Redeeming Vows (24 page)

She blinked several times before hearing something running along the forest floor. She’d fallen asleep.

She was sure of it. Although it was still dark, the feeling that time had passed was unmistakable.

Unconscious.
She’d been vulnerable and exposed. For the first time in centuries, a shiver of fright overwhelmed her.

Shooting to her feet, Grainna studied her surroundings and searched for hidden danger.

As Grainna lifted her arms, intending to shift and travel back to the safety of her camp, her gaze landed on her right arm. There, among a piercing wound that oozed blood, were several feathers left over from her bird-like state.

She touched her wound with timid fingers. The sting of the poison fought inside her.

As her back teeth ground together, the blackness of her heart dripped oil into her soul.

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Fin rolled the copper ring in his fingers before loosely connecting it to its mate. “How do they hold together?” he asked the gray haired man with the bright orange vest who’d answered all his questions.

“With this.” He held up a small round can. “It’s called red hot blue glue. You place a generous amount along this ring and slip these together. The glue sets in minutes and is guaranteed not to leak.”

Fin knew he wouldn’t be able to match the chemicals that adhered the pipes together once he returned to his time. “What was used in the past, before this red hot glue?”

“I’m not really sure. I think they welded the pieces together. Over time that would rust at the weakest joint.”

Fin nodded.

“Are we done now?” Lizzy shifted on the balls of her feet beside him, anxious to leave the giant store full of customers.

“Looks like the missus is bored. Women always want their pipes to work, but don’t care how they’re put together.”

Lizzy huffed out a heated breath. “We can buy a book, Fin. I’m sure this man has better things to do.”

“Ms. McAllister, is that you?”

Lizzy turned in the direction of the small voice while Fin froze.

“Ah, hi Eddie,” Lizzy said, glancing back at him, Fin could see the concern in her face.

Eddie couldn’t be more than six years old, 208

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probably one of the children Liz had watched when she lived in this time.

The child’s gaze swept up Lizzy’s frame as he tugged on a woman’s arm. “Look Mom, Ms.

McAllister.”

“Oh my God, Liz.”

Liz stepped back and reached her hand toward Fin’s arm.

“Hello, Mrs. Aaron.”

With wide eyes, Mrs. Aaron shifted around the cart until she stood next to Liz. “I thought you were dead.”

“Those rumors were highly overrated.” Liz squeezed Fin’s upper arm. Her nails dug into his skin. “Does anyone know you’re back? Where have you been?”

Lizzy’s hand trembled. “Well…”

Fin circled her waist with his free arm. “We should get going.”

Lizzy’s shoulders fell slightly, her mouth twisted into a grin. “Right—“

“Wait a minute. I was at the station yesterday and your picture was still up on the missing person’s board.”

Fin wasn’t sure what station the woman spoke of, but identifying Liz as someone the police were looking for wouldn’t be good for either of them.

As if sensing Fin’s concern, Liz spoke over her shoulder to him. “Mrs. Aaron’s husband is a police officer.”

“He’d be very interested in speaking with you, I’m sure.”

As the woman dug into her bag and removed a cell phone, Fin realized how quickly they were losing their freedom. Before he could fully grasp Liz’s frantic expression, Fin did the only thing he could.

The first tremor rolled out of his mind and hit 209

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the earth with a punch. The massive shelves surrounding them shook with a noise that surprised him. Several pieces of pipe crashed to the floor. The clerk held perfectly still, and Eddie grabbed hold of his mother’s leg and screamed. Fin expected the people around him to run, but instead they seemed frozen. Liz tugged his hand and nodded twice.

The next shake of the earth Fin forced to last longer, and everyone around them sprang into action and ran. Fin grasped Lizzy’s hand and dodged the debris that fell to his feet. People screamed and sprinted toward the huge doors of the building.

While others stopped once outside, Fin and Liz kept running until they reached the car Selma had rented for them. Liz jumped behind the wheel and quickly started the engine. Only after they cleared the parking lot did Fin let out a long breath.

