“Long enough,” his Aunt Leslie declared as she and Bradon joined them.
“Look at you two!” Jackie grinned as she touched both Nicole and Leslie’s swollen stomachs. “Now here’s a moment no one foresaw when we arrived in New Hampshire.”
“Yeah, we went home for a bit to close up the house,” Leslie said. “Now Nicole and I are both about eight months along.”
“I dinnae ken,” Darach said. “Nicole should be much further along considering how time passes differently.”
“You would think so,” Grant said. “But it seems though over seven hundred years still exists betwixt here and there, time is no longer trying to catch up with itself.” He eyed Leslie’s stomach curiously. “Or mayhap time still passes differently, and there’s more to this than meets the eye.”
“What do you mean—” Leslie started but got cut off by Darach.
“Och, Da.” He embraced his father. “’Tis good to see you alive and well beyond the Otherworld.”
“Aye, lad.” Grant held him tight. “I feel the same. Ye gave us a good scare.”
As soon as Grant pulled away, his mother and sister wrapped him up in a big hug. Then his parents and Lair embraced Jackie in a family hug, clearly as happy to see her as they were him.
“So what’s going on?” Jackie asked her friends with tears in her eyes. “How are you all…” She shook her head. “Your disabilities…I don’t understand.”
When Nicole started talking, Grant shook his head. “Nay, lass, not now. First we need to see off some verra important people then we’ll commence in the great hall, and all will be explained over a mug of whisky.”
She sighed. “You mean water.”
His eyes fell to her belly. “Aye, mayhap for you but not for me.” He grinned, linked arms with Sheila and headed toward the castle. “I’m officially retired.”
Though Darach and Jackie hoped to get answers beforehand, far too many people greeted them along the way. Not only his aunts and uncles but many allied clans. He was surprised by how many were here. Not only MacLeods and Brouns but some Stewarts, MacLauchlins, Sinclairs and Thomsons.
Yet as he and Jackie made their way onto the drawbridge, he wondered…had any Hamiltons come? He wouldn’t blame them if they hadn’t considering he abandoned them to pursue Jackie into the Otherworld.
“Darach, look.” Jackie squeezed his hand. “I think I see our plaid’s colors ahead.”
The crowd parted, and he filled with pride when he saw Hamilton warriors lining either side of the drawbridge from the last portcullis to the gate. Their swords were lowered, crisscrossing one another’s.
“What are they doing?” she whispered.
“Welcoming us…honoring us.” He offered her the crook of his elbow. “Will you walk with me, wife?”
“Always.” She slid her arm through his.
As they walked, the men raised their swords and remained silent. When they reached the gates, clapping began. It grew louder until cheering erupted. Hundreds of Hamiltons filled the courtyard. Humbled, Darach greeted as many as possible. Jackie did the same, every inch the laird’s bride. Yet his people eventually melted back when Darach and Jackie joined his parents near the bottom of the castle stairs.
“Jackie? Darach?” came a young voice. “Is that really ye?”
“Of course ‘tis her,” came another voice. “Ye already knew that, lad.”
Jackie laughed and crouched as wee Robert rushed down the stairs and into her arms. Darach crouched and hugged him as well. Meanwhile, young William dropped to one knee in front of them and lowered his head. “Welcome back, M’Lady.” He met Darach’s eyes. “M’Laird.”
It seemed he was officially no longer lacking ballocks as far as the lad was concerned. “Good to see ye, William.”
“We must go home soon, son,” Robert’s mother announced as she joined them. “Yer Da misses ye something fierce.”
Darach bowed to Marjorie, Countess of Carrick. Jackie did the same. The Countess took their hands and looked between them. “I have already thanked everyone else for keeping my wee bairn safe, now I will do the same to ye.” Though she stood perfectly straight and little emotion showed on her face, a tear rolled down her cheek. “I cannae begin to thank ye enough for all ye’ve done…so verra much.
