Morna's Legacy: Box Set #1

by Bethany Claire

  I spun slowly, my brows knitted together in confusion. “Assistance? I wasn’t aware that I needed any.” The words came out a little sharp, but I really felt that second drink and the little filter I had left the building.

  The she/he, I wasn’t sure how to think of him, reared back with wide eyes. “Oh, what a feisty thing you are, but yes, you do need assistance. You are far too gorgeous for me to let you go back out there like that. You have the darkest circles under your eyes, you look as if you haven’t slept in days.”

  I remained facing the same direction but cast a sideways glance into the mirror. Although I hadn’t noticed it before, deep, dark circles shaded the skin beneath my eyes. Not that it was any wonder, I suffered from sleep deprivation. “I’m afraid you’re right, but there’s not much I can do about it. My makeup is in my checked bag.”

  She/he smiled wide and reached down to grab a bag sitting next to the rolling carry-on. “Not to worry, sugar, I’ve got just the thing.”

  Before I could protest, the stranger unwrapped a fresh sponge and slathered violet-colored cream underneath my eyes. I glanced down to see a boarding pass hanging out of the bag. I smiled, my suspicion completely confirmed. “Umm…Tom, I appreciate your help, but can I ask you what you’re doing in the women’s restroom?”

  His hand froze on my face, and he instantly lost the female voice and Texas accent as he grinned guiltily. “Dammit. I should’ve zipped that up. Okay, don’t freak out, I’m not some weirdo. I’m an actor on my way to L.A. to audition for a movie. I have to go straight from the plane to the audition so I had to go ahead and get in character. I couldn’t very well go into the men’s restroom looking like this. There. See?” He stepped away so that I could turn to examine his work.

  I looked much better, certainly more awake and sober than I felt. “Thank you. I don’t easily freak out.” What was I saying? I definitely did freak out easily, but I felt especially chill. “Let me guess, the part you’re auditioning for…drag queen?”

  He laughed hard, and the deep voice sounded extremely odd coming from the female-ish face. “One would think, but no actually. Well, not exactly. Think Mrs. Doubtfire, except more cops and less children, and..” he hesitated and reached up to scratch his head. “Actually, it’s nothing like that.”

  I grinned and laughed. “Alright, well that sounds just great. I do look much better. I appreciate it. Let me return the favor.” Before he could respond, I turned to grab another paper towel, wetting it beneath the running faucet. Wringing it out, I reached up to dab it over his cheeks, rinsing away some of the excess blush. “Don’t take offense, but it seems that you’re much better at doing someone else’s make-up than your own.”

  “None taken. All this is new to me. All you needed was a little light under your eyes which was simple. This…” he circled his face with his fingers. “This is a little harder for me to deal with.”

  Satisfied, I pulled away and chunked the paper towel into the trash can. I glanced at my watch and quickly reached down to grab my bag. “Oh gracious, I’ve got to go. Almost time to board. Thanks again for your help, and good luck at your audition.”

  “My pleasure. Try and get some sleep on the plane. You seem to be in need of it.” He surprised me by reaching behind me before I could leave, quickly grabbing the clip that held my hair into a messy bun at the base of my neck. His eyes widened as my long, red curls cascaded over my shoulders and down my back.

  “That’s better. Why the hell would you pin all that up?”

  I reached up fluffing the hair into place as I tucked it behind my ears. “It’s easier that way. I’m traveling, who’s going to see it?”

  He shook his head in disbelief. “Everybody in the airport is going to notice you, sweetie, whether your hair is pulled up or not. Besides, that is some killer hair. I wish I’d been able to find a wig like that.” With that, he turned and left me in the bathroom.

  After taking a second to laugh at the odd occurrence, I snatched up my bag and made haste to my gate. When I got there, they were already lining up to board. I was in the first group and, taking my place in the back of the line, I waited my turn for my ticket to be scanned. Smiling at the attendant as she tore my pass, I stepped out onto the walkway leading to the plane.

