Connor looked as confused as Emmy felt. “I hae nae connection for him to find, auld mon. None but to ye.”
Donell rocked his head from side to side as he tended to when dithering. “Aye, well, in any case, Jameson’s been trying to rid the world of Hugh these past months. I suspect wi’ e’en the most tenuous connection, he will attempt to erase all of ye from time if he can.”
Now it was Hugh’s turn for befuddlement. “Rid the world of me? There hae been nae attempts on my life.”
“None as bold as his attempt to kill Laird, nay,” the old man allowed. “His days of subtlety are at an end, I fear.”
Emmy had come to know Hugh as one of the smartest men she’d ever met, and he proved it by making the connection while all of them were still staring blankly at Donell.
He turned to his wife with a wry smile. “Ah, ‘twould appear I’m no’ at all the most unlucky driver ever, Sorcha, my lass.”
“What? Why?” she blinked up at him bewildered.
Hugh glanced back at Donell. “Let me guess, ‘twas nae mere rock that shattered my windshield last month? Nor simple blow outs wi’ my tires?”
“He wanted it to look like an accident, so I wouldnae catch on ‘til it was too late,” Donell confirmed his theory.
Claire cried out and hurried to her husband’s side, and into his arms. “You are never driving again.”
“He wouldn’t need to,” Connor spoke up, his expression grim as he crossed his arms over his chest. “The car that nearly hit him the other day was nae accident, was it?”
“Oh, God!” Emmy slapped her hands over her mouth as the implication of everything that was going on hit her. “He’ll kill them all if he has the chance, won’t he?”
“I fear so,” Donell agreed.
“Why?” Emmy demanded. “Why is this so important to him?”
“Thewhysdinnae matter, lass.”
She begged to differ.
He interjected before she could protest. “Regardless, the time has come to send ye all home. Straightaway.”
“No!” Scarlett protested. “I will not go without my baby. Don’t even try to make me.”
“When then?” he scowled. “It maun be soon, lass.”
“Two days.”
“Och, ye could all be dead by then!” He threw up his arms. “Why do I e’en try?”
“Why do you?” Emmy pounced then. “Why is it all so important to you? The baby lived so Hugh could be born. We get that, but why?”
“So I could come here,” Hugh replied. “So I could come to this time and meet my Sorcha. I couldnae figure it oot at first, but I hae now. ”
“Ye always were a canny lad,” Donell nodded in approval. “I kent I made a good choice wi’ ye.”
“What?” Emmy wasn’t the only one to raise such a question. Similar ones echoed around her demanding an explanation.
But Donell had already moved on. “If Scarlett willnae leave, I can assume Laird willnae either, but we can get ye home, lass.” He turned to Emmy. “Ye and yer husband.”
“Why? Why do we matter?”
Rhys started laughing then, his hilarity in the moment grossly out of place. Emmy eyed him as he slapped his knee and threw back his head.
“What’s so funny?”
“Can ye no’ guess it?” Rhys looked around at the open puzzlement on all their faces. Glancing at Scarlett, he winked roguishly. “Och, ye might hae thought me the nice one, but ‘twould seem I’m the clever one as well.” His gaze shifted to Donell and he winked again. “What a convoluted game ye play, auld man. Pray, I ne’er find myself on yer game board.”
