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Alyssa finished her last massage for the day, and escorted Mrs. Chadwick—one of her favorite clients—to the door. “I’ll see you next week!” she called as Mrs. Chadwick headed to her car.

Then Alyssa walked into her empty house and thought about the long weekend ahead. When she’d be alone. Again. Since her friend Holli had gone back in time over a year before, she’d been alone. Staring at the walls.

She pulled the scrunchie out of her hair, and let her dark tresses fall around her shoulders. She only kept it up for work because it got in the way. She’d always preferred to have her hair down. Her mother had once called her a hoyden for going on long walks and keeping her hair in her face.

Alyssa couldn’t imagine a life without long walks into the local parks and even out of town, so she could work through anything troubling her.

She thought for a moment about taking one of her walks, but she realized she’d just be using it to keep from making an important decision, and that wouldn’t work at all.

She still went to Book Club, and there were still a few other members who hadn’t traveled back in time. It sounded downright crazy, and she knew it. Going back in time. But she had the opportunity to do it as well.

Alyssa had never been good at making friends, and she clung to the ones who mattered most—Heather and Holli. But they were both gone now, back in medieval Scotland with their true loves, living together and laughing together. And all Alyssa had was her empty house to remember them by.

She’d had a dress made up, so she could go back as well.

There were tiny pockets sewn all through the dress for her to put things like penicillin and ibuprofen in.

But she hadn’t gotten up the courage to make the jump yet.

Four different times she’d put on the dress for book club, all her pockets full of things that would be of a great help to her when she went back in time.

And every time she’d returned home, emptied her pockets, and continued in her day-to-day routine.

She put her face in her hands and took a deep breath.

There was no reason to stay where she was.

New York in 2022 wasn’t anything to write home about.

At least they were upstate, where there weren’t as many people packed everywhere, but without her friends, she still felt as if she was totally alone.

The next morning was book club again, and though she really wanted to go dressed in her Scottish dress and follow her friends, she also knew she’d chicken out again.

She sat for a moment thinking about it all and then picked up her phone and tapped the button beside Dr. Lachele’s picture in all her purple-haired glory.

“This is Dr. Lachele,” the cheery voice on the other end of the call said.

“Dr. Lachele, this is Alyssa. I keep going dressed to book club so I can go back to my soul mate and my friends, but I never have the courage to just do it. Would you come now so I can do it before I lose my courage again?”

Dr. Lachele laughed softly. “I’m on my way, snickerdoodle!”

“Can you come to my house?”

“Just text me the address, and I’ll be there!”

“Thank you.”

“Anything for you, snookums.” Dr. Lachele was always calling people by things that were not their names, but it didn’t seem to bother most people.

Alyssa hurried to her bedroom and got dressed in the Scottish dress that she and Holli had made together before her friend had disappeared into the past. She put on her shoes, which were covered by the dress, and thought about how she wanted to word her wish.

She wanted to be precise because there was a lot she was wishing for.

She hurried in Holli’s old office, where she’d written her books, and sat at her desk, reaching for a notepad and pen Holli always had at her side.

I wish…

What? Why couldn’t she write it out? She was sure she’d gotten the wish perfect when she was upstairs, and she just had to write it.

I wish to travel to my friends and my soul mate.

No, that wouldn’t work.

I wish to travel back in time to medieval Scotland to find my soul mate and be with my friends.

She read it over three times before nodding. Perfect.

Alyssa walked into the kitchen and grabbed some snacks she knew her friends would be happy to have. A bag of Dove chocolates, a bag of Cheetos, and a bag of potato chips. She knew the others had taken similar things back and she’d heard nothing negative.

She had filled her pockets with phones. Each one had games and books downloaded on it. And she took three solar chargers. She had no idea if her friends’ phones still worked or not. No reason for any of them to go without books.

When she heard the doorbell, she rushed into the foyer of the home she’d grown up in, and opened the door to Dr. Lachele, whose hair seemed to be glinting.

Alyssa looked once more before opening the door wide.

“Thanks for making a house call. I can’t seem to do this at the library where everyone else does. ”

“It’s no problem. Every time I see you, I feel bad because I can see on your face how very alone you’ve been without your friends.” Lachele looked sad. “Come here and give me a boobie bump.”

Alyssa didn’t have to be told twice. She was a hugger, and she thought the world of Dr. Lachele. “I miss them so much!”

