by B Button
Once Mac confirmed that Corc was still breathing, he heaved the unconscious man over his shoulder and trudged his way toward the castle. Blood dripped from a gash on Corc’s head and made a red-dotted trial.
I followed, my offers to help weak but sincere.
No one at the castle had noticed the fire in the distance so the looks on faces when they saw the three of us were bewildered irritation.
“Oh my,” Una said, the first to know we were serious. “Bring him here, Mac. Andalena, help Mac and Kally.”
The kitchen became a flurry of medical activity. Corc wasn’t dead. Mac wasn’t dead. And I wasn’t dead, either. I must have been in shock though because the scene played out before me as though I was watching it through a tube—distant and muffled.
Mac allowed about three seconds of fussing over him before he waved everyone away and went to stand over Corc. As he coughed, he looked back and forth from me to Corc, sending concerned glances both directions.
“Kally, some water?” someone said.
I took the cup and drank a big gulp, which only threw me into a stronger coughing fit. The violent noise pulled Mac to my side.
He put his hand on my shoulder and waited until I could breathe without spitting up a lung.
“Kally, what can I get for ye?” he said.
I gave him a thumb’s up. I wasn’t confident that I could speak. Why wasn’t he coughing?
He crouched down to his knees and waited again. Finally, I thought I might be able to say something.
“I’m fine. How are . . .” I sputtered as I pointed to him and then to Corc.
“Corc will live. I am fine.” He inspected my face as he coughed lightly – I had no idea what I looked like but I assumed my face was just as filthy as his. “Thank ye for yer help.”
“I didn’t really . . .”
“Aye, ye did. If ye hadna been there, I dinna ken what would have happened. I was lost in the smoke, not sure which direction to go.”
From the other side of the kitchen, Corc began to cough. Both Mac and I looked at him with relief.
“See, he’s going to be fine,” Mac said.
I nodded.
“Kally, I’ll apologize to ye now for my behavior.”
I wanted to ask which behavior he meant – the ride on the horse the day before or his sourness out on the hillside – but I still didn’t trust my voice. Plus, an apology was an apology. I nodded again. “Thank . . .” I coughed. How was he breathing so well?
“Aye. Weel, when ye’re feeling better, we’ll start over, and I’ll attempt to show ye that I can be something other than a horse’s arse.”
I huffed a laugh and then coughed, but this time with less body wracking violence.
“Perhaps ye were destined to save me, Kally Bright, from faraway,” he said.
“I don’t think I saved you.”
“Aye,” he said thoughtfully.
“Mac, off with ye,” Una said. “Kally, Matilda will clean ye up.”
*****
Matilda, a young girl with a high-pitched voice, escorted me to my room where a tub had already been placed. Two other girls were filling it with warm water. Once it was full, Matilda stripped off my clothes and guided me into the water.
Matilda scrubbed my back with some of Una’s potent soap and a washcloth, but I did the rest of myself, the bath water quickly turning a soapy black.
“Mistress, can I get ye something to eat?” Matilda asked, as I inspected my fingernails.
“No, thanks, I’m not hungry,” I said absently.
“Aye, I think I ken why.”
“Okay?” I said. Matilda was probably my age and had a perpetual smile – her teeth weren’t so bad. But she had a face full of zits that must have made life rough.
“Aye, he’s eyes for ye, ye ken.”
“Huh?”
“Master McCauley, he’s eyes for ye.”
“I don’t think I follow that – if it means what I think it does, Mac doesn’t even really like me.”
Matilda unfolded a dress she’d brought with her and spread it out on the bed. “Oh, he does have eyes for ye. I saw it when he brought ye to the castle. In the courtyard.”
I laughed. “He was angry. He thought I’d lied to him about who I was.”
“T’was an act, then. I saw him look at ye. I arrived back at the castle at the same time he brought ye in. Ye were a sight to behold so I stared, along with everyone else.”
“Okay. Well, I saw anger.”
“Ye dinna see when ye passed by him.”
“Oh?”
“He was acting angry to be sure – but really t’was an act. I’ve seen an angry Duncan, there’s no mistaking it. Anyway, as you passed by him to go into the castle, his hand went to his heart.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Like this.” Matilda put her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face. “Ye are walking by me now. Now ye have passed me.” One hand went to her heart and her eyes closed as she took a deep breath before taking a step forward. “See, there was something he saw in ye that made his heart beat funny. Trust me, that means he has eyes for ye.”
“Or he had gas.”
Matilda laughed. “Aye, but I dinna think it was that.”
“Hmm.”
“Yes, hmm. Now, can I help ye wash more?”
“No, I’ve got it. You can go back to Una now.” I didn’t think I’d ever get used to people helping me with bathing or getting dressed but it seemed to be natural to these people.
“Ye have an hour or so before dinner, but Una told me to tell ye that ye must be there.”
“Thanks.”
“At yer service, Mistress,” she said before she left.
As I finished cleaning and getting dressed, it never once occurred to me that I should maybe take off the necklace.
I didn’t believe what Matilda said, I didn’t quite understand it – ‘eyes for me?’ But I had a strong desire to see what happened next.
