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Be with Angus. Marry her soul mate, the man of her destiny. The man she loved.

The timer went off, the beeping echoing off the tile walls of the bathroom. She looked at the test, and she could already see.

Two lines.

With a shaking hand, she picked it up and studied it. The second line was weaker than the first one, but it was there. She looked again at the package. One line—not pregnant. Two lines—pregnant.

Joy spilled within her in a sweet burst of sunshine. She put her hand over her lower belly. Was he there, her son? Paul Mackenzie?

Was her life about to change again?

She had to be sure. With a tremor in her fingers, she unwrapped another test and peed a few drops on it. Her bladder was empty. She had to drink more water to do more tests. But as a couple of minutes passed and a smiley face appeared on the screen, she knew the surest way to know was to make an appointment with a doctor. She needed to read all the books about pregnancy. She needed to start taking vitamins. She had to double-check the date of the wedding…

July 14.

A week from today, in 1310.

A week!

If she was going to go back in time, it had to be before the wedding.

But what should she do about David?

She left the bathroom and went into the kitchen, making herself a cup of tea. She needed to breathe, calm down, and assess the situation as she always had—with a cool mind.

She knew she had to discuss it with David. She had no answers as what to do with him, but he was the most important part of her life, and she wouldn’t go back in time without knowing he was okay and taken care of.

But what that would look like, she had no idea.

Chapter 34

July 9, 2021

Clutching the plastic bag full of nine months’ worth of prenatal vitamins, Rogene opened the door of her apartment. In her bag was an early ultrasound showing a small, gray pear surrounded by a big black bubble.

Her and Angus’s baby.

It was still too early to tell if it was a boy or a girl, and she kept asking herself if it was him—Paul.

Hard rock music blasted from David’s closed room, and Rogene knew right away that something was wrong. He listened to it only when he was struggling with his studies or he’d made a mistake because of his dyslexia.

With a sinking heart, she knocked on the door. She had an idea of how to take care of him, but she was terrified of letting go of him, of letting him out from under her wing.

Besides, she still wasn’t sure going back to the past was the best plan. She had no idea why she would call herself Euphemia of Ross to marry Angus. That didn’t make any sense.

And that note—yes, it was written in modern English, but perhaps someone else had added that later? And it did seem to her that Anusua’s suggestion was right—it sounded more like a joke, more like a “Peter was here” sort of message than anything that was meant to be read as a command.

But there were only five days left before the wedding in 1310. So if she did, by some miracle, decide she could go, if she could find the strength and trust and confidence in herself and in David, and forgive herself for leaving him, she needed to return to 1310 like right now.

She opened the door a slit and peered in. He lay on his bed with his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. The music blasted from a speaker on his desk.

“Hey!” Rogene cried over the music.

David looked up, touched a button on his phone, and music grew quieter. “Hey, what are you doing home so early?”

“I had an appointment,” she said, walking into the room.

She was still nauseated and a little dizzy, so she sat down on his bed.