In Due Time: Book 4.5 - A Novella (Morna's Legacy Series)

by Bethany Claire

  “Oh, my sweet, sweet Cooper.”

  Mom held him and stroked his hair as she kissed the top of his head. It made him feel small, but he couldn’t deny how much better it made him feel. Sometimes a boy just needed his Mom. He hoped he never got too old to feel like he didn’t.

  “It’s a tough thing, isn’t it? Learning for the first time that your parents aren’t perfect? I think I was probably a little older than you when I realized it for the first time, but you’ve always been ahead of the curve.”

  Was that what really bothered him the most? Cooper hadn’t thought about it, but as Mom said it, he thought perhaps she was right. “Well, it doesn’t mean I love you guys any less, okay Mom? Even though I know now.”

  Mom laughed as she squeezed him tight. “Well, I sure hope not. Now,” she sat him down on his feet and grabbed his hand, “let’s go have a talk with your father. Don’t worry, I’m right here with you. Just prepare yourself though—I’m not perfect either, and this baby has shortened my temper extensively. There may be screaming.”

  CHAPTER 13

  McMillan Castle

  Present Day

  “Are you sure this is okay? I really feel like it’s probably not.” Kathleen was really starting to think that this Morna lady had it out for them. Not only had she denied them entry into her home when Kathleen was ninety-eight percent positive there’d been no one staying at the inn, but she’d also advised them to camp for the night on the grounds of an old castle some two and a half hours away from her inn. None of it made sense.

  “Yeah, it’s fine, Kathleen. Look around. Even if it’s not technically all right, I don’t think there’s anybody around to get us in trouble. Besides, what reason would the lady have for sending us somewhere she knew we shouldn’t be?”

  Kathleen shrugged as she hauled their sleeping bags and blankets out of the back of the car. At least they’d had the foresight to prepare for the possibility of having to camp. “I don’t know, but what reason would she have for telling us she was booked up for the night when clearly she wasn’t. And what reason…” Kathleen tossed the bag of stones in Jane’s direction, “would she have for giving us these stupid rocks and telling us to toss them into the lake before sleeping?”

  Jane laughed and reached to grab her sleeping bag before happily spreading it out on the ground like a happy grade-schooler at summer camp. “I already told you, Kathleen. Haven’t you noticed how superstitious people are around here yet? She said this place was supposedly haunted by some crazy banshee and in order to keep her away while we sleep, we need to toss these magic rocks in the water to feed her hungry soul.”

  Kathleen laughed for the first time all day. All of it sounded entirely ridiculous coming out of Jane’s mouth. “Have you been smoking crack? Do you know how ridiculous all of that sounds? I thought banshees were like an Irish thing.”

  Jane shrugged and walked over to a small bush before unashamedly yanking down her pants to take a pee. Kathleen would never have guessed her old friend to be such a wild outdoorsman.

  “I don’t know. I don’t care either. It was a nice gesture, all the same. She didn’t want us to be haunted by the banshee. I for one am appreciative of that. It really would have ruined the good night’s sleep I plan to have.”

  While Jane dried herself, Kathleen turned her head and silently pleaded with her own bladder to remain empty for the rest of the evening. She had no intention of peeing in the woods.

  It was a beautiful place to camp, to be sure, with the castle softly lit by the full moon as their backdrop, all of it sitting grandly behind the large pond by which they spread out their camping materials. Pretty it might be, but Kathleen would have bet her last dollar that this was no legal campground.

  “There’s no way I’m going to be able to sleep out here. For one, I know it’s warmer than usual, but it’s still Scotland. We will probably freeze out here. And two, I’ll be worried the whole night that somebody is going to show up and arrest us.”

  Jane laughed at her, opening the bag of stones and chucking one so hard in Kathleen’s direction she had to reach up and snatch it to keep it from knocking her unconscious.

