He knew he should walk away, return to Marion, and spend the evening with her before trying to talk to the castle’s laird in the morning, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave the strange doorway. He stood as still as the stones around him, scarcely breathing so that he might hear any movement beyond the doorway.
Long moments passed before he worked up the nerve to open the doorway. The moonlight shined down into the stairwell. When he gazed within, he couldn’t believe what he saw—no tunnel or room lay at the bottom, only a wall of stones. Each person that he watched enter was most assuredly now gone.
CHAPTER 5
Cagair Castle
Present Day
“I’m sorry. What did you just say?” I pressed the phone hard against my ear so that I could be sure. I didn’t want to misunderstand a word that she said.
She repeated the same sentiment.
“You heard me, Gillie. It was foolish of me to buy the place. I know that. I knew it the day I signed the papers. My first thought was to give it to you, but then I started thinking about all of the work that still needed to be done, and I knew that Mark would never let me pay for it if there was no chance at a return. Anyway, then I received this phone call from a woman who offered to rent the castle for such a ridiculous amount of money. I couldn’t say no.
“That was three days ago, and I’ve been arranging everything ever since. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I know that the guests will be arriving this evening, but I’ve no doubt that you’ll handle that just fine.”
My head spun and ached as I tried to process everything she said. I wanted to smile and jump and dance around the room for joy that I wouldn’t have to leave this place, but I wanted to be certain before I allowed myself to feel anything other than skepticism.
I had to scream her name into the phone to get her to stop talking. “Tracy. You have to slow down. You’re throwing a lot at me, and I’m having a hard time keeping up.”
I listened to her take a deep breath and a slight pause before she spoke again. This time, her voice was much lower, slower, and she enunciated every word.
“I’ve been hurrying because I’m about to miss our plane. We’re headed to Italy for a few weeks, and I’m afraid I’ll be out of contact. Listen to me carefully, Gillian. I’m giving you the house, okay? And the dog. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t come with me even if I wanted him to at this point, so he’s yours as well. I can’t use our money to restore the place anymore if it’s in your name, but you can use the money from the guests to do that.”
“Tracy.” My hands were shaking with the surge of excitement and disbelief that surged through me. “That’s really too much.”
“It’s already done, Gillie. Look, I have to go, but I’m sending a lawyer over with the paperwork a week from today, after the guests have gone. He can answer any questions you may have.”
The light click followed by silence was the only indication that our conversation was over. As I slipped the phone back in my pocket, I had to grip the handrail to pull myself up on the stairs.
In one brief moment, everything that I dreamed about this place from the moment I came to stay here was a reality. I would have to write Tracy one hell of a thank-you note after everything was finished here—not that there would be any real address to send it to.
Laughter traveled up the stairwell, and I suddenly remembered the little boy in the foyer. I looked down to see him giggling while Toby bounced around him like a rabbit. I walked down the stairs toward him just as Aiden appeared in the doorway with Anne at his side. She had a firm grip on his arm, and I could tell she did her best to steer him. His eyes were a bit glazed over, his smile a bit too happy, and I couldn’t have been more pleased to see him.
“How are you feeling?” I picked up my pace and moved in to give Anne a quick kiss on the cheek first before throwing my arms around Aiden in greeting. Anne released her grip from him for a moment before he swayed slightly on his feet, and we both reached out a hand to steady him.
He surprised me by reaching for my free hand, wrapping his fingers around it as he brought it up to his lips and kissed my knuckles gently. I pulled in my brows and looked over at Anne uncomfortably. She burst into laughter.
“Oh, don’t mind him. He’s been doing that to people all day. He did it to the nurse, and I think she visibly swooned. It’s the drugs. They gave him the gas button—can you believe that? And, as you can see, he got a little bit carried away with it. Not to mention that he’s already popped one of his pain pills. The combination has him rather loopy. At least he’s a happy drunk.”
I laughed and pulled my hand away from him. “Yes, clearly.”
Anne and I moved him inside the entryway as Anne looked around the room curiously before turning to address Cooper.
“Well, hello there. Are you the only guest? Where are your parents? Tracy made it sound like there would be a bunch of you.”
The boy stood and dusted off his shorts before walking over to her.
“Oh, there are. They’re just coming along behind me. I needed to stretch my legs, so they let me out before the bridge so I could run the rest of the way.”
This version differed from what he’d told me before, and alarm bells went off in my head.
“Wait a minute. You told me earlier the cars dropped you all off before the bridge and you just ran ahead of them. Just now, you said they let you out of the car so you could run ahead. Which is it? Either way, they should be here by now, shouldn’t they?”
I watched as the child’s face reddened, and I knew he didn’t know how to dig himself out of the lie though I couldn’t imagine why he felt the need to lie in the first place. Their stay had already been arranged.
I waited, saying nothing to give the boy an opportunity to decide how he wanted to proceed. He opened and closed his mouth a dozen times before a ruckus of noise outside saved him.
“That’s them. They’re here.”
He ran out the front door to greet the rest of his family. Once he was gone, Anne turned to me suspiciously.
