Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty
“Tell me what ’tis like in your world.”
Charlotte blinked at Niall. They were in the council room again, this time with Greer. He’d come back late last night after having been gone nearly ten days. Fiona’s father had returned from Edinburgh and Keir’s ribs had healed well enough for him to go home. Confrontation had been avoided, although Charlotte wasn’t sure if that was why Niall had been gone so long.
“My world?” she asked cautiously, glancing at Greer. It was a question she’d not been expecting, least of all in front of someone else.
Greer smiled. “Niall told me late last eve that ye are from the future.”
She said it as matter-of-factly as though she’d been commenting on weather conditions. Charlotte turned back to Niall. “You believe me, then?”
“I doona think I have any choice, lass. Everything ye said has come to pass. The siege at Fort William was abandoned, as ye said it would be. Ye could nae have kenned all of these things otherwise.”
He finally believed her! The relief was enormous. Her first impulse was to throw her arms around him and kiss him until they were both breathless. She remembered Greer’s presence just in time and turned to her.
“Do you believe me too?”
Greer tilted her head to one side. “I’ll admit I thought Niall had gone completely daft, but he said he needed someone to confirm he wasna barmy. That what seemed impossible might not be.”
“Greer is the only one I could trust,” Niall said. “I hope ye understand.”
Charlotte nodded slowly. “I…do.”
Greer straightened. “When he told me everything that ye’d predicted, things began to add up. Your sudden appearance with nae coin nor clothes. The ‘friends’ ye made up—”
“I didn’t make them up. Thea and Vi are real…” She hesitated. “…at least they were—are—in the twenty-first century.”
“Nearly three hundred years,” Greer said softly. “What is it like?”
How to explain automobiles and airplanes, smart phones and the Internet? “There are so many things that would seem like magic,” she answered. “I’ll be glad to try and explain them, but it would take hours and hours.”
“Later then,” Greer replied. “Maybe tonight after Da and Simon have gone to bed and we can talk as long as we want to?”
Charlotte nodded. “I would like to do that.”
“Do ye have family ye left behind? Children?” Niall gave her a direct look. “A husband?”
Although he was looking at her steadily, she thought she saw a little bit of wariness in his eyes. After all the lies she’d told, she hoped he would believe her now.
She returned his look. “No husband and no children. I have never been married.” Something sparked in his eyes and disappeared. Relief? Or was it wishful thinking on her part?
“Ye have nae family, then?”
Was he wanting to know if she’d miss not returning to her own time? Not that it was exactly an option, since she’d found no portal. Still, if he were hoping she could be happy here… The thought sent a little tingle through her. She needed to be completely honest, though.
“I have family. My parents retired in Hawaii. I have a brother who lives in Colorado and a sister in California. I live in Texas.” As the words were spoken, she wondered if they even knew she’d disappeared. They probably thought she was still doing research for her next novel.
Niall and Greer looked at her blankly and she realized the places she’d mentioned were not yet known. “They all became states after the Revolution.”
“Revolution?” Greer asked.
Good lord. They didn’t know about the Revolution either. She almost smiled. “Yes. In 1776, the colonists decided they’d had enough of English rule too. We rebelled and…” She let her voice trail away, remembering that Scotland would have a different outcome.
“…and you won,” Niall finished.
She nodded reluctantly. “We did. We’re independent now.”
He thought that over and then sighed. “Prince Charlie has called for all troops to come to Inverness. And Cumberland has mustered his men.” He paused. “I saw the front lines on the road as I neared Aberdeen. They are coming.”
Silence filled the room. Charlotte tried to gather her thoughts as she looked from Niall to Greer and back.
“If you want to save your country, Prince Charlie must be stopped from going to Culloden Moor.”
****
“Ye have given me much to think about,” Niall told Charlotte the next morning as they rode into Inverness. It was an understatement. He’d not gotten any sleep mulling everything over.
Charlotte nodded. “It must all seem like fantasy to you.”
“But one I would like to share.”
She gave him a startled look. “Truly?”
“Och, lass. To visit the future? Who could ask for more?” He glanced at her. “Has it been hard for ye here, adjusting to this time?”
“Not really.” She lifted one shoulder, then let it drop. “The hardest part was convincing myself that I hadn’t lost my mind. That this was real.”
“Would ye go back if ye could?”
“I…I don’t know.”
‘Ye would be content to remain here?”
“I…think…that depends.”
“On what?”
She took a deep breath. “On you, I suppose.”
“What do ye mean?” When she hesitated, then chewed her lip and looked away, he pulled the horse to a stop. “Tell me what is troubling ye.” She took another deep breath, and he noticed her hands were trembling before she folded them tightly over each other. Then she lifted her chin and looked at him.
“Are you going to marry Fiona?”
He felt his eyes widen. He hadn’t expected that question, but perhaps he should have, given the way Fiona had acted. “Nae.”
Her eyes searched his face. “Even if your father and hers want the match?”
“I will choose whom I take to wife.”
