Chapter Fifteen

The fight in her was gone. She was left exhausted, and all she wanted to do was crawl into the big bed she’d woke up on this morning and sleep until her heart healed.

Unfortunately, if that was to happen, she might never wake.

So instead, Gwen had slid to the floor of her chamber, placed her arms on her knees, and placed her head in her arms, and waited.

Maybe Colin would come. Perhaps Bri had a system where she wrote a note, stuck it in a bottle, then sent it off into the time warp, where Colin would receive it.

Gwen thought it said a lot that she would rather live out her days in this chamber than face Reilly again. She hadn’t been joking when she told him her heart couldn’t take any more from him.

A knock at her door forced her to croak out a feeble, “Who’s there?” before dropping her head back down.

“Gwendolyn.”

She laughed, a hollow, wrung-out sound dredged up from the darker part of her soul, no doubt. “Go away, Reilly.”

“I will never go away,” he replied, his voice low.

“Then I will never come out.” She said it without inflection, without emotion. She was tired of him, of his deceit and his lies. She’d trusted him, and he blew that trust away.

She might’ve been a fool once, but she wasn’t going to be a fool again.

She stuffed her fist in her mouth, stifling the sob that threatened. How could she possibly have more tears in her?

When she was certain her voice wouldn’t fail her, Gwen responded, “I want to go home.”

“I will take you.”

“I want to go home with anyone but you,” she revised.

There was a thunk, which she thought might be his head against the other side of the solid door. “Gwendolyn, you know that’s not truly possible. Bri won’t send anyone here to take you.”

“How do you know?” she shot back.

“Because I told her I would never return if she did.”

Anger like Gwen had never felt rose in her chest. She jumped to her feet and threw open the door, fury emanating from every pore of her body. “How dare you,” she hissed.

He quickly stepped inside and slammed the door shut behind him. “I dare much,” he countered, “because I only now understand what I’ve done. I’ve made a mistake in not telling you sooner.”

She laughed incredulously. “That’s your mistake?”

He frowned. “Aye. And I’m sorry for that.”

She fisted her hands at her sides and corralled all her anger into one pulsating ball, held in the place of where her heart used to be. “No, Reilly, that’s not your mistake. Your mistake started the day you met me, then decided that you were going to lead me on a merry chase, taking years away from my life. And before you even think to speak to me, you’re damn right that I allowed it to happen. I was stupid, I was young, and I was in love. Hell, you could do no wrong in my eyes! For so long—eleven years, which I realize to you is a blink of a freaking eye, but to me actually means something—I thought something was wrong with me, that you couldn’t love me back for reasons I couldn’t figure out. And believe me when I say that I spent more nights than not agonizing over the whys of it. And you know what?” she demanded, jabbing her finger into his chest and relishing in the surprise in his eyes. “Every moment that I wasted on you is one that I am going to claim back. I am going to live my life, without you in it, and I am going to be happy. Because I deserve that. Every person deserves that except, maybe, you.” She drew in a deep breath. “You cheated us, Reilly. There isn’t a single reason in the world that would be good enough to forgive that.”

Rationally, she knew her words were harsh. But Gwen was so far past rational, and she’d never blown her top before, and it felt good. There was a release in the words, a feeling of power that she’d never had when dealing with Reilly O’Malley, and she wasn’t going to take any of them back.

“You said you always forgive the ones you love,” he replied hoarsely.

She remained stonily silent.

“So that’s it?” he finally said. “That’s it, after all we’ve shared? We’re done?”

“We haven’t shared anything. Sharing infers there was some sort of equality between two people, but that’s not what we had. No, I gave and you took. And I’m done.” The vitriol in her voice had him rearing back as if she’d struck him. “You waited too long. I tried to give you all of me, but you wouldn’t take what I offered. The offer has been rescinded.”

He stepped closer again. “I will wait for you to offer again. I will wait for you today, and tomorrow, and the next day. I will wait for you forever, Gwendolyn Allen, and not because I have claimed you as my mate. I will wait for you forever because I will love you, no matter where you go or what you do. I will always love you, because you are the one for me. The only one.”

Gwen could feel herself draining of energy again, and she did the most sensible thing she could. She put her hands over her ears.

Because, the truth was, she didn’t want to forgive him.

