“Yes, but Emmy I don’t see where this makes any difference at all,” Dory argued. “I still said ‘I do’ to two men without benefit of a divorce or an annulment.”
“No, that might not legally be how it happened at all! Don’t you see?” When Dory continued to stare at Ian in bewilderment, her husband scowled at her. “Come on, Dory! I know you are brighter than this! Think!”
Dory leaned her head back against the pillows in fatigue. “I am so tired. Emmy, please do the thinking for me.”
“Duh, you were never legally married to Connor at all!”
“What?!” Dory cried out in pain again as her body contracted in shock.
“What did I tell you? Lie still!” Emmy commanded. “God, I wish I had something to give you for the pain. There is no way I’m letting you take that opium either, so don’t ask.”
“Its laudanum,” Dory whispered in pain, “and my maid snuck some to me last night.”
“Don’t do it again,” the doctor in Emmy urged. “The opium will go straight into your breast milk and then straight into your babies.”
“I have already hired a wet nurse,” Dory flushed then waved her away. “Just tell me what you said about me never marrying Connor.”
“Unless I’m completely wrong and I don’t think I am,” Emmy repeated, “you were never legally married to Connor at all.”
“How is that possible?”
“Its fraud and coercion on your father’s part,” Ian told her and for a moment a flash of relief crossed his faced. “Minors cannot sign contracts, they aren’t legally responsible even if they do, plus you didn’t even use your real name. I’m pretty damn sure the marriage to Connor was null and void.”
“Yes, I think so,” Emmy agreed and squealed as Ian crushed her to him and planted a firm kiss on her mouth.
“Em, my God I am glad you are here!”
“Thanks,” Emmy reeled back into a chair and blinked up at him. Glad you are here? Was this another role she had been meant to play? Bringing the truth to light? Giving them closure to the past? Dare she say it? A second chance? Was it possible that everything Donell had said not just a huge pile of horseshit?
Dory smiled weakly at her husband. “Do you really think so?”
“Perhaps,” he pondered the situation for a moment. “I don’t know if our marriage is legal however. Em?”
Shaking off the realizations that had stunned her to silence, Emmy shrugged trying to remember anything she might have learned from decades of TV law shows, but came up blank. If Donell had wanted to get this one right, why hadn’t he sent in a lawyer? “You got me. All I can think is that even if the marriage to Connor was legal, it would have been with Heather not Dory. Like a proxy wedding, right?”
“Perhaps,” Ian rubbed his chin. “It could be just the opposite though. Or perhaps there was never a marriage at all if it was not consummated. I’ll need to see our solicitor then. I do not want my sons to be considered bastards.”
A cry of despair escaped Dory’s lips, but Ian gave her no pity. “If you had come back and told the truth you could have saved Connor a decade of pain. It might be fair punishment for you have our sons be illegitimate.”
“Will you forgive me, Ian?” she begged. “I was just a girl! I didn’t know what to do!”
“But you became a woman who should have known better. You had all this time to make it right but chose not to.” Ian sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know, Dory. I don’t know if I can forgive, but I hope for the sake of our sons that our marriage is legal. I will leave for Inverary to meet with our solicitor.” He looked as if might approach Dory but turned away resolutely but turned back as he reached the door. “And it is not just my forgiveness you must receive, Dory. You must beg it of my brother as well. You have to make it right.”
“Ian!” she cried out, but he left the room. “Emmy, what am I to do?”
“Apologize and pray for a second chance, I guess.” Emmy glanced worriedly at the door. “I must see Connor, Dory. Think about it. Put yourself in his shoes and try to think about what is best for someone else this time.”
Chapter 42
Emmy found Connor in his study already half way through a bottle of whiskey. As she watched, he guzzled another glassful and grimaced. “I would slow down there, big guy. I am all out of aspirin to cut the aftereffects.”
“Go away,” he muttered.
“Nope, I’m not going to do that.” She strolled over to the desk and turned him in the desk chair until she could face him. Kneeling before him, she rested her forearms on his thighs and stared up at him. “Alcohol is not the answer, Connor. Dory was wrong to keep this from you for so long.”
He snorted rudely and downed the remaining contents of the glass.
“Okay, she was incredibly wrong to keep it from you,” Emmy emphasized. “She was young and stupid at the beginning but ten years of nursing the lie was awful and she knows it. I think she thought she was just trying to maintain the status quo as it were.” She rubbed her palms against his muscled thighs trying to comfort him. “You could not defy your father to stop a marriage you didn’t want and she couldn’t either. She didn’t have it in her to be defiant in the face of punishment and pain. For that one moment, her flight from here, I can’t find her completely at fault, can you?”
“She…” he faltered. He tried to remember those days but all he could recall was Dory’s haughty behaviors. Was it possible that it had been fear? He shook his head in doubt.
“Young and stupid, remember?” He sighed and covered her hands with his own. Looking down into her bright blue eyes, he saw her compassion and love. How thankful he was to have her here. She would never go away when he told her to; she would fight him, aggravate him but always comfort him. Her love was soothing, calming. Her intelligence and inappropriate wit softened harsh realities. Her presence made the whole situation more tolerable.
