“Handled carefully, this will last you the rest of your life, Rob. But you can never show anyone. They’ll think you’re a witch, at the very least.” She held the sheet out to him and he took it with his spare hand and looked at it.
It was an image of Lee, Tally and the babe exactly as they were grouped right then. And him. He studied the image of himself, fascinated. “This is how I look?” he asked. “All of me?” He had seen his face dozens of times now in the perfectly clear mirror in the bathroom, but never a full representation of himself.
“Yes. This is called a—”
“Photograph,” Rob finished. “I know.” He looked at the instrument in Nayara’s hand. “That has to be a camera, then.”
Nayara grimaced, with a glance at Lee. “You two covered a lot of ground.”
“It was nearly a year I had with them. That’s a lot of talking, amongst other things.” He lowered the photograph to the table, coldness sweeping through him. The great room on the other side of the wall was very quiet. No-one was there, except for Morag. They’d all gone ahead to their own time.
“It’s time, isn’t it?” he said, looking at Lee.
Nayara glanced at Lee. “I’ll go ahead,” she murmured. Then she turned to Rob. “Goodbye, Robert Bruce MacKenzie. I have enjoyed knowing you.” She held out her hand for the modern handshake Lee had taught Rob. Rob made himself take her hand and shake it. Lee had explained that even women shook hands in their time.
Then Nayara leaned forward and touched her lips to Rob’s cheek. “Be happy, Rob. You are very special.”
She turned and hurried from the room, shutting the door behind her.
Lee moved slowly around the bed and Rob could feel coldness gripping his heart, like the deepest aching chill of winter.
“Every minute we wait makes it worse for her, Rob,” Lee said.
“Then go.” He looked down at Tally, who was watching him, tears in her eyes. “We’ve spoke of this many times. We’ve said what needs to be said. Take Tally home for me, Lee. Take care of her.” His voice broke and he stopped.
“And our son, Rob,” Lee finished. His arms came around Rob, warm and hard, and dearly familiar. “I will, with all my heart.”
Rob let himself take comfort for a weak moment. Then he pushed Lee away. “Go,” he said. “You said time was critical. Go.”
“One moment more,” Lee said. He glanced at Tally. “Share this with me, Tally.” Then he kissed Rob, deeply and thoroughly.
It should have been an arousing kiss, as Lee’s kisses always were. But the only thought in Rob’s head was that this was the last kiss he would ever receive from either of them. The hurt the thought delivered wiped out any pleasure the kiss might have imparted.
Lee loosened his hold and moved back, but he didn’t let go of Rob altogether. Rob watched his gaze turn inward for a minute, then re-focus on him. He knew that Lee had just been speaking with Tally. “It’s just you and me,” Lee whispered. “Tally has withdrawn.”
Rob frowned, puzzled.
Lee caught his chin with his long fingers. “Your plan, Rob. Your grand ambition. Remember?”
Rob caught his breath. He had nearly forgotten that long-ago conversation, when Lee had been drunk. Rob nearly laughed at the cock-eyed optimism he’d held then. How had he ever thought he could defeat time itself?
“Don’t ever lose that ambition,” Lee murmured.
“What…?”
Lee leaned close enough that his lips brushed against Rob’s cheek as he spoke right next to his ear. “May fourteenth, twenty-three fifty-nine. Remember it.”
He let Rob go and strode to the bed. “Help me,” he said, his voice rough, as he slid one arm under Tally’s knees.
Shock making Rob’s limbs move like a marionette’s; he stiffly helped lift Tally’s shoulders so Lee could get his arm under her back. Lee lifted her and the baby as one, up into his arms. The movement made Tally’s mouth open in a silent scream of pain.
Rob’s guts twisted at the sight. “Hurry,” he urged.
Lee’s jaw rippled. “Say goodbye to Tally. Quickly.”
Rob touched his lips to hers. “So long, sweet bonnie lass. I love ye with every inch I possess. It’s glad I am ye were mushrooming that day. Take care of our son.” He touched the scrap of red plaid that trailed from the swaddling around the sleeping baby. “If he lives, raise him to do the Bruce clan proud.”
