Morna's Legacy 04 - Love Beyond Measure (6 page)

“What? You’ve never had one? Well, I’ll give you one right now.” Cooper started to tug on the bag hanging from my shoulder. I relented, reaching inside for the bag of gummies. Once he had them in hand, he extended them to Eoghanan. “You have to try this.”

After examining it closely, Eoghanan obliged and popped the gummy in his mouth. Watching him struggle with the texture, I couldn’t help but believe he’d never experienced such a food before.

Swallowing the snack with effort, Eoghanan looked down at Cooper to give him his thoughts. “That is…well, that’s quite an interesting food, lad.”

Cooper nodded, taking his words as confirmation of their deliciousness. “Yeah, I know. They’re amazing.”

“Thank ye for allowing me one.” Eoghanan looked away from Cooper and up at me. “Could I speak with ye alone a moment, Grace?”

His question surprised me, but I nodded and nudged Cooper toward Jerry. “Coop, help Jerry lay out the blanket and get the food ready, okay?”

“Got it.” He smiled over his shoulder as Eoghanan walked off in the other direction.

As we walked, I rolled the top of the bag of gummies closed and started to place them back in my bag before nudging Eoghanan slightly with my elbow, waving the bag in his direction. “Would you like another?” I laughed quietly, knowing his answer even before he spoke.

“Thank ye, but no. I dinna much care for it.”

I laughed while placing them back in my bag. “I could tell. Have you really never had them before? Where did you grow up?”

I thought I saw him shift uncomfortably at my question. “No, ’twas me first and last gummy bear. I grew up verra far from here, ye wouldna have heard of it.”

He said nothing else, and I didn’t press him but stopped walking now that we were far enough away that Cooper and Jerry couldn’t hear us. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

Eoghanan stopped walking as well and faced me. “I wished to apologize for upsetting yer son yesterday morn.”

“Oh, don’t.” I interrupted him and reached my hand out, placing it on the side of his arm to silence him. “It’s not your fault. He only…he thought you were someone else. Really, you didn’t upset him.” His face turned suddenly very white. I jerked my hand away, realizing that I’d placed it right along his scar. “I’m so sorry.”

He rolled his shoulder a bit in an effort to shake away the pain. “’Tis nothing, lass. Doona worry yerself over it. I wish to ask ye if ye will allow young Cooper to join Jerry and meself this afternoon. We intend to go fishing.”

His thoughtfulness in asking me away from Cooper, in case I said no, meant a great deal to me. He didn’t wish to get Cooper’s hopes up if I wouldn’t allow it and didn’t want to place me in an uncomfortable situation by pushing my hand. It was the act of a gentleman, and he instantly gained my trust by doing so.

“Honestly, it would be great to have a few hours of uninterrupted work. If Cooper wants to go, I have no problem with it as long as you stay near the inn and you take care of my son.”

“Aye, I suspected ye might need time alone to tend to yer work.” He took one step toward the direction we’d come, indicating that we could begin our walk back.

As I moved next to him, he placed a hand on the small of my back and leaned in close. It seemed slightly intimate, but I was oddly comfortable with him and I didn’t move away as he spoke.

“And I promise ye, Grace, I’ll return Cooper safely back to ye.”

Eoghanan was still very much a stranger to me, but I believed him. He didn’t seem like the type of man who would say anything he didn’t mean. “I know,” I muttered as we neared the others and stepped away from one another.

*

“Ye are verra talented at catching the wee fish, Cooper.” Eoghanan pulled the fish off its hook, tossing it back into the water to freedom.

“Yep, but I been fishin’ a long time.” Cooper patted him comfortingly on the shoulder. “You’ll get the hang of it. Just takes practice.”

Eoghanan laughed, placing another piece of bait on the rod so that Cooper could cast it into the water once again. “No, lad, I doona think me fishing will improve. The wee beasties doona like me. Who taught ye to fish?”

“My BeBop.”

“What is a BeBop?” Eoghanan found the names in this century no stranger than his own.

