Chapter Six #2
“That’s not true and you know it, Chloe,” Brianna said, her ire rising.
“Sure, it is. You were only interested in doing the bare minimum after Mom and Dad died. The fact you ended up in Edinburgh is a shock to me,” Chloe said. There was so much venom in her words, Brianna winced. “How did you end up in Edinburgh, anyway?”
Even Evie flinched. “Chlo, don’t. Now isn’t the time.”
“When is the time, then, Eve?”
Brianna clenched her hand into a tight fist, frustration edging through her as she glared right back at Chloe. “I got a call from the Edinburgh police telling me you were missing.”
Her eyes widened with astonishment before she quickly recovered. Her surprise was quickly replaced with wariness. “Did you? And you charged to Edinburgh to see if your little sister was all right. Is that it? Whatever motivated you do to that?”
“Chlo—”
Fury flashed through her. “I tried calling you both but only reached voicemail. I knew Evie was in Edinburgh. She told me she was going to your gala. When I was unable to get in touch with either of you, I knew something was wrong.”
Chloe remained stiff and silent as she clenched her jaw. Guilt flashed over Evie’s face as she glanced between the two of them.
“You told her?” Chloe said, turning her heated, accusatory gaze on Evie.
“I invited her to come. You worked so hard, Chloe, I thought—”
“And yet you didn’t come.” Her ire swung back to Brianna.
“I did. I came when I thought you might be in trouble.”
“Clearly, it was too late.” Color rose high in her cheeks.
Brianna huffed, losing patience. She didn’t want to fight with Chloe and changed the subject. “Maybe you two tell me what the hell is going on here.”
“She doesn’t know, does she?” Chloe asked Evie. And then she emitted a nervous laugh. “She doesn’t know where she is or why.”
It was like old times—the two of them sharing some secret between them, some inside joke they never let her in on. Once again, she was the outsider. A pariah in her own family. She shoved those feelings aside for now to get to the truth.
“All I know is somehow this little piece of stone brought me here. But where is here?” Brianna asked.
Evie and Chloe exchanged a knowing glance, one that still did not give her the answer she wanted.
“Tell me!” she demanded.
Chloe pressed her lips together into a thin line and looked to Evie to make the explanation.
“You’re in the Highlands of the past,” Evie said. “Specifically, 1357.”
Brianna gaped at her as though she’d grown a second head.
Hot pinpricks of disbelief went over her.
Jamie’s words came back to her. He’d alluded to the fact she was in a different time period, something he seemed to know but didn’t share.
He wanted to bring her to her sisters and let them tell her.
Even so, it was difficult for her to believe she was transported through time.
“You’re joking.”
“I’m not,” Evie said, deadpan.
“Yes, you are. This is some elaborate hoax you two have managed to pull on me to get my attention. Or something. Well, I can assure you, you both have my attention. I refuse to believe this jagged piece of rock brought me into the past.”
“Brought all three of us,” Chloe corrected.
She pulled something out of the pocket of her dress and held it out to show Brianna. It was a piece of stone similar to the one Evie had. It looked like the missing third piece.
Brianna stared at the little piece in Chloe’s scarred palm, a scar that looked hauntingly familiar to the burn on her own hand.
When she glanced at Evie, she held up her hand and showed her she had the same brand.
Brianna glanced down at her own, saw the red, angry imprint on her palm and understood then that it was never going away.
“Your hands…”
“Like yours,” Evie said. “You clutched the stone in your hand when you fell through time.”
Brianna stared down at her hand, remembering. She stood on the terrace. She held the humming stone with the pulsing lines in her hand. John MacDonald had attacked her and tried to take it from her. She’d panicked and ran.
“There was a…flash of light,” Brianna said.
“Yes,” Evie agreed, giving her an encouraging nod.
“And a cold wind that seemed to suck the air from my lungs,” she added.
“That, too,” Evie encouraged.
“Then I was falling and then…” She shook her head. “I don’t remember much after that.”
“You blacked out,” Chloe said. “I’ll bet Jamie was there when you woke up.”
Brianna flushed as she recalled the way he’d stood against his horse, his arms folded, looking devilishly handsome. “Yes.”
“It’s how I met Malcolm,” Chloe said.
“Who’s that?”
“Brother to the laird of the castle and my husband,” she said.
“You’re married?” This was all too much to believe. She leveled her gaze at Evie. “And you’re married, too, I assume? Especially since you appear to be pregnant.”
Evie flushed, her cheeks turning pink. “Yes, Callum is my husband and the eldest and laird of this castle. And yes, I’m pregnant.”
This was strange and hard to believe. Here were her sisters, married to men of the past. She pressed a hand to her head where the headache pounded.
“And…Jamie?” she asked, her voice shaking a little.
“The youngest brother of the three,” Evie said.
Brianna smirked. “Who is he married to?”
“No one, yet,” Chloe snipped as she looked her over.
Evie met Chloe’s gaze, ignoring her sharp tone. “Chlo, it’s all coming true.”
“What’s all coming true?” Brianna demanded. There was still more information neither of them was telling her. She felt like she was in a nightmare with more questions than answers. It was hard to quell the panic that wanted to erupt.
Evie took a deep breath, expelled it. “It may be difficult for you to hear right now. I know all of this is a shock and hard to believe.”
“You’re damn right it is. Shock is a bit of an understatement.” She clutched her hand around the stone once again, then shoved her fist into the front pocket of her jeans.
“The three of us coming back in time—you, me, Chloe—we were meant to be here.”
“And that means what exactly?”
“For God’s sake, Bri, stop being so dense,” Chloe snapped, her patience gone. “What Evie is trying to tell you is that there’s a prophecy that foretold of our arrival here. We were destined to be here. All three of us.”
Brianna stared at the both of them as disbelief pounded through her. Then she did the only thing she knew to do. She ran for the kitchen door.