Summoned in Time: A magical, ghostly, time travel romance... (The MacCarthy Sisters Book 3)

by Barbara Longley

  Daniel’s family had relocated to Dublin after their farm had been seized. Perhaps a different search might yield something new. She switched to Dublin’s public records and started over, but her mind wasn’t really on the task. What if she did end up traveling through time? How did one prepare for that kind of trip?

  Opening a new tab, she looked for ready-made clothing appropriate for the mid-nineteenth century. That brought her to the online Historical Emporium where she clicked on women’s clothing and began to scroll.

  Smiling, she chose a lovely navy-blue Edwardian walking suit, a skirt, two blouses, a jacket, lingerie, a pair of leather ankle boots, a bonnet, and gloves. She added all of the garments to a cart and stared goggle-eyed at the total. Her summer as a volunteer could set her bank account back way more than she imagined. The clothing added up to more than a grand.

  Did she really need an entire wardrobe for one week in the past? No, but being a history buff and all, that didn’t prevent her from wanting every single item she’d chosen. “Especially the walking suit,” she muttered under her breath. What am I thinking?

  The skirt, blouses, and jacket would suffice. Still, that gorgeous ensemble … those leather lace-up ankle boots … she could wear the period clothing while volunteering in Garretsville. That would lend the tours a bit of authenticity.

  She leaned back in her chair and pursed her lips. How would the Historical Emporium get the clothing to her? Their cabin didn’t have an address registered with the post office. Oh, but the ranger station did. She could call Park Ranger Geller and ask if she could have things delivered there.

  By the time she forced herself back to her record search, she’d practically drooled over her keyboard at the cart full of historical clothing. She sipped her lukewarm coffee and shoved aside the impulse to pull out a credit card. Spending money for a trip to the past that might not happen made no sense.

  After another forty-five minutes of fruitless searching, Meredith threw in the towel. Daniel would be waiting to hear what she’d discovered, and she had nothing to offer. Meredith shoved her things in her backpack and hoisted it to one shoulder. A stop at the grocery store—the collective list and combined food allowances in her wallet—and then she’d head back to Garretsville.

  Just as she climbed into her Jeep, her phone rang with Regan’s ringtone. Meredith’s pulse surged as she hit speaker phone and accept. “What did Boann say?” she blurted.

  “She won’t get involved.”

  Meredith’s stomach dropped. “I figured.”

  “You care about Daniel Cavanaugh, don’t you?” Regan said.

  “That’s … weirdly difficult to say.” Meredith’s throat tightened, and she swallowed a few times. “Would you have admitted you had feelings for Fáelán when you believed he was a ghost?”

  “I get what you’re going through.” Regan gave a short laugh. “It’s this awkward gray area where you know in your heart if the man were alive you’d fall for him, but he’s not. Still, as you get to know him better, those feelings grow, and all the while you’re thinking it’s wrong, stupid, foolish, impossible—”

  “But you just can’t help yourself,” Meredith finished for her sister. Now her eyes stung, and the tightening in her throat turned into a lump.

  “Exactly.” Regan went quiet for a moment. “All is not lost, Meredith. Do you remember Alpin?”

  “Fionn MacCumhail’s fae cousin? Of course I remember him. Isn’t he helping Brían’s clan?”

  “He is. Naturally you and your Irish ghost were the topic of conversation at our dinner the other night. Alpin happened to be there, and it turns out he’s a romantic at heart.”

  “Okay.” She frowned. “Don’t the same laws against meddling apply to him?”

  “They do, but Alpin says he knows a way you can travel back and forth in time without having one of the Tuatha dé Danann directly involved.”

  That same breathlessness she’d experienced when she’d first read the bureau’s article overtook her, and once again she felt like she might faint. Was this feeling a premonition about her own future? She’d always sensed things about those she cared for, but never about herself, and never like this. “Really?”

