by Bess McBride
“No, you can’t stay. You’re not immunized, Colin. You’re more at risk than Beth. Here’s my idea!”
Chapter Nine
I spoke hurriedly, anxious to get back to James, should he wake up.
Colin’s dark eyes rounded.
“Travel through time to get medicine?” he repeated. “There is medicine to cure typhoid?”
I nodded.
“Yes, I’m sure there is. It’s a bacterium. They’ve got to have antibiotics for it.”
His eyes narrowed. “Beth has spoken of such medicines, mourning that they havena yet been discovered.”
I nodded. “I imagine. She definitely can’t be exposed. I heard your happy news.” I smiled as wide as I could.
He nodded, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
“Aye, we are to become parents. I ken Beth is worried. I understand childbirth is much easier in yer time?”
“For the most part, in America it is.” I wanted to say there were always risks, but thought better of it. Why worry the poor man?
“Do ye ken that ye can travel back to yer time and return to this time without mishap?” His dubious look only reinforced my own doubts about my half-formed plan. I didn’t even address the issue of trying to get antibiotics for typhoid. How was I going to do that?
“I don’t know, but I can try,” I said. “Beth traveled back in time, and somehow managed to return early enough to prevent your death.”
He rubbed his chin and nodded.
“Aye, she did that, sure enough. Perhaps if ye travel back, ye can also return to a time before James takes ill?” he asked on a hopeful note.
I thought about that. And do what? Warn him not to eat what? I didn’t know what had made him ill.
“But I don’t know how James became ill, Colin. Something is tainted with the bacteria. It could be water, food, something or somebody.”
“How is the disease spread? The doctor didna say.”
I grimaced. “I don’t know enough about it. And my guess is that the doctor doesn’t know how it’s spread. I think it is spread through water and food, and by people who carry the disease. I only hope that you, Beth and Aunt Edith haven’t contracted the disease. You look well enough.”
He nodded. “Aye, I feel bonnie. I canna have Beth take ill though. I need to take her home. And Aunt Edith. But I think I must return to help ye. Otherwise, how can ye travel back and forth from the river to Lochloon Castle?”
I sighed heavily. How indeed? My plan, hardly finalized, did not include running back and forth between Colin’s land and James’ castle, nor did it include who would take care of James in my absence.
“Oh, gosh, I don’t know, Colin! Wait! Let me think.”
I tried to think quickly.
“Maybe Bracken can take care of him while I go with you tonight. You can drop me off at the river, and I’ll try to travel back in time. Then...” I paused, still thinking through the logistics in the eighteenth century, forget my own time.
“I will take the ladies to Gleannhaven Castle and return to the river to await ye?”
“But I don’t know how long it will take me to get the medicine. I’ll try to get it as quickly as I can, maybe from an emergency room, but that could be hours. I can’t imagine you sitting around the river, waiting for me.”
“I think it is the only sensible course. I will keep the wagon and sleep in the back, if I must.”
“Okay, I think that’s what we’ll have to do.” I wanted to shake his hand, but I dared not touch him. “I don’t know how to figure out if someone is a carrier of the disease or where James got it from, but at the very least, while I’m gone, I think Bracken needs to make sure that all the water is changed and that the fresh water is boiled. I would throw out the food we ate tonight.” I stopped and shook my head. “No, that wouldn’t make sense. Other people would be sick, and I’m sure there’s some sort of incubation period. Oh, I don’t know what to do!”
Colin reached out as if to pat my shoulder but dropped his hand.
“Rest easy now and prepare to leave. We canna ken how James fell ill, but I will tell Bracken to see to the water. Say yer good-byes now and come downstairs. We will leave when ye are ready. It seems we are to travel in the dark after all.”
“Oh, and the doctor said to send all the servants home. Could you tell Bracken?”
“Aye,” Colin said. He strode away down the hall, and I returned to the room. James was moaning, and I rushed to his side.
“James,” I whispered as I pushed his hair back off his burning forehead. His eyes remained closed, his face distorted into an expression of pain. “James, are you in pain?”
I didn’t want to give him the opium. I didn’t want to make matters worse by addicting him to a drug. James didn’t respond to my question, but my voice seemed to calm him. The moaning stopped. I ran a tender hand across his forehead.
“James, can you hear me? I have to leave, but I’m going to come back. I’m going to go get some medicine to make you better.”
James remained silent. His breathing was quick and shallow, and I squeezed his hand and ran from the room. Bracken stood just outside the door.
“Bracken, thank goodness you’re here. Did Laird Anderson talk to you?”
“Aye, mistress, he did. I am to stay and take care of his lairdship while ye hasten to get medicine. I have ordered the servants to leave.”
“Yes, that’s right. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, Bracken. Maybe twenty-four hours, maybe longer. I hope not! I know you’ll take good care of him. I hate to ask you to do this, because I don’t want you to get sick, but there is no one else. Please just be careful handling anything around him. Wear thick gloves when you touch him. Don’t touch any water that has come in contact with him. Don’t touch his waste. I suggest you put something to protect the bed from possible diarrhea. And for goodness sake, protect yourself when you wash out his pot!”
What a good pair of plastic diapers wouldn’t have helped right about now. Bracken looked bewildered, and I didn’t blame him.
“Waste, miss? Diarrhea? Do ye mean...” The old man’s face reddened.
“Yes, Bracken. The typhoid will be carried in his lairdship’s bodily waste. Oh, I wish I didn’t have to go!” I turned to look at James, wondering how Bracken was going to manage without getting sick himself.
