Just Wait For Me (Highland Gardens Book 3) (16 page)

Steam and the pulse of the spray against her bare skin
allowed Jillian to relax. But then her mind did a wandering walk into territory
she’d rather avoid. Time travel. Had she really traveled to the past? Stephen.
Had she truly fallen in love with a most inappropriate man? Again?

The image stuck to her retinas of the pregnant woman at the
faerie hill in the past made Jillian curl into herself both physically and
mentally. No! She shut off the flow of water.

She wouldn’t dwell on Stephen’s betrayal.

Jillian stepped out of the glass and tile shower enclosure
and huddled within a plush bath sheet. Ah. Twenty-first century luxury. While
time trotting, she’d missed all the comforts taken for granted much of her
life. What a fool she’d been thinking she could stay in the past with Stephen.

Stop it! Stop it right now! No more thinking about him and
the plans she’d made in her head.

“Dammit to hell!” What about poor Keita and Duff? She’d
promised to take care of them.

“Are you alright in there?” Laurie called from the bedroom.

“Yes. I’ll be out in a minute.”

Jillian inhaled a deep breath, returned the towel to the
rack, and stepped into silky black jammy pants then pulled on a lavender cami.
Topping the sleepwear with a gray fleece robe, she braced to face her friend
and business partner before walking through the doorway into the bedroom.

Laurie sat on Jillian’s bed, leaning against the cushioned
headboard, with a remote in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. “What
do you want to watch?”

“Something mindless.” It didn’t matter what they watched.
This was going to be the first of many long nights. She’d been through this
before when she’d obsessed over wanting a relationship with Finn that never
materialized. Jillian sighed and eyed the three additional bottles of wheat
beer chilling in an ice bucket and the bag of double-stuffed chocolate cookies on
the bedside table next to Laurie.

“They’re your favorite. Right?” Laurie was trying hard to
make her feel better. She truly was a good friend.

“Absolutely.” Jillian smiled despite inner turmoil.

She grabbed a beer from the bucket, twisted off the cap, and
dropped it into the waste basket. Then she climbed onto the bed and collapsed
against the headboard, next to her best friend in the whole world.

“Oh, look. This retro station is playing
I Love Lucy
reruns without commercials. I love the one where Lucy is working in a candy
factory.” Laurie dropped the remote between them, scooted around, and raised
her bottle in toast. “Friendship.”

They tapped bottles, drank, and turned attention to the
large TV screen on the wall across the room. Well, at least Laurie did.
Jillian’s mind stayed stuck in the past with Stephen and the children she’d
left behind. When the first episode ended, she picked up the remote and muted
the sound, needing to talk.

“I met Isobell and Archibald,” she blurted.

“How are they?”

“Good. They’re fine. However, I didn’t have a chance to meet
their newborn son before the sheriff came to arrest me for witchcraft and we
had to run. We escaped through the hidden passageway to the beach and…” Jillian
swallowed uneasily with the memory. “Anyhow, I understand the child is healthy
and quite doted upon.”

“Running from the sheriff must have been harrowing.”

“And some.” A new serge of anxiety threatened to surface.
Jillian forced it down and waved a hand in dismissal.

“I’m glad to hear Isobell and Archie are doing well.” Laurie
smiled then grew serious. “With the rules about the time gate, we can’t go back
to see them and meet our new nephew.”

“Why not? What rules?”

“Iain believes—” The cell phone buzzed on the nightstand and
Laurie answered. “Hey, sweetie. He is? Okay. Yeah. I’ll stay at the inn for the
night. See you in the morning. Love you. Bye.”

“What? What is it?” Jillian asked.

“It’s nothing.” Laurie’s gaze shifted around the room
settling on the duvet beneath them. She twisted the blue fabric between two
fingers.”

“Don’t pretend nothing is wrong. What is going on?”

“Stephen is here. Or I should say, he is at my house.”

“He made it through the time gate?”

“Seems so.”

Jillian tensed, heat flashing her chest and face, emotions
tripping through all the stages from happy excitement to anger. “I don’t want
to see him. Ever.”

“Iain has called a clan meeting for tomorrow morning after
breakfast to discuss what happened to you and what occurred while you were in
the past.”

