Always Mine (42 page)

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Damron and Mereck elevated the foot of the bed even higher than it had been weeks before. When it was ready, Damron lifted his wife onto the bed.

Brianna remained blessedly unconscious as they settled her in the freshly made bed. The room was cleaned and aired.

Damron stood, the body of his daughter cuddled in his arms, and stared out across the night sky. He shook like a man too long on this earth, heartache and regrets tormenting his soul.

Finally, Alana persuaded him to let her have the wee burden.

She left the room and the women in the family met in Meghan’s room. They would prepare the babe and dress her in the gown Brianna had made months earlier. When the sun rose, they would lay the bairn to rest alongside Damron’s father and brothers. Father Matthew was a good man, and he would make no objections. He did not believe as others did that a stillborn child could not be buried in hallowed ground.

The first glimmer of dawn appeared, and Mereck persuaded Damron to leave Brianna’s side. Phillipa stayed with her. A small rock wall, not more than two feet tall, enclosed the Morgan burial ground. In the center grew a huge rowan tree, magnificent with its massive trunk and spreading branches reaching to the sun.

Meghan and Angus’s pipes wailed laments. Father Matthew said a prayer for the bairn’s soul. He blessed the small spot before Bleddyn performed his own rites. The mystic beat his bodhran and sang his prayers for the small soul Brianna had asked Damron to name Faith.

Brianna believed the name carried the blessings of all the religions, for isn’t that what religion is about?

Faith?

Chapter 25

Each time Brianna opened her eyes, Damron spooned elixirs between her lips, potions Bleddyn had cautiously prepared using black nightshade seeped with feverfew to ease the pains that came after birthing. On the third afternoon, Damron dared to breathe a sigh of hope, for the rash started to disappear.

Damron left her side only when it was necessary. He watched, lines of worry furrowing his forehead as Brianna began to heal.

In the long hours by her bedside, he learned from the Welshman about her life in the future. Though she seldom opened her eyes, she spoke in her sleep to the people in her other time. He soon began to recognize their names. Her body was healing, but her mind seemed to drift away from them.

“Do not hide from us, Brianna,” Bleddyn demanded in a stern voice. “Though Asceline is no longer Damron’s leman, and you did not plunge to your death from the parapets, you have not completed all for which God sent you here.”

Brianna’s head shook and her arms moved, looking like she talked to him in her sleep.

“Would you turn coward and flee? In your century, you read Brianna would birth two stalwart sons for Damron and Black-

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thorn. Never was there mention of a daughter. Though it near breaks your heart, you knew the babe was not meant to be.”

Brianna stirred. “I know you all love me, but it’s not enough. Without a tie to my soul, I could never be happy here.” She sighed and her voice wavered. “Damron, I’m sorry I was a disappointment to you. I thought a strong woman could bring you the happiness you so badly need.”

Damron gathered her in his arms and rocked back and forth with her. “God’s heart, Brianna. Ye were ne’er a disappointment to me. Ye are all the woman one man can e’er hope to have.”

Brianna huffed, more like her old self. “So much a woman you held fast to your leman? No, I challenged the centuries. I lost. Do you know I’ve loved you all those years?” Brianna’s face held a wistful expression. “Look at the sketch Papa Dougie created, when you didn’t know he watched. You’ll see the bitterness in your face. In my time, I’ll see that drawing again. I’ll never forget you, husband.”

Bleddyn had explained what they must do should Brianna slip from them. His face was grim now, as he sat on the bed and held tight to Brianna’s right hand. Damron clutched her left to his heart, while Mereck’s fingers clamped on Damron’s left hand.

Bleddyn would take Brianna to her future time. If he forced her to stay in the past, she would never be happy. She would have to decide whether she wanted to remain in the future, or return with him. When she started to leave, Damron should try with all his heart to convince her to stay. If he failed, and she pulled him with her, Mereck was not to break his hold on Damron’s hand until they were all safely back. Alana and Mereck would watch over them and keep anyone from entering the room.

Brianna gazed deep into Damron’s eyes, let out a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“Nay, Brianna. Dinna go. I canna live without ye,” Damron cried out. “Promise me! Promise me ye will not leave me!”

