If Penny had known she wouldn’t see him again, she would have kissed him back. Don’t slap me. Goddamn, son of a bitch. He did plan it all, down to the last second. Anger and adrenalin prowled through her veins like tigers through a hot night.
“Fine,” she snarled. “So, I guess you’re here to tell them how my story ends?”
“Something like that.”
“Well, tell him how pissed I am.”
Marguerite laughed. “You can’t stay mad at him any more than I can. He’s too charming.”
Penny hugged her. “He’s your problem now. You will take care of him, won’t you?”
“I will,” Marguerite said. “I have loved him for many years.”
“I need to change clothes, and then we can get on the road. I don’t want all these jewels.”
“They’re yours, Penny,” Marguerite said. “And Jean told me to tell you that if he finds the torc, he’ll leave it by the tree.”
“What tree?”
“He said you’d know,” Marguerite replied.
Sophia hugged Marguerite. “I might see you again. My traveling days aren’t over.”
“How will you find me?”
“I’ll find you. Don’t worry.” Sophia gave Marguerite another hug, and then she linked arms with Penny. “I’ll have to tell you about the night Thomas sent me back to the future. It was the most horrible experience of my life, but it opened the door to my future and a reunion with the love of my life. But it did take me a while to put it all in perspective.”
Pete took Soph’s hand, tugging her away from Penny. “Come on, babe. Let’s do this.”
Penny tried for a casual, deep breath, but her lungs laughed at the idea. Then Rick finished the song by playing a glissando and reached for her hand. “Let’s go home, sweetheart.”
They crossed the room, and Penny sat in her designated spot and turned to face the center as the rest were doing. Then Remy carried Rhona and placed her on a trunk with Philippe on one side of her and Remy on the other. Next to Remy, Churchill climbed over a trunk and sat down next to Pete, then Sophia and Rick filled in the circle.
“Stand way back, Marguerite, so that you won’t get sucked into the fog,” Pete said.
“Wait! Where are my shoes?” Rhona blurted, not sounding at all like a woman who just fainted. “You promised me I could click my heels.”
Rick glanced at Penny. “Can Rhona wear your shoes?”
“Of course.” Penny removed them. “What size do you wear?”
“Eights,” Rhona said. “But I don’t want your shoes.”
“They’re also eights, and you can borrow them. They’re lucky shoes. They’ll get you home, safe and sound. It might not be an easy ride, but in the end, you’ll be where you need to be.” Penny switched shoes with Rhona then returned to her seat to link arms with Rick and Philippe.
Marguerite stood next to Penny’s portrait, crying. “Goodbye. I hope to see you again.”
Rick opened the diamond brooch. “Hold on tight and say, ‘Take us to David and Kenzie’ over and over.”
“I don’t understand where we’re going,” Churchill said. “Who are those people?”
“Our cousins,” Pete said. “And they have twin boys your age. Now, do you know what to say?”
“Yes, sir. ‘Take us to David and Kenzie.’”
Pete chucked Churchill under the chin. “That’s exactly right. Now hold on to Remy and me, and don’t let go, no matter what.”
“Click your heels, darling,” Philippe said. “It’s time to go home.” Rhona clicked the red shoes while Rick recited the inscription…
“Chan ann le tìm no àite a bhios sinn a’ tomhais an’ gaol ach ’s ann le neart anama.”
A peat-scented fog spread across the floor and quickly engulfed them. And that was the last they knew…
57
New Orleans—Penny
When the topsy-turvy roller coaster ride ended, and the fog thinned, what had been up was down, down was up, and everything else was catawampus.
Penny straightened her tiara, which had fallen over her right eye, her shoes—or rather Rhona’s shoes—were missing, and Penny’s court train was coiled around her until she looked like a bejeweled red mummy. But there weren’t any snakes slithering over her. All in all, the return was a AAA-TripTik success. The room smelled of spring flowers and coffee, and of course, yucky, stinky peat.
“Hooah! You’re back,” a woman yelled.
“Ye’ve only been gone thirty seconds,” a man said.
