Highlander's Beloved 02 - A Highlander's Passion (10 page)

How could she not give it a second thought, or a third or fourth? What was Effie talking about? The specter, perhaps? What else could it be? “What did ye learn from all the phone calls ye made?”

“Oh, I called Poland and Finland last night. Today I called Canada, a couple sisters in the States, Jamaica, and had Hamish drive me over to see your aunt. I learned a lot from my Wiccan sisters, and I’ll share it all with you.” She rang the little bell on the table. “Once we’ve had our dessert and go upstairs to the privacy of my quarters.”

Having decided to delay their Wiccan discussion until they were alone upstairs, where they wouldna be interrupted or overheard, Kenzie changed the topic of conversation to Colleen. While they ate their dessert, she told Effie about Bryce’s hiding his shirt and his daughter’s discovering it
and
a few other things.

Effie’s hands covered her mouth for a minute. “She found a girlie magazine? Oh, how wild!” Giggles burst forth. “I’m going shopping with the brothers’ mother tomorrow. I can’t wait to hear Fiona’s version of her granddaughter finding that porno magazine under Ronan’s bed and then putting it on his plate at the dinner table.” Effie dissolved into another fit of laughter as she stood from the table. Fiona dearly loves her three sons, but like all grandmas, she has a special place in her heart for Colleen.

“My, that child is a caution. I hope Paisley’s baby has as much spirit as little Colleen. I know she and Creighton are hoping for a boy, but I’m partial to little girls.” Effie’s palm flew to her mouth and she blinked away tears. “Listen to how thoughtless I am, talking about Paisley’s pregnancy with such joy. I must be hurting your feelings.” She paused at the bottom of the stairway and pressed a cool hand to Kenzie’s cheek. “I’m sorry if I have.”

“Nay, ye arna. Bryce is helping me heal from my loss. In fact, learning Paisley was expecting a bairn just about broke me heart, but tonight—” Those two little rosebuds came to mind, and her soul smiled in healing. Added to their therapeutic effect was the replaying of Bryce’s words of comfort at the loch. She wrapped her arm around Effie’s narrow waist and together they climbed the wide, curved steps. “Ye were right the other night: There was another bairn. It was Bryce’s, and I didna find out about it until a week after he’d ended things between us.”

Effie’s steps faltered. “Oh Sparrow, my little sister, what did you do?”

“I was in shock. Me pride kept me from going to him. A couple weeks later, Duncan came home from the service, full of himself and pretending to be interested in me. I told him I was already pregnant, thinking that would chase him off. He claimed it made no difference, but
ʼ
twas a lie.” They’d reached the top of the steps, and she paused, wondering where Effie wanted to hold her Wiccan session tonight.

“Let’s talk in my quarters. Then if I get too tired, you can help me into the bed. I don’t want to miss a word of your story. Make yourself comfy on the sofa while I go to the bedroom and slip into my pajamas.” She shook a finger at Kenzie. “Then I want to hear every word.”

An hour later, Effie was still face-planted in tissues, a pile of dampened ones lying on the sofa next to her. “Ohhhh, two white roses,” she wailed. “Just the sheer beauty of it.” Her sobbing began anew as she shook her head. “Little Blaine and McKenna.” Her shoulders trembled again, a sure sign she was nearing her fourth episode of blubbering. She reached for another hankie, only to find the box empty. “Sparrow, be…be a doll and get me a new box of tissues in the little closet in the bathroom.”

Kenzie had no idea a woman could cry so hard over someone else’s misery. She hurried to the closet and snatched a box of Kleenex. She brought it to Effie, ripped open the top, and replaced the empty box with this new one. “Here ye are.”

Effie pulled a couple tissues from the container and dabbed at her eyes. “I don’t know how Fiona raised her sons, but she certainly taught them well. Creighton is so adoring of Paisley.” She waved crumpled hankies through the air in an arc. “And all I have to do is mention I’d like something and he moves heaven and earth to see I have it.” She snorted. “Even if it’s blue morning glory wallpaper in the breakfast room or that pink butterfly paper I wanted in the foyer and hallway. Looks to me as if your Bryce is the same way.”

“I’m afraid to call him ‘me Bryce’ yet. I’m afraid to trust him.”

“I’d say that’s only natural.” Effie pursed her lips. “Unless we look at the whole picture. Why don’t you call down to Mary Kate and ask her to make us a pot of hot chocolate and fix a plate of her cookies before she goes home for the night. Then we’ll talk about this whole picture business before beginning our lessons. Because, little sister, that man adores you.”