  “Yes, really. It’s an ancient method using magically infused, flawless, uncut diamonds. He says using diamonds was very popular back when their laws also prohibited time stepping in the human realm. For some reason, the energy trace created when the gem is infused either dissipates completely or remains inside the crystal once the magic is spent. The fae who casted the magic can’t be traced.”

  Anticipation won out over the anxiety, and a flicker of optimism flared to life. “He’s willing to provide me with that kind of magic?”

  “If that is what you want, he is willing to provide you with two crystals: one to travel to the past and one to return.”

  “I want that. Regan, if all I can do is prevent Daniel’s murder, if I can give him his life back, that would be—”

  “I’m not finished.”

  “Sorry.” With so much jazzed up energy coursing through her, she could barely contain herself. “Go on.”

  “Alpin says time travel by this method is not as reliable as traveling via portal created by one of the Tuatha. The risks are much greater. It’s possible you won’t end up where you intend to be, or maybe not at the exact time you mean to be there. I want you to give this a great deal of serious thought. Discuss it with Daniel before you commit.”

  “If something goes wrong, would Alpin be willing to help me?”

  “He might be willing, but I don’t know that he’d be able to. He, Boann, and Fionn are under constant surveillance by the fae council since they were granted permission to assist Brían’s clan. That’s why Boann said she couldn’t get involved. If she helped and the council found out, she’d be banished from our dimension. Fáelán, Conan and I are much too important to her to take that risk, and she’s important to us as well.”

  “I get it, but Alpin doesn’t have the record of interference Boann has, does he? He doesn’t have a human family either. Maybe he’d be willing to risk a slap on the wrist if—”

  “He does have a record of interference. He was involved in Fáelán’s rescue, and he’s the fae who wove the magic hiding Fionn’s valleys. I don’t believe he has a human family, but I can’t say that with any certainty. You can’t count on his help.” She sighed.

  “I know what you’re going through, Meredith. I’ve been in those shoes. Here’s what you need to ask yourself: Is Daniel worth the risk? If you choose not to travel back in time, you can still help him cross into the light.”

  Could she? He’d tried to cross numerous times, only to encounter a barrier, and he wanted to cross. “I don’t suppose Grayce has had any visions about my situation.”

  “No. She would’ve contacted you immediately if she had”

  “I know.” She bit her lip. “I guess I have a lot to think about.”

  “That’s for sure,” Regan said. “Whatever you decide, you have my support. I love you, Mere.”

  That did it. Meredith’s bit her lip harder to gain control over her roiling emotions. “I love you too. You have no idea how difficult it’s been for me now that you and Grayce are so far away.”

  “Yes I do. Don’t you think it’s hard on us too? You, Mom, Dad, and the rest of our extended family are an ocean away. It really bothers me that Conan will hardly know his Auntie Meredith, or his only grandparents. This is not at all how I envisioned things when I thought about having a family. I wish all of you would move here.”

  “Or, you and Fáelán could move here.”

  “After what he’s suffered? I couldn’t ask that of him. I wouldn’t. You know his history, and you know what he wants to do with the rest of his life. He has all this knowledge about Ireland’s past, and he wants to be the one to uncover those ancient sites for the rest of the world.”

  “Yeah, I know.” She sucked in a much-needed breath. “I should get going. I have a few
errands to run before I head back to Garretsville.”

  “All right. Call me as soon as you decide what to do.”

  “I will.”

  Meredith ended the call and tossed her phone into her backpack. Gripping the steering wheel with both hands, she rested her forehead on her knuckles and closed her eyes. Her longing to help Daniel warred with the fear that something would go horribly wrong. Several moments passed with no clear winner before she snatched her phone from her pack again and called her twin. “Hey, Grayce,” Meredith rasped out the moment Grayce picked up.

  “I was just calling you when my phone rang,” Grayce told her. “Even from Ireland I can feel your turmoil.”

  “I’m … not happy, and it’s not all about my present dilemma. It’s … well, it’s everything.”

