Chapter 13
Evelyn rubbed her bleary eyes and looked out the kitchen window, unable to focus on the terrible handwriting for another second. She wanted to rest her eyes on the cool grey skies and the trees rustling in the wind. She felt antsy and itchy all over and got up, nearly knocking the bench over in her haste to be away from the paper laden table.
Magnus was still sleeping and she decided to walk around in the courtyard for a few minutes. Grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, she escaped the confines of the castle, breathing in the crisp air.
Piper had been gone for four days. She had forbidden Evelyn to go with her when she did the spell, begging her to stay safely far away. Evelyn followed her that night anyway and hid behind the trees, hoping first that the spell would fail, and barring that, that she would get taken along in the blast radius so she could keep an eye on her.
Something didn’t sit right with her about the whole plan to find Rose, and it wasn’t plain old worry either. Piper had left the diary behind, and Evelyn read it through several times. It was sad, what happened to her, tragic really. Evelyn knew firsthand what it was like to be targeted by Daria.
Still, she couldn’t bring herself to actually like Rose. Everything she’d ever heard about her, she’d been an awful mother and a completely absent grandmother. Evelyn closed her eyes and imagined Sam being lost to her for twenty years. It tore her up to think of it, but would she leave Magnus? She couldn’t think that Sam would want her to leave their child, even if he was grown. It wasn’t like moving back to Texas or something. Rose had traveled to another time, as good as dead to Piper and her mother.
Propping open the kitchen door so she could hear Magnus if he woke, she headed to the edge of the courtyard and looked down at the stable. She closed her eyes, letting the cold breeze waft over her, revitalizing her weary mind.
When she opened them, she dropped the water bottle and yelped in dismay, blinking several times to clear her vision. Surely not. She prayed her eyes didn’t lie.
“Lachlan?” She covered the distance to him in hurried steps and planted her hands flat on his brick hard chest. Yes, he was really there, standing like a plaid covered mountain beside the decorative shrubbery.
“Aye, I’ve made it back at last,” he said in his low rumble.
Evelyn threw her arms around him. “We thought—,” she started, pushing away to get a better look at him. He was surprisingly clean and healthy looking. “Are you all right? Do I need to get Dr. Stone?” She circled around him, looking for blood stains.
He laughed. “I am well, thank ye.”
Her mind raced, emotions tumbling over one another, and she grabbed his hand, tugging him toward the kitchen.
Inside, he spied the bassinet and leaned over it. “The wee lad has grown,” he said, looking stricken. “How long have I been gone?”
“Two months,” Evelyn said, trying to get him to sit by pushing on his rock of a shoulder. He obliged her and sank into a kitchen chair. “What happened?” she asked, sitting across from him and leaning over, barely able to believe he was really there. “We thought you were dead.” It felt awkward just hanging there, when he was clearly alive. “Sorry, but there were papers.”
He shook his head abruptly. “Where is Piper?” he asked, then looked chagrined. “My apologies, lass. The story is long and convoluted. I’d rather no’ tell it twice.”
She reached over and placed her hand on his wrist and his eyes flew wide with grief.
“No, no. She’s alive. But she isn’t here, Lachlan.”
His face relaxed but not by much when he put together what she meant. “She’s gone back? To look for me?” He got up and took a few steps.
“She went back yes, but not to look for you. She thought you died in a battle here. She’s looking for her grandmother. It’s another long story,” she said. “Oh my God, Lachlan. You’re alive.” It hit her all at once and she blinked back tears of relief and bewilderment.
“She went alone?” he asked roughly. Feeling ashamed all over again, she reached over and touched Magnus’s cheek. Lachlan closed his eyes. “Once again, my apologies. I didna mean that ye should have gone with her. I know she would have killed ye had ye tried.”
“I didn’t want her to go at all, but she thought … it’s not great,” she finished weakly, wondering if Lachlan knew that Piper had been possessed. How could she possibly explain that?
