Morna's Legacy 04 - Love Beyond Measure

by Bethany Claire

  “No, ye have been anywhere but right here, lass. Ye have plans to leave.”

  He didn’t ask it as a question, and his keen observation caused my hand to still for a brief moment. I’d unwound him to the bottom of his waist. All that was left was his right leg, but I hesitated to go further. I didn’t imagine he had on boxer briefs beneath the wrapping.

  “I…” I couldn’t very well lie to him. Of course I had plans to leave. “I don’t really have a choice. There’s only a few more days before I’m due back in New York.”

  “New York. Do ye mean for yer article?” He reached behind himself to grab the roll of bandages I held. “Put them down, lass. Stand up and look at me.” After pulling me to my feet, he continued, “Yer magazine will receive the money promised to them with or without yer article. The mysterious benefactor…I believe ’twas Jerry.”

  Of course it was. “How do you know about that?”

  “The telephone ’twas right outside me bedchamber. I heard him speaking to yer boss, though I dinna understand it until the evening when ye told me about yer job.”

  The telephone. I had a sudden flashback to my phone conversation with my sister and the noise I thought I’d heard behind his door. “The telephone…you heard me, huh?”

  He smiled, reaching up with his right hand to tuck some hair behind my ear. The movement in his shoulder was much improved. “Aye, though I could only hear ye, no whoever ye spoke with.”

  “My sister.”

  He nodded, “I thought as much.” Smiling with one half of his mouth, he released my arms and leaned down to unwrap his lower waist and leg.

  I could see the cloth dropping from my peripherals, but I kept my eyes upward, determined not to look at him. It would be my undoing.

  In a matter of moments he was naked, but much to my gratitude, he wrapped a blanket around his waist, sitting back down on the bed. He reached for my hand and I joined him, looking at him with sympathy. He held his liquor relatively well, but he’d not feel good tomorrow.

  “How does it feel? The scar?”

  “I feel like meself for the first time since it happened. I canna believe Morna allowed me to lay there for so long when she could have healed it in a couple of days; though I know now why she did.”

  That look in his eyes was back; the same look that would never show itself so boldly had he been sober.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Why do ye think, lass?” He kissed me, a hard, rough, consuming kiss so different from what I’d expect from him.

  Whether it was the new freedom of movement he had or the loosening of his inhibitions from the alcohol, I didn’t know, but he quickly pushed me backward onto the bed, trailing kisses down my neck, dipping his tongue into the crevice between my breasts.

  “Eoghanan.” His name came breathless on my lips. My breasts were rising and falling at a rapid rate, reaching up to meet his kisses, to accept his tongue.

  “Hush, Grace.”

  He slipped one hand behind my head, pressing our mouths together in a kiss so deep that it verged on the edge of painful. I yelped as he nibbled my lower lip and then moaned against his mouth, losing any will or desire to resist him further. Whatever he wished to do with me…tonight, I would let him.

  His knee nudged my legs open, and I happily let them spread apart, trembling as he cupped a hand between them.

  He let out one long, shaky breath and paused, resting his forehead on mine. “I couldna want ye more, lass.”

  He kissed me and crawled off, leaving me wanting and confused. “Then, have me.” The words sounded ridiculous, even to me, but I wanted nothing more.

  “No. If I had ye now, I would no be able to let ye leave, and ye have said that ye must.”

  Chapter 24

  “I know it seems like you’ve got a big decision to make, but can I let you in on a secret?”

  I sat with my legs dangling in the castle’s pond, leaning back on my hands as I watched Cooper making a mud pie along its shore. I turned to hold out a hand to help Mitsy who was lifting the bottom of her dress so that she could join me.

  “Sure, shoot.”

  Mitsy kicked off her shoes and allowed her feet to sink into the water, sighing as it soothed her pregnancy-swollen feet. I could remember exactly how she felt.

  “Oh, that’s nice. That’s really nice.” The bottom hem of her dress dropped into the water and she cursed, “Damn these dresses. Usually they’re not that bad, but now I just want to live in a pair of yoga pants until this baby decides to drop out of me.”