You’re back was good news. So was the warm, reassuring hand squeezing Penny’s shoulder. “Where are we?” she asked, looking around the mist-filled room as more details came into focus.
“The rental house in New Orleans,” Rick said. “How do you feel?”
“Dizzy, but otherwise…okay.” Except Jean was dead. Tears stung her eyes, but the excited voices drowned out her sadness, which was a good thing. The numbing reality was too harsh to cope with—yet.
One by one, the travelers stood and stretched like a dusting of snow had awakened them from a deep sleep in a poppy field.
“There’s Kenzie!” Penny said.
“And you’ve met David and Elliott. Did you meet Braham at the gala?”
“I don’t remember him.”
“He’s Charlotte Mallory’s husband.”
“Gotcha.”
Rick helped her untangle the court train, then pushed the trunks aside so she could escape the circle to give Kenzie a big hug.
“Oh, my God, Billie. It’s so good to see you.” They hugged and bounced around like teammates who’d just won their soccer match on penalty kicks.
“What happened to your arm?” Penny asked.
“Broken wrist. I was trail running and tripped on a root. But…you. I can’t wait to hear your story. It looks like it ended at the victory ball, but where’d these jewels come from? They’re extraordinary,” Kenzie said.
“They were a gift, and I’ll tell you all about it later.”
“I bet you’d like a shower and a change of clothes before you do anything else.”
“How’d you guess?”
“Been there,” Kenzie said. “But a whole lot of sadness was mixed up with my homecoming.”
“Then you know how I feel right now.”
Kenzie gave her another hug. “I don’t know the reason, but you’ve got a willing ear anytime you want to talk.”
“Maybe later over a bottle of wine,” Penny said.
“We’ll make time today.”
“Elliott,” Pete said. “Come here and meet Philippe and Rhona Fontenot.”
Philippe shook hands with Elliott. “I’ve heard all about you.”
“I hope ye heard it from Remy. I know what he’ll say. Rick and Pete will tell ye I’m an asshole or a controlling bastard.”
“Pete, Rick, and Remy all told me that you’re a man of honor who always has their backs. But I also heard about you many years ago while at the Kentucky Derby. Rhona and I were guests of friends from Texas who had a box next to yours. Your horse won.”
Elliott laughed. “I know who ye’re talking about. I’d put yer host in the frenemy column.” He squeezed Philippe’s shoulder and gave it a little shake. “Ye and Rhona are part of the family now, and ye’ll always have access to the full resources of MacKlenna Corporation, including our box at the Derby.” Then he glanced at Penny. “The same goes for ye, lass.”
“Thank you, sir.” Then she glanced at Braham. “We didn’t meet at the reopening celebration. I’m Penny La…” She caught herself and cringed. “Well, right now, I’m just Penny.”
“Well, ‘just Penny…’” Braham smiled, and the lines at the corners of his eyes and mouth deepened. “I’m Braham McCabe, husband of Charlotte Mallory, who is Elliott’s very distant cousin, and the father of Lincoln, Kitherina, and Amelia Rose. I’m also the first cousin of Elliott’s goddaughter, Kit McCabe MacKlenna Montgomery. She changed her name while time-traveling, too.”
Braham laughed. “She added Montgomery.”
“Sounds like an interesting story.”
“Oh, it is.” Braham chuckled. “Look, I don’t have much experience with going back in time, but I came forward several years ago, and I have a different perspective when it comes to time travel. If ye need a sounding board and like whisky, we can sit on the bank of the James River and solve world hunger.”
“Solving world hunger is a lofty goal, but I’m up for it.”
“Watch out, babe,” Rick said. “He’s also a cigar aficionado, but he’ll only give you one if you swear to write a review.”
Braham’s eyes widened, and Penny wondered if he was reacting to Rick’s use of the affectionate term. It didn’t bother her. It was Rick-speak, and although he’d never referred to her as babe or sweetheart while she worked on the gala, she heard him call his office manager babe, and Cate never seemed bothered by the name either.
She cocked her head and gave Rick a puzzled look. “How do you know I like cigars?”
