by Tefft, Cyndi
This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Copyright © 2012 Cyndi Tefft
All rights reserved.
Published by Cyndi Tefft
Author photo by Saskia Kidd
Cover by Gabrielle Prendergast
coveryourdreams.wordpress.com
Dedication
This book is dedicated to Aaron Jamison, whose message of “Choose Joy” in the darkest of times was the greatest display of faith I’d ever seen. I can only imagine the choir of angels who attended his homecoming.
Acknowledgments
The greatest joy I have as a writer is sharing my story with readers who loved the tale. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined I’d have a “fan club” name for these fabulous people, let alone a logo! A huge thanks from me to all of Aiden’s Angels whose encouragement and support kept me motivated to reach the end. I love you all!
Special thanks to my Twitter BFF, Lindsay Rae Cox, for her relentless love of all things Aiden MacRae. And, of course, to Mr. Linz for his support of her obsession.
Many thanks to Sue and Carl Martin, Dyan Kirkpatrick, Vicki Gleeson and Clare Marshall for their input and eagle eyes in catching the inevitable typos.
And lastly, I have to thank my wonderful husband, Dave Tefft, who let me sneak off to the coffee shop for hours on end to whip this book into shape. Air would not be worth breathing without you, my love.
To him that waits, all things reveal themselves, provided that he has the courage not to deny, in the darkness, what he has seen in the light. -Coventry Patmore
Contents
Copyrights
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Visit Author Online
About the Author
Chapter 1
At the crack of noon, I snuck out of bed and threw on Aiden’s linen shirt, which hung to my knees. He never slept in longer than I did when we’d been together in the realm between earth and heaven, but I guess the process of resuming his physical form after three hundred years had sapped his strength. Sunlight painted the log walls of the cabin’s loft bedroom with an ethereal glow. I held my breath as I stood next to the bed, watching him sleep, like if I were to make the tiniest noise, the spell would be broken and I’d wake to find this had all been a dream.
Aiden, with me again.
I thought I’d lost him forever. The memory of him reaching for me, screaming “No!” as I was ripped back to life, had left a gaping hole in my chest. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t function, and I didn’t want to. All I wanted was Aiden. And now, by some mind-bending miracle, here he was, in the flesh, with me.
My eyes traveled over that flesh: the sheets curled over one hip, his bare chest dusted with blond curls, his lips slightly parted. It had only been two days since he’d come forward and already, his jaw was starting to show some darkened stubble. My fingers ached to touch the wiry hairs on his chin, just to be sure he was real, needing to hold on and not let go, to not let him out of my sight.
He rolled onto one side and blinked sleepily at me, his lips curving into a smile that melted me down to my toes.
“Where are ye going, lass?” he asked, his voice playful but still husky with sleep. “Do you mean to sneak off with my clothes so I have to chase you about the place in the altogether?”
Loving the way his tongue curled around the r in his words, I giggled at the thought of him streaking through the cabin after me. I’d meant to bring him breakfast in bed, but his idea sounded like more fun. His kilt lie discarded on the floor, next to his dirk, belt, and sporran. With a wicked grin, I snatched up the kilt and made a run for the stairs. The bedsprings protested loudly as Aiden leapt off the mattress and bolted after me. A delighted squeal escaped my lips as I raced down the steps, my heart pounding with the anticipation of being caught.
A second later, my feet left the ground as he grabbed me around the waist and picked me up from behind. He twisted us around in the skinny stairwell and pressed me against the wall. Clutching the kilt between us, I tried to keep a straight face but the closeness of his naked body made my words come out in a stutter.
“Oh, d-did you want this?” I asked with wide eyes, the picture of innocence. He shook his head and a dimple appeared on one cheek as he pinned me with his smile.
“Nae. I want you,” he said and kissed me.
The green and black plaid fabric fluttered to the ground as I reached up to wrap my arms around him. He caught my wrists and pinned them above my head with one hand.
Aha! Now you’re all mine. I heard his words in my mind as clearly as if he’d spoken them out loud.
I always was. I mentally replied and he bent down to kiss me again. When he let go of my wrists, I threaded my fingers through his hair, pulling him even closer. His hands were everywhere and before I knew it, he’d taken back his linen shirt as well, leaving us standing skin to skin in the stairwell, breathing hard.
Suddenly, he became completely still. A moment later, I heard the sound of wheels on the gravel road outside the cabin. When a car door slammed, I shot up the stairs like they had burst into flames beneath me.
“Helloooo...? Anybody home?” A man’s familiar voice drifted up to the loft and I groaned. Aiden was right there, his face set in a protective scowl, but I shook my head.
“It’s just Ranger Jim. Stay here and I’ll get rid of him,” I whispered, pulling on my bathrobe. I padded down the stairs in bare feet, wishing I’d had the sense to lock the door the night before.
