by Jane Stain
“Okay, so long as you understand my mom and my brothers will be there along with most of my extended family — and they’ll throw a big party for us the first five or six hours.”
It took him a few moments to find his voice, seeing as how the world was whizzing by him much faster now than it ever had on a horse or ship.
“Even sae, lass.” His voice sounded shaky when it came out.
And then the car spoke to her, and he could feel his mind expanding.
Ochd Deug (18)
~A year later~
Sasha looked out the arrow-slit window of their upstairs suite at Turnberry Castle and admired her view of the sea cliffs before she laid little two-month-old Artair in the cradle that Laird Cathal had been more than happy to lend them.
She caressed their son’s head and kissed him.
“Are ye full enough now tae sleep for a bit, eh?”
Seumas came up from behind her and put his arms around her waist, encouraging her to lean back into his supportive strength, which she did.
He rested his chin on her head.
“Will ye miss the view when we hae tae leave come spring?”
She turned around to face him, and as usual when they were this close and alone with the baby not crying, they kissed and caressed each other. After a bit of that, she rested her cheek on his chest and turned again so that they were both looking out at the sea.
“I dinna think sae. This has been wonderful while we were here, but new adventures await, ye ken.”
She smiled up at his handsome face, deliriously happy to be his wife and to be living a life that had already surpassed her wildest dreams of adventure and was only just beginning.
The door banged open and the two of them laughed, knowing it was Deirdre.
Sure enough, their seven-year-old fosterling barged in — but she looked much more excited than usual.
“Sasha! Come on doon tae the dock! Ye hae a special surprise!”
Deirdre was already running past all the tapestries down the orange stone hallway toward the stairs, and Sasha followed, laughing and calling out after her.
“A surprise for me? What is it? I canna imagine.”
But Deirdre just giggled and ran all the way down to the dock, where a ship was unloading cargo.
Sasha looked first among the crates — but she couldn’t think of anything she really wanted. Besides, she and Seumas and Deirdre and little Artair had to travel light.
And then she saw her surprise.
Her jaw dropped, and tears sprang from her eyes while she ran forward with her arms out.
“Mom!”
Oops. She was so excited, she’d spoken English. But oh yeah, Mom didn’t know Gaelic, so she would have to speak in English anyway. Perhaps as little speaking as possible in front of others would be the best way forward.
Things had gone excellently well this past year, but that didn’t mean rumors that she was a foreigner couldn’t start at any time. Comments had already been made about her accent, but those were easily dismissed among people who remained in the same place their whole lives.
Mom was beaming a smile while waiting to be escorted off the ship.
Sasha strode right up and held her hand out, steadying Mom’s disembarkation.
“How did you… Who…”
Once Mom was off the ship and safely stood on the sturdy dock, she hugged Sasha tight, rocking from foot to foot as they always did when they hadn’t seen each other in a while.
“Kelsey. She got me these clothes and… I’m here for two weeks. And I want to know everything about your life. Show me everything.”
When they finished their hug, Seumas reached out to take Mom’s hand, but she grabbed him in a bear hug as well, which he gradually relaxed into with a soft chuckle.
After hugging Mom back, he kept his arm around her and started her walking.
“I ken ye are dying tae meet Artair. Come on upstairs. He’s in his cradle.”
Mom was trying not to gawk, but Sasha couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t every day you sailed on a ship right into a castle. And then the laird and his lady happened to be passing by in the hallway, all decked out in their finest to go down and hold the weekly court.
“Laird Cathal, Lady Meg, may I present my maw, Janice, who has just arrived for a two week bide?”
Mom curtsied and bowed her head when she was presented.
“’Tis an honor, Sir. And I thank you for taking in my daughter and my grandson — and aw, this must be my foster granddaughter. Hello honey.”
Sasha started to translate, but Laird Cathal and Lady Meg inclined their heads, and he answered in
English before they sedately walked down the hall.
“Wull come, and ye may stay as long as ye like.”
Deirdre took to Mom right away, hugging her and even giving her a little kiss on the cheek.
“Dinna fash aboot being a stranger here who doesna ken how we dae things. I wull show ye aroond and make sure ye dinna wash yer hands in the soup.”
Still being escorted by Seumas, Mom leaned back and whispered to Sasha.
“What was that she said? It sounded like she said ‘soup’.”
Seumas chuckled, but Sasha tapped his arm with the back of her hand. She would bet her face was beet red, she was blushing so hard.
“Nothing you need to worry about, Mom. Here we are. This is our suite. There’s an extra bed in Deirdre’s room. Come on in.”
Artair was sleeping, but Sasha picked him up anyway and held him out proudly. “Mom, meet your grandson. Artair, this is your grandma.”
Mom took him eagerly into her arms and cradled him to her, smiling the most contented smile Sasha had ever seen on her face.
Deirdre tugged on her long skirt, and Sasha turned around with a warm smile for her foster daughter.
“Aye, what is it, lass?”
The little girl looked very sincere.
“Dinna fash aboot caring for the baby. I wull watch him while ye visit.”
Sasha hugged Deirdre warmly in one arm and her mother in the other, and Seumas came in and hugged them too, so that they were all hugging in a circle with the baby in the middle.
“How aboot we all take care o each other?”
Epilogue
Amber paused the paintbrush she was using to dust off runes in the floor they’d uncovered in a previously hidden passageway. Because of a sound she’d just heard, she looked toward the secret door Kelsey had opened a few days ago.
Sure enough, Kelsey and Tavish were coming toward her.
