As she stared out the windshield at the full moon shining, struggling with her love for Caelan and the security she felt within this era, for some unknown reason a distant memory of her grandmother pushed its way to the forefront of her thoughts.
She could see the ancient woman sitting in an old rocking chair on a smaller front porch that used to be where the new porch now stood. The old woman was absolutely furious, both of her gnarled and knobby hands clutching a small leather-bound journal in her lap. Her toothless mouth was clamped shut. Her bleary eyes stared forward as she sat and listened to the young adults in the house argue over who was going to have to haul the old woman to the old folks home and who was going to have to tell her that she wasn’t coming back.
“Come here Child ”
Granny motioned to the purple eyed little girl hiding behind the corner of the house. The little girl’s dress was streaked with dirt and torn and her face was stained with tears. She’d fought valiantly against the grown- ups to make them leave Granny alone but they wouldn’t listen to a mere child of seven years old.
Sniffing and wiping her nose on the back of her hand, Rachel ducked her head as she ran into Granny’s waiting arms.
“I hate them! They’re sending you away and I’ll never see you again! I hate them! and I’m gonna put one of them spells on them just like you do!"
“Shhhhhh Hush now Rachel you know better.”
Granny smoothed Rachel’s tangled curls away from her face as she stared down into her eyes. “You always get back times three whatever you give out remember Rachel for the good of all harm none.”
“But but ”
Rachel hiccupped as she sobbed into the old woman’s lap, committing the cleansing smell of sage to memory. “It’s my fault they’re sending you away they say you’re just not right and you shouldn’t be ‘round me no more. I hate them!”
“Look at me our time is over for now.” Granny smiled sadly into Rachel’s tear-streaked face. “But I’ll return to help you when you need me the most you just wait and see.” Bending down, she softly shook as she gently kissed Rachel on the forehead.
“Now you run and take Granny’s book and you hide it where it will never ever be found so that you’ll have it when I come back to help you. Run now hurry they’re comin’ and they musn’t see you with that book or where you hide it run child!”
The last thing the seven year old Rachel remembered was running from the porch as fast as she could, with Granny’s leather journal clutched tightly to her chest. She never saw her grandmother again.
Rachel inhaled quickly as she snapped out of the trance, her hand to her throat as she swallowed hard. It had been years since she’d thought about the day they’d taken Granny away. She wondered why it would come to her now.
Yawning, she leaned forward to start the truck, her mind whirling in all directions. One corner of her mouth rising slightly in amusement, she suddenly remembered what a talented wise woman her grandmother had been. Country folk all around had come to her for healing and for her love potions.
Maybe that was why she hadn’t been all that shocked about all of the mystical aspects of Caelan’s story. She’d spent the first seven years of her life being raised and instructed by a woman known far and wide for her healing powers and her abilities to help with the elemental issues. Rachel’s grandmother had been a powerful witch.
It was only when Rachel had exhibited even stronger talents in the mystical arts that her parents had decided that it was time to lock the old woman up in a nursing home. Imprisoned inside a sterile world of glass, plastic and ceramic tile it had taken her grandmother’s soul only three months to vacate her body and seek refuge upon a more welcoming plane of existence.
“Where in the world did I put that book?”
Rachel spoke aloud to her reflection in the rearview mirror, frowning as she tried to remember. A tiny plan was beginning to blossom just beginning to itch at the base of her brain and if she could find Granny’s book she just might be able to figure out if she could do it.
)O(
Her eyes watering with a jaw-cracking yawn, Rachel didn’t hear Caelan approach as she slid out of the truck. Her back still to him, she closed the truck door quietly to keep from rousing the dogs into a barking frenzy. Opening her mouth for another yawn as she turned toward the house, Rachel quickly shifted into a startled squeal as Caelan scooped her up into his arms.
“I’d feared ye’d left me for good.” Caelan buried his face in her hair as he lifted her completely off the ground.
“I can’t breathe.” Rachel struggled to lower the wedged computer from under her chin as she wriggled in his arms.
Loosening his hold just enough to allow her enough oxygen to survive, Caelan continued to keep her feet from touching the ground as he held her pinned to his chest.
“If I let ye down will ye promise not to leave me ever again?”
Tilting her head to peer up into his weary face, Rachel sighed as she caught her lower lip between her teeth. “I haven’t quite gotten everything all figured out just yet but no, Caelan I promise you I’m never going to leave you ever again.”
Ever so slowly allowing her to slide to her feet, Caelan slid his hands to Rachel’s shoulders where he gripped her and drew her closer to his face.
“Of your own free will you’re choosing to travel to the past to live with me to be my wife. Say the words, Rachel. I won’t believe it until I hear you say the words.”
Swallowing hard as she guiltily pushed her Plan B to the back of her mind, Rachel placed her hands gently on either side of Caelan’s worried face. “Of my own free will I choose to travel back in time to be with you my beloved husband.”
Throwing his head back, Caelan let out a Scottish war cry that echoed throughout the Kentucky hillside. Sam and Maizy came running from behind the barn barking and ready for battle. Emrys stuck his head out of the apartment window, his white hair even wilder than normal.