  Amazing, the difference a few hours could make. This morning things seemed bleak, but now I felt more excited than I’d been in ages. This trip could be great and, for the first time in the five years since I’d met Brian, I was finally free.

  Chapter 4

  McMillan Castle, Scotland

  1667

  He should still been sleeping. A long journey lay ahead of him once he left with his mother for Cameron Castle, but he wanted to speak with Eoghanan alone before his mother woke.

  Eoghanan would be awake. He wasn’t sure if his mysterious brother ever slept. He would be in his room, writing away by candlelight in his journals. What he wrote, Baodan was sure he would never know. Not that he cared. It took all his strength just to remain civil around him.

  As expected, Baodan found his brother hunched over his writing desk, scribbling away, his shoulders stiff and uncomfortable looking. He didn’t look up as Baodan entered. Instead of announcing his presence, Baodan walked across the room, only stopping once he stood next to his brother’s desk. He glanced down at the secretive pages, but Eoghanan yanked them away, breaking his rigid stance by standing abruptly.

  “These are not for ye to look at. If I wished ye to see them, I would have addressed them to ye, aye?” Eoghanan’s eyes green, gold, and cat-like challenged him as he widened his stance. His unruly red hair, like dancing flames atop his head.

  Baodan stepped away, not wishing things to escalate. He only wanted to find out the truth behind their mother’s desire to leave, not to re-hash ill feelings. “I’m sorry, I dinna come here to spy on ye. I only wished to speak to ye before leaving.”

  Eoghanan looked suspicious. Baodan knew he’d given him more than enough reason to be. He’d spent every year since his wife’s death trying to avoid speaking with his brother about anything.

  “Why? Ye doona ever wish to speak to me.”

  Baodan reached up to run both hands through his hair and over his face. Eoghanan had once been his closest friend in the world. It seemed odd to him that he should feel so uncomfortable speaking to him now. “’Tis about Mother. I need to know why ye have convinced her to leave. Whether Aunt Nairne wishes to see her or no, Mother wouldna have come to the decision to leave on her own. I canna figure out why ye see the need for her to leave here. Do ye no wish to help care for her? No even while she is ill?”

  “Aye, o’ course I wish to care for her. Can ye no see ’tis for that reason that I insist she leave? I doona care what ye think of me. I love her just as much as ye do.”

  Why did he feel the need to be so vague? Baodan had no reason to assume that the change would be in their mother’s best interest. “No, I canna see that her illness would be a reason for ye to make her leave here. I doona doubt that ye care for her, but ye are no telling the truth of what ye mean by all of this.”

  “No, and I willna tell ye all there is to it either. ’Tis no me place to do so. No yet.”

  Baodan moved across the room so that Eoghanan would not see his frustration, but the tone of his voice gave it away. “Is that so? I doona believe it was yer place to allow me wife to die, but ye did so any way. Why worry about what is and isna yer place now?”

  In a rare show of anger his brother charged him, slamming him up against the wall.

  “Ye are an ignorant fool. Do ye think that speaking to me in such a way will make me inclined to tell ye why Mother must leave? I willna tell ye anything of it for ye wouldna hear me even if I did. Ye have closed yerself off to me, and ye have punished me long enough. She has been gone for over seven years, Baodan. Do ye truly believe that I wouldna have helped her if I’d been able?”

  Baodan could hardly speak as shock coursed through him. Eoghanan released him and stepped away
shaking, pain evident in his voice and his eyes watery with anguish. Baodan moved away from the wall, eager to leave.

  Eoghanan brought out the worst in him. He hated the person he’d become around his youngest brother. The very reason he spent so much time avoiding him.

  “I’ll bid ye goodbye now, brother. I only wished to learn why she must leave, but I can see that I willna gain the information from ye. I canna believe ye have coerced Mother into doing this. She’s so ill she can hardly lift spoon to mouth. We will be lucky if she survives the trip.”

  Baodan moved toward the door, only stopping at the sound of his brother’s voice, soft, small, and so different from how he sounded a moment before. A voice filled with warning rather than anger.