“Coming back,” Emmy went on conceding, “was beyond stupid. I told her she should have just stayed away, but with her entire family dead, she felt she had no alternative but to come back to Duart. She should have come forward with the truth so it could have been handled properly. She really, really should have but she didn’t and she has lived with that guilt all this time. And I am not trying to belittle your pain. I know your happiness has suffered because of her and she knows it, too. But her regret is real.”
“And ye believe her?”
Emmy softened to him loving that he trusted her opinion and belief. “I do.”
“But her bigamy!” he fingered that point. “Ye canna deny that sin! And she has damned my brother, too, with her adultery.”
“Well, you missed the best part when you stormed out, but,” she teased lightly, “I think my ‘educated man’ can work it out. It’s simple, really. I’ll start it for you…you married Heather Stuart.”
He started to agree. “Aye, I marr…”
“There goes the light bulb,” she encouraged softly. “That a-ha moment. Run with it, baby!”
“I didn’t marry Heather, I married Dory,” Connor said in amazement. The light bulb went on? He shook his head and concentrated on the other thought. “But I used Heather’s name when I made my vows.”
“Ian is going to Inverary to fetch your solicitor, but if we’re right, the marriage was invalid from day one. She was under age and under coercion. Even if the marriage was valid, perhaps it was not to Dory but to Heather. Maybe it was more like a proxy marriage, and she died not a month later.” Emmy turned her palms up to grasp his hands. “I don’t think you were ever a married man, Connor. If you were, you were widowed not a month later. Dorcas Stuart was never your wife and was free to marry Ian.”
Connor closed his eyes and envisioned the chain of events and let the facts roll over him. If were only true! But, what should be done about her duplicity? Ten years of deception and betrayal. How could he let that pass? “What was Ian’s response to all of this?”
“I think he’ll be fine, hopefully sooner than later.” S
he pushed herself and scooted into his lap before dropping her arms around his neck. She was comforted when his arms wrapped around her waist. “Maybe later than sooner. I imagine it would be difficult to discover the woman you love had lied for a decade.”
“He might never forgive her.”
“Would you forgive me?” she asked then added. “Eventually, of course. A period of anger and resentment is, after all, justifiable.”
Connor looked down into her beautiful face and knew that he could forgive her almost anything. Some things were beyond forgiveness, of course. Infidelity. But a lie even of this magnitude, he thought he might eventually forgive her if her reasoning were sound and her regret genuine. Occasionally even the best of intentions ended in disaster. “You are an incredible woman.” He pulled her to him and kissed her softly leaving her humming in satisfaction against his lips. “If I had discovered all of this before ye came here, it is verra likely that I might have killed her without a second thought.”
“Well, I am glad I was here to curb your impulsive homicide then,” she muttered wryly.
“I’m glad as well. Even when she told me I was not as angry as I should be. My reaction was most unusual, I think. I was angry, enraged even, but it faded quickly. Almost as if the past no longer mattered. The past does not matter, Emmy. Isn’t that strange?”
“And the future?”
“Aye, the future is all that matters. And I want a future with ye, Emmy. Ye’ve given me a peace I haven’t had in many years, allowed me to live for the moment and appreciate what I have. And to…what is it ye said? Not to sweat the small stuff?” He kissed her softly. “Ye’ve changed my life.”
“And you have changed mine.” Emmy wrapped her arms more firmly around him and kissed him lovingly. “It awes me, Connor, the feelings you rouse in me. I know I’ve said it before, but I never imagined that such a depth of feeling was possible. I love you. Such inadequate words, but I do.”
“As I love ye, my darling,” he whispered.
“Forgive her, Connor,” she said in all seriousness. “It’s your key being dropped right in your lap. Forgive her, the Heather that has haunted you all these years and let yourself face your future without all that baggage, happy and free. Think of it as a second chance to live your life. Isn’t that what Donell said? That everyone deserves a second chance. I don’t think that was all just about Dory. I think she needed to confess what she had done so she could and you could both move on with your lives. The truth can set you free, to borrow a much-abused cliché.”
“Ye think knowing the truth can change the way I look at life? That it will change the way I live my life from now on?”
“Doesn’t it?”
Connor met her gaze thoughtfully for several long moments. His life had changed…dramatically in fact, but it wasn’t just the truth that had done it. The truth alone would not have done it. Without weeks of Emmy’s influence before, that confession from Dory might have brought him to a homicidal end. It was Emmy who had brought them to this point. Emmy, whose love allowed him to move on and forgive before the confession had ever been delivered.
“I am happy and free, my love,” he replied eventually in serious measure. “Not because of that truth, but because ye came into my life and freed me.” He held her closely for a long while. “Well, then, let me up so I can go with my brother to Inverary to save his marriage.”
“That’s my man,” she murmured approval and kissed him gently on the cheek.
