Blessing The Highlander

All copyrights belong to J. Lee Coulter.

Chapter XII………………………………...353

Chapter XIII………………………………..393

Chapter XIV………………………………..421

Chapter XV…………………………………455

Epilogue……………………………………..477

Chapter I

Summer Solstice

June 21, 2011
                                                             

Western General Hospital

Edinburgh, Scotland

“Is she awake?”

 
           The matronly nurse peered at the old woman lying motionless in the bed. She shook her head. Looking at the bed chart she clucked her tongue, shaking her head slowly this time. “I do nae believe the poor lady will ever be waking up. Stroke, ye know.”

 
           “Tis a shame it is. Have the family been notified then?” the younger nurse inquired.

 
           “Nay. She has nae family here. She was on holiday with some other seniors when she collapsed. From America, she is. They have been searching there but have had nae luck so far.”

 
           “No family? Now that is a crying shame,” the younger nurse replied, raising her brow. “No one to mourn her passing. How much time does the doctor give her?”

 
           “Who’s to say?” she said brusquely as she shoved a stray lock of grey hair behind her ear. She sighed as she began checking the monitors. “The best we can do for Mrs. Evans is keep her as comfortable as possible until she passes. What a sad way to go. Everyone needs family.”

 
           “Aye,” the younger sighed, “everyone needs family.”

 
           They finished marking the charts, checked the IVs and continued on their rounds, leaving the room in silence. The beeping of the heart monitor... the whooshing of the respirator were the only sounds.

 
           They never heard the screams emanating from Janet Evan’s mind. Oh yes, she was conscious. She heard every word they said. She tried to reach them to no avail.

 
           As the silence enveloped her frail body bleakness settled in.
“My life has been such a waste,”
she thought.
“Even as a child, I was the one left behind at the orphanage while the other children were selected to have a loving home. Parents to love them. When I reached eighteen, they bid me au revoir and practically shoved me out the door.

 
          
If she could cry she would. Nothing was accomplished with her life. She had no effect on anyone in all of her sixty nine years. She merely filled space.
“I would give anything to experience joy, love...a normal life! To help someone or make a difference in their life. I hate being so worthless!”
 The ache in her heart ripped her apart.

 
           Diedre backed away from the Pool of Visions shaking her head.
“Such sadness,”
she thought,
“and it is entirely my fault. All because I was jealous of our father’s affection for you.”

 
           Her platinum tresses flowed around her tiny frame as she sat back on the mossy ground beside the pool. She loved this glen... its seclusion and serene atmosphere. The floras were copious in riotous colors and fragrances, each competing to be the most beauteous. To seize the most consideration of any who entered their small space in the Faerie Glen. A light mist enclosed the space to mute the colors, dripping from the leaves of the oak, willow and pine that

surrounded
the cozy area. A soft twittering of birdsong could be perceived in the trees singing a gentle serenade to any who would listen. Above her head, sunlight sporadically filtered through the tree limbs when the mist permitted.

 
           Diedre sighed as she muddled through the dilemma she had created.
“King Alred will be very angry with me if...no...when he finds out what I have done. He always ascertains when a secret is being kept from him.”
Diedre frowned as she appreciated what a horrible fate she had cast on her half-sister.
“And now he is asking about her... wondering what she has been doing. I dare not let him see her now...not like that. If only she had a happier life. I should never have wiped her memory and set her in that orphanage. I am such a fool!”
A chill ran through her in spite of the warm day. “
Father may be so furious with me as to make me mortal!”

 
           She hugged herself to calm her quivering body. Her mind racing desperately for a solution to save herself...and Seonaid from a horrible fate. Her frown faded away. Her aqua blue eyes sparkled. A blissful smile spread across her heart-shaped face as she thought of an answer.

 
          
“Father cannot be angry with me if I make her happy. If I give her another life to live. But whose? It will need to be someone whose death
was trivial and will not affect the timeline if she lives.
” Diedre smiled furtively to herself as she willed her presence to the Royal House of Records.

