Jep reached his hand up and caressed the side of my face. I almost pulled away, but the touch was comforting and I chose to lean into it.
“I was lying. I was sure you would know. It was self-preservation, preservation for my marriage. I had to push you away, but I always thought you would know. Surely you do. I always loved you. I did back then, and I do now. I’m not sure that you ever truly stop loving anyone once you’ve fallen in love with them.”
He dropped his hand, and I twisted in my seat toward the front once more. I breathed deeply, thinking on what he’d said. Hearing those words was like being released from a set of chains I didn’t consciously even know I wore.
In that moment I realized it wasn’t so much the loss of Jep that wounded me so much all those years ago, but the loss of love. For me to have known how much I loved him and to hear him say that he’d never loved me, despite all the years we’d spent together, was more painful than him moving on to someone else. If I’d at least known that my love had been reciprocated, it would have been easier to move on.
Sleepy, I closed my eyes before speaking to him again. “It doesn’t change anything you know. You were an important part of my life, but it wasn’t ever supposed to be me and you, in the end.”
His voice was quiet, but I could hear the same relief in his voice that I felt in my soul. “I know, but I needed to tell you.”
I smiled, eyes still closed as I spoke through a large yawn. “I know, and that’s all I ever needed to hear.”
Why then with this settled and Brian out of my life did I feel the future would demand more than my past ever had?
Chapter 6
The Roadside Inn, Scotland
Present Day
“Why do ye look so pleased with yerself, love? Yer cheeks are sure to be sore if ye go on grinning like that.”
Morna Conall stepped inside the doorway of their charming home to plant a sound kiss upon her husband who stood waiting for her in the entryway. Grayed-hair framed his wrinkled face, but his thin mouth smiled against hers as she kissed him. His plaid blue shirt, wrinkled, hung loosely on his slim frame, and the smell of pipe tobacco lingered near him. No matter that his knees creaked and his ears required that she speak up, he would remain ageless in her eyes always.
“I doona know what ye mean, Jerry. I’m just pleased that Mitsy arrives today. ’Tis good to feel useful once more, and I’m anxious to see how the spell works now that I’ve tweaked it.” She knew her husband would know she wasn’t being completely honest, but she found Jerry charming when he was all riled up.
“Aye, but that isna why ye are grinning so. If I know ye as well as I think I do, and believe me I do, then I would say that ye’ve already been making yerself useful and using yer spells a bit, aye? Now, what is it that ye have done?”
Stepping out of her shoes, Morna moved into the living room and sat on the couch, patting the seat next to her so that Jerry would join her. She reached to brush the red hair that turned whiter with each passing year out of her face. With Jerry seated, she reached for his hands and spoke. “All I did was re-arrange a flight ticket so that a certain lad would be on board with her.”
“Why would ye do that? What is the purpose of her coming here if the man she’s supposed to meet resides in the States?”
Jerry’s voice came out high and confused, and Morna laughed as she squeezed the old man’s hand. “The lad she’s meant for isna in the States. I only wished to learn what occurred in her past that led her to us. So I did some casting to find it. Ye see, there’s always much more to the end of a marriage than the actual end of it.”
If only all relationships were lucky enough to be matched by her, Morna was certain there’d be many less hurting hearts in the world. She was a master at it, and she believed that to provide aide in the creation of love was the best use of her magic.
“Aye, that there is, dear. Did ye put Mitsy’s husband on the plane?”
Morna shook her head. “Ex-husband now, and o’ course I dinna! In Mitsy’s case, her deepest wound was no from her marriage but from someone that came before it. She needed that wound to be healed before she goes back in time. I believe allowing them both the chance to speak to one another did just that.”
“Now, why is that, love? Why did she need to be rid of her hurt? Hurt is something that we all must learn from, and time heals our hurts well enough on its own.”
Morna smiled. She found her husband to be wiser for his lack of magic. “Perhaps ye are right about time but, in this case, I thought time needed a little help.”
“And just why is that? Ye are goading me by finishing every sentence without giving a full explanation, and I doona like it.”
Morna laughed as her husband’s voice rose at the end of his question. He quickly grew frustrated. She kissed him swiftly on the cheek and leaned into him as she spoke. “Aye, I know that I am but I canna help it, ye make it too much fun.”