He raised his gaze to Lee’s face. “Teach him everything you know about swordsmanship.”
Lee nodded. A furrow appeared between his brows. “I love you. We love you. We always will.” He leaned forward, as if he was about to jump across the room. Abruptly, they were gone.
Rob was alone in the room. It was very silent.
The cottage was utterly empty.
Chapter Seventeen
Brenden looked up from the displays on his desk. “The doctor is back. And Fahmido.”
All three of them rose to their feet and headed for the door. Outside in the main area, everyone was streaming from their desks towards the glassed-in passage that led to the arrival chambers.
“Hi, hi!” Brenden shouted as he stepped from the door of his office. “This won’t do! You can’t all crowd the place with your jostling and questions. Sit down, all of you, back at your posts!”
It was a testament to Brenden’s authority that the stream of people halted and began to reluctantly flow backwards.
Brenden sighed. “You can all watch the security camera feeds,” he said, relenting. “But this could be a genuine medical emergency. You have to give us room.” He glanced at Martina. “You’ve got the codes. Open up the reception area feed to general access. That way, you’ll know as soon as we do.”
Martina nodded and returned to the terminal she’d been sitting at. “I’ll pipe it across the station, if you have no objections?”
“Good idea,” Ryan told her and hurried after Brenden, who was already striding through the door into the passage.
The big reception area that served the three arrival chambers was full of people and equipment that had been hastily hauled out of the chambers to clear the way for anyone else jumping forward.
Brenden strode into the mêlée, placing his hand on various people’s shoulders and sending them out of the area to other duties, or simply back to their quarters or to Security. He was clearing the area of as many people as possible. Most of those who departed took equipment with them and swiftly, the area was reduced to a small handful of people.
Charbonneau was one of them, Ryan noted, but said nothing. It was possible they’d need some swift thinkers in the next few minutes.
The human doctor, Sophus, was hurried away to the other end of the station where Tinker waited in the ferry to ship him back to Halfway and down to Earth. He would be well compensated for his strange assignment and the massive fee was designed to repress any of his natural curiosity. Brenden had insisted that he be shuttled off the station with as little interaction with the residents as possible. There was no point in taking unnecessary risks.
Fahmido faced Ryan and Brenden. “It’s a boy and appears healthy and human. I tested him. He has the symbiot in his blood, but in stasis as was his mother’s.” She shook her head a little. “It is so difficult to judge this matter. A child carries the mother’s blood for several days before his own begins to take over. But with the symbiot already present, I cannot predict what will happen when they get here.”
“They’re coming?” Ryan asked.
“With as much haste as such a parting will allow,” Fahmido replied, with regal grace.
“Thank you, Fahmido.” Ryan waved toward the big, comfortable armchairs against the wall. “Why don’t you relax while we wait? I’m afraid you must stay to inspect the child as soon as they arrive.”
“Of course,” she agreed. She stepped around the equipment that remained and sank into one of the armchairs with a sigh.
A few minutes later, the middle chamber showed an arrival and before Brenden
could step forward, the door opened and Nayara stepped out. She held up her hand. “They’re coming, still,” she said, speaking to no one and everyone at once without focusing on anyone in particular. Her voice was strained and Ryan realized that something had upset her deeply. She turned and walked directly toward the corridor that led to her office and private quarters, her head down so no one could see her face.
Everyone silently made way for her.
Ryan watched her disappear, wanting to go after her and find out what had upset her. He had to stay for Tally and Christian’s arrival, though. This was too momentous an occasion for both Agency leaders to be absent.
So he forced himself to turn and watch the displays over the doors of the three big arrival chambers. The readouts indicated if the room was empty, or if people or objects were inside. The doors of each chamber automatically locked a few hours before a scheduled arrival and also during a departure, to prevent outside contamination from spoiling a traveller’s landing marker.
All three chambers showed ready and empty. As Tally’s return was unscheduled and unknown, the rooms remained unlocked but the security observers in the control booth would be watching to ensure no-one entered a chamber unnecessarily.
