James groaned, “Well, maybe, but JB—James Bradford over in London—for sure. He’s the one who sent me the file. Billy, can you do any of your detective work in England? I think the man who scanned and sent me the note and the map is the one who changed this around. And then these MacLeod boys, except for Clark, seem to know what’s going on, too. At least, they seem to have a keen interest in Leah, and I don’t think it’s just for her set of keys to the pharmaceutical cabinets at the hospital.”
“I’ll see what I can find out. In the meantime, when and how are you two going back, and when were you going to tell me?” Billy was hurt, but also concerned for their safety.
“Well, I just found out that you were my brother…” James began.
Leah interrupted, “And yes, I was going to tell you, regardless of whether you thought I was a nut or not. I mean, I didn’t want you to have to go through what I did when my mother disappeared. I just didn’t know how or when I was going to let you know. Now, with the family thing going on between you two... Well, we wanted to tell you as soon as possible. This was the first chance we had for all of us to be alone together.”
**45 What Next?
August 13, 2013, 7:00 PM
“JB has been sending copies of all of my correspondences to those damned MacLeod brothers. No wonder it seems as if they’re shadowing us, one step behind us.”
“Except when they’re one step in front of us,” Leah added. “What don’t they know?”
“They don’t know that I have what they’re looking for with me, that the treasure isn’t buried or back with my father, but in my valise. I don’t know how much of a difference that makes, though. I believe they want to go back in time, regardless. There must be something else, another reason they want access to the time portal. Right now, you and I are flying blind—they have the letters. They know more than we do about what has happened.”
“No, they know more than we do about what’s in the letters, but I don’t think they know where to go.”
“What do you mean?” James asked, flinching because he had never told her about slipping out to go and do a little redressing with the yellow ribbons at the scene of the disappearance.
“You went out and re-taped the ‘crime’ scene, didn’t you?” she accused more than asked.
“Well, I didn’t think I needed your help for that one. It was our second night together, and you were sleeping so soundly, and…ahem… I didn’t think you’d mind if I borrowed your car for an hour or two…”
Leah squinted her eyes as she slowly approached James, trying not to show a definitive emotion. She was glad and proud of him at the same time. She hoped he couldn’t see her true feelings, but could see the trumped-up emotion of anger mixed with frustration that she was trying to portray by deliberately pinching and contorting her expression. She got to within twelve inches of his guilt-wracked face before she broke character. She couldn’t hold back the elation and pride at his creative deception. They would be safe because of his forethought.
“Did anyone ever tell you that you were a genius?” she asked softly as she raised herself on tip toes to be closer to his face, placing her hands on his shoulders to steady herself.
“Not lately,” he admitted. “But if you’re saying so, I’m flattered.” He bent his head so his nose touched hers. A smile crept up one side of his face. Who would be the first to kiss the other at this close proximity? He felt her hands slide over his shoulders, up the sides of his neck, until they covered his ears. He closed his eyes at the warmth and security of her hands holding his head.
Slurp!
“What the heck!” he screeched. “What was that?” he asked, although he knew quite well what it was. She had licked his nose!
“Well, if you’re going to treat me like a dog, I’ll act like a dog. Now, no more secrets, okay?”
“Okay. And no more licking me like a dog,” he said.
Leah grinned and lifted her eyebrows suggestively.
“Well, at least no licking me on the nose,” he amended sheepishly. He didn’t have to be psychic to see what she was insinuating. All of a sudden, he knew exactly what he wanted to do next. But that would have to wait for a while. They had to finish tailoring their outfits first.
ӁӁ
August 14, 2013, 7:00 AM
“It’s Billy on the phone,” said Leah. “He said it’s important, and you and I should get to the hospital as soon as possible. Or rather he said stat, but that’s what it means.”
James had the room key and the bag in his hand before she finished her sentence. “What’s taking you so long?” he joked. She was ready, too, and had the car keys and purse in her hand. “And I know what stat means,” he said, as he opened the car door for her.