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Bleddyn commanded Damron, “By God’s grace, keep her soul within the sound of your voice.”

Damron’s stomach contracted like a fist when a blue aura began to rise from Brianna’s body, with Bleddyn’s purple surrounding it. Damron’s heart tore. Tears were in his voice as he started singing his soul out to her. Soon, the sound of Meghan’s pipes drifted through the door, and his voice grew stronger. The blue light halted and wavered. Brianna’s eyelids flickered.

Damron’s voice, husky with love and heartbreak, rose in the love song Brianna favored. She wailed with anguish as her blue aura struggled to push past Bleddyn’s essence. Bleddyn’s body was as still and silent on the bed as hers. Damron was determined. He stretched out beside her and held tight to her hand. He willed his mind to fight for her the way Bleddyn did. Where she went, there he also would go. He felt his body relax against the sheets as he slipped away.

Beside the bed, Alana prayed while Mereck begged and pleaded for them to stay. The three auras joined, determined to remain together. The purple of Bleddyn’s advanced soul and the light blue of Damron’s enfolded the deep blue of Brianna’s. The three bodies on the bed were still. Damron’s voice floated through the walls of the keep as the beautiful lights disappeared.

The sounds of Lydia’s monitors changed with her quickening heartbeat. Dr. Christian MacKay startled awake and jumped to his feet. Having been by her side for over forty-eight hours, he had dozed for a few short minutes. The two strange auras again surrounded his patient. His skin prickled, sensing the weak presence of a third hovered out of sight. Christian watched the struggle between the colored lights as they flashed around Lydia. Finally, the blue aura spread across Lydia’s body until they merged. He saw that the other nimbus was determined she should come back with

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him. He knew it was the soul of a male, but how he knew he could not tell.

Lydia opened her eyes and stared at him. After several moments, she blinked and smiled. “Ah, Damron. You were here all along, weren’t you?”

Christian didn’t know who this Damron was, but it was obvious he was important to her. “Yes, love. I’ve always been here.

You’ve been ill, but you’re starting to heal.”

“I’m so sorry, my heart, that I lost our bairn.”

“I’m sorry, too, love. Keep talking to me and tell me what you feel.” This woman’s loving eyes and the sound of her sweet voice tore at his heart.

She noted his puzzled expression and realized it was not Damron, but someone in her time who looked very much like him. She closed her eyes to rest after her long struggle.

Bleddyn’s aura whirled around the room in agitation. She argued with him in her mind, but he wouldn’t leave her. Suddenly, Christian left the room, a blank expression on his face.

She knew Bleddyn had caused him to leave.

Her heart thudded. Damron’s rich baritone called to her, and begged her to return to him. She knew Damron could not appear while Christian was present, for a soul could not move through time and meet itself in another body unless it merged with that body. If he did so, they would forever change history. Damron would be as Lydia had been, in a coma. In medieval times, he could not survive. He would die.

Damron’s essence entered to plead with her. “Love, I know yer soul is in torment. Mine own will ne’er know peace without ye. Ye vowed on our weddin’ day ye would ne’er willingly leave while breath was in yer body. Ye canna break that promise, Brianna. Please, love. I canna live without ye.”

Bleddyn took up the argument. “Brianna’s lifetime can still be completed, little one. Return with us to Alana and all who love you. You can accomplish all you were destined to do there. In this

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future time, only a matter of days will pass for Lydia. When your time in Scotland has passed, you will awake again in this room.”

Damron’s energy color began to fade away. Lydia caught her breath. Scant seconds later, Christian reentered the room.

Christian noted the purple aura still hovered over his patient, but it no longer surprised him. He peered down at Lydia, intrigued by her eyes when they looked into his.

She smiled the loveliest, sweetest smile he had ever seen.

She stared up at him. Suddenly, scenes flashed through his mind.

A small woman in strange clothing smiled just like Lydia had at him. Her hair was brown, long and curly. She had large dark eyes and she lay beneath him! He was gazing deep into her eyes, while their arms were clasped around each other’s heads. They were in the throes of passion, as pleasure exploded through them both. His body jerked with the emotions that coursed through him.

