“ ’Tis as I feared,” Granny said in a broken whisper. She knelt and traced a bent trembling finger along the curve of Lilia’s ashen cheek. She closed her eyes and shook her head, pressing her other hand tight across her mouth.
Graham eased back a step as Trulie, Mairi, and Kenna rushed to their sister’s side. He’d grown numb, hollow, and cold within his grief but the sight of Lilia’s kin weeping for her was nearly more than he could bear. “Heal her,” he rasped out. “Give her back t’me—now.”
Granny looked up at him, the uncertainty in her face squeezing his heart with suffocating dread. “I don’t know that we can,” she said. “We always sense when one of our own is about to…leave us.” She reached down and lifted Lilia’s limp hand into hers, staring sadly down into her granddaughter’s face. “That’s how we knew to come so quickly. All of us saw what was about to be before it even happened. We’d hoped to get here in time to stop it. But then we knew…” Granny closed her eyes, shaking her head against her sorrow. Her face crumpled with pain as she opened her eyes, her tears overflowing. Ever so gently, she lifted Lilia’s hand and pressed a kiss to it. “We met the messenger you sent when we were already over halfway here,” she whispered. She turned back to Graham, tucking her fist to the center of her chest as she struggled to speak. “It may be her destiny to cross over now. I don’t know if we can heal her or not.”
Graham dove to his knees beside Granny and stole Lilia’s hand out of her grasp. They would heal his dear one. By the gods, he would make it so. “I dinna give a damn about destiny or fate. I choose t’make me own. Heal her. Ye gave this woman t’me—to love and protect. I’ll be damned if I allow ye t’let her slip away without even tryin’ t’keep her from walkin’ through death’s doors.”
Granny gazed at him for a long moment, silent tears rolling down her wrinkled cheeks. She hitched in a shuddering sniff, swiped her fingertips against the wetness on her face, then slowly looked at each of her granddaughters. Trulie, Mairi, and Kenna each barely nodded.
“We have to at least try,” Trulie said quietly.
Granny nodded with a stiff jerk of her head. Voice quivering, she pointed at Lilia’s chest. “We must lift her.” She motioned to Trulie and Mairi, kneeling on Lilia’s other side. “Raise your sister, gently now. She needs more blankets under her shoulders. She’ll breathe easier that way until we either get her healed or…”
“She’s nearly gone,” Kenna said, tears overflowing as she rested her hand atop Lilia’s shin. “I can barely sense her.” Her voice dropped as she moved to Lilia’s feet and took hold of her ankles. “We need to hurry.”
Help them, Graham silently prayed. Allow them t’lead her back t’me, I beg of ye. Colum and Gray stood on one side of him and Angus on the other. None of them touched him but their strength and support kept him steadied on his feet just the same.
Moving to kneel at Lilia’s head, Granny motioned to Trulie and Mairi. “One of you to the right and one to the left.” She nodded at Kenna. “Hold tight to her. Keep her soul grounded before it succeeds in breaking free.”
Kenna leaned forward, her knuckles whitening with the intensity of her grip on Lilia’s ankles.
Granny held out both hands. Without a word, Trulie grasped Granny’s right hand and Mairi took her left. All four women bowed their heads, then each of them went so completely still, Graham thought they’d stopped breathing.
A building energy filled the air—a tightness that made Graham’s flesh sting. He felt as though his skin were two sizes too small and about to burst at the seams.
The women’s clasped hands began to glow as though they’d trapped rays of sunlight within their grasp.
Graham held his breath as they lifted their glowing hands. The golden light escaped from between their fingers, bursting free and merging into a swirling current of energy flowing from one Sinclair woman to the next, creating a softly humming circle over Lilia’s still form.
“As we touch her with the circle of energy, call out to her, Graham. Call loud and strong and let her feel what’s in your heart,” Granny instructed, her voice eerily hollow like the tolling of a great bell.
Graham stepped closer. The women slowly lowered their hands and touched Lilia, holding tight as the energy made contact and sparked all across her body.
“Return t’me, Lilia! Come t’me now!” Graham opened his heart, pouring out all his fear and his pain. “I beg ye, m’love, come back t’me, for I need ye more than I can say.” He dropped to his knees, bowed forward, and beat his fists against the ground at her side. “I love ye, m’dearest one,” he whispered. “Please—I canna live without ye.”
