Absently, he stroked Rachel’s silky hair with his other hand as she slept nestled in the curve of his shoulder. One satiny leg was possessively curled around his own and the springy curls at the vee of her thighs tickled his hip and hardened him instantly as she shifted lazily in her sleep.
Lore, he could lay like this forever. Sighing deeply, he mentally replayed how he was going to convince Rachel that traveling back in time to the Scotland of 1379 was no great feat at all. How he was going to make her see how wonderful and full their lives would be raising their children and growing old among his proud and caring clan. He was going to make her understand how leaving all the conveniences of this time also meant leaving all the complications. Shifting slightly, he ran his free hand worriedly through his hair as he stared bleakly at the ceiling.
“You’re fidgeting.”
Rachel didn’t even open her eyes as she yawned against his chest. Snuggling deeper to nuzzle his neck, she nipped playfully at his ear.
“I’ll do more than fidget if ye keep wigglin’ and nippin’ at me, woman!”
Rolling her over onto her back, Caelan kissed the tip of her nose. “But I must beg ye show me a bit of mercy this morning, my love. We need to discuss the details of our trip.”
Swiveling her hips to grind her pelvis into his, Rachel grinned impishly as she tickled her fingers up his sides and then slowly raked her nails tantalizingly down his back.
“You said we didn’t have to leave until the end of October. We’ve got lots of time to work out the details before then.”
Grabbing her wrists, Caelan rolled to a sitting position, pulling her to a neutral position beside him on the bed.
“Rachel I’m serious please this is a talk we should’ve had days ago. I’ve not been entirely honest with ye.”
“Oh my God you’re married.”
Her teeth clenched, Rachel spit the words out so fast Caelan wasn’t quite sure he understood what she said. At the totally blank look on his face, Rachel took a deep breath and tried again. “You’re married.”
“Aye.”
Caelan nodded, still holding both her hands, the look of confusion still on his face.
“You and I are married as far as I’m concerned but we’ll still need to say the vows at the altar and record them in the Church when we get home. As Laird of my clan, I’m expected to have m’wedding vows sanctioned by the Church.”
Closing her eyes and shaking her head in exasperation, Rachel calmed down as she realized Caelan had absolutely no idea as to what she’d been thinking.
“What have you been dishonest about? Are you really from Scotland?”
“Aye.”
“Are you really Caelan Foster MacKay?”
“Aye.”
“Is Emrys really your uncle?”
“No.”
“Aha!” Beginning to get slightly peeved at the morning game of twenty questions, Rachel jerked her wrists out of Caelan’s grasp. “Will you just tell me already and stop making me drag it out of you? Geez! I haven’t even had my shower or any coffee yet!”
His brows suddenly knotting over his stormy green eyes, Caelan realized his timing was definitely off. A little too late, he decided he should have thoroughly satiated his wife in bed, allowed her a shower, plied her with caffeine and then explained the concept of time travel to her in that order.
Pressing the palms of his hands together in front of his face, he silently sent up a prayer to the Goddess for guidance.
“When we travel to Scotland on Samhain at midnight during the seventh full moon since I’ve been in Kentucky, we won’t need a passport, airline tickets, or luggage. All we will need is ourselves, Emrys and the dogs.
We will meet at the pond that lies deep in the woods and when Emrys speaks the words, we will pass back in time to the year 1379, to Scotland to my home and to my clan where I am Laird.”
Watching Rachel closely, Caelan held his breath as he waited for her reaction.
“Did you inhale too much of the ether last night when you were working on the tractor? Because that sounds like one hell of a dream you had.”
Sliding out of bed, Rachel grabbed her robe off the chair and slid it around her shoulders. Warily eyeing Caelan, she slowly moved away from the bed.
“Twas’ no dream Rachel. However, the whole story or quest actually started due to months and months of the same dream I had every night a dream of you chasing you but never catching you. I had the dream every night for nearly a year. I was driving the clan insane searching for this violet-eyed woman who was teasing me in my dreams. I even had my most trusted and wisest Druid and advisor searching all of his sources to find this lovely woman I could nay forget.”
Caelan sat motionless on the bed as he watched Rachel slowly growing paler.
“This advisor this druid who was he?” Chewing the corner of her lower lip, Rachel already knew the answer before Caelan said the words.
“Emrys. He found ye in the Mirrors of Time. He showed ye to me and worked a spell with the Fates. The spell gave us seven moons to come forward win your heart and then give you the choice to return to my home and my time with me.”
Caelan slid off the edge of the bed; grabbed his jeans and pulled them up over his muscular legs. This wasn’t going as well as he’d hoped but at least she wasn’t running out of the door screaming yet.
“You said give me the choice. So we don’t have to go back to Scotland 1379? We could stay here?”
Rachel breathed a sigh of relief and her heart rate began slowing back down to a normal rhythm all the modern day conveniences dear to her heart rushing to the front of her mind and the fact that maybe if she was able to get Caelan some psychiatric help just maybe he could be cured of whatever it was that was making him think he was from Scotland of 1379.
