My Seductive Highlander (27 page)

“The future doesna have the raw danger of this place.” He looked to Mother Sinclair. The matriarch encouraged him with a sad smile and the barest dip of her chin.

Graham brought Lilia's fingers to his lips and gently kissed them. Tucking her hands to his chest, he rubbed his thumbs back and forth across her knuckles. “Mother Sinclair has warned me of the heartache and pain this time has a-comin'. Ye dinna belong here, Lilia. Ye couldna bear it, ye ken that as well as I. We'll return to yer Edinburgh. And yer odd friends.” He squeezed both her hands and smiled. “Our bairns will fare much better in the future, as well.”

“Bairns?” The love sparkling in her eyes made his heart sing. God a'mighty, how had he e'er lived without this woman?

“Aye.” Graham nodded, assuming as serious a tone as he could muster. “Many children. Ye said Eliza's house was entirely too quiet. I'm thinkin' we could change that.”

“I did say that.” Lilia grinned, snuggling tighter into his arms. A soft low chortle escaped her as she reached up and pulled his face down to hers. “Somehow I think home will never be quiet again with you around.” She brushed his mouth with a tender claiming kiss. Molding her mouthwatering curves against him, she playfully licked the tip of his nose. “And I'm gonna love every loud minute of it.”

A
LITTLE OVER TWO YEARS LATER

S
COTLAND,
M
ID-THIRTEENTH
C
ENTURY

A warning squawk, irritated and shrill, alerted Lilia to her eight-month-old daughter's impending tantrum. She quickly broke off her conversation with Trulie, glancing about the garden for who currently had her child and what might be displeasing the fiery-tempered little diva.

Eliza Catriona, fondly dubbed Izzy-Cat by Auntie Vivienne back in twenty-first-century Edinburgh, had entered this world with a head full of flaming red curls and a disposition to match. In the child's uncompromising, eight-month-old opinion, there was but one person who could do no wrong, and that individual was her father.

“What ails ye, wee one?” Coira asked, balancing the fussy little redhead atop the rounded shelf of her pregnant belly. Coira's husband of six months, Clan MacKenna's new head stable master, Liam, stood beside her, glancing back and forth between red-faced little Catriona and the mound of his unborn child with an
Oh hell no
look on his face. Ever-patient Coira just smiled and bounced the babe back and forth, attempting to calm her with a lilting song and jiggle.

“Nap time, maybe?” Trulie asked, holding her newborn son, Ian, in the crook of one arm while also keeping a firm hold on four-year-old Rabbie's hand.

If only it were that simple.
Lilia hurried over to Coira, motioning at Graham, who had just pushed through the low swinging gate leading in from the main bailey. Graham grinned from ear to ear, visibly lengthening his stride to double-time it across the garden to his wife.

“She spotted you. I told you to lay low so someone else could hold her for a while.” Lilia totally failed at maintaining the scolding tone. How could she chide him? Graham adored his daughter even more than his daughter worshiped him.

Catriona's wail hit a particularly jarring note as Lilia lifted her out of Coira's arms. “I'm so sorry but she's spotted her daddy again. When he's around, she has a fit if anyone else is holding her.”

As soon as Graham took hold of squirming Catriona, the wily minx split the air with a delighted squeal, filled both chubby hands with her father's beard, and yanked in perfect rhythm with her tiny white-socked feet kicking the lace ruffles of her best dress.

“There's m'wee lass. There's m'sweetest Catriona-rose.” Graham winked at Lilia and Coira, beaming proudly as he took his daughter to sit with seven-year-old Chloe and her owl, Oren.

Kenna walked up with one-year-old Fiona on her hip, her shy blue-eyed daughter chewing on her thumb while she frowned down at her rowdy four-year-old twin brothers, Caeden and Jamie, who were currently running circles around their mother. Kenna snapped her fingers and pointed the boys over to the bench with Graham, Chloe, and little Catriona. “Take Rabbie and go visit with Catriona. She's going back home in a few hours.”

“But she's a girl, Mama—and jus' a wee bairn,” Caeden complained. “Aye,” Jamie chimed in with a bob of his tousled head. “Auntie Lil shouldha brought her puppy and left that wee banshee t'home. She be too loud.”

“Get over there and be civilized before I heat up your backsides.” Kenna took a threatening step toward them. All three boys scurried away at survival speed. Kenna rolled her eyes and shook her head at Lilia. “I am so sorry.”

Lilia laughed and waved away Kenna's apology as Mairi joined them and sent her three-year-old son, Sawny, over to play with the older children. Ronan, Colum, Gray, and Liam, joined Graham to help keep the lively herd in line.

