Page 53 of A Thistle Beyond Time
“Okay, what did you do now?” Dylan wondered aloud.
“I did nothing, Dylan, I promise. We had a lovely day. I dinna ken why she is behaving this way.”
“Did you have a fight?”
“Nae. As I said, everything went verra well.” Cormac thought back on the day and realized that the only time Jenna had turned away from him was when they discussed his leaving. “Perhaps she is upset with me because I am leaving. She did ask me to stay, but when I explained that I couldnae she seemed upset. She was back to normal for a short time and then she went back to not speaking with me.”
“Hmmm… That’s not good.” Dylan scrunched his eyebrows and asked, “Cormac, is there a reason you can’t stay?”
“Edna told me that if I didnae return at the appointed time, I might not be able to return at all. She hasnae ever sent anyone away from their own time to such a distant place. I cannae risk that. I have my family back home and I wouldnae wish to live without them in my life. If there was a way for me to stay a while longer, I would. Jenna willnae return with me and I am truly saddened by that, but I understand why she must stay. She doesnae feel she knows me well enough to leave all this behind and truth be told, I find I dinnae ken her all that well either.”
Cormac paced restlessly across the kitchen floor. “What am I to do, Dylan? I have one more day here and I want to spend it with her, but she says she willnae, she has other things to do.”
“I’ll try talking to her. Not right now though. Sometimes she just needs a little time to think and then once she realizes she’s being unreasonable, she’s back to normal.”
“Do ye think that will happen?” Cormac asked. Dylan shrugged his shoulders and Cormac was not convinced even Dylan believed it would work. “I’ll be off to bed then. I’ll see ye on the morn.”
“Good night, Cormac.”
Cormac headed to his room. He wanted to stop at Jenna’s door, but he didn’t want to make her angry. When she was angry all he wanted to do was make her happy. Seeing her smile was like watching the sunrise. Her face glowed and her eyes sparkled and they did that for him, because of him. Perhaps he didn’t deserve a gift so wonderful.
Chapter 17
Flinging her pillows across the room wasn’t making Jenna feel any better.Damn it! How could I have fallen in love? That was definitely not in the plan!She curled up in a tight ball on the bed, pillow clutched to her chest and let the tears she had been holding back fall.Damn! Damn! Damn!She was being such a baby. This was not the way to treat the man who had done nothing more, than want her enough to ask her to go home with him.
She couldn’t go. She needed to stay in San Francisco. Tears and pouting were not something she did. At least not until Cormac MacBayne made an appearance in her life. She’d cried angry tears plenty of times with Jonathan, but sad tears were a rarity in her world. She didn’t allow herself the luxury of feeling sorry for herself, but that was exactly how she was feeling now. Her emotions fluctuated between sadness, hopelessness and irritation that this should happen to her. If Cormac hadn’t arrived out of the fog that morning, she wouldn’t be facing a future of wonderingwhat if.What if she went with him? Would she regret her choice? Would they both wake up one morning and realize they made a terrible mistake? Jenna wanted to run down the hall to Cormac’s room and throw herself into his arms, but that wouldn’t solve anything. It would just muddle things even more. She needed a clear head to deal with his departure. She’d stay in her room tonight and instead of thinking with her heart, she’d think with her head. Jenna took a deep breath and decided that in the morning she’d let Cormac come with her. She had lied about having things to do. At that particular moment, she hadn’t wanted to be around him. She knew that if she were, she’d never be able to deal with what was inevitably going to happen. Tomorrow would be tough, but she was tough, too, and she could handle it. It would definitely be the hardest thing she’d ever have to do in her life, but she would spend the day with him and then the next morning she would take him to the Marina and say goodbye.
Her eyes grew wide. What was she thinking? If he wasn’t going to the airport and getting on a plane, he wasn’t going anywhere. She had let herself get all worked up, when in actual fact, he wasn’t really leaving. Maybe tomorrow she could get him to tell her the truth. Maybe itwasall a practical joke, just as she’d suspected from the beginning. If it was, it was the cruelest joke anyone had ever played on her. With that thought in her head, Jenna fell into a fitful sleep.
In her dream, Jenna was wandering through a forest shrouded in mist. The trees were all gnarled and the branches were like arms, reaching out to grab her. She was afraid, yet she continued walking. Suddenly, right in front of her, she saw a yellow-eyed wolf. He was baring his teeth and Jenna was terrified. She backed away, but the wolf moved towards her. She took another step back and stumbled over a large root, falling backwards into a tree. Jenna searched her surroundings for a way to escape. The wolf stood before her now, not more than ten feet away. “Cormac, Cormac, where are you?” she cried. “Help! I need you. Help me!” The wolf lunged for her as she threw her arms up to protect her face.
Jenna woke with a start, perspiring heavily and gasping for breath. She brushed the tears from her damp cheeks and sat up, hearing a knock at her door.
“Jenna are ye alright? May I come in?” Cormac sounded concerned.
“I’m okay, Cormac, I just had a nightmare. You can go back to bed.”
“I heard ye calling me. Are ye sure ye dinnae need me?”
“I’m sure. I was calling to you in my dream, but I guess I was talking in my sleep. I’m sorry I woke you.”
“Dinnae fash, lass. I’m here if ye need me.”
She didn’t answer him and the silence stretched on until finally she heard him retreat down the hallway.What kind of crazy dream was that?Jenna lay back onto the pillows and tried in vain to fall back to sleep. She rolled over, checked her clock, and discovered it was only four a.m. Jenna tried closing her eyes, but each time she did, she kept seeing that wolf, his teeth dripping with saliva, his hot breath fanning over her skin and his eyes boring holes through her. Jenna was glad she awoke when she did. She couldn’t imagine what would have happened next in her dream, but it surely wouldn’t have been good. She shuddered just thinking about it. It had felt so real.
Turning on the light, Jenna searched the room. Something didn’t feel right and she got up and padded to the bathroom, where she switched on another light. That nightmare had really spooked her.You look like hell, Jenna.She leaned on the sink and gazed into the mirror, noting the dark circles under her eyes.Nothing a little makeup won’t fix.“I might as well get up ’cause there’s no way I’m falling back to sleep.” She threw on her robe, grabbed a blanket and headed for the living room. Watching reruns of old sitcoms always helped when she couldn’t sleep and she hoped it would do the trick this time as well. Jenna curled her legs underneath her and covered herself with the blanket, pulling it up tight around her ears.
“Jenna, may I sit with ye?” Cormac appeared in the room, bare chested and wearing a pair of Dylan’s sweatpants. “Ye obviously cannae sleep,” he stated.
Jenna scooted over to make room for him on the couch and he sat down, pulling her into his arms. She rested her head on his chest, deeply breathing in his scent – pine and musk – and the uneasiness that had been following her since the nightmare vanished. He didn’t say a word, just held her, kissing the top of her head. The warmth of his body reassured her and made her feel safe. Nothing could harm her when she was in his arms. What would she do when he was gone? The thought had her wrapping her arms around his waist, anchoring him to her. She didn’t want to let go. A tear slid down her cheek and landed on Cormac’s chest.
“Jenna, are ye crying?” he asked. Her answer was a sniffle. “I’m here, lass. I’ll watch over ye. Sleep.”
* * *
He held her close as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. He would protect her while he was still in San Francisco, but he couldn’t help but wonder how she would fare after he was gone. Would she be alright without him here? Would Jonathan continue to harass her? He didn’t want to think about those things, so instead he thought about the soft, sweet woman in his arms and he too, drifted off to sleep.
* * *
