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"Yes, and we tried to help you along the way by giving you the answers that would keep you on the right path."
"Gabriel shouldn't be forced to watch me die again, to suffer through not only the loss of me but the lifetime of mourning me."
Quinn's vision was turning black around the edges but she forced the words from her tight throat. "Who are you?"
Mrs. Hamston knelt down next to Quinn and took her hand into her own, "We are the Fates."
"Then you must fix it. You must right the wrong." Quinn grew quiet for a minute as déjà vu filled her and then she asked, "We've done this before, haven't we?"
It was Maude who answered. "Yes, after the first time Katherine shot you and Gabriel, I came to you. And, though he had already passed on, you were alive but just barely. I'll never forget the look in your eyes or how, with your last bit of energy, you reached for him. You saw me and pleaded with me to make it right, demanded that I promise to do just that. It took a while to correct the ripple effect of Katherine's actions but it's over now. The promise has been kept."
Gabriel's footsteps sounded from the hall and, as Quinn watched, Maude and her sisters faded just as Gabriel came running into the room.
Gabriel had been sitting in the great hall feeling a peace he hadn't felt in a long time. Regardless of what happened now, Quinn would be safe and that was all that mattered to him. When the chill suddenly swept over him, he thought nothing of it until a vision of Quinn filled his mind just as ghostly words echoed in his ear, "Help her." Terror filled him as he jumped up from the sofa and ran from the room.
It was mindless fear that filled him when he pushed open the door of Nick's solar and saw her on the floor. His nightmare flashed through his mind and he knew that he was too late. The others were just behind him, he could hear their sounds of agony as they witnessed her death but his mind was only on Quinn. There weren't words in any language that could describe the pain that was stabbing into his heart like a thousand knives. He ran to her and fell to his knees, his tears coming so fast he could barely see her.
"Stay with me, Quinn. Oh God, stay with me." He would have sold his soul in that moment to trade places with her. Her eyes were dull and her breathing was so very shallow and the blood, it wouldn't stop flowing as he pulled off his shirt to staunch it. She reached for him, took his hand into her own and held it over her heart. And when the small smile spread across her lips, his heart shattered. He heard her whisper, "I love you. Always and forever."
"Please don't leave me." But he knew his plea had fallen on deaf ears when her hand went limp in his and the light faded from her eyes. He heard the broken sounds from behind him as he roared his grief. He pulled her into his arms, and held her against him, as his anguished sobs echoed into the silence.
Chapter Twenty
The cottage was tucked deep in the woods, the smoke curling up the chimney to scent the night air. Inside three sisters sat in front of the fire, their attention on the orange flames that snapped and curled wildly in the fireplace, but they were seeing what no others could.
"We can't leave it this way, Maude," Colleen barked as she stood and started pacing.
"I agree."
"It's been a long road but the wrong has been righted," Mrs. Hamston declared in a voice filled with emotion.
Maude reached over and covered her sister's hand with her own. "Yes. Our promise to Quinn has been kept and now we need to set them at the beginning of their journey."
"Why did we interfere? People die every second, but we don't go changing their destinies?" Colleen asked.
Maude looked over at her sister as surprise passed over her features. "Tis true love, a rarity these days. What better reason than to preserve something so special especially since she is kin."
Colleen thought on that for a moment before she replied, "Fair enough but you've changed it a bit."
"I have. We are the Fates, t'is our right."
"It's Quinn, not Morgan," Mrs. Hamston observed.
"She is Morgan O'Cuinn in any lifetime. But yes, it's Quinn, a more evolved version of Morgan." Maude looked to her sisters before she looked back into the fire. "He fell in love with Morgan but it was Quinn who stole his heart. I think that fact should be observed. Besides I think they've earned it."
"Earned what?" Colleen and Mrs. Hamston asked together.
Maude smiled and replied, "The beginning to their happily-ever-after."
The river cut along the landscape and the gentle babble, as the water swept over the rock beds, was very soothing.
"I think it's time for someone to go to bed," Archer said to a yawning Nickie.
"I'm not tired."
"Sure, you're just catching flies." Thaddeus said as he threw a wink at Quinn.
Archer lifted Nickie up over his shoulder before he reached for Quinn's hand as his lips brushed over her ear.