A pang of sadness made Lilia's heart ache as she watched the men help entertain the children. What an odd sight. Two clan chieftains, a war chief, Graham, and stable master Liam—entertaining the children rather than calling for the servants to usher the busy bunch up to the nursery.

But that was because it was nearly time. As soon as the sun sank a bit closer to the rippling waves of the sea, it would be time to walk up the hillside to the burial cairn overlooking the water. When the long trying day finally came to a close, it would be time for the final goodbye.

“Can you hold Janet for me?” Mairi gently nudged Lilia with one-year-old Janet while balancing Janet's twin sister, Jessa, on her other hip.

Lilia blinked away the sting of unshed tears and took the child. “Come here, sweetie. Give Auntie Lil a snuggle.” Dark-haired Janet beamed with a rosy-cheeked smile, wrapped her little arms around Lilia's neck, and squeezed.

“She always said she'd see us happy and settled before she moved on,” Trulie said, watching Chloe hold Oren just out of Catriona's grabbing reach so the owl could properly inspect the newest cousin. Trulie's mouth trembled a bit to one side as she hitched in a shaking breath.

“She did at that,” Lilia agreed with a swipe of her fingers against the corners of her eyes. She did her best to hold back the tears as she gazed around the garden. Granny wouldn't want tears. Granny would want a celebration of a life well lived. “We're blessed with men who adore us and a garden full of healthy, happy babies,” she said, pressing a hand to a heart so full it was about to overflow. “And we've got Granny to thank for it all.”

Kenna nodded, her voice quivering as she spoke. “Granny did good.” Tears overflowed and slid down her face.

Angus appeared at the gate with the clan piper beside him. Hair slicked back and fully fitted out in his best MacKenna colors, Angus solemnly held up one hand and waited until he had the attention of at least most of the adults in the garden. “ 'Tis time,” he announced quietly.

Yes. It was time. Time to say goodbye. Lilia swallowed and hugged Mairi's daughter closer. Common sense told her this was the natural order of things. You're born. You live. You die. But when it came to Granny—a tear finally escaped and raced down her cheek. How in the world would they all get along without Granny?

“I'm not ready to let her go either,” Trulie remarked quietly, walking beside Lilia as they slowly made their way across the garden to follow Angus and the piper. “But it was so peaceful—the way we found them. They all three looked contented…happy. It's like they decided it was just time to go.”

Lilia could just picture them in her mind's eye. Trulie had said that Granny and Tamhas had insisted on spending Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, in Tamhas's old croft carved into the side of the mountain. When they'd failed to return to the keep the next day, Trulie and Gray had gone to check on them…and found them.

The old couple had gone to sleep, never to awaken in this life again. Tamhas lay on his back with a protective arm curled around Granny, who was snuggled close into the crook of his shoulder, her silvery hair fanned out across the pillow. Ever the guardian tethered to Granny's soul, Kismet was curled in the bend of the old woman's knees, appearing to be fast asleep, but the feline had passed away too, joining her mistress on the other side of the veil.

“I still can't believe she's really gone,” Lilia said.

Mairi held out her arm to take back her daughter.

Lilia hugged the little girl tighter. “I'll carry her. Catriona's with Graham and your hands are full with Jessa.”

Ronan appeared at Mairi's side, leading Sawny by the hand. He solemnly nodded to Lilia as he took Mairi's hand. “We'll get through this. She'd want us t'carry on with courage.”

A warm welcome weight settled against the small of Lilia's back. Graham leaned in close and brushed a kiss to her temple. “Time t'bid Mother Sinclair and Tamhas safe journey. We'll have them give Mistress Eliza a good strong hug from wee Catriona, aye?”

Lilia nodded without a word, walking along beside Graham with tiny Janet on her hip. She looked up ahead. The number of individuals walking to the top of the cliff overlooking the sea triggered a bittersweet knot of love and sadness in her chest. To think this many loved ones had sprouted from one indestructible seed of determination nurtured and tended by a tiny woman with the heart and courage of an invincible warrior.

A husband for each granddaughter and, so far, ten lively great-grandchildren.
And probably more on the way.
Kenna looked suspiciously pale again and Colum was even more attentive than usual. And Coira might not be blood but she was family, and the child she and Liam would bring forth would be called “cousin” just like the rest of them.

All gathered around a great mound formed of huge squares of white stone. Crystals embedded in the grain of the roughly chiseled blocks reflected the fiery colors of the setting sun. Tamhas, Granny, and Kismet—or the shells that had once housed their dynamic souls—had all been placed in the single cairn to travel through eternity together.

