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An ache filled Iain’s being at the sadness in his angel’s eyes, and he realized then that he didn’t want to believe her. He didn’t want to contemplate she might be telling the truth. He didn’t want to believe that her treasure could take her away from him.
But somehow, he knew she told the truth, and somehow, he knew then that his father’s friends were from the future. Had his father known? Iain’s mind traveled back to a time not long before his father had passed into the next world. Iain’s father and his friends, Mark and Dianne, were sitting at the other end of the long table when Iain entered the morning room. Dianne gave Iain’s father a picture, and his father laughed, nodding his head in agreement at something Mark had said. Iain’s father’s eyes were wet from either laughter or tears, Iain didn’t know.
But he heard his father’s words. “I will rest in peace knowing this will come aboot.”
“Iain?” Abigail’s voice brought him back.
“I’m sorry. What did ye say?”
She was holding out her treasure, the white orb with the fine artistry of leaves around the middle.
“Do you want to have a look?”
“Aye.” Iain took the orb and turned it over in his hands. “It is beautiful. A skill of workmanship I have never had the pleasure of beholding before.”
“I’m not sure if an artisan did it or . . .”
“Or?”
Abigail let out a breath of air. “I suppose it doesn’t matter what I say. You won’t believe me, anyway. A machine might have formed the leaves.”
“A machine? Nay. Only a skillful hand could do such precise work.”
“Not in the future. Machines can do better and more detailed work in a fraction of the time it would take a human.”
It dawned on Iain how much he could learn if Abigail stayed. What other wonders waited for his people in the future? What of the English?
“Tell me, then, what happens to Scotland and her people now that the English have invaded?”
She took the orb back and studied its casing. “You’ll know this soon enough anyway. See that kilt you’re wearing?” Iain looked down at his dress and nodded. “They’re going to be banned soon. The Dress Act of 1746 will ban the wearing of kilts or any tartan in Scotland—but don’t worry, it will be repealed by 1782.”
As she spoke, she kept twisting the top of the orb this way and that.
Iain didn’t care about the wearing of kilts at that moment. He had the alarming thought that she would succeed in leaving him. The board game from his childhood came to mind. “Wait.”
Abigail stopped and gazed at him, her eyes still cloudy with sorrow.
“Please. Wait here. I want to show ye something.”
He ran out of the room, shouting for Jannet. She was his and Maeve’s nanny before she became a lady’s maid. She would know where their toys were stored.
“Jannet!” he bellowed as he ran down the stairs.
“What are ye yelling aboot?” Jannet said from the door that led to the kitchen.
“I have to find a game, a game I had when I was a wee lad.”
“All yer childhood things are in the attic.” Jannet clasped his arm to stop him from leaving. Her eyes narrowed, and she tilted her head. “What are ye looking for?”
“A game Mark and Dianne gave me.”
“Och, Mark and Dianne. Come this way.” She turned and headed back down to the kitchen.
Iain followed. “But ye said they were in the attic.”
“Aye, yer Scottish childhood things, but not anything from Dianne and Mark. Yer father’s friends were very secretive, ye know.”
Iain thought that if they were from the future, they had every reason to be secretive.
Jannet rushed through the busy kitchen, into the pantry, and pushed aside a large set of shelves laden with bags and bottles with ease. A heavy wooden door filled with strips of metal and with a lock made from the same type of metal stood behind the shelves.
Iain felt the shelves and the sides of the structure with his hands but couldn’t find anything untoward, except that they were all joined together to make one piece by the strips of metal. “How?”
Jannet laughed. “Look down. See those indentations along the floor? Mark called them rails like train rails, and there are little wheels on the unit. That’s what Dianne called the shelves.”
Iain bent down, and sure enough, there were six small wheels fastened to the underside of the shelves.
Opening the door, Jannet swept her hand before her, indicating Iain should enter first. Darkness engulfed him as he stepped over the threshold, and he blinked, trying to get his eyes used to the gloom, but then a soft warm light brightened the room somewhat.
Only a heavy wooden table occupied the small room, and Iain spotted the board game immediately.
He spun around. Jannet had set a sconce on fire on either side of the now-closed door, and he eyed the metal-clasped door. “When I closed the door, the unit will glide back into place on the other side.”
“Why didn’t ye tell me aboot this place?”
“Yer father told me to only show ye the room and its contents if ye asked about Mark and Dianne. He believed until then, ye wouldna be ready for the truth.”
Walking slowly around the table as if he were stalking a deer, Iain scratched his chin. The truth of what? “That makes no sense.”
“Why did ye ask aboot the game, then? Why now? Is it because of the lass ye brought into the keep?”
Iain regarded Jannet with new eyes. She had been his and Maeve’s nanny, but she had also been his mother’s closest confidant, and after his mother had passed into the next life, she had been his father’s rock. She’d kept him going for the clan, for his children, for himself.
“Ye knew about them? Ye knew why they were different from us?”
“Aye, yer mother and father trusted me to keep their secret. Now tell me, why do ye want the game now, and where is the lass from?”
“I want to show it to her, to ask if she’s ever seen the likes of it before, and I don’t know where she is from, but she says she is leaving this night.”
Just saying the words brought a new ache to Iain’s chest.
“Does she have a white egg-shaped piece?”
“Aye.”