How could he possibly see and feel such a memory?

Shaking his head, he watched in amazement. A confident smile glowed on his patient’s face as she spoke to him.

“Don’t worry. I’ll not be gone for long. Watch over this body that is Lydia and I’ll return soon.”

The bedside monitors started a frantic, high-pitched beep-ing, mimicking Christian’s heartbeat. His hands shook as the blue shape rose again and the purple surrounded it. He knew it was not her love, but someone or something that would lead her to him. He heard the echo of her voice calling to the man.

“I am coming, my love. I am coming!”

Another echo sounded. MacKay’s body shook as he heard it.

“I will always love ye, Brianna. I will ne’er let ye go, through life, through time, through eternity!”

The voice rose, and he knew this Damron called to the woman he loved, for he sang as if his heart would burst from longing.

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My heart, my soul is in your hands,
Give me but a glimpse ye care.

Let me love ye as I long to do,

Forever in my soul, my torment.

Damron and Bleddyn lay slouched beside Brianna, breathing as if they had fought some great battle until no more was left in them to give to the fray.

“Damron, what is happening?” Mereck’s voice quavered. He lifted Damron’s head and held a goblet of wine to his lips.

Alana waited patiently beside Bleddyn. He slowly opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Brianna.

Her long brown hair lay spread about the pillows, with his and Damron’s head resting on it. Blood seeped from between Bleddyn’s f ingers, cut by his tight grasp on his talisman. Silently, he took the cloth Alana handed him and wound it around his hand. Then, taking infinite care, he untangled Brianna’s brown curl caught on the dragon clasp at his shoulder. Her cheeks were beginning to color and grow warm. He rose from the bed and stood beside Damron’s still form.

Damron gasped and shook himself. He sat up in alarm, then wobbled to his feet. His eyes widened in panic. On seeing Brianna’s still form, the blood drained from his face.

“By God’s love, be she with us or not?”

“Jesu, Damron, the room was charged with such a feeling of lightning as to near set sparks to everything within.” Mereck’s voice was hoarse with fear, but Damron’s concentration was on Brianna.

“Brianna, my love. Keep to me! Ye will always be mine,”

he cried, clutching her shoulders.

Brianna took a long, shuddering breath. She was desperately tired. Her mind wanted nothing more than to escape all memories and feelings. She willed herself back to that dark

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place to rest from the emotions that threatened to tear her apart. She would keep that “Brianna” locked in the back of her mind, until it was safe for her to come back.

“Lucifer’s bloody toes! Open this door, ye great gowks. Ye ha’e no right to keep us from Brianna,” Meghan shouted through the thick door. A heavy object banged against it.

“Meghan, put that down afore ye do yerself harm,” Connor’s voice boomed. “Quit yer battering. Ye canna break through solid oak. If the door were to open, ye might clabber Alana on the head with that Scot’s hammer.”

When Lord Douglas added his voice and bade them open to him, Bleddyn glanced around the room to see nothing told of the tumult caused by their souls’ passages. He checked Brianna once more, then placed his hand on Damron’s shoulder.

“If you do not want to injure her wee hand, do not clutch her so tightly,” he said, then went to open the door.

Meghan burst into the room and hurried over to stand beside Damron. She brushed Brianna’s dull hair back from her eyes, then her gaze searched the faces in the room. Her mouth set in a grim line. They would not easily put her off about what had happened here.

“Damron, ye look like ye have been through the gates of Hades and back.” Connor’s gentle voice was full of understanding as he looked at his grieving cousin. “If ye drop and yer great body falls across yer wee wife, ye would do her more harm than taking a few hours’ rest in my room.”

“Nay. I willna leave till I know she did not stay ahead.” He started to weave on his feet. When he had willed his soul to follow and fight hers to convince her to return, the strain on his body had been great. Mereck took him by the arm before Damron all but collapsed beside Brianna. Before Mereck finished removing Damron’s boots, his eyes shut.

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For the next three days, Damron slept little and never left their chamber. More than once, Brianna cried out for someone to help her little one. He trailed the backs of his fingers down her cheeks and murmured to her.