Simon couldn’t keep his hands to himself. He kept Helen close, never more than a foot or two away. She was so good at shifting time that he worried she’d disappear in the blink of an eye.
They hadn’t had a moment alone since they’d returned after Philip’s and Malcolm’s demise. Their time together was running out.
Helen faced his parents, tears in her eyes. “Thank you for everything,” she told them.
“We’ve shown you nothing.”
“That’s not true. You’ve raised a wonderful son.” Her eyes rested on his, glistening with tears. “Without him I’d have died that first day.”
Simon saw his mother’s solemn expression as she looked at him.
“Simon is a man who makes his own choices, forges his own life,” Fin added. There was pain behind his father’s gaze.
“Yeah well, where I’m from when someone doesn’t have decent parents, they end up being all kinds of nasty.”
Lizzy laughed at that, and some of the rising tension left the somber mood in the room.
“And you’re the one who told me to trust in my gift, believe in it. You helped me believe in myself, Lizzy. For that I’ll always be grateful.”
“There’s no reason for all these tears. You can come visit. If there is one person in the universe who can, it’s you.”
Helen glanced around the room, her eyes shifting to the floor. “Yeah, I guess.” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks and turned to Simon. “I need to go.”
Pain rippled through him as he stared into her swollen eyes. He could do this. Life was about sacrifices and about making the right decisions for the many and not the few.
His mom and Fin stepped back but didn’t leave the room.
Simon pulled Helen close, his heart thick in his chest. “I love you, lass.”
She sobbed into his chest. “I love you, too.”
The words were music to his soul, making everything else around him fade. “We don’t need to be apart.”
Helen kissed him, stopping his words. He forgot his parents, the room they stood in, and simply felt the desperation behind her kiss. When she pulled away, she forced a fake smile to her lips. “I can’t stay here, Simon. And I love you too much to ask you to leave. Your family needs you.”
He nodded and smiled. “Aye. My family does need me.”
Helen sucked in her lower lip and stepped out of his arms.
Then, because his time was at an end, he turned to his parents.
Lizzy sobbed and threw herself in his arms. “I know. We all know.”
Simon hugged her and stared at Fin.
“Lora had a premonition,” Fin explained.
“I don’t understand,” Helen said from behind them.
Simon kissed his mother and embraced his father before turning to Helen. “You’re my family now, Helen. ’Tis you I need to be with. You I wish to be with.”
Helen’s mouth gaped open. “You mean you’re coming with me?”
“Aye. If you’ll have me.”
Her arms wove around his neck. The tears filled with pain changed to those of joy. “I’ll have you,” she laughed.
“As my wife,” he informed her.
She stopped kissing him and stared into his eyes. “Was that a proposal?”
It’s a demand.
He glanced at his mother. The woman who taught him everything he knew about modern women. “Aye, it was.”
Helen kissed him again, this time melting into his arms.
“You approve?” he asked when her lips left his.
“Of course, I approve.” She pushed away from him and hugged Lizzy one last time. “Unless something stops us, we’ll visit.”
Lizzy nodded. “I know.”
Simon hugged his parents a final time. “Tell the others goodbye.”
“We will.”
Fin and Lizzy stood back, giving Helen room.
His future wife whispered under her breath, barely breathing the words to move them through time. Everything Simon had known, his loving parents, his family, his world, drifted away. As the vortex surrounded them, He stared into Helen’s eyes and saw the brightness of her soul.
“I love you, lass.”
“I love you, my Highland shifter.”
Epilogue
Ian and Lora met Fin and Lizzy as they left the upper chamber where Simon and Helen had left.
Ian’s heart squeezed in his chest, feeling the empty place that would never quite be the same without Simon’s presence. “They’ve gone?”
“Yeah,” Lizzy pushed away tears. “They were so happy. Sad in some ways, but happy.”
Lora swung an arm around Lizzy’s shoulders in comfort. “’Tis for the best.”
“I know. It just hurts.”
They started down the stairs, talking as they went.
“Do you think she knows about the baby yet?” Ian asked.
“I doubt it,” Lizzy answered.
“Simon knew,” Fin told them without a hint of a doubt in his voice.
“What makes you say that, son?”
“The way he said family. He knew she was pregnant.”
Lizzy sighed. “You don’t think he’s marrying her because of the baby, do you?”
Lora squelched that thought. “Simon loves the girl. Did long before any child was conceived.”
Lizzy nodded. “You’re right. I know you’re right.”
“Let’s drink to another generation.” Ian poured them drinks when they reached his study and lifted his glass for a toast. “May our children be happy in their new life...”
As his glass rose in the air all sounds in the house went completely silent.
The hair on Ian’s nape stood on end. He dropped the goblet from his hand and reached for his sword before swinging around.
There, standing in the middle of his study, was a huge man dressed completely in black. The clothing clung to his skin, weapons of all kinds covered his body. His penetrating gaze landed briefly on the women before moving to Ian. Seeing Ian’s sword unsheathed, he stripped a gun from nowhere and aimed it at Ian’s chest. It looked like Todd’s weapon, only different.
From Ian’s side, Fin let loose his dirk. It flew through the air but instead of sticking in the threatening stranger’s chest, the man spread his hands in the air and an iridescent stream of light surrounded him. The knife bounced off the light and onto the floor.
“Where is she?” he yelled.
“Who?” Ian asked stunned at everything this man was doing.