Love Beyond Belief (Book 7 of Morna’s Legacy Series)

by Bethany Claire

  “Oh, I forgot. I’m Cooper.”

  “It’s nice to meet you, Cooper. This is really so thoughtful. Thank you.”

  I lifted the drink to my lips, and I could see by the nervous jitter of his feet that he was waiting to see what I thought. I expected it to be sweet with as much sugar and creamer as he placed in it, but instead a taste so bitter hit my tongue that I had to swallow hard to keep from spewing it all over him. Twice in one day I’d been assaulted by really terrible food and beverage. No wonder they were so desperate for a chef.

  Doing my best to mask my disgust, I tried to smile, but my lips trembled a little as I opened them. I couldn’t believe the words that came out of my mouth.

  “That is the worst coffee I’ve ever had.”

  What was the matter with me? I knew better than to hurt a little boy’s feelings that way. They hadn’t at all been the words I meant to say.

  I braced myself to comfort what I expected to be a crying child. Instead, the boy pulled his brows together and crossed his arms inquisitively.

  “Terrible? That’s not possible, ma’am. I make really good coffee. Everybody says so. Unless…” he paused and pointed at the tray. “It wasn’t my coffee but the creamer. I’ll find out for you. Don’t drink another sip.”

  There wasn’t any chance of me taking another sip. While I didn’t really want him to have to taste the atrocity of his concoction, I could see I wouldn’t be able to stop him.

  He started by pouring just a little bit of straight coffee into a separate cup, taking a quick swig and swishing it around in his mouth. His face gave nothing away.

  “Nope. Not my coffee.”

  He then reached for a cube of sugar, swiftly popping it in his mouth. He smiled while it dissolved.

  “Definitely not the sugar. Only one thing left.”

  I grimaced as he brought the basin of creamer to his lips and threw back a swallow big enough to kill a horse. He gagged and fell back onto his bottom as he spit and made a horrible face in between disgusted groans.

  “Oh my gosh. Do you think it’s spoiled?”

  Remembering an unopened bottle of water in my bag, I ran over to grab it for him, tossing it in his direction before I answered him.

  “It doesn’t taste spoiled. It just tastes awful. You should probably tell your friend not to give her stuff to anyone else. Are you all right?”

  Cooper stood, shook himself off, and gulped the bottle of water.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m gonna have to let Morna have it though. She had to have known that didn’t taste good. I’m so sorry. How about some coffee with just plain sugar?”

  I couldn’t possibly stomach another sip of coffee, but the woman’s name that the boy mentioned rang a bell it hadn’t before.

  “Oh, no thank you. I’m fine. I think that sip woke me right up. Did you say Morna helped you with this? Callum warned me about her, I think. She’s kind of crazy, right?”

  The boy snickered and walked over to sit in the chair opposite me.

  “Ha. She wouldn’t like it if she knew Callum said that. She’s a little different, but it’s not because she’s crazy. It’s because she’s a witch.”

  “A witch?” I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair curiously. I knew children often made up stories, but he didn’t seem the type. He said it so nonchalantly that I didn’t have the slightest idea how to respond to him.

  “Yeah, she’s a real good one, too. My stepdad got sliced right down the middle with a sword and so my step-uncle and my step-aunt sent him forward in time to stay at her place, and she healed him. She didn’t do it with medicine. She did it with magic.”

  “He went forward in time?” I gasped and raised my voice so I would sound interested rather than confused. Clearly, he was indulging me in some sort of fairy tale, but the lack of lead up to the story caught me off guard.

  “Yeah, but we go back in time and then forward again all the time around here. I actually live in the year sixteen forty-nine, but I was born in New York City in the year two thousand and eight.”

  I did some quick math in my head. The young boy was six, or nearly seven, with an imagination to rival just about anyone, I was sure.

  “Well, that is just amazing. What has you staying at the castle now?”

  “Oh, well that’s a bit of a long story.”

