The question took me by surprise. It was unusual for anyone to ask me about Tim so pointedly. More often than not, no one mentioned him at all. But rather than the usual lump that rose in my throat at the thought or mention of him, all I could think of was how much it pleased me that Duncan wasn’t afraid to ask me about him. It was easier to feel okay when people behaved as if you were.
“We lost him suddenly. There was something wrong with his heart—although we didn’t know it. One day he just collapsed and didn’t get back up again.”
“Ach, I canna imagine how difficult that was for ye and Rosie.”
“It was. Still is. We’re okay, though.”
“Have ye had many suitors since then? I would wager that ye have.”
I snorted. Loudly. It was not a good sound.
“I’ve had exactly zero suitors, Duncan. I haven’t really had any interest in that.”
He said nothing for a moment. When he did speak again his voice was quieter.
“I see. I appreciate ye joining me. I shall enjoy yer company even so.”
I didn’t understand his meaning. He seemed deflated, saddened by something I’d said, but he moved on from the topic too quickly for me to inquire as to where I’d taken a misstep.
He asked me about Rosie. He spoke about his own home and told stories from his childhood. I hated that so many of my answers to him were lies. Even so, I enjoyed every minute I spent in his company. We chatted for hours. Long after all of the food was gone.
“I shall walk ye back to the castle, lass. I hope ye ken that I wished to escort ye to here from the castle as well, but Isobel insisted I clean meself up before ye arrived. She said that since ’twas still daylight, ye would be fine on yer own.”
Mention of walking back to the castle altered the mood in the room. I wasn’t ready to leave him, and I got the impression he wasn’t ready for me to leave him either. But as I glanced out the window to see the moon high in the sky, I knew it was time to leave.
“Isobel was right. I was fine walking here by myself. I’ll be fine walking back if you don’t want to make the trip.”
Duncan laughed and shook his head. “Do ye no’ remember me first night here? Baodan would ne’er allow it. I willna either. Just give me a moment to get me coat from me bedchamber. I will only be a moment.”
Duncan
Duncan barely made it to his bedchamber door before he heard the sound of Isobel and Gregor’s door open. The sound was quickly followed by the soft sound of Isobel’s voice behind him.
“’Tis going well, aye?”
He sighed as he faced her. “Nae, lass. Every moment has been torturous.”
Isobel’s face crinkled up in confusion.
“Nothing about it sounded torturous to me. What are ye talking about?”
Duncan crossed his arms in mock-horror. Of course Isobel had listened in.
“If ye’ve been listening, as ye plainly have, ye should ken. She doesna wish to have a suitor. She doesna see this night as I do. All night, I’ve grown madder for her with each passing moment, and all she’s done is try to protect me pride by accepting me invitation here. She doesna care for me, lass.”
The back of Isobel’s hand smacked him hard against the arm.
“Ye are a daft fool. She said no such thing. She was speaking in the past tense, no’ the present. Ask her and see for yerself.”
Madeline
Whatever had happened to him while retrieving his coat, Duncan’s mood was entirely different by the time he returned to my side.
Gone was the chatty, funny man I’d been with all night. Instead, as we made our way back to the castle, he was distracted, fidgety, and I could tell that as I spoke to him, he wasn’t really listening. I tried to blow it off, but ten minutes into our walk, I’d had enough.
I stopped and called out to him as he continued to walk ahead of me.
“What happened to you?”
He stopped, only then realizing that he’d traveled on ahead as he spun and faced me.
“I’m sorry. What did ye say, lass?”
“You’re acting strangely. Like you’re not here with me anymore. Are you okay?”
He sighed, shook his head, and moved his hand to his hair as if he meant to run his hand through it, but stopped when he remembered it was pulled back.
“Nae, lass. I must ask ye a question for I fear I may lose me sanity if I doona do so. But I fear I already ken the answer, and no part of me wishes to hear ye say it.”
I couldn’t begin to imagine any question that should’ve made him so nervous.
“Okay…ask it then.”
“Do ye care for me, lass?”
I frowned at him, as I tried to think back on anything I’d done or said that might make him think otherwise.
“Yes, Duncan. I do. I wouldn’t have come to dinner if I didn’t.”
He sighed, clearly frustrated.
“But the acceptance of me invitation was intended to spare me feelings, aye? Ye doona care for me as I do ye. Ye doona want a suitor.”
Ah. That was it then—the reason behind the disappointment that had washed over his face earlier in the evening.
I smiled and walked toward him as he stood awkwardly in front of me. When I reached him, I placed my hands on his chest. I took no small amount of delight from the way his breath caught in response to my touch.
“Duncan…I’m really not that nice of a person. I’ve never been good at doing anything to spare anyone’s feelings. Clearly, you misunderstood me, so let me make it incredibly clear to you now. I wouldn’t have come to dinner if I didn’t like you. I wouldn’t have spent so much time trying to make my hair look nice if I didn’t care for you. And Duncan, while I’m not sure if I want a suitor, I am getting more and more sure by the second that I do want you.”
He drew in a raspy breath as he stared down at me in the moonlight. “Aye?”