“I can’t. I can’t face
your
family.”
I can’t face
Stephen
.

“You know you are a member of this family—”

“If I were, you would have shared the facts about…”
Jillian’s voice faded to nothing. She couldn’t deal with airing her dirty
laundry in front of everyone. Iain and Mairi. Finn and Elspeth would probably
be there. Caitrina. She glared at Laurie. “Why did you never see fit to tell me
about the time travel? About Caitrina? I feel so betrayed. By everyone.”

“Oh, hon.” Laurie squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry. I never
meant to hurt you. It just didn’t seem right to burden you with all the…magic.
Sometimes it is best not to know what lurks in the dark. Or what skulks in the
daylight.”

“Perhaps you’re right. I would have freaked. Still…I can’t
face Stephen.”

* * *

Stephen sat in a very comfortable chair—upholstered someone
claimed—in Iain’s study at the
Whispering Pines Bed and Breakfast
,
waiting for the chief to arrive. To think the once mighty chief of Clan
MacLachlan had become an innkeeper and was happy about his circumstance.
Stephen shook his head. Things were much different in this future place. While
all sorts of such perplexing thoughts filtered through his mind, he kept a
steady gaze on Jillian who perched on a similar chair across the small chamber,
refusing to offer even a mere glance his way.

After what seemed like the longest time, Iain arrived
dressed in the blue
trews
Patrick called jeans and a strange
leine
with buttons down the front. He crossed the chamber, stopping in front of
Jillian. A gentle touch to her cheek brought a tentative smile to her face.
Stephen felt that touch at his fingertips and his stomach clenched. He wanted
to be the one offering comfort.

Iain took his place behind the heavy wood desk. His wife,
Mairi, sat to his left with Patrick to his right. Laurie sat with Jillian,
their hands clasped. Also in attendance were Iain’s daughter Elspeth and her
husband Finn MacIntyre, the fae Caitrina, and Douglas MacKinnon, the man who
found Stephen in the wood.

“I’m sure everyone is aware why we gather this morning.
Before we get into the whos and whys, I wish to provide a warning to Jillian.
As I cautioned Stephen last night, before either of you make rash decisions be
aware the faerie knoll is unpredictable just like the fae, and ’tis my
understanding a soul may travel through the portal only once in each direction.
If an additional attempt is made, no one kens where a body will travel.” After
a nod to Jillian and Stephen, Iain turned an intense gaze on Caitrina. “Now,
lass. Tell me true. Is the Queen of the Fae responsible for Jillian’s fall into
that well of time on the bike trail in West Virginia?”

Douglas MacKinnon flinched, but remained silent.

Caitrina pursed thinned lips. “Nae.”

“Then who?” Iain asked.

“’Twas me,” Caitrina said without remorse.

“But why?” Stephen and Jillian asked at the same time.

Jillian’s sad gaze fell on Stephen for a moment before she
ripped it away.

“Go ahead. Tell them, Caitrina,” Douglas said.

“Their mating is the last of three matches I’m required to
orchestrate as required by the Fae Queen in order to win my freedom.”

Jillian glanced at the unsurprised faces in the chamber then
jumped from her chair and stood before the faerie. “What are you talking
about?”

Stephen rose, stood behind Jillian, and placed a hand on her
shoulder in an offer of support. When she didn’t flinch or pull away, he
breathed more easily.

“You and Stephen must mate in order for a curse placed on me
by the Queen of the Fae to be lifted.”

“I don’t understand.” Jillian’s voice trembled.

“It’s simple,” Finn said. “Laurie and Patrick were the
first. Me and Elspeth the second. We’ve wondered for quite a while who would be
the third couple.”

“We thought it might be you, Jillian, when you disappeared,”
Laurie said. “We weren’t sure, though, because Finn and I traveled back in time
through the garden gate and you went missing in West Virginia.”

“You used us as some sort of pawns in a game, Caitrina?” The
faerie shrugged and Jillian stiffened. “I thought you were my friend. How dare
you meddle in my life.”

“You will be glad of my interference when the game is
ended.”

Jillian spun around. “Did you know about this, Stephen?”

He held both of her shoulders and looked into her innocent
brown eyes. Everyone else in the chamber faded away. ’Twas only he and the
woman he loved. The woman from which he needed to beg forgiveness.

