Again Teige spoke, this time a little slower. “An labhraíonn tú Gaeilge?” “Shi…” He swallowed the curse. Connor had never become fluent with the language, at least not like Aislinn had been. Then it hit him what Teige was asking. “Do I speak Gaelic?” He searched for the words to answer him. “Labhraím beagán.”
Teige nodded. “Cad is ainm dhuit?”
“Connor is ainm dom.” God he hoped he had answered him correctly. He realized that he must have for the man that had the sword at his chest moved away.
“He is harmless,” Cormac spoke to Teige. “He doesn’t even have a weapon on him.”
Dermot wasn’t so sure and reached for the flashlight that was sticking out of Connor’s jacket. Connor stayed perfectly still not wanting to antagonize the men. “What do ye suppose this is?” Dermot turned the object around in his hand.
Connor understood the question and was good enough to answer, but he forgot to translate his offer. “It’s a flashlight. I’ll show you how it works.” He raised his hand for it but all three men misinterpreted the movement as a hostile intent, and pointed their swords at his chest. Connor tried again. This time, relaying what he wanted to do in the language they seemed to understand. He must have done all right for they lowered their weapons once more and Dermot handed him the flashlight. He turned it on. “See. Just an ordinary flashlight.” He shrugged thinking that this would put the men at ease, but instead they seemed to be frightened of it.
Dermot crossed himself and took a step back.
Connor turned off the flashlight as he watched the three men cloister together in discussion.
“What do ye make of it?” Teige looked at Cormac.
“I do not wish to know. We will take him to Lord Dougray. We cannot leave this man wandering around when we still need to see milord safely away.” Cormac looked back to Connor, addressing him, “Ye will come with us.” He motioned for him to move. At the moment, he had no other choice, especially since Cormac insisted on pointing his weapon at him.
Dougray had seen to the last-minute preparations and now waited for Cormac and the others to return. Miriam had made sure that they had plenty of food to take with them on the way back to Dunhaven and she waited to see him off.
“Thank ye, Dougray.” Her voice was rich with emotion.
He paused long enough to look at her with a smile. “I did nothing.” “I thank ye anyway.”
He nodded and placed his bedroll on the back of his mount. He looked up when he saw Teige enter the stable. He knew by his troubled gaze that something was amiss. He was shown immediately why that was for Connor was unceremoniously thrust in front of him.
Connor who had been dragged on foot for miles was not in good humor. So when he spotted the very man who had led him to this predicament, he didn’t hold back his aggressions. Before anyone could stop him, he lunged at Dougray throwing a punch to the man’s jaw. He flew back onto the ground. Connor would have continued his assault but Teige and Dermot pulled him back. This, however, did not stop the flow of words that poured from Connor’s mouth.
“Damn you, Fitzpatrick! I could kill you for what you have done.” Dougray slowly rose to his feet. “Dia Dhuit, Connor.”
Teige raised his brows wondering how Dougray knew this man. Miriam walked forward then. The young man was absolutely fuming with his rage. “Ye are Aislinn’s kin?” Without even asking she would have known that he was, for the resemblance was obvious.
“I’m her brother.” Connor’s expression softened once he saw that there was a woman present. Dougray nodded to his men to let go of his arms. “Pardon me, ma’am, but I would like to have a few words with Dougray and I would hate to offend you.” Then his eyes narrowed as it occurred to him that this woman must be with Dougray. He turned his glare back to him demanding answers.
Miriam glanced a worried look at her brother wondering if it would be safe to leave him alone with Connor. The man seemed just shy of murder.
“I think it would be best if I do speak to Connor alone.” He glanced at his men who obviously didn’t think it was a very good idea. “Everyone,” he emphasized.
“As ye wish, milord.” Cormac bowed slightly and slowly everyone departed.
“Aislinn is all right then?” Dougray held his breath.
“Yes, but no thanks to you. You left her out in the middle of nowhere to bleed to death.”
