by Katy Baker
The look on her face said she didn’t believe a word of it. “How did you get here?” she asked. “When I saw you in the square I thought I’d finally lost my mind.”
“Lady Gretchen told me what she said to ye. After that, I knew where ye’d gone and followed ye. I wager ye canna guess who was waiting for me at the chapel? A certain mutual acquaintance?”
“Let me guess: Irene MacAskill?”
“The very same. She told me the truth of yer origins and gave me the opportunity to come after ye although from the looks of things several days have passed for ye.”
Lucy watched him with in unreadable expression on her face. The only sound in the room was the hum of the medical contraptions.
“Why?” she said at last. “Why did you come after me?”
“Isnae that obvious?” he said, staring into her eyes. “I came because I love ye. I thought I was doing the right thing by pushing ye away. Ewan helped me see sense.” He squeezed her hand. “I was a fool and I beg yer forgiveness.”
He waited, unblinking, heart hammering, for her response. If she rejected him again he didn’t know what he would do.
“Of course I forgive you,” Lucy whispered, a single tear rolling down her cheek. “I was so pissed at you I never wanted to see you again. But when I saw that car hit you, when the medics worked on you in the street, when they brought you here unconscious—oh God, Andrew, I thought I was going to lose you.” She gulped in air and wiped a hand across her eyes. “I can’t lose you, Andrew. I love you too much.”
They were the words he’d been waiting to hear and they lifted his heart like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. He gripped her hand in both of his, ignoring the pain that shot through his body.
“Then marry me,” he said, staring deep into her eyes. “Lucy Jennings, will ye consent to be my wife?”
LUCY STARED AT ANDREW. Her brain struggled to compute what she’d just heard. Andrew wanted to marry her?
I can't, the thought flashed through her mind like quicksilver. I promised myself I would never marry. I learned my lesson. Didn't I?
But her resolve suddenly seemed ridiculous. She’d been so terrified when Andrew had been rushed to hospital. For the first time in her life, she knew how it felt to be mortally afraid. She couldn’t lose Andrew. She just couldn’t. And now he was asking her to marry him, asking her to stay with him for all time. Wasn’t this what she wanted?
But it wasn't that simple.
"What about your clan?" she asked. "Your people? You belong in the sixteenth century. I belong here. We’re from different worlds."
"None of that matters, lass," he answered. She saw a range of emotions flash in his eyes. "The clan will move on and thrive without me. I canna go back there, Lucy, not without ye. Ye are my life and I will stay here with ye."
She could see how much it cost him to say that. A swell of love rose inside her so strong it stole her breath. How could she refuse him?
"Yes," she said. "Of course I'll marry you.”
She leaned forward and kissed him. He returned the kiss and heat rushed through her body. She broke off, a little breathless.
“I’m not sure the doctors would condone me doing that,” she whispered. “You need to rest and heal.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “Kissing ye is the best way for me to heal, lass. So how about some more of it?”
“You are incorrigible, you know that?”
He grinned at her. “I try.”
A bell rang to indicate that visiting hours were over. Lucy rose and slung her purse over her shoulder.
“Do ye have to go?” Andrew asked.
“Sorry. Doctor’s orders. I’ll be back tomorrow and hopefully you can come home. You’ll come and stay with my aunt and uncle. I hope they approve of you.”
A look of worry crossed his face. "Do ye think they willnae? Mayhap I should have a word with yer uncle man to man. If I explain my intentions are entirely honorable—"
"I'm kidding! They’ll love you. I know it.”
She leaned down, gave him a lingering kiss on the lips, and then reluctantly made her way to the door. At the threshold, she paused and looked back at her husband-to-be. She could hardly believe it.
“Hurry back tomorrow, lass,” he said. His voice was a little slurred. She knew he was in more pain than he let on and that he needed his rest.
“Until tomorrow,” she replied.
It would be a long wait until then.
AS IT TURNED OUT, THE doctors didn’t want to discharge Andrew the next day, as they were still concerned about his concussion and broken ribs. However, it also turned out, that Andrew Harris was a terrible patient. When Lucy arrived at the hospital, she found Andrew out of bed, facing down a couple of orderlies who were trying to stop him leaving the room. The drip had been ripped from his arm and blood slowly dribbled down his wrist.