  “She willna only survive the trip, she shall thrive from it. Just wait and see how her health improves once she is away from this castle. Then perhaps ye will see that I wasna wrong to persuade her to leave.”

  Baodan left quickly, more frustrated than he’d been before entering his brother’s room. Why had his life become a series of riddles in which everyone around him seemed to know the answers, save him? Something hid from him. If he could get through the next few days without any more surprises, he intended to devote his every effort to finding out what that was.

  * * *

  He wished to make one more stop before he left to prepare the horses. If his mother still rested when all was ready, he would wait until she elected to leave. She would need all the strength she could muster for the several days trip. He would not be the one to disturb her.

  Baodan rounded the corner and knocked on Niall’s bedchamber door. Niall wouldn’t be awake like Eoghanan, and Baodan found himself hesitant to enter his brother’s room unannounced. Quite likely there would be a lass with him, and Baodan would rather not embarrass the girl unlucky enough to be in his bed.

  Niall was a charmer, but Baodan knew him, and he knew what a liar he was as well. Each woman that shared his chamber entered due to his exclamations of love and promises. In exchange for a night in his arms, each lass would find herself heartbroken and quickly forgotten in turn.

  When no response came, Baodan rapped his fist against the doorway louder, stepping away as he heard his brother’s grumbling voice through the doorway.

  “What the hell do ye want? Can ye no see that the sun is still no up? I doona rise until it does.”

  Baodan stared at the door, annoyed. Everyone in the castle knew the sun to be near midday before Niall chose to rise from his bed. When the door finally swung open, Niall stood before him nude, his hair sticking up messily as his black eyes stared up at Baodan. He expected Niall’s grumpy reaction and stared down at his brother who stood a great deal shorter than him, waiting his response.

  “Would ye like to have yer nose knocked up into yer skull, brother? I have company and was having the sweetest dreams.”

  Baodan shook his head, not the least bit surprised. “Ye shouldna treat women so. They are no created for ye to enjoy and toss aside.”

  Niall laughed, and Baodan reached around his brother to close the bedchamber door so that the lass sleeping in the bed would not hear their conversation.

  “Ye are a fool if ye truly believe that, Baodan. ’Tis the only reason they exist as far as I’m concerned.”

  Baodan chuckled once, throwing his hands up in surrender. “Then I suppose I am a fool, for I doona agree with ye. ’Tis a twisted way to look at any lass, but I know there are many men who think as ye do so I willna fault ye for it. I only wish that ye wouldna tease them so with yer sweet words and false promises.”

  “I doona wish to be with the lasses who wouldna care if I made me true feelings known. They doona care for themselves like lassies truly looking for love. Now,” Niall crossed his arms, clearly not pleased with being lectured, “did ye come here to make me feel guilty or did ye have something different that ye wished to say to me?”

  “Aye, I wished to see if ye know why Eoghanan would want Mother to leave here. I canna see any sense to it. I thought perhaps ye might be able to help me see a reason for this.” The look on Niall’s face made him regret his decision to speak to him. Niall’s relationship with their mother had always been strained.

  “No, I doona know what to tell ye for I doona know and I doona care. I shall no be sad to see her go.”

  Baodan’s jaw tightened at Niall’s words. “Ye should be ashamed of yerself for saying such a thing.”

  “Why? She doesna like me, and she makes it clear.”

  The look of disgust on Niall’s face made Baodan’s fists clench together in anger. He turned away, knowing his temper was about to flare. He didn’t look back as he walked away, only speaking loudly so that Niall could hear him. “Perhaps ’tis the way ye treat women and the way ye lie to everyone around ye that makes her no so fond of ye. I canna say I like ye much meself at the moment. Watch over the keep while I am away.”

  Fuming, Baodan exited the castle’s main entrance as fast as he could. He shuddered at the thought of Niall’s thoughtless words. It made him wonder just how good of a man he could be when both his brothers were the worst sort of men.

  Chapter 5

  On The Plane To Scotland

  Present Day

  I was drooling. So much for looking attractive. With my head slumped against the window of the plane and cold drool dribbling out the side my mouth, attractive was the last word anyone would use to describe me. I fell asleep just as soon as I settled into my seat, and as the unpleasant tickle woke me, I realized I wasn’t sure if we were in the air yet.

