One Magic Moment

  At least he could say with certainty that there was no possible way Roland would have suspected that he and Tess would travel back in time, never mind the irony of their having done so from the forest near Chevington.

  Though the only reason he’d found a time gate in the forest at all had been because his sword had been driven into the ground right next to it.

  That was another mystery that gave him a sharp pain between the eyes. Whoever had stolen his sword had obviously placed it cunningly next to a time gate, but the question was why. Merely to send him back in time? To what end? If Roland had wanted him dead, there was little point in stealing his sword, then sending him back to the past. If Everard had wanted him dead, he could have slain him at any point in time with a bullet to his head.

  Why either of them—if they were his only suspects—would have wanted him back in medieval England where they had to have known he would be surrounded by his very intimidating brothers was something he simply couldn’t understand.

  He sighed deeply. Perhaps ’twas nothing more than coincidence. He wondered how many other poor souls had stepped on an unassuming patch of forest ground and wound up where they hadn’t intended to go. At least at Artane, the gate made the hair on the back of one’s neck stand up. That spot at Chevington hadn’t done more than make him slightly ill, though he fully intended to use it again. At least that way he and Tess would be able to collect their gear from the castle and get themselves on a train back home.

  The thought of that was enough to leave him feeling slightly disembodied, as if his soul wasn’t quite sure which century it should cling to. He hadn’t had that sensation all that often in the Future, but then again, he’d done his best to forget his past, and he’d avoided like the plague any medieval historical sites.

  A consideration of that irony took him inside Segrave’s gates where he found he was having a bit more trouble remaining unaffected than he would have suspected he might. It was difficult to remember he was a man of almost a score and eight, not a lad of ten winters as he rode beneath the barbican and was assaulted by the sights and sounds of a place he had loved to visit in his youth.

  He thought he might have been rather glad not to have gone to Artane, truth be told.

  He looked at Tess sitting beside him and smiled as best he could. “How are you?”

  She returned his smile, albeit weakly. “Segrave is very impressive. I had no idea.”

  “I think that means I don’t dare ask what it looks like in the Future.”

  “I don’t think you do,” she agreed slowly, “though you’ll be glad to know the National Trust has done a tremendous job with the grounds.”

  He winced. “Then I’ll assume the castle hasn’t fared so well. At least at Sedgwick, I can keep you safely tucked behind three portcullises.”

  “Can you live in a castle for the rest of your days?” she asked with half a smile.

  “If you’re mistress of it, then aye,” he said pleasantly. “Especially if it boasts running water and a lovely Aga in the kitchens. I think we’ll manage to make do.”

  “I imagine we will,” she agreed quietly.

  She didn’t look completely convinced, so he sent her a look that made her sigh lightly. Obviously, his work was undone.

  But that would have to come later, when he had a bit of privacy for it. He concentrated on not looking affected by his surroundings. It was, fortunately, not quite dawn, which at least gave him the cover of darkness for his rampaging emotions. He managed to get off his own horse without incident, help Tess down from hers, then keep her hand in his as he waited for his family to gather themselves together. He was happy to let Robin lead the way into the keep, make polite conversation with the steward, then see them all shepherded upstairs to Joanna’s bedchamber.

  It was something of a surprise to see his grandmother looking so frail, given that he’d never seen her doing anything but leading whatever charge she’d decided upon. She was lucid, though, and didn’t seem to be in any pain. If her time had come, he could only wish for her that her passing would be peaceful and easy.

  He waited until the rest of his siblings and Jake had greeted her before he took Tess’s hand and a deep breath, then went to kneel down by his grandmother’s bedside.

  She sat up and looked at him in surprise. “John,” she croaked. “You dratted rogue, where have you been?”

  “Ah—”

  “I can see by the looks of your lady—who must be somehow related to my darling Persephone—that your time has been wisely spent.”

  John smiled. “Grandmère, should you be using so much breath for speaking?”

  She leaned over and put her bony but surprisingly strong arms around him, then hugged him tightly. “I want the entire tale, when I’ve recovered from this shock. I wept over you, you terrible boy.”

  “I’m sorry, Grandmère,” he said sincerely, attempting a smile as he helped her lie back down. “I was detained.”

  “I won’t ask where.” She gestured toward Tess. “Introduce us, if you have any manners left.”

  “My betrothed,” John said, shooting Tess a quick smile. “Tess Alexander. And she is, as you guessed, Persephone’s sister.”

  “I would be very interested in the circumstances of your meeting, but I’ll have that from your lady. From you, I’ll have a song or two. Go fetch a lute, John my lad, and let’s see if you’ve forgotten all I paid so dearly to have pounded into your wee head.”

  John rose to do just that, but Robin waved him off and left to apparently see to it himself. Joanna patted the side of her bed.

  “Come and sit with me, Mistress Tess, and tell me of yourself and how it was you met my Johnny. He’s my second favorite grandson, you know. All my great-grandchildren are my favorites because ’tis impossible to choose between them. A fine brood, aren’t they?”

  “They are indeed, my lady,” Tess said, sitting down and taking Joanna’s proffered hand. “I don’t think I could choose, either.”

