My Laird's Castle

by Bess McBride

  “Ye are daft, woman! Do ye expect me to believe such a story?”

  I struggled to my feet. I should have expected some resistance to my story, but his rejection still stung. It seemed certain that I was no longer betrothed. I swallowed hard, fighting tears again. But Colin was alive, that was the important thing. If I could convince him that the boy would kill him, accident or not, then he could take steps to prevent his death.

  I shook my head.

  “No, I don’t, but it’s true, Colin. In about a month’s time, you will help out a few old men and their young grandsons who were at Culloden, though they didn’t fight. Still, they are outlaws, and the English are hunting for rebels like them everywhere. You know that!

  “Do you know Donald and Samuel? That’s the boy who is going to hurt you, who is going to kill you, though I think it’s by accident. Are they hiding in the hills now? Or do they come later?”

  “I dinna ken what ye are talking about!” Colin’s eyes shifted away from mine, and I realized that the hapless band of rebels was already hiding in the hills, and he knew it.

  “Ye’re not Scots,” he said. “But ye dinna sound English. Are ye a spy for the Crown?” He eyed me almost belligerently, and I found it hard to breathe. Where was the loving Colin I had so recently known?

  “No, of course I’m not a spy. I told you. I’m from the twenty-first century. I know you don’t believe in time travel. We don’t either. But here I am. And I’m from America, the colonies, as you all call them.”

  Colin looked away from me to scan the path.

  “Whoever ye are, ye canna stay here. This trail is used by the English...too much. I canna stay here wi ye. I am wearing my plaid and carrying my sword, and I would rather the English not ken it.”

  “Because it’s forbidden. I know.” I nodded. I wanted to throw myself into his arms, but I suspected he wouldn’t welcome me, and I clasped my hands behind my back.

  “Well, good day to ye then, mistress. I wish ye well.” He turned as if to walk off, leaving me staring after him with an open mouth.

  “Colin! Wait! You’re not going to just leave me here, are you?”

  He stilled for a moment and then turned back.

  “Aye, I was,” he said. “I dinna trust ye, mistress. I think ye weave a peculiar tale of traveling through time to hide that ye are spying for the English. I dinna ken what happened to make ye faint by the river, and I am nae sure I care. But I imagine ye ken yer way home. If it is Fort William, then ye need only walk that way.” He pointed north.

  “What?” I sputtered. I tried to remember the details of our first meeting. “What about wolves? Aren’t you going to warn me about wolves?”

  He blinked. “Wolves? There are nae wolves here, madam.”

  I stared at him. Who was this man? Where was the Colin I knew? The one who would never leave a defenseless woman out in the open? I looked up. Sure enough, dark clouds formed above the hills. The storm was coming.

  “Colin, you can’t just leave me out here. It’s going to rain. I’m not an English spy. I’m not even English. It’s not like you to abandon a woman in need like this.”

  “What do ye ken of me, woman?” His face took on that obstinate dour expression I had seen him use with Stephen.

  “I know you. You are a decent man, a loving man. I know you, Colin,” I said, trying desperately to stifle the sob in my throat. It was as if I had lost him again. First to death, and now to some strange twist to my time travel.

  Colin ran a hand across his beard and stared at me for a long moment. I fidgeted under his harsh gaze.

  “Have it yer way, madam,” he said finally. He held out a hand in a slightly mocking gesture. “Please accompany me to my home, where ye may rest until ye find a way to return to yer home.” He held up a warning finger. “Mind ye, I will tolerate no spying. I will watch ye, mistress!”

  Oh, this was not going at all the way I had hoped. As I followed Colin along the path, I had to remind myself again that at least he was alive. We reached the castle in good time, and sure enough, George opened the door. Colin spoke to him in Gaelic, and George stepped back to let us in.

  “My cook, Mrs. Renwick, will be waiting supper. Please follow me to the great room.”

  I followed him. Everything was the same. The castle, the furnishings, even George. Everything was the same except Colin’s demeanor. How could I make him believe me? How could I make him fall in love with me again?

