diff --git a/lib/validates_timeliness.rb b/lib/validates_timeliness.rb
index 48ccb44..149d54b 100644
--- a/lib/validates_timeliness.rb
+++ b/lib/validates_timeliness.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ module ValidatesTimeliness
 
     def load_error_messages
       if defined?(I18n)
-        I18n.load_path += [ LOCALE_PATH ]
+        I18n.load_path.unshift(LOCALE_PATH)
         I18n.reload!
       else
         defaults = YAML::load(IO.read(LOCALE_PATH))['en']
diff --git a/lib/validates_timeliness/validator.rb b/lib/validates_timeliness/validator.rb
index fd96ed5..d387f5a 100644
--- a/lib/validates_timeliness/validator.rb
+++ b/lib/validates_timeliness/validator.rb
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ module ValidatesTimeliness
       restriction = [restriction] unless restriction.is_a?(Array)
 
       if defined?(I18n)
-        message = custom_error_messages[option] || I18n.t('activerecord.errors.messages')[option]
+        message = I18n.t('activerecord.errors.messages')[option]
         subs = message.scan(/\{\{([^\}]*)\}\}/)
         interpolations = {}
         subs.each_with_index {|s, i| interpolations[s[0].to_sym] = restriction[i].strftime(format) }
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ module ValidatesTimeliness
     def add_error(record, attr_name, message, interpolate=nil)
       if defined?(I18n)
         custom = custom_error_messages[message]
-        record.errors.add(attr_name, custom || message, interpolate || {})
+        record.errors.add(attr_name, message, { :default => custom }.merge(interpolate || {}))
       else
         message = error_messages[message] if message.is_a?(Symbol)
         message = message % interpolate
diff --git a/spec/validator_spec.rb b/spec/validator_spec.rb
index 4eee8be..a62bda8 100644
--- a/spec/validator_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/validator_spec.rb
@@ -506,12 +506,6 @@ describe ValidatesTimeliness::Validator do
         configure_validator(:type => :date, :before => before)
         validator.send(:interpolation_values, :before, before.to_date).should == {:restriction => before}
       end
-
-      it "should return empty hash if no interpolation keys are in message" do
-        before = '1900-01-01'
-        configure_validator(:type => :date, :before => before, :before_message => 'too late')
-        validator.send(:interpolation_values, :before, before.to_date).should be_empty
-      end
     else
       it "should return array of interpolation values" do
         before = '1900-01-01'