I nodded. “Aye.”
His arms came around me quickly then, lifting me towards him as his lips found mine. He kissed me thoroughly, all of it intensified by the closeness of our bodies before pulling back and smiling at me.
“I told ye before that I was no good at this.”
I laughed as he lowered me back down to the ground. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I quite enjoyed it.”
He took my hand as we resumed our walk back to the castle.
“I doona mean the kiss, lass. ’Tis only, if no’ for Isobel, I would’ve left this night certain ye dinna care for me. Ye would no’ have seen me again.”
No wonder it had taken him so long to get his coat.
“She spoke to you upstairs, then?”
“Aye.”
“Then, I will have to give her my own thanks tomorrow, as well.”
Duncan kissed me three more times before we made it to the back entrance of the castle.
When we arrived, I gave him one last kiss and reached for the door handle before he stopped me by placing a hand on the door.
“Can I see ye on the morrow, lass? Mayhap we can meet midday and go for a walk in the sunshine?”
“I would love that.”
Beaming from ear to ear, I stepped inside to find Kenna standing just inside the doorway.
Clearly she’d been waiting for me.
The giddiness from the moment drained from me as I looked at her.
She looked like death.
Chapter 16
“Kenna, what is the matter? You…you don’t look well.”
Kenna nodded as if she knew that and shakily reached for my hand. Her demeanor frightened me, and the staunch contrast of the high of thirty seconds earlier made my sudden concern for her more intense.
“Aye, I doona feel well either. I need ye to come with me. I’m too frightened to go and see for meself.”
I tried to keep pace as she tugged me through the many hallways of the castle.
“Where are we going, Kenna? What’s going on?”
Kenna stopped suddenly, whirling t
oward me as she pulled me to the side of the hallway and leaned in close, her voice a frightened whisper.
“Baodan came to me today. He saw Osla last night. And Mitsy saw her this morning.”
“What?” I frowned at her. “What do you mean, he saw her?”
“’Tis what I asked him. They saw her ghost. Both of them swear it.”
I hardly knew what to say. I’d never been much of one to believe in ghosts, but then again, a few years ago I wouldn’t have been one to believe in time travel either.
“Well…that’s…not great.”
It was a stupid response, but it was all that came to mind. Truth was, I’d thought little of the painting since that night. Duncan had seemed so certain that returning Osla to the castle would resolve things that I’d not questioned his logic.
“Nae, lass. It is no’.”
“So, where are we going? What do you want to do about it?”
“I am taking ye to the cellar where I left Osla’s painting. I need to see if ’tis still there, and I was too frightened to go alone. Since no one else save Rosie kens about what happened that night, it must be ye that comes with me.”
She spun away from me and continued her fast clip toward the basement. She reached for a candle off the wall sconce as she pushed open the old wooden door and began the descent into darkness.
“Oh my God.”
I stared blankly at the empty spot against the wall.
The painting was gone.
Rosie
“Cooper, we’ve been sitting here in the dark for hours. I really don’t think we’re going to see anything. Maybe you just misheard Baodan. We didn’t turn her into a ghost. Can we please just go to bed now?”
“No, Rosie. We aren’t going anywhere. And I know we didn’t turn her into a ghost. We just set the ghost that was in the painting free.”
Cooper’s voice was firm, frustrated. He rarely sounded that way. It was enough to keep Rosie seated just where she was.
Minutes ticked by. Hours.
Eventually, Rosie couldn’t bear it a moment longer.
“I’m done, Cooper. I have to get some sleep. You sit here as long as you want. I’m going to bed.”
Grabbing her candle, Rosie pushed herself up from the floor and stomped off into the hallway before falling back against the wall in horror at the sight in front of her.
The moonlight through the window at the end of the long hall cast enough light in front of her to see the silhouette plainly, and after those nights of staring at her in the painting, Rosie would’ve recognized that face anywhere.
Rosie opened her mouth to scream for Cooper, but no sound came out as Osla’s ghost floated toward her.
Chapter 17
Madeline
My strong, obstinate daughter was a wreck. Usually, getting into trouble delighted her. Not this time. She knew she’d messed up, and she regretted it to her core. I held her as she cried into my chest.
“It’s going to be okay. Baodan is not going to scream at you. We just have to figure out what to do about all of this.”
Rosie continued to cry, her voice so muffled I had to strain to understand her.
“No…he…won’t. He will never forgive me, and I don’t blame him. His dead wife is haunting him thanks to me.”
“Listen.” I pulled her away from me just enough so that she was looking into my eyes. “Whatever is going on here, you didn’t cause it. You two might have changed something by burning the painting, but this all started long ago. We’re going to figure it out.”
Hours after Kenna and I discovered the painting missing, Cooper and Rosie had burst into my bedroom, both crying hysterically in the wee hours of the night.
I’d been up all night thinking about it—trying to figure out a solution. I’d come to two different conclusions. One, we needed Morna—the meddling witch primarily to blame for all of the time-traveling madness. Two, I needed to be the one to get her—seeing as it was my daughter’s bright idea to set Osla’s ghost free within the castle.
