Love Beyond Dreams (A Scottish Time Travel Romance): Book 6 (Morna's Legacy Series)

by Bethany Claire

  “Two moons, no more.”

  Her snort took him aback.

  “Two moons? Ye plan to stay that long? I’ve spent more time with ye than I have another person in years, and I doona care for it. Ye no longer need time or help to heal. ’Tis time that ye prepare to leave me here.”

  It wasn’t the reaction he expected from her, but he couldn’t help but be relieved that Marion wouldn’t be sad to see him go. She was the only friend he had, the only person he knew at all. He didn’t want to cause her pain in any way but as he was learning more and more, loneliness seemed to suit the strange, cave-dwelling wildling.

  “If ye think it best, I can leave come morning.”

  “Aye, I do. ’Tis time for us to part ways, ye and I. Being near ye has stirred feelings that I had for others long ago. They are best left forgotten.”

  It was the most sentimental statement he’d ever heard from her, and he wondered if perhaps he’d already stayed longer than he should have.

  “Marion,” he glanced over at her. The sadness in her eyes took him aback. He reached for her hand before he thought better of it. She flinched away from him, but he continued with his question. “Why doona ye come with me? Leave this place and start a life anew for yerself? I doona know what happened in yer life to cause ye to seek such solitude, but ye doona have to remain in it. We could venture out together.”

  She pushed herself up from the rocks, bent to gather the fish she’d caught on her own, and turned away from him before speaking.

  “No. I’ve no desire for that. Ye will leave on yer own come morning. Climb to the top of the rocks tonight, and cross the bridge into the village so that ye might decide where ye wish to start out tomorrow. I never see anyone about the castle. Ye should be able to cross the castle grounds unnoticed.”

  He already knew that. He’d spent many evenings making his way to the top of the island where the castle lay, taking long walks in the moonlight around its grounds. He’d not yet dared to cross the bridge leading to the village, but it seemed that tonight Marion was giving him no choice but to do just that.

  It was time for his life to start all over again.

  CHAPTER 3

  Cagair Castle

  Present Day

  I enjoyed my weekend alone in the castle with Toby. I really had, but regardless of how much I reveled in being able to stay in my pajamas until noon and take multiple bubble baths a day, I still found myself quite ready for Aiden, Anne, and the rest of the construction crew to return when Monday morning arrived.

  At first, when nobody showed up, I assumed their travel had been somehow delayed and Aiden didn’t want his men to start work without him. Despite my disappointment, I didn’t worry about them overmuch and went about my normal weekday routine.

  I walked Toby, showered, dressed, ate some breakfast, and went to painting rather aimlessly at a blank piece of canvas. Before I knew it, the day slipped away, as it often did when I was painting. It wasn’t until Toby finally lost his patience and sunk his sharp, needle-like teeth into my foot in an effort to get me to stop and play that I glanced up to see that the sun had already started its descent.

  Aiden still hadn’t arrived, and that realization made me worry. He wasn’t the sort of person to not call when plans changed.

  Needing to alleviate my paranoia that something terrible had happened to him, I pulled Toby away from my foot and into my arms before taking out my phone to give him a call. When there was no answer, I left him a short message before setting Toby back on the ground so that I could quickly clean up my mess as I rationalized all of the possible reasons for his absence.

  Perhaps they’d decided to extend their weekend getaway, or he’d lost his cell phone. There were a great many logical possibilities so I resolved myself to letting go of any worry before it was absolutely necessary.

  Toby would help me with that, as he continued to make it very clear that he’d spent enough time waiting for me to finish my work. I had to give the little guy some credit. He dutifully slept or bounced around at my feet all day while I worked, but now, an hour away from sunset, he started to demand that we get outdoors for at least part of the day. I couldn’t blame him at all.

  I looked down at him and smiled. Toby knew, after spending so many months with me, that this particular lift of the corner of my mouth signaled the end of my work and the start of him getting some real attention. He began running around the room like a mad man, spinning in circles around my feet and doing a pretty effective job at herding me out of the tower room.

  The pup ran down the steps in front of me, stopping and pausing at each landing as he waited for me to catch up. The moment I reached him, he would take off once again. When we were finally down the stairs, I looked at him as I always did and pointed one finger at each end of the castle.

  “Which is it today, Toby? The front or the back.”

  The front, as Toby knew, meant a nice long walk around the front grounds of the castle; the back, a game of fetch. He barked and took off toward the front door.

  “A walk it is then.”

  I laughed and paused by the front door to slip on my shoes before reaching for the handle. When I pulled the door open, I looked down expecting Toby to run ahead of me at full speed. Instead, he walked slowly out the door while wagging his tail rapidly before he stopped and sniffed at a pair of tiny shoes standing just outside the doorway. I’d been so focused on Toby that I didn’t notice the boy until I saw his shoes.

  “Well, hello. Did you knock? I am so sorry. I’ve been upstairs working so I didn’t hear you if you did. Can I help you with something?”

  Only then, as I looked up from his shoes and into his face, did I notice that he carried a large suitcase in one hand.

