by Jane Stain
Good, because I like having you here.
Keep talking though, or you’ll lose control of yourself, Tomas.
His hand started combing through her long dark hair while he thought on how to introduce his dad’s story about Sean MacGregor. It didn’t seem anything but friendly, though, so he let it keep smoothing through her silky tresses.
“You know how authentic everyone always says my dad is, his Gaelic accent and his skill at sword-fighting and even the expressions on his face?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it’s like he’s from…” She raised up and turned her head to look him in the eye, and she had a ‘Eureka!’ look on her face. “Oh my… He is from back in the past, isn’t he.”
He gathered her close again so that she would lie down. Looking into her eyes felt just as wrong as kissing her would have felt. No, that wasn’t quite true. Looking into her eyes made him want to kiss her, and he mustn’t do that. He was with Sulis.
“Yep. My dad was born in the 1520s on the MacGregor lands in Glen Strae, Scotland, near Kilchurn Castle… It’s so strange. The MacGregor name doesn’t even exist yet in this time we’re in now, you know.”
“It doesn’t?”
“No. The name comes from Viking Lord Donnchadh Beag's son Griogair, and he’s just a boy right now.”
“That is weird. No wonder Seumas looks at Tavish and you so oddly sometimes.”
“Well, Seumas knows everything.”
Her muscles flexed.
“He does? Who else knows, Eileen?”
“No one else.”
She relaxed again.
“Anyway, so your dad is from the 1500s in the Highlands. And he’s a time traveler. So why did that make you leave me without saying a word, and without your parents telling me anything? I looked up to your parents, you know. I thought they were my friends. Losing them hurt almost as much as losing you.”
He stroked her hair some more, but this time tenderly, trying to soothe her.
“They still are your friends, Amber. In their own way, they were protecting all of us by keeping this time travel stuff from us until we were old enough to see the sense in keeping it a secret, but I do think they should have told us about the curse earlier.”
“What curse?”
“Well, Dad wasn’t a time traveler by choice. Neither is Tavish.”
“Sort of like I didn’t travel here by choice.”
“You didn’t?”
“No. No, I was… wandering around in the underground castle that same night after you stopped Lachlan from running me off the cliff, and suddenly I just got dizzy. I didn’t know what was happening to me, Tomas.”
He squeezed her tight, remembering with shame how impatient he’d been with her when he found her in this time in her modern clothes.
“I’m so sorry for how I acted when you got here to this time.”
“You’re forgiven.”
He relaxed his hold on her until they were just cuddling again.
“Anyway, Dad — and now Tavish has taken his place — they are servants of the druid family whose ancestor enslaved one of our ancestors, a certain Sean MacGregor, who was stupid enough to have insurmountable gambling debts.” He told her the whole story.
She pounded the bed with her fist.
“What an idiot.”
Tomas laughed in spite of himself. She had always said exactly what was on her mind. It was one of the things he… one of the reasons she was his friend.
“Yeah, he was an idiot. Sean chose enslavement voluntarily, and for that reason we’ve been told there is very little chance of our family ever escaping the curse that druid put on us through Sean.”
He stopped there and was quiet for a while, letting that sink in. That was the part that he and his brothers and his nephews had argued the hardest against when their parents had told them the story. ‘Can’t we just break this curse?’ they had insisted when told their girlfriends might have children who would be enslaved, if they married them. ‘There has to be a way.’
Amber didn’t argue, though.
“I see,” was all she said. It made him feel like a child, compared to her. Had she always been more mature than him?
Probably.
He resumed combing her long dark hair with his fingers.
“That was what my parents told us on our eighteenth birthday, me and Tavish. That, and the fact that with two others among the faire people, Dad was sent to our time by the druids he serves in order to make the faire authentic and a crowd pleaser and a moneymaker for the druids—”
She sat up and looked down at him.
“Wait, so your parents don’t get to keep any of the money the faire makes? It all goes to the druids? Why don’t they just quit? And why would you want to be a part of that, running the business end of it for the benefit of a bunch of druids? That’s stupid, Tomas!”
He sat up in bed as well and took her hand, wiggling it to negate what she was thinking.
“No, it isn’t like that anymore. I would never want to be a part of it if it were. No, now, our clan does get to keep most of the money. Dad and Mom and Peadar and Vange, they bargained with the druids. They think they got a good deal, but the curse is still intact, so not really. Every fourth-born son in our line still has to serve the druids if he lives to be twenty-five years old. In our immediate family, that’s Tavish. He’s the younger of us two. I came out first.”
She laughed a little at that.
“I know. Do you realize how often you used to say that? Every time you wanted to win an argument with him, you’d bring that up, ‘I came out first.’”
Her laughter did awkward things to the front of him. He turned around and pulled her close to his own back. She fit there like a glove. She always had. And the connection he felt with her now was just as strong as it had ever been.
He felt a pang of guilt. What about Sulis?
What about her.
She’s pushy and arrogant and loud and obnoxious.
Has no manners whatsoever.
