Cottage in the Mist Read online

"Aye, but unlike the Mackintoshes, the Macgillivrays are nothing more than a sept. An afterthought. Once we were among the greatest clans in all of the Highlands. Until a woman brought us to our knees and destroyed us."

  "I dinna ken." Iain shook his head, still frowning.

  "'Tis an old tale." Ranald shrugged. "I heard the story as a child as well. Perhaps because the Macqueens and the Macgillivrays have so long been associated."

  "It was when David was king. When the clans were above all," Bram began. "And the Macgillivrays were second to none and fierce rivals of the Comyns. The two clans dinna mix except in battle. But as is the way with such things, my kinsman Graeme fell in love with a Comyn woman. Tyra was her name. A real beauty, so the story goes. They met in secret, each time with him falling more in love and her wrapping him around her little finger, until she gave him the news that she was with child."

  He paused, his mind recalling the story he'd heard so very many times.

  "Graeme was o'erjoyed with the idea of becoming a father. And immediately asked for her hand. Tyra agreed, and Graeme went home to prepare the way with his father. Eventually, after much argument, Graeme's father, Naill, agreed to the marriage, for there was no turning his son's devotion aside. And the Macgillivrays issued an invitation to the Comyns. A meeting to seal the betrothal."

  "I think I remember this story after all," Iain said, eyes narrowed in thought. "I'd just forgotten the clans that were involved in it. The Comyns, the girl and her family, came to the Macgillivray holding."

  "Aye, and the Comyns, because of Graeme's love for Tyra, were welcomed into the Macgillivrays' tower. They all gathered in the great hall to break bread and celebrate the union of the clans. Only there was to be no union. The entire affair had been a ploy. A way to gain access into an enemy's stronghold." Bram paused, feeling the betrayal as if it were his own. "The Comyns attacked. And the unsuspecting Macgillivrays were slaughtered. Graeme was among the first to die. In some tellings it was Tyra herself who did it. Naill managed to escape, but not before watching his son and most of his clansmen die.

  "Naill, it is said, went mad from grief, and without a laird, the clan foundered, split into septs and were thrown to the wind. And all of it because of Comyn treachery."

  "Still, it was a long time ago," Ranald cautioned.

  "Aye, but the hatred is still there. It was drilled into me at Dunmaglass. Comyns are and always will be the enemy. There can be no peace. And if Alec heard much the same, then perhaps as I said, he came back to Tigh an Droma with the intention of removing the threat Dunbrae posed."

  "That's a lot of supposition," Iain said. "But a blood feud is no' something to take lightly. And just because your fathers dinna actively engage in it, doesna mean that Alec wouldn't take an opportunity when it was given to him."

  "You're talking about the traitor."

  "Aye. That I am. Did your father have enemies among his clansmen?"

  "'Tis possible. But I know that at least some of his men were loyal." He thought of Frazier and Robby, his heart aching at the thought that his friend and the older man were dead. "In truth, my father wasn't an easy man to love," Bram said.

  "Maybe not—" Ranald reached over to touch the silver pin, lying on the table. "—but Auntie Aileen loved him more than anything. I remember my mother talking about it after she died. Worrying that Seamus would no' recover."

  "She was right," Bram sighed. "He was never the same."

  "But he loved you," Katherine said, appearing in the doorway, the candlelight making her hair glisten gold.

  "I dinna think he loved any but my mother," Bram said, watching as she crossed the room to sit by Iain. There was empathy in her eyes. And kindness.

  "Sometimes, a man gets lost in a woman. So much so that he can't see anything else." Katherine shrugged, laying her small hand on top of Iain's. "But that doesn't mean that he doesn't care. Only that he can't find the way to show it."

  There was right in what she said. Bram was certain of it. His father had cared for him in his own way. But still he mourned what could have been. And what, now, could never be.

  "The danger has passed. You should be sleeping." Iain's tone was brusque, but his eyes lingered on the soft curves of his wife's face.

  "I couldn't. Not when I knew you were down here, worrying. Besides, it's almost morning." She nodded toward the window, where the first pink fingers of dawn were splitting the sky.

  Another woman, older but with an equally concerned expression, walked into the room carrying a large tray.

