Shyness not being part of her makeup, she’d soon found several women gathered in the lunchroom and had easily started up a conversation with them. Winter emerged less than half an hour later with one of the women in tow. Her name was Wanda Farley and she had a doctorate in mathematical engineering. Winter went in search of her husband to introduce Matt to his new quality control manager, Wanda.
Winter sighed and scanned the jet’s many instruments until she found a clock. It was 8:30 A.M., Eastern Standard Time she presumed, and they were only minutes away from landing in Pine Creek, which meant she was only an hour away from facing her parents as a married woman.
She couldn’t wait for that happy scene to unfold.
“I think you should go to your resort suite while I go see my parents,” she said into the mouthpiece of her headphones. “And I’ll come to you after I’ve told them we’re married.”
Matt looked over at her, seemingly startled by her sudden intrusion on his own thoughts, and frowned. “I’m going with you to tell your parents.”
“That’s very noble of you, but I don’t think it’s wise. My mother will be shocked, and maybe hurt that she didn’t attend my wedding, but she’ll be happy, I think. But my papa,” Winter said with a crooked smile behind her mouthpiece, “he’s likely to take his sword and run you through.” She reached over and patted Matt’s arm. “I think it would be best if we let them get used to the idea for…oh, for a week or two maybe, before we plan our first family dinner.”
“This isn’t open to discussion, Winter. I intend to be standing beside you when you face your parents.”
“And just how do I introduce you? As my husband Matheson Gregor, or as Cùram de Gairn?”
Matt took his hand off the yoke and covered hers, making Winter realize she’d been wringing them together. “You can introduce me however you want, as long as I’m standing beside you at the time,” he said softly. “Don’t keep my real identity a secret, Winter, or you’ll only hurt them further. I have nothing to hide from anyone. Not anymore. And neither do you. And you don’t need to protect me, lass.
I’m quite capable of taking care of myself.”
“And Father Daar?” she asked. “And Robbie? You don’t think they’re going to be hopping mad when they find out I’ve married the man responsible for dooming mankind?”
Matt’s smile turned tender as he ran his thumb over her knuckles. “MacBain is an intelligent and insightful guardian. He won’t try to make you a widow without asking your permission first. And as for Pendaär, he’s no longer a worry for either of us. His power is gone.”
Winter’s eyes widened in surprise. “Are you saying Father Daar is powerless now?”
Matt nodded. “When you hugged your pine, you transferred all the energy Pendaär’s been using all these centuries from him to yourself.”
Winter narrowed her eyes. She’d finally remembered to ask Matt if he had cut the top off the pine, but he swore it hadn’t been him, and that he’d also been trying to find out who had stolen a good deal of the tree’s remaining energy. And though she ultimately believed him, she couldn’t help being suspicious now. “How do you know I hugged the white pine?”
“I felt it,” Matt said. “Even though I was in Utah at the time, I felt the energy shift. It’s what drew me home to you.”
Winter blinked in surprise. He’d felt her hugging the pine? That’s why he’d come back? And Father Daar truly was powerless now? Just like the crow had told her in her dream?
“Does that mean Daar’s not a drùidhanymore?” she whispered into the mouthpiece. “That he’
s going to…is he going to die?”
Matt squeezed her hand. “Aye,” he softly confirmed. “But not because of you, but because that
’s simply the way Providence works. Pendaär knew this was going to happen, Winter, as he understands two drùidhscan’t control the same energy.” Matt squeezed her hand again. “He’s not going to die tomorrow, lass. He’ll merely live out the rest of his days as a mortal man.”
Winter turned to look out the window, forcing back her threatening tears. She didn’t want Father Daar to die defeated and powerless, no matter what a pest he’d been all these years. She certainly didn’t want him to die because of her. She looked back at Matt. “What happens to Daar if I renounce my calling? Would he get to keep his power then?”
“No,” Matt said with a shake of his head. “The energy has already shifted. If you renounce your calling now, it will simply lay dormant until your grandchild takes it up. That’s why Pendaär kept trying to stop you from seeing me. Even though he thought I was only a mortal man, he knew that if you chose me over your calling, all was lost for both you and for him. He was worried only about keeping the continuum balanced and not about your love life.”
“So he’s known all along he would lose his power the moment I came into mine,” she clarified, and Matt simply nodded. “But he said he would help me destroy you,” she whispered.
“By teaching you how to summon the magic,” Matt explained. He patted her hand, then took hold of the yoke again. “But I’ll teach you now.”
“Yes,” she said with a frown, “but only enough to help you keep your promise to Kenzie.”
“No,” Matt said, staring out the windshield of the jet. “I’ll teach you anything you want to know.” He looked over at her. “Including how to destroy me.”
Winter looked down at her hands and started toying with her wedding band again. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to smack Matt or throw herself into his arms. He truly had given up—completely and irrevocably and utterly hopelessly.
“Do you talk to Kenzie?” she asked without looking up. “And can he talk to you?”
“Most of the time, no,” Matt said. “Only when he walks the earth as a man.”
Winter looked over in surprise. “Kenzie becomes a man sometimes? When?”
“Four times each year, on the solstices and the equinoxes. For twenty-four hours beginning at the moment of each seasonal transition, he turns into his old self.”
“Two weeks ago!” Winter said, twisting in her seat to face Matt. “On the autumnal equinox, you and Kenzie were in the meadow on Bear Mountain, fighting with swords.”
Matt looked at her sharply. “How do you know that?”
“Tom saw you. He told me he saw two men in kilts fighting in the meadow, trying to kill each other. But then you walked off into the woods together, laughing.” She gasped. “The cut on Gesader’s neck. He got hurt in your sword fight, when he was Kenzie.”
Matt laughed and shook his head, looking out the windshield again. “We weren’t trying to kill each other, lass; we were only working up a good sweat. My brother got distracted by a comment I made and let down his guard long enough to give me an opening.” He looked at her, completely serious.
“There’s less than three months before the winter solstice, when Kenzie becomes himself again, and that’
s our best chance to make sure he stays himself.”
Winter could only blink at Matt. She had less than three months to master the magic? Saints and curses, if she didn’t get her staff under control by then, she’d likely blow Kenzie to kingdom come rather than save him.
Winter looked out her side window and quietly placed her hand on her blouse over the black feather she’d tucked inside her bra. Just three more months and she’d be able to stop worrying about saving mankind and start thinking about names for her baby instead. And by the winter solstice she would be designing a nursery for the house Matt was going to build them on Bear Mountain—even if she had to make her own pact with Providence to save her husband’s soul.
Matt stood in the living room of the MacKeage home, unable to decide who was more stunned, Robbie MacBain and Winter’s parents, or his gaping bride. He probably shouldn’t have turned his pen back into his sword as they had crossed the keep’s bridge, nor changed into his eight-hundred-year-old plaid just as he’d stepped through the door behind Winter, presenting himself as Cùram de Gairn.