Ryan realized everyone was watching the read-outs. The reception area had fallen into an unnatural hush and the air seemed to thrum with pressure. He wanted to clear his throat but resisted the impulse. It would be far too loud in this uncanny silence.
The read-outs did not make any noise when they changed, but when the far right chamber’s read-out switched to show that someone was inside, a rustling murmur swept across them.
Brenden strode to the door and put his hand on it. “Fahmido,” he growled, waving her to the door. “The rest of you wait.” He waved Fahmido inside, stepped inside himself and shut the door again. This was as they had planned it. If something went wrong and the baby did not survive the jump, or worse, Natália herself, then there was no need to traumatize the entire station by showing it on the security cameras for all to see. Better that Brenden and Fahmido deal with Natália and her child’s conditions first, then break the news as gently as needed after that.
After a few minutes, Brenden emerged. He was grinning like a schoolboy. “The boy lives,” he announced and threw open the chamber door.
Christian and Tally emerged. Christian was helping Tally along for it would take a while for the symbiot to repair the damage from the stasis poisoning. Tally was alert and mobile, but her eyes were only for the bundle tucked in her arm.
As they moved into the reception area, the few people Brenden had allowed to remain gathered around the two, trying to see for themselves the miraculous child of a vampire.
Ryan hid his smile. Their reactions were very human. There was cooing and sighs and soft little exclamations. Laughter. And the most delicious sound Ryan had ever heard: the baby murmured and chuckled quietly.
Christian moved out of the circle of delight, heading for Ryan where he waited patiently for his turn. He gave Ryan a smile in greeting then halted, his gaze going past him. His eyes widened and his mouth opened. He looked horrified. No, stunned. Shocked beyond speech.
Finally he found his voice. “Rob!” he said.
Ryan whirled, for he was looking behind him.
Charbonneau stood there. His expression was untranslatable, except that Ryan knew he was as emotionally exposed as Christian right now.
Rob. Robert. Tally and Christian’s lover.
Christian stirred and shook himself like he was emerging from a dream. “Rob…sweet Christ!” He moved backwards, not taking his gaze off Charbonneau, barrelling his way through the fringe of people surrounding Tally, scattering them out of the way. He reached for Tally’s sleeve and tugged. Hard.
Tally looked up and her eyes grew very large indeed.
“Tally, my love,” Charbonneau said simply.
Tally tried to speak. Her lips moved, but no sound emerged. Then, very slowly, she began to crumple.
Lee quickly slid his arms under Tally to hold her up.
Charbonneau was just as fast. He leapt—jumped—and was there to catch her and slowly lower her to the ground.
Finally, Tally was cradled in both their arms, the baby between them.
She touched Charbonneau’s face. “Rob,” she breathed. “I can’t encompass how you are here, but you are! You really are!”
He kissed her, softly, as if he understood how fragile she would be right now. “I am here,” he confirmed softly.
Lee gave a low laugh that came out sounding more like a sob than an expression of humour. He was staring at Charbonneau with wonder in his eyes.
Electrified silence had gripped the room as everyone watched this moment play out, but Charbonneau did not seem to care for anything but the woman in his arms and the man before him. “I told ye I’d make it work out, didn’t I?” he told them, his voice suddenly thick with a Scots brogue.
The child between them gurgled and a tiny fist protruded from the folds of cloth. Charbonneau—Rob—reached out to touch his son for the first time.
Ryan pushed his elbow hard into Brenden’s side. “Get rid of everyone that isn’t needed now,” he murmured. “Turn off the feeds. The station has seen enough. Give them their privacy. We’ll figure this all out later.”
“Are you joking, man?” Brenden returned, barely pulling his gaze from the threesome on the floor. “I’ll get the excess bodies out of here, but I’m not turning the feeds off for anyone, including you.”
Ryan blinked.