  “I know.” Her twin’s sigh came through loud and clear. “I’ve known since the day Boann returned me to Regan and Fáelán’s house. You feel as if Regan and I have abandoned you.”

  “Yes, and I’m not adjusting well at all.” Meredith let loose a mirthless laugh. “This is the first time I’ve said that out loud,” she squeaked as tears filled her eyes again.

  “Listen, I know you want to start working toward your PhD. You could switch to medieval or world history and apply to Trinity College in Dublin.” Grayce’s voice held a note of enthusiasm. “Maybe you’d meet a nice Irishman who—”

  “I’ve already met a nice Irishman, and he’s—”

  “Dead.” Grayce snorted.

  “Yep. Very. Has been for more than a century.” Meredith swallowed and wiped a tear from her cheek. “Anyway, if I did do my doctoral program in Ireland, I’d be abandoning Mom and Dad. How would they cope with having all three of us so far away?”

  She and Grayce both went quiet for several seconds, no doubt hoping an easy solution might pop into their heads. That was what she hoped anyway, but nothing came to her.

  “Tell me what to do, Grayce, because I’m torn. You know what Alpin has offered, and you know me. I don’t take risks. I never have. I left all the risk-taking up to you, living and learning vicariously through your experiences. What should I do?”

  “I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. Remember when you first called us after arriving in Garretsville? I told you then I sensed things were not going to be easy.”

  “I remember. Were you picking up on the choice I’d have to make?”

  “I think so.” She went quiet for a few seconds, as if thinking. “If there were no risks involved, what would you do?”

  “I’d go back in time and save Daniel’s life.” She’d also invite him to join her in the twenty-first century. Would he? Worries about his family were what kept him here, so probably not. He’d return to Ireland to fulfill the vow he’d made to his mother, and Meredith would return to her life in the present. Her chest ached with the certainty that things weren’t going to turn out the way she wished they would.

  “Okay, you said that without the slightest hesitation. How about you listen to your heart, and maybe have a little faith.” Grayce suggested.

  Meredith groaned and raked her fingers through her hair. “That’s the best you’ve got?”

  “Sorry.”

  “Well, shit.”

  “That about sums it up.” Grayce snorted. “After all the visions and crap I’ve been through, I’ve developed a modicum of faith—in fate, the grand plan, or … whatever. I have to believe I’d sense something if you weren’t going to get through this intact, and I don’t.”

  “I hope you’re right.” At any rate, she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “On a happier note, how are you feeling? Do you still have morning sickness?”

  “I experience nausea off and on throughout the day, but it’s not so bad that I actually throw up. The excitement more than makes up for the discomfort. Brían is having a tough time keeping our secret, and he’s gone overboard with being protective.”

  Meredith grinned. “I can imagine. I can’t wait to meet the newest MacSloan.”

  “I can’t either,” Grayce gushed. “I didn’t planned to marry or to have a family, and look where I am now.”

  “Right, you fell into a hidden world, went through hell, and in the end everything turned out for you and Brían.” She hadn’t meant to sound so bitter, but the bitterness leaked out nonetheless.

  “Maybe you’re on the verge of great change as well. Brían told me fate brought us together, and I believe him. Perhaps—”

  “Boann came to your rescue, Grayce.” Meredith’s gut clenched at the thought of what would’ve happened if Boann hadn’t arrived on the scene when she had. “She can’t get involved in this.”

  “I know.”

  “I’d better get going.” Meredith swallowed a few times. “I have another call to make and errands to run.”

  “Okay. Call me again whenever you need to talk. I love you,” Grayce said, her voice tremulous.

  “I love you back.” Once she ended the call, Meredith brought up the contact information she’d entered into her phone for Jake Geller and the ranger station. She called his cell number.

  “Ranger Jake here,” he answered.

  “Hi, this is Meredith MacCarthy in Garretsville. I was wondering if I could have a package delivered to the ranger station.”