Kenzie laughed. “I’m on to ye. Ye just want to find out if we had sex or not.”

“One look at your aura and the glow on your face and I already know the answer to that.” Effie winked. “Now call Mary Kate. I have a craving for chocolate.”

A few minutes later, perched on the sofa in her pajamas, Effie sipped from her cup and licked her upper lip. “Did you ever taste anything this good? In America, we make hot chocolate from a mix. Here, you Scots use the real thing.” She rolled her eyes and moaned. “It’s almost as good as an orgasm.”

Kenzie nearly choked on her drink. “Nay, Effie, nothing compares to an orgasm, if the man knows what he’s doing.”
Och, listen to me. Less than a week with the old woman and I’m as bawdy-soundin’ as she.

A smile played at the corners of Effie’s lips. “I just knew he rang your bell this afternoon.” She shuffled across the room, brought over an empty wastepaper can, and filled it with her pile of tissues. “Lord, I haven’t cried like that since my best friend died. Susan was the dearest person and, boy, could we get into trouble together.” She stopped for a minute and stared off. “Sometimes women are soul mates too. Not sexual soul mates, although that happens, but friendship soul mates. Susan was mine. God, I miss her, and damn that drunk driver who took her from this earth. Susan was the type of person who made it a better place.”

Effie set the wastepaper can back beside the desk where she’d gotten it and returned to her spot on the sofa. “I told you I contacted many of my Wiccan sisters regarding the ominous smoky vapor with tentacles that you’ve seen. I must say it’s not often all are in agreement on something, but they are in regards to what you’ve seen. It’s meant to scare you off. To keep you away from me.”

“Why?”
Obviously they don’t ken what I’ve already been through in me lifetime. I dinna scare so easily.

“Well, first off, Morpheus is royally pissed about my moving here to the Highlands. I’m telling you, the sorcerer is a control freak. He places us here and there,” she said, positioning her fingers as if holding chess pieces, dabbing in the air. “The chauvinistic warlock treats us as if we’re pawns in his chess game of witchcraft.” She swayed her shoulders in a display of her obstinate attitude, a smirk brightening her face. “Obviously, I get in trouble from time to time. His overbearing nature and my free spirit tend to knock horns.”

She leaned forward and placed her wrinkled hand on Kenzie’s knee for an instant. “He’s afraid my attitude will rub off. He had another high priestess in mind to train you, but then I moved here and kind of horned in on his plans. He wants to separate me from you. Did I mention he’s a control freak?”

Kenzie glanced around the room, taking in all Effie had said. “So, Morpheus will eventually exert control over me too?”
Great: Another bossy man trying to rule me life. No, worse than a man—a sorcerer!

Effie waved away the topic of their conversation with an open palm. “Enough of him. I’ll get to saying too much and only get my skinny ass in trouble.” She shifted a pillow behind her back. “Let’s start our class, shall we? Tonight, why don’t we begin with the basics of your young life. Tell me what you know about your parents and what growing up was like for you with them before moving in with Una. Then I’ll tell you what I know about you and your family.”

About me? What could she ken about me or me family, being from America like she is?

Kenzie shifted on the sofa, tucking her feet under her, trying to decide if she really wanted to go through with this Wiccan training. Wasna living life, everyday life, difficult enough? She inhaled a deep breath and made her decision.

“I dinna remember me da, except for faint things, like his aroma.” She closed her eyes and inhaled as if he were in the room. “He smelled of sulfur, which is an odd thing fer a child to recall, isna it? And he had the palest gray eyes that turned silvery white when he became angry, which always scared me.”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

Kenzie reached fer a biscuit. “He was killed in a work-related accident a month before me fifth birthday. Afterwards, me mum and I traveled to her aunt Una’s house. We stayed with her until Mum died of cancer about the time I turned thirteen. Aunt Una opened her home to us, and we never wanted for anything.”

She bit into her biscuit and chewed. “After Mum died, Una encouraged me to stay on with her. At times, she would do the most surprising things, like take me on little trips or send me to weekend art classes. She showed her love, but not in huggy ways. She wasna what the English call a ‘soppy sod.’ ”

“And you don’t recall any whisperings about your father that stopped whenever you entered a room?”

The prompting tone of Effie’s voice indicated she shoulda. “What
ʼ
tis it ye want to tell me?” A buzzing began in Kenzie’s ears and her heart pounded as if she’d been running. Deep within, she kent that what she was about to hear would alter her life forever.