Jim stood in the doorway, part way in and part way out of the kitchen, peeking his head around the corner. “Oh Lindsey, there you are! I didn’t recognize the car in the drive when I was making my rounds, so I thought I’d pop in to make sure everything was on the up and up. Where are your folks?” Ranger Jim was a short, balding man with a kind smile and a round belly whom I’d known since I was about three years old. He stepped farther into the room and craned his head around, looking for my parents.
“Um, they didn’t come with me this time. I decided to come by mys—“
Just then, Aiden appeared at the foot of the stairs, his h
air flowing wildly over his shoulders and his hand on the hilt of the small dagger at his side.
“Hallo there. Can I help ye?” Aiden greeted him suspiciously, his Scottish accent coming out thick.
Jim whipped around to look at him and swallowed hard, taking in Aiden’s kilt and the sheathed weapon on his belt. He glanced from me to Aiden and back again, then dropped his gaze to the ground, stammering uncomfortably.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you… uh, had company, Lindsey. I’ll just be…” His cheeks flamed with embarrassment. He started to retreat toward the door, but Aiden crossed the room in two strokes, his hand extended in welcome.
“I’m Lindsey’s husband, Aiden MacRae. Very pleased to be meeting you, sir.”
Ranger Jim’s eyes grew as round as saucers but after a beat, his face broke into a huge smile. He clasped Aiden’s hand, pumping it up and down.
“Well, I’ll be damned. I’m Jim Patterson, the forest ranger for these parts. I’m delighted to meet you as well, Mr. MacRae.” He looked over at me, grinning. “Lindsey! I didn’t even know you were engaged! When did all this happen?”
I stared at Aiden blankly, shocked that he’d made this declaration of our marital status and realized with a start that he, in fact, had absolutely no idea when it had happened. I opened my mouth and then promptly shut it again. What was I supposed to say? “Yeah, Ranger Jim, we were married in the way of ancient Scots when I was dead and floating between earth and heaven. Sorry you didn’t get an invite.”
“It was... uh... last December,” I said instead, barely able to push the words past my lips.
“Well, well, congratulations, you kids. That’s great. Just great,” Jim said. I returned his smile and backed away so he could make his exit, thankful to have this impromptu meeting over.
“We’ve not yet eaten this morn. Would ye care to join us?” Aiden asked.
My jaw hit the floor.
What are you doing? I demanded in my mind, giving Aiden the evil eye.
His face didn’t register that he’d heard me but he sent back “We’ve a guest.” Like that explained everything.
Jim was quick to take him up on the offer and before I knew it, I was pulling supplies out of the pantry to make breakfast for everyone.
Unbelievable.
Jim wandered into the living room, reminiscing about how he’d seen me every summer since I was just a squirt. “What on earth happened in here?” I heard him ask.
Aiden explained that we’d had a fire a couple nights ago and hadn’t had a chance to clean up the charred curtains or blackened walls. What he didn’t say (thank God) was that I’d almost died (again) in the fire, but that Aiden had been given new life to come save me. It was one thing to tell Jim we were married. It would be something else entirely to tell him that Aiden was from the 1700s and had been something like the grim reaper, transporting souls to heaven until just two days ago.
“You kids were lucky. That could have been much worse,” Jim said, a note of censure in his voice. “I’ve got some spare materials over at the station that we could use to patch things up. In fact, I might have a few things with me now, come to think of it.” Jim, now in his element, headed out to his truck with Aiden dutifully trailing behind.
While we ate breakfast, Jim talked all about the lake and surrounding woods. Aiden listened intently, interjecting questions here and there. I sat watching the two of them, unable to wrap my head around the fact that Aiden was here at the cabin, talking to this man whom I’d known most of my life, like everything was completely normal.
Normal. I didn’t even know what that meant anymore.
“Well, I’d best be shoving off,” Jim said finally, standing up. “I’ve got to get back to my rounds, but thank you both for your hospitality, and congratulations again.” He gave Aiden a firm handshake and patted me on the shoulder as he left.
Aiden’s face glowed with excitement. I raised one eyebrow at him while I gathered up the breakfast dishes, not sure what was so thrilling about Ranger Jim.
“That’s the first living, breathing man I’ve spoken to since my death. It’s just… incredible to be alive again. I cannot explain it.”
“You don’t have to.” The look of awe and sheer joy on his face softened me. For the first time since Ranger Jim had appeared, my shoulders relaxed. I reached up and kissed him. “But you do need to be careful about telling people we’re married.” An awful thought occurred to me. “What if he were to call my parents? They don’t know anything about my getting married in December, do they?”
