Chapter 27
CHAPTER 27
For the next few hours, Brianna was treated to a fifteenth-century spa package worthy of her Medieval Black Card. From the glorious shampoo (which smelled every bit as good as her fancy salon brand, minus the thick lather) and the accompanying scalp massage, to a special body scrub concocted by Gwen and Lady Madelyn (apparently all the rage), and finally, and most unexpected, a mani-pedi—phenomenal, even without polish. Brianna didn’t even mind the pruning and plucking here and there…or there either. It felt amazing to be sparkly clean and smooth all over, her hair perfect in a glamorous knot, and skin aglow. Gwen had even managed to furnish a sort of toothbrush and had given it to her with a toothpaste she’d whipped up, for which Brianna was eternally grateful.
Still reeling from her conversation with Aidan and truly unused to so much caring attention, it had taken Brianna a moment to let it all happen. But after today, which had been an emotional rollercoaster even Brianna 2.0 was ill-equipped for, she’d just gone along with it. Other than Aidan, no one—no one—had taken care of her like this since she was a child. Gwen, Anna, and Lady Madelyn carried out everything deftly, but with compassionate smiles. She had to say, their timing was perfect, especially after her harrowing morning.
By the time she was dressed again in a soft and lovely gown from Gwen’s collection, most likely the ones she’d had made for her early pregnancy since she appeared to be very petite, Brianna almost felt as if the first part of the day had never even happened. Already, it all felt somewhat removed with everything that had happened in between…or maybe she was just compartmentalizing. But even when Alan and Richard arrived to deliver her bags to her (only to have them swiftly taken so her clothing could be laundered), she’d remained on an even keel—no memories of the morning overtook her, nor did she begin to spiral again. Her concern was only for their welfare, and theirs for hers.
Heading back downstairs, Brianna was so taken with her surroundings, that she wasn’t sure where to look first, and marveled at how different she felt from when she’d first arrived at Seagrave. When she stopped atop the landing to look outside, she had to catch her breath, the view was so arresting. Gwen patted her hand and smiled knowingly, like it was something everyone did.
Still looking everywhere she could, when they stepped into the great hall, her focus zeroed in on Callum and Grey. Their heads were bent in deep conversation, and Aidan was pacing in front of the fireplace. Seeing them all together like this, it was a startling scene to take in, with the men all so simply but sharply dressed in long-sleeved shirts, dark trousers, and tall polished boots. Striking yes, and even ahead of the times, a detail that confused Brianna until she considered the wealth and worldliness of this crowd—not to mention Gwen’s obvious influence. Whatever the provenance, it suited them perfectly.
When Aidan looked up to see her, he threw his hands in the air and strode toward her. “Finally!” he grumbled, reaching her side and pulling her in for a hug.
Brianna’s heart swelled at his reaction and she smiled, sinking into his embrace, hoping against hope her fears were misplaced. The thought of them parting was unimaginable. Aidan’s earlier explanation had mostly soothed her nerves, but there was still something that she couldn’t get past. Clearly, the whole Judith incident was resolved—which it was , at least what she’d been insecure about—but that was only part of it. What was lurking in the back of her mind now, however, was even more frightening. It was making her question her whole family history, specifically her history. Yes, fate had taken her where she was meant to go, and she did feel like she was meant to be here, but was it because she and Aidan were meant to be together and live happily ever after together, or …or was there more just around the corner?
“Breea.”
Brianna startled at the sound of Aidan speaking her name. She’d been so lost in thought, that when she looked up at him, it took her a moment to recognize the worry and concern on his face. She smiled softly, hoping to assuage him but wasn’t sure that this was the time to broach the subject again.
Saving her from having to explain, Tristan entered the room, and everyone turned to look at him. He had a little girl in his arms who looked like she’d just awoken from a nap. Brianna guessed it was his sister, but was confused when the little girl reached out as they neared Callum. Without even looking, Callum opened up his arms and took her into them. As she snuggled up against him, Brianna turned to Gwen who smiled softly and explained that Callum had stayed at Seagrave after his first wife, Fiona, had died and developed a bond with all her children, but especially this one.
