The Sunstone Brooch : Time Travel Romance by Katherine Logan (comprehension books .TXT) 📗

I’m right will bring no satisfaction because we’ll probably all be dead.”

“Well, aren’t you the queen of gloom,” Pete said. “And I thought you were a ragazza tosta.”

“I am,” JL said, “but my kids aren’t, and if you do this, you’ll put all the second-gens in danger.”

“I disagree,” Pete said. “Doing this will secure a safe future for them.”

Elliott knocked on the table. “Enough. Time to move on. Everyone in favor of David inventorying the contents of the cave and establishing video surveillance, raise your hand.”

Everyone except JL raised their hands.

“Kevin, bring yer family here for the summer,” Elliott said.

“Why should we have to leave our home?” JL asked.

“Because it might be dangerous, JL. Stop acting like a bitch,” Rick said. “We’re all a little testy right now, so let up, will you? And besides, if you’re here, you’ll be able to see our twins right after they’re born.”

JL sat back in her chair and crossed her arms.

“Do it for Mom, JL. She can’t be here, but you can,” Rick added.

“Okay,” JL said. “We’ll stay, and I’ll try to be my cheerful self.”

Connor choked on his drink and slapped his chest. Olivia looked at him with concern. “Are you all right?”

Connor cleared his throat. “I was swallowing a drink when JL said something about being cheerful. She hasn’t been cheerful in months, maybe years.”

Kenzie winked at Ensley. “That’s because JL needs a pharmaceutical intervention.”

“Cute, Kenzie,” JL snapped. “If you’re talking about hormones, I have an OB-GYN appointment next week, but since you’re forcing me to stay here, I’ll miss it.”

“I’ll get you one in Richmond,” Charlotte said.

Elliott knocked on the table again. “Let’s move on. We don’t need this family drama, even though I recognize it as the family default in times of stress. This time we’re picking on JL. Last time it was Rick.”

“I think a share of that pickin’-on goes to Austin,” Remy said. “He was the asshole.”

“I hope I’ve redeemed myself by now.”

Ensley kissed him. “You most definitely have.”

“David, how long will it take to put a team together and organize the equipment?” Elliott asked.

“A day or two. I’ll take Kenzie, Ensley, Austin, and Braham with me.”

“I want to go, too,” Sophia said. “I know I can look at the photographs, but I want to see the wall paintings and the contents of the treasure room in person so I can get a real sense of what’s there and how it looks today.”

“Fine,” David said. “I guess that means Pete’s going, too. Good. Ye can do the security design outside. Braham and I’ll do the inside.”

“That’s settled, then.” Elliott walked over to the food tables, poured another glass of iced tea, and filled a bowl with fruit.

“What’s the plan for Tavis?” Ensley asked.

Elliott returned to his chair. “Rescuing him isn’t going to be so easy. Ensley, what are yer thoughts about why he hasn’t returned?”

“Erik was dying when he told me Tavis should take him home. Erik said it was time for his heir to take the empty seat at the table. But that doesn’t make sense. Why didn’t he ask me to take him?”

“Maybe in their culture, women can’t hold positions on the Council,” Kenzie said.

“If Tavis is Erik’s son, I could understand the Council wanting him to stay. But he’s not—” Ensley stopped, suddenly struck by the possibility that her mother wasn’t the only woman Erik impregnated. She glared at Elliott. “Is Tavis Erik’s son? Is Tavis my half brother?”

Elliott clasped his hands on the table and stared at them as his knuckles turned white. Ensley squeezed Elliott’s tanned forearm, and the muscles bunched under her fingers. She sensed the dilemma torturing him. If Tavis was Erik’s son and didn’t know it, telling the family first was disrespectful.

“Never mind,” Ensley said. “For whatever reason, the Council won’t allow Tavis to come home.”

“There’s another possibility,” Kenzie said. “Maybe he doesn’t want to leave.”

“Why would he want to live in the twelfth century?” David asked.

“Because he has a family,” Remy said. “I know it sounds weird, but no one has ever seen Tavis with a date.”

“We hang out,” Emily said from her square on the TV screen. “We go to shows, dinner, concerts.”

“But as friends, Emily. Right?” Remy asked.

She nodded.

“If Tavis had a family, he’d have brought them here. If he had a choice, I don’t see him raising a kid in the twelfth century,” Remy said. “Maybe the Council won’t let him leave with his family.”

“There’s also the possibility he’s dead,” Kenzie said. “He could have tried to leave, gotten into a fight, and was killed.”

“I believe he’s alive,” Elliott said. “And I’m going back to get him.”

“If we do that, Elliott, the Council could be expecting us, and we could be walking into a hostile environment,” Remy said.

Kenzie jumped to her feet. “Goddamn it!” She stepped away from the table and paced.

“What is it, lass? What’d ye see?” Elliott asked.

She shook her head. “I didn’t see anything.” She put her hands on David’s shoulders. “But David saw it in his vision the day Penny disappeared from her hotel room in New Orleans. Do you remember?”

“I remember,” Sophia said. “I sketched everything David described.”

David typed on his laptop, and a moment later, Sophia’s sketch appeared in a square on the Zoom call.

“Walk us through the sketch,” Elliott said.

“There are several,” Sophia said. “Will you pull the others up, too?”

More squares with sketches appeared on the screen.

“The first sketch shows several warriors with dark blue tattoos running from their fingertips to their necks. The designs vary from mythical creatures to divine symbols. The next sketch shows warriors spread out on a slanting, rocky field with blood on their arms. The next sketch shows a man on the ground who was beheaded. I compared David’s description of him with a sketch I made of a man I met in Richmond in 1790. We think the man on the ground resembles James MacKlenna.”

“We know the family buried James MacKlenna at Chapel Yard in Inverness,” Meredith said. “But since you