Worse, she belittles all the women and manipulates all the men. It’s a wonder none of the women have punched her, she’s so awful. Why on God’s green earth am I with that… Just what is she, anyway? And what am I doing here playing Captain of the Guard when all I’ve ever wanted to do is help run the Renaissance Fairee that Mom & Dad built up to such a wonderful event and such a financial success?
Memories of Amber trying to tell him Sulis was a druid who had charmed him with magic came to him. He pondered them in the back of his mind while he enjoyed being here with Amber in the moment.
But he also decisively resolved some things.
When Sulis came back, he would break up with her. And he would leave this ruse of a life she had stuck him in and return to his own time and his real life. And once he was free of Sulis, he would ask Amber to join him.
But for now, we would enjoy this moment.
“Yeah, well… So anyway, that was why Tavish and I left you and Kelsey. We didn’t want you to have to see your children enslaved to the druids.”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“But in the modern world, there are ways to avoid having more than three kids.”
“Vange tried that, but even in the modern world there are druids, and they have life magic, Amber. Vange was only going to have three kids, and look. She had two sets of twin boys.”
“I’d like to see druidic magic work on someone who’s had a hysterectomy. That would foil them for sure. But even if we did have a fourth son, this time travel thing’s kind of fun.”
He chuckled.
“Yeah, it kind of is, but now that I see it with clarity, being here in the past feels like playing at life rather than living life, even though I know for the people here, this is real life.”
She smirked mockingly at him in a playful way.
“Wow, that was deep.”
He raised his hands up like claws and put a crazed look in his eyes.
“Yeah? I’ll show
you deep. My fingers are going to go so deep into your sides that your laugh will wake up all the guards in the whole hallway.”
She lay back and raised her knees up in front of her and lowered her hands to her sides in order to prevent him from tickling her, but he was familiar with these defenses. Every time she moved, he moved the opposite way and went in for the tickle.
Her giggles melted him though, and he stopped abruptly, sitting up above her and looking down at her long chocolate brown hair splayed on the pillow and her cheeks rosy with exertion and her soft brown eyes dancing with laughter.
“Amber, I was a fool to ever leave you.”
With that, she stilled, and the look in her eyes turned from playfulness to an adoration so deep, it made him yearn to live up to it.
Còig Deug (15)
Tomas was snoring when Amber woke up.
She used the chamber pot, washed her face and hands, and went out in the hall and waved to the first guard she saw.
“Tomas was oot late last night with the dogs, hunting Lachlan the Dark. I ken he’s supposed tae hae duty now, but can ye let him sleep? He truly does need the rest.”
The guard must have been a dullard, because he just kind of stood there gaping at her, not answering.
She would just have to assume he’d pass on her message. She needed to get out of this castle and talk to Kelsey. It was late enough in the morning that she knew her friend would already be at the weaver shop.
Amber passed through the great hall on her way out in the hopes that someone would feed her. Sure enough, a serving woman handed her a plate of eggs and ham and beans, which she ate up quickly, she was so hungry from staying up late and sleeping in.
All the way to the weaver shop, she rehearsed what she was going to say to Kelsey. It was hard, because she had felt so close to Tomas last night. It had been as if they never parted and were still together.
But they weren’t together. He was still with Sulis.
Kelsey took one look at Amber’s face as she entered the weaver shop and handed her work to Sasha, who set it down next to her own and gave Amber a sympathetic look.
Kelsey walked over and gave Amber a hug, then turned to Eileen and Sasha.
“Amber and I have an errand to run.”
The pretty blonde weaver looked from Amber to Kelsey and back again with a smirk on her face and opened her mouth to say something.
But before she could, Deirdre came running over to Amber and stopped with her hands on her hips.
“I want tae go with ye. Ye are na gaun'ae run errands. Ye are just gaun'ae go walking aroond and talking, aren’t ye. Probably even buy one o Maureen’s sticky buns and eat it all by yerself. I want tae go.”
Amber was feeling guilty for not wanting to take the little girl. She was so darn cute, and she had helped Amber find the tinker’s booth...
But the girl’s mother put an end to her demands.
“Deirdre Anne, ye go right back tae yer washing and close yer mouth this instant. Ye dinna speak tae grown ones that way.” Eileen turned to Kelsey. “I am sae sorry. I dinna ken what got intae her. Go on with ye.” She made shooing gestures with her hands as she sat back down at her spinning wheel.
To Amber’s amazement, Deirdre went and did exactly what she was told without any complaints. Her brothers were helping her, and their little baby sister sat watching with her thumb in her mouth.
As Kelsey walked Amber toward the door, she made a face that said, ‘Yikes. I’m glad we’re getting out of here for a little while, aren’t you?’
Amber nodded, and together they waved goodbye to the others.
Instead of walking around town as Deirdre assumed they would, Amber walked Kelsey straight past the castle and out toward the cliffs, where the noisy ocean would prevent their voices from carrying to anyone.
And then she looked Kelsey in the eye and bared her soul, as tears came and showed just how upset she was.