He reached for her hands, but she stepped back. A shaft of light beamed between them, lighting the room, and the door closed suddenly behind Reilly. A small breeze ruffled their clothes, and the air shimmered between them. A beautiful young woman materialized between them.

The woman looked blandly at Gwen. “I am the Maiden, and, should you wish it, I’ve come to return you to your time, if you’ve made your decision, Gwendolyn. Would you like to return?”

Gwen glanced at Reilly, who’s face had gone completely white. She felt a pinprick of unease, but he said the one word that reminded her that only she was in charge of her destiny.

“Nay.” Reilly stated it forcefully, as though his word was the final one. The only one.

She lifted her chin. “Yes.”

“So be it,” the Maiden said, and, the next moment, Gwen found herself surrounded by trees…with a plane flying overhead.

And she was completely alone.

• • •

Nioclas found Reilly on his knees, his chin against his chest, in the middle of the chamber.

There was no sound and no movement from him for a long moment.

“They took her.”

The words, spoken in a voice so hollow, had Nioclas loosening his sword. “Then we will get her back.”

“We cannot get to where she is,” he said, raising his head. The agony on his face was painful to look at; his countenance was one of utter despair. “The Fates. They’ve returned her to her time and left me here. Someone had to take Aidan’s place. And that someone is me.”

Brianagh poked her head around the open door, and, seeing Reilly, rushed to his side. She dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, Ry.”

“Aidan wasn’t meant to be in the future, but I had to bring him and Emma back together. They deserved their happiness. But the Fates didn’t like that I’d overstepped and marred the fabric of time. They always have a way of evening things out.” He rubbed a shaking hand over his face. “I should’ve known. I should’ve figured it out.”

“So they brought Gwen back to the future, but left you here?”

He nodded, then dropped his head back down.

“Then you must go to her,” Brianagh said gently. “Quickly. Nick, close the door.”

“Don’t bother. I’ve already tried, and my powers are gone. I can bend time no more.”

Nioclas and Brianagh shared a look that lasted for more than a few long seconds, before Nioclas closed the door anyway.

“O’Malley…there might still be a way.” Nioclas’s words seemed torn from his throat, given unwillingly.

Finally, Reilly rose, Brianagh still holding his arm. “You are mistaken, my laird. I’ve already tried to call to my men, but none have heeded the call. I suspect I’ve been stripped of everything. All power.”

Someone banged on the door. Nioclas opened it to find his captain, Kane. “Aye?”

“Battle. The guards at the gate have been slain, and they are almost at our courtyard now.”

“Get to your solar,” Nioclas barked at Brianagh. To Kane, “Find Claire, send her there with no less than ten guards. Raise the alarm.”

“I have already,” Kane called out as he sprinted down the hallway, Nioclas on his heels.

Reilly pulled his sword out and hauled Brianagh out of the room.

“There’s an easier way,” she gasped, surprised by the force he used.

“Show me.”

She went back into Gwen’s chamber and stepped inside the small hearth. On the left wall, she pushed as hard as she could, covering her gown with soot, and the wall gave a groan.

Reilly pulled her out and took her place. Putting his whole weight against it, the wall gave, revealing an ascending staircase.

“It’ll bring us to one of the chambers close to my solar,” she explained. “We can close it once we’re inside.”

“Once you’re safely in there, I’ll find Claire.”

“And then, Reilly?” she asked.

His eyes became hard. “And then, once I’ve destroyed as many of these whoresons as I can, I’m going to get back to her.” He dragged Bri into the staircase and shifted the wall back into place behind them.

“We can get you back to her,” Brianagh whispered.

Grimly, he retorted, “If I’m alive after this skirmish, then we shall have speech. But until then, hold your tongue, bolt the door, and say your prayers.”

• • •

Gwen stumbled from the woods, simultaneously relieved and dejected that she had landed at Reilly’s cottage.

Would he be there? Did he make it back before her? She didn’t want to deal with him right now.

She was still dressed in the blue and silver gown, and for a moment, she lamented the loss of the beautiful red one.

She refused to think about how Reilly had it made just for her. She trudged onward to the little cottage, determined to gather her things and book the next ticket out of Ireland.

Ellie came flying out of the back door, her long hair trailing behind her, and Gwen remembered with a start that she couldn’t leave; she had a wedding to attend.

The things one forgot while traveling around the time continuum, she supposed.

“Gwennie!” Ellie cried out. “Oh, Gwen, we’ve been so worried! Is Reilly with you?”

