Page 23 of When I Fall in Love (De Piaget #4)

N icholas walked into his sister’s hall just as she was sitting down to her morning meal. He’d chosen his father’s fastest, most uncontrollable horse and he supposed he wouldn’t have been undeserving of a bucking off, but fortunately giving the beast his head had resulted only in blistering speed. It was so quick that he’d made what was normally a three-hour journey in less than two.

He thought he just might have to buy that horse from his sire.

Amanda looked up from her breakfast in surprise. “Nicky,” she exclaimed joyfully. She jumped up from the table, then ran around the end of it and threw herself into his arms.

Nicholas held her tightly, then set her down and kissed her soundly.

“You look wonderful,” he said. “Motherhood suits you.”

And it did. Amanda was easily one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. Not only were her features flawless and her eyes a most mesmerizing shade of greenish blue, she had fire and wit and spine to match any man. Being wed had only enhanced all her charms. Jake Kilchurn was a fortunate man.

Then again, Jennifer was just as lovely in a mesmerizingly different way. He could only imagine what being wed would do for her. Was it too much to want to see the truth of it for himself?

Amanda took his hand and pulled him around the table. “Jake is changing Rose, but he’ll return shortly. Come and sit. Why are you here so early?”

“I need speech with your husband.”

Amanda urged him down into the chair next to her and looked at him in surprise. “Indeed? But why?”

“You may listen as well and then you’ll know.”

“I can scarce bear the wait,” she said, pushing her trencher and cup in front of him. “Here, you had best eat, so you won’t faint before you spew out your tale.”

He had a long, desperately needed drink, then looked up as Jackson Alexander Kilchurn IV came into the hall, cradling his year-old daughter in his arms as if he held the Holy Grail itself.

Jake looked at him in surprise. “Nick,” he said easily. “What brings you here?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Really? About what?”

Amanda took Rose from her husband. “He’s being mysterious. I imagine we won’t hear anything until he’s eaten.”

“Likely not,” Nicholas agreed. “Lovely porridge, this.”

“Some things never change,” Amanda noted.

Nicholas nodded, but applied himself to his sister’s meal. He did periodically look not only at his sister but at her daughter as well.

“Rose is,” he said, between swigs of ale, “a spectacularly beautiful babe. Well done, Mandy.”

Amanda looked down at her daughter. “I’ve had her less than a year, but I cannot imagine life without her.” She looked at Jake. “Think you?”

“I think you’re both magnificent,” Jake said with a smile. “A luckier man doesn’t exist on the face of the earth.”

Nicholas sat back with his cup. “Stop,” he groaned. “You’re making me dizzy with those looks of love.”

Amanda cuffed him smartly. “Should I not love him?”

“You should,” Nicholas said frankly. “I think I might love him as well after he answers my questions.”

“Then I can hardly wait to hear them,” Jake said with a smile. He gave Amanda a calculating look. “Should I torture him first before I tell him what he wants to know? Is there anything you want from him?”

“His happiness,” Amanda said without hesitation. She studied Nicholas for a moment or two, then shook her head. “Perhaps you shouldn’t torment him, my love. He looks distressed enough.”

“You have no idea how true that is,” Nicholas said grimly.

“Is it love?” Jake asked.

Nicholas hesitated, then shot Amanda a brief look. “It might be,” he admitted.

“The saints be praised!” Amanda exclaimed, then leaned over and kissed his cheek. “It is far past time. Did one of Grandmère’s lassies catch your eye? She had best be a good one, Nicky, or I won’t give you permission to wed with her.”

“Nay,” Nicholas said slowly. “Not one of Grandmère’s lassies.”

“Who then?” Amanda asked. “And why do you need Jake?”

“I’ll answer both at the same time.” He looked at his brother-in-law. “Might we repair to your solar? I fear both the questions and the answers require privacy.”

“Should I fetch more food for a long parley?” Jake asked.

“Likely so.”

“Then go stoke my fire and I’ll bring along a hamper,” Jake said. “Cook is particularly skilled, you know.”

“He would have to be,” Nicholas said with a snort, “given your wife’s inability to keep from burning everything she touches.”

“I seem to withstand it,” Jake said mildly.

“I wasn’t talking about you , dolt,” Nicholas said, “I was talking about your food.”

Jake looked at Amanda. “He has insulted your skill in the kitchens. Shall it now be torture?”

“It should be,” Amanda said with a laugh, “and it would be if it weren’t true. ’Tis a good thing you didn’t wed me for my ability to keep from burning your stew.”