“I have to find her,” he said, turning back and gripping the edge of the table. His eyes blazed stormy blue.
Evelyn nodded. “Yes, you do. But not right now. You look exhausted, and I need to tell you everything we learned. And Sam and Mellie will want to see you.” She stopped her avalanche of words and tipped her head to the side. “And what happened to your hair?”
“Bella Glen,” he said with a frown, putting his hand to the back of his neck. “Is it so verra bad?”
“It’s pretty bad.” Evelyn tried not to smile too widely as she looked him over. He was alive, when all the historical documents pronounced him dead, and he had a tomb in the crypt. It was a miracle. “Go change into some of your modern clothes and we’ll go into town and get it fixed. And I’ll tell you everything. And you need to tell me how you fooled the historians into thinking you were dead.”
Lachlan’s face relaxed into his trademarked beautiful smile and he laughed. “Again, that would be the doings of Bella Glen.” He squeezed her shoulder and went to change.
***
Lachlan wanted to hear everything about Piper, but Evelyn made him go first with his side of things. He told her everything on the car ride into the village, and she believed it truly was a miracle he wasn’t actually dead.
“That was a farfetched plan,” she said, wracking her brain for all the mentions she’d read of that fateful battle he’d supposedly been killed in. While Piper had refused to speak of it further and gone into her shell of denial, Evelyn had scoured everything she could find about it. “I think there was a fire that night,” she said. “I bet Bella really did set the woods on fire to cover up your disappearance. That was risky back then.” She thought about the village’s antique fire truck and the few volunteer firefighters who kept it running. It would be risky now.
“Aye. She was desperate to be rid of me, of that I’m certain.”
“Piper didn’t believe it for a long time,” she said, feeling guilty for not doubting everything she’d read herself.
“I shall leave this verra night to find her,” he said, pulling at the seatbelt as if he wanted to jump out of the car and leave that second.
“Well, just hang on there, He-Man,” she said. “You need to know what’s going on, and if you don’t at least stay to see Mellie, she’ll throw a fit and probably poison our food.”
Lachlan groaned at the mention of poisoned food, and agreed to stay at least one day. Evie hoped beyond hope that Piper would waltz through the kitchen door that evening, having defeated Daria, to find the surprise of her life. Then they could all go to Disney World.
She pulled into the parking spot for Donna’s Beauty and hustled him inside. When he was done, what was left of his raggedly chopped black locks were neatly trimmed into a typical twenty-first century man’s hairstyle. Except he looked anything but typical. After Donna brushed off his shoulders and whirled his chair around, they both stood and stared at him for several long moments. He blinked from one to the other and smiled nervously, running his hand over his shorn head.
“Dear God,” Evelyn said, adjusting the neckline of her sweater. “Your face hurts my heart. You are seriously too handsome.”
“Far too handsome,” Donna agreed, shaking her head and tutting.
Lachlan went beet red and scowled at them, while he dug out his stash of modern money and handed over an indiscriminate wad. Evelyn intercepted it and counted out the proper amount for Donna. Piper had accounts at all the shops in town, but he seemed so proud of himself, and she didn’t want to hurt his old-fashioned pride.
“Next stop, we shock the living daylights out of Sam,” she said, pulling him next door to Sam’s bookshop.
“Ye’re a bit cruel, Evelyn,” Lachlan said mildly. “Ye should have called him first.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes at him and flung open the door to Maclean Booksellers, making sure the little bell rang violently.
Sam looked up from stocking magazines with a huff, and promptly dropped the stack he was holding. The glossy magazines slid everywhere at his feet as he stood there staring, first at Lachlan, then at Evelyn, who thought her face would crack from smiling so hard. He clapped his hand over his mouth, his green eyes wide. Dear lord, but she loved him.
He turned to her accusingly and she couldn’t stop smiling. She knew she should have called and warned him, but the look of surprised delight on his face was worth it.
