“Like a princess!” Maisie crowed.
“My daughter is right,” Layla said with a sigh. “You look stunning. Reid isn’t going to know what hit him.” She walked over and hugged Abi. Abi returned the embrace, holding her friend tight. It was so good to have her here. A moment later, Maisie squeezed between the two of them, refusing to be left out.
There was a knock on the door and Abi jumped. “My God! Is it time already?”
“Relax,” Layla said, crossing to the door. “You’ve got this.”
She pulled the door open and Abi craned her head over Layla’s shoulder, expecting to see Martin standing there but her heart skipped a beat when she saw that it wasn’t Martin at all. It was a small, round old woman with gray hair in a bun.
Layla let out a little gasp of surprise. “Irene?”
Of course, Layla knew Irene too. It had been the strange old woman who had brought her to this time as well. Irene MacAskill smiled broadly, her eyes sparkling with merriment.
“Greetings, my dear,” she said cheerily. “It’s been a while hasnae it? May I come in?”
“I...um...yes, of course.” Layla stepped back, pulling the door wide, and Irene MacAskill swept into the room.
Abi had to force herself not to take a step back. The last time she had seen this woman had been when she’d given her a lift back in the twenty-first century. Now here she was in the fifteenth. It still defied belief and Abi struggled to process what she’d learned about this woman.
Not woman, she reminded herself.Fae.
“Well look at ye,” Irene said, coming up to Abi and squeezing her hands warmly. “Ye look a picture, my dear, ye really do.”
Abi said nothing. Unease shivered down her spine. Why was this woman here now? On the morning of her wedding?
As if sensing her thoughts, Irene said, “Dinna look so worried, my dear. Ye have naught to fear from me.”
“Don’t I?” Abi asked, finding her voice. “The last time we met you sent me back through time.”
“Did I?” Irene asked, a look of puzzlement crossing her wrinkled face. “Or did ye choose to do that yerself? I dinna remember sending ye anywhere, only giving ye a choice.”
Abi opened her mouth for a retort then snapped it closed. Talking to Irene was as frustrating as she remembered.
Irene cocked her head. “Did we not make a bargain? Did I not say that if ye chose to take the harder path ye would find what ye were looking for all along? And have ye not found it?”
The old woman was right. She’d been looking for Reid all her life without realizing it. Filling her life with busyness had only been her way of filling the void she hadn’t even realized was there.
“Well, you could have warned me,” Abi finished lamely.
“Could I?” Irene countered. “If I had done that it would have robbed ye of choice. That is what everything comes down to in the end. And I’m here to offer ye another. Do ye wish to go home, lass? If so, say the word and ye will be back on that road with yer car waiting for ye.”
Abi stared at her, stunned by the offer. Just like that? Irene could...what? Click her fingers and send Abi back to the future? She’d spent weeks wishing for nothing else when she’d first come to this time. Yet everything had changed now.
She drew herself up and faced Irene squarely. “Thank you for the offer but you already know the answer. I’m staying. This is where I belong now.”
The smile that broke over Irene’s face reminded Abi of the young woman Irene must once have been. “I’m glad to hear it, my dear. The Highlands are a better place for having ye in them.”
She turned away but Abi caught her arm. “Although,” she said, “there is something you might be able to do for me.”
Irene raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what’s that?”
“Could you get word to my brothers? Once they hear I’ve gone missing they’ll be frantic.”
Irene gave her a kindly smile and patted her hand. “Consider it done, my dear.” Then she walked through the door and pulled it shut behind her.
Abi stared at the closed door, trying to take in what had just happened.
Layla blew out her cheeks. “Well, that was unexpected.”
