torn. You know what Alpin has offered, and you know me. I don’t take risks. I never have. I left all the risk-taking up to you, living and learning vicariously through your experiences. What should I do?”
“I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. Remember when you first called us after arriving in Garretsville? I told you then I sensed things were not going to be easy.”
“I remember. Were you picking up on the choice I’d have to make?”
“I think so.” She went quiet for a few seconds, as if thinking. “If there were no risks involved, what would you do?”
“I’d go back in time and save Daniel’s life.” She’d also invite him to join her in the twenty-first century. Would he? Worries about his family were what kept him here, so probably not. He’d return to Ireland to fulfill the vow he’d made to his mother, and Meredith would return to her life in the present. Her chest ached with the certainty that things weren’t going to turn out the way she wished they would.
“Okay, you said that without the slightest hesitation. How about you listen to your heart, and maybe have a little faith.” Grayce suggested.
Meredith groaned and raked her fingers through her hair. “That’s the best you’ve got?”
“Sorry.”
“Well, shit.”
“That about sums it up.” Grayce snorted. “After all the visions and crap I’ve been through, I’ve developed a modicum of faith—in fate, the grand plan, or … whatever. I have to believe I’d sense something if you weren’t going to get through this intact, and I don’t.”
“I hope you’re right.” At any rate, she didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “On a happier note, how are you feeling? Do you still have morning sickness?”
“I experience nausea off and on throughout the day, but it’s not so bad that I actually throw up. The excitement more than makes up for the discomfort. Brían is having a tough time keeping our secret, and he’s gone overboard with being protective.”
Meredith grinned. “I can imagine. I can’t wait to meet the newest MacSloan.”
“I can’t either,” Grayce gushed. “I didn’t planned to marry or to have a family, and look where I am now.”
“Right, you fell into a hidden world, went through hell, and in the end everything turned out for you and Brían.” She hadn’t meant to sound so bitter, but the bitterness leaked out nonetheless.
“Maybe you’re on the verge of great change as well. Brían told me fate brought us together, and I believe him. Perhaps—”
“Boann came to your rescue, Grayce.” Meredith’s gut clenched at the thought of what would’ve happened if Boann hadn’t arrived on the scene when she had. “She can’t get involved in this.”
“I know.”
“I’d better get going.” Meredith swallowed a few times. “I have another call to make and errands to run.”
“Okay. Call me again whenever you need to talk. I love you,” Grayce said, her voice tremulous.
“I love you back.” Once she ended the call, Meredith brought up the contact information she’d entered into her phone for Jake Geller and the ranger station. She called his cell number.
“Ranger Jake here,” he answered.
“Hi, this is Meredith MacCarthy in Garretsville. I was wondering if I could have a package delivered to the ranger station.”
“Sure. Just have it addressed to you in care of me. Lots of volunteers have done that over the years.”
“Great. Call me when it arrives, and I’ll pick it up after the park closes.”
“I don’t mind dropping it off. I need to stop by and check up on the park anyway,” he said. “How’re things going?”
“Everything is going great.” If one didn’t count Oliver’s near possession by the doers of dastardly deeds. Should she mention the buried treasure she helped recover? What about the possibility that she’d travel back in time to save a ghost she was pretty sure she was already half in love with?
A bubble of near-hysteria burst, and she coughed to prevent it from turning into mad laughter. “Excuse me. Just inhaled a bug.” Another cough-cough for good measure, and she continued, “The package should arrive in the next few days.” Because she planned to pay extra to see that it did, and her budget be damned. She had a very nice, very dead Irishman to rescue.
“I’ll keep an eye out for your shipment, and I’ll bring the box by the day it arrives.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you then.” Meredith ended the call and pulled her laptop and her wallet from her backpack. Parked as she was in Starbuck’s lot, she