With the majority of MacCoinnich’s safely deposited in the Keep, Helen took Ian and Lora back.
When the vortex cleared, Lora noticed Amber first. The two ran toward each other and embraced.
“God’s blood I’ve worried about you.”
Lora pulled away from her daughter, glanced down her body and back up. “These clothes suit you.”
“They feel strange,” Amber admitted.
“They won’t forever.”
“Are you sure? Must I stay?” It was the only time Helen heard Amber come close to a complaint about her fate.
“Aye, lass. Your happiness will be found here.”
Amber stared at the ground.
“You must be Laird and Lady MacCoinnich. I’m Mrs. Dawson.” Mrs. Dawson walked down the back steps and interrupted them.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Dawson, I should have introduced you,” Helen said.
“You’ve had a lot on your mind, m’dear. Don’t fret. Please, let’s come in out of the cold. You don’t have to rush back, do you?”
Ian glanced up at the home and over to his daughter. “A few minutes.”
“Good, good. Come in.”
They walked through the back door of the house. Ian’s head snapped back and forth. “Cian, show me this fortress. Tell me what it lacks.”
Instead of going with them, Simon stood by Helen’s side, his hand on the small of her back guiding her to the sofa where he sat beside her. Ian and Cian disappeared around the corner.
“I don’t think anyone has ever called my home a fortress.” Mrs. Dawson chuckled.
“And never will again I’m sure.”
“Can I get you anything?”
Lora’s eyes scanned the room and marveled at the modern delights. “Thank you but no. Helen tells me that you’ve welcomed our daughter into your home as if she were your kin.”
Mrs. Dawson patted Lora’s hand. “I wasn’t blessed with my own children but always prayed for them. Seems God has given them to me a little late. First Helen, now Amber. Though I know they aren’t mine, they are welcome to all I have and any protection I can give.”
Lora grasped the older woman’s hand. “I cannot measure my gratitude.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
Helen glanced at Simon who watched the two women talk, the expression on his face unreadable.
Ian stepped back into the room. “The structure is strong. Bound to withstand Finlay’s earthquakes.”
“It’s been through a share of those. Mr. Dawson insisted on an earthquake retrofit in seventy-one. We had a bomb shelter placed in the basement in the sixties.” Mrs. Dawson went on.
“I didn’t know you had a basement,” Helen said. She’d never seen it before.
“Couple of secret rooms, too. Those panic rooms were popular about twenty years ago.”
Helen glanced around, wondering where such a room could possibly be.
“It isn’t in here, dear. I’ll show you. Might as well let you know about Mr. Dawson’s gun collection while we’re in there.”
“Mrs. Dawson, I had no idea.”
“I loved my husband but he was a bit paranoid at times. Guess that happens when you serve in a war or two, which he did. Then we had the arms race, the Cold War. We all thought we’d be nuked then.”
Lora’s eyes lit up.
“Don’t you worry. That’s all behind us now. Our economy is going to pot quickly but we’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure Amber won’t be a hardship?”
“Please. How much can one girl eat? We’ll be fine. Mr. Dawson left me quite comfortable.” Mrs. Dawson smiled into the thoughts of her late husband.
Ian removed a pouch from the satchel around his waist and handed it to Mrs. Dawson. “This should help.”
Mrs. Dawson waved him off but he placed it in her hand with a final word. “’Tis yours. She is our youngest daughter.”
Without looking in the bag, Mrs. Dawson set it on the table. “She’s safe here.”
“Aye, that we already know,” Lora told her.
Ian glanced at his wife. “We need to go.”
Lora nodded and stood.
Their goodbyes were brief. Amber’s tears misted as she embraced her brother, Simon, and her parents. “I love you all.”
For one final trip back, Helen shifted time. Either she was getting better at it, or the Ancients were showing pity on her for her efforts. This final time felt easier somehow. Less taxing.
Ian gifted Helen with a rare smile and thanked her for all she’d done. Lora hugged and kissed both her cheeks. “God’s speed, lass.” She really didn’t have a clue what that meant, but everyone tended to say it as if it was a blessing so Helen smiled and thanked Lora for the sentiment.
The children said their goodbyes and went to their rooms, their grandparents leading the way. Tara and Duncan said goodbye next, then Myra and Todd. When only Fin and Lizzy were left in the room, Helen said a tearful goodbye for the last time.
Simon couldn’t keep his hands to himself. He kept Helen close, never more than a foot or two away. She was so good at shifting time that he worried she’d disappear in the blink of an eye.
They hadn’t had a moment alone since they’d returned after Philip’s and Malcolm’s demise. Their time together was running out.
Helen faced his parents, tears in her eyes. “Thank you for everything,” she told them.
“We’ve shown you nothing.”
“That’s not true. You’ve raised a wonderful son.” Her eyes rested on his, glistening with tears. “Without him I’d have died that first day.”
Simon saw his mother’s solemn expression as she looked at him.
“Simon is a man who makes his own choices, forges his own life,” Fin added. There was pain behind his father’s gaze.
“Yeah well, where I’m from when someone doesn’t have decent parents, they end up being all kinds of nasty.”
Lizzy laughed at that, and some of the rising tension left the somber mood in the room.
“And you’re the one who told me to trust in my gift, believe in it. You helped me believe in myself, Lizzy. For that I’ll always be grateful.”