“What the bloody hell is going on? Ye’d think one of the rival clan’s was invading!”
Grabbing Rachel around the waist and spinning her around in the air, Caelan laughed as Rachel beat on his shoulders.
“She’s agreed! She’s coming with us! It’s finally done!”
“That was entirely too easy.” Emrys mumbled to himself as he pulled his head back inside. “The lass is up to something. I’d bet my eye teeth on it.”
)O(
Breathing hard as she leaned her back against the tree, Rachel strained to listen for any sound of anyone following her through the woods. Shivering with the weariness of not sleeping for over twenty-four hours, Rachel forced herself to make her way deeper into the trees.
She was completely exhausted from wrestling with the question of traveling to the past with Caelan but she had to perform the ritual that had surfaced from her memory before the rising of the sun. It was the only rite she could fully remember without Granny’s journal and hopefully it would work and lead her strait to the book itself.
She paused at the hidden spring behind an outcropping of limestone and splashed the icy water on her face and throat. When this was over, she’d return home to Caelan and curl up against his warm welcoming body and sleep forever.
Finally reaching the clearing she’d remembered from her youth, Rachel smiled wistfully at Granny’s memory. Removing all of her clothing, she reverently unfolded the carefully preserved cloak she had retrieved from the trunk tucked away in the attic.
The deepest of purple velvets, the cloak perfectly matched her eyes and it slid around her shoulders as though made for her. Her raven tresses flowed freely over the hood, the moonlight spinning silvery lights and threads throughout the curls. What little of her ivory skin that wasn’t covered by the cloak, seemed to glow as though Rachel were alit with some internal energy. As she stood in the clearing, all of the wood seemed to grow silent as though at long last, their mistress had returned.
Facing the north, Rachel raised her hands, her lips moving
silently with the ancient words thanking the spirits of the north the earth element for blessing her with their powers and time. Turning clockwise to the east, she repeated the movement and paid homage to the spirits of the east the air element. To each direction, she acknowledged and welcomed them to her circle. As she finished beneath the fullest of moons, the glowing blue energies could be seen swirling around her.
As she stood in the center of the circle, her arms raised and her eyes closed, she slowly allowed her cloak to fall to the ground. She stood completely natural in the midst of the energies, her own glowing white aura swirling and mixing with the blue.
As she stood with her arms raised, Rachel suddenly began smiling as the faintest of violet auras suddenly appeared and swirled around her body. The aura first encircled her head like the gentle hand of a loving parent pushing back the hair of their favorite child. The aura then teasingly tickled her under her chin and gently caressed her cheek.
After the aura had greeted her in such a loving way, it completely surrounded her body and glowed brightly for several seconds and then slowly began fading away. Just before the violet energy completely left the circle of light, it paused to encircle Rachel’s waist at just about the level of her womb and then once more rose to her face and caressed her cheek as though telling her something. It repeated this motion three times before it finally shot straight up into the stars.
All of the other energies seemed to slowly dissipate, so, Rachel returned her cloak to her shoulders and once more faced the north. This time, however, she turned counter-clockwise and bid all of the powers farewell and thanked them for blessing and protecting her circle.
Sensing that everything had returned to its natural state, Rachel wearily returned the cloak to its protective packaging and pulled on her jeans and sweatshirt. Shoving her feet into her tennis shoes without bothering to even untie them, she yawned as she started hurriedly stumbling back toward the house.
She came up with a squeak as she rounded the great oak and came up nose to nose with a very disgruntled Emrys.
“Witch!”
Emrys stood with his arms folded over his chest, his eyes narrowed beneath his bushy white brows.
Gritting her teeth as she decided she was too tired for this confrontation, Rachel squared her shoulders and prepared to battle the wizard.
“What is it you Highlanders always say? Aye! So what!”
“Don’t mock me girl! Ye’ve no’ the trainin’ to have any idea at what ye’re playin’ at!” Emrys shook his finger in Rachel’s face, barely missing the end of her nose.
“As you no doubt just witnessed, I know a bit more about the craft than you’d probably care to admit.” Putting her hands on her hips, Rachel spread her feet slightly apart as she protectively tucked her cloak beneath one arm. “Emrys I’m tired and I’m in no mood to argue with you right now. Now unless you’re going to try to burn me at the stake this very minute, I’d suggest we save this conversation for another time.”
Puffing up to his full height, Emrys raised both his arms in the air causing storm clouds to quickly gather over them blocking the stars from view. His blue eyes grew dark and threatening as lightening began to streak the clouds and thunder sounded as the wind began to blow.
Rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest, Rachel slowly shook her head. “I’m so not impressed and I’m not engaging in a I can do anything you can do contest either. I consider that a waste of time and disrespectful to the energies around us.”
Lowering his arms, a smile slowly spread across Emrys’ face.
“I see your Granny taught ye well. By the way the triplets are they sons or are they daughters?”
Covering her face with her hands, Rachel sighed deeply as she slowly shook her head.
“Caelan should be proud. He’s got three sons started but let’s not tell him that just yet okay? I have no idea how I’m going to handle this and I’m afraid of what he’s going to say.”