  “Whoops, sorry.” Jane walked to stand by the water’s edge. “I didn’t mean to throw it that hard. Good reflexes. Now, get over here so we can throw our rocks. I know it’s probably stupid superstition, but I’m not going to risk it.”

  “Fine. Then, you lay down on your pallet so you can freeze to death, and I’m going to go sleep in the car.” Kathleen walked until she stood next to her friend as Jane motioned with her fingers, until she reached the number three.

  Together they tossed the rocks into the pond as the earth shook beneath them. The moon seemed to fall from the sky as the stones dropped into the water, making everything around them go black.

  * * *

  McMillan Castle

  1647

  For one of the first times in my life, I was truly and utterly ashamed of myself. What had I been thinking to assume it was my right or place to keep such news from Grace? To make the judgment that she didn’t need to know that her sister was in Scotland, waiting to hear from her?

  I’d convinced myself that I’d done it for Grace’s benefit, so that she wouldn’t constantly be worried about the complications of either telling her sister the truth or trying to manage keeping up such a ruse while being separated by centuries. The truth was, if Grace knew about Jane’s whereabouts, I knew she would be certain that either communication or actual time travel remained open and available at all times, and that took away every excuse I had for being such an ass to Kathleen.

  I shouldn’t have kissed her in the first place. I’d known that even before I’d done it, but I’d been unable to resist the urge that had surged through me. Then, like a coward, I’d pulled away and fled without explanation, leaving us both breathless and confused and deserving of so much better. My excuse was that I’d never see her again anyway. Deep down, I knew that wasn’t true. I wanted to see her again. I needed to.

  And truthfully, in the strange, magical world in which I found myself living, there was no real obstacle that would keep me from doing just that—only the obstacles of fear and what-ifs that lay in my heart.

  I lay in bed, in the small cottage just beyond the edge of the McMillan Castle pond that I now called my home, embarrassed and ashamed by the person I’d been over the last month. I hated that it had taken my young son and his spitfire angry mother to wake me up. I owed Grace and Cooper an apology. I owed Kathleen an apology. I even owed Jane an apology for leaving her to worry and fret over her sister’s whereabouts for so long.

  Tomorrow I would work on making everything right. A travel would have to be made once again and the truth told to Jane about where and when her sister now lived. I wouldn’t allow Grace to risk making the travel while pregnant, and no matter how safe Morna swore the magic was, I didn’t like the idea of Cooper making such a journey unnecessarily.

  At sunrise, I would make the journey alone. Somehow I would need to find the words that would calm Jane’s fears and make her believe the impossible.

  I had no idea what I could say to her—most likely it didn’t matter. By tomorrow’s end she would think I was bat-shit crazy and in need of hospitalization.

  I lay awake practicing different versions of the speech I would give, all the while doing my best to imagine Jane’s reactions. I knew I grew tired but during one such silent run-through, Jane’s voice rang so loud in my head, it sounded as if she spoke right outside my front door. I shook my head, to rid myself of the noise. Clearly, it was time to sleep.

  I leaned over to blow out my bedside candle when the voices drifted toward me once again. I didn’t imagine them. The voices of several hysterical women were coming from the direction of the pond, and one of them sounded very much like Jane.

  CHAPTER 14

  Kathleen moaned as she held onto both sides of her head, convinced that if she released her grip, her skull would literally split right d
own the middle. She’d never experienced such a throbbing headache, the onset of which she couldn’t begin to understand.

  She lay on the ground and slowly forced her eyelids open as she rolled over to search for Jane. She found her friend in much the same position as herself.

  “What the hell happened?”

  Removing her hands hesitantly, Kathleen took deep breaths as she pushed herself to sit up and then stand. Gradually, the pain receded. “I have no idea, but stand up, it helps.”

  Kathleen gave Jane her hand, hauling her to her feet as they glanced around, noticing for the first time that the car and all of their belongings were nowhere to be found.

