Highland Pull (Highland Destiny 2) (25 page)

Lissa
reached out with her senses, testing her surroundings, afraid to open her eyes, afraid of what she wouldn’t see. Slowly, she opened them, and discovered a room she’d never seen before. It was a bedroom designed for a happy person, all shades of yellow highlighted with pale green and tangerine. The furniture was not the same type she’d seen in the fourteenth century, but it didn’t resemble the furniture she’d seen at the hospital in New Orleans either.

Sun was streaming through the bedroom windows, settling in pools around the room. The light breeze kept the pale yellow curtains fluttering gently, and prevented the room from getting too hot. The last thing she remembered, she had been sitting in a chair next to
Gav’s bed in Scotland, he’d been shot by a crossbow, his wife, Miranda, was sleeping in the other room. Lissa had wiped Gabhran’s face with a cool cloth, she remembered that much.
So why am I in this bed?

There was nothing familiar about the bright cheery colors, the canopied bed,
the cozy little reading corner, the white marble fireplace. The dressers, tables, nightstand, and headboard were made of white oak, as was the rocking chair in the corner. All in all, a happy room, one that made her want to cry.
Oh no, not again!
 

Before the panic could set in,
Lissa realized something was different. She had some of her memories! She remembered living in Scotland. She remembered her conversations with Miranda, conversations about living in different times, about a place named New Orleans. She remembered New Orleans itself! Of course, she remembered Gav and what she was doing right before she woke up here a few minutes ago. 

She remembered Alexander and their baby! She cradled her swollen stomach, feeling his love in the baby they created.
Oh Alexander! Where are you? I need you? I need you to know about our baby.

Tears welled in her eyes, and one escaped, trickling down her cheek and into her hair. She sighed. It was time to face whatever new reality in which she found herself. She explored the contents of the room, expecting to see her belongings as she had in Scotland, as she had in Louisiana.

Nothing. Empty drawers, empty closest. She was wearing a chemise, her gown was at the foot of her bed with her slippers, and not another stitch of clothes, no other shoes, no bags.
Am I in just in another room at the castle? No, that can’t be, I can hear cars. Where am I?

Pulling the curtain aside,
Lissa gazed out on an unfamiliar street.
Well, I’m not in New Orleans, that’s for sure. Cars are on the wrong side of the street for that, but they are all modern, so I’m not in the past, either.

Alysone slipped on her gown and slippers, and wondered just how she was going to explain a fourteenth century gown to the people in her new reality. Would they even know who she was, or was this going to turn into another fiasco and land her in the mental ward as a
bampot? With a huge sigh, she opened the door on her next reality.

****

I couldna have killed that woman. Never, not in a million years. So what happened, who is setting me up?
He thought back over the previous night with Brianna and felt like there was something more, something he was missing, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

It took every ounce of strength to pull himself from his bed. He held onto the wall all the way down the stairs, weak beyond belief.
This isn’t a hangover. What is wrong with me? It hurt to breath, to walk, to move at all. I am a doctor, what the fuck is going on here? Was it possible that both of them had been attacked, and only Brianna had been killed? Was it possible he didna remember that either?

Struggling all the way into the kitchen he collapsed against the counter, praying for strength to make some coffee, hoping it would clear his head. His legs were shaking from the effort of getting down the stairs, but he wasn‘t sure he had the strength to get to the kitchen table and sit. His forced his legs to hold him, to move, to get him to a chair. He sank heavily onto the seat, and held on to the table for support.

The blood was rushing in his ears, tunnel vision was narrowing his focus to a small spot in front of his eyes. Then that small spot was filled with a vision so impossible, he knew he had drifted into hallucination. A beautiful woman in a period costume walked into his kitchen and brushed his hair gently with her hand. He squeezed his eyes shut then opened them again, blinking rapidly.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! He tried to focus, to push back the hallucination. Must stay conscious, get help.

Her gaze locked with his, and he hesitated for a moment before speaking. There was something familiar about her. Had he been pulled to a new time again? Nay, this was his house in Edinburgh; it was just as it had been yesterday.

“Gabhran, thank God you’re here! But I doona think you should be out of bed yet, you are still recovering. You are very weak. Come let me help you, we can talk later.” She rushed in and was reaching for him, when he tried to jump from his seat. He didn’t make it.

“Lass, ‘tis sorry I am, but I doona recognize you.” He
frowned, his brogue seemed to have thickened overnight. He cleared his throat and tried again, “Forgive me, lass. Do I know you?” Then he slid from the chair, no longer able to hold himself upright. “Just who the bloody hell are you, and what have you done to me?” he whispered, just before he toppled over, unconscious.

****

Lissa snorted, what was it with these MacLachlan men? Argue and fight first, before they could have a decent conversation and find out the truth of a matter. Lissa put a cool cloth to his forehead and waited for him to open his eyes. If he stayed unconscious, he would have to stay where he was, there was nothing she could do about getting the big lump off the floor.

As he came around,
Lissa realized from what he had said that he must only have memories of this time and place. Patting him on the shoulder in a comforting manor, she did her best to explain, without explaining anything at all. She needed time to figure out her own story. “You have been badly injured, ‘tis not surprising there are things you doona remember. Let’s get you off this hard floor and I will explain it all later, after you have rested.”

She did her best to help him to his feet, but he had to do most of the work, then together they walked to a room that looked like a study, and she settled him on the couch. By the time he was seated, he slumped back over to the side, face gray with pain and effort.

“Bag,” he croaked out. “Get my black bag.”