“I had no other choice, Connor. With the wound she received, she would have died here. I had to let her go. When the mist rolled in, I knew she would be taken back to her time. It was the only way she would have a chance.” Connor laughed though Dougray saw there was no humor in his eyes.
“You can’t hypnotize me like you did my sister. I know you’re running some insane occult here. I have no idea how you did it, but don’t even try to pull this crap on me.”
Dougray stared at him for a long moment before he carefully chose his next words, “Ye have stepped into another century, but ye need not take my word on the matter. Ye can see it for yerself.”
Connor hesitated licking his dry lips. “Agreed. Prove your claim, Fitzpatrick, and we will have something to talk about.”
“Do ye know how to ride?” He nodded to a horse that was still in the stall.
“I can.” Never had he thought those two words would be his undoing. The tour of Dublin was enough to make him aware that everything his sister had told him was absolutely true, and not only was time travel possible, he had managed the feat by simply falling asleep in a wall of unearthly mist. “I have been told that Ireland is a magical place, but this is carrying it a little too far.” They were already heading back to the stables when Dougray spoke, “Ye believe?”
“Either I do or I admit that I have totally lost my senses.” He shook his head. “I know with what my sister told me that going back and forth through time is unpredictable. I could be stuck here.”
“Aye, ye could. Connor, I do not mean to take lightly yer situation, but I have questions of my own.”
He sighed already knowing what he might ask. “A.J. was found and brought to the hospital. It was touch and go for awhile, but she pulled through.” He saw the way Dougray seemed to relax with this given news. Maybe he really did care for his sister after all, but then again he had found him with another woman.
“She is writing again?” Dougray inquired.
“She’s gone on with her life just like you apparently have done. How quickly you took in another woman. I thought you were supposed to have been married to my sister.”
“Woman? What woman?”
“The pretty blond in the stables. Did you think I didn’t notice her?” “Miriam?”
“Is that her name? I wasn’t properly introduced.” “Connor, Miriam is my sister.”
“Sister?” He opened his mouth only to close it again feeling slightly foolish. “Oh.”
Dougray slowed his mount to a stop, Connor following suit. “Please let me set ye straight, Connor, because I have the feeling that ye do not think my intentions toward Aislinn were honorable.” He was about to respond to that, but Dougray raised his hand to halt his retort. “I’m not finished. Ye must let me speak. I would do anything for yer sister for I am her husband for always.
I love her, Connor. Even now, when I know she has moved on with her life without a thought of what we have shared, I still love her.”
“Hey, what are you talking about? Moved on?”
“Didn’t ye say that she had? Anyway yer actions obviously speak for themselves. She must not have told ye how I felt about her or ye would not be here accusing me of not caring for her.”
“My sister is so besotted with you that she can’t seem to think straight. She’s back to work all right, but do you know what she wrote about? I’ll tell you what. She told your story, yours and hers. That was the only way she could go on living without you.”
“She misses me as much as I miss her then?”
“Miss? Good God, she has been a complete basket case without you and now
with the baby coming….”
“Baby?”
“You didn’t know? Of course you didn’t. She’s pregnant, Fitzpatrick. That’s one of the other reasons I was so pissed off at you.”
He didn’t hear another word after, She’s pregnant, Fitzpatrick. His gaze held Connor’s then. “Does she have someone to look after her?”
“Our parents. Hey, you don’t have to worry. She has people to help. She’s not alone.”
“That is good.” Aislinn was going to have his child and he wasn’t going to be there for her again. “What a bastard I am. I should be at her side.” “Exactly what I thought. Do you know how we can get back? I am all for it, by the way…getting back home that is,” he repeated when he saw that Dougray was not paying attention.
Dougray was trying to recall Neala’s words when he had visited her after he had let Aislinn go.
Ye are sad now but ye will have a visitor that will make ye happy once more. Ye need nah worry but go with him. Ye will know ye can trust him.
“Hello. Is anyone there?” Connor wasn’t sure if he had put the poor man into shock.
“I’m sorry. What were ye saying?”