  I laughed, patting her arm in sympathy. “I understand.”

  She waved a hand in dismissal. “Anyhow, back to what I was saying. Don’t battle it.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you mean.”

  Mitsy wasn’t the type of person I would have pegged as being intuitive. I liked her immensely, but it surprised me that she’d been able to so easily figure out what I stewed over.

  “Was it so easy for you? Deciding to stay here?”

  “Yes. Not right away, I guess. But as soon as I realized that everyone that I loved was here, there was nothing else left for me back home. Modern conveniences meant nothing compared to all of that.”

  “I do have people that I love who aren’t here. Jeffrey, Cooper, Bebop.” She didn’t realize that it wasn’t a battle over whether to stay or go. I knew I couldn’t stay here. I simply fought a war with myself trying to accept that.

  “I don’t know who Bebop is, but Jeffrey and Cooper are right here with you and, as far as I can see, they look very happy.”

  They did, but we’d only been here a few days. How would Cooper feel in a few months when he couldn’t go out and buy any more dinosaur toys? What kind of mood would Jeffrey be in come football season when there was no television for him to watch it on?

  “Sure, but that’s because neither one of them expects to stay here.”

  “How do you know that? Jeffrey would do anything for you. I’ve only known the man a few days, and I can see that.”

  I shrugged. That was precisely the problem. Jeffrey’s whole life had been a series of sacrifices he’d made for me. I couldn’t ask him for anything else. I wouldn’t. “Believe me, I know that if I asked Jeffrey to do so, he would. It’s the very reason I will never ask it of him.”

  “Let me ask you something.” Mitsy was incredibly direct.

  I appreciated it. Her honesty was refreshing, and it made it impossible to feel like a stranger in her presence.

  “If you weren’t worried about Cooper and Jeffrey, would you stay? At least for a while?”

  I nodded but then caught myself. “Yes. I mean, if Eoghanan wanted me to, but he’s not asked me. Not directly.”

  Mitsy laughed, “Eoghanan wouldn’t. As far as men go, he’s one of the best communicators I’ve ever seen. He’s thoughtful, attentive, but he’s incredibly self-sacrificing. He would never ask anything if he thought it selfish. Did he not tell you anything about what happened to him?”

  “Not much more than what you mentioned the other day.”

  “I know, I was vague on purpose. I didn’t want to go into the whole story in front of him. Eoghanan would have tried to downplay it, and his actions were too noteworthy for that.”

  “What happened?” I lifted my weight off of my arms, stretching and twisting my wrists so that I could settle in to finally hear the story I’d been waiting for.

  “Baodan was married to someone before me. Her name was Osla, and she died very early on in their marriage. That was over seven years ago and, from the time of her death until right before Eoghanan’s injury, Baodan believed Eoghanan responsible.”

  “Why?” It was a notion almost more difficult for me to believe than learning that witches and time travel existed.

  “Baodan and Eoghanan had another brother, Niall, a lousy scumbag who manipulated everyone in their family for years…”

  She continued, explaining what Eoghanan had done for Osla during her life and then for Bao
dan after her death, sacrificing his relationship with his brother to keep from hurting him. Then, how he’d saved Mitsy by stepping in front of Niall’s blade, protecting both her and her unborn child.

  “He’s the rarest of men, Grace. He will do anything for the people he loves, even let them go if he thinks that’s what they need. He would never ask you to stay, but it will break his heart if you leave. Nobody else is going to tell you that, but I will. He loves you, even if he doesn’t know that yet; even if he hasn’t said it to you, he does. And you love him, no matter the length of time that you’ve known him. Morna would not have sent you here otherwise. Believe me. She’s that good.”

  I watched as she pulled her feet out of the water and stood, readying herself to take her leave.

  “And you know what else? She wouldn’t have let Cooper and Jeffrey wind up back here unless they were meant to be here as well. Just something to think about. I’ll catch you later.” She started the short walk back to the castle. “I have to pee again. I have to pee all the time now. Literally, like twenty times a day.”