Leah looked grim as they pulled out of the driveway. His little joke had not been well accepted. He tried again. “Hey, I know you’re the one who’s psychic, but I know that Bibb is okay. She’s my blood, remember?”
“Yeah, it must be something else bothering me.”
Billy was waiting for them at the hospital entrance. He held up his hand to stave off any worried questions, but quickly saw that James was composed and looking back to make sure Leah was the same.
“Okay, have you guys got some visual communication going on? I mean, I know that Leah has the sight, but I didn’t know that you did too, little brother.”
“Just with her, or at least she’s the only one so far. But we’re still working at perfecting the silent language skills. So, what’s the big news that Bibb has? Oh, and she’s feeling better, I take it.” James was confident that all was well, and the look on Billy’s face confirmed it, even before he had asked.
“Oh, she’s a spry old lady, all right. She’s insistent that she tells you about a letter,” Billy said with emphasis on the last word and a raised eyebrow. “So, do you think maybe she has the missing letters you were talking about?”
James snorted, said, “Hell, if I know,” and grabbed Leah’s arm just a little too brusquely. “Come on, let’s go see what she has,” he said flatly, his perky mood suddenly in the trash bin.
ӁӁ
“I have a little confession to make,” Bibb said to the group, even before they had a chance to exchange hellos. “I’m sorry, that was rude. Good morning, and thank you all for…well, everything. I don’t think I’d be alive without your efforts, all of you.”
‘You’re welcomes’ were tossed back and forth, then the visitors to the hospital room each grabbed a chair and sat down.
“Are you feeling better today?” Billy asked, biting back the name Mom. He knew she didn’t know that he was the one who listened to her little ‘deathbed’ confession. He wanted to let her know he knew her secret—that he was her long lost son—but she had called the meeting for them to listen to her. He’d waited nearly thirty years to have a mother. He could wait a day or two more.
Bibb put up her right hand—still covered with tape and bandaging, but without the IV—and wafted away Billy’s question about her physical health. “Oh, I’m fine. I’d like to get out of here, but they said they want to do more tests. Personally, I think they just want more money. I keep telling them I don’t have insurance, and that I’m just a poor working woman, but they’re getting downright bossy. And I thought that I was belligerent! But anyway, I wanted to tell you two about a letter. I don’t mean to be rude, Officer Burke, but this is kind of a family matter. You do understand, don’t you?”
“Well, Bibb,” James started slowly, unsure of how he was going to proceed. He quickly looked over at Leah and gave her a ‘don’t interrupt me; I’m going to get this done by myself’ look. “I’m sorry, I want to call you ‘Mom,’ but that might take a day or two, or maybe just a minute or two, but, well, please don’t think I’m being rude if I use your given, or at least your familiar name, okay?”
Bibb didn’t say anything, but nodded that she understood.
“Well, I want you to know that we are all family here,” he said. Bibb nod
ded again like she was getting weary—he was repeating himself. “I don’t think you really understand, Mom,” he said sternly, eyeing her directly like a parent to a misbehaving child. “Billy, would you come here for a minute, please?”
Billy had been standing quietly by the door, ready to make a quick exit, if requested. Now he was smiling, glad to be called over—he really wanted to be involved in the family discussion.
“Would you hike up your shirt and pull down your pants a bit, and show Bibb that little, you know, thing?” James asked, winking at the word thing.
Billy couldn’t resist making a joke with an opening like that. “You mean this little old thing?” he asked in a playful tone. He pushed down the waistband of his pants and pulled up his shirt, holding the shirttail with his chin. He showed his belly to James, grinned at him, and then did a slow turn toward Bibb, showing her his port wine stain birthmark “Oh, and do you want to know my birthday, too, Mom?”
Bibb went ashen at the sight of the purplish blotch and plopped back into her stack of pillows. She didn’t say a word, just stared, her eyes wide with shock.