Jannet’s eyes widened in horror. She extinguished the lights, and the door opened. “Ye must go to her this minute.”
“Are ye saying her treasure will take her away, that ye believe she is from the future?”
“Aye, I know she is, and so, too, were Dianne and Mark. There are many miracles in this world, my laird, and we have had the fortune to see two such marvels in our time. But ye must go. I can see ye love the lass, so stop her before she leaves ye forever.” She pushed against his chest. “Go.”
He did love Abigail, and he berated himself for not telling her, so he scooped up the board game and hurried through the doorway.
Racing through the castle and bounding up the stairs two and three at a time, he charged into the bedroom. Abigail was standing like an angel, the orb in her hands and a light casting a strange glow over her. “Abigail?”
She grimaced, and the light sparked against her wet cheeks. Iain’s heart thudded. She was crying.
“I found out how it worked,” she said.
“No. Please, Abigail, I love ye. Don’t go.”
“I can’t stop it. I’m sorry, Iain. I love you too.”
Iain was beside himself, and without thinking of the consequences, he leapt forward and slapped the device out of her hands. Abby fell back against the wall.
Iain bent to pick up the device, but just as his fingers neared it, it disappeared.
“Uh-oh,” Abigail said.
Kneeling beside Abigail, Iain took her into his arms. “I love ye.”
He kissed her before she could respond, sure she would be angry at him for losing the device, for losing her only way home. He brushed his lips against hers. “I’m sorry.”
She giggled and pulled back. “Don’t be sorry, because I’m not. At that last minute, when you said you loved me, I would have done anything not to go home.” She snuggled her head into his chest. “Thank you.”
Joy exploded in Iain’s chest, and his heart drummed an unnatural rhythm as a beat was missed. He pulled her up onto her feet and, bringing her in close, kissed her, enjoying the sensations she elicited in him. He spoke between depositing kisses on her lips, her jawline, her cheeks. “Will ye marry me?”
The air vibrated a hum throughout the room. Iain glanced up and blinked. Three people appeared as if out of the very air between them and the door. One man and two women, all strangely dressed and all holding the white trinket that only a moment before disappeared before his very eyes. The black-haired woman was dressed like a man, in trews.
The young blonde woman groaned. “Wow, that was weird.” She looked up and screamed, “Abby!”
Abby jumped back out of Iain’s arms and gasped.
He pushed Abigail behind him. “Who are ye and how did ye get into the keep?”
His gaze dropped to the orb the man was holding. “Who are ye?”
“It’s all right, Iain,” Abigail said as she moved around Iain and ran to the three intruders. “How did you get here? Where’s Bree?”
The man held up the orb, and Abigail frowned at it as if she’d never seen it before.
The small blonde lass threw her arms around Abigail as the man spoke. “Bree stayed behind.”
The small one spoke between great sobs at the same time. “Oh, Abby, we were so worried about you.”
The trew-clad, dark-haired lass pulled the blonde away and gave Abigail a hearty hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
As she spoke, she eyed Iain before her gaze went to the bed.
“Why didn’t you come back with the device?” The man’s voice was brusque.
The dark-haired lass laughed and nodded her head toward Iain. “I think he might have had something to do with that.”
Abigail pointed to her treasure. “How did you make the orb bring you back in the exact same place I am?”
“I have no idea,” the dark-haired one said. She waved a hand in the air at Abigail’s confused look. “The orb just appeared on the basement bench and I picked it up. Izzy and Garrett touched it at the same time and”—she shrugged—“here we are.”
The blonde lass said, “Bree said you couldn’t come back without the orb. Oh, Abby, I was so worried we’d never see you again.”
The man glared at Abigail. “She also said it wouldn’t have come back to us unless you sent it.”
“Ah, I didn’t mean to. It was an accident,” Abigail said.
The man huffed.
“Maybe,” the dark-haired one said, “the orb is linked to the person who used it last.”
“Cool, huh?” the blonde said.
Iain rubbed the palms of his hands down the sides of his face. He didn’t understand anything any one of them was saying.
The blonde narrowed her eyes at the young man. “Garrett still refused to believe you’d time traveled.” She beamed at Abigail. “Bet he believes it now.”
“Only because I have no choice now,” the man said.
Iain cleared his throat to let Abigail know he was still there.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Iain.” She held out her hand, and Iain took it. “These are my sisters.” She pointed to the dark-haired lass. “Maxine.” Then, to the blonde. “And Elizabeth. And the surly man there is my brother, Garrett.
“And guys? This is Laird Iain MacLaren.”
“A laird, huh?” Maxine said. She regarded Iain with admiration in her eyes. “Not bad, not bad at all.”
Abigail laughed. “Don’t, Max. He’s not used to people from the future popping up out of nowhere and talking like that.”
“Come here.” Garrett pulled Abigail close. “You too,” he said to the lasses. “We’re out of here.”
Iain took a step forward but hesitated. He had no right to stop Abigail if that’s what she wanted.
She twisted out of her brother’s grip and ducked out of his reach. “No.”
“What?”
“I said no.” She turned to Iain. “Do you still want to marry me?”
“Aye. This day and forever.”
She rushed into his arms. “Then I say yes, yes, this day and forever.”
He silently promised that he would spend his days making sure Abigail never regretted staying with him.