  *

  “Hey, Coop. Can I sit with ya a minute?”

  Cooper smiled, nodded as his head still faced the pond. It was his dad’s voice; he’d know it anywhere. “’Course you can. You know you don’t have to ask me. You’re the dad, ya know?”

  “I know, but sometimes a man needs his space. I didn’t want to interrupt you if you needed some thinkin’ time.”

  A man…he liked the way that sounded. He wasn’t a man yet, but as soon as he lost all of his baby teeth, he would be. Only a few more years to go. “No, I wasn’t thinkin.’ I was just watching the sky and,” he held up his muddy fingers, “making this mud pie. I do my thinking in the mornings.”

  “Right. My early bird. What have you been thinking lately?”

  Cooper took a breath, trying to remember everything. He thought about so many things, surely his dad didn’t expect him to list each one. “About what?”

  “About this place? What do you think about it? Are you ready to go home soon?”

  Home? Out of all the things that he’d thought about, home wasn’t one of them. He liked it here too much to think about home. “No, I’m not ready to go home, Dad. We don’t have to right away, do we?”

  His dad rubbed his back a little. “No son, I was just seeing if you were homesick.”

  “I only get homesick when I’m not with you and Mom.” That wasn’t completely true. “And when I don’t have my bag of dinosaurs, but guess what, Dad?”

  “What?”

  “Bao…Baoghan…Baodan. Umm…I think I’m gonna have to come up with a nickname for him too—like I did E-o. Anyway, that guy,” he pointed in the direction of the castle so his dad would know who he was talking about, “he brought me my bag this morning. He said it just appeared on the doorstep. I guess that old witch sent it back for me. So now I won’t ever be homesick. I have everything I need.” Everything he needed not to be homesick, but he still missed one thing. “What about you, Dad? Are you homesick?”

  Dad scooted closer to him, pulling him into his lap. “Nope. I’m the same way. As long as I’m with you and your mother, I’m all set. There’s only one thing that would make it extra cool.”

  Cooper knew right away what his dad was talking about, and he nodded. “Bebop.”

  “Yep. Bebop would love it here.”

  “Yeah, he would. Dad, do you think we could get Bebop here? That way we wouldn’t ever have to leave?”

  “I don’t know, Coop. Maybe. But that is sort of what I wanted to talk to you about. Do you see your Mom over there?”

  Of course he saw her. He’d been watching her sad face all day. She didn’t want to leave here either. “Yeah, she’s sad. She doesn’t want to leave E-o, but she feels like she has to. For us.”

  Dad kissed him on his head, messing with his hair, bouncing around his curls. “You are such a smart kid, Coop.”

  “If I don’t want to leave, and you don’t want to leave, then Mom doesn’t need to feel like she has to either. We could all just stay.”

  Dad stood suddenly, smiling down at him. “My thoughts exactly, Coop. My thoughts exactly.”

  Chapter 25

  Dinner consisted of a meaty and delicious stew served with a loaf of bread that, while tasty, was hard enough to serve as a weapon should the need arise. I’d hoped to retire early, not to sleep, but just to seek some time alone. I seemed to be needing a lot of that lately—to think and perhaps sulk a while. It didn’t happen.

  I’d gotten half a dozen steps out of the dining hall before Kenna McMillan stopped me. Eoghanan’s mother was a stunning woman who showed only the slightest signs of aging with a few perfectly-placed strands of hair turning gray. On her, it was rather fetching.

  She was also one of the most kind and open-minded women I’d ever met. Mitsy’s blunt way of speaking and no-nonsense attitude came as no surprise, she’d been born in the twenty-first century, after all, but Kenna rivaled her.

  I’d expected a woman born so many centuries earlier, in a time when women were often thought of in a very different way, to be more reserved in her speech, more judgmental perhaps of situations that differed from societal expectations. She was none of these things.

  She’d opened her son’s home and her arms to my family, never questioning the odd situation, never making us feel unwelcome or “less-than”. She said exactly what she thought and took bull from no one. I hoped that if I spent more time around her and Mitsy some of that attitude might rub off on me.