“I just drove down the bridge. There was no car, and I didn’t see anyone walking.”
I shrugged, deciding that in the end, it didn’t really matter. Children often told stories, I assumed, and it wasn’t really my place to reprimand him. I would ask one of the adults after everyone made it inside.
Cooper was the first to re-enter, his hand clasping that of a beautiful little girl, just barely with her footing underneath her as she wobbled along behind whom I assumed was her brother. Next came a beautiful blonde who had her hands full with another small baby. She smiled at me as she entered, but she looked stressed and weary. She had every right to be after traveling with so many little ones.
Then came two of the tallest, fittest, most gorgeous men I’d ever seen in my life, and I found myself swallowing just to keep my mouth from falling open. I glanced over at Anne and smiled with satisfaction at seeing her eyes bug out of her head. It pleased me to know that I wasn’t the only one affected by their appearance.
Both men nodded politely as they stepped inside. I thought for a moment that they were about to say something when another blonde—equally as beautiful as the first—walked in and immediately made her way over to us, extending her hand in my direction.
“Hi, you must be…is it Gillian? Your sister referred to you as Gillie, but I wouldn’t want to call you that if it’s a family name.”
I smiled, shook her hand, and decided that I liked her very much right away. She was personable, confident, and friendly—not at all like the stuck-up, rich group of snobs I expected when Tracy first mentioned the dollar amount they would be paying.
“It’s not a family name really. Tracy is the only one who calls me that so yes, please call me Gillian.”
“Great. I’m Jane.” She released my hand and took a step back to glance around the room.
“Isn’t it wonderful, Aunt Jane? It’s looks so much the same, only without so many candles, and it’s not
as cold.” It was Cooper’s voice that spoke. Only then did I notice that Jane’s eyes had filled with tears once she stepped away.
“Yes, Coop. It’s amazing.” Jane stepped back until she stood next to one of the men. She reached out to take his hand in comfort.
I could tell Cagair Castle meant a great deal to at least part of the group, and suddenly it made so much more sense as to why they’d come—some of them had been here before. I spoke up, hesitantly.
“Do you like the renovations? We’ve tried to restore things as accurately as we could, only we’ve updated a lot of things, made it more functional for modern lives.”
The man holding onto Jane’s hand spoke, and I noticed the strain in his voice. Seeing the castle moved him as well. “Ye’ve done a bonny job.” He shook his head in near disbelief. “I truly canna tell ye how well ye’ve done.”
I looked over at Anne who seemed to be taking it all in with fascination while she kept a firm grip on Aiden. He looked like he saw dancing purple dinosaurs above their heads.
“Well, it wasn’t me.” I gestured toward Aiden. “This one deserves all the credit, though I wouldn’t attempt to talk to him about it tonight. He’s a bit out of it.”
The other man, who remained quiet until now, spoke up. “Has he had too much ale then? Do ye need us to help him to bed?”
“No. Not ale. Just laughing gas. I think he can walk okay.”
Anne spoke up. “Oh, he can. And I think I’m going to put him to bed right now.” She reached out and touched my hand. “I’ll let you see them settled, and I’ll come back down to talk to you.”
As she walked away with Aiden, I returned my attention to Jane. “You’ve been here before, I guess? How long ago was that?”
Cooper snorted and chuckled briefly before every person in line beside him shot him a look that shut him up right quick. It seemed odd but I’d reached my quota of curious things for the day so I let it pass without question.
“Oh, it’s been a good while now. Speaking of people being out of it though, I think we’re all pretty worn out from the journey. Would it be okay if we called it a night and we all talked more in the morning? Made proper introductions then?”
“Of course.” The day, with its unexpected turns, had worn me out as well. “There are plenty of rooms over on the left side of the staircase, just pick and choose them as you please. The right side is ours.”
Jane nodded. Before I could say another word, everyone save her took off in that direction with no hesitation whatsoever. Once they were gone, she turned to speak to me once more.
“I just want to say thank you for letting us impose on you. It’s been rather last minute for us as well, but I’ll explain that to you tomorrow. Would you like me to give you the check now or when we leave?”
“Oh, when you leave is fine. Jane, can I ask you something?” Try as I might, I couldn’t shake the oddity of their unexplained arrival.
“Absolutely.”
“How did you all get here? There’s no car for you outside.”
“We had two cars drop us off, but before we came to the front door, we took a stroll around the grounds. Everyone except Cooper, that is. He decided to walk right up and ring the bell, as you well know.”
Her explanation made much more sense than Cooper’s, and I couldn’t imagine why the young boy hadn’t just told me that. Not that it mattered. Her explanation eased any misgivings I had about the situation.
“Ah, that explains a lot then. Okay, you guys have a great night. My room is the third from the right on the top floor. Let me know if you need anything.”
She nodded and smiled as she walked away. “Okay, thanks so much.”
Jane took two steps before she turned and stared at me for a long minute. It took me speaking to pull her out of it.
“Are you okay? Do you need something?”
When she spoke her voice cracked, and I noticed that her eyes were misty once again.
“Oh, it’s nothing. You remind me of a very special memory, is all. I once knew someone who would have liked you very much.”
