Page 74 of Beyond Dreams

When Michael and Aedan moved as well, meaning to shield their wives, Samara smiled serenely. “They are safe here as well, sirs.”

With so much distress and turmoil embracing everyone, Holly was able to push her way in front of Graeme and Michael. “But I still want to go home,” she said, looking from Samara to Sidheag. “Love does not bind me here.”

“Are you sure about that?” Sidheag asked, tilting her head to one side.

She was confident. “Positive.”

“Holly?” Graeme moved quickly to her side. “Dinna do this. Wait. Let me bring Duncan. If he kent the truth—”

“I told him the truth, Graeme.”

“No,” said Michael form behind her, “he heard you, lass. But he canna believe it, nae any more than any one of us could have when first we learned. He should be given the opportunity to see it as truth.”

Holly considered how awful he’d been to her, the hurtful things he said. “No, he...he hasn’t earned and isn’t owed anything. He’d made himself pretty clear. He wants nothing to do with me.” And after the way he treated her, she wanted nothing to do with him. “I want to go home,” she bit out to Graeme.

“Jesu, lass. But...wait. I’m still trying to wrap my head round what goes on here. I canna speak for Dunc, but I ken he’d—”

“You don’t need to speak for him,” Holly told him. “He already did.Get her out of my sight.”

“I canna let this be the end,” he argued.

“Please, Graeme,” Holly begged, lowering her voice. “Just go, before Sidheag does something to you. Take Roari and all those guys back with you.”

“I’ve already sent them on,” he informed her. “I was nae going to leave you, nae with...” he paused, glancing around, thoroughly perturbed, “all this. They left, gone to Thallane now. Come with me, we’ll catch up to them.”

Resolved, Holly shook her head. “No, Graeme. Obviously, my...time-travel wasn’t mean to be like theirs,” she said, waving her arm around to include those couples who had, impossibly, found love. “I don’t love him, I know that. He doesn’t love me, I know that as well. And even if I did, or if...he was sorry if he knew...it means nothing, not as much as me wanting to go back home.”

“’Tis a mistake,” Graeme persisted.

“Coming here was a mistake.” She turned toward Sidheag. “I was the mistake, wasn’t I? You had it wrong. Will you please send me home?” She was distracted by a fresh concern. She turned to her new friends. Her time-traveling friends. “Should I...reach out to your families? They’d want to know you are not—” she stopped, when all three of them shook their heads at her.

“No,” said Kayla. “We’d already decided that if anyone could or did get back to our time, that it would only cause trouble.”

“Either for being the bearer of such fantastic news,” Gabby elaborated, “or to the families. There’s just too much that could...go wrong with divulging such an incredible truth. Think of what it might mean for the teller’s life, to people’s sanity, to governments, scientists, or madmen or....” She shrugged, obviously heartbroken with their decision.

Holly considered the mournful expressions of Cora, Gabby, and Kayla. “Are you sure?”

They consulted each other with meaningful looks and then presented a united front, nodding at Holly. Cora dipped her fingers beneath her glasses, wiping at the tears that fell.

“Yes, we all agree,” Kayla said. “Eloise knows this as well.”

Accepting their wishes, even as she felt kind of saddened by this, she hugged each one of them, and then faced Sidheag. “I’m ready.”

“Holly!” Graeme hissed angrily.

She faced him, tears glistening once more in her troubled eyes. “Thank you again, for being kind to me, right from the start. Tell Duncan...tell him I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to...just tell him I’m sorry.”

Graeme winced, unconvinced. He shifted, putting his weight on his right leg.

Determined to ignore him, what was surely ingrained in him, to protect and defend, Holly once more faced Sidheag, inhaling a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

She was aware of the sudden tension in the great hall, of a bit of shuffling as these medieval warriors steadied themselves, lifting their swords. The meaning was clear, telling Sidheag to not even think about taking one of their women.

The recently returned to middle-age Sidheag paid them no mind but looked at Holly and then at the still-seething Graeme as she lifted her hand, turning it slowly until her palm faced upward.

There air inside the hall changed, becoming heavy and tinged with a vague sweetness. Though no doors opened, a glittering light flickered overhead.

Then Sidheag dropped her hand.

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