“You have the choice, my love only you. You may either return to my home, the love of my soul, my heart-mate and make me the happiest man who ever lived or you may stay here in your Kentucky of 2007. With your dogs, your conveniences and without Emrys and myself. Emrys and I will be sent back to our time whether you chose to accompany us or not.”
Caelan suddenly felt as though he had aged all of the years between 1379 and 2007. All he could hope was that he’d been able to capture enough of Rachel’s heart to ensure that she couldn’t dream of living without him.
“Caelan you know I love you. But it’s just that I don’t see how Caelan this just isn’t possible. There’s no way that you can really be from the year 1379.” Rachel spoke gently, shaking her head as she searched his face for some sign of returning to sanity. How could what he was saying be true?
Inhaling deeply, Caelan’s lips thinned into a grim line of determination as he struggled to convince Rachel that what he was saying was true. “Rachel the day before Emrys and I showed up on your doorstep you and I were together in your dreams. Together as we’ve been these past few days.”
Rachel’s eyes widened as she clutched the collar of her robe, a sick feeling rising in her chest. “How do you know that?” She whispered, backing to lean against the dresser.
Speaking softly, Caelan drew closer, his eyes begging her to understand. “Because Emrys sent me to love ye within your dream plane so that ye would know me when we appeared in this time.”
“That’s not possible,” Rachel choked as she slid toward the doorway, her mind reeling with what Caelan’s words implied.
“The violet light that surrounded us flowed thru us when we finally closed the gap between us have ye forgotten the feelings that the energy brought to ye?” Caelan stopped walking toward her and stood his ground, he sensed she was about to bolt.
Chewing her lip, she stared at her feet as she raised a shaking hand to her head. What Caelan was implying couldn’t possibly be true and yet everything he said the dream the light what else could it be other than powers that had always been an enigma to humankind?
Finally closing the space between them, he raised her chin with his finger and brushed her lips li
ghtly with his.
“I believe I need to go for a bit of a walk to give ye time..to think for I don’t know what else I can say I’ll be back after a bit I love ye and I promise ye have nothing to fear I swear I will let no harm come to ye.”
Rachel hugged herself tightly and stared at the floor as he left her to her thoughts and emotions. She didn’t say a word as he walked out the door. She could think of no words to say.
)O(
The setting sun was just drawing even with the ridge as Emrys emerged from the woods. True to his word, he was right on time just as he had promised. His brow furrowed with concern, his eyes narrowed as he found Caelan sitting alone on the porch steps, his face buried in his hands.
“Where is she?”
Emrys eyed the dark windows of the house, then noticed Rachel’s truck missing from its usual spot in the driveway.
“You tell me.” Caelan stared at the ground, sighing as he dropped his hands to his lap.
“What did she say when ye told her? How did she react?”
Emrys lowered his body slowly to the porch, watching Caelan closely to glean as much information as possible from his unspoken body language as from whatever words he was about to say.
A sad smile tickling the corner of his lips, Caelan ran a restless hand through his hair. “At first I think the lass thought I’d dreamt it or had gone a bit daft with a dream that seemed too real but then the more I told her the more frightened she became. I could see it in her eyes.”
“Frightened?”
Emrys rubbed his chin with one hand as he clutched his staff with the other. “Are ye sure she was frightened about what ye were saying or was she just afraid she’d fallen into bed with a mad man?”
His green eyes stormy with the turmoil of his emotions, Caelan cocked his head as he turned to face Emrys.
“Have I ever told ye how much of a comfort ye always are to me in times like these?”
“Dammit, Man! Ye know what I mean! ‘Tis important to know how much she knows and believes about the old ways. Now answer my question could ye tell exactly what it was that was frightening the lass or did she even begin to believe the words that ye told her?”
Emrys stamped his cane to emphasize his words, his temper causing the faintest of blue sparks to rise from the tip bouncing on the ground.
Grabbing the wizard’s arm, Caelan’s brows rose in concern as he pointed to the end of the glowing staff.
“Careful Old One! This land must lie along the ancient lines. Take care lest your temper set something in motion.”
“Mayhap that’s what’s frightened yer lass if this land’s been in her family for years then it’s not the old ways that will have her afraid, that concept would be easy enough for her to accept. But the traveling to the unknown past, giving up all of the conveniences and the life prolonging capabilities of this time that’s what has her terrified.” Emrys pulled his arm gently out of Caelan’s grasp and smoothed his crumpled sleeve.
‘She didn’t say anything. She just stood there starin’ at me and growing paler with every word I said. That’s why I finally told her I was going to go for a walk in the woods I thought it best to give the lass a bit of breathing room to help her realize that she had to come back with us that it was the only choice for her to make.”
Caelan slid off the edge of the porch, running both hands through his hair to clasp them at the back of his neck.
Sighing deeply, Emrys shook his head as he drew in the dirt with the tip of his cane. Pursing his lips, he cocked his head to one side as he stared down the empty driveway.
“I’ll still travel back this moon and get the things ye require for your plan and we’ll move forward as though she’s chosen to return with us. I canna believe the lass has left for good or run away from ye without an explanation ’tis not her way. The lass is fearless.”