“Lucy!” Andrew said when she walked in the door. “Tell these two knaves to get out of my way! I dinna want to cause them injury!”
Lucy quickly darted in front of the orderlies and placed her hands on Andrew’s chest.
“Calm down! They’re trying to help you. Get back into bed whilst I try and sort this out!”
His jaw set in that stubborn way of his but before he could refuse she snapped, “Andrew Harris! Do as you’re told for once in your life!”
His eyes flicked from Lucy to the orderlies and back again. He ground his teeth. Then he walked back to his bed and climbed in, crossing his arms over his chest and grumbling under his breath.
“Sorry about that,” Lucy said to the orderlies. She lowered her voice so Andrew wouldn’t hear. “He has a fear of hospitals. Makes him act irrationally. Would you let the doctors know I’m here? I think it would be better for all concerned if we can arrange for him to be discharged today.”
After Lucy promised to make Andrew take it easy for the next few days, they agreed he could leave and Lucy helped him to the parking lot where she’d left Uncle Nathan’s car.
It took less than half an hour to get home. Andrew stared wide-eyed at each new revelation and asked so many questions it made Lucy's head spin. The coffee machine fascinated him when they stopped for takeaway cappuccinos, scandalized by a pair of joggers who ran by wearing next to nothing, and delighted when she played him some music on the car stereo.
As they turned into her road, Lucy found her stomach churning with nerves.
"What is it, love?" Andrew asked. "Ye've gone as pale as milk. I thought ye said yer kin would like me."
"It's not that. I'm just wondering what to tell them. How am I going to explain who you are and that we’re engaged? As far as they're concerned I was only away for three weeks. Don’t you think this will seem a little sudden? And how am I going to explain your injuries?"
"Tell them the truth, love. It's the only way. Lies will only lead to heartache."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "The truth? ‘Here's my fiancé. He's a sixteenth century Scotsman who I've been dating for months. He got hit by a car saving my life and he’s coming to stay whilst he recovers?’"
"Aye. Why not?"
"Because they'll think I'm crazy!"
"So ye'll just have to convince them won't ye?"
Lucy sighed. Andrew was right. It was time to come clean. She nodded, sucked in a deep breath and led Andrew up to the front door. She pulled it open and then paused. Voices came from inside. She could hear her aunt and uncle speaking but there was another voice as well. One she recognized. The hair rose on the back of her neck.
She pushed open the kitchen door and three people looked up: Uncle Nathan, Aunt Helen—and Irene MacAskill.
"There ye both are!" the old woman exclaimed. "Right on time. I was just telling Helen and Nathan ye'd be back before long."
Lucy's heart skipped a beat. She glanced from Irene MacAskill to her aunt and uncle. Helen was watching her with a look in her eyes that was half amazement, half dismay. Uncle Nathan's expression was all dismay, with a little bit of
shock mixed in. He looked as though he'd been poleaxed.
"What are you doing here?" Lucy demanded of Irene. "What have you done?"
Andrew stepped in front of Lucy and glowered at the old woman. "If ye are here to cause harm, woman, ye will have me to deal with!"
Irene MacAskill raised an eyebrow. "Why would ye assume I mean trouble? Havenae I done everything I can to aid ye both? Why would ye assume I would do differently now?"
Lucy licked her lips. "Aunt Helen? Uncle Nathan? Are you all right?"
Aunt Helen blinked then slowly nodded. "We are fine, dear. Just a bit...startled. Irene here has told us the most amazing tale—"
"Amazing?" Uncle Nathan cut in. "Insane is more like it. I would have thought she was addled in the brain if I hadn't seen with my own eyes."
"Own eyes?" Lucy asked. "What do you mean?"
"Um...I....we...." Aunt Helen stammered. Then she pulled in a deep breath and gathered herself. "Irene told us where you've really been for the last three weeks.”
"And we wouldn't have believed a word of it," Uncle Nathan put in, fixing Irene MacAskill with a withering stare, "except this lady showed us where you'd been." He pointed to a mirror sitting on the table. “In that thing. Like a television screen it was. I can’t believe I’m saying this.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair and blew out a long breath.
