Free The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance by Trisha Telep

remember me and the coos by.”
    Lastly he turned to Sarah. He removed one of the brass cuffs that had belonged to his father and his father before him, a symbol of his once proud lineage, and placed it about her upper arm for it was too large for her wrist, and squeezed. When satisfied it would not fall off, he took her right hand in his. “I shall miss ye most dearly but wish ye well.”
    “And I you.” She placed her free hand upon his chest where his heart beat painfully. Did she ken the agony their leave taking was causing him? Aye. Her bonnie eyes were filling with tears. She stood on her toes and kissed him.
    Too soon she pulled away. He swallowed the aching thickness in his throat and stepped out of the pool. “Now make yer wish and fall backwards into the water.”
    Three
    Gasping and gagging, Sarah staggered to her feet and raked wet hair from her face. She opened her eyes and blinked in disbelief. “Oh my God, it worked.”
    She was in modern-day Edinburgh, standing in the Princess Street Gardens’ fountain. She quickly counted heads. The boys were all with her. Across the park she could see the ruined pub, a half-dozen satellite news trucks, a dozen emergency vehicles and hundreds of milling people.
    “Look!” Peter shouted, pointing to a man and woman huddled together, their arms locked about each other’s shoulders. “That’s Mom and Dad!” He scrambled over the edge of the fountain and took off at a run.
    “Jeremy, your parents are here, too,” Bryce shouted, “and there’s mine!” The boys bolted over the granite rim shouting, ‘Mom! Dad!” As Mark followed suit, Sarah fell to her knees.
    She’d done it. Done what she’d had to do. Gotten them home safely. Now she could cry, grieve.
    “Miss Colbert?”
    She looked up to find Ty standing before her and dashed the tears from her eyes. “Hey, why are you still standing here? Go, join the others.”
    He shook his head as she came to her feet. “There’s no reason.”
    “But your grandmother—”
    “She’s in a nursing home, doesn’t even remember who I am any more. Dad’s lawyer oversees my schooling … and the money.”
    “Oh, Ty, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
    He shrugged as he took a shuddering breath. “I want to go back. The food’s terrible and there’s no doctors and stuff but I was happy there.” He studied the destroyed pub through unshed tears and whispered, “He made me feel safe. He cared.”
    Her tears spilled. “Yes, he did care. Very much.”
    On the other side of the park her students’ happy reunions were being interrupted by a gaggle of excited reporters shoving microphones in their faces. Shaking her head in disgust, she murmured, “I want to go back, too, but I don’t know that we can.”
    Seeing his classmates point towards the fountain, Ty put his hand in hers. “We won’t know that unless we try. Please. Before they come, before it’s too late.”
    Reporters began pointing at them, shouting orders to cameramen who lumbered forwards with large shoulder-mounted cameras.
    She looked down at Ty. He was right. Why not try while they had the chance? She and Ty had so much to gain and nothing to lose should they fail. She’d fallen in love with Hamish MacDuff and him with her. Of that she had no doubt. More importantly, Ty needed a caring man in his life; a father, not an investment lawyer.
    Sarah took a deep breath then squeezed Ty’s hand. “All right. Let’s do it. Wish as hard as you can and, for God’s sake, don’t let go of my hand.”
    Hands locked, they closed their eyes, squeezed their noses shut and together fell backwards, the fountain’s cold water closing over their heads.
    A world away in a lovely glen Hamish stood in his pool, his hands pressed to burning eyes. He’d not wept in years but did so now. His lovely Spaniel and lad were gone. He wished with all that remained of his heart that they might return then threw back his head and roared to the gods of his forebears, “ Why?