“There’s no reason for all these tears. You can come visit. If there is one person in the universe who can, it’s you.”
Helen glanced around the room, her eyes shifting to the floor. “Yeah, I guess.” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks and turned to Simon. “I need to go.”
Pain rippled through him as he stared into her swollen eyes. He could do this. Life was about sacrifices and about making the right decisions for the many and not the few.
His mom and Fin stepped back but didn’t leave the room.
Simon pulled Helen close, his heart thick in his chest. “I love you, lass.”
She sobbed into his chest. “I love you, too.”
The words were music to his soul, making everything else around him fade. “We don’t need to be apart.”
Helen kissed him, stopping his words. He forgot his parents, the room they stood in, and simply felt the desperation behind her kiss. When she pulled away, she forced a fake smile to her lips. “I can’t stay here, Simon. And I love you too much to ask you to leave. Your family needs you.”
He nodded and smiled. “Aye. My family does need me.”
Helen sucked in her lower lip and stepped out of his arms.
Then, because his time was at an end, he turned to his parents.
Lizzy sobbed and threw herself in his arms. “I know. We all know.”
Simon hugged her and stared at Fin.
“Lora had a premonition,” Fin explained.
“I don’t understand,” Helen said from behind them.
Simon kissed his mother and embraced his father before turning to Helen. “You’re my family now, Helen. ’Tis you I need to be with. You I wish to be with.”
Helen’s mouth gaped open. “You mean you’re coming with me?”
“Aye. If you’ll have me.”
H
er arms wove around his neck. The tears filled with pain changed to those of joy. “I’ll have you,” she laughed.
“As my wife,” he informed her.
She stopped kissing him and stared into his eyes. “Was that a proposal?”
It’s a demand.
He glanced at his mother. The woman who taught him everything he knew about modern women. “Aye, it was.”
Helen kissed him again, this time melting into his arms.
“You approve?” he asked when her lips left his.
“Of course, I approve.” She pushed away from him and hugged Lizzy one last time. “Unless something stops us, we’ll visit.”
Lizzy nodded. “I know.”
Simon hugged his parents a final time. “Tell the others goodbye.”
“We will.”
Fin and Lizzy stood back, giving Helen room.
His future wife whispered under her breath, barely breathing the words to move them through time. Everything Simon had known, his loving parents, his family, his world, drifted away. As the vortex surrounded them, He stared into Helen’s eyes and saw the brightness of her soul.
“I love you, lass.”
“I love you, my Highland shifter.”
Epilogue
Ian and Lora met Fin and Lizzy as they left the upper chamber where Simon and Helen had left.
Ian’s heart squeezed in his chest, feeling the empty place that would never quite be the same without Simon’s presence. “They’ve gone?”
“Yeah,” Lizzy pushed away tears. “They were so happy. Sad in some ways, but happy.”
Lora swung an arm around Lizzy’s shoulders in comfort. “’Tis for the best.”
“I know. It just hurts.”
They started down the stairs, talking as they went.
“Do you think she knows about the baby yet?” Ian asked.
“I doubt it,” Lizzy answered.
“Simon knew,” Fin told them without a hint of a doubt in his voice.
“What makes you say that, son?”
“The way he said family. He knew she was pregnant.”
Lizzy sighed. “You don’t think he’s marrying her because of the baby, do you?”
Lora squelched that thought. “Simon loves the girl. Did long before any child was conceived.”
Lizzy nodded. “You’re right. I know you’re right.”
“Let’s drink to another generation.” Ian poured them drinks when they reached his study and lifted his glass for a toast. “May our children be happy in their new life...”
As his glass rose in the air all sounds in the house went completely silent.
The hair on Ian’s nape stood on end. He dropped the goblet from his hand and reached for his sword before swinging around.
There, standing in the middle of his study, was a huge man dressed completely in black. The clothing clung to his skin, weapons of all kinds covered his body. His penetrating gaze landed briefly on the women before moving to Ian. Seeing Ian’s sword unsheathed, he stripped a gun from nowhere and aimed it at Ian’s chest. It looked like Todd’s weapon, only different.
From Ian’s side, Fin let loose his dirk. It flew through the air but instead of sticking in the threatening stranger’s chest, the man spread his hands in the air and an iridescent stream of light surrounded him. The knife bounced off the light and onto the floor.
“Where is she?” he yelled.
“Who?” Ian asked stunned at everything this man was doing.
“Where is Amber? Where is my wife?”
Other Books By CATHERINE BYBEE
Time Travel Romance
Binding Vows
Silent Vows
Redeeming Vows
Highland Shifter
Contemporary Romance
Wife by Wednesday
Married by Monday (coming 2012)
Paranormal Romance
Before the Moon Rises
Embracing the Wolf
Soul Mate
Possessive
A word about the author...
Catherine Bybee has been addicted to books for as long as she can remember. With the love of reading romance novels came the desire to write them as well. Creating worlds where passion and intrigue collide gives Catherine the perfect balance. Catherine currently lives in Southern California with her husband and two growing sons.
She loves hearing from her readers and encourages everyone who enjoys her books to follow/friend or even annoy her on:
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Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2905789.Catherine_Bybee
Catherine’s Blog: http://catherinebybee.blogspot.com/
Visit Catherine at www.catherinebybee.com
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Epilogue
Highland Shifter Page 27
