Page 70 of Desire of a Highlander

After a long silence Sarah managed a tired smile. “Ye are right. I know ye are right. It’s just that, God help me, the thought of losing him terrifies me.”

Elodie thought of Ronan and knew exactly how her friend felt. If anything should happen to Ronan... Dear God, she didn’t know how she’d survive it.

Sarah sighed and stood. “I need to fetch more water. Will ye stay with him?”

“Of course.”

Sarah nodded then slipped quietly outside. Elodie pulled the stool closer to David’s bedside. He didn’t wake but his breathing remained slow and steady. She hoped that was a good sign.

She looked out of the little window where the western sky had begun turning gold with sunset. They were leaving. They were going out into the wide, dangerous world of the seventeenth century.

Elodie swallowed thickly. She had always assumed that she would find a way home somehow. But how was she supposed to do that if she willingly walked away from her only link to the twenty-first century?

There is always a way for that person to find their true path if they have the courage to retrace their steps and choose another.

Irene’s words returned with startling clarity. Why would she think about that now? The infuriating old woman had dropped her here without any kind of guidance whatsoever. Elodie would be damned if she’d give her words a moment’s thought!

Unless...

Unless she didn’t just drop me here without guidance, Elodie thought. Unless I’ve just not been listening properly.

A way for a person to find their true path.

Was that it? Was that why she’d been brought here? Was that her true path? To help Ronan and the people of the Steading? Was that what Irene had in mind for her? And if so, would she send her home again once her task was completed?

Home.

The word made her pause. It no longer felt as straightforward as it once had. She pictured her apartment with its clean white walls and sparkling kitchen. She pictured her laptop sitting on the dining room table. Emails. Meetings. Construction schedules. She thought about the boardroom of Cross Construction and other companies like it. About executives discussing profit margins while families waited years for decent housing. She thought about coming home late. Heating a microwave meal. Answering work emails before bed. Getting up the next morning to do it all again.

It had seemed like a life. But now it felt strangely distant, like someone else’s memories.

Then other memories came. Ronan laughing as she ignored his instructions and climbed onto the roof beside him. Ronan dancing awkwardly until she teased him into relaxing. Kissing her beneath the trees. Looking at her as though she were the only thing in the world that mattered.

David stirred in his sleep, mumbling something unintelligible. Elodie adjusted the blanket over him then sat back once more.

Outside, she could hear people talking as they prepared for the journey south. Her heart felt pulled between two centuries.

And for the first time since stepping through that arch, she no longer knew which one held her future.

RONAN EMERGED FROM the trees with Eamon and the other guards following close behind, talking in low voices about sightlines and patrol routes.

“So if we put Tam and Alec on the western flank,” Eamon was saying, “and Sean and Dougal on the eastern, we’ll have warning from both sides. They can range out some distance and give us plenty of time to prepare if they spot trouble coming our way.”

Ronan nodded. “Aye. And the second group holds close to the line of march. Eamon, ye’ll take the rear with two others and I’ll lead up front. I’ll give ye one of my pistols.” The younger man grinned hugely at this. “No heroics, mind,” Ronan told him. “It’s better as a deterrent than an actual weapon. And I’ll need to show ye how to fire the damned thing first.”

Eamon nodded enthusiastically.

“We’ll need signals,” Ronan continued. “Three horn blasts if there’s trouble from the west. One long blast if it comes from the east.”

“And if both happen?”

Ronan snorted. “Then we pray.”

The conversation faded as they finished their inspection of the perimeter and the Steading came into view. Ronan spotted Faye waiting at the side of the road, her hands tucked behind her back.

Ronan turned to Eamon. “Take the others on. I’ll catch ye up.”

“Aye, chief.”