He shrugged. “You never waved away the smoke. Matter of fact, you stepped into it.”
“They always smell so sweet compared to everyone else’s. And with so many stinking bodies, your cigars were always rather refreshing.”
Braham glared at Rick. “Those cigars weren’t for you. They were meant to be used as bribes for information to find…Penny.”
“Well, I smoked ’em all. It was a stressful trip.”
“I hope ye took notes,” Braham said.
Rick raised his fist and knocked knuckles with Braham. “Of course. As soon as I have time to type them out, I’ll send you an email. I’m no dummy. I’d never intentionally piss off my source.”
“Well, who is this young man, Sophia?” Kenzie asked.
Churchill’s eyes popped wide open. He whirled around, buried his face against Pete’s chest, and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, “She’s not wearing any clothes.”
Pete rubbed Churchill’s back. “Women dress differently in our time. I’ll explain it all later, but Kenzie’s wearing appropriate summer shorts and a T-shirt. It’s okay to look at her.”
Churchill peeked and turned away again. “I’ll get twenty lashes if I do.”
“Nobody will ever give you any lashes,” Pete said, still rubbing Churchill’s back.
“I still can’t look, sir.”
“This brave young man,” Pete said, “is Subaltern James Churchill, 4th Regiment of Foot, King’s Own.”
Churchill nodded toward Penny, still not daring to look at Kenzie. “Captain Lafitte over there found me in a tree after the battle. I didn’t want to come down, but she threatened to shoot me.”
“Oh, man,” Kenzie said. “You’ve been threatened with twenty lashes and with being shot out of a tree? Well, you’ll never have to worry about that here. But Captain Lafitte must have thought you looked very dangerous. Do you suppose she’s related to Jean Lafitte?”
Churchill turned back to Penny. “You’re cousins, right, Captain Lafitte?”
“Yep, that’s what we said,” Penny said.
Kenzie, David, Elliott, and Braham all stared at Penny.
She shrugged. “That’s my privateer name. My real name, Churchill, is Wilhelmina Penelope Malone. And my nicknames are Penny or Billie.”
“I heard the pirate call you Wilhelmina, but Mr. O’Grady, Sophia, and Pete call you Penny. You have too many names, so I’ll call you Captain Lafitte, even though you don’t have blue hair and an eyepatch anymore.”
Kenzie scratched the side of her face. “This is sounding more and more interesting. So Churchill, how old are you?”
“I’m fourteen, ma’am. And I’m a distant cousin to the Duke of Marlborough.”
“Kenzie has twin boys your age,” Pete said. “You’ll meet them in a few days.”
“What year were ye born?” Braham asked Churchill.
“In the summer of 1800 in Oxfordshire, sir. My mum died when I was young, so I became a cabin boy when I was eight.”
“I was born in 1824,” Braham said. “Ye’re older than me.”
Churchill shot Braham a hard look. “How come you’re so much bigger, then?”
“That’s a good question,” Braham said. “I’ll have to explain it to ye later.”
“Well,” Elliott said. “Looks like we have another permanent visitor from the past.”
“Yep,” Pete said, “and he, Philippe, and Rhona need IDs.”
“I’ll take care of it,” David said. “After ye give me the names ye want to use and a couple of pictures, I’ll get right on it. I guess ye also want adoption papers for Churchill.”
“Can you do that?” Pete asked.
“Not me, but I have contacts,” David said. “We’ll need to write a backstory for him so he can explain where he came from.”
Churchill’s eyes darted from Braham to Elliott to Pete to David, his frown deepening.
“Rhona needs to go to the hospital for treatment as quickly as possible,” Remy said. “She’s been ill, possibly with leukemia, for several months. You might have to grease some wheels to get it all worked out since they doan have insurance.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Rhona, but from here on out, ye’ll have the best treatment possible, and don’t worry about the cost. MacCorp will pick up the tab.” Elliott checked his wristwatch. “Let’s go to Richmond and let Charlotte evaluate ye. We can leave right away and be at the plantation in two hours. Remy, why don’t ye call Charlotte and give her a heads-up plus any information ye have on what kind of medical care Rhona needs.”