  I couldn’t wait to hear what he came up with. Giving my watch a quick glance, I nodded and settled in for a tale.

  “I’ve got time. Tell me everything.”

  Callum hoped Sydney would be back in the kitchen by now. He didn’t want to enter his bedchamber to retrieve the pair of shoes he left while she was there. If he did, she would know he’d moved out just to give her a bedroom, and he knew she wouldn’t want that.

  The tower would suit him just fine, though. Anne had a comfy cot placed near the heater, and he could always run over to Orick’s when he needed a shower.

  He heard the sound of voices as he approached and nearly turned away to come back at a later time, but when he heard the words being said, he stopped short outside the doorway.

  “Let me get this straight. Almost everyone living at the castle now actually lives back in time, and each morning they travel down a staircase outside into the past?”

  Who was Sydney with? Which one of them would be so foolish to tell her about the magic outright? More than that, why did Sydney not sound horrified by the revelation? Was it possible that he’d been wrong about her, and she really had known all along?

  Callum took a step closer to listen in further.

  “Yep. That’s right.”

  Cooper’s voice. The boy hadn’t been present when everyone decided their plans about Sydney, but his mother told Callum herself that she’d spoken with Cooper about keeping quiet about the magic. Why would he disobey her?

  “Wow. And this staircase…do you think you have time to show me it before supper?”

  He couldn’t wait any longer. He needed to intervene now before Cooper saw fit to drag the lass back into his own time. He stepped into the room, announcing his presence with a reprimand he directed at Cooper.

  “Lad, did yer mother not speak with ye about how we were to interact with our guest?”

  Before Cooper had time to respond, Sydney approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder. A jolt of longing shot through him at her touch.

  “He’s fine. He hasn’t bothered me at all, I promise. Somebody should really get this little fellow a notepad and some paper because he could be a writer. I’ve never seen a kid with such a vivid imagination.”

  Callum audibly sighed in relief at the realization that she didn’t believe a word of Cooper’s stories.

  “Aye, he does that.” Callum glared at Cooper in an effort to keep him from saying more, but it was too late. The lad was already on his feet and ready to defend himself.

  “Imagination? I wasn’t making any of that up, Callum, and you know it. Tell her. I don’t want her to think I was just lying to her.”

  Callum pulled away from Sydney and moved to crouch down beside Cooper. He whispered his words to the boy. He hoped Sydney stood far enough away not to hear his words.

  “Cooper, what are ye doing? Dinna ye give yer mother yer word that ye wouldna do this?”

  The boy’s eyes grew wide with regret as he answered.

  “Yeah, I did promise her. I know I did. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Every time she asks me a question, I can’t say anything but the absolute truth. I try. I think of what I’m going to say, but instead something else comes out. Do you think Sydney is a witch, Callum?”

  Callum looked back over his shoulder to see that Sydney had politely stepped away from them.

  “She’s not a witch, Cooper. What are ye doing in here anyway?”

  “It was Morna’s idea. Mom told me I should wait until supper to meet her, but then Morna suggested that she might be kind of sleepy and I should make her some coffee. So I did.”

  The potion. Understanding hit him imm
ediately. Somehow, Morna knew he’d not given it to Sydney. He spotted the tray holding Cooper’s coffee and noticed the basin of cream right away.

  “Cooper, ye never serve coffee with cream. Morna gave it to ye, aye?”

  The boy nodded. His furrowed brow told Callum how confused he was.

  “And ye tasted this cream, aye?”

  “Yeah, but only after Sydney tried it and told me that it was the worst coffee she’d ever tasted. I had to make sure it wasn’t actually my coffee that tasted bad because we all know that’s not possible.”

  “O’course. Ye are the master of coffee, lad. Doona worry. I’m not mad at ye. This is Morna’s fault, not yers. She spelled the cream. Ye canna lie. I imagine, neither can Sydney. Have ye asked her anything since she drank this?”

  Cooper shook his head and leaned in closer to whisper to him.