  "I asked Flora to bring you something to eat. I know it isn't much." She smiled as the older woman set the tray of meat pies and ale on the table and retreated. "But we wanted to do something." She rose and started to leave, but Iain held onto her hand.

  "Dinna go. I have need of you here."

  Bram watched as she sat again, her fingers still entwined with his. This was what he longed for. Someone to share his life with. Someone to love. Lily's face sprang unbidden into his mind. Her wide green eyes and soft dark hair. But as soon as he had the thought he pushed it away. Their love was an impossibility. Separated by centuries.

  He looked again at Iain and Katherine, and shook his head. God's honest truth was that even if she were here, he had nothing to offer her.

  Nothing at all.

  CHAPTER 10

  "I'M STILL HAVING TROUBLE getting my head around all of this," Lily told the assembled company, her mind still reeling. But at least she was feeling more stable. They'd moved down to the great room to sit at one of tables in the breakfast area. And at the insistence of Elaine, Mrs. Abernathy had joined the three of them, bringing with her the requisite pot of tea and a basket full of warm pastries.

  The story they'd shared was even more amazing than her own. And despite the fact that the whole idea was almost beyond comprehension, it felt really good to know that she wasn't alone in all of this anymore.

  "Drink your tea," Mrs. Abernathy scolded with a wave of the hand. "You've had quite a shock."

  "I'm not sure that tea is really going to help." Lily shot Mrs. Abernathy a rueful smile and lifted her lips to the cup in an effort to soothe the older woman.

  "I could pull out the scotch," Jeff offered. "After all, we are in Scotland."

  "Already put a nip in the pot." Mrs. Abernathy beamed just as the warmth started to spread through Lily's chest.

  "Nice country, this." She took another swallow and then sat back, her gaze moving amongst her new friends. She'd never really had what she'd call great friends growing up. Too much moving. Too much money. Neither circumstance breeding intimacy. At least honest intimacy.

  Of course this wasn't all that different. Nothing like a little time travel to force a feeling of closeness. But with Mrs. Abernathy hovering and the look of concern on both Jeff's and Elaine's faces, Lily was forced to accept the very real possibility that these people actually cared, despite the outrageousness of the situation or the fact that she'd only just met them.

  Sometimes it happened like that, she supposed, her mind turning first to her mother and father and then to Bram. There wasn't a doubt in her mind about her feelings for him. She just had no idea what she was supposed to do with them. Follow Katherine's lead? Go to him? But how? And would he even want her? Maybe she'd mistaken his feelings. But the moment she had the thought she knew she hadn't.

  Perhaps it was the comparison to Justin. He'd never made her feel like that. Never. In truth, he'd filled a void. An empty place in her life. But now, having been with Bram, she realized Justin had just been a placeholder. She shivered at the thought of how close she'd come to settling.

  "Penny for them?" Elaine quipped, cutting into Lily's tumbling thoughts.

  "It's going to sound ridiculous."

  "More than the fact that my sister is alive and well in the fifteenth century?" Jeff asked, his lips quirking up at the corners.

  "Well, maybe. No. Oh God, I don't know, really." Lily frowned. "I was thinking that maybe it was lucky that Ju
stin dumped me."

  "It's never easy to be jilted," Mrs. Abernathy said. "But sometimes it is for the best. Everything in its time, I always say."

  Jeff and Elaine exchanged glances with a smile, then returned their attention to Lily.

  "Well, the difficult part of all that is that my parents had to die for it to happen. And despite how things have turned out, despite finding Bram, if that's indeed what I've done, I'd give anything if I could have them back again. And it breaks my heart to think that I could only find my happiness as a result of them losing theirs."

  "Ah, my puir wee lamb, therein lies the joy of being a parent. Although Jamie and I were no' blessed, I've seen it first hand over and over. The love a parent has for a child has no limits. And if indeed death were the requirement for their child's everlasting happiness, then there would be no hesitation. Not that I'm saying that's what happened here, Lily," Mrs. Abernathy reassured. "I'm just saying that's how much they loved you."