“Shit and double shit,” Lizzy cursed. She forced the car around another and swerved in the lane. Fin held onto the door handle with white knuckles. “We don’t need this.”

No, they didn’t. The full moon and eclipse was still a full night and day away.

“She’s going to call her husband and tell him she saw me.”

Fin gripped his seat as she skidded around the corner. “Elizabeth, slow down.”

Liz glanced at him, then down at the gauge in front of her. Her foot eased off the pedal and the car instantly lost some measure of speed. “What are we going to do?”

“We must warn the others.”

“We can’t return to my apartment.”

“That would be the first place they would look.”

Liz stopped at a red light and opened a compartment in the car. She grabbed the cell phone and tossed it into his lap. “Call Selma, tell her what happened.”

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The metallic device seemed harmless enough.

Fin opened it as he’d seen Selma do in the past.

Then he was lost. “What do I press?”

“Go to contacts.”

Fin found the button and pressed it once.

Selma’s name appeared next to Jake’s. He tried touching Selma’s name, but nothing happened.

“Scroll down with the arrow button until her name is highlighted.” Liz maneuvered the car until they were on the freeway.

Once Selma’s name was brighter than the others, Fin said, “Got it. Now what?”

“Press call or send.”

The minute the call went through, the phone made a ringing noise. Fin pressed the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

Selma’s voice made him smile. The device was truly magnificent. How easy it would be to communicate in his time with such an invention.

“Hello?” Selma repeated.

“Selma?”

“Fin, is that you?”

“Aye, lass,” he said, excited to be speaking with someone miles away.

“What’s up?”

“Jesus, Fin. Stop smiling like you don’t know any better and tell her what’s going on,” Liz yelled.

“Right. We’ve had some trouble,” he began.

Within minutes, Selma knew the story and offered her own advice.

“I’m picking up my sister at the airport now. I’ll call you once the others come in. Where are you going to be?”

Fin moved the phone from his ear. “Where are we going?”

“I don’t know.”

Selma must have heard Lizzy. “Never mind. It’s 211

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probably better if you don’t tell me anyway. Have you called Jake yet?”

“Nay.”

“I’ll do it. If he calls you, don’t tell him where you are, either. My guess is he’ll be under suspicion before the day is done. We don’t want him in any trouble if we can avoid it.”

Fin admired how the woman’s mind worked.

“I’ll be in touch later. Don’t go too far. I think I may have an idea of how to get you guys back home.”

“What is it?”

“You’ll see. Tell Lizzy to hang in there. Later, Fin.” Before he could reply, the connection went dead.

“What did she say?” Liz questioned.

“She told me she believes she has thought of a plan to take us home.”

“That makes one of us.”

Fin reached over and weaved his fingers into hers. She squeezed his in response. “We’ll find our way home, love. We have to.”

“In the meantime, we’ll have to find a place to hide.”

“Agreed.”

Fin sat back and watched Lizzy’s world speed by at the pace of sixty horses. Cold air hit him from the vents in the car and dried the back of his throat.

It wouldn’t be long now.

“By the way, great thinking back there.” Liz stroked his hand with her thumb. “With the earthquake.”

He smiled into her brilliant blue eyes with pride.

“I didn’t think your gift would come in all that handy, but I was wrong.”

Her admission took him back. It seemed they’d finally found a place where the two of them could speak their hearts without fear of retribution from the other.

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“I’m glad you approve.”

They settled into silence for a few minutes before Liz said, “Don’t you find it ironic that your gift is to make the earth shake, and mine is to fly above the ground?”

He considered her words. “Opposites?”

“Yeah, yin and yang.”

“What is that?”

Liz shook her head. “Nothing. Strange how things work out sometimes.”

Fin didn’t think she meant to voice her last words. “We work well together. Like the pipes the man at the store spoke of, one part male, one part female. Once a bond is applied they are inseparable.”

When Lizzy squirmed under his stare and tried to move her hand from his, Fin held on firm.

“With everything being so crazy in our lives, do you think it’s wise to talk about bonds?”

