Reunited (Book 2 of Lost Highlander series) (26 page)

Piper sat huddled on the wooden bench while Lachlan buried his friend. She’d tried to help him, but he’d looked at her as if the honor of his family would be besmirched if she so much as touched a shovel.

He said some things in Gaelic when the body was at last covered, then silently stood at the edge of the grave while Piper laid out a bouquet of wild roses she’d picked from a shrub in the yard.

She stood next to him, trying to absorb some of his sadness through the force of her will, hoping that being there by him gave him some comfort.

Putting his arms around her, he drew her close and sighed. “Whenever ye are ready, love.”

His tired, broken sounding voice cut into her heart, but she couldn’t think about that now. She couldn’t spend time mourning the dead when she needed to make sure her loved ones were still living. Every minute that had passed since she made the decision to get back to her own time had been grating torture. When she was sitting in the kitchen with Sam, Evie and Mel, then she would cry for Agnes.

She turned in a circle, taking in the cottage and small yard, the tiny shed and chicken coop. Agnes’ home. Piper could tell how much the woman had loved gardening by the vast variety of herbs and vegetables that grew in neat and well-tended plots.

None of it would be here when they landed back in the twenty-first century. Not the hearthstones or a scrap of fence. The sadness of it almost overwhelmed her. She reached into the folds of Lachlan’s kilt and under his shirt, wrapping her hand around the pendant she hadn’t let him remove. He kissed her forehead and began clearing a spot for her to begin.

 Even in her urgent desire to get home, she was slowed by fear of the spell. Every time she used the book something happened to her. A burning need to understand it and conquer it welled within her. She was sick of being afraid of whatever it was that was in her. If it was power, she would need to know how to wield it.

When they returned, she would study the book instead of locking it away. She would find the witch and vanquish her.

She shivered at her dramatic musings and sat down in the cleared patch of dirt with Lachlan. He looked at her expectantly, and a little nervously.

With one swift nod of her head, she reached across and pulled him to her, kissing him fiercely. Then she set to work.

        Piper opened her eyes to find Lachlan sitting on the ground a few paces away from her, his head in his hands.

        “Lachlan, honey?” she rushed to his side and took his hands. His eyes were screwed tightly shut and he groaned. “Are you okay?”

        He blinked and nodded slowly. “Aye, I think so.” He smiled at her. “I like hearing ye call me by an endearment.”

        “Have I never done it before?” she asked, leaning in to kiss him.

She savored the feel of his lips against hers, running her hands down the sides of his neck and gripping his shoulders. She felt vibrant and alive, not weak and disoriented like the first time. She fairly crackled with something like electricity, a shimmering sensation rolling up and down her skin, making her nerve endings hum.

“You’re all the endearments to me,” she laughed. “Honey, baby, darling, angel. You’re all of them.”

“Have we made it back?” he asked, standing up and pulling her up with him.

She turned in a circle and saw no sign of Agnes’ cottage. Momentarily sobered from her strange elation, she shrugged.

“I hope so,” she said and started walking in the direction of the road.

All her aches and pains from the past days caught up with her, multiplying with every jarring step she took through the forest. Her gown was still slightly damp around the edges and was beginning to offend her with its odor. Or maybe it was her that smelled so bad. She prayed they were home.

At the edge of the forest she nearly cried with relief when she saw the asphalt road winding its way toward the village. Lachlan started walking along the highway but she sat down on a boulder, refusing to take another step.

“Sit with me, Lachlan,” she said. He furrowed his brow in confusion at her seeming resistance to keep going, when she had been so insistent on leaving the past immediately. “Just wait and see,” she said, resting her head against his arm when he finally sat down on the rock next to her. “We’ll know in a few minutes if we’ve made it to the right time.”

The sentence was barely out of her mouth when a car came around the bend, heading toward the village. She jumped up and waved her arms, nearly walking into the path of the vehicle. She would be damned if she had to walk all the way to the village in her own time.

The driver pulled over and rolled down her window, her mouth agape at what she saw. Piper smoothed her dress and tried to take charge of the situation.

“Mrs. Buchanan, hello!” Piper said.

“Piper Sinclair? My word, it’s been a long time. What … Where have ye been?”

Piper tried not to show her impatience. She’d seen the woman at the shops not a week past. She waved her hands at Lachlan and at her own outfit and shrugged.

“Have ye joined up with the historical reenactors, then?” Mrs. Buchanan conveniently answered her own question and Piper nodded, glad she’d sowed that seed a few days ago.

“Yes, I couldn’t resist seeing what it was all about. It’s so interesting! The thing is though, I want to get to the estate in a hurry but they’re such sticklers about modern things. May I borrow your phone to call Elliot to bring the cab around?”

She shook her head. “Certainly not, lass. I shall drive ye myself and no argument.”

Piper raised her eyes heavenward, then grinned at Lachlan as she hurriedly opened the back door of the sedan. “God bless you.”

“Och, it’s nothing. I’m so glad to see ye well and in the area again. Ye must tell me of yer travels.” Mrs. Buchanan put the car in gear and began driving, looking expectantly from her to Lachlan.

Piper relaxed into the plush seat of the car, and when the heat made its way back to her she almost purred from all the luxury.

She spent the next twenty minutes volleying questions, trying to redirect all the unwanted curiosity, and felt more exhausted than ever when they finally arrived at the castle. She asked the sweet lady to take them around back. Some of the lights were on, so she figured at least Mellie would be there.

When she opened the kitchen door and slipped inside, her heart soared happily to find Evie sitting at the plank table with her nose buried in a pile of books. She pulled Lachlan in behind her and cleared her throat.

Evie looked up, alarmed at first, then her face went completely white and frighteningly still. After a moment, she slowly covered her mouth with her hand as if to stifle a scream.