Gwen stifled a sob and stumbled toward her, losing her footing in the hem and going down into the grass. Ellie was upon her a moment later, holding her against her chest. “Oh, Gwen, it’s all right. Come on. I’ll make some tea.”

Tea was Ellie’s answer to most of life’s problems, so Gwen heartily wished that it might somehow solve some of hers.

Shakily, they stood, and Ellie supported her as they made their way back to the cottage. She jerked in surprise when she saw the kitchen nearly back to the way it was—with not a speck of soot anywhere on the walls.

Or ceiling.

“When you stopped answering your cell phones, Colin finished his business quickly in the States,” Ellie explained quietly. “We got here, and the kitchen clearly had some sort of fire. But there was no sign of you or Reilly. Col checked the garage, and all the vehicles were there. We hadn’t any idea what happened to you.”

“He’ll be happy to know his motorcycle made it back in one piece,” Gwen said absently. “He’s going to hate the new stove.”

The shiny Aga nearly sparkled. And while it was certainly an upgrade, she knew Reilly would have no use for that.

Not that she would be around to hear him complain about it, though.

“Where have you been?” Ellie asked, seating her at the table and putting the water on. “Colin wasn’t able to time travel at all. He wasn’t called to anywhere, and he couldn’t figure out where you two were.”

Gwen explained how the Fates dumped them with Reilly’s mother, then at Brianagh’s. “We were gone for only a few days.”

Ellie’s eyes widened. “Gwen…you’ve been missing for almost two and a half weeks.”

“What?”

She nodded emphatically. “We thought you were lost in time. You weren’t gone for just a pair of days.”

Gwen frowned. “That’s…bizarre. I don’t understand how that happened. No matter, I guess. If it’s all the same to you, I’ll take that cup of tea to go. I want to stay at Winnie’s, not here.”

Ellie drew her eyebrows together. “Is there a reason?”

Gwen’s shoulders dropped. “There is, but I’d like to get out of here before Reilly returns, so I’ll explain it to you later.”

Ellie watched her for a moment, then impetuously threw her arms around her in a quick hug. “Go pack. I’ll wait.”

Gwen nodded, then ran up the stairs. She quickly shucked the gown onto the bed, then changed into a comfortable pair of jeans with a cozy sweater. She shoved her clothes and belongings into her suitcase, then retrieved the dress. It had landed over the headboard of the bed, and when she pulled it off, she noticed it was different than the last time she’d stayed at his place.

While the color was the same as the old one, this one had intricate Celtic knots expertly carved all over it. They twisted and turned, each slightly different than the others. She glanced over at the armoire; it was done in a similar style, the craftsmanship and attention to detail unlike anything she’d ever seen. Each of the two pieces were polished to a high shine. She slowly opened the armoire drawers again, noticing that even the drawer pulls were hand-carved. The drawers slid silently open, the tracks well-oiled and perfectly placed.

She closed the large doors, then ran her hand over the knot work.

She started to turn away when something caught her eye. She peered closer, then, her jaw sliding south, began to frantically search the rest of the door.

Hidden in the knot work were letters. They didn’t seem to be in any order; one word read Trí, and another was simply the letters na.

Did Reilly make this furniture? she wondered, lightly dragging her fingertips over the letters. They certainly weren’t placed there accidentally.

She went back to the bed and studied the headboard. Letters there, too, she could easily discern the word there.

Gwendolyn.

“You almost ready, Gwen?” Ellie called.

“Uh, yeah,” she called back, her voice tight. “Down in a minute.” She grabbed her phone and opened the note app. She typed in Trí, na, and her name, then headed into Reilly’s room. It was tidy, with the covers only slightly mussed from when he last slept in it. She quietly closed the door behind her, then studied the furniture in there. The armchair had an even stranger word on it: haoiseanna. She added it to her list. She turned her attention to the biggest piece in the room; the four-poster bed wasn’t overly large, but it was impressive. She searched for only a minute or so when she saw the letters mo on one post. Another post had thar, and another, am. The final post had the letters mo again. She moved to the chest and saw ghrá.

She hadn’t any idea what those words meant, but she knew it had to do with her. Suitcase forgotten, she ran down the stairs. “Ellie, do you know what this means?” She showed her the list of words, but her friend shrugged apologetically.

