Page 7 of Love Beyond Wanting
Something sad flashed in Morna’s eyes at the mention of her friend, but she quickly masked it with a smile when she noticed my stare.
“This friend…is he the reason you’re involved with this at all?”
“Aye.I often meddle in the lives of my kinsmen, but not verra often do I meddle in the lives of strangers.I share no blood with any on The Isle of Eight Lairds, but I made a promise to one who does that I would help in the only way Machara’s father’s curse would allow.”
She paused and I allowed the silence to linger between us.I sensed she was readying herself for a longer story.
“Raudrich—yer sister’s beau—is the grandson of a man who once loved me verra much.Long after I’d left the time I was born in, I sensed Hamish calling to me in my sleep.He was near death and needed to see me one last time, so I went to him.On his deathbed, I learned of Machara and the havoc she’d wreaked on The Isle of Whispers.
“Hamish was devastated that his young grandson had been called to a life of such restriction.Raudrich’s powers made it necessary that he become one of The Eight, but Hamish dinna want the boy to be trapped in a life without choice.He couldna leave the curse to chance, so he asked me to use my skill to gather a group of women strong enough to defeat her.”
The details of the curse ran through my mind.Suddenly, I understood.
“But you can’t tell us how, can you?Because you’re not entirely mortal, and Machara can only be defeated by mortal women.”
Morna’s whole posture relaxed as she leaned back into the chair and let out a big sigh.
“Precisely, lass.’Tis not that I doona wish to help Laurel, ’tis only that if there is to be hope for any of ye, I canna do so.”
“All you can do is get us each back there and leave the rest to history.”
Morna’s eyebrows scrunched together in what I could only describe as a look of concern.
“Aye, and no, lass.Aye, all I can do is get ye back there, but suggesting that any of us ‘leave the rest to history’ makes it seem as if the end result is predestined.That insinuates that ye have nothing to worry about.”
That was honestly my understanding of the situation.The stories about the Isle were already legendary—history already knew how this would turn out.
“Isn’t it?If not, how can you explain the books and the documentary?”
Morna laughed and shook her head, which immediately worried me.“That would be nice, aye?But alas, time is much more fluid than ye are capable of understanding.’Tis verra possible, in truth ’tis verra likely, that Machara will best one or many of ye.If she does, if ye doona defeat her, then the stories and documentaries ye’ve seen in yer time will simply change to match what happens then.Nothing is set, Kate.How this turns out is up to each of ye lassies who will face her.All I can do is choose worthy opponents for her and keep my fingers crossed that each of ye are as brave and wise as ye seem to be.”
“I’m beginning to think I would’ve preferred not knowing all of this before I went back.”
She stood and began to walk toward the door.
“Ye needed to know.Yer faith in how ye believed things would turn out would’ve made ye reckless.Fear, in this case, is good.But doona ever doubt yer bravery, Kate.Ye have that in spades.Now, I must be on my way, but I need to tell ye a few last things.First, I know that yer mother and David must come, and I believe that is fine, though ’tis up to ye how ye plan on getting them there.Second, I would welcome ye at my inn and would be happy to send ye back via my spell, but when yer sister calls ye tonight, she shall offer ye a better way.Such a journey willna only be easier, but ’twill allow ye to be surrounded by people who can help yer mother and David adjust to the shock of what they will learn when they get there.Either way, I’ve no doubt that we will see each other again.”
She leaned in to kiss my cheek in farewell, and then paused as she started to pull away.
“One last thing, doona tell Laurel I was here.Feign ignorance to anything she tells ye that coincides with what we have discussed.She still has her battle to fight.It willna do for her to know I was here.”
I agreed and watched her until she was safely outside my building.
It seemed a very long way to travel for a conversation that could easily have been had on the phone, but then again, for a time-traveling witch, I supposed the journey from Scotland to Boston was no trouble at all.
Chapter 4
Mom didn’t return home from the gym until nearly eleven, which while surprising, actually worked out for the best.It allowed me to form a plan and actually slip away for a bit myself to take care of a few of the many loose ends that would have to be tied up within the next few weeks.
After Morna left and I finished getting ready for the day, I decided to take care of the most obvious piece of business first.I went to my downtown office for the first time since the fire and began to disassemble the pieces of my life in Boston as quickly as I could.Otherwise, I knew I would collapse in a giant puddle of tears.
While many of my clients had moved on to other interior designers after my accident, there were a handful of gracious souls who’d insisted that I hold on to their deposits, take all the time I needed to heal, and then resume work on their projects when I was ready.The first thing I did upon walking into my office was call them, back out of the jobs, and place all of their deposits back in the mail to them.
Once that was done, I moved through the rest of my list as quickly as possible:
1.Cancel the lease on my office and see if I could get my deposit back.(Since I was pulling out four months early, they said no to the deposit.)
2.Research the cost of flights to Edinburgh and figure out a way to come up with the money.(Holy-freaking-crap!Flights are expensive.Maxed out credit cards would be my only option.)
