Chapter 23
Bronmuir Keep, Isle of Skye
The gray stone walls rose from the cliff as if they’d grown there, ancient and weathered and absolutely breathtaking.
I stood at the edge of the path, the salt wind whipping my hair into tangles, and stared at Bronmuir Keep.
This was Brodie’s home. The place he’d talked about for almost two months during the long voyage north.
The castle where he’d grown up, where his brothers had trained him to fight, where he’d thought he’d never return.
And now we were here.
“Maddie?” Brodie’s voice was rough with emotion. “Are ye all right?”
“Yes.” I took his hand, squeezed. “Just—it’s real. You’re really home.”
“We’re home,” he corrected, and pulled me close. “Together, remember?”
Together. We’d come so far on that word.
The voyage had been long—almost eight weeks of storms and calm seas and endless gray water.
Brodie tried to teach me to speak with a Scottish accent, it went badly, and we told each other about our pasts, both of us learning what it meant to build a life with someone rather than just survive alongside them.
I’d been terrified Cameron would turn us away.
Now, standing here looking at Bronmuir’s imposing walls, I was even more terrified he’d let us in.
“What if they hate me?” I whispered.
“They’ll love ye.” Brodie sounded more confident than I felt. “Ye’re brave and clever and ye saved my life more times than I can count. Cameron will see that.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then we’ll build our cottage by the sea like we planned.” He kissed my temple. “But give them a chance first, aye?”
The castle gates stood open. As we approached, a woman emerged—tall and dark-haired, moving with the confidence of someone who belonged here. She stopped when she saw us, one hand flying to her mouth.
“Brodie?” Her voice carried across the courtyard. “Brodie, is that—”
“Elspeth!” Brodie let go of my hand and ran—actually ran—toward his sister.
They collided in the middle of the courtyard, Elspeth laughing and crying at the same time, her hands gripping Brodie’s shoulders like she was afraid he’d disappear if she let go.
“Ye’re alive,” she kept saying. “Ye’re alive, ye’re really alive. We thought—Connor said—oh God, Brodie, ye’re home.”
“Aye.” Brodie’s voice was thick. “I’m home.”
I hung back, giving them space for their reunion. But Elspeth looked past Brodie’s shoulder and saw me standing there, and her eyes went wide.
“Ye brought someone.” It wasn’t a question. “Brodie, who—”
“This is Maddie.” He reached back for my hand and pulled me forward. “Maddie Carter. My—” He stopped, swallowed. “My betrothed. If Cameron blesses the match.”
Betrothed. We’d talked about it on the ship, decided we’d ask permission for a proper Scottish wedding at Bronmuir. If his brother refused, we’d marry in the village. But Brodie wanted his family’s blessing.
“It’s nice to meet you. Your home is very forbidding,” I said.
Elspeth studied me with sharp eyes—the kind that saw too much and missed nothing. Then, slowly, she smiled.
“American,” she said. “Your accent. You’re American.”
“Yes.” Shock flooded through me. “How did you—” I braced myself for suspicion, for questions about how an American woman ended up in Scotland with her brother. “I’m from—”
“Philadelphia?” Another voice, this one from the castle entrance. A woman appeared—blonde, pretty, moving with a modern confidence that didn’t quite match her historical clothes. “Or maybe Boston? You’ve got that East Coast vibe.”
I froze. East Coast vibe. That was not period-appropriate language.
The woman grinned. “I’m Kate. Connor’s wife. And before you ask—yes, I’m also from the future. Twenty-first century. Fell through time about three years ago. It’s a whole thing.”
My brain short-circuited. “You’re—what?”
“From the future.” Kate walked toward me, her grin widening. “2018, specifically. Touched a standing stone during a vacation and boom—medieval Scotland. You?”
“2025,” I said, still trying to process this. “Jamaica. Touched a stone in an old garden and—”
“Time travel!” Kate grabbed my hands, bouncing slightly.
“Oh my gosh, I’ve been the only modern woman here for three years.
Do you know how hard it is to explain tampons to medieval Scotsmen?
Or why I will not wear a corset? Or—” She stopped, eyes going wide.
“Wait. 2025. Does that mean—do you know what happened with—”
“Taylor Swift?” I guessed.
Kate gasped. “Yes! Did she—”
“Her last tour, the Eras Tour, broke every record. She’s engaged to a football player, Travis Kelce. The fans lost their minds.”