My midday date with Duncan would have to wait, and I couldn’t give him a real explanation as to why.
It broke my heart to think about how my unexplained disappearance from the castle was most assuredly going to come across as if I intended to blow him off, but I couldn’t see any other choice.
Kenna, who I also knew had slept little and whom I’d visited with after calming Cooper and Rosie down, had gathered Baodan and Mitsy in the sitting room so we could tell them everything that had happened along with our plan to fix the mess.
Rosie drew in one, long shaky breath, wiped her nose on a handkerchief, and steadied her gaze.
“Okay, Mom. You have my back?”
I smiled and bent to kiss her cheek. “Always, baby.”
I allowed her to walk as slowly as she needed to on the way downstairs. I was so focused on making sure she was okay and that she wasn’t going to turn around and bolt away from me that it took me a moment to register Duncan’s presence in the room when we walked inside.
He looked pale, overwhelmed, and I knew just by looking into his eyes that he knew. His gaze was different as he looked me over—suddenly unsure, as if he no longer had any idea who I was.
“What are you doing here?”
Baodan spoke up from my left. “We waited a long time for ye, lass. Mother has told me what occurred. Seeing as Duncan played a part in all of this, I thought it wise we include him. He kens now, Madeline.”
“He knows…” I hesitated, reaching for the answer I already knew.
“The magic, the time travel, all of it, lass.”
I didn’t take my eyes off of Duncan. I searched his expression for some sort of reaction, but I could read nothing beyond my initial impression of him. He was lost in the state that all of us at McMillan Castle had experienced before—that place where learning the truth upends everything you think you knew about the world. It was understandable if he needed a moment.
“Baodan, I’ve been thinking about this all night. I’ll go straight through right away. Rosie will come with me. I’ll try to get to Morna’s by nightfall. She will be able to help. I know it.”
Baodan gave me a soft smile before turning his attention to Rosie. He stepped forward and pulled her into a gentle hug.
“I am no’ angry with ye, lass. I doona blame ye for burning it. ’Twas a logical hope that it would end this.”
Baodan’s kindness caused Rosie to burst into tears, but this time I knew her tears were different. They were tears of relief, not guilt. Baodan was a good man through and through.
For the first time since Rosie and I entered the room, Duncan spoke. “I’m coming with ye, lass. None of this would’ve happened had I no’ returned the painting.”
The thought of taking Duncan to the future with me set alarm bells off in my mind. There was no way that was a good idea.
“I don’t think you should.”
“I dinna ask for yer permission, lass. I am coming.”
“I am too.” Cooper’s little voice spoke up next to Kenna.
Baodan released Rosie and looked back over at me.
“I’ve sent all the servants home. Every resident of McMillan Castle will be passing through time tonight. None will return to this time until Osla has finally found true peace. I willna have anyone else terrified by her as we have been.”
I immediately thought of Kamden and Harper.
“Well, all right then. I sincerely hope our twenty-first century friends are ready for some company.”
Chapter 18
While Kamden and Harper were happy to see everyone and eager to accommodate us—with the extra couple in addition to the set of workers who lived permanently at the castle—there simply wasn’t room for all of us at the castle in the twenty-first century.
After much discussion, it was decided that Eoghanan, Grace, Cooper, Duncan, Rosie and I would borrow Kamden and Harper’s cars and travel into town where we would get a hotel for the night before making the lon
ger journey over to Morna’s in the morning. It would free up three rooms in the castle, allowing everyone else to get a good night’s sleep.
After changing into the clothes that those of us who were accustomed to time travel had brought with us and seeing Duncan into some of Kamden’s clothing, we set off for the hotel.
The car ride with Duncan was something I would forever wish I’d been able to record. Rosie—no longer riddled with guilt, thanks to Baodan’s graceful reaction—delighted in watching Duncan grip at the side of his seat every time I wound around a corner or accelerated.
All day he said little, and with Rosie in the car, I was hesitant to discuss much of anything with him.
By the time we arrived at the hotel, the stress of the day finally caught up with Rosie and she was sound asleep by the time I placed the car in park.
“Lass?” Duncan’s voice was barely above a whisper as he tried not to wake Rosie.
“Yes.”
“Tell me what to do so I doona act a fool as soon as we step inside.”
Duncan was handling all of this better than most, but I could certainly understand his apprehension.
I reached out to squeeze his hand. “Don’t worry. Grace, and Eoghanan beat us here. She will most likely have our room keys by the time we get inside. Just don’t say anything and once we get up to our rooms, I’ll come over and show you how to work everything in your room.”
He nodded with a nervous gaze as I watched him look past me and up at the small chain hotel. While our brief time at McMillan had allowed him to see some of the small modern-day miracles, such as electricity, I sensed he knew that even more mind-blowing revelations awaited him inside.
Smiling at him, I moved my hand from his and reached behind me to wake Rosie but stopped as Duncan grabbed my arm.
The Curse of McMillan Castle - A Novella (A Scottish Time Travel Romance): Book 12.5 Page 7