The voice sounded old and frightened, and I knew that whatever he asked of the creature next to me, he would not receive what he hoped for.
The stranger spoke, calling the man to approach him. “Come here, gardener, and I shall tell ye where ye can find yer wife.”
Me eyes slowly opened themselves to the darkness, and I could see the outline of the man approach the cell. I also saw the glint of metal as me captor pulled the knife from his boot. I charged him, jumping on top of his back as I brought me fist down on the top of his head with as much strength as I could.
The beast was too strong. While it caused him to shift his arm so that his blow to the man wasna fatal, the dirk still slipped easily into the old man’s side. I screamed loudly, hoping for anyone to hear me and come to me aide, for I knew that the dirk would be headed in me direction next.
Me captor was on me in an instant as he grabbed me throat with one hand and pinned both of me wrists above me head with the other. I could hear footsteps headed in our direction, but it dinna seem the choker could make out the sound. His face contorted with rage as he did his best to squeeze the life out of me.
He was succeeding. As me vision faded, I was unsure if it was truly Arran that I saw reach to grab the dagger out of the man’s side before charging through the open cell to send the dagger deep into me assailant’s neck.
He released his hold on me instantly, and I sank to me knees, desperate to catch a breath as the blood from the man’s neck continued to spray over me. I retched at the taste of his blood as it dripped into me mouth and I stepped away, no wishing to be near him as he took his last breath.
His eyes remained open, the same evil expression forever plastered on his face. Even in death, the beast beneath the man shown through.
It took me a moment to catch me breath and, by the time me head cleared, I could see Arran and a woman I’d never seen bent over the elderly man who gasped painfully at the knife wound in his side.
“Doona worry, lad. We shall get ye the care that ye need. Only hold on a moment more, and we shall find someone to tend to ye.”
I watched as the man reached out to grab Arran’s arm, preventing him from going for help. “Nay, lass. If ye leave here before the clan knows the truth, they shall murder ye on the spot. I am no long for this world, and I doona wish to be either. I see now that Tormod killed me wife before I even agreed to do as he asked. There is no place in this world for me if she is no here at me side.”
Arran shook his head, intent on helping the man. “Nay, lad. Ye shall live many years still.”
The woman to the other side shook her head interrupting him. “I’m verra sorry, but ye are wrong, sir. The old man is right. He has only a few moments left, and there is naught that we can do to help him.”
I dinna know the elder, but tears sprang up in me eyes. If he hadna arrived when he had, it would be me lying on the cell floor dead. This man had saved me life.
“Aye, I told ye, lad. I know that I am dying, and I doona wish for it to be any other way. At least help me to fix the wrong I’ve done to ye. Ye and yer lady must stay hidden until the people have heard what I have to say. Gara, will ye help me to me feet and let me lean against ye so that together we can address them? Once we have both spoken, ye will be free to live here, and I will die knowing that I dinna let the bastard win.”
I could see that Arran knew he wouldna change the old man’s mind. He rose from his knees, pulling the man up with him so that he could situate him on Gara’s shoulders. He helped them to the doorway. Sending them out on their own, he returned to me side.
“God, lass, I thought I had lost ye.”
“And I ye.” I threw meself into his arms, sobbing as he reached to wipe the blood from me face.
A sudden hush outside the dungeon, told us that our saviors now had the attention of the crowd. Hand in hand we moved to the doorway and hid in the shadows as we watched them inform the crowd of all Tormod’s evildoings.
The clansmen were no surprised and, once the truth was known, the crowd gathered in close around the gardener, no longer in anger but to comfort their friend as he took his last breaths.
Arran and I remained hidden in the shadows, leaving the village to grieve their friend and hero. Gara came to us as they led the old man away for burial. Relief etched her face, and I could tell then that she’d risked her own life for us as well, no knowing if she would come out of it alive.
“Thank ye, Gara. We owe ye a debt that we can never repay.” Arran clasped the woman’s shoulder, unsure of how to express his gratitude.