“TRAVIS KELCE?” Kate’s voice went up an octave. “I always knew she’d end up with a jock. Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. What about—”
We both started talking at once, words tumbling over each other—Marvel movies, political scandals, technology updates, all the things we’d both lost when we’d fallen through time. It was like finding someone who spoke your native language after years of translation.
I vaguely registered Brodie and Elspeth staring at us with matching expressions of bewilderment.
Then a man’s voice, deep and commanding: “What in the bloody hell—”
We both stopped talking and turned.
It had to be the middle brother, Connor. He stood there, and he looked exactly how Brodie had described him—tall, broad-shouldered, stern-faced, with the kind of presence that made you stand up straighter without meaning to. He stared at Kate and me with dawning horror.
“Another one?” His voice was faint. “There’s another one?”
“Aye.” Brodie sounded like he was trying not to laugh. “Connor, this is Maddie. My betrothed. She’s from—” He stopped, looked at me, then at Kate, then back at Connor. “Wait. Yer wife is from the future?”
“Aye,” Connor said, still looking slightly pale. “2018. Fell through a standing stone at a wedding. It’s been...” He trailed off.
“An adventure,” Kate supplied cheerfully. “Also a nightmare. But mostly an adventure.”
Brodie blinked. Then started laughing—the kind of deep, helpless laughter that came from pure absurdity. “I spent the entire voyage worried about how to explain Maddie to ye. That ye’d think me mad for believing her story about time travel. And yer own wife—”
“Is also from three centuries in the future, aye.” Connor scrubbed a hand over his face. “Though I’ll admit, I dinna expect ye to find one. What are the odds?”
“The Cailleach,” Elspeth said quietly. All the laughter died. “She’s done this before. Brought people through time. She chooses them for a reason.”
A chill ran down my spine. “She appeared to me,” I said. “In Jamaica. When I came through. And again when—” I stopped. “When I had to choose whether to go back or stay.”
“She appeared to me too,” Kate said. “At the stones. She said something about thresholds and choices and destiny.” She looked at Connor. “You never told me she’d done this to other people.”
“Because I dinna ken,” Connor said. He looked at Brodie. “Brother. We have much to discuss.”
“Aye.” Brodie squeezed my hand. “But first—Cameron. Is he—”
Connor’s expression went carefully blank. “Inside. Come.”
We followed him through the castle entrance, and I felt Brodie’s hand tighten on mine. Something was wrong. I could feel it in the way Elspeth had gone quiet, the way Connor’s shoulders had tensed.
The great hall was exactly as Brodie had described—massive hearth, long tables, weapons on the walls. But it felt different from what I’d imagined. Quieter. Like something vital was missing.
“Cameron,” Brodie said again. “Where is he? I need to see him, to tell him—”
“Sit down, brother,” Connor said gently.
“No.” Brodie’s voice went hard. “Tell me.”
Connor’s face was full of grief and regret. “He died four years ago. The injuries from his captivity. By the time we got him back from the MacDonalds, he was too far gone.” He stopped. “I’m sorry, Brodie. He’s gone.”
The world tilted.
Cameron. The eldest brother, the warrior, the one who’d taught Brodie to fight. Dead. Gone while Brodie was a captive in Jamaica, never knowing, never getting to say goodbye.
Brodie made a sound like he’d been punched. “No.”
“I’m sorry,” Connor said again. “He spoke of ye at the end. Said he hoped ye’d found peace, wherever ye were. That he forgave ye for leaving.”
“I didna leave,” Brodie’s voice cracked. “I was taken. Sold. I would have—if I’d known—”
I wrapped my arms around him, held him while he shook with grief he couldn’t voice. Kate and Connor gave us space, stepping back toward the fire. Elspeth stayed close, one hand on her brother’s shoulder.
“He knew,” she said softly. “Cameron knew ye didna abandon us by choice. We all knew. Ye’re home now. That’s what matters.”
Brodie pressed his face against my shoulder and breathed through the pain.
We stood like that for a long moment—Brodie grieving, me holding him, his family giving him space to break.
Finally, he straightened. His eyes were red, but his voice was steady. “I want to marry Maddie here. At Bronmuir. With Cameron’s memory present. He should be part of this.”
Connor stepped forward. “Ye have my blessing. Both of ye.” He looked at me directly for the first time. “Welcome to Bronmuir, Maddie Carter. Any woman brave enough to follow my brother through time and hell is family here.”
The knot in my chest loosened. “Thank you.”
