The sky had darkened outside of the little cottage, but the hearth cast a cheery, warm glow about the one room cottage. Richard proved to be quite the gifted storyteller, keeping them entertained with tales of romance and adventure long into the night.
Richard was surprised to find himself happier than he could ever remember being before. Once he had cast off the anger and jealousy that had held him captive for much of his life, he found that he could genuinely enjoy the company of others. Dylan and Maggie had accepted and welcomed him into their temporary home. He felt comfortable and at ease with them, in a way he hadn’t experienced even with those who had sworn to be his loyal friends. “This has been most enjoyable,” Richard proclaimed.
“It has,” Dylan replied.
“You have both been so welcoming and generous with what you have shared. If there is ever anything I can do for you, simply ask. I will be happy to be of service.” Richard poked at the fire and added more wood. The air outside had grown colder and the little cottage, while small and cozy, was not without drafts.
“I’m so happy ye decided to stay the night with us,” Maggie said. “I wish we were travelling together. Ye are verra good company.”
“As are you,” Richard agreed. “Unfortunately, we are headed in opposite directions. You head south, I believe you said.”
“Aye. We have something we must accomplish and then we’ll be heading back to the north.”
Maggie’s statement piqued Richard’s curiosity. “What must you do? Perhaps I can be of assistance and then we could travel north together?”
***
After Richard’s announcement, Maggie turned to gaze at Dylan with an unspoken question in her eyes. “I think it’s okay to tell him,” he said.
“Tell me what?” Richard asked.
“Well, ye see—Dylan and I—we know who ye are. We’ve heard stories about ye.” Maggie hesitated a moment, seeing the shocked expression on Richard’s face. “We’ve just travelled from the MacKenzie’s castle in search of a witch named Brielle. I must stop her before she destroys the MacKenzie clan.”
“I see,” Richard said. His face, which had been so happy moments before, had turned ashen on hearing this news. “Why didn’t you tell me immediately… that you knew who I was?”
“Well, based on what we’d been told, I wasnae sure at first whether we could trust ye. After getting to know ye a little better, I have to admit to feeling completely different. I understand that ye’ve done some things yer ashamed of. Haven’t we all? The point is, ye have changed for the better. Dylan and I both believe that now and Aunt Edna will be so pleased to hear it.”
“You’re Edna’s niece?” asked an astonished Richard.
“Yes, I am.” Maggie scooted closer to Dylan, who put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her close. You should also know that neither one of us is from this time. We’re both from the future.”
“That explains the accent,” Richard said to Dylan.
“Richard, we didn’t want to deceive you,” Dylan said. “You can surely understand our hesitation in telling you the truth at first.”
“I can. I completely understand and I’m not upset with you. I would have done the exact same thing in your position. I’ve no doubt you’ve heard some very horrible things about me.” Maggie tried to interrupt, but he held up his hand to stop her. “They were, for the most part true and I did it all without a care of the consequences for those affected by my actions. I was a despicable human being. I did whatever I had to do, to get what I felt was rightfully mine. Now that I look back on it, I can see clearly that Irene was never mine. She always held Robert’s heart close to her own. Through it all, I have to admit to feeling extremely lucky that no one was killed by my blind vengeance.”He lowered his head in shame. “The one person I need to apologize to, more than any other is Ashley. There is no excuse for what I did to her and I’m sure she will never forgive me. I had some very bad men in my employ. They treated her horribly and I allowed it, and then I added to that bad treatment, by being equally cruel. She was an innocent victim of my need to make Irene mine. When I think about what I did, it truly sickens me.”
“We’ll help you in any way that we can, Richard. It won’t be easy, but I’m sure they will at least listen to what you have to say.” Maggie strongly believed that Richard was telling the truth, relying on her gut instincts.
“Thank you, Maggie. Your kindness is most generous and that gives me hope that with time, others may see me differently. Perhaps I’m not as hopeless as I thought.” He smiled sadly at them. “You must let me help you with Brielle. After all, I am to blame for her presence among the MacKenzie clan.”
“I don’t think you can take one hundred percent of the blame, Richard,” Maggie suggested.
“You may change your mind about that when you hear my tale,” Richard said. “You do know that I’ve been to your future time, don’t you?” he asked.
Maggie nodded, “I do, but I don’t think Dylan was aware of that.”
“No. I didn’t know that,” Dylan added, appearing surprised to hear it.
“Well, I crossed the bridge through time and found myself in Glendaloch, where you’re from, Maggie. It was quite a shock to me, but I made the best of it, even after your aunt had me arrested.” Richard laughed remembering the experience. “I was eventually released for lack of evidence and when I was finally able to get back across the bridge to my own time, I was quite angry with your Aunt Edna and the entire MacKenzie Clan. I couldn’t wait to get my revenge on them for whatI perceived as their unjustified mistreatment of me.” Richard paused momentarily, gathering his thoughts. “Of course, now, I can see that everything they did was completely justified and I was deserving of everything that came my way.” Richard stood and stretched his legs. “But at that point, my only thoughts were of revenge. Upon my return, I met some time travelers in the woods—a man and woman. After a brief conversation, I understood that whiletheywere not sure of their final destination, I knew they were looking for Breaghacraig, and I travelled with them for a while as the man explained to me what he was after. We decided that he needed a potion, something that would put the men of the castle to sleep so he could rescue his wife from Cormac MacBayne,”
“That was Jonathan and Sophia,” Dylan said somewhat astounded by this news. “They were looking for my cousin, Jenna, who wasn’t his wife anymore, by the way. He lied to you.”
“I see that my behavior has affected you and your family as well, Dylan. I apologize,” Richard said, sounding deeply regretful.
“Go on with yer story,” Maggie prodded.
“I agreed to help this Jonathan by introducing him to a witch I knew who lived nearby. That would be Brielle. She provided him with the sleeping draught they needed and they went off on their way. I was planning to head back home to gather my men and to plot my next assault on the MacKenzies, when I thought I might be able to use this witch to finally get my revenge on them. I told her about my journey to the future and that a man, or woman could travel there and come back with information that might make them very rich, or that they might travel back in time to change their future. She knew of the bridge, but had never thought that it could be used to her benefit. It was at that moment she decided she had to have control of the bridge. Brielle and I spoke about it at length. We discussed your AuntEdna and then the MacKenzies. I knew that Edna would never want any harm to come to the MacKenzies and I expressed this to Brielle. She was convinced that she had a plan in mind that would work to get her the bridge and me the revenge I sought.”
