“And just how do ye think I should do that?” Kendrick asked.
“Either carry her or offer your arm to lean on.” Bryson had chosen to carry his love when he’d found her.
Kendrick looked at the tiny little girl beside him and he picked her up, cradling her to his chest.
“Put me down! I’m too heavy.”
Kendrick laughed at that. “I canna even tell I’m carryin’ ye.”
They walked to the keep, and Alyssa looked at Holli. “We’re going into the keep?”
“Yes, we are. My husband is the laird, so it’s perfectly fine.”
As soon as they were inside, Kendrick set Alyssa down in a parlor. Bryson nodded to his brother. “I’ll fetch Mother and Grandmother.”
Alyssa frowned. “I want to see Heather!”
Holli laughed, followed by Bryson and Kendrick. “Have patience, lass,” Kendrick said. “Do ye need some water?” he asked.
Alyssa shook her head. “No thank you. I just need to see my friend.”
It wasn’t ten minutes later that Bryson returned with two older women. It took only a few seconds for Alyssa to recognize the younger one was Heather. “How long have you been here, Heather?”
“Long enough to find the love of my life, have seven sons, and all of those sons to grow into adults.” Heather leaned down and hugged her friend. “You’ve been missed.”
The other woman, someone Alyssa had never met, stepped forward. “I’m from New York City, 2019. I was the first of the women Dr. Lachele sent back in time. My name is Beth, and I married a McClain man, who was the youngest son of the laird’s, and who could heal people with his touch.”
Alyssa blinked a couple of times, her eyes going to Heather and Holli for confirmation. When both women nodded, she struggled to understand. “How is that even possible?”
Beth shrugged. “There are family tales about how a woman of power married the seventh son of a seventh son. No one know how many seventh sons there were. Each time the seventh son, who had incredibly good luck, would inherit from his father. When he married a woman who could control the weather, all their seventh sons had some sort of power.”
“That’s…crazy!”
“I thought so at first too. But when my youngest son married your friend Heather here, her youngest son had the power to command animals.”
Holli nodded. “Yes, my Bryson can talk to animals and get them to do whatever he wants. It’s cool!”
“You all three believe this?”
“All five of us do,” Kendrick said. “Bryson is the youngest, and my twin brother. He can talk to animals.”
“What does your father do then?” Alyssa asked. No one had mentioned Heather’s husband quite yet.
“He’s what Mother and Grandmother refer to as an empath,” Kendrick said. “He feels others’ emotions.”
“You’re all crazy!” Alyssa said. She’d come back in time to learn her friends had been brain damaged.
An older man stepped into the keep then, going straight to the parlor. “Sorry, it took me a moment. I was healing a babe.” He looked at Alyssa. “Are you hurting anywhere, lass? I find that time travel leaves terrible headaches.”
Alyssa blinked a couple of times. “I do have a headache. Don’t worry, though, I have some Tylenol.”
Heather shook her head, laughing. “If you take Tylenol, your headache will come back in a few hours. Instead, why don’t you let my father-in-law heal you? The headache will truly be gone.”
“You’ve changed, Heather.”
Heather shrugged. “As a massage therapist, I’ve always been open to alternative healing forms.”
“May I?” asked the man standing over her.