If only Piper had waited a few more days, but she’d been determined, sure this was the right path to her freedom, and they’d been certain Lachlan was dead. Once again she felt guilty for her part in convincing Piper of that, wondering if she’d ever trust a historical document again. If it pertained to Castle Glen, probably not.
Sam and Lachlan embraced and Sam repeated the same questions, mainly how and when, over and over. His face fell and he turned to Evelyn.
“Jesus, what about Piper?” he asked, going pale.
“If she’s not back by tonight, Lachlan’s going after her tomorrow. We’ll get her back safe and sound.” Evelyn gripped Lachlan’s forearm. “I just wish you could have gone with her in the first place.”
“Do you think she would have gone if he was back?” Sam asked the question she didn’t want to think about.
She shrugged. Piper wanted to be rid of Daria, wanted her own form or revenge against her for shooting her back to the present without Lachlan. Piper hadn’t been herself in so long. It was difficult to say what she might have done if Lachlan appeared sooner.
“Probably. I’d have liked it better if he went with her, but he’ll find her.”
“Aye, indeed I shall,” Lachlan said, warming her heart with his warrior chivalry. “Ye must tell me why she went to that time, though? And why did she go at all? Ye mentioned her granny?”
Sam and Evelyn exchanged long looks. “Come on,” she said, tugging Lachlan out of the shop. “I’ll explain everything. Let’s go home and get a plan together, get some food in you. You actually look a little thin.”
Lachlan laughed. “Ye act like a mother now,” he said fondly, making her blush. “But they did fairly starve me. I wouldna turn down a meal from wee Mellie.”
Evelyn rubbed her hands together and laughed with glee, picturing Mel’s surprise when she came home from her class later that day. Both men looked at her disapprovingly, but she ignored them. It had been so long since they’d had any truly good news, her and Sam’s engagement notwithstanding. Even that had been overshadowed by Piper’s possession and all of their sadness over losing Lachlan. Now as soon as they got Piper back, they could live life in unfettered joy. In the meantime, she’d enjoy the looks on her friend’s faces.
“Will you take Mags for the rest of the afternoon?” she asked, hoisting the car seat to Sam. “I’ve found a couple mentions of Rose in all those papers, and I want to try to align the dates with her diary and everything else we know.”
Sam took Magnus. “Of course. I’ll come round at dinner time.” She gave him a warning look and he smiled. “Don’t worry. I think it’s wrong, but I won’t call Mellie.”
It took the drive back to the castle and the better part of the afternoon to explain what had happened since Piper came back without him. He was devastated to learn she thought she was possessed.
“Do ye think it’s true?” Lachlan asked, taking a hearty bite out of his third biscuit.
He’d been eating everything she put in front of him since they returned. It seemed he hadn’t been able to eat much as laird of the Glens. She shook her head at how dreadful Piper’s ancestors were. At least Bella had turned out to have a few redeeming qualities.
“When she first came back, I thought she was just spooked. It seemed so unbelievable. But too many things happened that made me think it had to be true. There are a lot of things I believe now, that I wouldn’t have before all this,” Evelyn answered. “She was barely functional for a few weeks, worried about you, scared to death of Daria’s spirit.”
“Aye,” Lachlan agreed. “She was verra frightened at the last. I tried to stop, but it was too late. This terrible thing is my doing.” He put down his unfinished cookie and looked pained.
“No, it isn’t,” Evelyn assured him forcefully. “It’s Daria’s doing. And to be honest, I’m glad she’s dead. She was far more dangerous alive than her stupid spirit could ever be, as long as it’s trapped in Piper.”
“Ye dinna think it will harm her?”
“I don’t see how it would be in its best interest to hurt her. It hasn’t yet.”
“I pray this Rose can help her.”
Evelyn heard Mel’s car pull into the back drive and jumped up. “She’s back early. Go hide in the pantry.”
“I willna do that,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her.