“Ye owe me nothing. I am more fortunate than I thought possible. Me conscience is now clear of the wrong I did ye, and I will return to me children when I dinna believe I would ever be able to do so. If ye follow this pathway through the dungeon, it will lead ye back into the castle where ye can clean yerselves and rest away from everyone. Now, excuse me, I have bairns that I need to gather in me arms.”
Once she was gone, we silently made our way through the dungeons, no stopping until we were inside the castle. We knew that we wouldna sleep at all. We were both eager to await the sun, for it was the only way this day would truly feel over.
Chapter 45
“Are ye sure that ye are fine with this, Arran? For if this is something that ye want, I will stand by yer side. I know that there are many dark memories in this place, but I believe that we could make new ones here.” I walked up behind him as he finished penning his letter detailing to his clansmen why he was to step down as laird.
“Aye, lass, I doona doubt that we could, but I doona wish to. This is no our home, and these people are no our people.”
“They did accept you at first, did they no?”
He twisted in his seat wrapping his arms around me as he buried his head in me breasts. “Aye, lass, they did, but they turned on me rather quickly, as well. I dinna wish to be laird to begin with. I rushed into it foolhardily because I believed that I was helping another. If only I could have seen all the trouble that decision would cause us.”
I kissed the top of his head. “There is no sense in thinking that way. No one can know just where their decisions will take them. All we can do now is make the best of our future.”
“Is this decision pleasing to ye as well, lass? I wish to please ye and, if ye wish to stay, I shall.”
I shook me head, unable to repress the shiver that traveled through me at the thought. He squeezed me tightly in understanding. “Nay, I doona wish to stay. I wish to return to Conall Castle to live in the happy chaos with yer brother, Mary, Bri, and Adelle. And then, when it is time that me father can no longer serve as laird, ye can replace him. But for now, let us live more simply, with no the responsibilities and troubles that come with a lairdship.”
Arran stood, sealing his letter and slipping it away to give to Gara. She would be sure to share it with the clan, who in time would find a laird from within their own group of men.
The people wouldna be surprised to learn of our decision to leave. Few would approach us still, their guilt of their accusations toward us making them hesitant to speak.
“Ach, lass, ye are a mindreader I’m sure, for there is nothing that I wish to do more than all that ye have just said. Come, let us leave this place.”
* * *
Arran was no deserving of the blessings given to him, of nothing he’d ever been more certain. Many men better than he were more deserving of Blaire and her love, but he would gladly spend the rest of his life trying to make himself worthy of her.
She’d healed him from a broken spirit, forgiven him of his wrongs again and again, and shown him the value that comes with finding someone with whom to share all of life’s struggles.
He leaned forward to smell her hair as she rode before him, and he shifted uncomfortably atop the horse at the feeling she immediately evoked in him. ’Twas stunning to him how even looking at her could make him hard and ready to take her. He couldn’t wait to fill her with his children. As soon as they
returned to Conall Castle, he planned to immediately begin work on that task.
Or mayhap, even better, he would begin tonight as they stopped at the McMillans to rest on their journey home.
* * *
We took the long route back to Conall Castle and, much to me dismay, Arran had insisted that we stop at the McMillans on our way home. Baodan was Arran’s favorite cousin, and he’d no had the chance to make peace with him the night Baodan had found us together in the garden.
’Twas no Baodan I worried about seeing, but I knew that his mother wouldna want to welcome me with open arms. ’Twas a happy coincidence to find that she was away when we arrived. It allowed us to spend a happy evening with Baodan and his brothers, all of whom I was certain would become dear friends.
The next morning we set off early, determined to make it back to Conall Castle within two more nights. I’d settled comfortably in me seat in front of Arran, nearly falling asleep as I leaned back against his shoulder, when an odd flash of red caught me attention out of the corner of me eye.