“I married you for a whole host of other reasons, which I will be happy to list for you now if you like—”

Nicholas groaned and heaved himself to his feet before he had to listen to anything else. He’d heard enough of that sort of talk during their sickeningly sweet courtship and revolting first year of marriage, a first year he’d been forced to watch from close range as he and Petter had worked on their keep. He couldn’t say he’d been particularly happy that Jake had wed Amanda, though he had been resigned. But watching the man woo his sister from dawn to dusk even after they’d been wed had almost been too much to bear.

If he managed to wed Jennifer McKinnon, he would make certain they had some privacy.

He retreated to Jake’s solar and built up the fire. He cast himself down on the least comfortable chair, but even that one wasn’t bad. He would know, given that he’d built all Jake’s chairs himself. He shook his head. The things he had done for his sister.

It wasn’t long before Jake and Amanda joined him. Amanda sat down before Jake’s fire, turned her back to them and started to nurse her daughter. Nicholas winced.

“Must you do that?”

“She’s hungry and I’m being discreet.” She looked at him over her shoulder. “Besides, she won’t be long. Close your eyes for a minute or two.”

“Perhaps that’s a good idea just in general,” Jake said with a smile. “Then you won’t have to watch me smirk at you if your questions are ridiculous.”

Nicholas bowed his head and blew out his breath. Then he leaned his elbows on his knees and looked at his brother-in-law.

“I need help.”

“Wait,” Amanda said, “please don’t start this now. Give me a quarter of an hour. Couldn’t you speak of something unimportant until Rose finishes?”

Nicholas sighed. “I suppose I could take a nap.” The saints knew he needed it. He hadn’t slept more than a pair of hours the night before. Spending the previous day holding Jennifer McKinnon in his arms had been too much for him. Of course the fortnight had been his idea, but he had begun to wonder about the advisability of it. Fourteen days with her in his arms, then to lose her?

He’d decided in the middle of the night that he had no choice but to find out what Jake knew. At least he would have the knowledge to hand if he needed it.

He couldn’t help but wish he wouldn’t.

“Jake, play chess with him.”

“Nick?” Jake asked.

Nicholas looked up, remembering where he was. “Of course, if you like.” He waited until his brother-in-law had set up the game pieces Rhys had given him, then rose and went to sit at the board. He attempted to play with his usual canniness, but found it impossible. Jake bested him quickly, then sat back in his chair and let out a low whistle.

“You are in trouble.”

“I am,” Nicholas agreed.

“Then toddle feebly back over to your chair. I’ll put this stuff away.”

Nicholas scowled at him, but went to sit back at Jake’s table. He watched his brother-in-law put away the chess pieces and return to his seat. He tried not to think overmuch about the questions he had to ask, or the answers he feared to have.

The saints pity him, he was in trouble indeed.

“All right,” Amanda said suddenly, turning back around with her sleeping daughter in her arms. “I’m ready. Tell us everything.”

Nicholas put his hands on his knees for a moment, then rose. He paced about the solar for several minutes until he thought he could bear up under the ridicule he was just certain would be heaped upon his head. And he would deserve every moment of it. He had mocked Jake the entire time he’d been working at the man’s keep. Snorts, eye rolls, noises of disgust—he’d indulged in all fully every time any mention was made, however slight, of Jake’s past or his home.

In 2005.

He finally stopped and sat down. He looked at his sister’s husband.

“I apologize,” he said.

Jake likely couldn’t have looked more surprised if Nicholas had sprouted wings, donned faery attire, and begun to hover in the air.

“What?” Jake asked, clearly stunned.

Nicholas felt his lips tighten of their own accord. “I apologize.”

“For what?”

“For disbelieving you,” he said.

“For disbelieving me about what?” Jake asked, looking rather confused.

“For disbelieving you when you said you had traveled back in time from the Future!” Nicholas bellowed. He gritted his teeth, then took another deep breath. “Sorry.”

Jake sat back in his chair. He still looked rather shocked. “Well, thank you. I think.” He shot Amanda a look of surprise, then turned back to Nicholas. “And you rode all the way from Wyckham at this unearthly hour to tell me this?”

“I rode from Artane.”

“Whatever.”

There was that word again. Someday he would have to master its use. He pursed his lips. “Nay, I didn’t come just for that. That is but my opening move.”

“I can hardly wait for the others,” Jake said, wide-eyed. “Please go on.”

Nicholas leaned forward and looked at Jake earnestly. “I need advice.”

“But not wooing advice.”

“Well, actually, aye, I might need that as well. Advice and ... directions.”

“Directions?”

“To a time gate that works.” Nicholas paused. “The one you used, actually.”

Jake sat back in his chair. He tried to speak several times, but each time words seemed to fail him. He looked at Amanda, looked back at Nicholas, then shook his head as if he thought he was losing his mind.

Nicholas understood completely.

Jake finally put his hands palm down on his table. “Why the hell for?”

“Aye,” Amanda agreed. “Why would you want to know that?”