“I don’t, but it looks like Gaelic.”

Gwen smacked her own forehead. “Of course! That would make sense. Do you think Colin would know?”

“Maybe. He’s in Galway at the moment, doing something for Celtic Connections. He should be back tomorrow morning. I can try texting him, but he won’t respond until tonight at least.”

“No, it’s okay. I can wait until tomorrow.” Gwen stared at the words again, trying to make sense of them. She plugged them into a translator app, but that was no help.

A taxi honked out front, and Gwen retrieved her suitcase. A sense of dread filled her as she left the house, but, as there was nothing more for her there, she placed her bag in the trunk and didn’t look back as Ellie locked up.

• • •

The next morning, after a fitful night sleep, and over a sumptuous breakfast in Winnie’s sunroom, Gwen relayed everything to Ellie, start to finish. And when she was done with the tale, Ellie sat in stunned silence for a long moment.

“Wow,” she finally said.

Gwen sipped her orange juice. “That’s a good way to sum it all up, I suppose.”

Ellie crossed her arms and sat back in her chair but ruined the effect by nearly falling out of it. When she’d righted herself, she tapped her chin. “Are you still angry with him, now that you’ve had some space?”

Gwen nodded. “I am. I’m not spitting-nails-mad, though. More like…disappointed-mad.”

Ellie raised an eyebrow.

Gwen rubbed her temples. “I placed my trust in him for so long, believing that he could do no wrong. I gave him the key to my happiness, and I felt like he held onto it just because he could. I don’t understand why he didn’t tell me.”

“Shall I play Devil’s advocate?” Ellie asked pertly.

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

“Ah well, wishes don’t always come true, so let’s give it a go anyway. How old were you when you met Reilly?”

“Twenty-one.”

Ellie nodded sagely. “And he was…”

“Thirty-six, I guess.” Just like he is now. Would he ever age? She supposed she would never have the chance to find out.

“Uh huh. And when you were twenty-one, were you looking for anything long-term?”

Gwen thought for a moment. “No. My parents wanted me to get married, and they put boys in front of me starting around nineteen. I purposefully went in the complete opposite direction; I didn’t want anything serious.”

“Why not?”

“Because I was twenty-one?” Gwen asked in an of course tone.

Ellie gave her a look. “Exactly. You were twenty-one, and you were just starting to find yourself. Do you think maybe Reilly saw and understood that right away?”

Gwen folded her arms across her chest. “No.”

“Don’t be a stubborn ass,” Ellie said mildly.

“Fine,” Gwen grumbled. “I’ll allow for the possibility that he may have thought about something like that.”

“Excellent. A fifteen-year age gap does seem a bit large, doesn’t it? Think of all the life experience you packed into your twenties. Would you have had those same experiences, had you been tied to Reilly? Would you be the same person you are today? Would you still want the same things?”

Gwen held up her hands in defense. “Whoa, El, whoa. Slow down. You know I’d be a different person today. As far as the other questions, I don’t know.”

She paused. But she did know, didn’t she? She’d spent so long trying to save the world, that she’d forgotten to save a little of herself. And it took a terrible act of war, and the loss of her volunteer friends, for her to finally admit what she truly wanted at this point in her life.

Huh. The realization must’ve shown on her face because Ellie smiled at her.

“So did you really give him the key to your happiness, Gwen? Or did you merely leave it in his hands for safekeeping until you yourself were ready to turn it?”

Gwen shoved another piece of pancake into her mouth to avoid answering, but she knew Ellie was right.

She recognized that she had a lot of growing up to do in her twenties. And, looking back, she regretted none of it. She learned so much, not the least of which was how to trust her instincts.

And her instincts were screaming at her that perhaps she needed to hear Reilly’s side of the story before coming to any concrete conclusions about her future. She’d fought for Reilly for so long; was she really going to walk away from a lifetime of happiness without trying to understand his side of things?

She wasn’t that rebellious young woman anymore.

Colin interrupted her thoughts when he strolled into the room, snagging a biscuit off a tray and dropping an entirely-too-involved kiss on Ellie.

“Glad you’re back, Gwen.” He took a bite, then swallowed. “So. Where’d you go?”

Gwen gave Ellie a defeated smile. “Do I have to repeat it?”

“Probably,” she replied ruefully.

“Before I do,” Gwen said, rummaging in her pocket and pulling out her phone, “do you think you could tell me what this means?”

