Page 46 of Forever My Lass

“Because you’re…you’re no longer present in the future, Madeline.”

The look of deep dismay on Anna’s face sent a jolt of panic driving its way into the very heart of Madeline as she met the viscountess’s steady gaze. Something in the woman’s eyes caused a layer of ice to coat her skin. Madeline shivered at the freezing cold pushing its way through her skin down into her bones until her body was stiff and frozen.

“Madeline, I wish—”

“Are you saying I drowned in my time?” she whispered in horror as the truth closed in on her.

Panic wrapped a powerful vise around her chest making it difficult to breathe properly. The night Grace had tended to the cuts on her feet after Madeline’s mad dash down to the inlet without shoes, the young girl had told her the same thing. Denial had made her ignore the child’s words.

It had been easy to dismiss Grace’s reassurances that Madeline hadn’t drowned, but had come to Muchalls Hall instead. But in the back of her head, she’d always understood what Grace had meant. Somehow, the girl knew Madeline had drowned in her own time, while landing in the past.

The horror of those moments after the Destiny’s Dream capsized, rushed toward her like a wall of water. Something hard hit the back of her head, and she gasped in pain at the tangible sensation. It was the last breath she took as sea water filled her nose and mouth. Desperately, she fought for air, but there was none to be found.

Fear spun its way through her limbs as she struggled to find her way up to the surface, but there was no air left in her lungs as she slipped into a black void. A split-second later, she was in the small pocket of air beneath what she’d thought had been the sailboat.

As the terrible truth continued to press in on her, she heard her grandmother’s voice again urging her to swim upward and that he would be there. With each breath she took, a new memory rose to confront her with the reality of what had happened. She remembered leaving the pocket of air under the boat to swim desperately upward.

The sea had fought hard to keep her from reaching the surface, and the icy water had only intensified the pain in her badly cramping legs and arms. Every muscle in her body had been in painful revolt against the commands her brain was issuing as she’d struggled to remain above the water. She’d been little more than a plaything for the sea to toss about, uncaring whether she lived or died.

It was then she’d seen Iain clinging to the rocks calling out to her. She’d been exhausted as she’d struggled to reach him. Part of her had simply wanted to give up and allow the water to take her. But something about Iain’s shouts of encouragement had forced her to fight the relentless, icy waves tugging at her cold, pain-wracked limbs.

A tremor rippled through her at the memory of being tugged into Iain’s hard, muscular chest. His strong arm wrapped tightly around her waist, his voice had soothed and reassured her. For the first time, she remembered the rough burr in his voice as his words ‘ye did it, me brave lass’ resounded in her ear while she had shuddered against him. Even as terrified as she’d been, his voice had calmed her as she’d clung to him, while the water had tried to smash them against the rock face.

All this time, Madeline had convinced herself the wreckage, sea, and a strange twist of fate had pushed her up into the dark oasis of air beneath the Destiny’s Dream. She’d silently told herself that her involuntary reflexes had sent air rushing into her lungs the moment there was air for her to breathe. But she’d been wrong. She hadn’t survived the sinking of the Destiny’s Dream.

“Madeline.” The panic in Anna’s voice sounded as if she were far away. “Madeline. Talk to me.”

Sluggishly, Madeline’s gaze focused on the viscountess as the memories receded, and she realized Anna was shaking her gently. Madeline raised a hand to her temple, and Anna exhaled a deep breath of relief.

“Thank God.” The woman exclaimed as she studied Madeline with an expression of deep concern on her pale features. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” Madeline’s hand shook as she brushed her hair off her brow. “I…it just all came rushing back. I wasn’t prepared for it.”

“Prepared for me, you mean.” Anna’s voice was soft and contrite as she touched Madeline’s arm. “I’m so terribly sorry for upsetting you. I shouldn’t have said anything after my first faux pas.”

“Please don’t blame yourself,” she said quietly as she offered Anna a wan smile. “I think I’ve known the truth since the night Grace said something about what had happened. I just wasn’t willing to consider the possibility.”

“Iain’s daughter said something to you?”

“Yes. Naturally, I didn’t believe Iain when he said it was 1896. So, I ran barefoot down to the inlet to see the ship on the rocks up close. Running over sharp rocks without shoes wasn’t one of my brightest moments.”

Madeline’s mouth twisted in a wry grimace as she swung her gaze away from the other woman to look out at the landscape beyond the paddock. When the line that split the land from the sky came into focus, Madeline shivered as her mind showed her an image of the inlet and the shipwreck on the rocks. Still staring out at the expanse of sea and sky, Madeline swallowed the panic that hovered in the back of her throat.

“Grace took care of me after Iain brought me back to the house. She said I hadn’t died, that I’d come to Muchalls Hall instead. Iain told me a few days ago that Grace has the gift of sight. After what you’ve told me, her words make sense now. But even that night, I knew deep down what she meant. I just dismissed her words, because I wasn’t willing to admit the truth.”

“And now?” The quiet question made Madeline turn back to Anna.

“Now? If I was at home, I’d be asking for drugs to stop the hallucinations.” Madeline inhaled a deep breath then released it slowly to calm the churning in her stomach. “If my grandmother was here, she’d simply be saying I told you so.”

“I told you so?” The puzzlement in Anna’s quizzical expression made Madeline smile ruefully.

“Ever since I was a child, I had dreams about a man standing on a cliff, and a ship trying to survive a terrible storm. My grandmother was a firm believer in past lives, and she was convinced my dreams were about another existence.”

“And the man?” Anna tipped her head to one side to study Madeline with curiosity. “Was it Iain?”

“I never saw his face clearly, but just before the sailboat I was on capsized in my time, I saw someone on the cliffs overlooking the same inlet I’d dreamed about my entire life.”

“Was it the man from your dreams?”