“We should find a way back. May I assume you have taken care of your business here?” Dougray gave a nod and he continued. “Would you go to A.J. if you could?”
“Aye, that I would. Do ye have any suggestions?”
Connor nodded. “I suppose we could start by returning to where we have passed through before.”
“Wait out in the middle of no where? It is dangerous to be so vulnerable. Ye do realize that?”
“I will take my chances. Are you willing to do the same?”
“I have no qualms. I’ll make the arrangements.” He clicked his tongue to move his mount forward again.
Murrough wanted to believe his friend was doing the right thing, but he wasn’t so sure. He was in danger every moment that he continued to stay in Ireland, and now he wanted to take a chance on…. He couldn’t even say it for it was completely ludicrous to believe, but yet he knew that Aislinn could not have been of this time, and her brother was here to make that claim valid. “I will go with ye then.”
“Murrough, I cannot put ye in that position. If we manage to make it over, ye might be forced to go too. I will not have it. Besides, Rhiannon would be cursing me through time. Nay, ye’ll stay here. I will leave a flag in the hollowed portion of this tree. Ye will know then that I have made it. If in a month’s time I am unable to succeed, I will go to Rome as planned and send word where ye can reach me.”
“And the lad?” Murrough asked. “He will go with me.”
“Ye are sure about all this?”
“Murrough, would ye not do anything in yer power to find a way to Rhiannon?”
“That I would.” He sighed. “Ye have made yer point well enough. I will miss ye, my friend.”
“And I ye.” They held each other in an embrace, knowing they most likely would never see each other from this day forth.
“So you’re Declan.” Connor’s Gaelic was improving and he was able to carry on a conversation without thoroughly confusing everyone. “My sister, A.J., told me all about you.”
“She did?”
“Yep. She misses you.”
“She went away like my ma and da.” He looked so sad that Connor was afraid that he was going to cry. He knelt down beside the boy so that he was at eye level with him.
“A.J. hasn’t gone on to heaven. She’s still alive and waiting for us.” “She is?”
“Yeah. And boy, will she be happy when she sees your face.” He ruffled his blond hair. “So maybe you could give me a little smile.” The boy nodded and he turned up the sides of his mouth in an attempt at a grin. “Good enough.”
Dougray had remained silent as he listened to this little exchange. A thread of apprehension coursed through him. Connor looked up noticing that Fitzpatrick seemed worried and rose to speak to him.
Dougray studied the boy, who was busily writing his letters in the dirt and reciting them in English, just as Aislinn had taught him. “Ye should not encourage the lad so,” he told Connor. “He has had many disappointments, and I have no wish to add another one among them. We do not know if we will cross over. Ye cannot be making promises that ye may not be able to keep.” “We will return to the twenty-first century, Fitzpatrick. I know it. I feel it. Things happen for a reason, and I say that I was sent here to bring you back.” Dougray gave him a lopsided grin. “Ye make me believe that it is possible.
I pray ye are right.”
Chapter 81
“Where did he go?” Aislinn was still wondering why her parents were being so evasive.
“Honey, Connor didn’t exactly say.” Her father was pouring her a cup of tea. “Cream? We have flavored. Hazelnut, I believe.” He was already looking for it in the refrigerator.
“That’s fine, Pop.” She looked at her mother, who was busily adding more ingredients to her spaghetti sauce. “Okay, what’s going on?” Both parents turned at the same time to look at her. “I know you’re hiding something. Come clean. What is it?”
Francine nodded to Donagh and he turned to his daughter, with a deep sigh leaving his lips. “Why don’t ye sit down, lass?”
“I’ll stand.”
“Very well. Your brother took a little trip to Ireland.”
“Maybe I better sit.” She sat down resting her hands on her swelling abdomen. Her father placed the hot brew in front of her. She took a sip of the warm liquid before she met her father’s gaze. “So why the sudden interest in Ireland?”
“He’s looking for Dougray Fitzpatrick.”