Her eyes met Darach’s. “Ye devoted yer life to protecting Robert.” Then her gaze went to Jackie. “And like yer friends, ye were willing to sacrifice yer own life to save Robert’s, a lad ye barely knew.” Her eyes swept over his cousins and Jackie’s friends. “Might Robert have learned well from ye all and act with the same honor and courage when he someday rules Scotland.”
Marjorie stepped away and took Robert’s hand as Torra came alongside. Though no longer journeying through time, it seemed she would make sure they got home safely.
“We must travel on as well, William,” came a deep voice as Dougal and Lilas stepped from the crowd.
“Aye.” William’s eyes met Jackie’s. “It has been a pleasure meeting ye, m’Lady. I leave ye in good hands now.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” A few tears rolled down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around him. “I’m going to miss you, William.”
“Och, nay, ‘tis unseemly,” he muttered but embraced her quickly before he pulled away.
“Come, lad,” Marjorie said to Robert. “Time to go.”
When they turned away, William said, “Wait, Robert.”
It was clear the wee king had been hoping for such because he turned and was about to embrace William but the lad stopped him short. Instead, he held out his arm. “Ye’ve come far in the short time we have known each other. Ye’ve grown up some.” William kept his arm extended. “’Tis time to shake like countrymen…like Scotsmen.”
Robert stood up a little taller, his chest puffed out and for a moment some might say he almost peered down his nose.
“Yer not a bloody king yet,” William said out of the corner of his mouth. “Yer but a man right now. A wee bit less tilt to yer chin couldnae hurt.”
Rather than stammer and regret his actions, Robert relaxed his stance, grinned and gripped William’s arm, hand to elbow, then gave a firm shake.
“Will ye tell me yer full name now, William?” Robert asked.
Darach remembered when he asked that same question back in the cave by the glade.
William considered him for a long moment, before he stepped back, sank to a knee, held out his blade and lowered his head. “My name is William Wallace and my blade will forever be at yer back if ye do right by Scotland and love it as fiercely as I do.”
William Wallace? Bloody hell. No wonder he felt compelled to kneel when he asked William’s permission to marry Jackie. It wasn’t just the need to win over the lad for her sake but something much deeper.
Small gasps came from Jackie and her friends. Who could blame them? They were witnessing the beginning of a camaraderie that would make history. A camaraderie that explained why William might have ended up on this journey. What better way for two people from different stations in life to form a connection than when still bairns?
It seemed Adlin and his Celtic gods were always up to mischief.
“I accept your blade, William Wallace,” Robert said softly and went to take William's dagger.
“Och, nay, ye cannae have my blade right now,” William muttered as he stood. “I meant if ye need my sword at yer back someday, ‘twill be there.”
Robert eyed William’s dagger. “’Tis a fine piece, though.”
William eyed it with pride. “Aye, it truly is.”
Jackie smirked. They might be witnessing history, but bairns were bairns and would act as such until they grew up.
“Time to go,” Marjorie repeated.
“Aye.” Robert smiled at William. “I look forward to seeing ye again someday, friend.”
William cocked the corner of his lip. “I could say the same, Robert the Bruce.”
“We must go as well,” Lilas said but stopped short
when she spied something on the ground in front of Darach and Jackie. She scooped up Gwendolyn’s handkerchief, the very one Darach thought was tucked safely in his plaid. She slowed, staring at the material with an odd look on her face. When he went to take it, and their eyes met, he knew. He finally understood why she seemed so familiar. Why Dougal did as well.
Lilas had been Jackie in another life.
And Darach had been Dougal.
In tune with his every thought, Jackie figured it out at the same time and inhaled sharply.
“What is it, Lilas?” Dougal said when he saw the confusion on his wife’s face.
Jackie and Darach’s eyes went from Lilas’ to Dougal’s. Now he could truly appreciate how strange it must have been for his Da to meet his younger self.
“All is well,” Darach said as he took the handkerchief. “Yer good wife but returned something I dropped.”
Dougal eyed Darach with a frown.