“We’ll go with you,” Pete said. “The best way for Churchill to assimilate is being with other kids. Rick can drop David and Kenzie at the farm on his way back to Napa.”
“Works for me,” Rick said. “I’m sure Penny wants to get home as soon as possible.”
“Can I take a shower first?” she asked.
“I’d like one too,” Rhona said.
Philippe took Rhona’s hand and kissed it. “If you can point us in the right direction, I’ll help Rhona clean up, and we’ll be ready to go in thirty minutes.”
“Sophia and I will scrounge up a sundress, shorts, or yoga pants and a T-shirt. Whatever you’d like,” Kenzie said.
Rhona laughed. “Yoga pants. I haven’t worn shorts since I was thirty.”
“But your legs are still as beautiful,” Philippe said.
“I didn’t plan to stay overnight,” Braham told Philippe. “But since we’re about the same size, I can fix ye up with jeans or khakis when we get to the plantation. When we have time, we’ll go shopping.”
“We don’t want to put you out,” Philippe said.
“When ye see the setup we have there, ye’ll see ye aren’t putting us out at all. I’ll tell ye about it once we get airborne.”
“I’ll call the pilot and let him know we’ll be at the airport within the hour,” Elliott said.
“Do you know where my suitcase is?” Penny asked Rick.
“The hotel might still have it. I’ll call.”
“By the way,” Elliott said. “I assume ye told Penny what happened to her brooch.”
“Yeah, I told her. So what’s up.”
“I had Cate put a stop payment on that check ye wrote to Inspector Malone. I’ll call the inspector and tell him the funds won’t be available”—Elliott glanced at Penny—“unless ye’d like to make the call.”
The thought of talking to her father gave her a headache. She rubbed her temples, thinking through the best way to handle it, but couldn’t come up with a plan. “I can’t deal with him right now.”
“I got this,” Rick said, stroking her arm, his smile warm and intimate.
Those three words said to her: Babe, relax, and trust that everything will be okay. I’ve got the strength and perseverance to see you safely through this. She trembled as a soft, swelling desire uncoiled deep inside
her, the rising heat curling upward, spiraling like a flame through her senses and warming her all over. She’d never needed anyone to take care of her before, but right now, she did, and she trusted Rick not to take advantage of her.
“Thank you. I appreciate you doing that. Now I want a long, hot shower. Which way should I go?”
“I’ll take you upstairs,” Rick said. “You can use my bathroom while I round up clothes for you. Then I’ll call the hotel and your father.”
Penny followed Rick upstairs. “There’s a robe on the bathroom door,” he said over his shoulder. “I haven’t used it, so it’s clean.”
“All I need is some shampoo and a razor.”
“I don’t have girly products, but use whatever you need from my Dobb kit. My sister was notorious for using our razors growing up. We tried hiding them, but she sniffed out our secret places, so my brothers and I always had nicks on our faces. For now, I’ll forgo shaving.”
“The scruffy look works for you.” Then she laughed. “I can just picture you as a sixteen-year-old with little Band-Aids all over your face.”
“Ha, ha.”
“I appreciate your sacrifice,” she said over her shoulder as she entered the bathroom, but then she made a quick U-turn and stopped Rick before he left the room. “I need help. I can’t get out of this dress or stays by myself.” She removed the tiara and put it on the dresser.
“Do you want me to call Kenzie or Sophia?” A half-smile said he was hoping she’d say no.
“No, just unhook the necklace and help me pull this over my head. Then you can untie the stays.”
“Pretend I just gasped in surprise that you asked me to take off your clothes.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “What the hell does that mean?”
He took a step toward her, held her arms in his big hands, and gazed into her eyes. “There’s a sexual attraction between us that I can’t deny. Can you?”
“Just because I find you sexy as hell doesn’t mean I’m going to jump into bed with you. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever recover from my past trauma enough to be a loving sexual partner.”
And I know you won’t stick around if there’s no hope of that ever happening.
The Topaz Brooch Page 63
