Silent Vows (MacCoinnich Time Travel Trilogy 2)

The jury was still out on that.

She stepped back, her expression guarded. “You refer to her as Gwen Adams. Her real name is Grainna. She is centuries old, condemned to live her life in an old and virtually powerless body. She too is Druid. But evil. Evil beyond even your worst criminal in this time.” Myra moved to the window and refused to look at him. “I believe she followed Duncan and Tara back to my time and is there now trying to break her curse.”

“How does that involve you?”

“I am a virgin and Druid. The combination is what she needs to break her condemnation. ’Tis easy to assume Grainna is there. My mother had a vision that I would die if I stayed in my time.”

“You want me to believe you were sent here from the sixteenth century to avoid being a sacrificial virgin to some cursed old lady?”

She winced. “Believe what you like, I am simply telling you the truth. Tara was at risk from Grainna when she was here. Duncan and Fin were sent to keep Grainna from finding Druid virgins in this time.”

“So, what? All the missing women on the books have been sent back in time?”

“No, only Tara. There are few Druids left in this world.”

Todd went to his liquor cart and poured two fingers of the nearest open bottle. He downed it in one swallow then poured another. “Tara’s a Druid?”

“Aye.”

“That would mean that Lizzy is...”

“And her son Simon.”

“And does Lizzy know this?”

Myra shook her head. “I told her the day at the park.”

“Did she believe you? No questions asked?”

She trembled. “No, she has questions, but she is now open to hearing the answers.”

He had questions, but knew himself well enough not ask them, yet. If Myra was sucking him into her delusions, asking her for more crazy answers would only feed her madness.

Slowly Myra turned. “I told you I would reveal everything and I have.”

“Hummph.”

Myra had gone to bed hours earlier. Todd sat with a bottle of whisky and stared into the fire flickering in the night. Instead of chasing away the shadows overwhelming him, he kept picturing how the fire had been lit. He searched for every conceivable loophole in her story, struggled with her explanations and her examples. If he only believed half of what he witnessed, he had to believe she had some telekinetic ability. Mind over matter.

The fireplace could have been rigged, but the table? The remote?

Dammit! He couldn’t wrap his mind around what he saw, or how easy her explanations fit with the facts as he knew them.

Why did it matter? Why did she matter? Had she put some type of hex on him? Some Druid spell that left him dangling? Is that why she had burrowed under his skin to the point where he dreamed of her every night?

Todd prided himself on keeping women at arms’

length. He refused to allow anyone to get close as long as he worked the streets. It wasn’t fair to a woman to stay up all night worrying about his well-being. He remembered the long nights as a child when his mother waited anxious by the phone, waiting for his father to call. He promised himself he wouldn’t do that to another person. Ever. Yet here he was, all but living with Myra. She made him dinner every night, albeit mainly sandwiches, but he didn’t really care. She answered the phone when he called, wistful and happy to hear his voice. Now this.

He had a boatload of shit piled high on his doorstep.

Todd didn’t know what to believe.

He downed the Scotch, looked at the glass, and then let out a miserable laugh at the irony of his choice of drink.

Lizzy was over half an hour late. Holiday shoppers filled the crowded mall. Christmas carols blared through the speakers of each shop and courtyard. Harried parents pushed children around in strollers and dangled bags upon bags of merchandise. If it wasn’t for the sinking pit Myra felt in her stomach, she might have enjoyed all the sights and sounds. But with every passing child wailing in protest at being dragged into yet another store, Myra felt their agony as if it were her own.

Todd left early in the morning even though he wasn’t due to go to work. He didn’t leave a note or any word of what was going on in his head. She thought the worst.

Myra sat at the far end of the overstuffed mall, completely out of place, with no idea what her future would hold. Maybe Lizzy had decided against their meeting, against believing her story, maybe she’d avoid her just as Todd was doing.

With her head in her hands, she tried to block out the noise around her and concentrated on what to do next.

A huge swell of relief exploded when Lizzy sat down next to her, chatting away as if they were in the middle of a conversation. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic is a bear out there. I had to park a mile away.” Liz glanced her way. “Hey, are you okay? What happened?”

“I didn’t think you were coming,” Myra managed.

“I told you I would. Geez, get a grip,” Lizzy teased.

Myra’s laugh threatened to turn to tears.

“Man, there’s no need to cry. I’m not worth all of this.”

“It isn’t only you.” Myra sat a little taller, drawing courage she didn’t feel. “Todd doesn’t believe me.”

“Doesn’t believe what?” Lizzy hauled her bulging purse to her lap.

“Everything! Anything... Oh, I don’t know. He thinks I’m crazy.”

“Did you tell him everything?”

“Aye. All of it.”

“Did you show him your little...” Liz waved her hand in the air. “Gift?”

She nodded. “Now he won’t even look at me.”

“Oh. Well. It’s a lot to believe. Even for a boyfriend.”

“Boyfriend? What is that?”

“You know. Companion. Lover?”

Eyes wide, Myra shook her head. “It’s not like that. He isn’t a boyfriend.” She lowered her voice to a mere whisper. “We don’t...”

“Right.”

“No, really.”

“Has he kissed you?”

“Yes, but...”

“Are you sleeping with him?”

“No!”

“But you are living with him.” Liz smiled.

“Only because I had no other place to go.”

“But his opinion means something to you?” With a nod, Liz continued. “You told him absolutely everything?”

“Everything.”

“Then give him some time. If he doesn’t haul you off to the funny farm, then he believes you. Or he’s crazy about you. Either way you have nothing to be concerned about.”