“Oh my God, you’re no fun,” she said, scooting around behind the counter to have the best view when she came through the door.
Mellie paused with the door open, whistling for the dog and barely glancing around when they were both inside. The dog made a beeline for him, jumping on his legs and demanding attention from his old friend. Mel stared at Lachlan for a split second before screaming at the top of her lungs and dropping everything she carried.
Evelyn heard the shatter of glass and feeling a bit guilty, ran to help her. “Lachlan’s back,” she said breathlessly. “Again.”
“Bloody hell,” Mellie said, rushing to hug him. “That was your dinner in the bag, so I hope you’re satisfied.” She stepped back and shyly looked him over, nodding in approval of his new haircut. “Eventually this will stop being such a shock. Ideally, you’ll stop going away.”
“Only once more, lass,” he said, beaming at her. Everyone loved sweet, gangly Mellie, with her extreme cooking skills and huge heart. “When I find Piper, we’ll stay put for good.”
“Ah, that’s lovely,” Mellie said. “Happily ever after for everyone.”
Evelyn called Sam to ask him to bring a takeaway meal since she’d ruined their dinner goods by scaring Mel half to death. She listened to him tell her so with good grace, in too content a mood to let Sam wreck it for her.
Tomorrow, the next day at the latest, Lachlan would have retrieved Piper. Hell, maybe Rose would want to see the castle in the present day again, start fresh with the family she’d left behind. Miracles all around.
“Evelyn, lass, I think your phone is ringing,” Lachlan said, looking warily at the phone on the table in front of him.
Evelyn patted her pocket where her phone was and realized it was Piper’s that was ringing. She’d left it behind, having no need for it where she was going.
Evelyn looked at it, wondering if she should answer. She recognized the number as coming from the states, but other than that it was unknown to her. Thinking Piper’s mom might be calling from a different phone, she decided to answer.
A strange man asked for Piper using her full name, which made Evelyn think it was just a solicitation. She used her cold, business-like voice to tell the man Piper wasn’t available and was about to hang up when he spoke again, hurriedly.
“Please, my name is Edgar. I spoke to her the other day about her grandmother. If I could leave a message?”
Evelyn paused. “Okay,” she said. “This is her friend Evie. She told me all about your conversation.” She didn’t want to admit he’d been on speaker the whole time. She put him on speaker now, waving for Lachlan and Mellie to gather in closer.
“I got to thinking about that conversation,” he said slowly. Evelyn’s stomach turned over at his tone and she wanted to tell him to cut to the chase. “It’s been so long since I thought about those days. To be honest, I tried to block it all out. Something like that … It can make you feel like you’re going off the deep end.”
“Like what?” Evelyn asked. He was quiet on the other end of the line and she mentally kicked herself. “I know about the time traveling,” she said, and heard him sigh.
“All right then, that’s all right,” he muttered. “You know, I was thinking about Piper and thought to myself, what if she does something so crazy as to try to go find her grandmother. I mean, if Rose could do it, perhaps her granddaughter can too.”
Evelyn made a noncommittal sound, looking at Lachlan and Mellie, one frowning in a menacing manner, the other’s eyes wide with uncertainty.
“There was just more to the story than what I told her. But, it’s not that important. Like I said, it was a foolish notion that Piper would do something like that.”
Lachlan’s fists clenched on the table, and Evelyn motioned for him to be quiet, but shared the tension he clearly felt.
“Edgar,” Evelyn said, cutting off his ramblings. “She did do that. That’s exactly what she did.”
“Oh, dear.”
“Oh, dear? And what do you mean, there’s more to the story? Why didn’t you tell the whole story to Piper?” Evelyn asked.
“I thought she was looking for answers— closure. I didn’t think she’d run off after her, or even know that she could.”
“Well, she did,” Evelyn said.
“Listen, if you can, you must get her back. My wife was sick with grief and bitterness, that part was all true. But I didn’t pity her. I feared her.”