The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance Katherine Logan (no david read aloud TXT) 📖

them with a quick wave, then waited there for them to catch up. He gave Austin a hug and slap on the back, and Meredith and Ensley each a kiss on the cheek.

“How’s Uncle Donald?” he asked.

“He’s declining by the hour,” Meredith said. “Only his determination to see Kit kept him alive long enough to get here from Washington. He has mentioned you several times, so I know he’ll be happy to see you.”

“I’ll go to his room right away. Has anybody seen Elliott?” Braham asked, searching each of their faces, his brow etched with worry.

Meredith didn’t answer right away, and Ensley wasn’t going to speak up. It wasn’t her news to share.

“Meredith saw him at the cabin,” Austin offered.

Meredith glared at Austin as if to nail him in place to deal with later. Ensley had a similar reaction, but she’d put him in a jar with holes in the lid. Where was his tact?

“We talked…briefly,” Meredith said in a tone both deliberate and cold.

Braham’s brow smoothed out, and his concern visibly fell away. “Good.”

Good? What’s wrong with you men? Can’t you see there’s a problem here?

“I’m glad he arrived safely,” Braham continued. “I assume he told ye about JC?”

Meredith winced, and the muscles in her jaw flexed. “Elliott played the video. It was horrible.”

There was sympathy in Braham’s eyes, a quiet understanding. “I downloaded it for him but didn’t watch it. The real scene was horrific.”

“It just breaks my heart, but thank God he’s alive and not physically handicapped or disfigured. That’s a start,” Meredith said. “But I’m not convinced he should go away right now. We can hire the best therapists to treat him.”

It would be easy to shy away from that line of thought like a spooked horse, but it was a problem Ensley had to face as well. “JC can’t tell anyone what happened to him, and I have the same problem. With all I went through, I could use counseling. But I can’t tell a therapist that I traveled back in time and hung out with Teddy Roosevelt, or got caught up in a cattle stampede, or was threatened by men from an evil organization, or rescued by a Viking from the Middle Ages.”

“No, of course not,” Meredith said. “That’s always been a problem for the family. We have to consider other options, but I prefer he didn’t go to the other side of the world for months, possibly years, to find the healing he needs.”

“Do you think Jack would go with him?” Austin asked.

“It depends on where he is with his latest manuscript,” Braham said. “Jack hates to write longhand, and the monks don’t allow computers. If he’s on deadline, he won’t be able to go, but otherwise, maybe.”

There seemed to be an easing in Meredith’s tension, and by the time they reached the mansion, she almost cracked a smile at Austin’s exaggerated story of how he taught Ensley to ride a bronc.

Kit was walking down the sweeping staircase when they entered the residence. She halted, her mouth agape. “Braham? How’d you get here?”

“Same way the rest of ye did. I clicked my heels. Do ye remember when I showed up with Donald all those years ago?”

She smiled. “Of course I remember. Dad and I have relived that moment over and over again.” She kissed her cousin and looked up at Austin. “I wasn’t expecting you for a few more days.” Then to Ensley, she said, “We met briefly a few years ago.”

“I remember,” Ensley said.

Kit put her hands on her hips and looked from Braham to Austin to Ensley and finally to Meredith. “This doesn’t add up. Let’s go to the dining room. Cullen’s eating a late lunch. Are you hungry?”

Austin rubbed his belly. “Have you ever known me to turn down a meal?”

“Never.”

Meredith removed her sunbonnet and placed it on the hall tree. “My head hurts. I’m going to rest for a while.”

“I’ll ask Emily to check on you,” Kit said. “I’m sure she has Tylenol.”

“I have some,” Meredith said. “I’ll be down in about an hour.”

“We’ll leave you alone, then.” Kit laced her arm with Braham’s. “We weren’t expecting you. Why didn’t Charlotte come?”

“She has patients who need her, and I wanted to get here quickly to make sure I can see Uncle Donald before…”

“Your visit will make him very happy. There’s a nurse with him now, so just go on up.”

“Should I wear a mask?”

“Emily is pretty sure he has lung cancer, but we’re still taking necessary precautions. The nurse will help you mask up. Dad is using my old bedroom.”

“I’ll go on up.”

“Wait. Come say hello to Cullen first, and you can tell both of us at the same time why you’re here with Ensley, and Tavis and Remy aren’t.”

Ensley walked through the front room. It was quiet, save for the fire’s murmur and the gentle creak of settling timber. She wasn’t familiar with all the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century furniture styles, but everything looked similar to the room in the future, except for the draperies and upholstery. And the same painting of the destroyed Eilean Donan castle was hanging over the fireplace.

She followed the others into the dining room, where Cullen sat at the head of a table for twelve reading a newspaper. He glanced up, stared, and then shot to his feet. “Braham! What are ye doing here?”

Braham gave Cullen a fist bump before going to the server to pour a cup of coffee. “I wanted to see Uncle Donald.”

Cullen then hugged Austin. “Good to see ye, lad.” Then he removed his glasses and looked closely at Ensley. “What’s going on here? We didn’t expect ye and Austin for a few more days, and we didn’t expect Braham at all, which means ye returned to the future and made another trip to the past.”

“I’ll tell you everything I know if I can eat a few pieces of fried chicken first,” Austin said.

Cullen slapped Austin on the back. “Fix yer plate, and we’ll talk.”

“I’m going up to see Uncle