  “No. She wouldn’t stop asking me stuff. It’s exhausting telling that much truth.”

  Callum chuckled and moved to usher the boy from the room.

  “Aye, go and take a rest then. I’ll clear all of this up with Morna. See ye at supper.”

  Once Cooper was gone, Callum turned to face Sydney. She didn’t look pleased with him at all.

  “I think you hurt his feelings. You really didn’t need to scold him, Callum. I enjoyed his company. He was just telling stories. Isn’t that what children do?”

  “Not stories like that, lass. Doona worry, he’s fine. He served ye some bad coffee, aye?”

  He watched as her face distorted at the mere mention of it.

  “Oh my gosh, it was the worst thing I’ve ever tasted. And you know what? I actually said that to him. What’s the matter with me? What happened in my mind at that moment that made me think it was okay to insult a little boy’s efforts like that?”

  “Nothing is wrong with ye, lass. Though I’m afraid ye will have many instances this night where ye are surprised at the things ye say.”

  She stepped toward him, and he moved from her path so she could pass him. She bobbed her head toward the door so he would follow her as she walked.

  “I need to go back down to the kitchen. You’re welcome to come along if you’d like. I could use some help hauling some of the food upstairs. What did you mean by that? Why would I be surprised by anything that comes out of my own mouth?”

  There was no need for him to explain. It wouldn’t be long before she knew exactly what he meant.

  “Come dinner, ye will understand, and I couldna be more sorry for it.”

  CHAPTER 12

  “Are ye pleased with yerself, Morna? Are ye happy that ye’ve gone and spelled young Cooper?”

  Morna already knew what happened with the potion. Otherwise, Callum knew she wouldn’t be waiting for him in the tower. Her eyes looked as guilty as he’d ever seen them.

  “No, I am not happy. I’m not happy about the mix-up, and I’m not happy that I had to be the one to give her the potion. If ye’d done what ye said ye would, none of this would’ve happened. Why dinna ye give it to her this morning, Callum?”

  How could she possibly have known? He still held the vial inside his shoe.

  “I dinna give it to her because there was no reason to do so. She knew nothing of the magic until Cooper told her.”

  “And…” Morna leaned forward as if expecting him to continue.

  “And what?”

  “Did she seem surprised at his mention of the magic?”

  “She dinna believe him. She thought he was telling her a tale.”

  Morna scoffed and threw her head back dramatically.

  “Ha. Or she was just pretending that she dinna believe him.”

  “Morna, Sydney had already sipped of yer potion. She couldna have lied about it.”

  Callum watched her glance awkwardly down at her feet in embarrassment, but she recovered from her mistake quickly.

  “Oh well, we shall find out soon enough if she truly is naïve of the magic. I willna believe it until I ask her myself. I am sorry that Cooper fell victim to the potion and that he said anything about the magic to her, but there is little I can do about it now.”

  Callum was sorry for it as well. Sydney now knew the truth, even if she didn’t believe it. They would have to tell her, to show her everything much earlier than any of them planned.

  “Morna, we should not wait a week anymore. The lass quit her job. She has no plans to leave here, and regardless of what she believed at the time, she’s already been told everything. It will not take long for her to see things that would make her suspect. We must tell her tonight.”

  Morna nodded and extended another small vial in his direction. He protested before she could attempt to justify anything.

  “No. Doona give me another one of yer mixtures. I want nothing to do with them.”

  “Callum, take the damn vial. The lass may verra well want what’s inside by the end of this evening.”

  He frowned and moved to sit on the cot, realizing as he bent to remove his working shoes that he’d forgotten to get his other pair of shoes from his old room. “I doubt that verra much, Morna.”

  “I intend to ask the girl some questions over dinner. She will find them odd, but she will answer them truthfully. Then, we will tell her the truth. If history is any indication, I know just how it will go. She will think us all mad until she sees the proof with her own eyes.