  Eyes still closed, I raised my head off the side of the window and ran the back of my hand over my chin and mouth. With no turbulence or movement as far as I could tell, I assumed that we’d yet to take off. Planning on resuming my slumber within seconds, I reluctantly opened my eyes and slid the plastic cover on the window up just slightly so that I could peek outside.

  Sure enough, I saw tarmac rather than sky, and it was clear there had been some sort of delay. I groaned and started to close the window when a familiar voice to my left caused my hand to freeze on the shade.

  “Hey there, sleepy. I almost woke you, but you looked like you really needed some shuteye. I couldn’t believe it when I got to my seat and saw you sitting there. What’s it been, Mits, five years? Surely we will take off soon. We’ve been sitting here for over an hour.”

  I didn’t turn, didn’t even respond as I sat there pinching my eyes closed while facing the window of the plane. I quickly tried to think back to the restaurant. Had I really only drank two margaritas? The incident in the bathroom had been weird enough, but this? This was just too much. The chances of this happening were so small, I sincerely couldn’t believe it was really Jep’s voice I heard behind me.

  “Mits? Are you okay?”

  If only I didn’t need to pee so badly, perhaps I could simply lay my head down and feign sleep for the duration of the flight. Unfortunately, I did have to go to the bathroom. I’d gone into the restroom inside the airport and never ended up inside a stall. Besides, it might have been five years since I’d seen him, but I still knew Jep well enough to know that he wouldn’t let me deplane without speaking to him. And why would he? He’d been my best friend, and I his, for over twelve years.

  We’d been childhood friends and then young lovers, and he’d smashed my heart into a gazillion pieces.

  Knowing I couldn’t face this direction forever and, with the length in between us speaking growing awkwardly long, I swallowed the lump that formed in the middle of my chest at hearing his voice and faced him.

  I smiled as I looked him over, hoping he would be unable to see every thought that ran through my mind. He’d changed. His previously dirty blonde hair was darker, and his brown eyes were tired, less hopeful than they’d once been. Small bags pouched his eyes, the kind that men get as they grow older, but he was too young to have them already. He seemed to have aged too quickly in the few short years since I’d seen him last.

&nb
sp; I glanced down at his left hand to find he was still married. If his marriage even remotely resembled what mine had been, it went a long way toward explaining why he looked so much older.

  If he was a stranger and I was meeting him for the first time, I don’t think I would have found him overly attractive, but he wasn’t a stranger and, despite the changes in him, I found him just as handsome as always.

  I swallowed once more and said a silent prayer in the hopes that my voice wouldn’t come out shaky and weird. “Jep! I’ve never been so surprised to see anyone. Why are you going to Scotland?”

  He smiled back and reached across the armrest to pull me toward him. “Business. Now come here. It’s been too long since I’ve held you in my arms.”

  He wrapped his arms around me and held me close, but I immediately felt uncomfortable. What an odd thing for him to say. A sentiment I spent a lot of my time thinking, but never one that I expected him to return. While I found myself thinking of him often, I knew there was no reason for me to ever cross his mind.

  He could sense how rigid I became in his embrace and released it quickly, pulling one half of his mouth up into a quirky grin while glancing down at the floor. “I’m sorry. That was weird of me to say. It’s just…”

  A ding above us interrupted his apology as the captain came over the speakers to tell us that the problem had been fixed and we would be cleared for takeoff shortly. Once the plane started moving, I would be unable to go to the bathroom until after we were in the air a good ways. I couldn’t wait that long.

  Unbuckling, I stood to make my way to the lavatory. “Sorry, I’ll be right back. I’ve got to go before the plane takes off.”

  He nodded and I made my exit, taking a deep breath for the first time since I’d heard his voice. I couldn’t imagine what he would say, but I was sure I didn’t want to hear it. Any re-hashing of memories would only make me ache, and I’d just set my mind to being much more positive only an hour ago.