His brows rising clear to his hairline, Emrys grinned as he put his arm around Rachel’s shoulders and offered to carry her cloak.
“Three sons all at once. Ha! The Highlander will finally learn to be careful for what he wishes for! Don’t worry, lass there will be plenty of folk to help ye. Everything will be just fine.”
“I hope so.”
Rachel stared at her feet as she trudged wearily back to the house to collapse into bed beside Caelan.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“And I need your signature one more time right here please Mr. MacKay.”
Gerald Randolph pointed to yet another line on about the fiftieth sheet of at least the seventy-fifth copy of yet another sheaf of papers they’d signed this morning.
“Will that do it then?”
Caelan smiled, as his over-sized hand seemed to swallow the tiny pen as he scrawled his name across the bottom of the page.
“Everything is now completely as you requested, sir.”
Rising, Mr. Randolph extended his hand and bobbed his head happily. “Anytime you need us to handle any of your financial and legal needs again, you just give us a call and I’ll personally see to anything you need sir yes sir anytime you need us you just give us a call.”
Casting Rachel a narrow-eyed warning glance as she gagged and rolled her eyes behind Mr. Randolph’s back, Caelan smiled as he shook Mr. Randolph’s hand and accepted his leather bound copies of all of the papers. “Thank you, Mr. Randolph. I can assure ye. I’ll keep ye in mind anytime I’m in this area again.”
Pressing his hand to the small of Rachel’s back, he silently steered her from the room. Finally, it was over. Rachel was completely out of debt and no longer had to worry about Larkin taking over her lands. What was even better was the fact that it was also set up so that when they traveled to the past, all of their holdings would pass to Ducks Unlimited and the National Wildlife Foundation to set up a new Wetlands Preserve where no construction or hunting would be allowed. Larkin would be furious when the two hundred plus acres of river bottom land slipped right through his greedy fingers.
“Are we going to go by the mill so that ye can turn in your resignation in person or are ye going to mail it to them?” Caelan glanced at Rachel as she sat beside him in the truck, nervously chewing her lower lip.
“What would happen if we were to come back from the past? Would we be able to get the land back?” Rachel was pale and a slight sheen of sweat beaded on her upper lip as she took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves.
Pulling the truck over to the side of the road, Caelan put it in park and stopped the engine. Turning to Rachel, he laid his hand on hers as he looked deeply into her eyes.
“Rachel there is no coming back. Once we travel to the past we’ll be there until the end of our days.”
Jerking both her hands out of his, Rachel dove out the truck door and ran down into the ditch. Grabbing her sides, she bent over and heaved, losing every bit of breakfast she’d ever thought about eating.
Running to her side, Caelan wrapped his arm around her, holding her hair back while she continued to gag. When she finally stopped vomiting, he pulled her trembling body back up the embankment, where they both leaned back and sat against the truck.
“Rachel, lass ye’re not changing your mind coming back with me has no’ made ye ill has it?” Caelan stared at Rachel with stricken eyes, afraid to hear her answer.
Tears started slipping down her cheeks as Rachel fought to stand and get back in the truck.
“Just leave me alone and help me back in the truck!”
Gawd! She didn’t want to tell him this way but the hormones seemed to have decided it was finally time. What was he going to think when she told him she was pregnant? They’d only been together a few short weeks. How could she have allowed this to happen? What was he going to think?
Pushing her hair out of her face, Rachel struggled to hold back the tears. He was going to think she was some sort of fool allowing this to happen that was exactly what he was going to t
hink! She could’ve at least taken a few precautions until they’d been together for awhile.
“Rachel! What’s wrong?”
Caelan scrambled to his feet to help her, easily dodging her slapping hands as though she weren’t moving at all.
“Dammit! I’m pregnant! Now will you just leave me alone I’ve screwed up again literally this time.”
Upon finally reaching the top of the embankment, Rachel climbed into the truck and planted herself into the seat with her arms crossed over her chest. Huge silent tears rolled down both her cheeks as she stared out of the windshield straight ahead.
Quietly getting into the truck beside her, Caelan calmly started the engine, turned the truck around and drove the ten minute drive straight home. Parking the truck, he got out on his side, walked around to Rachel’s, opened the door and stood silently waiting.
Still staring straight ahead with her arms crossed over her chest, Rachel lifted her chin and frowned. “What?”
“I’m waiting.” Caelan stood calmly, one hand on the opened door and one hand on the side of the truck.
“For what?” Rachel spat into the air, crossing her legs dammit she already needed to pee again.
“To hold the woman I love and thank her for becoming the mother of my child.” Caelan spoke quietly as though trying to calm a wounded animal pacing in a cage.
At that revelation, Rachel burst into tears anew, the pregnancy hormones wreaking havoc with her emotions.
“You’re gonna think thank her when you find out that I’m giving you three boys all at once!” Covering her face with her hands, her shoulders shook as her sobs quickly grew to howls.
“Three? Three sons Are ye sure?..Blessed Goddess Holy Fates!” Slapping his forehead, Caelan fell back against the truck, his jaw dropping to his chest.
“What in the name of all that’s sacred is that infernal caterwauling that’s going on out here? Emrys emerged from the house, the screen door banging behind him.
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