Brianna nodded and turned back to watch—she hadn’t, but should have expected that these men would be so tender and caring with infants and children, too. On the heels of her thought, Greylen and Gwen’s youngest boy toddled into the room, and was scooped up by his father as he let out a happy shriek. Brianna smiled. It really was remarkable.
Tristan stayed close to Aidan after offloading his sister, and with hardly a moment for small talk, they all gathered around the table and took their seats. When Brianna reached for Aidan’s hand, he explained that the start of mealtimes was a bit more urgent. By the chuckles and smiles around the table, it appeared everyone agreed. As the children got settled, Brianna was struck again by the warmth of what felt like a true family table. Drinks were poured, platters and bowls filled with delicious food served, and it was all a bit overwhelming. She chose to observe instead of participate for a little while, just to let it all sink in. She had to suppress a laugh watching Callum pretend to serve Gwen’s little girl the butter dish instead of her meal—the girl gave a wide-eyed look, staring in dismay between him and the small, covered crock on the table. After a moment, Callum laughed, and corrected his mistake quickly, adding a dollop to her bread, and they shared the sweetest smile.
After the initial chatter around the table died down in favor of eating, Aidan leaned in, and asked to share her earlier thoughts—fears, really—with those around the table. Knowing it would be better to talk about it and get a few opinions from people who had experience in this kind of thing, Brianna nodded, though she was nervous.
She leaned closer to speak into his ear, hoping no one else would hear, and was struck for a moment by how good, how right, it felt to be so near to him. “I want to be here with you. You know that, right? Forget about everything else,” she whispered. It felt important that she stressed this to him, that whatever her doubts about Fate’s intentions, she’d take every second with him that she could get .
“I know,” he said, stroking the side of her face, then said loud enough to garner everyone’s attention, “I… we have a subject to broach.”
Brianna’s heart leapt when she realized what he was about to say, but she swallowed and nodded when he glanced back and raised a brow giving her a chance to change her mind. She squeezed his hand for extra assurance and glanced around the table as Aidan continued, “Brianna…Brianna thinks…” he stumbled on his words, and she quickly looked back, surprised at his faltering. They shared a bittersweet look and she gave him a small nod, which Aidan returned. He cleared his throat and continued, “She’s giving serious weight to the idea that somehow, in our case, fate’s course may not apply as it has to the rest of you. I’m trying to convince her otherwise.”
Suddenly all eyes were on her, and Brianna shifted in her seat under their scrutiny. “Well, I don’t want it to be true,” she said. “But what if it is?”
“How so?” Greylen asked, taking his wife’s hand when she blindly reached for his beside her.
Brianna felt like a huge weight had been lifted just from this ready concern, and she turned to Aidan with a grateful smile—he’d been right to bring this up here. Glad to have somewhere to crowdsource her fears, Brianna told them about the bible at home, and how some of the pages were missing.
She turned to Callum who had made a move to speak. “Well, I wonder if the page on which your union would have been— will be —recorded is one of the missing ones,” he said slowly. “The last entry I inscribed was for Dar and Celeste. Did you see their names?” he asked.
Feeling hopeful, Brianna thought about it and realized she hadn’t seen their names. She shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I definitely would have remembered, too, especially at some point during my visit…with them… Oh. ” At the sudden shock registering on the faces around the table, Brianna turned to Aidan. She grabbed his arm, tearing up herself. “You didn’t say anything?” she asked.
He shook his head, looking just as surprised that he’d somehow forgotten. “With so much going on, it hadn’t occurred to me.”
“Them,” Greylen said. “You mean…”
Brianna slowly nodded, as she recalled Aidan’s reaction earlier. “Dar, Celeste, and Lachlan.”
“He’s okay?” Gwen asked, eyes wide. “Lachlan, I mean?”