Karma sat in front of the sealed door of the drystone structure, ears drooping and head bowed. Chloe's owl, Oren, soared back and forth overhead as the sun disappeared into the sea.

Chloe, firstborn time runner of the next generation, gently pulled free of her parents and walked over to the cairn. She flattened her right hand on the side of the intricately carved keystone and splayed her small left hand in the center of her chest. Head barely tilted to one side, her ebony curls fluttered in the wind as her expression shifted to one of rapt attention. A slow smile lifted one corner of her mouth, dimpling her little round cheek. She slightly bobbed her head up and down in a quick nod. “Aye, Granny. I'll tell them each what ye said and then ye can be on yer way.”

Chloe turned and faced them, primly clasping her hands in front of her. She lifted her chin and stood as tall as she could, calmly surveying all the adults standing before her. “Granny gave me a message for each of ye—the Sinclair daughters of Granny Nia's heart. She told me t'ask ye t'step forward and stand together as one a last time afore she goes.”

Trulie handed sleeping Ian and wide-eyed Rabbie to Gray, then stepped forward. She turned and motioned for her sisters to join her.

Uneasy about what Granny's message just might be, Lilia lagged behind Kenna and Mairi. She'd
felt
Granny was still close but had hesitated to mention it for fear of upsetting the others. Mairi took her hand and squeezed it tight as she lined up beside her.

“Go ahead, Chloe,” Trulie prompted. “Tell us what Granny said.”

“Granny says yer the wise one now, Mama—ye bein' the eldest of yer generation and all. Said 'twould be no small task keeping this clan in line but she kens ye can do it and do it well.” Chloe smiled at her mother and lifted her chin proudly. “She says that I'm t'be a good lass and help ye since one day it'll be my turn t'watch over m'kin.”

Trulie acknowledged Chloe's words with a sad smile and an accepting nod.

Chloe shifted her attention to Kenna, her face growing serious. “Granny said a time will come when ye'll have the chance t'save many, Auntie Kenna. Ye must be brave and follow yer heart, she said. Ne'er forget that yer instincts will ne'er fail ye.”

“Thank you, Chloe,” Kenna whispered, her chin quivering as tears slipped down her cheeks.

“And Auntie Mairi—Granny said I'm t'remind ye that ye canna heal them all no matter how hard ye try.” Chloe shook her head, looking entirely too wise for one so young. “She said t'tell ye it doesna mean that ye've failed. It merely means 'twas the path they were destined t'follow.”

Mairi squeezed Lilia's hand while pressing her other fist to her middle. “I'll do my best to remember that, Chloe.”

Lilia held her breath as Chloe turned to her. The child's face now beamed with a delighted smile. “Auntie Lil. Yers was the best message of them all. Granny said t'tell ye that she's so verra proud of ye for discovering her greatest secret. She said she kent ye'd be the first t'sort it out.”

Lilia frowned. What the devil was Chloe talking about? “Her greatest secret?”

“Aye.” Chloe nodded with a wink. “Did ye no' step easily from the time tunnel this time rather than tumble across the ground and nearly break yer wee neck and that of Uncle Graham and little Catriona?”

Realization dawned on Lilia, flashing through her with a giddy rush of the biggest
aha
moment she'd ever had. It was true. This trip, the time tunnel hadn't spit them out like an overchewed wad of gum. Lilia and Graham, with Graham holding Catriona, had all three stepped from the twenty-first century to the thirteenth century as though changing floors on a cosmic elevator. Even Graham had remarked on the grace and ease of the usually painful journey.

There was only one difference between this trip and all the other leaps through time that had beaten her senseless with rough landings: Catriona. Lilia had felt a strength and control she'd never known before while maneuvering the time tunnel. That strength had come from her unyielding determination that Catriona wouldn't be harmed.

Chloe clapped and hopped in place, joy twinkling in her eyes. “Now ye ken Granny's secret: a mother's love for her child is the strongest power of all.”

A warm gentle wind blew in from the sea, soft as a brushing caress. A chorus of laughter, light and tinkling as crystal chimes, rose above the sound of the waves shushing against the base of the cliff. A deep rumbling chuckle joined in, and if Lilia wasn't mistaken, somewhere off in the distance, she could just make out the contented sound of a purring cat.

Lilia lifted her gaze to the deepening blue-black darkness of early nightfall and smiled. All was as it should be. And she could just see Granny now—laughing and vibrant, convincing Tamhas and Kismet that it was time for the next adventure.