*****
Corc didn’t join us for dinner again but this time it was because he was resting.
Once again, there was more food than I thought existed. The fire had concerned everyone, but since no people or animals had been harmed, it became more a story than a worry.
“Aye, and then she guided me out of the fire and helped pull Corc, his limp body heavy as a horse, out of the fire, too,” Mac said.
“Weel, this time I have proof that ye saved him, Kally,” the laird said as he raised his cup of ale. He held both the cup and his eyes steady. He looked at me as though he still wasn’t sure I was real.
“I didn’t really do that, Mac. You were on your way out of the fire. I just ran into you. Actually, you might have gotten out more quickly if I hadn’t been there.”
“No, I wasna sure which direction to go, Kally. Ye guided the way.” Mac put his hand over mine that was perched on the edge of the table. “Really.”
I looked at our hands and pondered the warmth. His fingers were covered in calluses and there were numerous scratches along his knuckles. His nails were surprisingly clean. My throat made a funny noise.
“Is yer throat okay?” Mac asked. “Still raw from the fire?”
“I’m fine, but I’d really like to talk about . . . well, something else. We’re okay, so no harm done, right?”
“Aye,” Una said, “I understand, lass. All this talk of ye being a hero makes you uncomfortable. Ian, tell us about the market today.”
Ian began speaking and at first I listened intently to what he said, but after a moment Mac leaned to my ear.
“Tomorrow, I’m going into the market. Would ye like to come with me?”
“Okay.” His breath on my ear made my heart beat speed up.
“Good, tomorrow morning then.” He leaned back in his chair and we listened to the rest of Ian’s story about a speedy goose that did not want to have its neck wrung.
I tried not to look at Mac, but I felt his eyes on me. Had Matilda been right?
I both liked the idea and was horrified by it. What was I supposed to do, other than be terrified of what to do?
I reached up to pretend to scratch the back of my neck, turning to look at Mac in the process.
I almost did something I’d never done before – I almost giggled when I looked at him looking at me.
I was beginning to understand why dating had become forbidden in my time. These feelings, this pure . . . what had I decided it was . . . oh yeah, this lust wasn’t good. And it couldn’t have anything to do with real love, could it?
I looked at Ian and thought back to what I’d felt for him a year earlier. Had my mom been right? Had it been friendship? When I looked at him, I still felt something warm in my heart, but it was nothing like what I felt when I looked at the new and improved and polite Mac.
By the end of the evening, I was confused and my stomach hurt.
I still didn’t want to go home, yet. I wanted my mom, though.
But she wasn’t there.
“Lass?” the laird said.
“What? Oh, sorry, what was that?”
“Would ye like a pastry?”
“I would love a pastry.” My upset stomach might not like it but Una’s pastries were worth the pain.
I tuned in to the rest of the dinner and enjoyed the fun. Everyone was so relieved that no one had been hurt in the fire that the happiness was probably higher than normal. It turned out to be almost a perfect evening.
Una walked me to my room that night to make sure the tub had been removed and everything else was in order.
“Are ye okay, lass?” she asked after her thorough inspection.
“I’m fine. My throat doesn’t even hurt that much anymore.” Something in my chest felt strange, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with the fire.
“Good. Glad to hear it. Sleep well and dinna fash yerself about rising early. Rest. I believe ye’ll have a day ahead of ye tomorrow.”
“Really? Why?”
“Are ye going with the young lad, Mac?”
“He asked if I wanted to go to the market.”
“Aye, I saw.”
“Do you miss anything?”
“No, not much.” She stood in the doorway as though she contemplated whether or not to say something else.
“What Una?”
“Ye ken that when ye werna here, ye were still here?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Ye did something to all of us. I dinna mean for ye to feel guilty about that. Ye changed some things for the better, dinna believe anything different.”
“Thanks.”
“Anyway, I think that . . . . weel, that in some way, Mac remembers ye.”
“That’s not possible.”
She waved away my words. “I dinna mean like a real memory. There’s just . . . weel, there’s something between the two of ye that is touched by magic. Anyone can see it.”
“You think so?” The hair on my arms stood on end.
“I do, but . . . if . . . weel, ye might need to ken that that magic isna something that . . .”
“What?”
“Something that is real.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Mac is a grown man.”
“At sixteen?”
“Aye. Weel, he’s had a part of ye with him all these years but he has also led a life that ye werna a part of.”
“Of course.”
“Lass, dinna let the magic, dinna let yer connection, turn into something that’s not supposed to be.”
“I still don’t understand, Una.”
She sighed. “I dinna ken what else to say. Just go slow.”
“Slow?”
“Aye.”
“Okay . . .”
“Weel, good night, lass.”
“Good-night, Una.”
Now, I really wanted my mom. I had no idea what Una was talking about.
*****
I was happy for the rising sun and to be done tossing and turning and thinking about . . . everything for the night. I hurried to the kitchen. My appetite hadn’t been normal for the last two days, but it was back with a vengeance this morning.