Brianna nodded again, she’d forgotten that he had a heart condition that obviously would have had a different end here in the fifteenth century. “Oh, yes. He’s unbelievably fit,” she said. Poor Gwen, her head fell into her hands and she cried while Greylen did his best to soothe her, even Tristan moved to his mother’s side then to offer his support.
“And Celeste, she’s well too?” Callum asked.
Brianna grinned at the thought of her. “Oh yes, she’s so sweet. Quiet, and at first, she was quite shy. But she’s lovely. When she saw my satchel, you’d have thought she’d found a missing treasure. I didn’t even know it was an original O’Roarke creation, but she knew it from clear across the room.”
Callum was the one overcome then, and it took Brianna a moment to remember their connection. Celeste was the sister of Derek—who, according to the MacTavishes and lore—a twenty-first-century Callum incarnate.
“Their little boy, his name is Griffin, is two, maybe.” At everyone’s nodding heads, she assumed they concurred with the timeline. “And she’s probably a little farther along than you right now, Gwen.”
Realizing just how important these people were to them, Brianna went through the whole story again. Everyone had more than a few questions about her latest visit to Dunhill Manor—she’d barely made it through the telling of her arrival when the friendly peppering started. Brianna was relieved that no one seemed to be interested in dwelling on her childhood trauma, and everything she’d learned from her aunt and uncle on her last night there, but they did spend a considerable amount of time talking about the wee bit of magic that she’d been so resistant to once upon a time. So engrossed in their conversation, surrounded by these people who somehow felt as close, or maybe even closer than her family ever had, Brianna forgot herself for a moment and referenced the O’Roarke family lore. And, since she was learning that nothing ever went unnoticed with these people (even if you thought it did), at her mention of O’Roarkes marrying only in the case of true love, everyone jumped on it. Brianna glanced at Callum, somehow knowing that despite the centuries between them, he would not only understand but also realize their legacy, good and bad.
“The truth of the matter is, O’Roarke marriages come at a steep price,” she said slowly. “They don’t happen unless the love that binds it is true and enduring, which is great of course, but the length of these marriages is sometimes frightfully short.”
Everyone nodded soberly, and Brianna had the sense that they all knew in their own way the truth of it, especially Callum.
Eager to move on, Brianna recounted her overnight stay at the inn and the fair, and when pressed again, described in detail the woman who’d given her the bag and clothing. When she got to the part of Dar opening the door when she arrived at Abersoch, she carefully recounted every single detail and every single word just as she had earlier with Aidan.
As dinner was cleared, Brianna realized she never had a chance to say how wonderful everything had been. She opened her mouth to do so, but was quickly drawn into another round of questions—everyone had returned to the subject of her worries that fate had not brought her here for an everlasting union, but for a different reason.
Everyone jumped in, trying to help her see another side—except Callum. Callum was quick to speak up, and it was clear he understood her point.
“You believe it to be more contrived,” Callum said, and Brianna saw Aidan’s face set determinedly at his words.
She gave a small nod, conscious of Aidan’s eyes on her.
“I have no desire to find truth in it,” Callum continued. “I don’t even care to entertain the thought, but Brianna’s correct—we must. We cannot put our heads in the sand and ignore this very real possibility,” he stressed to the others, then turned back to her. “I know I can speak for everyone when I tell you that we all believe wholeheartedly that you believe these things to be true, or at the least that they could be, aye?”
Brianna nodded, both grateful and terrified at his willingness to explore this. He looked pointedly at everyone before continuing, “Unfortunately, Brianna has a point, distasteful as we all may find it, however , if we consider, for example, mine and Margret’s circumstances—how we each lost our first loves…” he shook his head. “The point is our losses occurred and two years later we were united, or reunited as,” he paused, “ lore will one day state. I suppose any sort of mechanization could have occurred.” Callum said this pointedly while looking at Brianna, before continuing. “In which case, our tragedies might have happened differently, yet still would have occurred.”
“Right. I hope you’ve finished.” Aidan glared at Callum. “Thank you for your input.”
Looking reluctant, Callum went on. “And…” he started, pausing for a moment as he glanced at Aidan.