“That’s my grandfather’s name. Hey, do you want a gummy? You look kinda tired or something. I think I have two more left in my pocket.”

The thought of another tiny yellow or blue creature entering his mouth made Eoghanan swallow hard to wash away the lingering taste before answering. “I am tired, but why doona ye eat both of them? I doona think I’m verra hungry just now.”

Cooper waved the two bears temptingly in front of him. “You sure?”

“Aye, I’m verra sure.”

Smiling, the child dusted off a piece of lint from one of the gummies that had been in his pocket before he popped them both into his mouth, closing his eyes as he chewed.

Watching Cooper enjoy his mouthful, Eoghanan stood and walked over to Jerry who lay napping in the sun.

“Jerry, I think it best we make our way back. I need to do a travel with Morna, and I’d like to be back before the evening meal.”

“Huh?” The old man jerked up from lying horizontally on the ground, his back cracking as he sat up. “What did ye say, lad?”

“I’m sorry, I dinna wish to wake ye. ’Tis only I think we should go so that I can do me travel with Morna.”

“Ah, verra right.” Jerry held his hand out for assistance. “Ye must help me up though, or I’ll be here all night. I doona have the same knees I once did.”

“Up ye go.”

He reached toward the old man with his left hand, being sure not to strain the other half of his body too much as he lifted him. Seeing Jerry rightly vertical, he hollered after Cooper.

“Have ye had yer fill of fishing? If so, I think it time to go. Yer mother shall be back at the inn soon enough.”

Mention of the boy’s mother had Cooper gathering up his rod and tools as quickly as his little arms could move to reach them. While Eoghanan knew the boy had enjoyed their afternoon, he didn’t wish to be away from his mother for long. He didn’t blame him in the slightest and found himself ready to be in Grace’s presence once again as well.

*

“I know we must make a journey daily, but do ye mind making it a verra short one? I wish to be back before Grace returns from her work.”

“Oh, do ye now? I expected ye to say as much. Aye, verra short. Now, lay back so that I may begin.”

He did as she asked, placing his left hand behind his head to prop himself up a little as Morna began her spell. As always, his head began to split first, the pain shooting down his spine and shaking him all over. Vision blurred quickly but, just before he evaporated entirely, he caught movement in the doorway and directed his focus just long enough to see Cooper peering inside with wide eyes.

“Oh. My. Jiminy. Cricket. That is sooo much cooler than a spaceship! It’s magic, huh? You used magic on him. Where did he go?”

Cooper’s voice filled the room, and Eoghanan struggled against the fog consuming his brain to stay present. He no longer wished to make a travel today, not now that the boy had seen him. Why wouldn’t Morna cease her spell? She saw the boy but continued her low chant, sending him further into oblivion.

Speech eluded him. He couldn’t answer Cooper with his physical body already gone from the room. Only his hearing and sight remained, although his vision remained blurred. He could hear Cooper’s voice calling after Morna, but he couldn’t see the room clearly, only making out the faint edges of the young lad and the witch.

Morna’s words grew louder and with it his consciousness weakened. He couldn’t be certain, but Morna’s words seemed to change, different from the ones she usually spoke. Suddenly everything went black.

*

In the next instant, he was back in the room, his eyelids fluttering open to find Cooper sitting on the bed next to him, his little hands cupping both sides of his cheeks.

“Wake up, sleepy. I knew it, E-o. I knew you were the same person that was in the park and at the airport. You’re magic!”

His head throbbed even worse than usual, but he pushed the pain aside, attributing it to the fact that his journey had been interrupted. He couldn’t tell how long he’d been out, but he’d not arrived anywhere in the past. He simply remained in the space between until Morna called him back to the present.

Eoghanan propped himself up in the bed as Cooper released his face. Looking around the room for Morna, he addressed her first. “How long was I gone?”

The witch made her way to him, extending a cool rag to press along his forehead. “Ach, no more than a few minutes. The second the lad walked into the room, I started the return spell. I’m only pleased that all of ye arrived back here.”

“Ye dinna know if I would?” The notion unsettled him. The travels were frightening enough without worrying about the possibility of his legs ending up in one century and his head in another.