  “Oh my God.” Jane’s voice cracked as she started to cry hysterically. “We were attacked, Kathleen! Attacked and then robbed.”

  “Jane.” Kathleen reached out to grip Jane’s shoulder, shaking her to gain her attention. “Stop it. Freaking out isn’t going to do us any good. If we were attacked, which I can’t see any other explanation, just be glad they didn’t kidnap us. Other than a wicked bad headache, I think we both look okay, but we can’t do anything else until you calm yourself down.”

  She stepped away, allowing Jane the chance to take a moment and calm her breathing while she looked around and tried to formulate some sort of plan.

  Obviously, they would have to walk, but where? They didn’t know their way around very well. At least if they kept their backs to the pond, they could see anyone else approaching them. If they started to walk away, whoever had attacked them before could easily ambush them again. Although terrifying, Kathleen could see little choice but for them to wait by the water until daylight and then re-group.

  After a few moments, a much more collected Jane reached out to grab Kathleen by the arm. “Okay, what do we do?”

  “We stay here until morning.”

  “What?” The pitch of Jane’s voice was so loud that Kathleen moved to slap her palm against Jane’s mouth to silence her.

  “Shhh! What’s the matter with you? Do you want whoever did whack us over the head to know that we’re awake?”

  Jane’s eyes grew wide with panic. Kathleen removed her hand, knowing she’d shocked her into silence.

  “Look.” Kathleen backed up and sat down with her back nearly touching the water and waited for Jane to join her. “We don’t know our way around here. At least here with our back to the water we can see anything approaching. If we move, we can’t. Once it’s daylight, people will arrive to open the castle to visitors, and we can get help, okay?”

  Jane nodded and remained silent.

  Kathleen leaned forward to rub her temples, pushing away the remaining ache that seemed to radiate all the way down to her toes. The sound of Jane’s hurried whisper startled Kathleen so much her rear end lifted off the ground as she jumped.

  “Kathleen, lift your head and turn around. Do you remember seeing that before?”

  Kathleen twisted to see the moon shining down on a small wooden cottage nearly a hundred yards away from them, just barely outlined by the moon’s light. She’d not noticed it before, but then again, it could have just been because the moon had been at a different point in the sky.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  Jane didn’t whisper as she spoke again. “Maybe they can help us.” Then she raised her voice to a shout, standing and cupping her hands over her mouth as she did so. “Help! Somebody help us!”

  Horrified, Kathleen reached up to yank on Jane’s hand, pulling her back to the ground with all the force she could manage, all but tackling her as she struggled to silence her.

  “Are you crazy? What if the people who attacked us live in that cottage? They left us alive the first time. Do you want them to come back and finish the job?”

  Jane whimpered as Kathleen watched the thought sink in. Together they huddled with their heads turned toward the cottage, both of them gasping in horror as the light of a flame suddenly sparked to life.

  “Oh my gosh, Kathleen, I’m so sorry. This is it, isn’t it? We’re going to die.”

  Kathleen struggled to stand as Jane gripped her around the waist like a small child, whimpering as the outline of a man started to make its way toward them.

  “Just calm down, Jane. We don’t know who he is, but if he tries to hurt us, at least we can see him this time. There’s only one of him and two of us. So get up off your ass and act like a grown-up.”

  Kathleen knew she sounded harsh, but she didn’t know what else to do. Perhaps acting brave would help her feel that way, rather than the watery sensation that made her knees want to buckle so that she could sink to the ground in her horror.

  Instead, she forced herself to address the man as he approached.

  “Stop moving right now, mister. We don’t need you to come any closer.”

  “What’s the matter with you two? Are you trying to wake up the whole castle?”

  All the breath in Kathleen’s body left as Jane released her grip and moved to throw her arms around the man that approached them.

  Jeffrey.

  CHAPTER 15

  “What in the world are you wearing, Jeffrey? You look crazy! And why are you staying in this shack?”