“Though I do have questions,” Connor added. “Many questions. Starting with… do all American lasses talk as fast as Kate and ye do?”
“Only when we’re excited,” I said. “Or caffeinated. But since coffee doesn’t really exist here—”
“Coffee.” Kate groaned. “God, I miss coffee. And Netflix. And delivery pizza. And—”
“Indoor plumbing,” I added.
“YES. Oh my gosh, the plumbing situation here is—”
“Kate,” Connor said, pained. “Please dinna start this again.”
Brodie was staring at us like we’d grown second heads. “What’s Netflix?”
“I’ll explain later,” I promised. “It’s going to take a while.”
“We have all the time in the world,” Kate said. “We can download—” She stopped. “I mean, we can explain everything slowly.”
“Download?” Brodie echoed.
“Definitely going to take years,” I muttered.
Elspeth laughed—the first real joy I’d heard since we’d arrived. “Oh, I like her, Brodie. She’ll fit right in.”
“Ye say that now,” Connor said darkly. “Wait until they start trying to ‘improve’ things. Kate’s been campaigning for what she calls ‘basic sanitation’ for three years.”
“Because it’s important!” Kate protested.
“I’ll help,” I offered.
Connor groaned. “Two of them. Saints preserve us.”
But he was smiling. Actually smiling. And Brodie—Brodie was looking at his brother with something that looked like hope.
“Stay,” Connor said. “Both of ye. Build yer cottage if ye must, but stay close. Ye’re family. This is your home.”
Home.
The word settled into my chest like it belonged there.
Brodie pulled me close, his arm around my waist. “Aye. We’ll stay.”
That night, I stood on the battlements, wrapped in a shawl, looking out at the sea. The stars were brighter here than anywhere I’d seen—no light pollution, no modern world drowning out the darkness. Just stars and sea and the sound of the waves against cliffs.
A black feather drifted past on the wind—impossible at night, but there it was. Floating in the darkness like it was exactly where it was meant to be.
And I heard her voice, the Cailleach’s voice, like stones grinding underwater:
“Well chosen, child.”
I smiled.
I’d given up indoor plumbing and modern medicine and perhaps an easier life. I’d chosen love over safety, uncertainty over comfort, a hard life in a brutal time over everything I’d known.
And I’d do it again.
Every time.
Because this—standing here with the wind in my hair and Brodie’s laughter carrying up from the hall below and a whole future stretching ahead of us—this was worth it.
This was home.
Footsteps sounded behind me. Brodie appeared, wrapped in a plaid against the cold. He came to stand beside me, his warmth solid against the cold.
“What are ye thinking about?” he asked.
“That I’m glad I touched that stone,” I said. “Happy I fell through time. Delighted that I met you.”
“Even though ye lost everything?”
“I didn’t lose everything.” I turned to face him. “I found everything. Courage. Purpose. Love. Home.” I gestured at the castle, the cliffs, the sea. “This. You. Us.”
He kissed me there on the battlements under the stars, and I tasted salt, wind, and the promise of our future.
“We’ll marry next month,” he said against my lips. “Here at Bronmuir. With all my family present. With Cameron’s memory blessing us. With Kate and Connor as witnesses.”
“And Elspeth,” I added.
“Aye.” He pulled me close.
The wind picked up. Another black feather spiraled past, dancing on the air current before disappearing into the darkness.
The Cailleach’s blessing.
Or maybe just the universe saying, yes, this is right, this is where you belong.
Brodie and I stood together, looking out at the sea and the stars and the future we’d build.
A future with Kate as an unlikely best friend and Connor as a bewildered brother-in-law and Elspeth as the sister I’d never had.
A future with a wedding and a cottage of our own on the grounds of Bronmuir.
Maybe children someday, if we were lucky.
A future that was hard and uncertain and absolutely perfect.
“Tell me a story,” I said. “Tell me about what we’ll build here.”
So he did.
He told me about the cottage we’d build near the water, with windows facing the sea. About the garden I’d plant with herbs Abena had taught me. The work he’d do with his hands—honest work, good work, building instead of destroying. About the life we’d make together, day by day, choice by choice.
He told me about the future.
And I listened with my head on his shoulder and the stars wheeling overhead and the certain knowledge that I was exactly where I was meant to be.
The door behind us had been closed forever.
But ahead—ahead was everything.
Together.
Always together.
The way it was always meant to be.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed Once Upon a Scot.