Maeve spun on her heels and headed out the door.
“Wait,” Iain said.
Pausing on the threshold, Maeve looked over her shoulder and raised her brows. “Do ye want her to go?”
“Nay but let me go first. I dinnae want ye to scare them into leaving.” He looked at his old nanny. “Jannet?”
She got up, and Donal and Callum moved to join her.
“Nay,” Iain said to Donal. “Ye and Callum wait here.”
He didn’t want the two brutes standing over Abigail’s family. They would scare them more than his sister ever could.
Iain strode ahead of Maeve and Jannet, knocked on the door, and opened it without waiting for an answer.
“Iain,” Abigail said as soon as he stepped into the solar.
He ignored her family’s piercing gazes and pulled her into his arms, kissing her as if he would never taste her sweet lips again.
When they parted, Iain said, “I love ye. Would ye stay with me? Stay in my time?”
“I love you too. But would you come with me? We’d be safe in my time.”
Iain bent his head and shook it. “My duty is here. My honor would be lost if I were to forsake my sister and my people. My oaths bind me to my lands and people.”
“Then we’re at an impasse, then.”
“Aye.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and his heart ached at her forlorn look.
Had he done the right thing? He looked at his sister, who sent him a thankful smile. But Donal would make a good laird, and he would look after her. Would she hate him if he left her?
“Come on, Abby, we have to go,” Garrett said.
Iain put his arm around Abigail’s waist, not wanting to let her go.
“Not yet we don’t,” Maxine said, looking at the two Scottish women. She smiled. “Hi, we’re Abby’s family. I’m Maxine, this is Elizabeth, and the grumpy man is Garrett.”
“I am Iain’s sister, Maeve MacLaren, and”—she flicked her hand for Jannet to come forward—“Jannet here was our nanny, our parents’ friend, and now, our guiding hand.”
Jannet laughed. “Aye, I guide, and you go the other way.”
“Not all the time,” Maeve said. “I am here, am I not?” She turned to Maxine and Elizabeth. “I am glad to meet ye and would love to hear stories of the future.”
“You know?” Maxine asked.
“Aye, Jannet convinced us that it is true. Jannet, do ye want to show them their parents?”
“What?” Elizabeth spluttered. “You knew our parents?”
Jannet stepped forward and held out the picture. “Aye, they were constant guests of the late laird. But we haven’t seen them since the Laird passed.”
Maxine took the picture and gasped, Abigail hurried to look. She gazed at the picture and lifted her sight to Iain.
He smiled. “Is that them?”
Abigail nodded. “It’s Mom and Dad.”
Elizabeth stroked her fingers over the images. “ItisMom and Dad.”