He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead atop his fists. She had to come back to him. She couldna leave him—not now—not ever.
“Graham?”
Graham feared to look up and see that the sound of the sweetest voice he’d ever heard was just a cruel dream. What if his sorrow was playing tricks? He couldna bear it if it wasna the truth.
A light touch rested on his shoulder. A tender kiss brushed against his temple. Afraid to take a breath, Graham slowly lifted his head and opened his eyes.
Lilia leaned forward with a shy smile and held out her hands. “I missed you,” she whispered.
Graham gathered her up into his arms, senses reeling at the incredibly alive warmth of her and the strong healthy beat of her heart against his. Her soft laugh as he squeezed her tighter assured him that his love truly lived. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, closing his eyes and nuzzling into the fragrant silkiness of her hair. “God a’mighty, I ne’er thought t’hear yer voice e’er again.”
“I missed you,” Lilia repeated, clutching him tighter as though she feared he’d slip away.
Graham drew back and stared deep into her eyes, struggling to give his heart a voice, searching for a way to let his soul speak. “I would have ye know the depths of my love for ye—” The words stalled out. His mind, body, heart, and soul risked exploding with the turmoil of his emotions. “Mere words canna tell ye how I feel at this verra moment—now that I’m holdin’ ye safe once more.” He brushed a reverent kiss across her lips then pressed his forehead to hers. “M’love for ye is too great t’be measured—or named.”
Lilia tilted her head and gifted him with a long, slow kiss. She eased back, hooked her arms around his neck, and smiled up at him, pure joy shining in her eyes. “And I love you more.”
Graham rose to his feet, never looking away from the most beautiful green eyes he’d feared he’d ne’er look into again. He lowered Lilia to her feet, then took her hands in his and held them tight. He’d come to a decision. ’Twas time t’make it so. “We must return to the future—as soon as ye’ve visited with yer family for a bit. We belong there—not here—in this time.”
Lilia stole a quick glance over at Granny and the girls, then faced Graham once again, confusion shadowing her face. “I’d already decided we’d stay here permanently if you wanted. I thought you’d be happier here.” Her voice grew softer and she shook her head. “I don’t understand. Why would you want to return to the future and stay?”
“I’ll no’ risk losin’ ye again.” Graham cupped her cheek in one hand, his fingertips laced into her hair. “This place…this time…it is too filled with danger. I’ve learned m’lesson. I canna protect ye here. I canna keep ye safe.”
Lilia squeezed his hands, her brow creasing with an apologetic look as though she wished she didn’t have to say what she was about to say. “All times have danger, Graham. No century is free of risks. You know that—right?”
“The future doesna have the raw danger of this place.” He looked to Mother Sinclair. The matriarch encouraged him with a sad smile and the barest dip of her chin.
Graham brought Lilia’s fingers to his lips and gently kissed them. Tucking her hands to his chest, he rubbed his thumbs back and forth across her knuckles. “Mother Sinclair has warned me of the heartache and pain this time has a-comin’. Ye dinna belong
here, Lilia. Ye couldna bear it, ye ken that as well as I. We’ll return to yer Edinburgh. And yer odd friends.” He squeezed both her hands and smiled. “Our bairns will fare much better in the future, as well.”
“Bairns?” The love sparkling in her eyes made his heart sing. God a’mighty, how had he e’er lived without this woman?
“Aye.” Graham nodded, assuming as serious a tone as he could muster. “Many children. Ye said Eliza’s house was entirely too quiet. I’m thinkin’ we could change that.”
“I did say that.” Lilia grinned, snuggling tighter into his arms. A soft low chortle escaped her as she reached up and pulled his face down to hers. “Somehow I think home will never be quiet again with you around.” She brushed his mouth with a tender claiming kiss. Molding her mouthwatering curves against him, she playfully licked the tip of his nose. “And I’m gonna love every loud minute of it.”
Epilogue
A LITTLE OVER TWO YEARS LATER
SCOTLAND, MID-THIRTEENTH CENTURY
A warning squawk, irritated and shrill, alerted Lilia to her eight-month-old daughter’s impending tantrum. She quickly broke off her conversation with Trulie, glancing about the garden for who currently had her child and what might be displeasing the fiery-tempered little diva.
