Tears streaming, Emily gave a quick nod as she backed toward the door to the pub.“I will.”She lifted her hand.“Bye, Jess.See you soon.”
Jessa held her breath and blinked fast and furiously against the onslaught of tears as Emily disappeared into the pub.She slowly lowered herself to the bench, covered her face with her hands, and sobbed.Her friend was gone.She hadn’t felt this lost and abandoned since she was eight years old and hiding in the bathroom cabinet.
Strong arms gathered her up and held her close, gently swaying and shushing but wisely not telling her not to cry.Grant seated himself on the bench and settled her in his lap.But he didn’t speak.He was simplythere, silently giving his strength, his support, and his love.
With Emily gone, and Mairwen probably hiding, Jessa’s impossible to imagine emigration to eighteenth century Scotland suddenly seemed startlingly real.And she was married.And pregnant.And who knew how long it would be before she talked to Emily again?She unleashed a desperate, keening wail that startled the dog sleeping on the steps of the bakery.
The shaggy canine joined in with a heartfelt howl.
Grant never said a word.He held her, gently stroked her hair, and occasionally pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
The longer they sat there, the more shefeltthe depth of his patience, support, and undeniable love.Few other men would give her free rein to cry buckets, wail until the village dogs howled, and snot all over them like a toddler.This was most assuredly the definition of true love.
She fished in her cleavage for the ever-illusive square of linen that would never effectively take the place of a gorgeous cardboard box of facial tissues—or at least as far as she was concerned, it wouldn’t.She wiped her eyes, blew her nose, and silently told herself to get it together before she cried herself into a case of the hiccups that would rapidly devolve into a puking session.That was too much to ask of anyone, no matter how much Grant said he loved her.
After another loud blowing of her nose, she pushed herself out of his lap, shook out her skirts, and squared her shoulders.“I am sorry.”
With an endearing tip of his head to one side, he studied her.“For what, my love?”
She arched a brow at him.“You knowfor what.”
He rose from the bench, wrapped an arm around her waist, and hugged her to his side.“While ye might find this difficult to believe, I would say ye’ve handled these past few days with courage and grace.”He brought her around to face him and tipped her face up to his.“Ye are a rare woman, Jessa MacAlester, and I am proud to call ye mine.”
“I have always felt like I was missing something,” she said.“But I don’t feel that way anymore.”She rested her hand on his heart, its steady thump against her palm, calming her jumbled emotions into a manageable bundle of chaos.“Em told me her great-great-grandmother gave up her Weaver lifespan because she couldn’t bear the thought of living without her fated mate, who only had the short lifespan of a mortal.Once upon a time, I never would have understood why, but now I do.”
He covered her hand with his, then lifted it to his mouth and kissed each of her fingertips.“Are ye ready to go home, my own?”
“Aye.”
* * *
Mairwen watchedJessa and Grant from the window of one of the upstairs rooms of the pub.A sense of completeness settled over her, and in the ether, she picked up on the joyful, humming glow of the Highland Veil.“We did well,” she told Keeva.“Even though this time was fraught with challenges.”
“Are ye all right, Mairwen?”the apprentice gently asked.“The goddesses spoke to us through the knowing.They told us of yer son.”
“Was it Cerridwen or Bride’s voice traveling through the collective mind?”Mairwen had hoped to mourn Valan privately for a while before having to deal with the other Weavers’ pity.
“It was Danu,” Keeva whispered.“It is the first time I have ever heard the mighty one’s voice.”
“Life goes on, Keeva.Always remember that.Life goes on, and our duty to the Highland Veil never ends.”Mairwen didn’t have the emotional strength to explain about Jessa and Grant’s twins, Morrigan’s loss of her son, or the need for them to consider all Jessa had suggested when it came to making Seven Cairns a meeting place for the estranged friends and loved ones of the fated mates across the realms of time and realities.
She was weary.Morrigan, the vile sister whom she had never quite found the strength to love, had come close to winning this time.That could never be allowed.And in her usual backhanded way, Morrigan had warned them of the others: Beira, Carman, and her sons, and many more.Mairwen closed her eyes and tried to shut out the names of all those from the darkness, those who sought to destroy the Veil.
“Did Emily pass through the curtain with no issue?”she asked Keeva to force herself to think of other things.“Has she returned to her appropriate time?”
“Aye, Mairwen.”Keeva leaned closer to the window, smiling down at Grant and Jessa.“Ishbel said she was a quick one.She’ll make a braw Spell Weaver.”
“Has Bedelia found Emily’s mate yet?”
“No.But she feels he is close.”
“Very well.”Mairwen shooed the girl away from the window and pointed at the door.“On wi’ ye, aye?Go help Lilias with her latest delivery or find Ishbel and see if she needs any help with Emily.I am going to stay in this time a bit.And rest.”
Keeva gave her an understanding nod.“Peace to ye, Mairwen.”
“Peace to ye as well, my child.”
Epilogue
