Page 12 of Love Beyond Reach (Morna’s Legacy #11)

J erry

I laughed at the coincidence , not because I disbelieved her. After tumbling backwards through time and living with a witch for over a year, nothing should have surprised me.

I realized too late that my reaction angered Morna. With one quick flick of her wrist, the bonny lass extinguished the candles around the room, though it did little to darken the space around us. The sun was now up and shining through the small window behind her.

“Lass.” I stood and reached for her, grabbing both hands.

I lowered my head so she would look into my eyes.

“I believe ye. I dinna laugh because I thought ye were lying. I laughed because sometimes I canna believe the oddity of my life. Now, please, finish what ye started here on my face. I must look a frightful mess.”

She watched me carefully and eventually pulled away to move to the washbowl and blade. I resumed my seated position and awaited her touch. Her hands were gentle across my skin, and it took everything in me not to tremble at the light touch of her fingers.

“I canna see how ye thought it funny.”

I waited until she finished one long stroke down my cheek, then spoke.

“Aye, well, if ye’d lived the past year of my life, perhaps ye would see the humor in it—dark though it may be. Can ye do more with yer magic than extinguish fire? I’m in need of great help.”

I meant the question as a joke. If Grier had mentored her, the lass surely had great power, but as I watched her teeth clench, I fell silent.

“I…sometimes I can sense things that others cannot.”

Astonishment in my voice, I twisted to look up at her as I spoke. “Is that all? Surely, it canna be.”

Her next pull of the blade across my skin held more pressure than those before it. I could feel her anger in the way she held my chin.

“Did ye not hear me tell ye that my father sent Grier away from here? He doesna approve of magic. I’ve had no training in the use of my powers since I was twelve.”

Shaking my head as she cleaned the blade, I reached to feel the bare half of my face. I’d not shaved since before my tumble through time.

“I doona think I care for yer father. He’s allowed ye to become entirely useless.”

The blade dropped against the table with a loud clank before I realized the stupidity of my words. They were thoughtless and selfish and below me. No matter how desperate I was to return home, it was unforgivable for me to behave as if anyone owed me help.

I turned toward Morna slowly, expecting to see tears fill her eyes, or at the very least for her to rear back in shock.

Instead, I watched as a brief flicker of pain crossed over her eyes—pain she quickly masked with the expertise of someone well practiced at being on the receiving end of an insult.

It made me dislike her father even more.

My hateful words weren’t the first time this lass had been made to feel useless.

I couldn’t remember ever feeling so despicable.

Recovering quickly, she picked up the blade. While her voice was softer, she kept it steady.

“Aye, I know. Turn yer chair around so I may reach the other side of yer face.”

Unsure how to apologize without making matters worse, I silently stood and did as she asked. We remained silent for what seemed like ages as she worked on my face. Finally, as she pulled the blade across one last time, I spoke.

“I doona think ye are useless, Morna. I’m just a frustrated fool who has been away from home for far too long. I verra much wish for us to be friends. Forgive me.”

She stood behind me and said nothing as she reached around to brush the last bits of hair from my face.

The smile back in her voice, she patted my shoulders as she urged me to stand.

“There is nothing to forgive. Every word ye said was true. Now stand and introduce yerself to me. Ye no longer resemble the man I met yesterday.”

Brushing hair from my kilt, I stood and faced her. Her mouth fell open, and she paled.

“Do I look that bad, lass?”

While I knew I must look different, her response seemed strange. More than shock appeared in her expression. She looked deeply shaken.

Afraid she might fall, I reached forward and grabbed her hands to steady her. She pulled away immediately and backed to the other side of the room.

“Why is it that ye are always reaching for my hands? Ye are more familiar with yer touch than ye have a right to be.”

Smiling inwardly at her blush, my pulse quickened. She didn’t mind my touch, and the realization bothered her. While the lass was still very much a stranger, the complexity of her character intrigued me.

She carried herself with the maturity of women twice her age, yet sometimes she would do or say something that revealed how young she truly was.

“I’m sorry if I’ve offended ye, lass. ’Tis only that ye look quite troubled.”

She pointed to the seat behind me. Understanding her silent command, I turned the chair around once again and sat. The moment I was seated, she spoke.