Lissa
understood at once, he was a doctor in this time, he would have medication. She found his bag under the desk and removed several vials of tablets. Tell me which ones, Gav. What will ease your pain? Plus, I think you should take an antibiotic so your wounds don’t get infected.”

He directed her to the appropriate medications; she got him some water, and sat with him until he was deeply asleep. Then she got busy.

Three hours later, she was dressed in jeans and a sweater, wearing some comfortable hiking boots, having used Gav’s credit cards to do a little shopping while he was asleep. She silently thanked whichever gods were responsible for her memories remaining more intact than either of her previous incarnations. She now had enough clothes and toiletries to live comfortably in his house for as long as it took to sort this mess out. She’d been delighted to discover she no longer fit in her previous sizes and bought most of her clothes from a little boutique called Wee Bairn and Mum.

Gabhran was still asleep, so
Lissa fixed a meal while she thought about the best way to help him understand the position they were both in. Eventually, he needed to understand that the time between yesterday and today was closer to seven hundred years, not seven hours of sleep. Meanwhile, she’d seen no sign of other inhabitants in the house, so she decided to tell him she was a border, who took care of the house in exchange for rent. If he decided to kick her out, she would be in big trouble.

When he woke next,
Lissa checked the wounds on his back and assured him they looked to be healing, but encouraged him to keep taking the antibiotics and pain killers for now. When he’d asked again who she was, she’d had her story ready. He’d nodded as though it made sense before drifting back into the healing sleep he so desperately needed.

Lissa
sat in the big overstuffed chair near the couch and read until she fell asleep. When she woke, Gav was staring at her, wide awake, eyes finally clear.

“Let’s have it, lass. I have been watching you sleep for an hour now. I know that I recognize you, but I canna put it into context. Why are you so familiar to me? Tell me, lass, is that my child you’re pregnant with, and are you the one who shot me?”

****

Randi wiped at her tears furiously, not wanting to appear weak before this man. With a shuddering breath she asked, “Please talk to me, Alexander, what do you know? Can you tell me Gabhran is all right?”

“Aye, I know some of time travel, ‘tis known among a few Druids, not many. We have much to talk about, and I will answer your questions. Be warned, there are some things I canna tell you and some I willna tell you. 

Then seemingly unable to help himself, he said, “What do you know of Alysone?”

“As I told you, I met Gabhran in a place called New Orleans where he’d travelled to meet a woman without a memory, a woman named Alysone. Her story was unusual. She said she woke one day and found herself in a new reality, that she didn’t know anyone around her, and she felt as though she’d just been dropped into a new life. She was in a hospital, because the doctors thought she was insane, and since he was a doctor, he took a job there so they would let him examine her. He wanted to hear her story because it was similar to his. This is really complicated.” Randi sighed.

“Aye, ‘tis all very complicated, lass. We can go back and ask questions later. I suspect you will have a few questions for me, as well.” He smiled his first genuine smile at her.

Randi sucked in her breath at that smile. It was dazzling. Next to Gabhran, he was the most devastatingly handsome man she had ever seen! She smiled tentatively back at him and continued with her convoluted explanation.

“Gabhran told me later that he’d always felt that he’d been moved into new lives, new places, new times. He felt close to being pulled out of time again, and dropped into another reality. It was why he’d tracked Alysone down when he’d heard of her story. Gav and I were…attracted to each other, and spent some time together. Meanwhile, Alysone disappeared, and it was my job to find her.”

Alexander stood and stared out the window while she continued her story. Randi knew it sounded crazy and it made it easier to tell when he wasn’t looking at her with those intense black eyes.

“This next part is a little strange. Okay, the whole thing is a little strange, but as a Druid, you should understand. Some of the women in my family have magick called voodoo, but I never showed any talent for magick, other than being able to read people. My cousin Marie though, is a little like a witch, and she knew Gabhran, um, travelled? She told me he was going to be pulled to a new time soon, and if I kept him close, it might keep him in the current time a little longer.”

Blushing furiously, Randi forged ahead. “It didn’t quite work that way. We were uhm, very close, and when we woke the next morning, we were in fourteenth century Scotland. Gabhran didn’t remember me from the future at all. He had a whole new story he believed, that we’d been married and now I belonged to him.” She smiled at the memory of barbaric Gabhran.

Alexander leaned on the table in front of the
window, his hands gripped the edge of the wood so hard his knuckles were white. In a tight voice, he asked, “Tell me about Alysone?” His voice low and guttural, exposing much of the emotion Randi knew he tried to hide from her.

Randi smiled. “It took me a long time to figure that out.
Lissa had been helping me ever since I got to this time. We grew very close, especially once Gabhran had gone off to fight for the Worthingtons. I had a dream or vision the night he was injured and ran to Lissa to tell her I could no longer sense him. I thought he was dead.

“I don’t know why everything started to click into place, but I realized
Lissa matched the description of the woman named Alysone in the future, and after a few questions I was sure of it.” Miranda smiled at Alexander’s back. “She told me you were the only one that still called her Alysone. She also told me how much she loved you.”

He stiffened and turned to face Miranda, his face a tight mask. “Is there something about her I don’t know? Is she well?”

“Relax, Alexander, she has good news for you. I wish I could wait for her to tell you, but it’s probably important to what’s happening now.” Miranda paused just for a moment, pondering the best way to break the news, wishing she didn’t have to. “She’s pregnant with your baby, Alexander, and she loves you very much.”

“No! It
wasna supposed to happen this way, she should not have been there,” Alex muttered, his voice full of pain.

“What do you mean? What wasn’t supposed to be this way? The time travel?”

“Oh Christ—Alysone. She was only supposed to be in a new location in this same time, she’s not supposed to change time. How can this be?”