“I know,” Lachele stroked her hair. “Let’s do this before you lose your nerve again.”

“Oh, I forgot Heather’s root beer!”

Lachele laughed. “I think she’d forgive you.”

“You do?” Alyssa frowned. “I’m not so sure.” She ran into the kitchen and got the bottle of Barq’s that was waiting in the refrigerator door. “Let’s do this!”

Alyssa picked up her note she’d written to herself. “I’m just going to read this aloud. It took me forever to figure it out.”

Dr. Lachele read the note and nodded. “That’s perfect for what you want. Now read it aloud, so I can work my magic. Just so you know, everyone always passes out when they go back.”

Alyssa frowned. “What if the wrong man finds me?” she asked.

“It’s never happened. It’s going to be fine. Remember, I do this a lot now.”

“It’s a strange thing to do, you know. No one sends their friends back in time to a different country to find the love meant only for them.” Alyssa still didn’t exactly trust the process, but it was still worth trying to see her friends again.

She read the note aloud and waited. It only took a few moments, and she was tumbling through time, passing out in a bed of grass beside a small lake.

*****

Kendrick McClain had finished training his brother’s men for the day, and he was taking a leisurely walk around the loch.

He had a cut on his shoulder that his grandfather needed to tend to, but he just wasn’t in the mood to go see his grandparents.

He didn’t know why, but he felt like he needed to be at the loch.

He was squatting at the edge of the lake, his muscles rippling, when he spotted a lass not very far from him. He walked to her and looked down at her. “Where are ye from, lassie?”

When she didn’t respond to him, he shouted for some help. The first people he saw were his twin brother, Bryson, and his wife, Holli. “Bryson, come quickly! This lassie looks hurt!”

Both Bryson and his wife ran toward him, Holli’s hand going to cover her mouth as she dissolved into tears.

“Should I get Grandfather?” Bryson asked, unsure of what all his brother had checked with the lass.

“No,” his wife answered, staring down at the body. “That’s Alyssa.”

The brothers had grown up hearing the names Alyssa and Holli. And one day Holli had appeared from the future and a place they called New York. And now here they stood over the Alyssa they’d always heard about.

Bryson slapped his brother on the back. “I think we’ve found ye a wife!”

Kendrick looked at the woman on the ground and back at his brother. “I didn’t make a promise to marry the next woman who came from the future, now, did I?”

Holli went to her knees to look at her friend, straightening her skirt and carefully trying to see if she was all right.

When Alyssa awoke a moment later, the first thing she saw was her friend. “Holli?”

Holli nodded, wiping a tear from her eye. “Don’t mind the tears. I hear that’s what happens when you’re expecting.”

“How long have you been here?” Alyssa asked, wondering how the time passed in the past as opposed to how it passed in the future. The question was already making her head hurt.

“Only about three months.” Holli took Bryson’s hand so he could help her to her feet. “Come on. Heather and Beth are going to be so excited to see you!”

“I know who Heather is, of course. Who’s Beth?”

“You have to see to believe.” Holli watched as Kendrick pulled her friend to her feet. “Are you dizzy at all?”

Alyssa nodded. “A little.”

Holli nodded. “That’s from the time travel. It’ll dissipate soon.”

Bryson looked at his brother. “Make sure she doesn’t fall.”

“And just how do ye think I should do that?” Kendrick asked.

“Either carry her or offer your arm to lean on.” Bryson had chosen to carry his love when he’d found her.

Kendrick looked at the tiny little girl beside him and he picked her up, cradling her to his chest.

“Put me down! I’m too heavy.”

Kendrick laughed at that. “I canna even tell I’m carryin’ ye.”

They walked to the keep, and Alyssa looked at Holli. “We’re going into the keep?”

“Yes, we are. My husband is the laird, so it’s perfectly fine.”

As soon as they were inside, Kendrick set Alyssa down in a parlor. Bryson nodded to his brother. “I’ll fetch Mother and Grandmother.”

Alyssa frowned. “I want to see Heather!”

Holli laughed, followed by Bryson and Kendrick. “Have patience, lass,” Kendrick said. “Do ye need some water?” he asked.

Alyssa shook her head. “No thank you. I just need to see my friend.”

It wasn’t ten minutes later that Bryson returned with two older women. It took only a few seconds for Alyssa to recognize the younger one was Heather. “How long have you been here, Heather?”