“I need ye to tell me everything about yer relationship with Grier. Why was she helping ye? How did ye meet her? Alasdair canna help ye with this. Useless as I am, I am yer only hope.”

Her reminder of my thoughtlessness pained me, but I knew it best to say nothing else of it and answer the questions she’d asked of me. While the possibility of her being able to see me home seemed small, I knew it was the only option I now had.

“Ye may verra well not believe my story, but I beg ye to listen silently until the end.”

Agreeing with one small nod of her head, I continued.

“Lass, I canna explain what happened to me. I’ve yet to find anyone that can, but there is truth in every word I’m about to tell ye. I was not born in this century, not even in the next. My life, my friends, my family—they all lay in the twentieth century, some three hundred years in the future.”

Pausing, I searched Morna’s eyes but found her gaze unreadable. I continued.

“On the eve of my twenty-eighth birthday, I went to sleep inside my old farm house, content in knowing that come morning, I would have another long day of work ahead of me. I woke in the middle of the woods, far from my home, and entirely out of my time.

“I wandered for days until I reached a village outside of Creedrich Castle. It was only then that I truly began to realize the oddity of my circumstance. I believed I’d gone mad.

No modern means of transportation lined the streets.

No buildings resembled the town I knew from back home.

I hid silently amongst the people for the better part of a week, eating scraps where I could find them, listening in on every conversation I could.

Eventually, when I came to terms with the only reality I could imagine, I made a plan to ensure my survival.

“Even out of my own time, I knew that I could navigate Scotland. So I went to the laird to offer my services as a messenger. I hoped that by traveling I could find someone who could help me home. I dinna have to look far. ’Twas at the castle, I met Grier.”

For the first time since beginning my long tale, Morna spoke. “Did Grier work for the laird?”

I shook my head.

“No. The laird of Creedrich Castle, like yer father, fears magic. His wife doesna share his fear. Grier would often provide healing remedies to the lady of the castle in secret. The night I went to offer my services to the laird, Grier was sneaking away from the lady’s bedchamber.

“I said nothing to her that night and was hired on as a messenger like I hoped. ’Twas only after working at the castle for some weeks that I began to hear rumors of Grier’s work within the castle.

Eventually, I thought it worth the risk to seek her out and tell her my story.

She believed me immediately and offered to help me return home.

“In short time, Grier and I secretly moved in together as ’twas easier for us to work on possible spells and read through old spell books together. Grier worked night and day trying to find a way to send me home, but in the year I was with her, we found nothing.”

“Where were ye when Grier died?”

Memory of that terrible night still caused the breath to tighten in my chest. I couldn’t bear to think of my friend dying in such a horrible way, and the guilt I felt for not being there weighed on me every single day.

“I was away delivering messages for the laird. I know little of what happened. Only that I returned to find our home destroyed. When I made my way to the village, I was told that the laird found out about his wife’s friendship with Grier and attempted to banish her for witchcraft.

When she refused to leave, he set our home aflame.

Rather than abandon her home, she allowed herself to burn inside. ”

It was this that made my grief easier to bear. While I missed her, I couldn’t bring myself to forgive her for leaving me. Her pride sentenced me to a life out of time.

“I’m sorry.”

Morna’s small voice pulled me from my thoughts.

“Aye. ’Twas the darkest night of my life.

In my rage, I left Creedrich territory and traveled aimlessly for months seeking work and keeping an open ear for another with magic who might help me.

A fortnight ago, I crossed paths with yer brother’s messenger.

When I learned he sought Grier, I knew I needed to come to Conall territory.

I hoped that if ye all knew Grier, ye might know of a way to help me.

It seems I was right. Will ye help me, Morna? ”

Slowly, Morna walked across the room, never glancing in my direction as she spoke.

“I must think, Jerry. I’ll see ye this evening.”

Without another word, the only other person I’d ever told my tale to walked away. Her quick retreat was enough proof of her disbelief.

She thought me mad.

Dinner with her father was now more important than ever. I needed Morna’s help even if it took me years to convince her that my story was true. Work at the castle would keep me close to her.

I would stop at nothing to win the trust of Morna’s bastardly father.