Brenden continued and Ryan realized he was almost whispering, as if he was afraid of disturbing the pair. “We spend our lives here correcting mistakes and working to avoid others, all with the knowledge that if we get it wrong, we could be destroying life as we know it. This is the best, the most positive thing to happen here since Salathiel made his jump. If you take this happy moment away from them, they’ll skin you alive.” Brenden glanced at him. “And I’ll help them.”
Ryan nodded. “Charbonneau was wrong. You’re not a cynic. I think you’re a closet romantic, my Spartan friend.”
Brenden scowled and crossed his arms. “I think we’d better start calling him Rob. No wonder the man wouldn’t take the wager. He knew the bloody outcome.”
* * * * *
The quarters Nayara had hastily found for them were cramped and inadequate, but none of them cared.
Lee shut the door and locked it and turned to look once more at Rob, taking in the fact that he really was sitting on the bed next to Tally, their son’s hand curled around the tip of his finger.
Tally reached up to slide her hand across the neat, short locks on the back of Rob’s neck. “Your beautiful hair,” she murmured. “All gone.”
Rob captured her hand in his and kissed her palm. “It is so wonderful to hear your voice.”
Lee pulled up the chest next to them and sat on it. “I have to hear,” he begged, his hand on Rob’s knee. “I know I said not to give up, but I never dreamed….”
Rob tilted his head to look at Lee. “That it would work? I told you the night you got drunk that I had a plan. You never did believe me, did you?”
Lee glanced at Tally, who wore a small furrow between her brows as she watched them. “I suppose,” he said slowly, “in my bones, I didn’t. I just wished.” He shrugged. “I knew too much. About time, about the odds against you.”
“You knew about the thousand years between you and me, once you went back,” Rob finished.
Lee sighed. “Yes.”
“So why did you give me your arrival date back here, when you left?”
Tally sucked in her breath. “Lee! You didn’t!”
Lee shrugged again. “It worked, didn’t it?” he said simply. “I didn’t know that was what I was supposed to do, but I was.”
Rob nodded. “It was the final key that made my plan work. Without it, I couldn’t have done this.”
“Done what?” Tally demanded. “Now I want to know, too.”<
br />
“I travelled to eastern Europe. To Romania.” He smiled at Tally. “Almost as soon as you jumped forward, I left. I gave Morag my cottage and the land. I packed up my horse and went looking for your birth place. It took me three years to find it because maps weren’t plentiful and people were inclined to be suspicious. Travel was damned expensive back then, so I sometimes had to stop and work for a bit to raise cash.”
“Why on earth would you go to Romania?” Tally asked blankly.
“He went looking for vampires. He wanted to find one that would make him,” Lee said.
Rob nodded. “It took me another year and I got run out of a lot of towns and villages for asking satanic questions. But I found one. Well, she found me. She heard I was looking for vampires and was curious to know why.”
Lee stared at him and saw that Tally was also staring, dumbfounded. The baby hiccupped and made a tiny sound. Tally silently rocked him.
“Is she…still with us?” Lee asked carefully.
Rob shook his head. “She’s not with the agency that I know of. She might be passing, somewhere. We lost track of each other a few centuries ago, long before the Censure period.”
“So you can’t say who it is, then,” Tally concluded. “What happened after you were made?”
“I carefully moved into France, to set myself up there and build up a family estate.”
Lee pressed his fingers to his temples. “Charbonneau!” he groaned. “Constant Charbonneau Villeneuve…Je suis un idiot! “ When he looked up, it was Rob who was looking at him with the same stupefied expression Tally had just been wearing.
Lee pointed at Rob. “Charbonneau is your real name,” he said. “’Charbonneau’ is ‘black’—for your black Celt looks. Did the villagers give you that name or did you take it for yourself?”
Rob grinned. “I took it. It seemed fitting.”
“’Constant’ almost needs no translation,” Lee continued. “But it is a play on the English ‘constant’—or steadfast, or ‘always there’, if you really want me to paint the picture. And ‘Villeneuve’ is basically, ‘the new man in the village,’ which the villagers definitely would have given you.” He looked at Tally. “His name is a picture of his origins in France.”
Bannockburn Binding (Beloved Bloody Time) Page 18