“Yesterday Eileen told me about a local enchantress named Elsbeth, and I went to see her. That’s what I was doing out in the woods when Lachlan found me and Tomas found Lachlan. Kelsey, Elsbeth says the only thing that can break the curse of false love is true love. Last night after Tomas came back to his room, I thought we had true love. But when I woke up this morning, I realized he’s still with Sulis. Nothing has changed. Soon as she comes back, he’ll be that zombie again. I can’t take it.”
Kelsey caught her up in a hug.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What happened?”
Amber brushed her tears away with one of her huge voluminous linen sleeves.
“Nothing and everything. We spent most of this morning spooning.”
Kelsey tried to hide a gasp.
“Did you…”
Amber shook her head violently no while she fought the choking sobs that wanted to prevent her from talking.
“We just cuddled and talked and got caught up, Kelsey. And it was like we’d never been apart. And that’s even worse than if… I feel so close to him, but he’s still with Sulis. Nothing happened at all — and everything happened. I mean I’m feeling so close to him, but I shouldn’t be. I almost wish I had never come here to Scotland. Having him so close to me again just brings home how much it hurts that he doesn’t want to be with me, not in the way I want. I’m trying, Kelsey. I really am trying to save him from that B witch. But if he doesn’t come around soon, I’m going to ask Tavish to take me back to the modern world so I can move on without Tomas. It kills me to do it, but I won’t have my heartstrings pulled by someone who isn’t sure how to feel.”
She dissolved into sobs then, grateful that her friend was there.
Kelsey gently patted her back.
“He’ll come around soon. I know he will. He loves you, even if he doesn’t know it right now. Don’t give up yet. Stay just a little bit longer, because I think all he needs is just a little more time. We can’t let that B witch win without a fight. Remind him that he loves you. Give him a fighting chance to choose you.”
Amber wanted to believe Kelsey, wanted to with every fiber of her being. Her heart begged her to believe. It was everything she had ever hoped for. But her head kept telling her to guard her heart and withdraw before her heart broke beyond repair.
The two of them walked slowly back toward the weaver shop. All that awaited them there was boring work. Or so she thought. Right up until she found Tomas standing outside the weaver shop holding the bridal of a horse and grinning at her in invitation to go for a ride with him.
Filled with elation, she ran to him without even looking back at Kelsey, whom she vaguely heard laughing behind her.
Amber had ridden horseback with Tomas many times, and before she knew it, she was on the horse behind him and they were galloping away from the town with her laughing with delight.
Once more, she had her arms around him and her head pressed against his back, soaking in the closeness of him — albeit through far more clothing than there had been between them last night.
This was what life was meant to be like! Galloping through the Highlands — green grass, gray rocky hills, soaring cloudy skies — while holding on tight to the man she loved. It was so wonderful, she didn’t even dare ask him where they were going.
This probably wasn’t a date. He probably had someplace he needed to take her for her safety. And she was glad he was concerned. That was a good sign, right? It meant he cared. He had even admitted that. She sure as heck didn’t want to ask and find out for sure this wasn’t a date. Sometimes, silence really was golden.
Live in the moment. Wasn’t that what they always said?
It would be difficult to talk on a galloping horse anyway. Best to just enjoy the feeling of closeness, the thudding of their bodies together as the horse bounced off the rocks and dirt and rocks again. To count the trees in the forest they rode through, or the different kinds of bird chirps that could be heard amongst the branches.
But mostly just to feel him against her and be happy.
They r
ode close together like this for half an hour or so.
But all things must pass, and she felt the pang of sadness when he slowed down.
Their halt wasn’t all bad, though. He had stopped the horse at the top of a long gradual hill that sloped down to the ocean. It was sandy down there. He climbed down, tied the horse to a tree, and then handed her down.
“We’ll leave him here where he can graze.”
Tomas was still holding her hand, and it felt so right — but a beach awaited them. With one accord, they ran down to the sea. The weather here in Scotland was much too cold for swimming, but this was nice. Far away from everyone else, with only the waves and the wind looking on or listening.
Their eyes met, and they smiled together as they shared a sense of wonder at their surroundings.
But a dark question took hold of her, and she searched his face for the answer, a bit worried about what she would find.
“Have you been here before?”
But his eyes reassured her.
“Yeah, but only with fellow guards. This isn’t the type of place she likes, but I know you like the beach. And Amber, I broke up with Sulis this morning.”
“Say that again?” She knocked imaginary sand out of her ear. “I think I’m hearing things.”
He laughed.
“I broke up with Sulis this morning.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“How did she take it? Was anyone else around? Does everyone know?”
He laughed again and smiled his handsome smile at her.
“Oh, yeah. Everyone knows. They all know I’m out with you now, too.”
She smiled at him in genuine enjoyment then.
She was on a date with Tomas. He was making an effort to spend time with her outside the fortress where he had the excuse of keeping her safe. Hope swelled in her heart. And she almost grabbed him and kissed him until the sun was setting and it was too cold to stay outdoors.
But she would still wait for him to make the first move. He would want to. That was the sort of man he was: a manly one. She wouldn’t have him any other way.
He took her hand in his and led her along the line where the sand met the cliff.
