Page 3 of Desire of a Highlander

“Dinna fash, my dear,” Irene said calmly. “Like I said, life has a habit of working itself out.

“Huh. I wish I shared your optimism.”

“Not optimism,” Irene replied. “Experience.” She regarded Elodie shrewdly. “Ye will see that too eventually—if ye find yer true path.”

Elodie snorted. “My true path? And what would that be?”

“That is for ye to discover, my dear. I can only point ye in the right direction.”

Right. Fine. Whatever. Just her luck to get stuck in a broken elevator with an eccentric old woman who liked to babble.

She continued pushing the call button furiously. Nothing happened. In a fit of frustration, she banged on the wall a few times and yelled, “Hey! We’re stuck in here! Hey!”

Irene watched her patiently, saying not a word, hands clasped demurely. She didn’t seem in the least put out. “I’m not sure that will do much good, my dear.”

“Won’t it? Well, it makes me feel better.”

“Does it?” Irene asked softly.

There was something in her tone that made Elodie turn and look at her. Irene was watching her with a soft look in her eyes. Not judging. Just...understanding. To her surprise, Elodie suddenly found tears welling in her eyes. She blinked them back furiously. What was wrong with her?

With a sigh, she slid down the wall and slumped in the corner. “No,” she replied. “No, it doesn’t make me feel better.”

Irene came to sit beside her. For someone of her advancing age, she seemed to have no problem lowering herself to sit on the floor. She leaned back against the wall and stretched her legs out.

“Ah, that’s better,” she muttered. “My old legs do ache sometimes.”

Elodie doubted that. There was something about Irene MacAskill that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Despite the gray hair and wrinkles, she seemed ageless, full of life and vitality.

“Do you work here?” Elodie asked. “For Cross Construction, I mean?”

Irene snorted. “Work here? Hardly. I only came to speak to ye.”

“So you said, but why would you want to speak to me? We’ve never met before.”

Irene glanced at her, and Elodie saw something dancing in her dark eyes. “Maybe not, but that doesnae mean we dinna know each other.”

Elodie barked a laugh. “Oh? Right. Maybe I’ve just forgotten you, right?”

Irene’s expression turned serious, and her eyes looked like pools that Elodie could fall into and never stop falling. All of a sudden, she felt a little afraid.

“Who are you?”

“Someone who would see ye find yer true path,” Irene replied. “And in so doing, help me to keep the balance.”

Elodie blinked. “The what?”

“The equilibrium of the universe. Sometimes people are born so far from where they are meant to be and walk paths so twisted away from their true one, that the balance shifts, like weights put upon the wrong end of a scale. When that happens, the universe itself can shift out of kilter. Like ye, my dear. Ye have fought for others so long ye have lost sight of yer own life, lost sight of what it is that brings ye true contentment. But there is always a way back. A way for that person to find their true path if they have the courage to retrace their steps and choose another.” Her gaze sharpened. “Do ye have that courage, Elodie MacNeil?”

A voice in the back of Elodie’s mind told her to ignore all this, but that voice was drowned out by the sudden sense of longing that filled her. Rationally, she knew that none of Irene’s words made sense. Balance? True path? This was just the ramblings of an eccentric old dear, surely?

But beyond the rational, somewhere deep inside where her intuition lay, something responded to Irene’s words. Irene was right. She had never been content. Always restless. Always looking for the next cause, the next fight, the next way to try to live up to her mother’s legacy.

“Courage?” Elodie said at last. “I don’t even know what that means.”

Irene’s gaze softened, and she patted Elodie on the knee. “We both know that isnae true. Ye are always fighting the good fight, Elodie MacNeil. Trouble is, have ye found yer true fight yet? The one that will lead ye to yer destiny and the person ye are meant to share it with?”

Elodie stammered, unsure how to respond. “I...I...”