“It was wonderful meeting you both.” Jackie took the handkerchief and handed it back to Lilas. “Please, take this as a small token of our appreciation. You’ve done well by William. He was very brave on our journey, and we’re thankful.” Jackie's eyes fell to the handkerchief. “It’s not much, but it holds great meaning.”
Lilas and Dougal stared at the material, drawn to it in a way they would never understand.
“’Tis time that all return home,” Torra announced. Her eyes went to Lilas and Dougal. “Some to our new homes here in Scotland.”
There was no chance to say another word as magic started to swirl around everyone. When it faded, Torra had vanished with William and his parents as well as Robert and his mother.
“No wonder we were so drawn to each other,” Jackie whispered. “We raised William in another life…or this life. He was ours.”
“Aye, lass.” He wrapped his arms around her, well aware of her sadness. Her sense of loss. “Though I dinnae quite ken how we can co-exist at the same time.”
“’Tis simple.” Grant came alongside. “Though William is from this era and his birth parents died here, Adlin somehow made sure he ended up at the Highland Defiance. In Lilas and Dougal’s era.” He shrugged. “Now they are here and so are you.” His brows perked. “Though ‘tis probably best that you dinnae see them again. ‘Tis bloody odd, aye?”
Jackie’s eyes shot to Grant. “So Lilas is going to die young?” She frowned. “William is going to lose another mother? And Dougal is going to lose the love of his life?”
“Nay, not now that they have the handkerchief.” Grant’s eyes softened. “It was something returned to you in the land of the gods after the curse was lifted, so now their fate mirrors yours. Like you, they are free of the curse. Free to live and love a full lifetime.”
“What a relief,” Jackie whispered.
When his father smiled, Darach realized how happy and free his Da finally felt. How truly long his journey had been. But now his son was laird and all was well. “So ‘tis time to meet in the great hall so that you and Ma might enjoy your retirement?”
Grant nodded before he headed up the stairs, whispering into Darach’s mind, “Ye should hold yer lass’s hand when we enter the great hall. ‘Twill be…difficult for her.”
“Aye, Da.”
The only people in the great hall were Darach’s cousins and Jackie’s friends. Darach didn’t have to look to know what had changed. He stopped and met Jackie’s eyes.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Change,” he murmured and looked at the Viking tapestry.
Chapter Twenty-One
WHEN JACKIE’S EYES swung to the tapestry, Darach wrapped his arm around her lower back for support. Her jaw dropped when she saw what it now depicted. Not the Viking King but someone entirely different.
Heidrek.
He wore a red jerkin with a brown fur draped over his shoulders. A bronze medallion hung around his neck, and he held a sword. His expression was calm, firm and unafraid as the sky burst brilliantly behind him and Viking ships sailed on calm seas.
“He really did it,” she whispered. “He defeated them.”
“Of course, I did, woman,” Heidrek whispered into her mind.
Emotion swamped her as she thought of all the times they had spent together. A Viking who had become a better friend than most. A man who was now frozen in a tapestry.
“I can hear him,” she murmured to Darach.
He nodded.
“Where’s Naðr, Heidrek?” She kept staring at the tapestry. “Where’s the Viking King?”
A long silence passed before Heidrek responded. “My King is safe.” Then another pause. “As are you.”
“Yes.” She blinked away tears, remembering what was said about three men loving her. “Thanks in big part to you.”
“I did what needed to be done,” Heidrek said.
She nodded, inhaled deeply and asked a question she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer to. “Will I see you again? Or are you somehow trapped…in the tapestry?”
“It is unlikely we will cross paths again,” Heidrek said. “Be with your kin now, Jackie. You have nothing to fear. Not for yourself or for my well-being.”
“Why do I feel so heartbroken then?”
“Because you are saying goodbye to a friend.” She heard the gruffness in his voice. “It is never easy.”
Though tempted to apologize for not loving him, she got the sense they were beyond that. He wasn’t mourning for what might have been. And if he were, he would never admit it. Rather, he seemed to find solace in knowing all had ended well. Everyone was safe and happy.
“Goodbye, Heidrek,” she whispered. “Thank you so much.”