“And they’ll let you? There won’t be repercussions?”
He shrugged. “I’ll nae deny that my father has wanted the marriage. Fergus Gordon is one of the best solicitors in Scotland. He has connections in Parliament. To have Fiona as a daughter-in-law would be beneficial to my father. Much like he does everything else for his benefit.”
She chewed her lip again. “If Mr. Gordon is that powerful, can he make trouble for you or your family if you don’t marry Fiona?”
“I doona think he would.” He shrugged again. “Even he did, ’tis nae his decision or my da’s. The decision is mine.” He picked up Charlotte’s hand and, this time, it was his that was trembling as he pressed it to his heart. “’Tis ye I love, lass. Nae other.”
Her eyes rounded like saucers and then she threw herself against him with enough force that the buggy rocked and the horse danced in its brace. “I love you, too!”
And then, there were no more words spoken as their kisses became heated and nearly savage in intensity. He slipped his hands under her cloak, allowing his thumbs to caress the sides of her breasts before sliding down to cup her arse and pull her onto his lap, where his manhood was already hard and throbbing. It was all Niall could do not to tear at their clothing, even though they were in the middle of a busy road and April was still chilly. He suspected they were radiating enough heat to start a fire with wet wood.
Loud cheering and clapping finally penetrated his senses, and he broke the kissing to look up and see a number of passersby had stopped and were evidently enjoying the show he and Charlotte had been putting on. Carefully, he withdrew his hands and set her back on the bench.
“Pay them nae mind,” he whispered as he picked up the reins and snapped the leads. “We’ll be gone from here in no time.”
To his surprise, she laughed and then turned to the crowd and waved before turning back to him. “I don’t mind at all.”
He grinned. “Are ye going to be full of surprises like this?”
She grinned back. “I’ll do my best to try.”
****
“Will ye sit down and stop prowling like a fox near a chicken coop?” Niall’s father gestured toward a seat in the council room. “We’ve got business to discuss.”
They certainly did. Niall yanked the chair out and straddled it, much too tense to sit still. His uncle Charles had just returned from a meeting with General Murray and the prince. The news was not good.
“So Prince Charlie is nae willing to listen to reason?” he asked.
His uncle looked a bit uncomfortable. “Let’s just say he doesna agree with the general on strategy.”
“Murray has the right of it,” Niall said. “Guerilla tactics helped Robert the Bruce win three hundred fifty years ago. We have nae the cannons nor cavalry that the English do, but we ken the terrain and we ken how to use it to our advantage.”
“Be that as it may, the prince dinna agree,” his uncle answered.
“At least,” Niall continued to argue, “he could have heeded the advice to hold our line on the ridge by Dalcross. We would have the advantage of the hill.”
“Aye, but Prince Charlie wants to meet the English head-on.”
‘On an open field.” When Niall had first heard his uncle mention Drummossie Moor at Culloden, his blood had run cold. Events were taking shape exactly as Charlotte had told him they would.
“Colonel O’Sullivan convinced the prince a Highland Charge would be more effective if there was running room.”
Niall snorted. “The man’s Irish. What does he ken about a Highland Charge?”
“The Irish have been good fighters thus far,” Simon commented. “The prince wouldna want to antagonize them.”
“Besides,” their uncle added, “Prince Charlie also thinks more French forces will still arrive in time to aid us.”
From what Charlotte had told him, King Louis wasn’t sending any more troops. To hold out that hope when only a few days remained before Cumberland would reach Nairn was foolishness. With a sigh, Niall turned to his father. “What do ye think of the matter?”
“We all ken how stubborn Charlie can be.” He shrugged. “Besides, ’tis hard to deny a prince.”
“Does that mean ye’ll follow him blindly?”
“I may nae be here,” his father said. “I’m planning to ride out tomorrow to gather our far-flung relatives and bring them back here.”
He was not particularly surprised to hear of his father’s plans, although this was the first he’d heard of it. Speaking of foxes, his father was clever at evading danger. Niall turned to Simon.
“Will ye be leading the Frasers, then?”
“Simon will follow with a secondary regiment,” his uncle said. “I’ll lead the first group since most of those will be men that came with me.”
So their own men would be behind the Inverallochy Frasers, not in the lead. Charlotte hadn’t mentioned that, but it might not have been a fact that was ever written about. Although it would matter little once the actual battle engaged, he would let her think it offered a little protection. She had been as taut as a harp string the past few days, trying to think of ways to avert disaster.
“Do ye ken what Prince Charlie’s actual plan is?”
His uncle nodded. “The prince plans to assemble our forces on the moor early on April 15 and await Cumberland to arrive.”
“The 15th? Are ye sure?”
“Aye.” His uncle gave him a puzzled look. “Why?”
“Ah…well, ’tis only two days away.”
“We’re as ready as we will ever be.”
Niall didn’t answer, but simply nodded. If the prince had chosen the fifteenth and not the sixteenth, as Charlotte said was the date given in the history books, maybe Fate was intervening and the battle would take a different direction.
He would pray.