Love Beyond Belief (Book 7 of Morna’s Legacy Series) (5 page)

He didn’t know what he could do to assist her, but he knew that even he was likely more apt in the kitchen than Anne. He admired her determination, though. No matter how bad her meal was the night before, she always took another stab at feeding them the next night. He feared their clothes were beginning to hang off them more loosely.
 

“Well…” Right as she was about to answer him, the telephone on the opposite side of the kitchen rang.
 

Callum was only vaguely familiar with phones, and their noise made him jump every time. He’d never heard this phone ring once in all the months he’d been here.
 

Anne brushed her hands together to remove the flour and made her way over to the telephone.
 

“Well, that’s weird. I didn’t even know that worked. Give me just a second.”

He nodded and pulled out one of the benches to take a seat, quietly listening in on the exchange.
 

“Hello, this is Anne.”

A brief moment of silence followed as he watched her listening to the person on the other end.
 

“You what? You’re on your way here? Job? Ma’am, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Who is this?”

Another moment of silence. As Morna walked into the kitchen through the entry at Callum’s left, he raised a finger to shush her and pulled out the seat next to him.
 

“Who is she talking to?”

He shrugged and continued to watch Anne closely. She looked so flustered, and her eyes grew wider nearly every second.
 

“I doona know.”

“Oh.” Anne whispered the response and spun, wrapping the cord around her as she faced them with a confused expression. “Well, yes, that is my email address. But I didn’t…you know what, nevermind. You’re already on your way here. I’m sorry to hear about all of your delays. What’s your next flight number? Don’t worry about renting a car. We’re kind of hard to find. I’ll track your flight on my phone, and I’ll make certain someone is there to pick you up in the morning.”

Callum and Morna continued to stare with piqued curiosity as Anne stopped speaking for another brief moment. They sat up in attention when she spoke again.
 

“Uh-huh, okay, thanks for calling. See you tomorrow. Safe travels.”

As Anne hung up the phone, she pointed directly in Morna’s direction.
 

“You did this, didn’t you?”

Callum stood and walked over to stand next to Anne in order to see Morna’s face. He could tell by the irritated glint in Morna’s eye that whatever this was, it had nothing to do with her.

“What exactly do ye think I did, dear?”

“Morna, come on. Are you really going to act like you didn’t? That was a woman who says she received an email from me only a few days ago about the chef position here at the castle. Gillian and I opened the position up for applications seven months ago. A few weeks in, we received an excellent application. While I did type up an email asking the girl to come here for a test run, I never sent it because news of the fire reached me as I was typing the thing. It’s been sitting in my draft folder for months. You must have sent it, right?”
 

“No, lass, even though yer cooking isna worthy of giving to a group of pigs, and it is taking everything in me to keep all of us from starving each night after yer efforts in the kitchen, I dinna do any such thing.”

Callum hadn’t been this entertained by anything in ages. He only hoped the women wouldn’t start swinging fists at one another.
 

Thankfully, Anne gathered herself and kept things civil.
 

“I see. Well, you can deny it all you want, but I know how you are, Morna. She’s on her way here, though she missed her first flight apparently and is stuck in Paris for the night. She’ll be landing first thing in the morning. One of us is going to need to pick her up.”

Morna stood, pushing herself away from the island. Callum knew she was about to storm from the room, but before she did, she walked over and pushed two fingers right into the center of his chest.
 

“This was her doing, and it’s exactly what I warned ye about. Doona ye dare go pick her up, Callum. And ye best talk this fool out of doing the same. We are all better off leaving the girl stranded at the airport where she’ll likely give up and fly on back home. For all we know, she could be working with Grier.”

Callum expected that nothing he could say would calm her, but he tried his best anyway.
 

“Morna, even if Grier played a hand in this, ’tis most likely the lass knows nothing of it. How often do people know of their role in yer meddling plans?”

Her fingers hit his chest harder this time, and he had to grit his teeth to keep from wincing.
 

“Doona ye ever compare my meddling to that of Grier’s, Callum.”

“Who is Grier?” Anne’s question was well-meaning, but Callum would’ve done anything to prevent her asking it if he’d seen it coming.
 

“She is none of yer damn business, Anne.”

Morna turned and stomped out of the room, leaving Callum to deal with a weepy Anne.
 

CHAPTER 7

“Damn ye, Grier. Damn ye for making me believe ye were dead and then using yer powers here without showing yer face. ’Tis time ye make yerself known. Whatever it is ye want with me or my family, get on with it, lest ye wish for me to start waging magic of my own. Would ye like to see which of us is more powerful? I wouldna think ye would, for we both know the answer.”

Callum took one more step toward Morna, and he grimaced when she jumped in surprise. He made no effort to sneak up on her, but she was so wrapped up in her speech to the stairwell he managed to frighten her. He hurried to apologize.
 

“I’m sorry. I thought ye would see me. What are ye doing out here, Morna? Ye were not kind to Anne. Ye need to go and apologize. Normally she doesna mind the teasing about her food, but ye are always so kind to her. It took her aback to have ye be so cruel. She had no part in this. She dinna deserve the way ye treated her.”

She turned on him, anger in her eyes. He readied for his own verbal beating.

“Ye have no business telling me to apologize, Callum. Ye are not my father, ye are my friend.”

Morna could lose her patience with him all she wished. He knew fear drove her strange and impatient behavior as of late.
 

“No, Morna. Ye doona get to behave this way. There is no reason for it. I doona understand what happened between this Grier and ye, but we’ve no proof that any of this has to do with her. Ye are frightened. I can see that, but ye have to stop this. Now.”