  I swallowed against the pain in my throat and sat down where Colin indicated on the velvet-cushioned bench next to the fireplace.

  Colin took the seat at the end of the table, turned it toward me and stared at me morosely. I looked down at my entwined fingers. What was I going to do?

  “Where do ye hail from?” he asked suddenly.

  “America,” I answered.

  “So ye said, but where in America?”

  “A little town called Whitefish, Montana. It’s in the western party of the country. You won’t have heard of it yet.”

  He tilted his head.

  “Nay, I havena, though I dinna particularly pride myself on my knowledge of the colonies.”

  I nodded, watching him as he watched me.

  “What name do ye go by?”

  “Elizabeth Pratt, Beth.”

  He nodded and fell silent.

  I waited. His next question startled me.

  “Why did ye kiss me?” he asked.

  My cheeks flamed, and not from the heat of the fireplace. I was embarrassed that I had done so, given that Colin now saw me as a complete stranger. Of course he did. How could I have not known that would happen?

  Maybe I shouldn’t have told him that we’d been in love. Maybe I should just have warned him about his impending death and been on my way. Now that I knew I could leave. The seemingly ever-present tears sprung to my eyes, and I blinked them back.

  I took a deep breath. My voice, when I spoke, was husky.

  “We fell in love. You asked me to marry you.”

  Colin shook his head, as if in denial. My heart ached.

  “But I understand you don’t remember that. I’m sorry I kissed you. I was so glad to see you alive.”

  He remained silent for a moment, watching me. I dropped my eyes to my hands.

  “It was not an unpleasant experience,” Colin finally said. I looked up to see a small smile playing at the corners of his lips.

  “But I canna believe we were to be married if I canna remember such a thing.”

  I hoped he wasn’t looking at me as if he wondered what he ever saw in me. I knew I must look awful. I raised my hand to my unruly hair, half of it now falling down to my shoulders.

  “I don’t expect you to remember, Colin, and I don’t expect you to love me back. You don’t know me, but you did...in the future.”

  He drew his brows together again.

  “I know I’m not making sense. It’s the time travel. I traveled back in your time to when we first met.”

  “I ken what ye’re saying, but I still dinna believe it.”

  I looked down at my hands again, trying to think of a way to convince him. The brown satin of my skirts caught my eye. Certainly the distinctive ivory bodice embroidered in threads of red, gold and brown was memorable.

  “This dress, Colin! Don’t you recognize it? It’s your wife’s dress.”

  Colin blinked.

  “My wife?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Agnew loaned me your wife’s dresses. This was one of my favorites.”

  “Mistress Pratt, I dinna have a wife. I have never had a wife. How could we have...fallen in love, as ye say, if I were married?”

  Now I drew my brows together.

  “Because you’re a widower? Didn’t she die last year? Along with...” No, I couldn’t say it.

  “I dinna ken where ye heard that I was married. It was my sister, Lady Mary McKenna, who died last year. She and her bairn. She was widowed and had come home to live with my father. I had just returned from school for a
visit when she took ill and died of a fever.”

  He rose and approached me. My heart thudded. His sister! And all this time I thought he’d been mourning for his wife and child.

  “So you’ve never been married?”

  “As I said.” He ran a finger down the sleeve of my dress, and a chill ran up my spine.

  “I remember this dress. It was one of my sister’s favorite dresses as well. I ordered it for her from Edinburgh to cheer her following the death of her husband. She wore it only a few times before she grew too large with her child.”

  His expression showed grief. I remembered Mrs. Agnew had said he couldn’t be consoled at her death.

  “I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said. “But doesn’t this prove that I’m telling the truth?”

  He took the seat beside me on the bench, turning to look at me, almost with curiosity.

  “I dinna ken what to think. I dinna ken how ye could have come by my sister’s dress, but it is a strange tale ye weave.”

  “Maybe you don’t have to believe that I have traveled through time, Colin, but you do have to believe that I’m trying to save you from dying. Please stay away from Samuel.”

