The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,4

dinna mean, anyone, I meant—”

“It’s okay Beaty, I understand what you meant.”

I nuzzled my face into Isla’s cheek and inhaled sweet baby sleeping scent.

In the kitchen Zach rose up from behind the kitchen island, and pointing the remote control, turned down the music. He whispered, “Em and I are going to the grocery store, text me if you need something.” He lowered himself behind the kitchen island again and crawled out of the room. Magnus chuckled.

I asked Hayley in a whisper, “Was that all? It wasn’t that big a deal actually for all your bellyaching, do you feel better?”

“No, there’s more.” She huffed out air. “And I want to remind you, Katie, I nit-picked your hair last night, you owe me. You have to not get furious. Plus you don’t want to wake up the baby.”

I squinted my eyes and whispered, “Please don’t wake up Isla. It’s the first time I’ve really gotten to hold her since I’ve been back, and I’ll never forgive you.”

She whispered, “Ugh, that’s what I’m talking about. You have to forgive me, you have to.”

“You aren’t usually this weird. What the hell do you need to tell me?”

She clutched Fraoch’s hand. “After you disappeared, which I will remind you, was all my fault. If I hadn’t asked you to come with me, you would have been safe in Florida with your babies, but I asked for your help and you got into the fight with Bella and disappeared and—” Her eyes went wide. “Was she dead when you landed in the dark ages?”

“Yep.”

Magnus said, “In the Spring I returned to the clearing and buried her.”

Hayley nodded. “That must have been awful.”

“Twas.”

Hayley shivered. “So to continue — you disappeared. Magnus left. I did something.” She looked down at the table and picked at nothing on the surface of it.

“What did you do? Out with it.”

Fraoch put an arm around her and squeezed.

She said, “I went to talk to Lady Mairead to ask if I could help find you. I pleaded for her to hurry, and she got angry. She kept adding time.” Her voice mimicked Lady Mairead, “‘Three months, dost that seem fair? Six months…?’ And then I had to get down on my knees to beg her to stop adding time and she said, ‘I will go get them at one year.’ It was all my fault. All of it. I’m the reason why you were a year way from home. It was me.” Her nose was so low it almost touched the table surface.

I was confused by the whole thing, “What — so like, you said, ‘I want to help’ and she said, ‘two more months…’ Like that?” My mind was roaring, like… what the fuck, really? I had a million questions but I was trapped between wanting to understand and wanting to hug Hayley, because she really seemed distraught. But also I needed consoling. Me. Because this whole year had happened to me.

Magnus was concentrating on the fork handle in front of him, moving it side to side in his fingers.

The room was heavy with tension. So heavy.

Magnus said, “Nae.”

I didn’t understand what he was saying nae to, because his face was clouded. He said it again, “Nae, Madame Hayley. Tis nae yer fault, tis mine. I bear it.”

“But I—”

“Ye offered tae help? Ye tried tae reason with m’mother? Ye canna be blamed for this. I threatened her with a year tae recover me. ‘A year,’ I said. The moment I said it she was calculating how long tae take. Twas nae yer fault, Madame Hayley, even with yer story afore me, twas nae yer fault.”

Hayley looked at me. “Will you forgive me, Katie? Your baby — I’m so sorry.”

Tears rose in my eyes and I blinked them back and chose my words carefully. It was as if my heart and my mind were going to be at odds and I had to be careful. “Magnus and I were alone in the past for a long, long time. It’s probably hard to imagine it, a year, it’s so long. We grieved. We had to say goodbye. We had to accept our fate. We moved through blame and we moved through guilt.”

I reached out and patted Magnus’s arm. “I’m sorry, my love, that you are blaming yourself again, please don’t, please, please don’t. I need you to be on the other side of this. We have to heal.”

To Hayley I said, “I’m devastated, but also, I’m home. I love you Hayley, you’ve been my