Irene MacAskill tutted. “Oh dear. Ye’ve made quite the mess, my dear. Still, at least ye didnae get any on yer dress.”
Anna set down her goblet with a thump. She glanced around but nobody else seemed to have noticed Irene MacAskill’s sudden appearance. In fact, none ofthem seemed to be moving. The entire room was frozen as though trapped in time.
“What...what is going on?” Anna stammered.
Irene put down her jug of wine and clasped her hands. “Just temporary,” she said. “I wanted to talk to ye and all that clamor would only get in the way.”
“Talk to me? About what? What are you doing here, Irene?”
The old woman pursed her lips. Her dark eyes sparkled with mischief. “My, aren’t ye the impatient one? If ye give me the chance, I will explain.”
Anna glanced at Emeric. He was frozen mid-laugh, his head thrown back in mirth. She swallowed. “All right. I’m listening.”
“I told ye once that ye were to be given a choice, did I not? Ye made that choice and it led ye here.”
“Yes, you tricked me.”
The old woman’s eyebrows shot up. “Tricked ye?”
“It was you, wasn’t it? You who sent me that message with Lily’s ‘address’ on it. You who sent me off on that wild goose chase?”
“Is that what ye would call it? I would call it something else. I would call it finding yer destiny, lass. After all, didnae that ‘wild goose chase’ lead ye here? To where and when ye are meant to be?”
Anna thought about that. Irene was right. Everything she’d been through, the strange journey that had taken her from her own time to this one, it all led to this moment. To Emeric, and the life she’d come to love here in the Highlands.
“Yes...” she admitted reluctantly. “It did lead me here, and I wouldn’t change that for anything, but still... you could have asked me.”
“Could I?” Irene’s brows knitted together in a mock ponderous expression. “If I did that, if I told ye what would happen if ye stepped through that arch, then I would have influenced yer choice. I canna do that, lass. As ye have learned, my people are governed by rules.”
“Fine,” she said. “So why are you here now?”
Irene smiled again, her eyes twinkling with merriment. “To fulfill the final part of my bargain. To offer ye yer final choice although I suspect I know what yer answer will be. A new path lies before yer feet but yer choice still remains: stay on this new path or return to yer old.”
Anna blinked. “What do you mean my old path? You mean...you mean I could go home?”
Irene nodded slowly.
Anna sat back in her chair. When she’d first realized she’d come back in time all she had wanted to do was go home. But slowly, that had changed. Now this place, this time, these people, felt more like home than all the countless places she’d lived in the twenty-first century. She felt a pang that she’d not be able to see her parents but they had made their choices and now she had to make hers.
“You’re right,” she said. “You do already know my choice. I’m staying.”
Irene MacAskill reached out and patted her knee. “Aye. I thought that might be what ye’d say. In that case, all that’s left for me to do is wish ye a long and happy life, my dear. Oh, and try not to spill any more wine.” She lifted the jugand filled Anna’s goblet. Then, with a wink, she turned and walked off.
Anna swiveled in her chair. “Irene, wait!”
But she was already gone.
“Well?” Emeric said suddenly.
The room had come alive again, whatever spell Irene had cast seemingly broken. She licked her lips. Had that really just happened?
“Er...what?” she said.
“Do ye still wish to dance?”
“Um. Actually, you know what? I think I could do with some air.”
Emeric glanced at her, a concerned frown etching lines on his forehead. “Are ye alright, love?”