I sat up so quickly, my heels unintentionally went hard into the side of the horse, and Arran had to pull hard at the reins to get him back under control. “What is it, lass? Ye nearly scared the poor beast to death.”
“Did ye no see that woman, Arran? In the pond?”
Arran pulled back so that the horse came to a stop, and he twisted to look back on the pond that sat just at the edge of McMillan Castle. “Nay, lass, I doona see anyone. Ye saw a woman, ye say? Perhaps, someone is only taking a dip. Twould be a nice morning for it, would ye no agree?”
I shook me head, the notion was mad. “Never mind. I must have dozed for a moment and dreamed something strange.”
Arran slowly nudged the horse forward once more. “Nay, lass. Ye werena asleep, I can always tell by yer breathing when ye are. Tell me. Who did ye think ye saw?”
“’Tisna possible, but the woman looked just like a lass I met in the twenty-first century. A dear friend of Bri’s.”
“Aye? Well I will tell ye, that does sound mighty strange, but tis no so impossible either.”
He was kind enough nay to call me mad, but I wasna eager to discuss it with him further. “Aye, ’tis strange. Doona mind me, I am only over-tired.” I nudged him playfully in the ribs. “I canna ever sleep, the way ye keep me up at night.”
He laughed into me ear, and I smiled, the imaginary figure quickly disappearing from me mind. “Ach, lass. I willna apologize for keeping ye awake, and ye may as well get used to it for I plan to fill yer nights with things other than sleep for all of our nights together.”
“Oh, I truly hope so, love.”
He kissed the back of me head and tightened his grip around me as we rode toward Conall Castle—to our home, where we would finally be able to build a future together.
Epilogue
The Roadside Inn
Present Day
“Jerry, ’tis time for us to make ready once more.” Morna stood, stretching after her dream as she smiled wide. It would be fun to tweak her spells, and necessary if the new lass was to cross paths with the one she was meant to.
“O’course, love. What have ye seen?”
“We need to make our home visible once more, but it shall be different from the times before. The redhead is headed our way.” She smiled, knowing Jerry would be pleased. He loved company, and he’d taken a liking to the fiery lass who’d come so valiantly in search of her friend.
“Ah, ’tis verra good news, but why should this be different? Do ye no think that the lass will stumble across the spell on her own? Bri and Blaire managed quite nicely.”
Morna shook her head. It was unlike any dream she’d had before, but she was certain as to its meaning. “Nay, ’tis no that. The lass will find the spell, but she canna use the same one that’s been used before. For while me spell room shall be her portal, it doesna need to be her destination.”
“How do ye know?”
“Because one of our lassies has already caught sight of the lass elsewhere, even before she’s actually arrived. It seems that a force more powerful than meself sees fit to warn the Conalls of the girl’s arrival.”
A Conall Christmas – A Novella
Chapter 1
Conall Castle, Scotland
December 1646
There’s nothing quite like the soft thump against your palm as you press it against the swollen belly of pregnancy, allowing the small infant tucked safely away in its mother’s womb to kick at the inside of your hand. The surreal experience filled me with joy as I pressed my hands flush against my daughter’s stomach, smiling widely as tears brimmed against my eyes. I’d felt the child’s movement more than once, but it didn’t matter. I seemed to have the same reaction every time. My baby’s baby had completely captured my heart, even if it would still be weeks before I would know she could be safely delivered without the conveniences of technology and medicine from our own time.
“All right, Mom. I’m going to step away from you now. You simply cannot keep your hands glued to my stomach every moment of every day.”
I smiled as Bri stepped away, grabbing the end of the blanket as she tossed the other end in my direction, signaling at me to help fold it. “Oh, but I wish that I could. I think the babe moves even more than you did, dear, and you were quite active.”
“Really? Well, I sincerely apologize. I’m beginning to feel miserable.”