Eliza Catriona, fondly dubbed Izzy-Cat by Auntie Vivienne back in twenty-first-century Edinburgh, had entered this world with a head full of flaming red curls and a disposition to match. In the child’s uncompromising, eight-month-old opinion, there was but one person who could do no wrong, and that individual was her father.
“What ails ye, wee one?” Coira asked, balancing the fussy little redhead atop the rounded shelf of her pregnant belly. Coira’s husband of six months, Clan MacKenna’s new head stable master, Liam, stood beside her, glancing back and forth between red-faced little Catriona and the mound of his unborn child with an Oh hell no look on his face. Ever-patient Coira just smiled and bounced the babe back and forth, attempting to calm her with a lilting song and jiggle.
“Nap time, maybe?” Trulie asked, holding her newborn son, Ian, in the crook of one arm while also keeping a firm hold on four-year-old Rabbie’s hand.
If only it were that simple. Lilia hurried over to Coira, motioning at Graham, who had just pushed through the low swinging gate leading in from the main bailey. Graham grinned from ear to ear, visibly lengthening his stride to double-time it across the garden to his wife.
“She spotted you. I told you to lay low so someone else could hold her for a while.” Lilia totally failed at maintaining the scolding tone. How could she chide him? Graham adored his daughter even more than his daughter worshiped him.
Catriona’s wail hit a particularly jarring note as Lilia lifted her out of Coira’s arms. “I’m so sorry but she’s spotted her daddy again. When he’s around, she has a fit if anyone else is holding her.”
As soon as Graham took hold of squirming Catriona, the wily minx split the air with a delighted squeal, filled both chubby hands with her father’s beard, and yanked in perfect rhythm with her tiny white-socked feet kicking the lace ruffles of her best dress.
“There’s m’wee lass. There’s m’sweetest Catriona-rose.” Graham winked at Lilia and Coira, beaming proudly as he took his daughter to sit with seven-year-old Chloe and her owl, Oren.
Kenna walked up with one-year-old Fiona on her hip, her shy blue-eyed daughter chewing on her thumb while she frowned down at her rowdy four-year-old twin brothers, Caeden and Jamie, who were currently running circles around their mother. Kenna snapped her fingers and pointed the boys over to the bench with Graham, Chloe, and little Catriona. “Take Rabbie and go visit with Catriona. She’s going back home in a few hours.”
“But she’s a girl, Mama—and jus’ a wee bairn,” Caeden complained. “Aye,” Jamie chimed in with a bob of his tousled head. “Auntie Lil shouldha brought her puppy and left that wee banshee t’home. She be too loud.”
“Get over there and be civilized before I heat up your backsides.” Kenna took a threatening step toward them. All three boys scurried away at survival speed. Kenna rolled her eyes and shook her head at Lilia. “I am so sorry.”
Lilia laughed and waved away Kenna’s apology as Mairi joined them and sent her three-year-old son, Sawny, over to play with the older children. Ronan, Colum, Gray, and Liam, joined Graham to help keep the lively herd in line.
A pang of sadness made Lilia’s heart ache as she watched the men help entertain the children. What an odd sight. Two clan chieftains, a war chief, Graham, and stable master Liam—entertaining the children rather than calling for the servants to usher the busy bunch up to the nursery.
But that was because it was nearly time. As soon as the sun sank a bit closer to the rippling waves of the sea, it would be time to walk up the hillside to the burial cairn overlooking the water. When the long trying day finally came to a close, it would be time for the final goodbye.
“Can you hold Janet for me?” Mairi gently nudged Lilia with one-year-old Janet while balancing Janet’s twin sister, Jessa, on her other hip.
Lilia blinked away the sting of unshed tears and took the child. “Come here, sweetie. Give Auntie Lil a snuggle.” Dark-haired Janet beamed with a rosy-cheeked smile, wrapped her little arms around Lilia’s neck, and squeezed.
“She always said she’d see us happy and settled before she moved on,” Trulie said, watching Chloe hold Oren just out of Catriona’s grabbing reach so the owl could properly inspect the newest cousin. Trulie’s mouth trembled a bit to one side as she hitched in a shaking breath.
