A Place Beyond (19 page)

Aodhan wouldn’t be coming back with us. He would be staying at the shore, where he planned to continue restoring the damage caused by Aoife. He promised to visit often, which made me glad.

Ciarán offered to stay and help Aodhan and it was the first time I’d ever seen Samantha so happy. She promised to come see me in Stoneville soon as she hugged me tight.

Niamh and Aodhan took a break from the festivities to escort us back to the portal. When we were all in the dining room beside the mural where the portal was located, she turned to face us with an odd expression.

“I’d like to re-route the portal for you,” she said. “I won’t have much use for the house in Wheelock anymore. If it would be okay, I’d like to open a portal at your house in Stoneville, Liam. I’d like you to be the official portal guardian.”

“That would be an honor,” he said with a smile.

It was bittersweet saying goodbye to Niamh. I knew it wouldn’t be forever, but it still felt like we wouldn’t be seeing each other for awhile. I’d grown used to having her around. I hoped she and Aodhan would continue growing closer, now that Aoife’s guards were all taken care of. But their relationship was a work in progress, nothing that could be rushed.

Even though Niamh wasn’t much of a hugger, after she’d done some magical portal rewiring, I gave her a big squeeze which caused her to laugh quietly. Aodhan had no reservations, it turned out he was actually an awesome hugger for such a badass.

“Take good care of this one,” he said to Ethan as he reached out his hand.

“You can count on it,” Ethan said, pumping Aodhan’s enormous hand.

Liam nodded at them. “Right, then. Shall we?”

With one more glance at them, Ethan and I followed Liam into the blinding light.

The portal led us into Liam’s empty basement in Stoneville. Liam immediately jogged up the stairs and we followed him.

“Okay, so how long have we been away?” I asked.

“Just under three days,” Liam said as he walked into his kitchen. He picked up the cell phone off the counter and powered it on. “Thursday, November 27.”

“Wow, we missed three weeks,” I said. I walked to the window in the dining room and looked outside.

Cars lined the street in front of my grandparents’ house, and my stomach dropped. Something was going on.

Ethan came to my side. “What is it?”

“I don’t know. Something’s happening next door.”

“Did you say today’s the twenty-seventh, Liam?” Ethan said.

Liam nodded, squinting at the cars parked along the street.

“It’s okay, Al. It’s Thanksgiving. I see my mom’s car and my truck’s there.”

“Anyway, you can’t just go marching in. The decoys will be there. I’ll have to pay a visit and get them out,” Liam said.

I sighed. My pulse raced as I imagined Liam going next door. I wanted to be there when my mother was released from the geis.

“You’re not going to do anything when I’m not there, are you?” I asked.

He looked over his shoulder at me. “No, Allison. This isn’t something we can rush into. Don’t worry.”

I nodded. I knew that, but my nerves were all over the place. I still couldn’t believe that by the end of this day, she might be herself again.

“I’ll take a walk over now. I could ask Ethan for help carrying some furniture. They likely won’t think anything of it, since the Irish don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.”

I smiled, thinking. “Gram will probably force you to make up a plate.”

Liam’s eyes sparkled as he walked toward the front door. “Can’t say I’d mind that.”

After he left, I dropped into one of the chairs at the dining room table. “I can’t believe Gram’s having a big Thanksgiving at our house this year.”

Ethan sat beside me, raising one brow. “Why not?”

I shrugged, looking out the window. “I just thought with Pop gone she wouldn’t be up for it.”

“I can almost hear my mother and your aunt talking her into it,” he said with a laugh. He pursed his lips and waved his hands dramatically as he mimicked his mother’s voice, “
You can just relax and we’ll take care of everything, Jane
.”

I laughed. A lot. “I can totally hear the whole conversation.”

“I just hope there are plenty of leftovers. Missing Thanksgiving dinner bites.”

“Well, if you get that condo, we could always make our own turkey dinner,” I said, offhand.

Ethan’s eyes lit up and he nodded. “You’d cook me a turkey dinner?”

I shoved his shoulder lightly. “I said
we’d
make a turkey dinner.”

Ethan’s mouth stretched in a wide grin. “I like the sound of that.”

I smirked. “What are you, some kind of caveman?”

“What? No girls have ever cooked for me.” He sighed, watching me for a minute. “Well, besides my mom.”

“You’d really like that, wouldn’t you?” I said, chuckling.

He closed his eyes and sighed dramatically. “You and me alone with a turkey dinner? Hell yeah, I’d really like that.”

“You really are a caveman,” I said shaking my head. “I may have to rethink this.”

He opened one eye and peered at me. “Oh, no you don’t.”

I laughed in earnest. “Okay, okay. You can have your turkey. As long as we can have meat stuffing.”

He crinkled his nose. “But, my mom always makes bread stuffing.”

I shrugged, playing along. “Take it or leave it.”

He exhaled slowly. “Oh, fine. Meat stuffing.”

I grinned. “Good, that’s settled then.”

Ethan took my hand, looking at me through his lashes. “You drive a hard bargain, you know.”

I wiggled my brows. “It’ll be worth it.”

Liam came back about forty minutes later, followed by our decoys. As soon as they walked through the door, their glamours dropped, revealing two Danaan I’d never met.

Liam cleared his throat, raising his hand at the Danaan man first. “This is Padraigh and Máiréad, they lived in Aoife’s home for many years.”

I smiled and stood. “Thank you both.”