As if to emphasize her point, she collapsed onto her freshly made bed and threw her hands up over her head as far as her dress would allow. I kicked off my own shoes, hiking up my dress as I sat crisscrossed on the end, pulling her feet into my lap and removing her shoes so I could massage her swollen and, what were most-assuredly sore, feet.
She sighed as I rubbed her, wiggling her toes as I squeezed them, and I suddenly saw her for the little girl she’d once been. She was more than ready and capable of taking care of a child, but I found it hard to believe that she’d grown so quickly, not to mention that I was old enough to be a grandmother.
I continued to knead the arches of her feet and heels until she drifted. Once she snored lightly, I carefully lifted her legs so that I could scoot out from under them and crawled off the bed as gently as I could. I walked to the fireplace, poking the wood until the flame took a firm root over the logs once more. I curled into a small wooden chair that sat before it as I gazed into the flames before glancing about the room.
Every inch of the castle oozed magic. It could be sensed in the air. As I sat with the fire warming my shoeless toes, I could almost feel Morna’s eyes watching over us across the centuries.
No surprise really, I imagined it only made sense that magic be palpable throughout the castle. It had, after all, brought Bri and me both to live in this place and century when we’d been born hundreds of years in the future.
Before I traveled into the past, I’d been an archaeologist who specialized in Celtic finds and history. The Conall Clan was my specialty, the last twenty plus years of my life spent trying to find and solve the mystery behind who’d murdered them in December of 1645.
My continuing efforts to solve this mystery brought me and my daughter to the ruins of Conall Castle only one year ago, in the year 2013. I’d pestered her until she’d agreed to accompany me, not knowing that a spell cast by a beloved Conall ancestor, Morna, would rip her from our time and bring her into the past to live with the Conalls right before the devastating massacre.
Thankfully, Bri was meant to be here. Not only did she help them change the course of history by stopping the massacre, but she also fell in love with the man of her dreams, Conall Castle’s new laird, Eoin. I’d been unwilling to be separated from my daughter, no matter how happy for her I was, and so when Bri decided to stay in this time, I used Morna’s spell to travel back myself.
The thrill of an archaeologist’s life is to be living with the very people she’s devoted so much of her life to learn about. I now lived in a dream that was only slowly becoming reality.
And, on top of it all, I would soon become a grandma.
I was as happy as I’d ever been with only one lingering thought keeping me from overwhelming happiness. I’d always been social, I liked to date, I liked to flirt. While it had become more difficult to find a date with someone my age even in my present day time, I was certain that in the seventeenth century, men considered me hopelessly over-the-hill with one foot deep into the grave.
I would most likely spend the rest of my days alone. Something I’d realized shortly after arriving in this time, but a fact of life that took me a bit longer to accept than I had hoped.
No matter. I had much to be thankful for. Christmas time, my favorite time of the year, had arrived. I was anxious to discuss preparations for the holiday with Bri. So when I saw her stir, I stood from my place by the fire and went to stand by her side.
* * *
“What?” I knew the pitch of my voice went too high, almost squeaky, but if that old bat thought she could stifle our Christmas she had another think coming.
“Mom, is it really that big of a deal? We didn’t even notice it last year.”
The hormones were messing with her head. Bri loved Christmas as much I did. I couldn’t imagine how she seemed to be so fine with skipping Christmas. “Yes, it’s that big of a deal! Of course you didn’t notice it last year. You were all too busy trying to stop the attack on the castle. What’s Mary’s problem with Christmas?”
I didn’t miss Bri’s eyes roll before she answered my question. “She likes Christmas very much. She loves cooking, you know that. It’s only that after Eoin’s mother passed away, Christmas became less of an event as the years went on. Not to mention, it’s been outlawed in Scotland for the last four decades.”
My eyes mimicked my daughter’s roll. “Darling, you know as well as I do that Christmas continued to be celebrated, just a little more quietly. Besides, who is there to enforce it when your husband is laird?”
Morna's Legacy: Box Set #1 Page 41