  I ignored Jane as I took two paces across the room to light candles, doing my best to illuminate the dark space, but no amount of light was going to squelch Jane’s criticism or her utter lack of understanding.

  Normally, I slept in nothing, but even in my hurry to see what the screaming was about, I’d had the common sense to throw on a pair of linen breeches and a shirt. Only problem was, to two twenty-first century women, my seventeenth century dress seemed to cause Jane more worry and distress than if I’d stepped outside bare naked.

  Her questions hadn’t ceased for a moment, and I could tell by the pitch of her voice how frightened she still was. I couldn’t tell her the truth, not until she calmed down at least a little.

  “I mean, there’s not even a bathroom in here, Jeffrey…or electricity! Couldn’t you have found something a little better to stay in? I can’t imagine that Grace feels very comfortable sending Cooper over here to stay.”

  I shook my head, tired and frustrated. I had no idea how Kathleen felt about everything; she’d not said a word since I’d approached them, but I could already tell that Jane was not going to be easy to convince that she’d ended up in the past. “Grace has zero problem with my new home. She helped build it.”

  Jane laughed and, although my back was to her, I could envision her hand dismissing me in disbelief. “Yeah, I’m sure she did.”

  Kathleen spoke for the first time, clearly just as frustrated with Jane as I. “I don’t know why you care that he doesn’t have a bathroom. You’re the one who didn’t hesitate for a second to take a big tinkle in the middle of nowhere.”

  I swallowed my laughter but smiled into the darkness, still facing away from them.

  “Yeah, but that was before, when I was all gung-ho about finally getting my sister’s address and hyped up for the adventure that would have been sleeping next to an old empty castle.”

  “The castle is hardly empty.” I’d said it before, even as I’d approached them, but in their panic, neither had heard me.

  Jane moved so that she stood in front of me, her eyes showing her confusion. “What? Of course it is.”

  I crossed my arms, letting her question hang in silence as I thought about what I should do. As far as I could tell, only one thing would happen if I tried to convince them they were in the seventeenth century now, in the middle of the night, with no one else to back up my story. Both women, Jane especially, would throw a fit so loud and ridiculous that the entire castle actually would wake up. I didn’t see any need for such a spectacle.

  The great revelation and the chaos that would follow could wait until morning.

  “Look, you two look dead on your feet. You’re a lot safer in here than you were out there, so why don’t we just all get some sleep. We’ll regroup in the morning and find out who was responsible for kno
cking the two of you unconscious.” My teeth ground together involuntarily. It made my head hurt just thinking about how painful the travels are, especially the first time when you don’t know what to expect. I felt sorry for both of them.

  Jane nodded and yawned, her desire for sleep seemingly overwhelming any other questions she wanted to ask. She moved toward the bed, even before I pointed in its direction. “You two take the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor by the fire.”

  As I moved toward the fire, Kathleen reached for my arm, surprising me by her touch as she looked directly at me for the first time. Much more grounded than Jane, she knew something was off with the entire situation. I could tell by the plea in her eyes that she suspected I knew what it was. Her voice was near a whisper when she spoke.

  “Why did you say, ‘the castle is hardly empty?’ What’s going on, Jeffrey?”

  I owed her an apology for so many things—for the night I’d kissed her, for the fear I knew she experienced now, and for my inability to bring myself to explain anything tonight. I hoped at least, as I reached to thumb a piece of earth from her brow, that she could feel the apology I didn’t wish to give her in front of Jane, by the way I touched her.

  “In the morning, I’m sure you’ll understand everything but, for now, let’s just all get some sleep, okay?”

  Her face had softened when I touched her, but I watched her eyes harden toward me once again as I spoke. I knew to her it looked as if I once again refused to give her the explanation she deserved.

  “In the morning. Right. Have a good night. Thanks for the bed.”

  She turned away, and I took my place by the fire. Morning couldn’t come soon enough.