I was hungry enough that the thick oatmeal-type breakfast food wasn’t as unappealing as it normally was. The “pattritch” was mostly awful, but fortunately there was enough cinnamon around that I could flavor it up.
Una walked into the kitchen just as I was shoveling the first bite to my mouth. Her face was serious and drawn. She nodded at me and then turned to her workers and handed out stern instructions.
Mac entered the kitchen a few minutes later. He looked extra clean and well-pressed. My heart sped up just seeing him. Between that and the sleep I’d lost thinking about him, I was beginning to think it was unhealthy to be attracted to someone. But I was energized too, as though I would no longer ever need to really sleep again.
“There ye are. I went to yer room to fetch ye.”
“Oh. Sorry,” I said after I swallowed and tried not to blush. I didn’t even know why I was blushing, but I didn’t want to.
“No matter. Are ye ready to go?” He couldn’t stand still, and he ran the palm of his hand over the side of his kilt.
I nodded. “How’s Corc?” I asked before scraping the spoon over the bowl and taking the last bite. I wanted to lick the bowl.
“Good. Fine. Still improving this morning.”
“Good.”
When he smiled, I realized that his eyes were in a constant state of intense inquisition. The intensity reached all the way to my fingertips. I wanted to say, “What?” but I didn’t.
“Are ye ready?” he repeated.
“Yes.”
“Let’s go,” Mac said.
I followed him out of the kitchen with one more glance at Una who still looked serious.
We walked through the castle and into the front courtyard where a man waited for us with two readied horses.
“We’re riding those?” I said.
“Aye. Do ye recommend that we walk?”
“Yes.”
“Lass, the market isna too far, but it will be easier on horseback.”
I looked at the animals and tried not to cringe.
“I don’t ride. I don’t really know how.”
“How can that be?”
“It’s not easy to explain.”
Mac sighed. “Weel, then we’ll have to ride on the same horse.”
I wanted to protest again. I had no desire to get back on a horse, even if it was with him - maybe especially if it was him. I wondered what being so close to him might do to me if just seeing him made me fluttery and silly. But, he was right; there was no better transportation.
“Come on, Kally. I wilna tie yer hands again,” he said, almost tentatively.
“I’m in a dress,” I said.
“We can work with that.” Mac swung his large body easily onto the horse. “Come here.” He reached an arm down. I grabbed a hold and he pulled me up so that I was in front of him but sitting as though I was on a side-saddle. There was no saddle, though, just a thick blanket. “There, how’s that?”
It was both awful and wonderful at the same time. It was not comfortable, except that Mac was behind me, his chest at my side and his arms around me. He smelled of Una’s all-purpose soap as well as something distinctly masculine. I tried not to sniff deeper.
“I think this might work,” I said after I cleared my throat.
Mac laughed. “Verra weel. Of we go.”
I thought it was called trotting, but I wasn’t sure. I told myself that either I would have to get used to the bouncing or try to put it out of my mind. At least I wasn’t thinking about my heart rate and blushing cheeks.
“This is the land of my great-grandfather,” Mac said. “He was the first laird the castle. He died of a horrible disease a long time ago. His son, my grandfather, was a smart man even at the age of thirteen, which is when he became laird. Fortunately, my great-grandmother, his mother, was smarter tha
n the rest of them and she knew how to help him know what to do. We’ve lived through some hard times, and thankfully Ian has been able to get us through our recent ones.”
“It’s good Ian was here then.”
“Aye. He says ye’ve aged weel, Ian has.”
I didn’t know what to say, but I gurgled a noise. Did Mac think I was more like an aunt than a friend? I didn’t like that idea at all.
“Ye don’t look older than me, Kally.”
“Well, I’m older than you are, but only slightly.”
He was silent as the horse took us up toward another deep green hill.
“How can that be, lass?” he finally asked.
I thought a moment. “Mac, there is an explanation for me, why I was here and then left, and why I’m not much older, and why I have such different shoes. I can’t share it with you right now, but I might able to at some point.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why not?”
“It wouldn’t . . . well, because I don’t know exactly.” I wished I hadn’t started down this path.
“Why not?”
“Because!”
He blew air out of his nose just like I’d seen the horses do. “Fine. Tell me as soon as ye think it will make sense.”
“I will. I promise.”
“Ah, a promise.”
“Yes. When. I. Think. The. Time. Is. Right.”
“A promise is important to me, Kally.”
“Me too. I don’t make many of them.”
“Good.”
Would I ever be able to explain my travels through time?
“Will ye disappear again?” Mac asked.
“Oh. Well.” I would leave again, I was certain. “Mac, if I do disappear without telling someone, know it was against my will. If I leave on my own, cross my heart that I will tell someone first.”
“No, not someone.”
“What?”
“Ye will tell me.”
“I will?”
”Aye.”
“Is that an order?”
“I dinna think ye’re the kind of girl who takes orders, Mistress Kally, so I suppose I’ll say ‘if ye please.’”
“Okay, I’ll tell you.”
“Thank ye.”
We were silent as Mac worked to maneuver the horse over rocky land and around a green cliff. I liked this nicer version of him better than the other one.