“Hey, you were the one who told me about me,” Billy explained. “There was some ‘ooh dee doo dee’ Twilight Zone stuff going on that day. You called me Marty, then told me all about me, all the way down to my birthday, birthmark, and the hospital you took me to. You fell back into your coma or whatever before I could tell you who I was. James said I sounded just like him—Dad—except for the accent, of course. But,” Billy slowed down the pace of his banter, “do I look like him?”
Bibb nodded briskly, then brought her hand up to wipe the tears that were now flooding down her face. She pulled her hand away from her nose and stuck both arms out to accept her first-born son. Billy lifted his chin, dropped his shirt back down over his partially-bared belly, and welcomed the hug. “Here,” he said, and grabbed a double fistful of tissues, “blow.”
Bibb accepted them and cleaned off the spatters of joy from under her eyes and nose. “But how?” she asked.
“Well, I don’t know how, but I think I know why. It’s because we all need each other. Now, Mom, I know a little about some of this mysterious stuff that’s going on, maybe more than you know, maybe not, but whatever is out there, I want to be a part of. I at least want to know what’s going on, even if I plan on staying put.”
“Staying put? What…why…who…” Bibb was sputtering and looking over at James and Leah. All the pair could do was grin and shrug. “Doesn’t anyone want to stay here with me?” she finally blurted out.
“Like I said, I plan on staying put. Now, you called us—them—here, so since we’re all ready to listen, how about you tell us about the letter before your blood pressure goes sky high with the excitement of having a baby, I mean, having a son.”
Billy stayed at Bibb’s side, his hand on the top of her left arm, glowing at her proximity. She placed her right hand on top of his, patted it gently, and began.
“Your father brought the letters to me to read. I’m not sure if it was because he trusted me that much—I’d like to think so—or if it was because I was all the way over in America and had no way of ‘being a nuisance’ with them.” She shrugged her shoulder in acknowledgement. It could have been either, but it didn’t matter. He had shared them with her.
“It was a long time ago, but I remember one of the letters clearly. He read it over and over again. He wanted me to memorize it. He was afraid it was going to get lost or stolen or burned or something. He normally wasn’t paranoid, but he certainly had a fear about that one letter. I told him I had a copier and could make a copy, or could even transcribe it for him and keep it in my safe, but he said no, he wanted me to memorize it. If you want to get some paper out of the desk over there—at least, I think there’s some over there—you can write it down for yourself. I really don’t think those bastards referred to in the letter are going to bother you two. Ready?”
James opened up the drawer of the nightstand and took out the paper and pen. “Ready,” he said, his ankle crossed over his knee making a human desktop. Ready as I’ll ever be. He looked over at Leah and saw she was content. Right now, she wasn’t stressed. Either her fear had been resolved or forgotten.
Bibb shut her eyes and recited the letter.
“The Second Letter
To: Lord James Melbourne
To be read no sooner than November 1, 2012
“My dear James,
“Hopefully you have followed the instructions that have been passed through the generations, and this epistle has not fallen into the wrong hands or been lost due to theft, fire, or disinterest. It is of the utmost importance that you help me in order to keep ‘the time line continuum’ as it should be.
“I came back to 1781 to investigate a mystery and have discovered an enigma that I know you can help resolve. If you don’t—or can’t—do this, you may never be born and this letter will seem like the ramblings of an insane man.
“I need you to come back to help me and someone who is very close to me. On October 31, 2012 you will come into possession of an ancient map. This will lead you to the information we sought about our great-uncle, Julian Hart. You will, of course, know more about him by the time you read this. I intentionally planted the seed of curiosity in you from your youth so you would follow through with this. Sorry for the manipulation, but it was a matter of the utmost value, absolutely priceless. If you can’t, or won’t, come back to join me, I will lose my greatest treasure.
“Beware of anyone named MacLeod. They seem to be everywhere there is evil. They are, and have been, the bane of our family since the 1740’s. There might be good members in their clan, but I have never heard of any.”