She turned and left me standing in the foyer and, only once I could no longer hear the sound of her footsteps, did Anne, who I’d seen approach from the corner of my eye earlier, dare to speak.
“Well, that was weird.”
I nodded. “You heard that, then?”
“Uh, yeah, I did. Their reaction to this place—it’s not like one that someone would have if they’d just visited here. It’s almost like they lived here or something, yet we know that can’t be true. The last owners disappeared and, before them, it sat untouched for years.”
“I know. The whole thing is weird.” And it was. I half expected to wake up in the morning passed out on the floor of the tower from breathing in too many paint fumes or something.
“You know what else, Gillian? I don’t want to freak out but I also heard her say that they walked around the grounds before coming to the front door.”
Her words made me nervous. “Yes, what about it?”
“Well, I know he’s sort of high, but Aiden just went on and on about it when I tried to put him to bed. He’s convinced he saw them crawl out of some cellar in the side of the castle when we pulled up.”
My first reaction was to laugh, but Anne’s face remained serious.
“That’s impossible, Anne. There’s not a cellar there.”
“I know. Unless we just didn’t know about it.”
CHAPTER 6
If such a cellar existed, it was hidden remarkably well. The idea of such a surprise remaining amongst the grounds of the castle during all of the intense construction work kept me awake for most of the night. Finally, when I could take no more of the tossing and turning and wondering, I got myself out of bed around four in the morning, dressed warmly, and made my way outside to look for myself.
I spent over an hour moving slowly around the castle and found nothing. Satisfied that the idea came from Aiden’s dental drugs and nothing more, I slipped back inside around five and went down to the modernized kitchen to brew myself a large cup of coffee.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep if I went back to bed so, instead, I figured I would jack myself up on caffeine and then go up to the tower to paint. When I started to approach the kitchen, the smell of coffee reached me—someone had already beaten me to the punch.
I expected to find Cooper’s mother inside, perhaps rocking a baby or just seeking a few minutes of solitude. When I walked in and saw Cooper himself sitting on the counter right next to the coffee pot, it surprised me to realize that for some reason, I wasn’t surprised at all.
“Please tell me you’re not drinking that yourself. You’re far too young to be hooked on that already.”
The young boy smiled and motioned for me to approach him as he extended a mug in my direction.
“This stuff? No way. It tastes like dirt. Aunt Jane really likes it though, so I thought I’d make her some since I was up so early.”
“You know how to work the coffee maker?” He couldn’t be more than six. I didn’t learn how to brew a decent cup until I was in college. I sipped the liquid cautiously. To my surprise, it was delicious.
“Yeah, when I was real little, maybe four, I would stay at my Aunt Jane’s a lot, and I always wake up early, you see. It’s sort of my thing or something.” He smiled and threw his hands up. “I don’t know what that means really, but she told me it was my thing. Anyhow, we made a deal because she got tired of me waking her up, and she said that she wouldn’t get mad as long as every time I did it, I had a nice big cup of coffee for her to drink. So she showed me. I catch on to things pretty fast.”
I smiled and took another gulp. “Oh, I can see that.”
Satisfied at his success, Cooper placed the coffee pot back on the warmer and slid off the counter to come and join me at the table. He watched me as I drank. Finally, once he saw that I was nearly done, he spoke.
“Do you have something that you need to do
right after this?”
“Not at all.” Painting could wait. Even if he did tell tales every now and then, I found the young boy intriguing. “Do you need something?”
“Well, I was just wondering if you might take me on a tour around the castle and show me what you’ve been doing to everything? I was going to just go on my own, but Mom was pretty mad after I ran ahead of them yesterday. She told me not to go poking around anywhere because this wasn’t our house, and it wasn’t my place. Since she was already mad, I thought it best to listen.”
I laughed and drained the last of my coffee. “Smart man. Sure, I’d love to show you around. Are you ready?”
“Absolutely. Let me just run and get my house shoes. My feet are a little cold.”
While he ran off to get something warmer for his feet, I moved over to the cabinet to get a pair of flashlights. All of the electricity was installed, but I didn’t want to go turning on all of the lights with everybody still sleeping. By the time I turned around with flashlights in hand, the boy was already at my side. I found it more than a little eerie, how well he seemed to know his way around the castle.
“Okay, do you want to lead the way, or should I?”
He looked at me like I’d asked him a trick question and, in a way, I had. I wanted to see if he would take charge. If he did, I planned to press him further about their history with the place. He was whip smart though, and instead held out a hand in front of him as he turned on his flashlight and illuminated a path for me.
“Me? This isn’t my castle. Why don’t you go ahead? I’ll follow you.”
* * *
With so many people staying in the castle at the present moment, we found that there were a good many rooms that we couldn’t wander into during this time of morning. Still, Cooper seemed to enjoy the parts of the castle that we did see and, even when I went into explaining the exact work that we’d done—conversation that should’ve been way over his head—he paid attention.
Love Beyond Dreams (A Scottish Time Travel Romance): Book 6 (Morna's Legacy Series) Page 3