Aislinn was silent for an uncomfortably long time as she absorbed this piece of information. Finally she spoke in a calm voice, but her heart was pounding faster than normal. “He won’t find him.” She had fought so hard to move on with her life. In less than eight weeks, she was going to give birth. She didn’t have the energy for this. It was too painful knowing that she would never see Dougray again, that he would never have the chance to hold their child in his arms. She shook her head. “Why? Why would he go?”
“He wanted to help you.” Francine went over to her daughter and cupped her face in her hands. “He loves you and wanted to see you happy again.” A tear fell down Aislinn’s cheek and her mother gently brushed it away before she gave her a hug. She rubbed the back of her head as she let her daughter shed her tears. “It will be all right.”
“I can’t do it,” came her mournful sob. “I need Connor, all of you, to let it go. He’s gone.”
“A.J., ye have to listen to us.” Her father’s voice rang through with authority. “We didn’t say anything before because we were not sure of what would become of it, but now we must tell ye something.” Aislinn pulled away from her mother and Donagh handed her a tissue. “I know we chose not to discuss what happened to ye. Forgive us for we thought it was for the best. Now we are not so sure. Are ye well enough, lass, to listen to our tale? Your mother’s and mine?” Aislinn nodded and her father sat down before beginning. “Your mother was able to pass through time as ye were.”
“I already figured that out. What were you doing in Ireland, Mom?” “Doing my thesis on how Native American spirituality closely represented Celtic beliefs. I had always been fascinated with the connection. My grandmother even encouraged it.”
“Did Nana have suspicion that you would stumble onto something more?” “Yes, and she didn’t warn me. She knew from a dream that I would bring back a warrior. Nana would have preferred a Cheyenne warrior, but she was satisfied with your father.” She gave him a half smile. “She told me that the Celts were of good blood, for they could travel as the Cheyenne.”
“Vision quests?”
“Maybe. I don’t completely understand it myself, but once we were back here, your father and I wanted to help others if we could. So we opened up our home to those that could pass through time.”
“After I knew what was going on, I had thought as muc
h.”
“Aye.” Her father nodded his head. “Our homeless were not just of here, but of other places.”
“All of them?”
“No.” Her mother patted her hand. “Some were simply just lost.”
“Okay, now back to you and Pop. You went to Ireland and passed through that mist.”
“Aye, she did.” Donagh decided to relate the story. “She came to me when I was but a youth, and at once, we fought to stay together. When the moment presented itself, we were able to pass through time where we ended up here. As ye, an old woman presented us with a message. She informed us that our children would have the gift and would be called upon to use it. We were warned not to prevent what must be for the time line relied on the fact. There are changes that would need to be corrected, and others that could not be and were to be left alone. That is why we had trained ye so thoroughly for we feared that if we didn’t, some peril would befall ye. As ye have seen for yerself, we live in a more civilized world now than in the year that I was born.
We would have never forgiven ourselves if something happened to ye or Connor. So we pushed until ye both knew how to protect yerself, as well as to how to communicate if ye were to go back in time. When the woman came to ye, we knew it would be ye. And once I saw Dougray Fitzpatrick, I sensed he was the one ye were supposed to save. Only I did not know to what extent yer relationship would flourish. I thought ye would have the chance, as yer mother and I had, to live a life together. It was cruel for ye to have to endure such a separation, but now I see that maybe that was not to be the case. Connor can pass through time, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just what I tell ye. We believe he has already accomplished the task. We checked with the hotel that he was staying at and he has been gone now for four days. His rental car was found abandoned.”
“Dear God. Why would you let him go?”
“We could not stop him. No matter what we said, he was determined to make the journey, and now we must wait and hope that he will be able to find his way back.”
Aislinn wanted to scream at her parents for keeping this horrible secret from them, but then she saw the anguish in their eyes. They were given this curse and were forced to bear it, as she would also have to do. She felt the child within her move, making her painfully aware of what might be passed on to her unborn baby. A flicker of apprehension swept through her; she knew without a doubt that she had the right to be afraid.
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