 
           Only a moment passed before she stood in a large, airy room bright with sunlight. Pale drapes a shade of sage green were open at the tall windows, floating in the breeze that drifted through the portals. If anyone wandered into this room by accident all they would see is ivory walls trimmed in gold calligraphy of the ancient Faerie language, a black marble floor, stately white columns of marble trimmed with gold and a scattering of settees and tables. Few were allowed to peruse the records here. Diedre was one of the few.

 
           The walls were covered with an illusion of ivory masking hundreds of thousands of scrolls and books containing all of the past, present and future history of humankind. This included Faerie history and the royal lineage... which became necessary when the Fae began intermingling with man.

 
           She looked about the room to assure herself that she was quite alone before she began her quest of the perfect life for Seonaid. Once satisfied, Diedre focused on her mission.

 
          
“Let us see...first, it must be someone who does not disrupt the timeline or history in any way.”
She narrowed her eyes as she methodically sorted books in her mind’s eye.
“She must be young...and beautiful. Stunning, perhaps. Personality will not matter since Seonaid’s will be the one emerging. I will need to wipe her memory again since she is in the future ...it would not do for her to remember and accidentally call for a shower...or a cab.”
She giggled at the thought.

 
          
Diedre sat on the chaise tapping her teeth with her flawless fingernail as she worried over the memory wipe. Sometimes the second one was not as thorough as the first. She would have to be careful. It would not do to have a slip up about flying machines or some other fantastical advancement. She shook her head,
“No that would not do at all!”

 
          
After much searching, she narrowed it down to two possibilities that would serve her purpose. One was a peasant girl, a milk-maid, which died of the plague.

 
          
“Oh bother! She will not do...she would be scarred! Besides, Father would be angry if she is not of noble birth.”
The other choice was equally unacceptable. A peasant just would not do.
She searched a while longer. Her eyes began to twinkle as she recollected a certain Scots laird who, also, needed redeeming, in his own way.

 
          
“Garrick Brodie!
I will give her to him as a bride. That will teach him to rebuff a fairy princess. He never married in his lifetime so I see no problem there. Although she is not pure blood, she is still a fairy princess, daughter of the king.
He would be kind to Seonaid...that is more than her future husband was to her. Pete had beaten her often.

 
            And just to add salt to the wound,”
she thought with a narrowing of her aqua blue eyes,
“I will make her the daughter of his worst enemy, Seamus MacGregor! His daughter died from a fall off a horse, I see. Now what was her name...? Seonaid MacGregor! Perfect! Who says you cannot have revenge while doing a good deed?”
She smiled to herself as she savored the moment. Diedre clapped with glee as she contemplated her plans. She could please her father and Seonaid while she got revenge on Laird Brodie. How utterly perfect!
 With a quick nod to herself in agreement she turned to go to her sister when she was confronted
by a tall, handsome Fae. She raised a disdainful brow at him as he approached with a determined look in his swirling azure eyes
.

 
          
“So here you are, Diedre,” he said with a quirk on his lips as he drank in her beauty. He never tired of gazing upon her exotic eyes, her pert nose, which was frequently stuck in the air. Her heart-shaped face was framed in a sea of platinum blonde hair which fell to her knees. Her form shapely beneath a diaphanous sea-green gown.

 
           Diedre observed the over-confident Fae, Lokai, as he crossed the room. Of course he was handsome...all Fae were beautiful and sexual. He was taller than most. His movements as sleek and sensual as a cat. Something about him, though, always seemed to put her on her guard. She felt a danger around him...as if she were his prey. His deep, melodious voice usually lulled her into an almost trance-like state. She did not like it.

 
           “Why do you seek me, Lokai? Do you have nothing better to do? I am sure there must be some practice dummy that needs beheading!”

 
           Lokai stopped short scowling at her. “I am Captain of the Royal Guard! You would scoff at my training to protect you and your family?”