“And thank you, Jackie,” he said. Though it might have been her mind playing tricks on her, she swore she heard him whisper, “Now I know what to look for,” before his voice died away entirely.
“He’s gone.” Jackie rested her cheek against Darach’s shoulder. “What a good friend he was.”
“Aye.” Darach wrapped his arms around her. “Heidrek is one of the best men I’ve ever known.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” she whispered and eyed the tapestry for a few minutes, sad that he was truly gone.
“Come join us,” Grant said at last. “So that we can enjoy each other’s company in peace at long last.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Jackie murmured as her eyes met Darach’s. “Peace at last.”
“Aye, lass,” he said softly. “Peace.”
When they joined everyone in front of the fire, Grant finally explained things.
“Though not entirely cured, your friends willnae suffer the totality of their affliction anymore,” Grant said. “Cassie willnae go blind, Nicole will never go deaf and Erin willnae lose her voice.”
His eyes met Jackie’s. “And then there’s you, lass.”
“Right.” She had forgotten about her sickness. “Me.”
Lair sat down beside her and met her eyes. “Your tumor is gone, Jackie. I knew the moment I embraced you earlier.”
“Seriously?” Jackie whispered.
“Aye,” Lair assured. “The darkness is gone. And with it, your illness.”
Jackie rested her elbow on the armrest, put her hand over her mouth and stared at the fire. The tumor was gone. She had been suffering the symptoms of it for years and then the diagnosis. She had long prepared herself for death. And while she’d certainly seen and experienced enough since traveling back in time, including death, nothing could have prepared her for this moment. She didn’t know what to say. She needed to process this…to let it sink in.
Thankfully, Darach simply held her hand, and Grant kept talking.
“Your friends are partially cured because something happened in the Otherworld that affected them,” he said. “Something that included not only Eoghan’s death but your magic and Brigit’s healing water.”
Jackie’s eyes shot to him. “What do you mean?”
“It had to have been a moment only you could have co
ntrolled.” His voice grew softer. “Did you think of them when you were there? If so, they benefitted from the same healing powers you experienced.”
“Of course I thought of them.” Her eyes went to her friends. “I thought about how angry I was because of what they had to face. And how proud I was of them.” Her eyes turned to Darach. “It was when you asked me to visualize my surroundings, and I closed my eyes.” She frowned. “Why did you ask me to do that to begin with?”
“Because I asked him too before he made his final stance against Eoghan,” Grant said. “I told him the demi-god would likely whisk you back to where it all began. That dark Otherworld.”
She shook her head, confused.
“You see, I played a trick on my son,” Grant said. “One I couldnae share.”
Before she could reply, Grant continued. “It needed to seem like I died at Hamilton Castle, that I buckled beneath the power of the demi-god and even Balor. Darach needed to believe it.” He shook his head. “But I didnae. Nay, I called on Goddess Brigit and harnessed magic that nearly killed me.”
Having communicated with his father since they returned, Darach continued. “Da called on Brigit in an unexpected way. One she couldnae stop. ‘Twas the power of the trees…the oaks.” His eyes met hers. “’Twas a spell that carried him through the memory of our oak, lass. From her conception then straight through every acorn it released. Though it might seem simple, you have to remember how many acorns a single oak sheds in its lifetime. So Da was pulled through the life of every acorn as his magic tried to stay the course and follow ours.”
“’Twas truly dangerous,” Torra said upon her return as she and Darach’s aunts and uncles joined them. “Even Adlin MacLomain might not have dared such a feat.”
“Aye, but he would have.” Grant looked at Darach. “If he was protecting his bairn.” His eyes went to Jackie. “And his one true love.”
“So how did you end up at the foot of the oak outside this castle in the Otherworld?” Jackie asked.
“’Twas the last acorn,” he said. “I was lucky that you and Darach brought it to me. I was even luckier that you ignited the magic needed to pull me free.”
Passion of a Scottish Warrior (The MacLomain Series: Later Years Book 4) Page 29