  Joanna regarded her shrewdly for a moment or two, then nodded. “My tale, gel, if you please. Spare no details, however shocking.”

  John could hardly wait to see what Tess would come up with, but he had the feeling his bad behavior would figure prominently. The best he could hope for was to provide a little musical distraction before Tess had to provide other, more startling details about things his grandmother surely wouldn’t believe.

  It was late in the morning when he found himself released from his labors and that only because Joanna had fallen asleep. He laid the lute aside for future use, then rose and stretched.

  “A walk, Tess?” he asked.

  She nodded and rose to leave quietly with him. John pursed his lips at the warning look from Robin, then took Tess’s hand and left the bedchamber. He looked at her.

  “Food?”

  “Your grandmother’s been feeding us all morning,” she said with a smile. “Gracious even while not feeling her best.”

  “Any redeeming qualities we have, we can thank her for,” John agreed.

  He walked with her down the stairs and through the great hall, realizing only as he put her cloak around her shoulders that she was trembling. He turned her to him and looked at her in surprise. “What is it?”

  “I’m just nervous. I’ve never had future in-laws before. Parents-in-law, actually.” She took a deep breath. “I’m not sure they’ll like me very well, especially considering that I’m taking—”

  “I’m going,” he corrected. “Home, with you. And they will love you, not just because I love you. My father will be thrilled to have someone to argue politics with and my mother will love you because you’ve agreed to put up with me. If we make our home a bit farther away than their other children, then so be it.”

  She looked up at him seriously. “You know, you might find someone here to love.”

  “So might you.”

  She blinked, then smiled. “I’m not looking.”

  “Neither am I,” he said, “and since
that’s finally settled, let’s go watch the sunset, such as it is. From the ground, in deference to you.”

  “Good of you.”

  He laughed and opened the door for her, then walked outside and into a solid shape that almost had him bouncing backward. He looked at the man, an apology on his lips, then he froze.

  It was Montgomery.

  “Tess!”

  He found himself shoved out of the way by a dark-haired beauty who he could only assume was Pippa, given how much she resembled Tess. He regained his balance in time to watch Pippa throw her arms around his future wife.

  Tears were shed.

  John stepped backward to allow the sisterly reunion to go on in comfort, then looked at his brother, who was gaping at him in much the same manner as he suspected he himself was using.

  “Bloody hell,” Montgomery gasped, then he stepped forward and tried to choke the life from John.

  John would have laughed, but he was too close to expressing a different sort of emotion. So he returned his brother’s embrace, exchanged several rounds of manly backslapping, curses, and the occasional kiss on the cheek. At least it was more dignified than what was going on to his right, which was a supremely feminine display of overwrought emotion.

  He found himself eventually standing shoulder to shoulder with his brother, watching the sisters fall apart. He looked at Montgomery.

  “Embarrassing.”

  Montgomery laughed. “Isn’t it, though? I would suggest we retreat somewhere for a bit of privacy, but I’m not sure we should interrupt them.” He looked at John assessingly. “I hesitate to ask where you and Tess met.”

  “You’d hesitate even more fully if you knew that she’d had the title of Countess of Sedgwick bestowed upon her not a fortnight ago.”

  “Wedding your betters?” Montgomery asked with a smirk.

  John laughed in spite of himself. “Aye, and you’ve been spending too much time with Robin, apparently.” He shook his head. “I vow I can hardly believe you’ve grown so much.”

  “I can wield my sword, too,” Montgomery said solemnly. “Astonishing, isn’t it?”

  “I would say we should step outside and test that, but I fear you would find me gravely lacking—despite Rob and Nick’s attentions to my poor swordplay over the past few days. I’ll indulge you later, if you like.”

  “Agreed,” Montgomery said. He looked at Pippa and Tess. “We should perhaps sequester those two in Grandmère’s solar sooner rather than later. And I should pay my respects.”

  “Joanna’s sleeping, but Robin promised to alert us when she wakes.” He paused. “It would give us time to talk for a bit. I have a tale to tell you.”

  “I imagine you do,” Montgomery said dryly. He looked at John, then shook his head. “I will tell you, if you care to hear it, that I never thought you were dead. I find myself now quite unsurprised to assume that you were loitering in Tess’s time.”

  “It was a happy series of coincidences,” John said.

  “I imagine so. You can tell Father all about them tomorrow. He would be here now, but he was caught in London and had to flatter the king. I doubt that will last very long.”

  John shook his head. He couldn’t have been further away from the throne in the Future yet here his family interacted with the king more often than they were happy about.

  Montgomery put his hand on John’s shoulder. “Let’s collect our ladies and find somewhere comfortable to sit. I have the feeling it’s going to be a long afternoon.” He shot John a look. “I’m happy to see you.”

  John could only nod, because if he’d said anything else, he likely would have displayed more emotion than he cared to. He stood slightly apart and watched his brother brave the sisterly bit of tumult still going on. Montgomery hugged Tess and inquired—in modern English, no less—how her journey had been so far and if John had been behaving himself. Tess provided him with very brief answers, but promised more in return for copious details about his and Pippa’s marriage. Montgomery offered his arms to the sisters, then started across the great hall with him.