  “Hi there. Is it okay if I come in? This bag is awfully heavy. I packed a bunch of my dinosaurs to play with. I don’t get to play with them much at home ’cause people start asking questions and then I get kinda tongue-tied.”

  Baffled, I leaned my head out of the doorway to see if any sort of parental figure appeared to be accompanying him. When I saw no one, I stepped aside and allowed him to enter. Cagair Castle wasn’t the sort of place someone just walked up to accidentally. He didn’t have the wrong address. If he was here, there was a reason for it, but as I watched him walk inside, I didn’t have the slightest idea what it could be.

  I tried to keep my expression approachable, but I could feel how tightly my brows were pinched. The child acted like I should be expecting him, when in truth, I’d never been more confused by anything in my entire life.

  “Why would people question you for playing with your toys? Don’t most kids do that?”

  His eyes widened like I’d caught him in a lie, and he sat the suitcase down almost immediately before extending his little hand toward me. He looked up at me with beautiful green eyes, long, dark lashes that made me envious, and a smattering of adorable freckles across his cheeks. I smiled and took his hand gladly.

  “See? Just like that. I’m a good thinker. Everybody says so, but sometimes, I just can’t keep up with all the craziness and I say something that brings on the questions. Just never mind about the dinosaurs. My name is Cooper, we’re here to rent the castle.”

  “You’re here to rent the castle?” I reached for my phone on instinct, immediately suspecting that I would find some sort of last minute message from Tracy. It would be just like her to plan something like this without telling me. Still, the castle wasn’t finished and although she hadn’t seen it herself, Tracy knew that it would be months before Aiden’s construction crew no longer lingered around the castle finishing their work. I couldn’t imagine her renting the place out to guests before it reached completion.

  “Um...yeah, aren’t you Trisha or Tracy or Tiffany? I don’t remember for sure, but I know Aunt Jane said she’d talked to somebody whose name started with a T.”

  As if she’d heard the boy’s reference to her, my phone buzzed and Tracy’s number displayed on the screen as I l
ooked down at it. I swiped to answer, told her to hold on a tad bit too sharply, and then turned to speak to the young boy once again.

  “Do you think you could wait here for me for just a moment? It’s Tracy, the woman you were just talking about. I’m Gillian, her sister. Cooper, are your mom and dad around somewhere?”

  He nodded and pointed outside. “Oh yeah. Well my mom and E-o are and my Aunt Jane and Uncle Adwen. They’re just walking down the bridge from where the cars dropped us all off. They’ll be here soon.”

  “Why did someone drop you off before the bridge? They could have driven down here.”

  “Oh.” The boy shrugged. “Well, I think they just wanted to walk. I ran ahead of them.”

  I didn’t believe him. The words fell out of his mouth awkwardly, and he looked uncomfortable and guilty.

  “With their luggage?”

  Cooper didn’t respond. If not for Tracy’s screeching voice coming through the phone asking where I was, I would’ve taken a step outside to watch for his supposed party and pressed him further. Instead, I just nodded and turned to walk halfway up the stairs so I could speak more privately to my sister. When I was close enough that I could still see the boy but far enough away that I didn’t think he could hear me without straining, I spoke into the phone.

  “You rented out the castle, Tracy? Aiden’s not going to be pleased with that at all. He still has so many workers around here on most days and there’s still a lot that they haven’t finished.”

  “Oh, Gillie.” She sounded completely unapologetic, as always. She could never see when she did something inconsiderate. “Aiden already knows. I talked to Anne a few hours ago. As soon as his drugs wear off, I’m sure he will be as thrilled as you will be about it once you hear how much they offered to pay me. She’s driving him back to the castle now. I’m sure you will see them both soon.”

  “Drugs?” Confusion coursed through me at her statement about Aiden.

  “Oh yes, apparently Anne used the promise of a weekend away together as a ruse to get him to take care of some extensive dental work he’s been putting off, but he’s a big baby so they had to drug him up really well. I could hear him singing some sort of slurred sonnet to her through the phone.”

  Tracy laughed, and I allowed myself to slump down on one of the steps of the staircase. I’d seen flashes of exploding appendixes and hospital rooms at the mention of Aiden on drugs, and it frightened me. The relief I felt at knowing it was just a few sore teeth that had delayed him was immeasurable.

  When Tracy finally stopped laughing at herself, she spoke again. “So, come on, Gillie. Guess how much they offered?”

  “I don’t know, Tracy. How much?”

  “They’ve offered to pay you one hundred thousand dollars for three nights at the castle. And you don’t even have to leave. You, Aiden, the dog, everyone can stay right where you are since there’s plenty of room for everyone.”

  It was the first time Tracy had mentioned Toby since she left, and I knew I needed to lay claim on him right away. I glanced down at the young boy to see Toby crawled up in his lap, licking his face while Cooper laughed and stroked the dog affectionately. My heart swelled up with love for the little ball of fluff.

  “Tracy, before you explain all of this stuff, I want to talk to you about the dog. I’ve grown rather fond of him and…” I hesitated and Tracy surprised me by relieving my anxiety before I even had a chance to voice my concern.

