Always and Forever (23 page)

He pushed her away gently and framed her face with his hands. "By knowing that I will spend the rest of my days loving you and when my time on this Earth ends I will be waiting for you, Quinn. We will find each other again."

"I'll be looking, Archer, every day," she whispered and he nodded sadly as he reached for the small iron box in his pocket.

"I had the blacksmith make this specifically so it would stand the test of time." Archer slipped the ring into it accompanied by a small oil-cloth wrapped miniature then closed the lid and locked it. With a shovel left from the grave keeper, he dug a hole by Morgan's headstone and settled the box into it. He started to brush the dirt back over it when Quinn stopped him.

"Wait," she said reaching for a rock that was turned up from the digging. Then she bent down and carved into the metal: A.S + Q.S.

"What does that mean?" he looked confused.

Quinn looked up into his beautiful face. "It means love."

The walk home through the village was bittersweet as they realized it would be their last one.

The following day Quinn, Archer and Thaddeus sat Nickie down to tell him that Quinn wasn't always going to be with them. Their situation was hard enough for adults but trying to explain it to a child was close to impossible.

"Why can't you stay? You can, you just don't want to," Nickie screamed as tears stained his cheeks.

Quinn longed to hold him in her arms but she knew he didn't want that, he needed to understand. It was Thaddeus who spoke as he shared the story of how he first met Quinn. Nickie seemed doubtful at first but by the end he was staring in wide-eyed wonder at Quinn.

"Do what you did before, when you leave just come back."

"I wish it was that easy, Nickie, I really do because I want nothing more than to be here with you. But I haven't any control over it," she said sadly. "I will miss you, every day."

Nickie threw himself into her arms. "It isn't fair! I love you!"

Three little words had the tears spilling down her cheeks. "And I love you," she hoarsely whispered.

"This all bloody sucks," Thaddeus hissed.

"We must enjoy every moment together," Archer explained to his son. "We can't wallow in tears. We should be making memories with Quinn. Thaddeus, collect the staff! A day of fishing and a picnic are in order!"

He turned to Nickie, "It's a beautiful day
now
and we are together. Let's celebrate it!" When Quinn looked at Archer, she realized the bravery in his voice was entirely for Nickie's benefit.

Down at the river, the sun was shining brightly. A crisp breeze blew through the valley, and the rustling of the leaves sounded like a whisper. The gentle rumble of the water over the river stones was so very relaxing. The fish weren't biting but no one cared since the day was spent in comfortable conversation. Quinn leaned back against Archer with her feet dangling in the water. Thaddeus, Nickie and Sara were just to their left as the others sat further up the hill under the shade of a large oak tree. All the lines were in as the afternoon sun moved across the sky.

"Would you tell us another story?" Nickie asked.

"Sure." Quinn thought on it for a moment before sharing the stories of
Snow White
,
Cinderella
,
Little Red Riding Hood
and the
Three Little Pigs
. By the time she was done telling the tales, the sky had grown rather dark.

"I think it's time for someone to go to bed," Archer said to a yawning Nickie.

"I'm not tired."

"Sure, you're just catching flies," Thaddeus said as he threw a wink at Quinn while Archer lifted Nickie up over his shoulders.

"I'll ask my mother to put Nickie to bed so we can take a walk along the river."

"I like that idea."

Archer grinned in reply before he said, "Say goodnight to Quinn, Nickie."

"Sleep well, Nickie."

"Good night, Quinn," he said and then added, "I love you."

"I love you, sweetheart."

Thaddeus leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you for the stories."

"Thanks for the friendship."

"See you in the morning, Quinn." Thaddeus said before he helped Sara up the hill.

"I'll be right back. Wait for me." Archer brushed his lips over hers, allowing them to linger for a moment, before he pulled back and winked at her.

"Rogue," she whispered.

He turned and started after the others as they made their way up the hill to Lady Scarcliff. The glow from the pale moon made them look almost ethereal and then before her eyes they started to fade. Panic gripped her.

Archer walked up the hill feeling more content than he ever remembered feeling. He had his family, his friends and the woman he loved all living under his roof. Quinn had given him that, she had given him his family back.

He had just reached his mother when Quinn screamed, "Archer!" and he knew, before he even turned around, that they were out of time. He tried to reach her but wasn't fast enough as she faded before his eyes. Her hand reached out to him, but when he tried to grab it she was gone.

All that remained of her was her softly spoken vow that echoed into the night, "I will love you, always and forever.

He fell to his knees and roared his anguish to the heavens.

"Thank God, Quinn, we didn't think you were ever going to wake up."

Quinn looked around in confusion then saw her mother standing over her looking as if she hadn't slept in a month. She tried to speak but was quieted by her mother's hand on her shoulder.

"I'll get the doctor," she said frantically pushing the call button by the bed.

Quinn reached for her mother's arm and managed to ask, "What happened?"

"We almost lost you but you're awake now, thank God." The worry was evident in her mother's eyes. "Quinn, you were in a car accident and have been in a coma for over two months."