His face creased in a frown and he held my hand in his own, twisting my wedding ring between his fingers. “But you’re my wife, Lindsey MacRae, whether they know it or not. What would it look like if I were staying here with you all alone, and we weren’t married? What of your reputation then? I would not dishonor you that way.”
I struggled to find words to make him understand. “I know, but in this world, right now, you’ve simply materialized out of thin air. I’ve been at school since December. Hardly anyone even knows I died in that car accident. I was revived at the scene of the crash, so even though I spent all that time with you in between—and yes, married you—“ I put up a hand to cut off his protest, “to everyone else, I never left. So there’s no way they could understand I’m your wife, not without us getting married here.”
He grunted and fell silent. Nervous energy bubbled inside me, making the hash browns I’d eaten congeal into a hard, solid lump in my gut. The myriad of complications ahead of us suddenly smacked me in the face.
“I mean, just look at you! I love your kilt and all, but that is definitely not going to fly in the real world. We’ve got to go shopping and get you some new clothes ASAP.” He gave me a questioning look at the unfamiliar term, but I ignored him. “We’ll have to come up with some explanation about where you came from and how you got to be here in the first place. Like, if you’re from Scotland, what are you doing in Priest Lake, Idaho, halfway across the world?” A note of panic crept into my tone.
“You don’t have any ID, no driver’s license or passport. You have no money and no way to get a job. What are you going to do? You just learned how to use a toilet two days ago, for crying out loud! How long will it take before someone notices that you don’t know anything about things from this century? Things even a child would know!” My eyes flickered around the room, my freak out switch completely flipped at this point.
“What’s a computer? And the Internet? What about a cell phone? Somebody’s going to ask you the most mundane question—like, what’s your favorite video game?—and you’re going to give them a blank stare just like you’re doing to me right now and they’re going to know. They’re going to know, Aiden!” My voice reached the upper limit of hysterics.
“They’re going to know you’re not from this place, from this time and they’re gonna call the police and they’re gonna take you away and hook you up with electrodes in some lab…”
The breakfast plate I’d been holding slipped out of my fingers and fell to the floor, smashing into pieces. I covered my face with my hands and started to hyperventilate, envisioning guys in white jackets hauling him off. The hundreds of ways that things could go terribly wrong pummeled me from all sides.
Aiden grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard.
“Lindsey. Lindsey! Stop it. Listen to me.”
I blinked up at him, tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. The look of steely determination on his face was like a port in a storm. Trembling, I locked onto his eyes in order to keep from being pulled under.
“You will teach me everything I need to know in order to blend in. When I was a teenager, my Uncle Alex taught me to live in high society in France on top of a completely new language. I can learn how to live in this place, in this time, too.” His words were strong, tempered and methodical. I drank them in like a woman dying of thirst.
“Don’t be afraid, mo chridhe. We will manage. Trust me.” Fear choked out my re
ply and I nodded at him, overcome with dread. He sighed heavily, drawing me into his arms.
“God did not give me new life to be a burden to you. Believe me, I will work day and night to learn it all. And I will make you my wife, here for all the world to see, and I’ll do it the right way this time.” My eyes misted with tears but when he kissed me, the iron grip of fear loosened so I could breathe again. Enveloped in his strong embrace, I couldn’t help but trust that everything would work out.
It had to. There was no alternative.
Aiden straightened up and painted on a bright smile. “Come, lass. Let’s start right now, this minute. I’ll walk around the cabin and call out anything that looks foreign and you can teach me about it.”
So we did just that. I followed him around and did my best to explain electricity, microwaves, digital music, refrigeration, plumbing, plastics and every other concept I could think of. Every time I’d start to get overwhelmed and feel like the situation was hopeless, he’d squeeze my hand and that tiny seed of hope would grow again.
I pulled out my laptop, got him acquainted with the mouse, and showed him how to surf the web. He commented how remarkable it was that I could type words on the screen without even looking at my fingers.
“Kids these days learn to use a computer before they can read and write. Some people spend their entire day working on a computer and then spend the evening playing games on it or chatting with their friends.”
“How can… ye mean to tell me… people live inside there?” He looked at the slim laptop screen, apparently so far beyond his comfort zone that he was willing to believe anything was possible.
I started to laugh uncontrollably and he scowled at me.
“Sorry, I…uh, no. People don’t live in the computer.” I explained the concept of social networking to him and his shoulders relaxed. “Maybe it would help if you took notes.” I grabbed my pink paisley journal and a pen out of the living room and handed them to him, explaining as I did about ballpoint pens and that no one uses quills anymore. He opened the journal to the first page, which was the poem I’d written about him while we were separated. He stopped, reading it silently to himself. I’d forgotten it was in there. Snippets of the poem came back to me as I watched him read.
