Time Will Tell [Complete]

Chapter Thirteen

  Early Monday morning, Lizzy walked down the street, headed for a classic Irish café. There weren't many in Ireland, since most people would rather have a good cold pint anyway – and the taverns sold coffee, too, with a dash of whiskey and fresh cream. But this shop was known – by Patrick, that is – for having the best Irish coffee for miles around. Knowing how much Liam liked coffee, Lizzy thought it was a safe bet that he was in the shop, or near it.

As she walked, Lizzy kept an eye out for the tousled brown locks of hair belonging to Liam. His hair might appear blond in the sun – although it was a cloudy day – but she should be able to discern the light brown from the many lighter shades of hair.

She arrived at the coffee shop. No sign of Liam.

When she had told the others her thoughts and worries, they had all been extremely confused. Now that they knew Lizzy and Liam's background, they were sure that any ideas Lizzy might have concerning him would not be even relevantly kind-hearted... and now she wanted to save him?

Kit was extremely confused and not all for the plan, but Lizzy had convinced him – and the others – that it was a good idea. "Besides," she said. "We can kill two birds with one stone – he was on the inside of MNT's schemes for a while. Oh, and –" Lizzy paused for dramatic effect. "We can round up the potential helpers who MNT didn't – want."

"That's a bit... harsh." Finn said.

"Also, that's, umm, three birds." Patrick said. "Not just... two. Ahem. Never mind." Patrick cleared his throat and sank back in his chair when they all looked at him.

Lizzy rolled her eyes, smiling, at Patrick's reaction, then frowned when she caught what he had said. "Whatever. That's not the point. Technicalities like how many birds we can kill with one stone isn't important. The main thing is, we can make a plan."

They had been able to complete a plan in less than half a year, which was a good thing. Lizzy had taken all her knowledge of Liam and poured it into the plan. She had given it all her strategy and subtlety skills, as well, and all in all, she was quite proud of it. She had refrained, however, from adding in the part where they recruited people for their cause, saying it would take too long and they would do it another day.

The planning had taken a few hours – the organizing had taken a little longer. They had left Erin with Amanda – who hadn't yet told them what she had learned from MNT in the frenzy of actually planning – at Kit's house with his mother – she was a kind woman named Katherine, although almost everyone called her Katie. She had mostly grey hair with streaks of dark brown throughout, and a warm maternal nature. She'd taken Erin with pleasure, saying, "I'll be glad to take her – it's been a while since Kit was a child, and he hasn't supplied me with any more to take care of." She had winked as she said it, though, and Lizzy knew where Kit had picked up his sense of humour. Amanda was also welcomed warmly, and Lizzy knew they would have a pleasant time.

Her only regret in this plan was making Patrick and Finn accidentally miss church. They were so exhausted the morning after they retrieved supplies and finished their plan – they had been up well past midnight – that they had slept past noon. All of them had – it had been the Sunday Lizzy had said she was going with Patrick, too. She knew it was disappointing to him – to be honest, she was a bit saddened with this turn of events herself – but she was also focused. She was going to get this done. She would succeed.

She stepped into the warm café and looked around, noticing several Irish men and women smiling at her as she removed her shawl. There were a lot of orange and blond heads, but almost no dark ones – besides hers – and none the same shade as Liam's. Lizzy stepped over to a whitewashed booth and sat down, laying her shawl beside her and settling back to wait. She had a clear view of the green-painted wood door and was alert for anyone entering the shop.