Nicholas jumped up again and began to pace.

“He’s pacing again,” Jake said in a loud whisper.

“Then it must be truly grave,” Amanda agreed in an equally loud whisper.

Nicholas came to stand behind his chair. He clutched it and looked at Jake.

“I met a woman.”

“Congratulations.”

“Nay,” Nicholas said impatiently, “not that kind of woman. I met your kind of woman. A woman from the Future.”

Jake frowned. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that I met a woman from the Future! By the saints, man, how much clearer can I be than that?”

“How would you know?”

“Because I spent a bloody year listening to your madness,” Nicholas snarled, “and I knew what to look for.”

“Hmmm,” Jake said, but he looked skeptical. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure!” Nicholas realized he was bellowing yet again, but he was hard-pressed to do anything else. He took a deep breath. “Aye. I’m sure and I need directions to your gate so I can give them to her.” He paused. “Eventually.”

Jake looked at him in astonishment for several moments, then shut his mouth with a snap. “Why don’t you tell me everything.”

Nicholas walked around his chair and cast himself down into it. “Montgomery saw her spring up from the grass.”

“She could be a faery,” Jake pointed out.

Amanda laughed. “Jake, you’re terrible.”

Nicholas gritted his teeth and dredged up a goodly amount of patience. “And to think I apologized. I take it back. You deserved every moment of irritation I provoked.”

Jake laughed. “I’m messing with you, Nick.” He poured a cup of wine and slid it across his desk. “Drink that, then tell me what happened.”

Nicholas drank. Then he took a deep breath.

“I rescued her from Ledenham. He was kindling a fire and preparing to put her to the test of witchcraft.”

“So?” Jake said. “A little bonfire doesn’t make her a time traveler.”

“It does when she was wearing ... jeans,” Nicholas said.

Jake lifted one eyebrow. “Oh,” he said.

“Aye, oh,” Nicholas agreed. “She spoke in some strange tongue, but she also spoke Gaelic. Had I not noticed her clothes and known whence they came, I might have thought her a Scot.”

“Go on.”

“I rendered Ledenham unconscious—”

“Painfully, I hope,” Amanda put in.

Nicholas smiled briefly. Amanda had her own reasons for detesting the man and he was happy to be able to tell her of a goodly revenge taken. “Aye. I imagine I broke his nose.”

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure. And after I meted out that well-deserved bit of revenge, I listened to the maid thank Montgomery kindly in Gaelic for the rescue, then hurry back to a particular patch of ground and stand there—as if she expected something to happen.” He paused. “Nothing did, of course. When I saw that she wasn’t going to be successful, I had Montgomery offer her the hospitality of Wyckham.”

Amanda laughed. “If she is still wanting to keep company with you after that, then she must love you truly. Does your roof still leak?”

“My roof collapsed,” Nicholas said grimly, “but that is a tale for another day. Jennifer tried the abbey gate a fortnight later, without my aid, which I regret still, and ran afoul of Ledenham again.”

“And he ran afoul of your fists again?” Amanda asked hopefully.

“Nay, he fell into a pit of his own making—and that pit was the cause of her trouble.” He looked at Jake. “The ground where her gate had lain was dug up. I think it destroyed whatever portal was there. Do you agree?”

Jake considered for a moment or two, then shrugged. “I have no idea. I suppose that the ground being disturbed might have ruined that particular gate.”

“She tried others, but they didn’t work, either.”

“Did your Jennifer—and that isn’t exactly a medieval name, is it—tell you what she was trying to do, running around to all these places?”

“Nay, but I knew just the same.” He flashed Jake a look. “Having listened to you for so long, of course.”

“Really,” Jake said with a twinkle in his eye. “How interesting. And now? Are you going to take her to my gate?”

Nicholas sighed and looked down at the floor. Then he lifted his head. “As I said, I will tell her about it. Eventually.”

“And?”

“And hope to hell she won’t wish to use it.”

“Ah,” Jake said, sitting back. “I see.”

“Do you love her?” Amanda asked seriously.

He looked at her. “Would you mind?”

“Only if she isn’t spectacular.”

Nicholas had wondered, on his way north, if telling Amanda that he was in love with someone else would grieve her. Then again, she had wanted that for him, so perhaps there was nothing to be done about it. He nodded seriously.

“She is.” He paused. “Do you mind, in truth?”

“Nicky,” she said softly, “I have only ever wanted your happiness. I will love you always, which you know, but this is as it should be.” She flashed Jake a brief smile, then looked back at him. “I’m happy for you.”

Nicholas let out a breath he realized he’d been holding for quite some time. “Thank you, Mandy.”

“Fool,” Amanda said affectionately. “You know I wouldn’t begrudge you happiness.”

