“Oh yes,” she murmured. The man probably hadn’t been using his real name, she thought, and then she glanced at Scotty sharply. “Wait, he saw your mother buried? What happened? How did she die?”
“Ah.” Scotty grimaced. “Well, when Aequitas said that bit about my living forever young, and her being an old crone and moldering in the grave, me mother was so enraged she attacked him. Of course, he just laughed and tossed her aside like a babe. He then repeated that there was no way she could murder me now, adding this time that once I had recovered, I would no doubt punish her properly fer trying to kill me and lock her in chains in the dungeon fer the rest o’ her days. Me mother attacked him again. At least, that is how it appeared. But the truth is, I believe she deliberately ran herself through with his sword when she charged him, that she knew exactly what she was doing, and chose death rather than allow me to seek justice.”
They were both silent for a moment, and then he peered down at her and said solemnly, “That is why I couldn’t believe that the nanos would think ye a perfect life mate fer me. I loathed me mother and thought ye a mirror image of her because o’ yer profession as a mortal. I was looking at the surface and no’ the heart,” he admitted apologetically. “And while this last time I suggested the mind wipe in the hopes o’ removing all those painful memories o’ yer past, I’m ashamed to admit that at first I thought perhaps if you were wiped to the stage of a tabula rasa, I could train you to become a better woman. But I was a fool. You are already a much better woman than me mother. And a much better person than me. I’m sorry, Beth, and I’ll spend me life making it up to ye, if ye give me the chance. Will ye be me life mate and give me that chance?”
Tears in her eyes, Beth swallowed and opened her mouth to respond, but then glanced to the door as a knock sounded.
Seventeen
“Maybe they’ll go away,” Scotty said with a frown at the door, and then grimaced when another knock sounded. “Or maybe not.”
Smiling wryly, Beth slid off the bed and walked to the door to open it, her eyebrows rising when she saw Donny on the other side.
“Oh.” The young immortal looked surprised and then smiled back. “You’re awake and up. Rachel said you were better, but I expected you still to be resting.”
“She will,” Scotty assured him, walking up to stand behind Beth. “Were ye lookin’ fer me?”
“Oh, yes, sorry,” Donny said with a grimace. “Mortimer wanted me to find you and let you know he needs to have a word with you.”
Scotty hesitated, and then asked, “Do ye ken what about?”
Donny shook his head. “Do you want me to go ask him?”
“No.” Scotty sighed and then glanced to Beth apologetically.
“Go,” she said quietly. “We can finish our talk later.”
Nodding, he bent to press a kiss to her cheek and slid out of the room to hurry to the stairs with Donny on his heels. Beth turned back into the room, frowning and grabbing the back of her gown when she caught a draft. Damned hospital gowns, she thought as she closed the door. She hadn’t even realized she was wearing another one until now. But her clothes had probably been ruined in the bomb blast, so Rachel had changed her.
Beth walked to the dresser and pulled out a pair of underwear and a bra, then grabbed some jeans and a T-shirt from the closet and stepped into the bathroom. A quick shower and change of clothes and then maybe she’d go down to see about something to eat if Scotty wasn’t back yet. She was kind of hungry now that she wasn’t distracted with emotional issues.
With food on her mind, Beth was in and out of the shower in a hurry and pulling on her clothes. She stopped long enough to brush her teeth and hair, but then headed for the door to the hall, and gave a start when she pulled it open to find Odilia there, hand raised to knock.
“Oh,” Beth said with surprise.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” the woman said at once.
“No. That’s fine. I’ve always had a high startle reflex,” Beth admitted, and then added, “If you’re looking for Scotty, he went downstairs a few minutes ago to see Mortimer.”
“Actually, I was looking for you,” Odilia said with a crooked smile. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but it’s Scotty’s birthday next week.”
“It is?” Beth asked with alarm. Jeez, she didn’t even know when the man’s birthday was. Or his favorite color, or his favorite food, or, or, or . . . They had a lot of talking to do.
“Yes, on Friday,” Odilia said. “And I was kind of . . . Well, I had a big birthday party planned for him back in Scotland, but of course he will not be there so I canceled it, but I thought maybe we could plan something here. Something smaller, obviously, since we only have a week, but . . .”
“That sounds wonderful,” Beth said quickly. “I’m in.”
“Oh good, because I’m not sure what to do about—” She sighed with frustration and threw up her hands. “I have a list of venues and a bunch of samples to taste down in the garage. Speaking of which, I should get back there—I am on car duty today—but I brought the list and samples into work today and thought if you got a moment, maybe you could come down to the garage . . . ?”
“Actually, that’s perfect,” Beth assured her with a grin. “I happen to be hungry so the samples sound good. Do you want me to come down there with you?”
“That would be great,” Odilia said with relief and turned toward the door. “Scotty is so difficult to plan for.”
“Is he?” Beth asked with curiosity. Other than his bossy tendencies and the issues he’d had with her previous profession, she’d found him pretty easygoing.
“Yes, he—Oh, wait,” Odilia said, catching her arm to stop her as they approached the stairs.
“What is it?” Beth asked with concern.
Odilia made a face. “I just want to make sure the coast is clear before we go down. Like I said, I am supposed to be in the garage. Mortimer will be pissed if he sees me in here. I should have just called you or something, but I was not sure you would be up and about yet, and I didn’t want to wake you if you weren’t. I wish they had outdoor stairs here. I don’t—”
“It’s okay. Come on. We can avoid the house altogether,” Beth said, turning to lead her back to her bedroom and thinking she hadn’t realized how anxious Odilia was. On the other hand, the woman had endured a pretty traumatic childhood. At least Beth had been older when the entirety of what she considered to be her family had been attacked by Jamieson.
“Where are we going?” Odilia asked as she followed her into her room. “I really need to get back to the garage.”
“You will. We’ll use my balcony,” Beth said easily as she crossed to the sliding glass doors in her room. They led to a small balcony overlooking the backyard. Beth opened the door, ushered Odilia out and then closed the door and moved to the rail. It was dark out. Nighttime, then, Beth noted. It had been afternoon when they’d gone to the apartment to get her clothes, but she wasn’t sure if it had been just hours or days ago. Beth had no idea what day it was. She was really losing track of time with all these attacks and such.
“Now what?” Odilia asked.
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Beth smiled and said, “Now we jump.”
“Jump?” Odilia asked dubiously, peering at the bushes below with the rocks surrounding them.
“Try to hit the grass and not the rock garden,” Beth said with a grin and vaulted over the railing to land lightly on the grass in front of the bushes. Straightening, she glanced back up to Odilia and smiled encouragingly as she waved her down.
Odilia hesitated, but then gripped the railing and vaulted over it to land next to her. She straightened with a laugh and shook her head as they started to walk across the dark yard. “You would have been a nightmare to raise were you a teenager right now,” she said with amusement. “You would probably be one of those girls who sneak out in the middle of the night to meet their boyfriends all the time,” she teased.