“Long enough to find the love of my life, have seven sons, and all of those sons to grow into adults.” Heather leaned down and hugged her friend. “You’ve been missed.”

The other woman, someone Alyssa had never met, stepped forward. “I’m from New York City, 2019. I was the first of the women Dr. Lachele sent back in time. My name is Beth, and I married a McClain man, who was the youngest son of the laird’s, and who could heal people with his touch.”

Alyssa blinked a couple of times, her eyes going to Heather and Holli for confirmation. When both women nodded, she struggled to understand. “How is that even possible?”

Beth shrugged. “There are family tales about how a woman of power married the seventh son of a seventh son. No one know how many seventh sons there were. Each time the seventh son, who had incredibly good luck, would inherit from his father. When he married a woman who could control the weather, all their seventh sons had some sort of power.”

“That’s…crazy!”

“I thought so at first too. But when my youngest son married your friend Heather here, her youngest son had the power to command animals.”

Holli nodded. “Yes, my Bryson can talk to animals and get them to do whatever he wants. It’s cool!”

“You all three believe this?”

“All five of us do,” Kendrick said. “Bryson is the youngest, and my twin brother. He can talk to animals.”

“What does your father do then?” Alyssa asked. No one had mentioned Heather’s husband quite yet.

“He’s what Mother and Grandmother refer to as an empath,” Kendrick said. “He feels others’ emotions.”

“You’re all crazy!” Alyssa said. She’d come back in time to learn her friends had been brain damaged.

An older man stepped into the keep then, going straight to the parlor. “Sorry, it took me a moment. I was healing a babe.” He looked at Alyssa. “Are you hurting anywhere, lass? I find that time travel leaves terrible headaches.”

Alyssa blinked a couple of times. “I do have a headache. Don’t worry, though, I have some Tylenol.”

Heather shook her head, laughing. “If you take Tylenol, your headache will come back in a few hours. Instead, why don’t you let my father-in-law heal you? The headache will truly be gone.”

“You’ve changed, Heather.”

Heather shrugged. “As a massage therapist, I’ve always been open to alternative healing forms.”

“May I?” asked the man standing over her.

Finally, Alyssa nodded, feeling cornered. When his hands covered her forehead, she realized the headache was simply gone. No medicine. The confusion was gone as well. But…what did that mean?

Alyssa looked at Kendrick. “What’s your superpower?”

Kendrick shook his head. “I’m a twin to the youngest, but not the youngest. I have no power.”

“So, you’re normal?” Alyssa asked.

The two other men in the room looked at each other, both chuckling. “I’m not ab normal,” Bryson said.

“Uh huh.” Alyssa shook her head. “I brought stuff,” she said.

“Please tell me you have a device with Candy Crush on it!” Beth said. “I need to play it, and my phone died oh, about sixty years ago, I think.”

Alyssa looked at the older woman. “You don’t look over sixty.”

“I have a husband who heals me from everything. Sometimes even from the aging process, I think.” Heather shrugged. “I just know I’m not aging as quickly as most of the women around me are.”

Kendrick looked at Alyssa and said, “My grandfather, father, and brother have all married women who have traveled from the past. I am the last unmarried McClain of an age to marry.”

“Are you trying to tell me I’m destined to marry you? Really? You must have a better line than that.”

Heather burst out laughing. “Don’t worry, son, she’s always a bit prickly when she doesn’t know someone well.”

“I can’t believe you have sons old enough to marry!”

Heather smiled. “I have five married sons and seventeen grandchildren between them.”

“No way!” Alyssa said, staring at Heather. “And Holli is going to have seven sons just like you?”

“Of course,” Beth said. “Anyone who marries the youngest in the family is destined to give birth to seven sons.”

“But I don’t have to have seven kids?” she asked.

Holli shook her head. “Even if you married a McClain, like Kendrick here, you wouldn’t necessarily have seven sons. You could even have daughters.”

“Neither of you have daughters?” Alyssa asked, looking between Beth and Heather.

“No, and we knew we wouldn’t,” Heather said. “I know it sounds strange, but it’s how the family works.”

“I wouldn’t mind having children if there was a chance of girls. And I didn’t have to commit to seven.”

Holli grinned at her. “I went through the same dilemma when I got here, but I knew what it entailed to marry Bryson.”

Alyssa looked at the man in front of her. Was he offering?