Effie drained her cup, and it clattered against the china saucer when she set it down. “I hate to tell you, for it will hurt you terribly. But I must, my Sparrow. Your father didn’t die. He is alive.”

The buzzing in her head grew louder. Her breathing came in pained gulps. “Alive? Nay! Ye lie! I was always told he was killed on his job.” If what Effie said was true, that would mean both her mother and aunt had lied to her. Why? Why would they do that? They would never be so cruel. She shook her head. “Nay, ye are mistaken.
ʼ
Tis not true.”

Effie laid her cool hand on Kenzie’s arm. “You were lied to for a good reason—to protect you. Una and I talked about it some more this afternoon, although I already knew the major points.”

“Protect me how? From whom? From what? Ye make no sense.” How could this American ken anything about her Scottish family? What gibberish was she talking? Besides, Aunt Una was always quiet about family matters. Why would she tell such things to Effie?

“I know of your father, but what I know will hurt you. It will make you question everything you’ve ever been told.” She wrung her gnarled fingers. “My dear, how I wish I didn’t have to tell you this. In such a short time, you’ve become so precious to me.”

Thunder and lightning warred as if in an ancient battle for a few seconds. The windows rattled. Lights flickered as another sonic boom hit the house.

“Didna the weatherman call for a clear night?” Kenzie’s stomach did a slow roll, then knotted. If she didna know better, she’d fear the elements were revolting against what she was about to hear. She stood, walked to one of the double windows, and pulled back the curtain to peer at the dark sky. Lightning jaggers torpedoed across the blanket of night, shredding it into black swaths. Thunder detonated as if bombs were bursting overhead. What had caused the sudden explosions? Were they a result of this conversation or was she simply being paranoid? Did she want to ken the truth of her father? Could she handle what Effie was about to reveal?

A security light attached to the side of the stone mansion caught the reflection of two pairs of eyes staring at her. One pair glowed golden, the way a shifter’s did in human form, when he or she became angry, or after they’d shifted to bear form. Slowly the creatures came into focus. Her lynx and a bear—Bryce’s bear, wearing a burgundy ball cap with “DAD” across the front—waited beside each other. It was as if they were standing sentinel in case she needed them. How could they even ken she might? What in heaven’s name was going on?

“Whatever
ʼ
tis ye have to tell me must be bad—both the lynx and Bryce’s bear are standing watch below your windows.” But their presence fortified her somehow. “How could they ken? The lynx, being our token, I can kind of understand—but Bryce’s bear? How would he recognize tonight would be the night I’d learn of me past, or that I even
had
a past? I’m thinking ‘surreal’ is the word of the night.” Chills prickled across her skin as if she’d fallen into a patch of thorns.

“Is the bear’s owl out there? Perhaps Paws told the owl to pass the message on to the bear.”

“So we have a cat who would tell a secret to a bird, instead of killing him. And a bird who would relay it to a predator without fear of being eaten by that predator?” Kenzie rubbed her fingers over her forehead. “All so those two could stand guard while ye tell me tales that couldna be true. None of this makes a whit of sense.”

“In our world, sometimes we have to think sideways. Protectors of one species—in our case, the lynx—would subdue their natural tendencies to prey on an owl to instead seek the owl’s help to protect us through predators, or the bear.” Effie smiled. “Especially when the lynx has seen the bear’s human look at you with longing and devotion in his eyes. The lynx might not understand the emotion of love, but he gets sexual longing and devotion. He’d do what he can to help you and Bryce come together. You’ll find him both protective and helpful with life’s situations.”

Kenzie placed her open palm against the glass as if reaching for Bryce’s bear. In response, he went from a four-legged stance to a two.

“
ʼ
Tis as if the whole world has gone mad.” She took a deep breath and pivoted toward Effie. “I’ll hear all of it, no matter how much it pains me. I canna promise ye I’ll believe a word of what ye say, but let’s get it over and done with.” Once again she sat on the sofa, her gaze on her employer and teacher while her heart pounded double time in her chest.

“You are brave as well as protective.” The old woman stood, and with a snap of her fingers, from the ceiling floated downward a white, embroidered robe of silk and satin that hadna been there a second before. Effie extended her arms and the garment dropped over her, its hood covering her pink curls and part of her face.

Kenzie didna ken whether to shriek or laugh. She cast an eye on her empty cup. What had Mary Kate put into their hot chocolate? Whisky, brandy, or some fukin’ strong drugs?