He took her hand and led her from the room, careful to close the door to keep Rodric out of sight. He led her to the bathroom and opened the door.
She gasped in relief and joy to find Rory sitting inside. He crossed his arms and scowled at her. “Oh! You found me!”
She was suddenly laughing and crying at the same time. “Yes, I found you,” she said. “Come here and give me a hug.”
Rory threw his arms around her. Maddy pulled him close. She squeezed her eyes tight shut, barely able to stop the tears of relief flooding from beneath her eyelids.
Deryn stepped up behind her. His strong arms circled both her and Rory and he rested his chin on her shoulder. She leaned into him, allowing his presence to soothe her like nothing else could. For the first time since they’d left his farm, she felt safe. If they could stay in this moment forever, just the three of them, she would be happy.
“Police! Open up!” An almighty hammering sounded on the outer door and it suddenly crashed open. Several police officers came spilling into the hallway, all wearing high-viz jackets.
“We got a call about a disturbance,” one of them said.
“That was me,” Maddy said. “A man called Rodric MacKay was holding me here against my will. He also kidnapped my son.”
The police officer looked at Deryn who was standing protectively in front of Maddy so she quickly added, “Not him. He came to my rescue. You’ll find Rodric MacKay in the next room. He shouldn’t give you too much trouble.”
The officer nodded. “Wait here. We’ll need to speak to all of you.”
The officers opened the door and slipped into the bedroom, one of them taking out a radio and talking into it. A moment later a groggy-looking Rodric MacKay was led out in handcuffs. He didn’t even look up as he shuffled past them.
“It’s over isn’t it?” Maddy said to Deryn. “There must be enough CCTV in this place and at Rory’s school to send him to jail for a long time.”
“Aye,” Deryn replied, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “I’ll wager when Rodric MacKay was planning his future, rotting in a twenty-first century jail cell never even entered his mind.”
Maddy smiled. “It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
Deryn’s expression grew serious as he turned to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Ye canna imagine my terror when ye were taken from me,” he said. “I felt as though my heart had been torn right out. I dinna think I could survive that again. I canna be without ye. Withouteitherof ye. I dinna care whether it be in this time or my own, but I want ye both with me. Always.” He cupped her face in his hands. “Will ye marry me, Madeleine?”
Maddy’s breath left her.In this time or my own. Will ye marry me?
Had he really just spoken those words? Had this wonderful, kind, strong man really just said what she thought he had? Surely not. She must be dreaming.
But the warmth of Deryn’s hands against her face was all too real, the nearness of him all too present for this to be a dream.
“You...you would do that for me?” she said at last, her voice a choked whisper. “You would stay in the twenty-first century for me?”
“I would do anything for ye, Madeleine. Anything.”
She swallowed. “Then yes. A hundred times yes!”
Deryn let out a whoop of delight, picked her up and spun her around before setting her on her feet and kissing her soundly.
“Yuck!” said Rory.
Maddy laughed and crouched in front of him. “I’ve got some great news, Rory. Deryn is going to come and live with us!”
In response, Rory merely rolled his eyes. “But Mama, we already live with Deryn! Are we going back to the farm now? I want Mara and Surly. And I promised Lily and Sean to go see the robin chicks with them.”
Maddy glanced at her son and then at the doorway that had become the portal that transported her and Rodric through time. How had Deryn and Rory gotten here anyway? Rodric had said...
Of course. Now it made sense. And if Rory wanted to live on Deryn’s farm...
“You know what?” she said slowly, thinking it through. “Irene MacAskill says that everything is a choice but perhaps this one time it isn’t. Perhaps just this once we don’t need to choose at all. Neither your century nor mine.”
“I dinna understand, lass.”
She didn’t bother to explain. She just stepped forward, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him.