“Evie?” Piper said, taking a tentative step forward. “We’re back.”

A keening noise came from behind Evelyn’s hand and she stood up, shakily making her way over to where Piper stood and gripping her by the shoulders. The dam burst and she started to cry.

“What’s the matter?” Piper asked, seriously afraid.

Evie grabbed the edge of the counter and leaned over, trying to breathe. “You’re alive,” she said through the wracking sobs. “I was starting to think I’d never see you again.” She straightened up and grabbed Piper into a hug, shaking her and squeezing her arms as if to convince herself she was really there.

“Oh, Evie, you shouldn’t get so upset,” Piper said, patting her friend’s violently trembling back.

“Everyone thought you were dead,” she said. “I didn’t though. I kept looking in all the books like you said to, but didn’t find anything.” Evie rested her head on Piper’s shoulder and kept crying. “I can hardly believe it. I’m so happy you’re back.”

“I’m happy to be back, too,” she said with a laugh, pushing Evie away and looking her over. “Is it the pregnancy hormones that’s making you so sappy?”

If it was possible, Evie went even whiter. “What?” she asked, aghast.

Lachlan went to sit down at the table and stopped in his tracks when he rounded the bar. His eyes grew wide and he looked at Piper in a way that made her stomach sink.

A mewling sound came from behind the bar and Lachlan sat down hard on the bench. The sound grew more insistent and with a stricken look, Evie took Piper by the elbow and led her around the bar. She pointed her shaking hand at the source of the noise.

Piper blinked rapidly to try to accept what she was seeing. A beautifully crafted bassinet was sitting in the middle of the kitchen, with a squirming, blue wrapped bundle in it.

“That’s Magnus, my son,” Evie said, her voice breaking.

“But we’ve only been gone three days,” Piper said, wanting to race back outside and into the forest, go back and start again.

She shook her head back and forth, feeling tears streaming down her cheeks. Lachlan moved next to her and pulled her close.

“Oh, Piper,” Evie said. “You’ve been gone eight months.”

She reached into the bassinet and took out the bundle, proudly showing him to Piper.

Piper cried harder when she saw the adorable little face. He looked exactly like Sam, except tiny, and shaped like a potato. She shook her head some more. This meant she’d missed Evie’s entire pregnancy, the birth, probably her and Sam’s wedding.

“Were you huge?” she asked. It was the first question she could think of, her mind was so full of jumbled thoughts.

Evie laughed. “Big as a house, big as this house,” she said, putting the baby back down as she was still shaking with emotion.

“Oh my god, did you really name him Magnus?” Piper asked, hiccuping as she laughed and cried at the same time.

“When we found out he was a boy, we called him that as a joke at first, and it helped, you know, to think of you. But then when he was born, it just stuck. I mean, look at him. He couldn’t be anyone else.”

As they were admiring the baby, Piper tried to accept how much time had been lost. She didn’t know if it was her haste in doing the spell, or all the fear and worry she’d felt when she was doing it, or just bad luck that had made them jump so far ahead.

She tried to concentrate on how wonderful Magnus was and not the bitter anger that threatened to consume her. She knew she’d have to find out if anything else had happened while she was gone, and tell Evie the news that Daria was alive and possibly full of vengeance, but that could wait a little while longer.

The kitchen door opened and Mellie came in. When she saw them all gathered around the table, she dropped the bags of groceries she was carrying. Cans of tomato sauce clattered and rolled in all directions and a carton of eggs popped open and splattered.

Lachlan jumped up to steady Mellie, who was swaying as if she might follow the food to the ground. A fresh round of tears started as he helped her to the bench and Piper threw her arms around her.

“You’re twenty now,” Piper cried. “I missed your birthday. And I was going to throw you the best party.”

“Evie found your plans and put it on,” Mellie said. “It was a lovely party.”

For some reason this just made her feel worse, but she scrubbed at her eyes and reached for a paper towel to blow her nose.

“I want to stop crying so I can hold the baby,” she sniffled.

Lachlan was the only one who hadn’t been completely overcome with raw emotion, and though his eyes glistened, he was calm. “May I hold the wee lad?” he asked.

Evie jumped to get the baby and carefully place him in Lachlan’s arms. When Piper saw her big Highlander tenderly holding tiny Magnus, her heart constricted and she felt something she’d never felt before, low and strong and primal. Evie gave her a knowing look and her cheeks flamed.

“So, where’s the ring Sam searched the globe for?” Piper asked, noticing that Evie’s finger was suspiciously devoid of even a simple band, let alone the glorious rock Sam had laboriously picked out.

As she hoped it was because Evie’s fingers were still too puffy to wear a ring, she saw that Mellie was making throat slashing motions behind Evie’s back and desperately shaking her head. Oh, no.

Evie puckered up her face and sniffed. “Sam and I aren’t together anymore,” she said stiffly. “Of course, he’s a very good father. We just … aren’t together anymore.”

Piper could tell how difficult it was for Evie to say those words, and didn’t press for details. To keep from starting to cry all over again at that devastating news, she got up to find herself some aspirin.

She poured herself some water from the tap, and wanting to take advantage of every good thing the twenty-first century had to offer, turned to get some ice from the freezer.

The sticky note to-do list she’d put up just a few days ago was half covered by a flyer for a craft show. She pulled it down, realizing it had been eight months to Mel and Evie, and they’d still left it up there, in hopes that she’d come back to cross the items off the list.

She held it up for Evie to see and smiled at her. “We did it,” she said. “We fixed the past.”

“I never doubted,” Evie said.

“Nor me,” Mellie piped up.

Piper swallowed her aspirin and brought some to Lachlan, smiling down at him as he continued to hold the baby.

Now she just had to fix the present.