

  Quinn turned and took the torque from its home. She couldn’t resist touching it again.

  “There is more than one tale told about the necklace,” he said.

  “It won’t work. It’s not the necklace.” Jilly let her hand drop from the silver crescent. “The necklace is only charmed to stay put. It can’t be removed from the tomb, even if you tried.”

  “I know, lass. I tried, as all the lairds of Ross have likely tried before me.” He still held it out to her. “It does have magic. It took ye away before my very eyes, lass. It must work again.”

  She grimaced, hating to say words she knew would bring tears to her eyes, but knowing he wouldn’t let up until she did.

  “The torque’s only magic is that it stays put. It’s the tomb that took me back, the tomb that is magic. Wrought by love and sacrifice, it only works when both love and sacrifice are present. Both times, it worked because of the love of Morna and Ivar. I was the sacrifice. First, I sacrificed my fear of tight spaces, I suppose. Or I was willing to risk putting on a creepy necklace in hopes of helping two strangers.” Her tears were lining up for a parade down her cheeks. “When we came back, though, I was sacrificing my chance to be with...him.”

  Finally, the man turned and put the torque in its place. When he turned back to her, however, he was grinning.

  “Well, that settles it, then. We’re going back.” He grabbed on to Jilly’s upper arms and held firmly. “I will sacrifice the luxury of the 21st century and my family to trade places with Montgomery Constantine Ross.”