Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
“Incredible.”
I was crouched in the clover patch taking soil samples, or at least was trying to.
I wasn’t even sure what had tumbled from my lips.
There was a rare late-summer sun, though the day was getting old.
There were the sounds of students in the tree and at its roots—questions, laughter, and Holly telling someone to knock it off.
And, of course, the patch of earth I had slept on was, as Holly had reported, still blooming.
But also, had TJ really been the one to save Rowan?
Rowan and Tee were still in the library.
They had more to say to each other; the details of that day, the details that followed when Rowan was in Germany, all needed to be shared.
They were two stories melding into one, and they both were hungry for the details the other was missing.
I let them have their time; Rowan would fill me in later.
I took Peabody and headed out to the field.
Peabody was reluctant at first to follow but with the data on the cairns still to gather he followed but not before throwing a longing look at Rowan and Tee.
I, too, needed a moment. My thoughts were still rearranging themselves in this new happy order.
TJ saved Rowan.
The man my brother was so heart-wrecked over lived.
And he was the man I loved, whose blood spoke to mine in an ancient chiming rhythm that we were still getting used to even a year later.
Joy and astonishment colored my thoughts and actions as I collected samples out of my mini green zone. Despite the charred earth surrounding my green patch, I felt a buoyant, joyous hope for everything.
I was closing a jar on a soil sample when TJ came up from the Circle Garden.
I noted the time, date, weather, and sample number on the side of the container, and when I looked up to greet him, I saw his head was bowed the way he did with bad news, and he wiped his thumb across his mouth as if swiping away the stink of what he had to say.
This made me guess. I checked my watch for confirmation. “Uh-oh. The Rembrandt didn’t arrive.”
“Yeah,” he said before hooking his thumbs into his pockets and squinting down into the field where Peabody was moving between the cairns, taking readings off the stacked rocks. “So, you need some magic to wake this field up…or something?”
It was obvious that TJ was dodging the topic, but I went with it. I had put a rosy halo on Tee as the human who had saved Rowan. I was sure he’d do something to knock that halo off sooner rather than later, so I’d enjoy the glow for now.
I tapped my pen on the side of the sample jar. “Holly and I are working on the theory that the field needs its energies restored.”
“Right, so it needs to be woken up.”
“In a way, I suppose—”
“Eh!” he hollered at the field before sticking his fingers in his mouth and piercing the air with a whistle. “Wake up!” He grinned at me as Peabody turned in the field and a couple students emerged from the forest.
I waved them back to work and gave Tee a look that said he was a dingus. It hadn’t taken him long to attempt to knock his halo loose. “I think you just called every sheep in a twelve-mile radius to our spot. Great job.”
He kept grinning.
“All right, out with it, it must be really bad news if you feel the need to make me laugh before telling me.”
“Yeah, the banker is nowhere to be seen, same with the Rembrandt. Charmaine and Rowan are arguing about calling the authorities.”
I knew which side Rowan was on with that.
“All right,” I said, resigned to the bad news. “Thanks.”
“AndMa’scoming.”
“What?” My sample jar hit the dirt.
“Yeah, like I said, Mother is coming.” TJ did not run his words together this time. “Daddy didn’t like how slow I was to get things ironed out, and they now think I’m involved with the cult.”
My guts twisted at the added complication. “Didn’t you explain everything to them?” My voice squeaked on the question mark.
“Explain what? Explain that you broke a curse, and before I arrived, a Viking inhabited your body and attempted to kill your fiancé and the townsfolk who got in his way? And now there’s this evil bank dude who’s got a priceless artifact, and I’m pretty sure we’re all gonna do a little B it’s just Mother. She’ll get up in your business, interview everyone you know—”
“She makes it sound nice,” Tee said. “Interrogate is more like it.”
“And then she’ll declare you fit or unfit for her daughter. But it’s only for show; she loves me, and she’ll eventually come around to loving you as I have.”
“What if she doesn’t?”
“Wear your kilt.”
“Fuck, Pip, that’ll give her a heart attack. Then Daddy will come.” TJ gave me a pointed expression with his brows raised.
“Yeah, well. We’ll just have to be ourselves,” I said. “Tee was converted to our side—”
“That was different, Pipsqueak. This man is my brother.”
“You make me sound incestuous. Say bro, comrade, brother in arms, or something.”
“Brother implies a blood bond, and we got that in battle. He’s my brother, not some dude-bro.”
“You’re a mess,” I quipped.
“What? I’m not the one married to my own brother.”
“See. That,” I said, pointing at him, “is why you get smacked.” I turned to Rowan. “We don’t even have a flight number. Let’s see if this is just a threat from the motherland.”
TJ mellowed too and gave Rowan a kind look as he said, “Still no Rembrandt?”
Though it was an awful subject to shift to, Rowan seemed glad to get off the subject of Mother’s arrival. “No, Charmaine is on the phone raising hell with high water, as Cole says.”
Tee looked at me, and we shared a “that’s not exactly the way to use that phrase” look.
He slipped his hands into his pockets. “The executives at the bank are sending recovery agents out. They’ve put notice on Murdoch that if he has done anything untoward, they’ll find out.”
“What? They just gave him the heads-up?”
“Aye.”
Tee added, “He’s just going to say thanks and move it.”
“Aye, which is why Charmaine is attempting tae track down the agents and also monitor the Otey manor. After the meeting, she requested to sort this out herself and asked me no’ to muddy the waters any more than they are with a breaking-and-entering scheme.”
“That’s frustrating.” I gave him another hug, which he gladly accepted, pulling me in tight. “Are you doing that? Letting her take care of it?”
“Mostly.” He added, “I hate tha’ it’s so close but I cannae just retrieve it.”
“Maybe we can get someone to track it.”
“Aye, my best tracker is on it.”
I smiled. “Holly has all eyes and ears at her disposal, doesn’t she?”
Rowan nodded. “Between her and her da, they should be able to. Once the agents catch up tae Murdoch, we’ll retrieve it from the boot of his car.”
“Trunk,” I clarified to Tee.
“I know what the boot is. Can I help at all?”
Rowan shook his head.
I let Rowan out of my embrace and said to Tee, “Then we should take care of something on my list before your R and R is up. Plus, your pelvic exercise instructor is busy.”
“Haha.” Tee didn’t find my quip funny at all.
“We have a great-great-to-the-billion-great-granny to introduce you to. Let’s see if Peabody wants to go on a field trip with us.”
Rowan gave me a quick kiss. “Have fun.”