  Lily nodded. "It just seems so disloyal somehow. I've lost them forever. And yet here I am discussing the man who makes me… well… happy. And a man, I might add, that doesn't even live in my century." She shivered suddenly, the enormity of it hitting her full force. "Oh my God, Bram is dead. If he lived in the fifteenth century, then no matter what happened or when it happened, he's dead." Her gaze locked with Elaine's. "That's why you were so sad on the rooftop. You were thinking of Katherine. Of the fact that she's…"

  "It's not as easy as all that," Jeff said, his expression turning serious. "In a linear world, what you're saying would be true. But if time isn't linear, if it's more like a parallel universe, then no, neither of them is dead. They're just living their lives on another plane. Which doesn't really make complete sense, but you get the idea."

  "And the important thing to remember is that nothing is cast in stone," Elaine said. "We managed to change the future with Katherine and Iain."

  "But didn't that change the fabric of time or some such?" Lily asked, still not really convinced that any of it was possible, but needing it to be so.

  "It did," Jeff admitted. "Slightly. Nothing that threw things completely out of whack though."

  "Speak for yourself, Jeffrey," Mrs. Abernathy said, a note of teasing in her voice. "Jamie and I lost possession of Duncreag in the process of all those changes."

  Lily's eyes widened, and Jeff ducked his head in embarrassment.

  "Now, now, don't worry, either of you." Mrs. Abernathy reached over to pat their hands. "I was teasing. My ancestors turned out not to be very nice people. At least Alisdair wasn't." She let out a satisfied sigh. "Things happened the way they were supposed to. And I've no regrets as to where it all ended up. Jamie and I have still got our home and more importantly, now we have a family. And I canna think of anything more important than that."

  "Well, we agree on the last bit, Mrs. Abernathy," Jeff said. "You are part of our lives, now and always."

  The older woman beamed. "So, more tea." She reached for the pot to fill the cups. "And try a bannock. My cook makes them just the way they were meant to be."

  "She's not kidding," Jeff said as he scarfed one down. "They're awesome."

  Lily reached into the basket for one of the little cakes. "So you're saying it's okay to change things?"

  "No," Elaine said. "Not randomly." She looked over to her husband and he nodded. "What we believe is that time for Katherine and Iain was stuck in a loop. The wrong loop. And it was important for that loop to straighten out. To play as it was meant to play, if you will. Jeff's going back did that very thing. With a substantial shove from Katherine and Mrs. Abernathy."

  "And a lot of love from you," Jeff added, his eyes reflecting the depth of his feelings for his wife.

  "Well, there is that." She smiled and leaned over to give him a kiss.

  "It's all very confusing," Lily admitted. "But basically, you're saying that what happened, even though it changed things, was what was truly meant to be."

  "Yes." Mrs. Abernathy folded her arms over her argyle sweater with a nod. "And we're also telling you that none of it could have been accomplished without love. Romantic love certainly. Like Katherine and Iain's, and Elaine and Jeffrey's. But also love between siblings. Love between parent and child. And love between friends." Her warm gaze encompassed them all now. "There's magic here at Duncreag. But only those with love in their hearts can find it."

  "So what I feel for Bram," Lily posited, turning the idea over in her mind, "you're agreeing that it's love? Even if I was only really with him the one time?"

  "I canna tell you how you feel, lamb." Mrs. Abernathy shrugged. "I just know that if you found him it was for a reason. And it's up to us to figure out what that reason might be."

  "Which means we need to understand what's happening in Bram's time. Mrs. Abernathy, what do you know about him?" Jeff asked.

  "Not a lot, I'll admit. But I do recognize the name." She turned her attention to Lily. "I've always had a keen interest in the past. And especially Duncreag and the people who've come and gone over the years." She spoke as if they were talking about last month or last year instead of over five hundred years ago. But then if time really wasn't linear, then in a way, it wasn't any different.

  Mrs. Abernathy scrunched her nose in thought. "His father was the second son of the brother of the Macgillivray chief at the time. He had a small holding, called Dunbrae, to the northeast of here. Seamus, his name was. He married a Mackintosh, so there was kinship with Iain as well as with Elaine's Ranald. Bram was their only child. Aileen died early on when Bram was quite young. He fostered at Dunmaglass, the Macgillivray seat. And then went on to Moy, which is where he probably would have met Iain and Ranald if he hadn't already. He would only have been a few years younger." She spread her hands with a shrug. "And I'm afraid that's where my knowledge ends."