  “She will need to be taken down the stairwell, Callum. ’Tis the only way she will believe it. It should be ye that takes her back, not only because of yer connection to Cagair but because I can tell ye fancy her. Ye have a way about ye, Callum, that women find calming. Ye have even managed to calm me down on occasion. That’s an accomplishment not many can claim. She will take it better from ye than she will from any other, I’m sure of it.

  “When she believes it—if she wishes she dinna know, if it troubles or frightens her—then that is what this vial is for. If she takes it before bed, she will wake remembering nothing of the magic, and we can go on trying to hide it from her for as long as we can. Mayhap with time, when she’s not so new to this castle and to us, she will accept the knowledge more readily.”

  Morna paused and moved to sit next to him.

  “She’s the one ye saw, is she not? The one ye thought a ghost?”

  “Aye. She is.”

  Morna nodded and slowly slipped the vial into his hands.

  “Then ye must know that whether she knows about Grier or not, Grier brought her here. Just be wary is all. I love ye, Callum. I think of ye as the son I never had. Tell me ye will be careful with the lass.”

  “I will.”

  Unlike Cooper and Sydney, no truth potion had passed his lips. The words slipped out easily. Even though he wanted to mean them, he knew he did not. The lass didn’t need magic to wield power over him. He was quite under her spell already.

  “Chicken’s done. Vegetables are roasted. Bottles of wine are open and ready for pouring. Breadbasket is warm. Table’s set. Dessert will be ready by the time everyone is finished with dinner.”

  I stood in front of the shiny stove vent checking out my reflection, looking for any stray hairs or pieces of food on my face while I talked aloud to myself, running through my mental list to make certain everything was done and ready to go for dinner.

  I overcooked, I was certain. Even if the number of guests exceeded sixty people, there would be more than enough food. But after all of the talk from Callum, Cooper, and Anne—the only inhabitants of the castle I’d met so far—everyone was near starving at the hands of Anne’s food, so I wanted to make sure there was enough food for everyone to eat as much as they wished.

  I couldn’t help but wonder why no one else took over the job of cook before I arrived if they all thought Anne’s cooking was so terrible. At second thought, I could tell she was the sort to never give up on anything. Chances were, she wouldn’t allow anyone else to take over even if they wanted to. I imagine the only reason she was letting me was because I was a trained professional, not
one of her friends or family members constantly giving her a hard time about her cooking.

  “It smells like heaven in here, lass. I could smell it all the way in my room.”

  I jumped at the sound and turned to see an old, frail-looking man walking down the steps and into the kitchen. His knees cracked loudly with each step, but it didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. He never paused or slowed his pace at all. From his stature, I guessed he’d never been all that tall, but I could see there was certainly a time in his life where he’d been taller than he was now. Time curved his shoulders into a deep hunch, and I thought he looked much harsher than his voice sounded.

  When he reached the bottom of the last step, he smiled at me, walking toward me with arms wide open for a hug. I happily met him halfway, delighted to be greeted so warmly. It made me feel at home with him immediately.

  “I’m Jerry. Ye must be Sydney, our savior. I canna say enough bad things about the slop we’ve been eating as of late.”

  He released me and moved to sit on one of the stools at the island. I followed and sat down next to him.

  “That seems to be the general consensus. Poor Anne. What she made me this morning looked beautiful, but looks can be deceiving.”

  Jerry chuckled and spun his stool so that he faced me.

  “That it can. Are ye married, lass? Or do ye have someone that ye love?”

  I grinned and winked at him, teasing him with my answer. “Are you asking me out, Jerry?”

  “Ha.” The old man chuckled for a moment and then reached over to give my hand a tight squeeze. “No, lass. Ye are too pretty to be seen with the likes of me, though this day I’d gladly trade ye for my current wife if ye were only a half century older. I only ask because I wonder if ye know what it is like to love someone so completely all while being so angry with them that ye doona wish to see or speak to them for a month. The juxtaposition of my feelings has me feeling ill all over. Do ye know what I mean?”

  I couldn’t say that I did from firsthand experience, but I understood his meaning well enough.