"Showed you?" Lucy said, her voice coming out as a squeak. "Where I've been? Oh my God. Oh no."
This was too much. Her legs went weak and she would have stumbled if Andrew hadn't caught her.
"Easy, love," he murmured. "Isnae this what ye wanted? For them to know the truth?"
Yes, but not like this! she thought. I wanted to tell them in my own time, not have Irene bloody MacAskill walk in here and take the choice away from me!
"Are you all right, dear?" Aunt Helen asked.
"I'm fine," Lucy replied. "This has just come as a bit of a shock." She looked at Aunt Helen and then at Uncle Nathan. "I was going to tell you the truth, I promise. In fact that's why we are here."
"We?" Uncle Nathan asked, eyeing Andrew.
Lucy straightened. "Aunt Helen, Uncle Nathan, I'd like to introduce you to Andrew Harris."
Andrew gave an awkward bow, wincing in pain. "Pleased to make yer acquaintance, my lady, my lord." He took Aunt Helen's hand and kissed the back of it.
Aunt Helen's cheeks turned red and she looked a little flustered. "Very nice to meet you too, young man. I have to say, it's lovely to meet a boy with such manners."
Uncle Nathan didn't look convinced. He crossed his arms. "So this is the guy you met in Scotland? The guy who hurt you and sent you running back to us?" His eyes were hard as he glared at Andrew.
Andrew opened his mouth to speak but Lucy laid a hand on his arm. "It was a misunderstanding, Uncle. Andrew came through time to find me, to put it right."
"Did he now?" Uncle Nathan said, still glaring at Andrew. "And how is he going to do that? Is he going to take back all the things he did that hurt you? Is he going to fix that?"
Lucy winced. Uncle Nathan had always been very protective. This was not going well.
Andrew stepped forward. "Sir, I ken ye know a little of what transpired between myself and yer niece. But I also ken ye dinna know the entirety of it." He glanced at Lucy and his eyes shone with emotion. "The truth is, sir, I love yer niece. I love her with all my heart. I tried to deny that for a long time and in doing so I hurt her for which I'm truly sorry. I will spend the rest of my life making that up to her. Ye have my word as a Harris. I would greatly like yer blessing, sir. Do ye think ye can give me that?"
It was the most contrite Lucy had ever seen Andrew. She looked from him to Uncle Nathan, holding her breath. The silence in the room stretched.
Uncle Nathan shifted in his chair. "The rest of your life, eh? And how are you going to do that? You're from the sixteenth century, she's from the twenty-first."
"I am going to remain here and make Lucy my wife."
Aunt Helen gasped. Uncle Nathan's eyes widened.
"Is this true, Lucy? You're engaged?"
Lucy nodded, unable to speak.
Aunt Helen gave a little whoop of delight. She sprang up from the table and hugged Lucy so hard she could barely breathe. Then she did the same to Andrew—eliciting a groan of pain from him.
“Tis nothing,” he assured her when she looked at him in alarm. “I will be fine.”
Uncle Nathan pushed back his chair and approached Lucy. "Well I never," he rumbled. "My niece getting married. I always dreamed I'd get to walk you down the aisle. Seems now I will."
"Now you will," she agreed.
Uncle Nathan gave her a quick hug and then turned to Andrew. He held out his hand. "Welcome to the family, son."
Andrew shook his hand. "Thank ye, sir. It means a lot to me."
Lucy let out a huge sigh. Perhaps now the truth was out they could settle down into some sort of normality.
But Irene MacAskill, it seemed, had other ideas. She leaned forward, hands resting in her lap and looked up at Andrew.
"Andrew Harris," she said, her voice deep and melodious. "I came here to offer ye yer choice. Have ye made it?"
"My choice?" Andrew replied, looking a little puzzled. "What do ye mean?"
"Did I not say to ye the first time we met that finding yer path is always a choice? Lucy chose hers when she decided to come home. Now ye must make the same choice. I canna make it for ye. Ye can remain here and marry Lucy or ye can return home to yer people.”
"What choice is that?" Andrew rasped. "No choice at all. I love my clan, ye know that. But Lucy is my heart and soul. I canna leave her. I willnae." He put his arm around Lucy and held her close.