Chapter 43
The weather had finally cleared and the sun was shining for the first time in days. Forty-eight hours of labor and confessions had left Emmy tense and she was determined to get out and enjoy the beautiful day. Connor and Ian had said they would likely have to spend at least one night in Inverary and would probably not return until late in the day. Free to do as she wished, she dressed in the most comfortable clothes available – her own - thinking that over the rough terrain her boots were the most practical. It felt good to be back in her jeans. There was just something about their snug containment that set everything right. Her little blazer wasn’t much defense against the winds but it was warmer than any of the daily wear blouses she had and would work well under a large coat.
Stuffing her camera into her tote, she slung it across her chest. She hadn’t gotten one picture yet of this gorgeous land. Of course, at the moment, her digital camera was useless without a computer to load the pictures to and what if she never returned to her own time? What was the point? She shrugged mentally. It was something to do and she wanted to capture Duart just in case…
Emmy froze. What if she did go back? What would she do when they finally found Donell or, more accurately, he decided to grace them with his presence? Beg him to take her away? Beg him to let her stay? What if she didn’t have a choice? What if she did?
What if she did?
It tortured her that question. What would she do if she had a choice? Take Connor back with her, of course. Then she tried to picture him in her time. He would be lost. His purpose, his passion for his land and his people, gone. At least she knew what was coming! But, she also knew what she was missing. He would never make it in her time and she just wasn’t sure she wanted to be stuck in his. But without Connor, even her own time…would it be worth going back to?
Emmy mulled over these questions as she snuck out of the castle and courtyard and heading in long strides to the southwest. The pull of her muscles felt good. She definitely needed to get out more and keep in shape! She savored the feel as she walked rapidly down the rocky coastline. Stopping periodically, she took pictures of Duart, the sound and on farther to Lochdon taking pictures of the village and its people at work. She stopped in briefly to check on Cora McAllen and her baby before using the last of the local coins Connor had given her on a meat pie at the local tavern.
The rustic fare was infinitely more satisfying than the exotic sauces and dishes Dory arranged night after night and Emmy thought she might try to convince the woman to mix some of the local dishes in. After all, eating at Spago was nice, but not every day. Besides, everyone just needed pizza or a burger every once in a while. She wondered if the analogy could be translated.
After several hours of hiking, Emmy neared Duart again. The day and exercise had warmed her enough that she had long ago shed her coat and draped it over her tote. She felt good. Energized. And mentally invigorated after her walk. The sun was beginning to lower in the sky lighting the western side of the castle as she approached. She raised her camera again and took another shot from this angle. Thoughts of a hot shower, well, bath anyway, tickled her mind as she approached.
As she was nearing the front gates, the sound of hoofbeats brought her around as Connor approached from the north. Struck by the similarity to her first sight of him, Emmy raised the camera and took several shots as he approached and swung down from Bruce. One, two and a third as he walked toward her.
“Smile!” she called. He did automatically and she snapped another though she thought he smiled more because of her silly voice than her command. “Well? How did it go?”
“The marriage was indeed between myself and Heather, not Dory,”’ he explained. “Though not exactly as we thought, Ian is waiting to hear an official word from the courts in Edinburgh before he returns, but it seems that I am a widower these past ten years.”
“So their marriage is legal?”
“We believe so,” he nodded and welcomed her embrace as she threw her arms around him. “Ian said to thank ye again for everything. Without ye here he would not have his wife or sons. He has a marriage and family thanks to ye.”
“I am glad I was here to help,” she offered sincerely. Maybe that had been it all along. Her presence had changed history. She had saved a mother and two babies making it possible for a great wrong to be made right. Connor had been given freedom from the past that had haunted and ruled his life allowing him to move on to a richer relationship with his family. She had made all that possible.
So much for a simpler life!
What if her job here was done?
“I have missed you,” he whispered leaning back to capture her lips in a long passionate kiss distracting her from her musings.
“Mmmm,” Emmy hummed dreamily returning his kiss. “I’m sure I can’t wait to show you how much I missed you as well. I was so cold last night!”
“Did you miss me or my warmth?”
“Can’t I miss it all?”
Connor chuckled and held her close to him savoring the meeting of their bodies. He had indeed missed her loving presence by his side and in his bed. Had missed her conversation and wit. He loved her so dearly.
“I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
“You know, when I came here with Donell, I was telling him how I considered your time simpler. I think that was part of his test too. To see that it wasn’t necessarily so. When I look at Dory or Margo’s home, I can see there are hard times here as well. You have worries and fears and challenges that I never did. Your life is harder close to home where our worries are for our entire world. In my time people worry about money, success but here people worry for their very lives and those of their children. Their existence.”
“I care for my country.”
“I know you do, my earl of Stratheclyde. But how about your people here? What do they care about?” she glanced back down at her camera. “It was such a beautiful day, I thought I’d get out for a walk and finally take some pictures. That’s what I see here. People whose lives are not as simple as one would think.”
“No one ever said they were. Yer camera? Is that what that is?” he asked curiously. “May I see it?”
“In a sec. First let me do one of us together. Come here,” Emmy commanded and stood him next to her, leaned in close and, in typically 21st century fashion stuck the camera out in front of them and took a picture. Checking to make sure she got what she wanted on the screen, she waved him over to show in the view screen.
A Laird for All Time Page 28
