Thankfully, Bri was meant to be here. Not only did she help them change the course of history by stopping the massacre, but she also fell in love with the man of her dreams, Conall Castle’s new laird, Eoin. I’d been unwilling to be separated from my daughter, no matter how happy for her I was, and so when Bri decided to stay in this time, I used Morna’s spell to travel back myself.
The thrill of an archaeologist’s life is to be living with the very people she’s devoted so much of her life to learn about. I now lived in a dream that was only slowly becoming reality. And, on top of it all, I would soon become a grandma.
I was as happy as I’d ever been with only one lingering thought keeping me from overwhelming happiness. I’d always been social, I liked to date, I liked to flirt. While it had become more difficult to find a date with someone my age even in my present day time, I was certain that in the seventeenth century, men considered me hopelessly over-the-hill with one foot deep into the grave.
I would most likely spend the rest of my days alone. Something I’d realized shortly after arriving in this time, but a fact of life that took me a bit longer to accept than I had hoped.
No matter. I had much to be thankful for. Christmas time, my favorite time of the year, had arrived. I was anxious to discuss preparations for the holiday with Bri. So when I saw her stir, I stood from my place by the fire and went to stand by her side.
*
“What?” I knew the pitch of my voice went too high, almost squeaky, but if that old bat thought she could stifle our Christmas she had another think coming.
“Mom, is it really that big of a deal? We didn’t even notice it last year.”
The hormones were messing with her head. Bri loved Christmas as much I did. I couldn’t imagine how she seemed to be so fine with skipping Christmas. “Yes, it’s that big of a deal! Of course you didn’t notice it last year. You were all too busy trying to stop the attack on the castle. What’s Mary’s problem with Christmas?”
I didn’t miss Bri’s eyes roll before she answered my question. “She likes Christmas very much. She loves cooking, you know that. It’s only that after Eoin’s mother passed away, Christmas became less of an event as the years went on. Not to mention, it’s been outlawed in Scotland for the last four decades.”
My eyes mimicked my daughter’s roll. “Darling, you know as well as I do that Christmas continued to be celebrated, just a little more quietly. Besides, who is there to enforce it when your husband is laird?”
“Well…no one really. Look, I love Christmas, but I’ve no desire to put Mary into more of a tizzy than she stays in constantly. If you can get her to agree to it, then I will be the first to jump on the Christmas bandwagon with you.”
“Oh, I’ll get her to agree. As much as she likes to fight it, I’m Mary’s closest friend, and she’s all bark anyhow. Go and get Eoin. While I know she will eventually get on board, we may need him to intervene in the argument she’s sure to put up.”
Bri nodded and laughed as I turned and left her bedchamber. It was no laughing matter. Whether the child was present or not, my first grandbaby would have a Christmas to rival any other. I would make certain of it.
Chapter 2
Three Days Ride North of Conall Castle
Snow built outside his window, and his creaky joints told him a bad storm brewed. Still, he left his home at this time every year. He’d not missed his trip to her gravesite once in the twenty-plus years since his beloved had passed away. He did not intend to let the snow deter his plans.
Hew walked around his small home, tidying up before his journey south. He lived alone, far away from the nearest village. He’d not seen another soul in months and that was just as he would have it. He knew his shyness held him back. It had been a wonder that he ever married at all.
*
He’d not expected it, the day his sister’s best friend, Mae, had approached him while he chopped wood for the fire at the back of his home, grabbing his face and kissing him squarely on the mouth. He’d been a young lad then and that kiss had changed his life. Hew grew up with Mae constantly in their family’s home. Mae and his sister were inseparable. While he silently admired her for years, he was far too shy to ever express the way his heart beat for her.
That night so many years ago, he’d been able to feel her watching him but did not turn to greet Mae, his heart pounding uncomfortably just at the nearness of her. He continued to swing his ax down into the blocks, swiftly chopping the wood into two pieces. Her hand on the lower part of his back caused him to jump, nicking the edge of the block of the wood before he threw his ax to the ground and whirled to face her.
“Mae, ye startled me, lass. Ye should be inside. ’Tis far too cold for ye to be out of doors.” He could remember every word spoken between them, a scene held captive forever in his mind.