  George entered with the tea, interrupting the moment. The butler handed me a cup and set Colin’s on the table. He spoke to Colin briefly in Gaelic before leaving the room.

  “Supper is ready. Are ye hungry?”

  I realized I was. I nodded, picked up my tea and moved to the table, just as I had before. While we waited for supper, we glanced at each other, but neither of us spoke again. I didn’t know what else to say, and Colin seemed lost in thought, toying with his cup.

  George returned with supper, and Colin and I ate without speaking. He watched me out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing. The heavy silence wore on me, but I didn’t want to disrupt what seemed to be a softening of his suspicions of me.

  I still didn’t know if the rebels were in the area already or not. I wanted to press the issue but didn’t dare. Colin hadn’t been particularly open about them when he knew me and loved me. I couldn’t imagine why he would speak of them now to a stranger.

  For now, he was alive, and I intended to keep him that way.

  When George returned, Colin spoke to him in Gaelic. Within moments, Mrs. Agnew hurried into the room. She stopped short at the sight of me. I smiled at her.

  “Mrs. Agnew,” Colin began. “Mistress Pratt will be our guest for a few days. Please prepare a room for her.”

  “Right away, yer lairdship.” Mrs. Agnew dipped a curtsey and turned away.

  “Mrs. Agnew, a minute before ye go, please.”

  She turned around and eyed us expectantly.

  “Is this my sister’s dress?” Colin nodded toward me.

  “How could that be possible, yer lairdship?”

  “I wondered the same myself, but I believe it is. Could you examine the dress?”

  “On the young miss, sir?”

  “Aye, ye dinna have to examine the stitching. Ye knew my sister’s clothing though.”

  Mrs. Agnew approached me with wary eyes, as if she expected me to jump out of my seat and attack her.

  “May I, mistress?” I nodded, and she bent to examine the embroidery on the bodice.

  She straightened and shook her head with a furrowed brow.

  “Aye, yer lairdship. This was one of her ladyship’s favorite dresses, one of the dresses ye ordered from Edinburgh. How came ye by it, mistress? For I ken I stored it in a trunk after her ladyship’s death. Who could have taken it and given it to you?”

  “Thank ye, Mrs. Agnew,” Colin said, dismissing her question.

  Mrs. Agnew pressed her lips together and hurried out. I’m sure she went straight to wherever she stored Mary’s clothing to see if the dress was still there.

  “Well?” I asked.

  Colin stared at me as he had been doing for the better part of an hour.

  “Mrs. Agnew verifies what I already kent. Do ye truly expect me to believe that ye come from the future, Mistress Pratt? How did ye come here? Why?”

  I nodded, then shook my head.

  “Yes, I do want you to believe me. I don’t know how I came here. Not really. It’s the river. I was on a bus tour of Scotland. We stopped, and I walked down to the river. I knelt and splashed water on my face, and here I was. And there you were. It’s the same way I traveled back to my time.”

  “Why did ye not stay in yer time, lass?” His voice took on a gruff note. “The Highlands is a dangerous place to be right now, an unhappy place.”

  I nodded.

  “I know, Colin. Remember? I came back to save your life. There has been so much violence over the past few years, oppression by the English government, clan feuding, Culloden. I know how dangerous it is here.”

  Against my will, but perhaps because my will demanded it, I reached for his hand on the table and covered it with my own. He did not pull away but dropped his eyes to my hand.

  “And ye say I was attacked by a boy? Samuel? And mortally wounded?”

  I nodded.

  “Yes, his sword pierced your heart. Captain Jones brought you back down from the hills, but you were dead when you got here.”

  Colin stiffened and pulled his hand from mine. I’d made a mistake.

  “Captain Stephen Jones, from Fort William?” He jumped out of his seat and towered over me. “How came ye to ken Captain Jones? How came he to be involved in this Jacobite matter of which ye speak? Ye are an English spy, madam. Admit it.”

  I stood, trying to shorten the distance between us. Frankly, Colin scared me at the moment. I didn’t think he would hurt me, but I was terrified he wouldn’t believe me.