  Tess smiled up at Montgomery, then stopped and looked over her shoulder. She held out her hand and waited. John took a deep breath and walked forward to take that outstretched hand.

  “Still have battery on your phone?” she asked.

  “Aye, enough. Why?”

  “I wonder what Robin would do if we asked him to take a picture of the four of us,” she said. “For posterity’s sake.”

  John could imagine very well just what his brother would say, but since it would give him something to shake his head over for years to come, John was all for it. He brought Tess’s hand to his lips, then smiled at her. “I’ll ask him later. For now, you might want to . . .”

  “And you might want to as well,” she said quietly.

  He took a deep breath, because she obviously knew he was talking about spending time with Montgomery and Pippa. He had no doubt that when the time came, he would leave medieval England behind without looking back over his shoulder, but until then . . . well, there was no sense in engaging in maudlin displays when he could instead be mocking his brother for having been talked into taking on Sedgwick.

  He would also have to give serious thought to what he would say when his father arrived. He knew if he thought the most difficult part of his journey was behind him, he was deluding himself. First his father, then a frank discussion with Montgomery about Everard of Chevington and what mischief he’d been combining.

  He wasn’t sure which of those conversations would be more difficult.

  “Are you all right?”

  He dragged himself back from uncomfortable places, smiled at Tess, then nodded. He squeezed her hand and continued across the floor with her, happy for the moment to put off difficult things for a bit longer.

  Chapter 29

  Tess sat in Segrave’s solar, holding her sister’s hands and trying not to weep.

  Well, she actually wasn’t trying very hard only because she’d already lost it there in the great hall and gotten it mostly out of her system. She’d known, of course, that she would be running into Pippa eventually; she just hadn’t expected it to be so abruptly. She couldn’t deny that Pippa was absolutely glowing with happiness, which eased her heart quite a bit. Obviously being married to a de Piaget lad agreed with her.

  She glanced at John and Montgomery sitting there laughing together as if they’d never spent a day apart. She had known her fair share of twins over the years, but somehow she’d never been as startled looking at them as she was looking at her brother-in-law and her, well, her fiancé. She watched them for a bit more, then looked at Pippa.

  “Is this killing you like it’s killing me?”

  Pippa shook her head. “I’m not sure I can talk about it, so let’s talk about something else. Tell me how you met John.”

  Tess was happy to distract them both with less heart-wrenching details. “I knocked off a mirror a while back, just to give the local mechanic something to do, and walked into the shop only to find the owner not exactly who I’d expected him to be.”

  Pippa smiled. “John?”

  “Yes,” Tess said, feeling suddenly a little breathless at how easy it would have been never to have crossed paths with him. If he’d been interested in something besides cars, or she’d never taken Sedgwick, or—

  “What did you do when you saw him?”

  “About fainted,” Tess said, dragging herself away from unproductive thoughts. “I didn’t say anything about knowing who he was, of course, especially since he kept telling me he didn’t think we should see each other again.”

  “Self-defense,” John put in, in English.

  Pippa laughed at him. “Did she make you crazy?”

  “Absolutely,” he said without hesitation. “Still does. In a good way, of course.”

  Tess smiled wryly at him, then turned back to her sister. “I won’t give away all his secrets. Let’s just say it was a little improbable to watch a guy walkin
g around in the twenty-first century when I knew he’d been born in the thirteenth. Especially when he was doing everything he could to make sure no one knew what was going on. I wish you could have seen his face the first time he met Stephen.”

  “I would have loved it,” Pippa said cheerfully. “So, when did you tell him what you knew?”

  “About three days into our excellent adventure in medieval England.” She paused. “I don’t think he was happy with my revelations, but what else was I going to do? I couldn’t bring myself to tell him what I knew while we were in the future, but I didn’t have much choice here in the past.”

  “I understand, believe me,” Pippa said. She smiled at Montgomery, then turned back to Tess. “What now—” She stopped abruptly. “Never mind.”

  “A visit,” Tess managed.

  Pippa smiled faintly. “I wish you’d make more of them.”

  Tess had to take a deep breath. “We’ll try. And I’ll bring Peaches next time.”

  “How is she? Still rescuing people from their junk drawers?”

  Tess nodded, then happily filled her sister in on the things she’d missed over the past couple of months. It was as if no time at all had passed, no grief, no traipsing through time that belonged within the pages of a book instead of in her life. And once she was finished with all the details she thought Pippa would want to know, she listened to what her sister had been doing eight centuries in the past. She even found it in her to laugh a time or two at the vagaries of medieval life.

  Pippa paused and looked up as the door opened. Tess did, too, expecting to find Robin there, having come to call them back upstairs.

  Only it wasn’t Robin.

  It was an older version of him who was followed into the solar by a woman who could have been no other than Amanda’s mother. That meant that the man who had come to so sudden a stop that his wife had run into his back was none other than John’s father, Rhys de Piaget.

  Montgomery rose immediately. “Father,” he said, surprised. “I thought you were caught in London.”