Irene MacAskill slowly stood. "Very well. If yer choice is made my work here is finished. Good day to ye all." She turned and began walking towards the door.
Lucy bit her lip. Something didn't feel right. Glancing at Andrew, she saw his face was ashen. He'd just bid goodbye to his family, his home, his people. And it was tearing him apart. She couldn't let him do it. She couldn't.
"Wait!"
Irene paused and looked back. "Aye, dear?"
"I want to go back. Send us back, please?"
Andrew stared at her. "What are ye saying, love?"
"I can't let you give it all up for me, Andrew. Your homeland, your clan, your people. That's what makes you who you are. That's what makes you the man I love. How can I ask you to stop being that man? How could I tear you away from everything that makes you whole?"
"Ye are the one who makes me whole, love. Ye and only ye. It doesnae matter where we are as long as we are together."
"I know, and maybe you could be happy here after you get used to it. But I don't want to take that chance. I know I can be happy in your time, I was happy in your time. I have friends there, a life. And I miss them, Andrew. I miss them all more than I thought I would. It feels like the right thing to do."
Irene MacAskill clapped her hands and smiled broadly. "What an excellent idea! What do ye reckon to yer lady's suggestion, my lad? Would ye choose to return home if she accompanied ye?"
"Of course, I would. But—"
"No!" Aunt Helen cried. She rushed over and took Lucy's hand. "What are you saying? That you want to go and live in the sixteenth century and leave us?"
The hurt in Aunt Helen's eyes cut Lucy to the bone. Oh God, why did this have to be so hard?
"I don't want to lose you," Lucy said. "I'm sorry. I'll miss you so much but I have to go. I can't explain it. This feels...right. What I'm meant to do."
"Just a minute," Irene MacAskill said. The old woman came back into the kitchen and stood looking up at them all with her hands clasped in front of her. "Who said ye canna have both?"
"Both? What do you mean? How can we live in both times?"
"Ye canna. But that doesnae mean ye canna visit from time to time.”
Hope flared inside Lucy. "Are ye saying that my aunt and uncle could visit Dun Arnwick and I could
visit here too?"
Irene nodded. "There are rules to this time-travel business. Normally a portal only works one way. Once ye make yer choice it closes and ye canna go back. Ye two are different. This time both of ye have traveled, each to the other’s respective time. That means I can bend the rules a little and keep the portal open. If ye wish it."
"I do wish it!" Lucy cried. "I wish it very much!"
She rushed forward and embraced Irene. The old woman chuckled as she returned Lucy's embrace.
"Careful, lass, ye'll knock the breath right out of me."
Laughing, Lucy stepped back. "Did you hear that?" she said to the others. "We can all go together!"
Andrew laughed with delight and threw his arm around Lucy's shoulders. "Ah, my love, ye are a marvel. It seems even the fae are helpless before yer charms!"
Aunt Helen and Uncle Nathan were looking a little shell-shocked. Lucy went over to them. "I know this sounds a little crazy. Hell, it sounds a lot crazy, but you have to trust me. If Irene says we can all go back in time, she means it. So how about it? Do you fancy a trip to sixteenth century Scotland?"
They shared a long look. Aunt Helen got over her shock first. "Sure," she said. "We're not giving you up to this place without checking it out first, are we, Nathan?"
Uncle Nathan shook his head. "Definitely not." Then he laughed weakly. "What a weird day this is turning out to be."
"You reckon you've got it bad?" Lucy said. "What about my day? Now that's been weird!"
Uncle Nathan squeezed her hand. "If you're sure about this, Lucy, we'll come with you. We'll always be here for you, you know that."
"I know," Lucy said softly. "I count on it."
"If ye are ready, we can go now," Irene said.
Uncle Nathan and Aunt Helen shared a look. "What, now? Just like that?"
"There is no time like the present.”
"But I need to pack!” Aunt Helen said. “We'll need spare clothes, and toiletries, and batteries and a phone charger—"
"I will provide everything ye require," Andrew said soothingly, laying a hand on Helen's shoulder. "It would be my honor to provide for ye. And besides, yer twenty-first century gear might invite some awkward questions in Dun Arnwick."