  “Sure. Just have it addressed to you in care of me. Lots of volunteers have done that over the years.”

  “Great. Call me when it arrives, and I’ll pick it up after the park closes.”

  “I don’t mind dropping it off. I need to stop by and check up on the park anyway,” he said. “How’re things going?”

  “Everything is going great.” If one didn’t count Oliver’s near possession by the doers of dastardly deeds. Should she mention the buried treasure she helped recover? What about the possibility that she’d travel back in time to save a ghost she was pretty sure she was already half in love with?

  A bubble of near-hysteria burst, and she coughed to prevent it from turning into mad laughter. “Excuse me. Just inhaled a bug.” Another cough-cough for good measure, and she continued, “The package should arrive in the next few days.” Because she planned to pay extra to see that it did, and her budget be damned. She had a very nice, very dead Irishman to rescue.

  “I’ll keep an eye out for your shipment, and I’ll bring the box by the day it arrives.”

  “Thanks. I’ll see you then.” Meredith ended the call and pulled her laptop and her wallet from her backpack. Parked as she was in Starbuck’s lot, she still had decent wi-fi. With credit card in hand, she brought up the Historical Emporium. “This is the craziest, most impulsive thing I have ever done,” she muttered as she filled out the form and made her purchase.

  She hadn’t fully made up her mind yet, but she didn’t want to waste any time either. If she decided not to take on the role of super hero in Daniel’s tragedy, she’d send the clothing back.

  Meredith brought her dirty dishes to the sink. “That was the best chili I’ve ever had, John,” she said. “Thanks for dinner.”

  “You’re welcome, and thanks for picking up the ingredients today.” He rose from the kitchen table and started gathering silverware and napkins. “Chili is the only thing I make that comes out like I want it to.”

  “Really?” Oliver stood up from the table. “The cornbread was also excellent.”

  “Yeah, Judy made that,” John grinned sheepishly.

  Judy kept an eye on Oliver as he stretched and glanced toward his loft. “Meredith, will you join me in the bedroom for a moment?” she asked. “There’s something of a personal nature I need to discuss with you.”

  “Sure, but it’s my turn to do the dishes.”

  “Oliver and I will take care of the dishes.” John glanced at Oliver. “Won’t we?”

  “Sure, sure.” Oliver nodded. “Glad to help.”

  “Thanks,” Meredith said as she followed Judy to her room. “This is all very mysterious.” She grinned as Judy closed the door behind them.

&
nbsp; “Yes, well, I didn’t want to discuss this in front of Oliver. He’s so impressionable.” Judy gestured toward one of the two twin beds. “Have a seat.”

  “Okay.” Meredith’s curiosity grew as Judy laid her hand on a stack of books sitting on top of a dresser.

  “As you know, John and I have been volunteering here for the past decade, this year being our eleventh.”

  Meredith nodded.

  “These are the history books we sell in the gift shop. All of them are about mining in the Garnet Mountains and Garrettsville’s history in particular.”

  Judy’s expression seemed to hold expectation as she gazed at Meredith. Where was she going with this? “So?” Meredith prompted.

  “You’re the American history professor. Haven’t you read any of them?”

  “I bought one, but I haven’t had the time to even flip through the pages.” She frowned. “You want to discuss the books we sell in the gift shop?”

  Judy shook her head. “We know my ancestor was robbed and murdered here. We also know Daniel and several others met the same fate at the hands of the same three men. Other than a missing prostitute, her supposed lover, and one old man, no mention is made in any of these books about the numerous murders and thefts that occurred in Garrettsville.”

  “Okay.” Meredith nodded again.

  Judy threw up her hands. “It would’ve made the news, Meredith. There are photocopies of other articles about this town in the Missoula papers, yet nothing about the gang preying on the prospectors. Do you know what that means?”

  “Nobody reported the crimes?” she hedged.

  “Are you pretending to be dense? No!” Judy’s eyes saucered. “It means you went back in time and prevented the murders from happening.”