And at those words Quinn allowed herself to slip back into the darkness.

"And miles to go before I sleep......." -- Robert Frost

When Quinn was finally conscious long enough to understand, her mom supplied her with more details about the accident that led up to her coma. Apparently, Derek and she never made it to Whispering Winds; their car had been hit by another driver who lost control on the motorway outside of London. Derek had suffered only minor injuries where as Quinn, on the side where the car hit, knocked her head so hard she was rendered unconscious, in a coma, for two months. When she first woke, she was agitated and angry, but as the days passed Quinn grew confused. How could she have been in a hospital bed and romancing the past at the same time? Was it possible that her time with Archer had just been a fantastic dream based on the lure and mystery of a place that had captivated her imagination for almost a decade?

Her parents and brothers were initially distraught but when they realized that she was going to be fine, they seemed to pull it together. A week after she woke, they reluctantly returned to their lives in the States but not before leaving explicit instructions for her to take it easy and call, all of them, every week. Quinn smiled: sometimes being smothered was nice.

Shortly after her family's departure, Quinn was released from the hospital. The doctors were confounded by her rapid recovery and how no physical therapy was required. She even heard phrases like 'medical miracle' tossed around. In truth, Quinn felt better than she ever had with not a single ache or pain to complain about. How it was possible that she could be in a car wreck that landed her in a coma for two months and come out of the head trauma with no lingering side effects, she didn't know. Of course, Quinn was convinced that she had spent those two months in an entirely different scenario.

She often thought of Archer and missed him to the point of pain. He had said that she might not believe that their time together had been real, so as soon as she was released from the hospital she made the journey to the village near Whispering Winds. To save her sanity, she needed to find Morgan's grave where Archer had buried her betrothal ring. When she reached what should've been the cemetery her disappointment was almost painful because where there should have been headstones were instead a field of grazing sheep.

It didn't pass her notice that the village she walked through looked nothing like the quaint little village she had "visited" before her accident but then Quinn apparently never made it to Whispering Winds or this village.

Was it all a dream? She couldn't make herself go to the castle for fear that she would see it as she had, empty and desolate, proof that her adventure really had only been in her head.

Two weeks after she returned to her home in the Cotswolds, Quinn received her first email from her boss, the man whose identity had always been kept secret, Gabriel McCabe.

Dear Miss Shaughnessy,

I was very sorry to hear of your accident and I do hope you are feeling better. I'm not writing to try to convince you to come back to work, take all the time you need. If there is anything you require, please do not hesitate to ask. Your job will be waiting for you when you are ready to return.

I don't wish to overstep but sometimes it helps to talk about it when one suffers a trauma like you have. If you need someone to talk to, I've been told I am a very good listener.

Gabriel McCabe

 

Dear Mr. McCabe,

I was both surprised and delighted by your letter. It's nice to finally have a name to go with the man behind the curtain! Thank you for your understanding. It has been hard trying to get back into the flow of things but I do hope to return to work soon.

I have not gotten my head around what happened. For me, the time I was in the coma felt more like a magical dream. To wake and find it was all just in my head, that none of it was real, is a bit overwhelming. Perhaps you were just being nice but I think you are right, talking about it may just help me move past it. Would you like to hear my story?

Quinn

The correspondence between them lasted for months, several emails a day. In that time, Quinn began to really know the man who was her boss. He was reserved but he had a wicked sense of humor which came out more and more as they grew to know each other. He studied anthropology and loved all things old. He loved classic rock and had an affinity for mysteries. What really touched her, though he had never mentioned it in any of his emails but Cole, her boss, had let it slip, was that Gabriel had come to the hospital every day when she was in the coma.

Three months after she was released from the hospital she was ready to go back to work. She had come to accept, reluctantly, that her time in the past had just been a lovely dream. Archer wasn't real. He was just a wonderful figment of her imagination. She needed to come back to reality and so it was time to go back to Whispering Winds.

Cole was quiet as he drove along the country road and then quite suddenly he turned his head to Quinn and said, "I'm glad you're back. We've missed you."

"I'm glad to be back." She shifted in her seat before she asked, "Derek's been at Whispering Winds this whole time?"

Quinn noticed the clenching of Cole's jaw at the mentioning of Derek. "As soon as he was given the all clear from the doctors he was out the door. The ink on his hospital release papers hadn't yet dried. He never called to check-in and see how you were doing and then he left us even more short-handed when he insisted on taking his accumulated months of vacation to pursue a self-funded dig at Whispering Winds."

Quinn's head snapped in Cole's direction in response to that tidbit. Derek was searching for something at Whispering Winds, just like in her dream, was that a coincidence? "Has he found anything?" Quinn asked.

"He has yet to drum up the media circus, so I'm guessing no," Cole said sarcastically.

"Are you surprised by Derek's greed, Cole?"

"No."

"Why do you put him on so many digs when clearly you don't like him?"