  “I know. He’s yours now, Gillie. That’s why I called you. The dog is yours, the castle is yours, the money that the guests coming tonight will leave is yours to give to Aiden so he can finish the renovations. In short, little sister, everything is yours.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Just Outside Cagair Castle

  1649

  Dusk set in by the time he reached the top of the cliff leading to Cagair Castle. He found the climb to be easier than ever before—a sure sign that Marion was right and it was time for him to move on, to find something to fill his time until the day he would remember. He had to believe that his memories would return, for the sake of his own sanity if nothing else.

  Each time he climbed up the rocks, a sense of familiarity coursed through him, but it was a feeling he didn’t understand, a feeling he didn’t trust. He knew it had to be some part of him that could still recall his fall but so many things seemed strangely familiar, yet out of reach. He never knew if they were a true memory or if they were only the result of his broken mind playing tricks on him.

  He wouldn’t enter the village tonight. If he did, he didn’t imagine that he would be able to return to Marion, and he wanted to say goodbye before he left her for good. From all he could tell, the island Cagair Castle sat upon and the village near it were isolated from much of Scotland. If he fell from the rocks here, it stood to reason that he’d lived not far from the castle.

  In a village so small, if his suspicions were correct, someone would recognize him right away. He wasn’t ready for things to change so drastically. Instead, he would wait at the top of the rocks and watch the castle carefully to make sure that no one was about and then move across the grounds so that he could travel over the bridge. From there he planned to make his way around the village and look in from the outside. Perhaps that way, he could plan where to start his inquiries in the morning.

  Despite his fears, he knew he had to risk traveling into the village come morning and with that, it was very possible someone would know him and the truth about himself would be revealed. For now he could only hope that he was the sort of man before the fall that he believed himself to be now. If, by chance, no one recognized him in the village come morning, he would look for work.

  No one ever seemed to move about Cagair Castle at night, but with the last bit of sunlight still remaining, he knew he should wait awhile just to make sure. He settled in at the top of the rocks, looking up at the castle and across it over to the small set of stables that sat next to a stone house, built assuredly for the stablemaster to live and work. It looked sturdy and small and to him, rather perfect. No candlelight burned from within and, setting aside his better judgment, he decided to venture closer.

  He moved quietly, making sure to go around the back, peering in one of two windows as carefully as he could. Finding it empty, he moved over to the stables and stood outside to listen for the sound of someone working. All he could hear were the horses. He found that a sense of hope rose within him. Perhaps he would have to look no further than here for something to sustain him. It seemed a more preferable prospect than venturing down to the village. He hoped he could show the laird the work he was capable of doing for him. If Cagair Castle needed someone to care for the horses, he would gladly take the job.

  A job here, far from the village, would buy him the time to try and remember without being thrust back into a life unfamiliar to him. It was the very thing he feared the most about venturing into the village.

  He didn’t feel the same fear here around the castle. For surely, whatever his life had been before, it hadn’t involved living amongst such powerful Scottish landowners—with working and living so close to such a grand castle. No, he imagined that his life had been much simpler than all of that. No one would know him here on the island of Cagair Castle.

  * * *

  He must have dozed outside the stables. When the sound of voices woke him, the moon was the only source of light among the darkness. He stood quickly, stepping backwards so that he couldn’t be seen. He leaned forward and strained to listen.

  “Did he seriously run through there ahead of us? The child has no fear. It’s genuinely a problem. He’s traveled through so many times, he doesn’t think it’s a big deal anymore. I’m about to be sick at the thought of bringing these two babies through. Every time I’ve gone through, I’ve felt bad for days after.”

  The sound of the woman’s voice surprised him. It differed so greatly from Marion’s form of speech or his own, but he could understand the plain dialect of what the woman said.
It made him wonder if, at some point in his life, he’d heard someone speak in much the same way as this woman before.

  He stepped away from the stables and moved quietly around the small house, standing beside it so that he could hear them more clearly. He could see the shadows of two women. The one who just spoke balanced a small child on each hip, while the other moved in to comfort her before speaking.

  “Grace, this one, for whatever reason, is different. It doesn’t seem to hurt anyone at all. It’s rather strange, really—it takes coming out of the stairwell for you to realize that the travel worked. Cooper’s fine, I’m sure. He’s just waiting for us on the other side. You wait here, and I’ll go get the guys. Then, we need to go on through.”

  The second woman stepped away and, in a moment, she appeared at the side of the castle followed by two men. He couldn’t make out their features, but he had to push his feet hard into the ground to keep himself from running up to the group of strangers. Something within him wanted to be near all of them, wanted to speak to them and follow them wherever they were so obviously headed. He refrained and watched curiously as they neared an unexpected opening in the side of the castle.

  They entered it one by one. While he sat under the moonlight watching, he tried to imagine how large the space could possibly be. Surely it wasn’t large enough to hold all of them comfortably, not unless it was a tunnel that traveled under the length of the castle. He decided to approach. Once he stood next to the castle stones, he took his time traveling around its perimeter, looking for any possible place where they could have come out the other side. When he found nothing, he approached the doorway from which they’d all left.