Page 70 of Here in Your Arms
“Jesus, Rose. I knew nothing about it—I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you,” Emmy was quick to say. “I was down in the village with the farrier’s wife. I just heard now upon my return that Brody had gone out for you and Tiernan, and was now back out looking for those bandits and for Tiernan’s men.”
Rose nodded. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Rose reflected. “How he fought, how he took that hit and still kept going. I don’t even know how he walked as far as we did or stayed in the saddle to get here.” A frown of annoyance gathered over her brows. “And now he’s giving Maud and Agnes grief—he won’t rest as they insist he should. He’s the most stubborn, maddening man....”
Emmy’s eyes gleamed knowingly. A teasing smile curved her lips. “Oh, and you’re absolutely smitten with him.”
Rose did not express outright shock, and she didn’t bother trying to feign outrage at the mere suggestion. She felt, already, as if she’d resigned herself to the fact. “I’m intrigued by him, for sure. I’ve...never met or known anyone like him.” She shrugged, knowing that she wasn’t fully certain what the extent of her intrigue was. “Despite how scary he sometimes seems, he feels safe—more so after this morning. But it means nothing and doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. He thinks as I do, that I don’t belong at Druimlach, and that maybe we’ll never make sense of why I was brought here...with the whole Margaret resemblance and everything. It doesn’t matter.”
“But...do you want it to?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, how did you feel when Tiernan agreed with you?” Emmy asked. “Saying,yep, you don’t belong here, let me take you back to Dunmara.”
“I felt...relief, I guess.” She frowned though, and chewed her lip, not sure if that was the complete truth, but unwilling to investigate it now.
“But aren’t you...curious?” Emmy persisted. “About”—she waved a hand, searching— “I don’t know, about what might have been, what could be?”
Rose strenuously resisted the very idea, the possibility. “I’m more interested in how you managed to get back home at one point, to your time. I thought I...well, I thought since I was here, I should take advantage of it, immerse myself in this living history, but I think I just want to go home now.”
“Honestly, that sounds like a broken heart—or unrequited affection—talking,” Emmy dared to suggest.
Rose smiled grimly. “It is anything but,” she lied evenly.
Emmy considered her for a moment, as if trying to judge for herself the truth of Rose’s words. She inhaled and exhaled and then shrugged. “It doesn’t matter anyway—whatyouwant. I didn’tdoanything to get home. It just happened to me.”
“But you said you visited a witch—”
“I’m not sure she really was a witch,” Emmy interjected, holding up her hand. “She was creepy and definitely suspect, but I’m not sure she was an actual witch—I’m not sure such a thing exists.”
“How can you doubt such a thing, with what happened to you? To me?”
“Well, was it a witch, some powerfully magical person who moved me—us? Or was it somethingbeyond our understanding? Something larger and stronger, and that we might never...know?”
While Rose stared at her, deflating a bit at such sorry news, Emmy lifted a finger and said pointedly, “Although, I must say I wished to come back here, to Brody and this time—after I’d been tossed back to the twenty-first century. I wished it ferventlyand constantly, and I...in my heart of hearts, I somehow knew or believed it would happen. So, part of me believes my wish was heard and answered, if that makes sense.”
Rose sighed at such a vague and unproven theory. “So, you’re saying my greatest chance to get back home is to simply wish for that above all else?”
Emmy winced. “Actually, I’m not sure. Because when I was sent back to 2019, I’m not sure I was wishing for that at the time, but then I was moved, so...”
Rose breathed a helpless laugh. “This actually doesn’t help me at all.”
“I know. I’m sorry. But it does underline how little we know and understand about what happened to us and why. Even while I believe I was brought back here because my heart was here—because that makes sense to me and, frankly, it fits my narrative—I have no idea about the who, what, where, why, or when.”
“That’s even more discouraging.”
“Again, the only thing I can say—the best advice I can give you—is to live, reallylive, wherever you are.”
Rose did not repeat what she thought again, that none of this was helpful. She smiled at Emmy and nodded, and decided that she had nothing to lose, that the very least she could do was to simply and clearly wish that she was sent back to the twentieth century. That was the only thing she truly wanted, the one thing she wantedmost, she tried to convince herself.
“Come on, “Emmy said, interrupting her thoughts. “Let’s get you out of these clothes and into a nice, hot bath.”
Rose smiled. “That sounds like heaven.”
Chapter Sixteen
Rain lashed against the outer walls of Dunmara. The wind moaned through the cracks in the old keep, a sound so eerie and hollow it sent a shiver curling up Rose’s spine. She moved quietly through the corridor, her bare feet silent on the cool stone floor, the MacIntyre plaid around her shoulders offering only slight protection against the chill that crept through the mortar.
Tiernan’s chamber was dim as she peered inside, the hearth fire burning low. Sensing no movement within or from the bed, she cautiously stepped inside and closed the door behind her, careful not to let it latch too hard, and paused just inside, letting her eyes adjust.