They nodded, faces impassive. Liam asked them to tell us what had happened since we’d left Stoneville in early November.

With solemn voices, they told us everything we’d missed, down to the last detail. Thanksgiving dinner would be in two hours, much to Ethan’s delight.

Liam excused himself as he escorted the pair down to the portal in his basement.

“They were sort of… creepy,” Ethan whispered, eyes wide.

I let out a dry laugh. “Just a little. I hope they were a little more animated while they were pretending to be us.”

“Yeah, I can just see how my mother would react if I walked around acting like that guy. She’d make me have my head examined.”

The cellar door opened and closed and Liam came in, smiling at us.

I tilted my head to the side. “What?”

He shook his head. “Nothing, nothing. I’m just keen to end the geis.”

“I’m sure you are,” I said. “How long does it seem like to you?”

“Since the last time I was with your mother, you mean? Well, apart from the time in Tír na n’Óg,” he said.

I nodded.

He scrunched up his face. “About a year and a half, more or less,” he said.

I shook my head. “It’s hard to wrap my head around that.”

“It felt like I was in Tír na n’Óg for about five years before I met your mother. It’s still hard for
me
to wrap my head around it. The world was… very different. Imagine how much of a shock it was to see the world powered with electricity. And now,” he said, holding up his cell phone to demonstrate his point. “This just boggles the mind.”

“It’s going to be hard for you at first,” I said, thinking. “You won’t be able to spend any time together alone, I don’t think.”

Liam shook his head. “None of that matters. I’m just so glad she’ll be okay, it’ll have to be enough.”

I smiled. “Speaking of boggling the mind. My family isn’t going to know what to do when my mother starts talking and acting like herself. The doctors...I just can’t even imagine what they’ll come up with for an explanation.”

“It’ll certainly be entertaining, if nothing else,” he said, a smile tugging at his lips.

“I wonder if she’ll be able to finish school. Maybe she could start performing again,” I said offhand.

“She could do anything,” Liam said, eyes downcast. “I’ll give her everything I can.”

I didn’t like the sadness in his expression, so I changed the subject. “Can you glamour us, so we’re wearing the same clothes as the decoys?”

He looked up at me and blinked. “Oh, yes. Of course.” He looked at my clothes and although I still felt like I was wearing yoga pants and a hoodie, my outfit changed into a denim skirt and button up top.

Ethan looked down as his clothes changed and shook his head. “That is so weird.”

I looked at Liam, thinking of a question. “Do you think it will happen instantly? With my mom?”

“That she’ll come back to her old self?” he asked. “I don’t know, honestly.”

“I’m assuming she’s feeling better now, no more coughing,” I said, standing. Enough time had passed that we could go next door. “Maybe Ethan and I can take her for a walk after dinner and we could meet up.”

Liam nodded, his smile slipping back into place. “I’ll wait for your call.”

Ethan and I walked in the house and were assaulted by the delicious smells of turkey dinner. I could hardly contain my excitement. It would really happen. My mother might be able to talk to us in just a few short hours.

I couldn’t remember so many people all being in the house at once. Ethan’s family and my whole family, plus some of the employees from the hardware store, were all scattered throughout the first floor.

Alarm crept into my heart. My mother didn’t do well with crowds. As we walked into the living room, I scanned the faces for her. She wasn’t on the couch or the chair. She wasn’t in the kitchen with all the women and my Uncle David, who was a notoriously awesome cook.

“We’re back, Gram,” I said. “Have you seen Mom?”

She looked up from where she sat peeling potatoes at the kitchen table. “Oh, yes. I just took her upstairs for a rest.”

I nodded and told Ethan I’d right back before going straight for the stairs. She was in her room, standing in front of the window overlooking the woods between our house and Liam’s.

“Hey, Mom,” I said.

She turned and looked at me. Her face was vacant, as usual. But when I smiled at her, I would have sworn her eyes brightened.

I closed the door behind me and walked slowly over to the window. “Liam’s back, did you see him?” I asked.

She looked back out the window without responding.

I tentatively touched her shoulder, not wanting to startle her. “The geis is broken, Mom. You’re going to get better, now.”

She continued staring at the trees, her face not changing. I watched her, wondering if she really could understand me.

I swallowed, a tangle of emotions welling up in my chest. I was happy, of course. Excited. But there was a niggling fear on the edge of my mind. What if she never got better, it said. With the time coming so soon, I felt a little panic clawing through me.

“I’m so happy, but I’m scared too. I know that’s probably crazy, but I just don’t know what to expect.”

Conversations with her were always like this, but what about tomorrow and the next day? I would be able to tell her everything. Would she like talking with me? Would she be happy I was dating her best friend’s son?

I’d always assumed she would. In Tír na n’Óg she’d said she was proud of me, and I clung to that memory with both hands.

There was a light knock on her bedroom door and Gram stuck her head in. “How are my girls?”

I smiled. “We’re good, I was just making sure Mom was all set.”

She walked over and wrapped her hands around mine. “You’re missing him, aren’t you?” she said.

Tears prickled behind my eyes at the mention of Pop. I nodded. “Do you think Mom misses him, too?”

“I think so, in her way. It’s hard to imagine what goes on in that head of hers,” she said with a smile just tinged with sadness. “I’m awfully glad to have her, though. She keeps me sane, if that makes sense.”

Hope surged through me. Even though she would never have Pop back, how amazing would it be for Gram to have her daughter back?