Page 31 of Cottage in the Mist
“Well, there is that.” She smiled and leaned over to give him a kiss.
“It’s all very confusing,” Lily admitted. “But basically, you’re saying that what happened, even though it changed things, was what was truly meant to be.”
“Yes.” Mrs. Abernathy folded her arms over her argyle sweater with a nod. “And we’re also telling you that none of it could have been accomplished without love. Romantic love certainly. Like Katherine and Iain’s, and Elaine and Jeffrey’s. But also love between siblings. Love between parent and child. And love between friends.” Her warm gaze encompassed them all now. “There’s magic here at Duncreag. But only those with love in their hearts can find it.”
“So what I feel for Bram,” Lily posited, turning the idea over in her mind, “you’re agreeing that it’s love? Even if I was only really with him the one time?”
“I canna tell you how you feel, lamb.” Mrs. Abernathy shrugged. “I just know that if you found him it was for a reason. And it’s up to us to figure out what that reason might be.”
“Which means we need to understand what’s happening in Bram’s time. Mrs. Abernathy, what do you know about him?” Jeff asked.
“Not a lot, I’ll admit. But I do recognize the name.” She turned her attention to Lily. “I’ve always had a keen interest in the past. And especially Duncreag and the people who’ve come and gone over the years.” She spoke as if they were talking about last month or last year instead of over five hundred years ago. But then if time really wasn’t linear, then in a way, it wasn’t any different.
Mrs. Abernathy scrunched her nose in thought. “His father was the second son of the brother of the Macgillivray chief at thetime. He had a small holding, called Dunbrae, to the northeast of here. Seamus, his name was. He married a Mackintosh, so there was kinship with Iain as well as with Elaine’s Ranald. Bram was their only child. Aileen died early on when Bram was quite young. He fostered at Dunmaglass, the Macgillivray seat. And then went on to Moy, which is where he probably would have met Iain and Ranald if he hadn’t already. He would only have been a few years younger.” She spread her hands with a shrug. “And I’m afraid that’s where my knowledge ends.”
“You said the Macqueens are your family?” Lily asked Elaine.
“Yes.” Her friend nodded. “But they are also Mrs. Abernathy’s as well. So although it’s quite distant, we’re actually related. And since she grew up near the Macqueen seat, she’s had access to all the historical documentation.”
“But there’s nothing after the time at Moy?” Lily asked. “No documentation at all?”
“Not on the Mackintosh side of things, but there wouldn’t have been, really. Once Aileen was gone, the family tie would have been considerably weakened. Although Bram’s relationship could have continued with Iain. And as for the Macqueens, the truth is their records from that time period aren’t nearly as extensive as the Mackintoshes.” She shrugged. “Head of Clan Chattan and all that.”
“But at least we know that there was a family connection through both the Macqueens and the Mackintoshes, which explains why Bram was going to Iain for help.”
“Help with what?” Jeff asked.
Lily had told them the gist of what had happened. The car wreck, the cottage, and the fact that she’d seen him again here at Duncreag. But she hadn’t gone into the details.
“His father.” She paused, searching for the name Mrs. Abernathy had used. “Seamus. He was murdered.”
“By whom?” Elaine asked, her gaze narrowed in contemplation.
“I don’t know.” Lily shook her head. “He didn’t say. Only that it was an old enemy. And that he’d had help. Someone on the inside. A traitor.”
“Did Bram say when?” Jeff, too, had leaned forward, abandoning half a bannock on his plate.
Lily laughed, the sound strained. “As in a year? No. Wait,” she said, sucking in a fortifying breath. “He said a week. It had been a week. And Bram was there. He must have meant Dunbrae.” She looked up, trying to order her tumbling thoughts. “He said that the man was trying to kill him, too. But Bram escaped.” Again a bubble of hysteria rose in her throat, and she felt Elaine’s hand close around hers. “Oh God, I asked him if he’d gone to the authorities. He must have thought I was crazy.”
“No,” Mrs. Abernathy said. “He’d have thought you meant the Macgillivray chief.”
“What did he say?” Jeff questioned, urging her on.
“That he was going to Iain. That’s why the horsemen were there. They’d come for him.”
“Where? At the cottage?”
“No.” Lily forced herself to focus on the present. “I’m sorry it’s all rather terrifying in context. But anyway, I told you that I saw him a second time. That he was there and then sort of faded away.”
They all nodded and Lily clung to Elaine’s hand like a lifeline.
“Well, I didn’t tell you everything. Before he came. I was dreaming of him.” Despite the serious nature of the conversation she felt herself blush. “And then I wasn’t. I was standing on the edge of the cliff that rings Duncreag and I could see down into the valley below?—“
“That’s how you knew where the path was that led to the old entrance,” Elaine said. “You’d seen it.”
Lily nodded. “And there were horsemen. A lot of them, I think. It was dark. Late, I’m certain. And I just knew in my heart they were there for Bram. And then it all faded away again, and I was awake—at least I think I was—in my room. Only then it sort of shifted. I can’t say how exactly, except that the windows were different?—“
“The trappings of our century gone,” Jeff finished for her.