If the daggers in his stare were any indication, Aidan was none too pleased about what Callum was about to say.
“If not for the bargain my mother made,” Callum continued, turning his focus back to Brianna, “I, too, would have suffered the fate of an impassioned, but frightfully short union.”
He told Brianna the story then, one that she’d never come across in any of her family research, of his mother Isabeau offering a stone to an enchantress as payment to ensure Callum’s happiness—the very stone which would eventually take its rightful place in the Wolf Sword centuries later.
It was such a beautiful, romantic story, Brianna almost forgot how they’d gotten on the subject, but quickly came back to reality when she looked over at Aidan, who was now glowering at Callum. Hoping to avert any possibility of Aidan leaping across the table to pummel him, Brianna squeezed his leg, and was grateful when Gwen jumped in.
“And what is it that you believe?” she asked her.
“I’m starting to wonder if everything I’ve learned, everything I was taught—of weaponry, my professional expertise in...” she glanced around the room, unsure of how much she should say aloud, but then continued, “in, well, objects of your world. I’ve been wondering if it was all leading up to today. If I was meant to be here with Aidan,” she said, looking at him, “primarily to take that shot, and save him.”
Between the gawking stares from Greylen and Callum and Aidan’s loud sigh, Brianna figured out that he’d failed to mention this part of the story, too. After Aidan filled them in (somewhat begrudgingly, Brianna noted, though he gave her a contrite smile after), she told Callum the only reason she’d been able to do it was because of Maggie—that starting with her, all the O’Roarke girls throughout the centuries were proficient in weaponry. He shook his head, clearly overcome, but quickly gathered himself and smiled wistfully at her.
“I nearly choked on my breakfast the morning she asked me to teach her to wield the sword.”
Everyone chuckled, as he told the story of his precious Maggie, and there was no other way to describe her—the love Callum had for her was so obvious.
Brianna gasped with a sudden realization. “She learned with the Wolf sword?”
Callum lit up at that, and the effect was electric. “A fitting name indeed,” he said with a gleam in his eye. “Aye, ’twas the very one, and I considered the sword hers until the night Dar left with it. Later, the sword was kept upon the wall in the Great Room and ‘twas there that it rested while he and Celeste lived here with us. I was…” he got emotional then, and looking around, Brianna saw that they all did. “I was the one who put it into her hands, the day she was thrust back to her time—her rightful time.”
Brianna gave everyone a moment to gather themselves before she spoke again. Aidan began absently brushing his thumbs across her palm and it was such a lovely sensation, simple and pure—in contrast to everything that had just come to light, the day itself for that matter. Still, it reminded her how grateful she was to be sitting there, and when Gwen caught her eye and smiled, something about her look struck her again. Here was a woman so truly happy and satisfied with her life, centuries away from what she was used to, and yet she clearly thrived.
Brianna was about to speak up, but it was Grey who broke the silence. “So, I still don’t understand exactly what you’re worried about,” he said. “’Tis obvious you and Aidan are rightly matched.”
Yes, they were, that was the hard part. Brianna had absolutely no doubt about their pairing—just whether it was really meant to be. She swallowed hard, unable to say her thoughts out loud. Across the table, Gwen’s face fell.
“ Oh. Oh, Brianna,” she said. “You think that’s why you’re here—that it’s the only reason.”
Brianna felt tears build up behind her eyes as she nodded.
“You and Aidan are so obviously meant to be together, but now that you’ve settled the score, so to speak…”
Brianna nodded again, wiping away tears that had begun to spill.
“You could also be wrong,” Grey said so firmly, but with such care, that her tears stopped, and she was able to get ahold of herself.
