Epilogue
Epilogue
Texas, present day
Charlotte knew the exact moment Niall gained consciousness, even though he didn’t stir, lying beside her in her bed. She propped herself up on one elbow and waited.
Slowly, Niall’s eyes opened. His head didn’t move as he looked around. Luckily, her room was simply furnished with an oak four-poster bed, side tables, and dresser with mirror. Her walls were a muted beige, the bedspread and curtains hunter green. It wasn’t all that much different from Castle Dounie.
His gaze found hers. “Is this heaven, then?”
“Not quite.” She smiled. “You’re in the twenty-first century.”
“How did that happen? I remember being shot and then…nothing.” He frowned. “I didn’t die?”
“That’s up for debate. When I found you, there was a lot of blood, and I didn’t feel a pulse.” She took a deep breath. “Are you ready for me to tell you what happened?”
“As much as I’ll ever be.” He propped himself up against the headboard, looked around the room once more and took a deep breath himself. “Tell me.”
“I guess I really need to begin somewhat before the battle. Do you remember when you brought me to Inverness and left me for an hour to talk to Mr. Gordon?” When he nodded, she continued. “Well, I was sitting on the bench, contemplating how I’d gotten to your world, when a young lady joined me—”
“I saw her.” Niall looked uncomfortable suddenly. “We were watching to see if ye’d meet with a messenger.”
Charlotte drew her brows together, then cleared her expression. “Ah. You still thought I was a spy at that point.”
“Aye. ’Tis sorry I am.”
She waved her hand in dismissal. “Not important now. The woman is, though. She told me her name was Bridgid.’
He looked confused. “Why is that important?”
Charlotte studied him before answering. “Because she was the one who brought me to you and sent us back here.”
“What? Ye are nae making sense, lass.”
“I know it sounds strange.” She took a deep breath. “But the whole time-travel thing seemed impossible, yet it happened.”
He inclined his head. “Go on.”
“The whole thing came together once I—we—were drifting through the mist.” She raised a hand to stop him from questioning. “It was the same mist I went through before I woke up in your century.” Charlotte turned to Niall. “And then I remembered—while my friends and I were at the Hogmanay festival, an auburn-haired woman led the torch procession before we danced. She must have been the same person who spoke to me on the bench in Inverness, and she was the same person who appeared on the battlefield after you’d been wounded.” She paused. “I don’t know who she is, but she had the power to take us through Time.”
“I think I ken.” Niall looked as though he was collecting his thoughts. “This will sound farfetched, but given what’s happened, mayhap…”
“Please continue.”
“Well, ye ken the festival of Hogmanay goes back to the Norsemen, and before them the ancient Celts, nae?”
“Yes.”
“Bridgid was a Celtic goddess.” He looked pensive. “She was most known as a fertility goddess, but she was also said to be able to divine the future.”
Charlotte felt her eyes round. “And, with the future, also Time?”
Niall nodded slowly. “It makes as much sense as anything else.”
“I think you’re right.” Charlotte felt the bubble rising again. “But no one is going to believe us.”
“Then we willna tell anyone,” Niall answered.
“True.” Her romance-author mind was beginning to awaken. “I can say we met while I was on my vacation to Scotland, and we fell in love and couldn’t bear to be apart…” She stopped. “Sorry. I shouldn’t assume that you—”
“’Tis the truth, lass. I loved ye in my time and I will in yours. ’Tis the reason Bridgid intervened, I think.” He paused. “I wish Greer could have come too.”
“I think if she’s meant to be in this century, Bridgid will send her.”
“If and when the time is right, I suppose.” A look of sadness momentarily crossed his face and then he shook his head and smiled. “But I am here and I am looking forward to discovering this new world, with ye.”
Charlotte smiled too. “I’ll be glad to take you on that journey, but first…” She put her arms around his neck and lifted her face for a kiss. “I want to make sure you are real and not a ghost of Culloden.”
He grinned, “I think I can assure ye of that.” And then his mouth covered hers as they sank beneath the covers together.