“Trí na Gwendolyn haoiseanna mo thar mo ghrá.” He reread them silently, then asked, “Are these in a specific order?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well,” he said slowly, “if you shift them around a bit to read Trí na haoiseanna thar am mo ghrá, mo Gwendolyn, it translates to Throughout the age, beyond time, my love, my Gwendolyn.”

Ellie’s face softened. “That’s beautiful.”

“It’s a well-loved saying of the Irish. You can hear it in Gaelic songs and poetry.” Colin looked at Gwen closely. “Where did you see this?”

“Carved into the bedroom furniture,” she whispered. What have I done?

“Why didn’t you just ask Ry?”

And she repeated the entire story, but unlike Ellie, Colin interrupted with many questions. Another hour passed, and she was exhausted by the end of it.

“I think I made a mistake,” Gwen said in a small voice.

Ellie patted her hand. “We all do at some point, Gwen. It’s what we do when we figure out that the mistake’s been made that matters.”

“But how do I fix this one, if he’s there, and I’m here? Colin, can you take me back?”

He shook his head. “I can’t. I can only travel when the line’s in danger, or when Ry calls for me.”

“What’s that?” Ellie asked, noticing the large parcel he’d placed on the table when he first came in. “Sorry. I’m not trying to change the subject.”

Gwen laughed. “I know. But it looks like a book, and if it looks like a book, you need to know what it is. I get it.”

Colin picked it up. “I had the family genealogy book rebound. The cover was showing a lot of wear, so I brought it to that place you recommended in the town center.” Ellie nodded, and he handed it to her. “Check it out. It looks really good.”

“I love this book,” Ellie said with a small smile as she flipped through the pages. “Of course, I have a partiality to the late 1400s. It’s nice to see some names that I—”

“Something wrong?” Colin asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot on the table. He glanced up, then immediately put the cup down and rushed to Ellie, who had gone white.

Gwen also came around the table, then searched the pages open in front of Ellie. Colin gasped, and still she didn’t see anything that would make them so visibly upset.

“What am I missing?”

Ellie twisted in her chair and grasped Gwen’s hand. “I’m so sorry, Gwen.”

“Sorry for what?” she asked, a feeling of panic descending. She tried to read faster, but Colin placed his hand over their two.

“Here.”

Reilly O’Malley, unknown relation to MacWilliam clan, d. 1485

Cause of death: wound infection

Burial: Traditional Irish burial, with clan honors

“But…no,” she exclaimed, alarmed. “No. Because he can’t die, right, because…because why, Colin?” She turned begging eyes on him. “Why? How?”

Colin was already dialing on his phone. “I don’t know, Gwen. But I’ll be damned if we don’t find out. James? You need to get to Winifred’s immediately…No, it’s got nothing to do with the wedding. Just get here.”

• • •

Around midday, Aidan and Emma showed up with lunch. They joined the effort of trying to find out what happened to Reilly, but every lead fizzled out.

Gwen threw up her hands. “This will take forever, and we don’t have that kind of time! We don’t even have a date!”

“We know it happened sometime between late September and the end of December,” James said patiently. “It has to be in these certificates somewhere.”

“But he wasn’t a member of the O’Malley clan in 1485, and if he was to have a certificate within the MacWilliam clan, he had to share in the last name,” Aidan said heavily. “’Tis how we did things back then.”

“This is going to take too long,” Gwen repeated. She stood up. “There has to be something we can try that we haven’t already!”

Wearily, James wondered aloud, “How does it work, Col, when you travel?”

“The Fates appear to Reilly, and then he sends out the call. Usually he heads first to wherever the clansmen he needs are at that time, then we make our way to where, or when, we’re needed together.”

“Can any of you go back in time and stop this?” Gwen asked as Aidan and Emma joined them.

“I already tried. But we can only go to where we’re needed,” Colin said softly. “The only one who can bend time to his will—”

“…is Reilly,” Gwen finished for him, her voice hitching.

“I wish I could change it,” Colin said brokenly. “I would do anything to change this.”

An idea took shape in Gwen’s mind and was out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying.

“Anything, Colin?”

He dragged his hands through his hair, his face tortured. “Anything.”

“Excellent. I know what we need to do.” Three heads swiveled to Gwen. “We need to get to Reilly’s house. I’ll explain on the way.”