“’Tis because of the madness that we’ve found each other at all, Elizabeth.”

“You’ll have to forgive me for not praising Grainna’s evil ass.”

Even Fin couldn’t take his thoughts that far.

However, when his head lifted and he caught Lizzy’s eyes briefly, he realized that he wouldn’t want to be stranded in any time without her by his side. He’d thought endlessly about the possibility of having to stay in her time since they’d arrived. Although he’d miss his family, mourn their absence, he did feel he would survive. The same couldn’t be said if Liz had returned here without him. He opened his mouth to tell her his thoughts before her hand broke free of his. “Sonofabitch!” Liz angled the mirror and studied it with a frown.

Behind them, a black-and-white car trailed.

“The police?”

“Crap. Are they following us?”

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Fin turned in his seat and watched the other car’s movements. “Perhaps.”

“Mrs. Aaron must have seen us leave the parking lot. Okay, I’m going to get off the freeway.”

She moved the car to the exit and kept watch in the mirror.

The police car moved in behind them. Only one car separated the two.

“Shit.”

Fin noticed the man in the seat, he spoke into a device.

“Stop staring, Fin. He’ll see you.”

He turned in his seat and leveled his eyes straight ahead.

“What are we going to do?”

Liz pulled into traffic with a jerk.

“Easy, love.” Fin searched the road in front of them. Cars were parked along the side.

“Do the police stop to help others in need?”

“They’re supposed to.”

Fin sat forward and rolled down the window.

Hot air met his cool skin like a furnace. “Slow down up here.”

“Why? They’ll see us.”

“Trust me.”

Liz brought the car to a slower pace and Fin focused his gift behind them. The earth gave beneath them and caused several cars to swerve.

Once the one directly behind them slammed on the brakes he said, “Move faster.”

Liz surged the car forward. The police car had no choice but to stop behind the other vehicle. Fin flicked his hand in the direction of a long pole and set fire to the box with wires stretching from it. Soon the space behind their car held sparks and skidding cars. Liz forced the car around a corner and sped past the houses until she managed to put much needed space between them and the police.

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“That was close,” she sighed.

“Too close.”

“We need to ditch this car. They’ll be looking for it.” “Where does one
ditch
a car when one wants to hide?”

Liz smiled and turned the car back to the freeway. “Call Selma back. Let her know we’re on our way to LAX.”

“The airport?”

“Maybe the police will think we’ve skipped town.”

Fin was more than a little impressed. Lizzy’s mind leaned toward the criminal a bit easier than he expected. “Brilliant idea.”

“Only if it works.”

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“It’s all I could think of. Besides, if anyone understands what it means to camp, it would be someone who lives five hundred years in the past.”

Liz rubbed the back of her neck in frustration.

Selma was right, but damn if she didn’t hate the thought of sleeping on the ground…again. “I’m a transplant from this century. I like my box springs and down comforter.”

“Your comforter isn’t down. Bargain basement addition at best.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” Liz sneered.

“No one will look for you here. Who hides out at a state beach campground surrounded by families?”

Liz shuddered, already cold even though the temperature held in the seventies after the sun had gone down. They’d run nearly the entire day. Selma parked them at the campground and ran off to get supplies. Introductions were made to Selma’s sister, Beth, who stayed behind at the airport to wait for more of Selma’s family.

Their newest friend was calling in her own army. Selma’s large extended family was flying in from all over the country. Cousins, once and twice removed, heard her plea for support and jumped on the chance to help her out.

Liz didn’t understand it. How could people she didn’t know give a damn about her and Fin? It wasn’t them, she knew, but Selma they came for.

Outside of the MacCoinnichs, Liz didn’t know of any family with such fierce loyalty. Her own family, 216

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other than Tara, couldn’t be bothered to stand by her side during the birth of her illegitimate son, let alone harbor her when she was wanted for questioning by the police.

Yet Selma’s family came. From the sound of her estimates, by the dozens. Of course, she promised them a little magic and a show before the night of the eclipse was over. Maybe that was the draw. Free entertainment.