She hated this. The more she told him, the worse things got. It never failed. Anytime they allowed anyone into their complicated world, the individual just couldn’t grasp why a time runner would not manipulate things for the betterment of all concerned. More often than not, explaining their beliefs to an outsider was a deal breaker. An uneasy shiver ran through her, twisted her heart. She didn’t want this deal broken.
“The last leap is...” Trulie went silent, struggling to find the right words. This was just going to confuse him more. She stared off into space. “As a time runner ages, her ability to control a leap decreases. When she decides she has exhausted this lifeline...” Trulie paused again. The words just wouldn’t come.She wished she could just touch his hand and Gray would somehow instantly know everything she was struggling to explain.
How could she tell him that when a time runner took the last leap, it wasn’t as though she actually died? It was more like her soul broke free of this physical plane and ascended to a higher level—a better level, according to the tales passed down through the generations.
Trulie shrugged. “I guess you could say she leaves this life behind and jumps to the next adventure. She gets a new life—a new start.”
Gray shook his head and turned away. He didn’t look back as he spoke. “I have heard all the strange vagaries I can stomach for one day.” He lowered his gaze to the ground and barely turned his head in her direction. “Ye say ye canna save my mother and father from their terrible end, but ye see no harm in disturbing time to give yer grandmother a new life. Yer reasoning makes no sense.” With his fists clenched at his sides, he strode away and left the garden.
Sadness and regret filled her. She didn’t blame him for his resentment. He loved his parents and, knowing how they died, how could he not resent her for refusing to save them from that pain? It wasn’t fair and she knew it. But nobody ever said life was fair, and the gifts of her bloodline created a perplexing outlook on dos and don’ts.
She stared at her hands and traced her thumb along the lines of her palm. “I guess it’s a good thing we got this outbeforethe wedding,” she said to a nearby finch. The tiny bird cocked its head, beady black eyes studying Trulie as if it completely understood what she said. Its breast swelled with a polite chirp and then it flew away. A sad smile tugged at her mouth. Maybe the little bird wondered the same thing she did. Would there even be a wedding now that Gray fully understood what she was capable of doing and the complicated rules she followed?
She dipped her fingers in the cool water of the reflecting pool, frowning down at her troubled reflection. If Gray didn’t come around on his own, she would be forced to take drastic measures. She would turn him over to Granny.
CHAPTER20
Infectious merriment sifted through the trees as freely as the wind. Trulie stopped walking and listened more closely. Soft rustling of green leaves shuffling in the breeze. The light, gurgling of water trickling somewhere in the distance. “Come on, Granny. Laugh again so I can find you.” Where was she? Trulie had been searching for what seemed like hours.
Splashing water followed by a high-pitched squeal pierced the peacefulness of the woods. Trulie shook her head and turned to the right. Granny sounded like a schoolgirl on spring break. Last leap, indeed. Who was Granny kidding? The way she had been acting since they returned to the past—a good ten years younger at least—Granny wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Trulie gathered up her skirts and plodded through the trees. Her feet sank into the loamy softness of the forest floor. A thicket of brambles snatched at her sleeves as she shoved between a boulder and the silvery-gray trunks of young saplings. The higher she stomped up the wooded hillside, the madder she got. Granny should be at the keep. Sitting by the hearth. Sewing. Or sorting herbs. Or one of those other nice, calm sedate tasks that a woman Granny’s age was supposed to do.
Trulie huffed an irritating strand of hair off her nose. Another excited shriek pealed out a bit closer. “Good.” Trulie slapped at a midge buzzing around her face. She hoped Granny had enjoyed enough playtime today, because they needed to talk. Things were still uncomfortably tense with Gray. He just couldn’t seem to get past the fact that she refused to change his parents’ fate.
Trulie lifted her skirts up to her knees and moved faster. Granny would know what to do about Gray. Trulie smiled. Maybe Granny would grab him by the ear and twist it until he understood.
Water sloshed just beyond a fallen tree overtaken with sprouting vines. Trulie stopped and looked around. She recognized the outcroppings of limestone shooting up through the dark mulch of the forest floor. The pond where she had nearly drowned was just up ahead. Thank goodness she had chosen the lower path that was free of the deadly, shifting shale.
She wadded her skirts into a manageable bundle and draped them over one arm, sorely missing the ease and comfort of her blue jeans. Tromping through the woods with yards of cloth swaddled around her was more work than tromping through a field of dried cornstalks on the way to the barn. Trulie paused. Memories of the peace and quiet of the Kentucky woods filtered through her mind. Wonder if the girls were okay?She hadn’t connected with them through the fire portal in over a month. There just hadn’t been a good time.
A grim pang of homesickness mixed with the feeling of things lost and never to be seen again settled across her. Time traveling played hell with a girl’s emotions. She shook free of the melancholy and yanked her skirts into a tighter wad. With her free hand, she pushed around the pile of brush.
“Come to me, ye wee minx.” More splashing was accompanied by a deep rumbling chuckle. “Come within reach and I will show ye what happens when ye tease me with yer charms.”
Trulie froze. That did not sound like Granny.
“Oh no ye don’t, my fine man.” Teasing giggles drowned out more splashing. “If ye want me, ye have to come and get me.”
Trulie wrinkled her nose and backed up a step.Eww.That was Granny. And Tamhas. She had better hurry and let them know she was here before things got any more heated.“Granny!” she called out quickly. “Granny, I am right over here behind these bushes and I really need to talk to you.”
A mumbled expletive accompanied the sound of bodies thrashing in water. “Trulie, I am ... busy. Go away. We will talk later.”
Bullshit. Trulie took a hesitant step forward, taking care to keep her gaze glued to the ground just in front of her toes. She really did not want to see her own grandmother skinny-dipping with herboyfriend.Tamhas was a little old for that title, but the thought of any more sensual of description made Trulie want to gag. “I do not qualify water polo with your boyfriend as busy,” she snapped in response.
Granny’s chuckle echoed Tamhas’s amused snort. More water splashed. “This better be important,” Granny called out. “Come on, Tamhas. We better see what mess the children have gotten themselves into this time.”
“I am going to wait over in the clearing at the low side of the pond.” Trulie waited for an answer. None came. All she heard was splashing accompanied by low murmuring. “Did you hear me?”
“We heard you!” Granny’s tone clearly indicated she was not pleased with Trulie’s timing. “We will be there in a minute.”
Good. Trulie shoved back through the bushes. A narrow path of tramped-down leaves led off in the general direction of the clearing. Arrow-shaped indentations here and there in the soft ground hinted that deer followed the path as a regular route to water.
Pacing around the perimeter of the mossy clearing, she drummed her fingers atop her folded arms. What was taking them so long? She squinched her eyes shut and shook her head. No. She did not want to even imagine what was taking them so long.
Granny finally pushed through the bushes. Her eyes sparkled behind her wire-rimmed spectacles. Vibrant pink glowed across her cheeks. Her wet hair trailed down her back in a long silver stream. Trulie couldn’t recall a single time when Granny had looked so ... satisfied. She swallowed hard against an involuntary gag.
“Now what is so important it couldn’t wait until the evening meal?” Granny peered over the tops of her glasses while she smoothed back her long, wet hair and twisted it into a knot at the nape of her neck.
