Page 36 of Awakened By Time

“Brenna, let me tell Helene about Zeke,” Dougall said.

“Why?” Brenna asked, stopping to wait for Dougall’s reply.

He turned to look at her. “Brenna, there are some things that ye dinnae ken and I’m nae sure how to tell ye.”

“What things?” She now stood hands on hips impatiently waiting. “Say what ye need to say.”

“Och! Yer nae going to believe this, but ye’ll come to find ’tis true. Did ye nae think there was something different about Zeke?”

“Aye. He speaks differently for one thing. He’s the laird of some place I’ve never heard of before. Is that what ye mean?”

“Laird?” Dougall sounded confused.

“Aye. He told Da that he was the Laird of San Francisco. Da was most impressed.”

“Interesting. I imagine he was.” Dougall took a deep breath and let it out. “Brenna, do ye believe in time travel?”

“Nae. ’Tis a crazy thought.”

“’Tis what I once thought, but ’tis true. I’ve done it, Brenna. I’ve time traveled and so has Helene. When ye helped her to leave Castle Treun, she wandered through the countryside for some time before a witch sent her to the future.”

Brenna tried not to appear too shocked by this news, but she could tell from the way Dougall was looking at her that it wasn’t working. “Go on.”

“Well, while Helene was there, she met a man named Zeke Barrett. He took her in and she lived with him until I traveled through time with Logan to find her.”

“Yer speaking of me Zeke, arenae ye?” She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her belly.

“Aye. He was Helene’s Zeke at that time. He was verra good to her and he took good care of her. I believe he loved her, but he knew that she and I were meant to be together and so he sent her back to me.”

“Do ye think he still loves her?” She felt as if she’d been punched in the gut.

He shrugged his shoulders. “’Tis why I want to be the one to tell Helene. I dinnae wish her to be shocked to hear the news, ye ken?”

“I won’t say a thing,” Brenna assured him.

“Thank ye. She’ll be pleased to have ye stay here with us.”

“Ye dinnae believe she’ll be angry with me?” Brenna felt incredibly guilty about the treatment Helene had received at the hands of her family. The last time she’d seen her was the night she helped her escape the dungeon. Brenna couldn’t help but fear that Helene might not want her here. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like here if she received the same treatment she’d received from Greer and Gillian, but perhaps she deserved it

“Nae. Helene is the sweetest woman. She’ll welcome ye with open arms.”

“I’m sorry for everything that happened to her at Castle Treun. Truly I am.”

“Ye can tell her that if ye like.”

Dougall placed his arm around her shoulders and they continued down the road. Brenna’s mind wandered to thoughts of Zeke. He was from this other time. She’d had hopes that Zeke would take her home to his castle with him, but now that she’d found he was from a different time in the future, she could only wonder about this place he was from. She wondered what it looked like there. Did he live in a castle? She had so many questions.

“It may take me a while to get used to this time traveling story ye’ve told me.”

“’Tis nay a story, Brenna. ’Tis the truth.”

“What is it like? The future,” she asked.

“’Tis full of wonderous things,” Dougall responded.

“Why did ye nae stay?”

“I dinnae believe I belonged there. This is me home. ’Tis where I am meant to be.”