  “Grace, do ye have a moment?”

  I slowed my pace, allowing her to catch up to me. She quickly looped an arm with mine and deftly steered me in the opposite direction of where I’d been heading.

  “I verra much wish that…what is it that Mitsy has called it? Email? I wish the invention of such a thing could arise now and no hundreds of years after I’m dead.”

  I laughed, patting her hand sympathetically as she walked me out the back door of the castle and into the garden. “News travel too slow for you? I have to admit, I’m enjoying the break from it all. It’s nice not to be so connected, to know that people can’t reach you every second of every day.”

  Kenna nodded. “Aye, I wouldna want to be that available perhaps, but I can see how it would be verra helpful when guests are arriving. They could send news of their arrival more than just the morning before.”

  “Are you expecting guests?”

  “Aye, the Conalls are coming to stay with us until the arrival of Mitsy’s babe. They sent a messenger some three days before they were to arrive here, but the man fell ill and only just arrived today.”

  “Oh. Well, what can I help you with?”

  She shook her head, laughing, “Oh, no a thing, dear. ’Tis only that the bedchamber that ye are staying in…I’m afraid we willna have enough rooms for everyone if ye stay in it alone.”

  “Oh.” For a moment, I wondered if she meant to ask us to leave, but she quickly continued to clarify.

  “Now, doona think I’m giving ye an opportunity to slip away from here, for no one of us wants that. ’Tis only we must find some other room to place ye.”

  I took a deep breath, relaxing the sudden anxiety that had built up. I was glad she wasn’t ready for me to leave. I wasn’t ready to either, no matter how much I knew I needed to.

  “I’ll just stay with Cooper and Jeffrey. It will be no problem. I can sleep on the floor, or Jeffrey can.”

  Kenna regarded me as if I’d just suggested we run the length of the garden completely naked. “Sleep on the floor? No. I’ll enter me grave before I have a guest in me,” she corrected herself, “me son’s home, sleep on the floor.”

  She made the correction because technically it was correct, but I didn’t believe for a second that she was any less hands-on in the running of the castle than she was before her husband’s death. Mitsy had mentioned to me, when she’d told me Eoghanan’s story, how Kenna had been so ill for so long, reduced nearly
to death. Standing before this strong, beautiful, headstrong woman now, I couldn’t begin to picture it.

  “Well,” I started. “I’m sure this isn’t customary, but I don’t think Mitsy would mind. I could stay with Mitsy and…” I felt incredibly uncomfortable making a suggestion about how things should be done, but it seemed as if she wanted my help in finding a solution. “Baodan could move in with Eoghanan for a few nights.”

  She stopped walking and faced me, gathering up both of my hands in hers. “No, that wouldna be customary. Neither is what I am going to suggest, but it seems I will have to help ye on, since ye willna make the suggestion yerself. I willna ask me son to spend the night without his pregnant wife, nor she without him.”

  She fumbled with my hands a bit, hesitating. I could tell the exact moment she decided to get on with what she meant to say. She straightened, looked me straight in the eyes, and the corner of her mouth pulled up a bit into a knowing smile.

  “Ye will stay with Eoghanan.”

  My eyes widened. She laughed before I could respond, releasing her grip on my hands and walking hastily back into the castle before I could argue, leaving me standing alone in the garden with my mouth hanging slightly open.

  She was a modern woman indeed. If there’d ever been a woman born out of her true time, it was Kenna McMillan.

  *

  “What are you doing, Grace?”

  I messed around the bedchamber I’d been placed in, doing my best to waste as much time as possible before I went to invite myself into Eoghanan’s room. I’d been pretending to tidy things up, but the room was immaculate so I suspected I looked a bit mad, flittering about the room, lifting objects as I brushed away at nothing with my hand. Jeffrey’s question confirmed my suspicions.

  “Uh, hey, I was just…” I gave up. “I don’t know what I’m doing. What’s up?”

  He smiled and stepped inside, moving to place an arm around me, pulling me in close.