Brianna smiled weakly wondering if he’d done that on purpose. “I hope I am, but when I realized that we technically aren’t married?—"
She didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence as everyone—even Callum, she noted—leapt in with a deluge of justifications for why Aidan had done what he’d done. It was clear that this was the part of the story Aidan had filled Greylen and Callum in on while she’d been upstairs with Gwen and the consensus it seemed—if one defined consensus as everyone speaking over one another to tell her repeatedly—that although Aidan had given his consent the moment he realized they were meant to be together, he hadn’t expected Brianna to give hers until sometime after their journey, knowing she was finding herself in a new place entirely, and surely would need the time to adjust, not just to that, but to Aidan himself. He hadn’t accounted for the fire or their subsequent stay in Ayr, and he especially hadn’t expected Brianna’s reaction to the fire. When they got to relaying this point of his storytelling, she blushed, thinking back to that night when everything had changed for her. She was grateful for the way Aidan had told it, sparing her much embarrassment and stating simply that she’d “seized what fate had given to them.” They figured it out anyway.
After a cacophonous few minutes, Brianna put her hand out, hoping to quiet the debate.
“I understand why he did it,” she said loudly. Aidan was watching her closely, but his expression was unreadable.
“I haven’t one regret,” he said
She squeezed his hand. “And neither do I,” she said, hoping no matter what, he knew she really meant that. And, despite her fears, she was so grateful for the little bit of knowledge they’d had of how fate had intervened, and how it had allowed them to throw caution to the wind, and just dive in completely with one another—however it might turn out, she couldn’t imagine not having these past weeks with him. “But…but what if the fact of our marriage not being in accordance with O’Roarke standards is some kind of omen?”
“A technicality,” Aidan stressed again, sitting up straighter as if his mere bulk would aid his cause. “Easily and quickly rectified.”
That sparked another round of discussion, though this one much more civilized—mostly, an inquiry was made of the whereabouts of Father Michaels, whose name Brianna recognized from her family bible, so vows might even be exchanged tonight. Despite the positive feedback and the eagerness to make a plan to move forward, Brianna still felt uneasy.
Maybe she was overthinking things or simply being irrational, but still—she couldn’t help but feel like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Brianna looked at Greylen, and the others and suddenly felt so very tired. She had wanted nothing more than to sit in comfortable companionship with these people, eat a good meal, and most of all—crawl into that soft bed, and into the security of Aidan’s strong arms, and put this day behind her. She offered what was probably a pretty unconvincing nod and a shrug and picked up her fork. She realized that she’d been so caught up in the conversation, and answering their questions, that she’d barely paid attention to dinner and now they were well into dessert. She took a bite and almost groaned at how good it was—a cake made with fresh berries and vanilla, doused in a luscious, whipped cream—and at that, everyone took the hint and busied themselves with their plates and small talk.
After a little while, Callum stood and poured brandies, eyeing the table for takers. Although at first Brianna declined, she changed her mind and held up her hand, indicating just a little. Callum nodded and placed a small dram beside her, before serving Aidan and Greylen. When Callum took his seat again, the conversation turned toward Brianna visiting Dunhill once she’d had a chance to fully heal.
After a little while, Brianna noticed that Gwen had gone quiet, and started shaking her head, grinning from ear to ear. Greylen noticed, too, and returned her smile, then covered her hand with his own, giving it a small squeeze. Still smiling, Gwen spoke. “Look at our growing family. It’s amazing,” she said wistfully.
Callum and Aidan both nodded and raised their drinks to her sentiments. It wasn’t the first time Brianna was struck by the warmth around this table, and how deeply entwined these people were. Looking around at the faces that were fast becoming familiar to her, it suddenly dawned on Brianna that she hadn’t seen Greylen’s mother since well before dinner.
“Speaking of family, where’s Lady Madelyn?” she asked, the first words she’d spoken since her confession of doubt.
“Oh!” Gwen lit up all over again. “She’s putting some things together for Isabelle and the children so Aidan can take,” Gwen started shaking her head as she looked at him, barely continuing, “them …with—” before stopping mid-sentence.
Brianna turned to Aidan, and saw him wide-eyed, shaking his head—exactly what Gwen had been mimicking, but Gwen had caught onto his signal a beat too late. Suddenly, it all made sense.
“You’re leaving,” she said, looking at Aidan, who nodded.
“At first light.”
And there went the other shoe.