In a few moments, Kelsey started talking, pointing at Tavish’s phone.
“We just got the call we’ve been waiting for. You’ll never guess who’ll be here in twenty minutes!”
Amber put the paintbrush inside her little kit and closed it, noticing a chip in her black nail polish as she did so and silently cursing.
Something weird was going on. There was this one corridor that always made Kelsey’s hair grow. It didn’t grow very much, only a quarter inch or so, and most people probably wouldn’t even notice. But before Amber dropped out to work on digs, she’d spent six months in beauty school. Once again, her old friend had come out of that corridor with longer bangs. When she went down there just a few minutes ago, they’d been trimmed right around her eyebrows, but now they were long enough to be in her eyes. Again.
But this time there was another clue to exactly what was going on in that corridor. Tavish’s hair was a quarter inch longer as well, but there was something else. He wasn’t wearing the knife he’d had on a few minutes ago. Instead, he wore in his belt an extravagant long dagger.
Things were just weird enough that Amber instinctively knew she couldn’t ask about it — which was a shame, because she’d love to have a closer look at that dagger. It was almost certainly a relic from a different age. It was that extravagant.
Right then and there, she resolved to get to the bottom of all the weirdness that accompanied Tavish and Kelsey, one way or anothe
r. For now, she just batted her eyelashes up at Kelsey in an attempt to be silly and make her laugh — and divert her attention from the suspicion which almost certainly showed in Amber’s eyes.
“Since you’ve already admitted I won’t be able to guess, how about if you just tell me?” She continued batting her eyelashes and on top of that smiled a big cheesy smile.
It worked. Kelsey and Tavish both laughed.
Smiling so big Amber fancied she would see her tonsils if she looked too closely, Kelsey reached down a hand to help her up.
“Okay, you win. Tomas finally flew in for a visit! He just called us from the little town nearby!”
Whoa.
Tomas was here?
All thoughts of getting to the bottom of the weirdness of the corridor and Kelsey’s growing bangs and even the fascinating dagger flew out of Amber’s mind as she took Kelsey’s hand and let her help her up. She whipped out her little mirror and checked her Goth makeup, then put her hand in front of her face and breathed out, trying to smell her breath.
“Twenty minutes, you say?”
Kelsey laughed and grabbed Amber’s arm and started walking her toward the exit.
“Eighteen minutes now. Come on. If we hurry, you have just enough time to get cleaned up and redo your hair and makeup. I’ll help. Oh, and some more good news for you. Sasha won’t be coming back after all, so the second bedroom in my trailer is officially yours.”
Amber could barely contain her excitement as she watched the car drive up the road toward the dig site. She hadn’t seen Tomas in seven years. She was intensely curious to see how he had changed and to hear what he’d been up to. She hoped he wasn’t fat. Yech. Did he have a fun job like hers? Or did he work in an office somewhere? She really hoped the latter wasn’t the case.
She was rocking forward and back from her toes to her heels by the time the car pulled up, and she had to consciously make herself stop so as not to look silly.
The car had tinted windows, so her curiosity was still unsatisfied.
Should she rush up to the car and be the one to greet him when he stepped out? Some sort of odd hesitation made her give the opportunity to Tavish instead. That was probably better. Tavish had been the one to invite him after all. And they were brothers. Twins. Non-identical twins, but still…
Yum.
Tomas was still tall and lean. He had long hair and wore a flowy poet’s shirt. He had a tiny hint of a mustache and no beard, thank God.
The two brothers embraced, and Amber found herself smiling wistfully at them. How nice. She was glad her own brothers and sister had never lost touch with her.
Okay, Tavish and Tomas were just arm in arm now. They had turned around, and Tomas was looking over the site. Now was a good time for her to go say hi.
As she rushed over there, she pulled up the long sleeves of her flowing blouse, just in case he wanted to shake hands instead of giving her a hug. You can presume too much after seven years, after all. Even in her Doc Martin boots, she was skipping by the time she got to him. Oddly, he still hadn’t met her eyes. When she was right in front of him, though, he didn’t have a choice.
A handshake it was, then. She held out her hand to him.
“Welcome to Scotland, Tomas.”
She made her smile as warm and welcoming as she could. Maybe he would stay a while and they’d get a chance to rekindle —
The most grating female voice Amber had ever heard came to her ears across the top of the car in a lilting Southern accent.
“Tomas honey, come over here and help me with this door, please.”
The tone was sweet and should’ve been pleasing, but something about that voice just hurt her ears.
Probably the ‘honey’ part.
Dread sank into Amber as she looked over at the woman who was obviously Tomas’s girlfriend. While Amber was dark-haired and olive skinned, this woman was honey blonde with alabaster skin. While Amber was quirky and artsy and thought of herself as fun-loving, this woman was stately and imperious. There was no way she could compete with such a woman. The two of them had absolutely nothing in common except their interest in Tomas. You could tell just by looking.
Kelsey had run up beside Amber. She grabbed ahold of Amber’s arm, apparently for support. Then Kelsey gasped, let go of Amber’s arm, and ran over to Tavish.
“That’s Sulis!”
Amber hurried over to see with the two of them were talking about so concernedly.
Tavish’s forehead wrinkled.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
Amber put her hand on Kelsey’s shoulder.
“What’s the matter? Who’s Sulis?”
Tavish rubbed his eyes and put his hand over his mouth, leaning down on it.
Kelsey swallowed, still staring at Tomas and his girlfriend.
“Sulis is friends with the Druids who control Tavish.”
The saga continues with Tomas, Book 3 in the Dunskey Castle Series.