  “He had to go in search of the Jacobites, though he really didn’t want to. The same boy attacked him...or will attack him in a few days. I know this all sounds bizarre, but I’m telling you the truth.”

  “If by bizarre, mistress, ye mean daft, ye are correct. I will admit that I almost believed ye for a moment, but any friend of the English army canna be a friend of mine.”

  “I’m not friends with the English army!” I said sharply, my frustration rising. “And you don’t know Stephen Jones very well. He’s really a very compassionate man, and he sympathizes with the Highlanders.”

  “Ha! An Englishman sympathizing with Scots? I have yet to see it. Madam, ye do yer cause nae good to speak so highly of the captain. I would wonder if it were not he that ye were in love with, and nae me.”

  I opened my mouth to argue and then thought better of it. I didn’t know what to do, but I wasn’t about to let him out of my sight.

  “I believe Mrs. Agnew must have yer room ready.”

  And right on cue, Mrs. Agnew appeared.

  “Mrs. Agnew, please see Mistress Pratt to her room.”

  “No, I’m fine. I’ll just hang out here with you,” I said, planting my feet. Even if I had to watch him twenty-four hours a day for the next month, I wasn’t letting him out of my sight.

  “I am weary, Mistress Pratt. I am for my own bed.”

  “Good, then we’ll all walk upstairs together.”

  Colin raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

  “Is it yer intent to spy upon me all night?”

  I nodded, and wished I hadn’t.

  “To report to the English? There is naethin to report. I am a loyal subject, as was my father. See this castle?” His expression was bitter as he waved his arm to encompass the great room. “This is the proof of our loyalty.”

  I bit my lip. Mrs. Agnew watched us with widened eyes, her hands clasped in front of her.

  Colin returned his gaze to me.

  “Come then,” he said, gesturing for me to precede him. “Let us retire for the night.”

  Mrs. Agnew led the way out, and I followed. George stood by the door. I turned to see Colin following. We climbed the stairs, with me making frequent checks over my shoulders to check on Colin.

  We stopped in front of the room Mrs. Agnew had placed me in befor
e, the room belonging to Colin’s sister.

  “Thank ye, Mrs. Agnew. That will be all.”

  “Yes, yer lairdship,” she said with a quick curtsey. She disappeared back the way we had come.

  Colin opened the door to the room and held it for me with a courtly bow.

  “Good night, Mistress Pratt. We shall speak again tomorrow. If I must return ye to Fort William, then so be it. But ye willna have anything to report.” He started to turn away, and I grabbed his hand.

  “I am not a spy, Colin. I am what I say I am. Just a woman who traveled through time.”

  He laughed without mirth.

  “It is easier to believe ye a spy than a time traveler, Mistress Pratt. Good night.”

  He turned away and did not see the tears streaming down my face. I watched him walk down the hall and enter his room. I left my door open and walked over to the bed to drop onto it. I could watch the hall from my room or lay down on the floor in front of his door. Either way, I was watching the stubborn man all night long.

  Chapter Eighteen

  After about an hour of sitting upright on the bed, my back started to ache, and I slid down to the floor to prop myself against the bed frame. I’d heard no sounds in the hallway.

  Another hour passed, and I felt myself start to doze off. I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my head on my knees for a second. The fire Mrs. Agnew had lit had died down, and I was growing cold, but I eschewed a blanket. I didn’t want to get too cozy.

  A sound caught my ear, and I lifted my head. I looked up to see Colin standing in the doorway, still fully dressed in his plaid.

  “What are ye doing, lass? Is the bed not to yer liking?” He looked into the room and eyed the fire. “Yer room grows cold with the door open. Surely ye arna watching out for me to leave my room?” He stepped inside and approached the fireplace to add wood.

  I said nothing but stood to stretch out my legs and back. He rose from his kneeling position and faced me.

  “Well?” He eyed me with a lifted eyebrow.

  “Yes, I’m watching you. I’m not going to let you put yourself in danger. If you go to meet the Jacobites, that wretched group of old men and boys, I’ll try to stop you. And if I can’t, then I’m coming with you.”