“She did at that,” Lilia agreed with a swipe of her fingers against the corners of her eyes. She did her best to hold back the tears as she gazed around the garden. Granny wouldn’t want tears. Granny would want a celebration of a life well lived. “We’re blessed with men who adore us and a garden full of healthy, happy babies,” she said, pressing a hand to a heart so full it was about to overflow. “And we’ve got Granny to thank for it all.”
Kenna nodded, her voice quivering as she spoke. “Granny did good.” Tears overflowed and slid down her face.
Angus appeared at the gate with the clan piper beside him. Hair slicked back and fully fitted out in his best MacKenna colors, Angus solemnly held up one hand and waited until he had the attention of at least most of the adults in the garden. “ ’Tis time,” he announced quietly.
Yes. It was time. Time to say goodbye. Lilia swallowed and hugged Mairi’s daughter closer. Common sense told her this was the natural order of things. You’re born. You live. You die. But when it came to Granny—a tear finally escaped and raced down her cheek. How in the world would they all get along without Granny?
“I’m not ready to let her go either,” Trulie remarked quietly, walking beside Lilia as they slowly made their way across the garden to follow Angus and the piper. “But it was so peaceful—the way we found them. They all three looked contented…happy. It’s like they decided it was just time to go.”
Lilia could just picture them in her mind’s eye. Trulie had said that Granny and Tamhas had insisted on spending Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, in Tamhas’s old croft carved into the side of the mountain. When they’d failed to return to the keep the next day, Trulie and Gray had gone to check on them…and found them.
The old couple had gone to sleep, never to awaken in this life again. Tamhas lay on his back with a protective arm curled around Granny, who was snuggled close into the crook of his shoulder, her silvery hair fanned out across the pillow. Ever the guardian tethered to Granny’s soul, Kismet was curled in the bend of the old woman’s knees, appearing to be fast asleep, but the feline had passed away too, joining her mistress on the other side of the veil.
“I still can’t believe she’s really gone,” Lilia said.
Mairi held out her arm to take back her daughter.
Lilia hugged the little girl tighter. “I’ll carry her. Catriona’s with Graham and your hands are full with Jessa.”
Ro
nan appeared at Mairi’s side, leading Sawny by the hand. He solemnly nodded to Lilia as he took Mairi’s hand. “We’ll get through this. She’d want us t’carry on with courage.”
A warm welcome weight settled against the small of Lilia’s back. Graham leaned in close and brushed a kiss to her temple. “Time t’bid Mother Sinclair and Tamhas safe journey. We’ll have them give Mistress Eliza a good strong hug from wee Catriona, aye?”
Lilia nodded without a word, walking along beside Graham with tiny Janet on her hip. She looked up ahead. The number of individuals walking to the top of the cliff overlooking the sea triggered a bittersweet knot of love and sadness in her chest. To think this many loved ones had sprouted from one indestructible seed of determination nurtured and tended by a tiny woman with the heart and courage of an invincible warrior.
A husband for each granddaughter and, so far, ten lively great-grandchildren. And probably more on the way. Kenna looked suspiciously pale again and Colum was even more attentive than usual. And Coira might not be blood but she was family, and the child she and Liam would bring forth would be called “cousin” just like the rest of them.
All gathered around a great mound formed of huge squares of white stone. Crystals embedded in the grain of the roughly chiseled blocks reflected the fiery colors of the setting sun. Tamhas, Granny, and Kismet—or the shells that had once housed their dynamic souls—had all been placed in the single cairn to travel through eternity together.
Karma sat in front of the sealed door of the drystone structure, ears drooping and head bowed. Chloe’s owl, Oren, soared back and forth overhead as the sun disappeared into the sea.
Chloe, firstborn time runner of the next generation, gently pulled free of her parents and walked over to the cairn. She flattened her right hand on the side of the intricately carved keystone and splayed her small left hand in the center of her chest. Head barely tilted to one side, her ebony curls fluttered in the wind as her expression shifted to one of rapt attention. A slow smile lifted one corner of her mouth, dimpling her little round cheek. She slightly bobbed her head up and down in a quick nod. “Aye, Granny. I’ll tell them each what ye said and then ye can be on yer way.”
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