Bibb opened her eyes and looked up. “That’s why I knew he went back just recently. He was destined to be back there to write this letter from the 18th century to you. On the bottom half of the page was a post script, written in ball point pen.
“By now you will have read the letter from your old friend. Please have her daughter, the nurse, give you detailed instructions on how to perform blood transfusions. She should be able to help you obtain the supplies for same. If I have done my job right, you won’t be squeamish and will be able to help save a very important life. I need you here to help me in order to ensure your future. If you haven’t heard about the family secret, I’ll tell you when you get here. Love, Marty”
“And that was that,” Bibb said.
“And that was enough,” Leah snorted in exclamation. Her eyes widened and her voice softened, “So he doesn’t expect me to go back, does he, James?”
“I don’t care whether he expects you to or not. Unless you tell me you don’t want to go, you’re going, okay?”
Leah brightened up immediately. “Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,” she said, then realized the other aspect. “MacLeods! Oh, my God!”
“Yeah, right,” said Billy. “That’s the last name of Eight and Niner, and they’ve certainly been a major problem for you, Leah, and Mom.”
“What do you mean?” Bibb asked. “Those, those assholes who assaulted me—are they MacLeods?”
“Yes. Atholl Grant MacLeod the Eighth and his brother, Asshole the Ninth, or Niner as he’s called. Eight assaulted Leah, twice, and Niner is the one who sold James the map last fall when he was here. Evidently he’s also the one who torched Leah’s apartment the day James flew in.”
James continued the story. “Just after you left, that first day at Leah’s apartment when I found out the family secret—that you were, um, my mother, and that Marty was my father, well…” James paused for a deep breath. “Leah and I went swimming, and while we were out there, someone broke into her place and set it on fire. It didn’t look like they got anything, but the story was that they were looking for her keys so they could get into the pharmaceutical cabinet where she works, here at this hospital, in order to get drugs. Except she had the keys with her, and so they didn’t get anything. Instead, they just trashed and burned her a
partment.”
“Did you have the letters with you then, and do you have them now?” Bibb asked.
“Yes and no; I had them then—they were in my bag and I had it with us inside the pool enclosure—but now, no. Someone stole them when I was tending to the clerk at the motel and Leah was in the shower. Someone took them out of my bag, and oh, my God! Clark is a MacLeod! But I’m sure he didn’t, or doesn’t, have anything to do with this.” James put his ankle down off of his knee and leaned back in the chair. Could he be wrong about him?
“Would you recognize his voice on the phone?” Billy asked. James nodded, but didn’t say anything. He was still stunned. “Well, good, because we have a recording of the person who called in the anonymous tip that led to Bibb’s, I mean Mom’s, rescue. Sorry, when I think of you before I knew you were my mother, you were Bibb. Of course, you’re Mom now, and hopefully will be for a long time…”
Just then, a doctor came in with a clipboard full of papers. “Ms. Stephens, we have the results of your latest tests. Would you like me to wait to go over them with you until after your visitors leave?”
“No,” she replied calmly, surprisingly at peace with herself. She was going to have at least one son with her now. “These are all family members. You can tell all of us at the same time. I’m ready, and whether they are or not, they’re going to have to be.”
“Oh, so you probably know what I’m going to tell you.” the doctor said. Bibb shrugged as if it didn’t make a difference to her. “Well, the cancer has reappeared in your liver, but there’s a good chance we can take care of that with a transplant.” The doctor looked at the three young people in the room, obviously assessing their potential as donors. “It looks to me like you have two sons here who, if they are willing to get a little blood work done, could possibly be donors.”
Billy quickly stood up and stuck out his arm. “Where do I go and how soon can we get it done?”
Leah looked at James with shock. They were getting ready to leave and only had a small window of time. “How soon can we get all of this done? I mean the donating and all,” James asked grimly.
Aye, I am a Fairy Page 37