“No, I couldna know for sure. This has never happened before.”

“Did ye tell him?” Eoghanan glanced over at Cooper who nodded emphatically at his question.

“Yes, she did. I know everything. She’s a witch and you’re from like a million years ago. It’s awesome!”

Morna shut the door to the bedroom so that the three of them could speak more freely. “Aye, I dinna have a choice. I doona believe he would have ever silenced if I hadna done so. But ye needn’t worry, I shall make him forget it. I was just waiting for you to wake up first.”

“No way.” Cooper kept his voice calm, but reached out latching hard onto Eoghanan’s hand. “Don’t you let her put those witchy hands on me, E-o. I won’t tell anybody. I promise.”

Morna laughed in response, waving a hand in dismissal. “Doona worry, lad. I willna place a hand on ye. I’m no bad witch, surely ye can see that. I’ll just say a few words, and ye willna know that ye are missing the memory.”

“No.” Eoghanan spoke, settling the matter in his mind. He trusted Morna completely, but it didn’t mean he wished her to use magic on the lad. If knowing that magic truly existed in the world would bring the boy joy, he didn’t wish to take it from him.

“Ye know that we doona have a choice, Eoghanan.” Morna reached to take the rag from him, walking across the room to hang it over the basin.

“Aye, we do. Ye have told me yerself that too few people know of the existence of magic in this present world. Now that the lad knows, doona rob him of it. I believe we can trust him. Why doona ye give me and Cooper a moment alone?”

Morna eyed him speculatively, one eyebrow raised astonishingly high as she relented. “Aye, I willna spell him if ye doona wish me to. ’Tis yer secret, I suppose.”

Eoghanan waited until she’d shut the door behind her to shift toward Cooper. “Now, if we doona wish for Morna to take this knowledge from ye, ye must promise me that ye willna say a word to yer mother. Such a thing is difficult for most to understand. I doona think she would believe ye.”

Cooper stuck his littlest finger up by Eoghanan’s nose. “I promise, promise, promise. I won’t say a word to anyone.”

“What is that, lad?”

“It’s a pinkie promise. Haven’t you ever heard of those?”

Eoghanan shook, “No. What is it?”

“It…um…let me show you.” The boy reached for his hand, bending in his thumb and folding his first three fingers over, leaving but the one smallest finger sticking out. “When we wrap our pinkies together it makes the promise stick.”

It made no sense to him, but Eoghanan didn’t question Cooper. “Aye, ’tis our secret then. Just ye and I.”

“What are you so smiley about?” I flipped the blanket and sheets back just far enough on the bed so that both Cooper and I could crawl in and, after climbing inside myself, patted the top of the bed for him to join me.

“I had the best day ever, Mom.” Clad in his dinosaur pajamas, he climbed onto the bed but didn’t slip beneath the covers, instead he sat on top of the comforter with his feet near my head so that he could face me.

“Ever? I didn’t know you were such an enthusiastic fisherman, Coop.” Placing both my hands behind my head, I settled in for a bit of conversation before sleep.

“I fish with Bebop all the time and I like it, but it wasn’t the fishin’.”

He had both hands extended back behind him to rest on and his feet swayed back and forth, happily.

“Well, what made it the ‘best day ever,’ then?”

“I can’t tell you.”

I rolled over on my side, smiling to the wall as I reached to turn off the lamp, “Oh, okay. Well, goodnight then, Coop. Love you.”

Just as I put my finger on the lamp’s knob, Cooper pounced on me. “No, Mom! Gimme a break. You know I wasn’t through talking.”

Laughing, I released my grip, rolling onto my back once more. “What is there to say if you won’t tell me?”

He jumped from his current position and flipped himself over so that he lay on his stomach and rested his head on the palm of his hands. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you. I can’t. It’s a secret.”

Now he had my attention.

“Now, Coop, is this a secret someone told you, or one that you learned by spying? Because those are two very different things, and we’ve already talked about this before—it’s not okay to eavesdrop on people.”