  "You said the Macqueens are your family?" Lily asked Elaine.

  "Yes." Her friend nodded. "But they are also Mrs. Abernathy's as well. So although it's quite distant, we're actually related. And since she grew up near the Macqueen seat, she's had access to all the historical documentation."

  "But there's nothing after the time at Moy?" Lily asked. "No documentation at all?"

  "Not on the Mackintosh side of things, but there wouldn't have been, really. Once Aileen was gone, the family tie would have been considerably weakened. Although Bram's relationship could have continued with Iain. And as for the Macqueens, the truth is their records from that time period aren't nearly as extensive as the Mackintoshes." She shrugged. "Head of Clan Chattan and all that."

  "But at least we know that there was a family connection through both the Macqueens and the Mackintoshes, which explains why Bram was going to Iain for help."

  "Help with what?" Jeff asked.

  Lily had told them the gist of what had happened. The car wreck, the cottage, and the fact that she'd seen him again here at Duncreag. But she hadn't gone into the details.

  "His father." She paused, searching for the name Mrs. Abernathy had used. "Seamus. He was murdered."

  "By whom?" Elaine asked, her gaze narrowed in contemplation.

  "I don't know." Lily shook her head. "He didn't say. Only that it was an old enemy. And that he'd had help. Someone on the inside. A traitor."

  "Did Bram say when?" Jeff, too, had leaned forward, abandoning half a bannock on his plate.

  Lily laughed, the sound strained. "As in a year? No. Wait," she said, sucking in a fortifying breath. "He said a week. It had been a week. And Bram was there. He must have meant Dunbrae." She looked up, trying to order her tumbling thoughts. "He said that the man was trying to kill him, too. But Bram escaped." Again a bubble of hysteria rose in her throat, and she felt Elaine's hand close around hers. "Oh God, I asked him if he'd gone to the authorities. He must have thought I was crazy."

  "No," Mrs. Abernathy said. "He'd have thought you meant the Macgillivray chief."

  "What did he say?" Jeff questioned, urging her on.

  "That he
was going to Iain. That's why the horsemen were there. They'd come for him."

  "Where? At the cottage?"

  "No." Lily forced herself to focus on the present. "I'm sorry it's all rather terrifying in context. But anyway, I told you that I saw him a second time. That he was there and then sort of faded away."

  They all nodded and Lily clung to Elaine's hand like a lifeline.

  "Well, I didn't tell you everything. Before he came. I was dreaming of him." Despite the serious nature of the conversation she felt herself blush. "And then I wasn't. I was standing on the edge of the cliff that rings Duncreag and I could see down into the valley below—"

  "That's how you knew where the path was that led to the old entrance," Elaine said. "You'd seen it."

  Lily nodded. "And there were horsemen. A lot of them, I think. It was dark. Late, I'm certain. And I just knew in my heart they were there for Bram. And then it all faded away again, and I was awake—at least I think I was—in my room. Only then it sort of shifted. I can't say how exactly, except that the windows were different—"

  "The trappings of our century gone," Jeff finished for her.

  She nodded. "And then Bram stepped from the shadows. It was just so good to see him. He'd disappeared and I thought I was insane. But then I remembered the men. And I warned him. And almost as soon as I'd gotten the words out, he started to fade." She stopped, tears filling her eyes. "And then he was gone. Oh, God, what if they got to him? What if he's dead?"

  "No way," Jeff said, with a decisive shake of his head. "Iain's Duncreag was a fortress. No way would a handful of men have managed to get in, no matter who they were. Especially with forewarning. And you gave them that. My guess is that Iain and his men met the challenge head on. And prevailed."

  There was comfort in the thought. But it wasn't enough. "But we can't know that for sure," she said, putting her fears into words.

  "No, the only way to do that is to go back," Elaine said.

  "But who's to say that I can?" Lily asked, not even bothering to verify what they all already knew. "Even with Katherine it took time. Eight years, right? And she really never had any control of it."