“I know,” he said quietly, “though you certainly have reason to.” He took a deep breath, then turned back to Jake. “Can you give me directions?”

“I can,” Jake said. He paused. “You know, I wonder if it might be wise to write them down at some point.”

“Never let Montgomery find them,” Amanda said dryly. “We’d never see him again if he did.”

Nicholas wanted to laugh, but he suspected Amanda was closer to the truth than any of them wanted to acknowledge. “Just tell me where to go and I’ll remember.”

“Does your Jennifer know you know she’s from the Future?” Jake asked.

“Nay,” Nicholas admitted. “I daresay she wants to tell me, but I forced her to agree to a fortnight with no conversation about anything serious. I’m hoping that by the end of that time, she’ll love me enough to want to stay.” He looked at Jake earnestly. “ ’Tis possible, isn’t it?”

“I’m living proof,” Jake said. “But, then again, your sister was the prize.” He looked at Nicholas with half a smile. “You’re not chopped liver, either, I suppose.”

“Chopped liver?”

“Nick, my friend, there are a few words you have to learn in modem English if you’re going to live with a Future girl.”

“Like wow?” Nicholas asked.

Jake smiled. “Did she say that? When?”

“After I kissed her.”

Jake laughed. “Then perhaps you aren’t chopped liver after all. And yes, I’ll give you directions and some wooing ideas. You’d probably better plan on staying awhile, though, because I’m sure you’ll need lots of the latter.”

“I can only stay the afternoon,” Nicholas said, “and I don’t need that many wooing ideas. I brought the Black so I’ll still be home before nightfall.”

“The Black?” Amanda said, her ears perking up. “Is he as fast as he promised to be?”

“Faster. I was here in two hours.”

“Is he still saddled—”

“Forget it,” Jake said, reaching out to take hold of her free hand. “You will not ride that horse.”

Amanda looked at him with one raised eyebrow. “I won’t?” she asked archly.

“Please, Amanda,” he said very evenly, “please do me the courtesy of not leaving me with a baby to raise on my own and years to spend without indoor plumbing and a wide-screen and your own exquisite face to admire endlessly by getting on a horse that should be shot, riding off where I can’t catch you, then dashing your brains out against a rock when that damned horse throws you.” He paused. “Please.”

Amanda winked at Nicholas. “He loves me.”

“So I see.” He sat back and smiled. “So I see.”

I n fact, he saw several things that afternoon. Jake sketched for him several Future marvels that Nicholas had snorted at over the past year and a half. He watched, with a new and friendlier eye, the love that flourished between his sister and her husband. And he held their daughter and understood why Robin was so full of fine humors.

He wanted the same for himself.

He stayed longer than he’d meant to, simply because he found for the first time that he was enjoying the warmth of their family. The sun was setting as he took his leave. He walked with Jake and Amanda out of their great hall, then paused on the steps below them and considered. His brother-in-law was a tremendously talented artist and goldsmith. While he hadn’t wanted any of Jake’s creations when Jake had offered them to him before, he wanted one now.

“Would you make me a ring?” he asked.

Jake smiled. “Of course. What is her coloring?”

“She has flaming hair and sparkling green eyes. I’ve no skill with jewels and such. Make it how you see fit.”

“Such confidence,” Jake said with a grin.

“Aye, well I had none in you before and I apologize. Again. At least I gave you horses for your wedding gift.”

“Very fine ones indeed,” Jake agreed.

“Let’s breed the bay mare with the Black,” Amanda said, elbowing Jake in the ribs, “and see what comes of it.”

“Never,” Jake said pleasantly, putting his arm around her.

He paused. “Well, all right, if you like. I suppose I can’t keep you safe from everything, can I?”

“I’ll be careful,” Amanda assured him. She looked at Nicholas. “You be careful as well. Don’t fall off on the way home.”

“I won’t.” Nicholas turned to Jake. “I think you just might be worthy of my sister.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because you didn’t smirk once.”

“I will once you’re gone.”

Nicholas smiled and for the first time felt a feeling of affection for the man. He gave him a manly hug, hugged his sister so tightly she squeaked, then kissed his niece. He left with their promise to come south at the end of his fortnight.

He’d learned what he’d expected to learn, which did nothing to put his mind at ease. There was indeed a way for Jennifer to get home. He supposed Amanda was lucky she hadn’t known what Jake was giving up. Nicholas wished he didn’t. He didn’t lack confidence, but he had to wonder if he might be worth it to her.

A fortnight, he reminded himself. Jennifer agreed to cease thinking on the Future for a fortnight. He could do the same. He would put his knowledge of the gate aside and concentrate on wooing her in lavish, medieval fashion.

And then he would tell her that he loved her, and that he wanted her to stay, but that he knew a way she could return home.

But he did not look forward to that moment.

He kicked the Black into a gallop.