“Nae,” Stephen swore. “I only kenned you were a comely lass
in need of aid. I meant to only help you find your way home, but in the doing I
fell in love with you.”

Jillian closed her eyes then opened them. “Who was the woman
at the faerie hill?”

“My handfasted wife.”

“Don’t touch me.” Jillian pulled away. “Please, don’t touch
me.”

Stephen glanced around the chamber. The others had left them
alone. Gave him the privacy to try to make things right with Jillian.

“Believe me.” He reached out a hand then dropped it to his
side when she shook her head. “I never meant to dishonor you.”

“Me. More the fool for not asking if you were married.”

“None of this is your fault.”

“Do you love her?”

Stephen lowered his gaze to the oak floor, considering how
to answer the question. How much to reveal. The answer was an emphatic
no
.
He had no such feelings for Calyn. Yet the matter was complicated.

He looked into Jillian’s dark eyes and felt a tightening in
his chest. This was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his
life. If only…he hadn’t agreed to the handfast. A hard lesson was learned over
the years since Patrick left and reinforced that dreadful day on the
battlefield with his king—you don’t always get what you want.

“Will you let me explain about the handfasting?”

“Go ahead, and you better make it good.”

“I wandered aimless after Patrick and Lady Laurie left.
Guess you could say I was lonely.” He pounded the center of his chest. “As if
there was an empty space inside me needing filling. You ken?”

Jillian cleared her throat, raw emotion vivid in her eyes.
“So you filled it with your wife.”

“Nae, lass. I dinnae remember laying with Calyn, but when I
woke naked in her bed... Ach, well…” He scraped a palm over his face. “I agreed
to the handfast because…”

“You’re an honorable man.”

“I try to be. The answer to your question though is nae. I
dinnae love her. I dinnae even like her. But I now understand I must respect
the commitment made.” He stepped closer to Jillian and touched her soft cheek.
Moisture glistened in her eyes. “’Twas wrong of me to dismiss the pledge I made
on that dreadful day and seek a life with you. ’Twas wrong of me to keep the
handfasting a secret from you. ’Twas wrong of me to express my love for you and
lead us both to believe we had a future together.” He ground his teeth. “I wish
I hadn’t so easily agreed to Calyn’s demands.”

“Her name is Calyn. Such a pretty name.”

He shrugged and frowned. “I must return to the past and set
things right. If Calyn truly bears my child, which I doubt, I will stay with
her and be a proper father to my
bairn
. If she lied to me, as I
believe…if there is nae
bairn
, I will break the contract with the wench
on the prescribed date and return to you. If you will still have me.”

“You shouldn’t call her a wench.”

“I should call her worse for tricking me into her bed.”

Jillian raised a skeptical brow. “Do you expect me to
believe—”

“That is the only way it could have happened.” Now that he’d
unburdened his soul, his eyes were wet with tears. He didn’t care if ’twas
unmanly. He needed her to believe him. Believe he’d never meant to hurt her.
“Can you forgive me?”

“I love you Stephen MacEwen.” She stepped into him and
wrapped her arms around his chest. “When will you go?”

He held her tight. Even though he’d made the decision to go
back, leaving Jillian would be the hardest thing he’d done in his life. “As
soon as the gate lets me through. It can be fickle.”

Perhaps the fae gate would never let him return to the past
and he could stay with Jillian in this future place. Caitrina didn’t seem to be
of a mind to aid him.

“I will see you through the time gate.” Douglas MacKinnon
stood in the doorway holding Stephen’s sheathed sword.

“You? How?”

“Just keep it to yourself. If anyone asks, swear Munn
assisted you.”

Stephen inwardly sighed. ’Twas wrong of him to consider
shirking his responsibilities.

They walked together to the edge of the faerie knoll just
beyond the garden gate. Clouds strolled across the sun in the cerulean sky
above, making the scene before them feel normal. Douglas stepped to the side,
allowing Stephen a moment of privacy with Jillian.

Moisture pooled in her brown eyes. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I must. My honor demands such.”

She leaned in to him, sobbed against his chest, anguished
tears wetting his
leine
, breaking his heart. “You are a good man.”