“We’ll see..auld man we’ve naught but a short while left and then we’ll see.” Turning from Emrys, Caelan’s shoulders slumped as he managed a half-hearted wave farewell. Then he climbed the porch and entered the dark and lonely house, to continue his vigil alone.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Chewing her lip, Rachel squinted her gritty eyes as she stared at the images of Scotland she’d pulled up on her laptop. She’d been sitting for hours in a booth in the back of the diner, downing gallons of coffee and downloading as much information she could possibly find about the history of the land and the actual plausibility of time travel.
Most of the information she’d found on both subjects had been unnerving. Scotland’s history was a brutal and bloody tale. She’d read of Robert the Bruce and his battles, of the Jacobite uprising, of the Highland Clearances and the cruelties inflicted upon the people thru the battles and struggle for power and land.
The information she’d read on time travel had left a knot in her throat that she just couldn’t quite seem to dislodge. Quantam theory, Einstein’s research scientific data actually supported what Caelan was stating they had not only done but were about to do.
Covering her face with her hands, Rachel shook her head with a deep sigh. Why couldn’t anything in her life be simple?
“Rachel. Honey are you sure you don’t want something to eat? All of this caffeine and acid from this coffee is going to eat a hole clean through your gut.”
Pamela, owner of the diner, head waitress, and also one of Rachel’s best friends since elementary school, plopped her more than ample behind down in the bench across from where Rachel sat.
Slowly leaning back and stretching her arms over her head, Rachel smiled sadly as she blinked her blood shot eyes.
“Pamela no thanks I really couldn’t eat anything. But the coffee is doing wonders for keeping me going and I appreciate your letting me sort of camp out back here. What time is it anyway? I didn’t even notice it had gotten dark.”
Glancing at her watch, Pamela smiled and reached across the table to pat a comforting hand on Rachel’s arm.
“It’s nearly midnight and I flipped the closed sign over a long time ago but you stay here as long as you like. Since I live upstairs I’m going up and going to bed. There’s an extra room with a bed upstairs or there’s an old couch back yonder where I crash sometimes when my knees play out and I can’t carry this load up the steps.” Pamela winked as she patted her rump with one hand. “If you decide to go just lock up for me If you decide to stay then sleep wherever you like.”
Edging sideways to free her plump girth out from between the table and bench; Pamela paused one last time before she waddled out the door.
“I don’t know what’s goin’ on with you Rachel but I wish you the best because you’ve always been a good person and I can’t count the number of times you’ve bailed me out and never asked to be repaid. God bless you and watch over you, Honey.”
Rachel could feel the sting of unshed tears as she watched Pamela limp from the room. Even though they were the same biological age, Pamela had always seemed years older. She’d had to drop out of high school to raise her brood of brothers and sisters. Her alcoholic father had beaten her mother to death and then shot himself.
Poor living conditions, no healthcare, and just poor DNA had also saddled Pamela with a myriad of medical problems. Never complaining, Pamela always worked hard, was grateful for what she had and helped others whenever she could never asking for anything in return.
“And I thought I had problems ”
Rachel mumbled into her coffee as she listened to Pamela’s hitching gait painfully climbing the stairs.
Slowly closing the laptop, she rested her forehead on top of her folded hands on the table. How in the world could all of this be true? How could a Scottish Laird from the year 1379 have recurring dreams about her hunt her down with a wizard come to the future to seduce her and then tell her she’s got to choose to come back with him or he’s got to go back alone?
What the hell kind of screwed up twist of fate is that?
Why in the world would she want to go to the past?
Think of all the stuff she’d be giving up? No television, no computers, no deodorant oh my gawd no coffee! No toothpaste no makeup no tampons no showers no razorblades no tater tots holy shit ~ no ice cream!
Even worse what if she decided she wanted to have children? no pain medicine! What if they got sick? Look how many women died back then when they had babies. Look how many babies died it’s a wonder the human race survived at all!
Lifting her head, she shook herself free of the mounting panic she was talking herself into and drained the last dredges of coffee from her cup. Sliding out of the booth, she scooped up her laptop and purse and headed toward the door.
Fishing out a crumpled twenty dollar bill, she laid it on the counter, hoping that would cover all the coffee she had consumed over the nearly twenty-four hours she’d sat at the booth. Heading out the door, she checked the area to make sure no one was looking and took the extra key from the hiding place and securely bolted the lock.
Tossing everything into her truck, she stiffly climbed behind the wheel and froze as her eyes fell upon her wedding band. She’d been quick to run down the list of the many conveniences she’d be giving up if she went back in time but she’d been avoiding acknowledging the biggest gain of all if she decided to make that leap.
She’d never thought a man like Caelan could actually exist. He was as thoughtful as he was stubborn as tender-hearted as he was barbaric as gentle as he was brutish he was an amalgam of opposites and contradictions that added up to the most loving, caring individual she’d ever hoped to meet. How could she live without him?
Covering her face with her hands, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as she remembered how wonderful it felt waking up every morning in his arms. Did she really want to go back to waking up to nothing more comforting than Sam and Maizy’s cold wet nose’s nudging her in the side?
Every time she thought about Caelan, she could feel her very soul stirring beneath her breastbone. It was as though she was straining to reconnect to her other half in constant pain unless they were as one.
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