He waited for her to unleash more anger on him. Instead, she wilted down onto the grass as she shook all over. He moved in to gather her up in his arms.
 

Callum rubbed Morna’s hands gently, pushing as much warmth as he could into her cold, trembling hands. He’d never seen the witch in such a state. He imagined few ever had.
 

“I’ve never been so frightened in my life, Callum. Nor have I ever been so out of control. If this is how most of ye live yer life, I pity ye for it, for I doona care for it at all.”

“I know that I doona have yer powers, but I dinna feel any evil near Grier when I saw her. I truly believe ye are worried for naught. Ye are making yerself ill over this. We’ve all enough to worry about, and we depend on ye too much for ye to be sick, Morna.”

He held her as she wept. He’d done a lot of that lately—with Jane, with Anne, with the wee babe, and now even Morna. He grew up in the rough company of his father and brothers. The newly realized knowledge that he was good at comforting women surprised him greatly.
 

“Aye, I know it. Fear makes us all do foolish things, I suppose. I’ll apologize to Anne at once. Ye dinna listen to me, did ye? About the lass? Someone will go and get her.”

Not a one of them, regardless of Morna’s fears, was apt to leave the poor girl waiting at the airport.
 

“Aye, Morna. She’ll be coming to the castle. Though, I doona know where we will fit her in.”

“Fine. Help me up. Please just heed my warning. Be careful with this girl, Callum. We doona know enough about her, and I for one willna trust her until we do.”

He hoped Morna’s fears would abate soon. Everyone was used to her being so grounded, so open and loving to everyone. Suspicion didn’t suit her.
 

“Fine. I will be wary of her until we all know her better. But let’s give her a chance, aye?”

She answered his plea with a glare, and he laughed as he dared to ask one more question.
 

“I’m not comparing ye and Grier, but why do ye see yer interfering on the behalf of others differently than ye see Grier’s?”

Morna pulled away from him, rolled herself to her knees and pushed herself up from the ground. He continued to sit, staring up at her.
 

“I meddle for the sake of love, Callum. Grier meddles for her own amusement. I fear ye shall know the difference firsthand soon enough.”

CHAPTER 8

Callum sat back in his seat at the long wooden table, directly across from Morna, with the rest of the castle’s temporary inhabitants gathered around. Morna rarely chatted this freely at the dinner table. While no one would ever call the witch quiet, Callum knew her to be the sort that very much enjoyed listening to others converse—especially her family.
 

Each evening when they gathered together for another of Anne’s well-meaning but horrible meals, Morna would sit back delighting in whatever new story the children had to tell about their imaginative adventures that day. She relished in every word about how work on the Cagair of his own time had gone. But this evening was different. Rather than chiming in when the conversation called for her to do so, his friend led the conversation aimlessly, bouncing from topic to topic as if she couldn’t settle her mind on just one thing.
 

He couldn’t stand it another moment. It was time to do what he promised her earlier—it was time that everyone learned of Cagair Castle’s newest resident.
 

“Anne.” He stood, drawing the attention of everyone at the table. “Might I speak with you a moment?”

Callum ignored all of the confused expressions and left for the kitchen to wait for Anne to join him. He would stay true to his word, but first he needed to make Anne understand the need for him to do so.
 

“What was that about?”

He leaned against the doorway, turning to face Anne as she paused midway down the steps leading to the kitchen.
 

“Did Morna apologize to ye?”

“Yes, she did. I accepted. What’s going on?”

“I’ve been torn between the two of ye lassies all day. Ye are both so stubborn that neither one of ye will work this out between yerselves. Ye are quite a pair. I shouldna be involved in this at all.”

Anne rolled one of her hands dramatically in the air to hurry him on.
 

“All right. We’re a pain in your ass. I know. Get on with it.”

“I know I told ye that I’d keep yer secret if ye thought it best to surprise everyone with the girl’s arrival, but Morna has made me see differently. Everyone needs to know before she is picked up tomorrow.”

He could see Anne’s face redden in anger, and he prepared himself for her outburst.
 

“Is that why Jerry didn’t come down for dinner? She doesn’t want him to know about this Grier person? Morna has nothing to do with this. I’m hiring someone to work here. That’s my job. Or at least it will be once the work is done on the castle and everyone has gone home. This is my deal—not hers. I see no reason why Morna should have any say in how I handle this. I don’t know how or why the email was sent, but I’m glad it was. I’m so freaking sick of trying to cook for you guys that I would hire anyone that showed up wanting the job.”

He allowed her to finish all that she needed to say. He understood her frustration, but it would change nothing.
 

“Aye, ye are right about much of it, Anne. ’Tis yer job and I doona think anyone will object to having the lass about, but ye know that ’tis not a normal situation here. There are things to decide. Things to talk over with everyone.”

“Such as?”

“We must decide if we will tell her about the magic. Doona ye think it would be difficult to hide it from someone who not only works in the castle but lives here as well? The only reason this arrangement has worked so well during the castle’s reconstruction is that everyone here knows the truth. Do we really feel comfortable introducing someone else to all of it? Such knowledge would change the lass’s life forever.”

He could see by Anne’s long, drawn-out breath that she could see the sense of such a discussion. It wasn’t something to be decided lightly. Whatever the outcome, it would affect everyone at the castle.
 

“Okay, fine. I understand that, but that’s not Morna’s problem with the girl, is it? Morna has never had any problem introducing someone to magic. Every time we turn around, she’s sending another girl across time to be wooed by one of you brutes.”