“I had the fever when I was a young lad, miss. My mother died of it, but I didna. I cared for her then. I can care for his lairdship now.”
“Oh!” I could have hugged the man. “Oh, good! Then I won’t worry about you contracting the disease. Okay, I’ve got to go. Just remember, the disease is probably carried in the water system. Change as much of the water as you can. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
I patted his arm and dashed from the room, hurrying down the stairs to find Colin waiting for me. He said Beth and Aunt Edith awaited us down by the boat.
We hurried down to the shore, and the same teenage boy rowed us back across the lake. I assumed he had taken the doctor to the castle and returned him back to the mainland. And he would have his hands full shuttling back and forth to get the servants.
“Mistress, how is the master? The doctor said he had taken ill?” Duncan asked as we climbed out of the boat.
“He isna good, Duncan,” Aunt Edith said, a crack in her voice. “Bracken will care for him until the young miss here returns with some medicine.”
Very quickly, on the way over in the boat, Colin had outlined a plan to Aunt Edith in which he was going to drop them off at Gleannhaven Castle, then take me to a neighboring town where I knew how to get some medicine for typhoid fever. Aunt Edith hadn’t looked as if she had the heart to question the plan. Fortunately.
From Beth’s pointed look, I knew Colin had told her what I was going to do.
Duncan shot me a curious look but said nothing. He handed the reins to Colin.
“I am going to stay with Laird Anderson and his wife in the meantime,” Aunt Ed
ith said.
“Verra good, mistress.”
“I will return as soon as I can, Duncan,” Aunt Edith said.
“Aye,” the old man said with a dip of his head.
We drove away, twilight descending upon us. No one spoke very much on the way, and night fell all too soon. I worried about James, but there was little I could do for him there. It was much more urgent that I get the medicine.
As we neared Colin’s land, a thought struck me. What was Aunt Edith going to think when Colin dropped me off at the river and abandoned me there? Seated as I was in the back of the wagon, given that Aunt Edith rode on the bench seat, I couldn’t very well raise the subject with Colin.
We reached the river soon enough, though I could no longer see in the dark. Luckily, Colin knew his land well enough, and his horses seemed to know the path. Over the sound of their hooves, I heard the hum of the stream.
Colin pulled the wagon up short, and I turned and looked up at the threesome on the bench. Colin lifted a small lantern and held it high. Beth put a finger to her lips, her arm around Aunt Edith, who had, thankfully, fallen asleep. Beth smiled and lifted a hand in farewell.
I nodded with a grin and watched the lantern move as Colin climbed down from the wagon and came around to the back to help me down.
“Beth bids me to tell ye farewell in case ye canna return,” Colin whispered as I climbed out of the wagon. “Dinna feel bad if something prevents ye from coming back.”
“If it is within my power, I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“I will await ye here for a night and a day. If ye come later, make yer way to Gleannhaven, and I will drive ye back to Lochloon Castle.”
I nodded and moved to the front of the wagon to grab Beth’s hand. I said nothing, given Aunt Edith’s close proximity, but I gave her a firm, reassuring squeeze, and she returned the pressure.
“Can I borrow your lantern for a minute?” I whispered to Colin.
“Aye,” he said. I took it from him and hurried over to the bank of the river. He followed.
“Here goes!” I said with a weak smile. I set the lantern down on the ground, hitched up my skirts as modestly as I could to save them from grass stains, and leaned in to catch some water. Colder than I remembered, it made my fingers tingle. I scooped up some more and splashed it on my face, rubbing it into my skin. My cheeks prickled, and the familiar dizziness came over me. I felt myself falling, the light of the lantern fading from my view.
I awakened in darkness, disoriented and confused. Where was I? Lying on my back, I felt a hard, grassy surface beneath me. The sound of water caught my attention. The river!
I rubbed my eyes and sat up. The lantern was gone. No horses or wagon stood by that I could see...or hear. I searched the sky. The moon, largely obscured by clouds, barely broke the blackness surrounding me.
“Colin?” I called out. “Beth?”
No one responded, and I clambered to my feet. Hampered by my hooped skirts, I realized that wherever I was, I was still dressed in eighteenth-century clothes.
I turned away from the river to look up to the right, toward the direction where the road had been. Two small white lights shone, their arc bouncing along a hillside.
Car lights! Those were car lights! I was back! Back in the twenty-first century!
I grabbed my skirts and raced toward the hillside, searching for the trail leading to up to the pullout. Fortunately, I found it, and I scrambled up the hill, my skirts weighing me down. My plan was to hail a car and grab a ride to the nearest town with a pharmacy...or a hospital. I still wasn’t sure what I would say or do. Didn’t the United Kingdom have some kind of national health plan? How would that work?
And what about Julie? Was she still in Scotland? How long had I been gone? I needed to contact her and tell her I was okay.
Almost on my hands and knees by the time I reached the apex of the hill, I finally dragged myself over the top to reach the parking lot where Julie and I had stopped so long ago, or only a few days ago.
I trotted to the edge of the road and waited for lights. The night was cold, and I wrapped my arms around my shoulders and hopped up and down to stay warm...as best I could in the heavy skirts.
Five minutes passed, and still no cars came. I started to pace back and forth. I had remembered the road as less busy than a New York City avenue but certainly having more traffic than a village in the Arctic Circle.
Five more minutes passed, and I wondered if anyone traveled through this valley at night. Was it just a no-man’s-land after dark? I contemplated walking south in the direction of Glasgow, but that was still several hours by car. I couldn’t even imagine how long it would take me to walk. I didn’t have all the time in the world. In fact, I felt like I had very little time. James had very little time.
At last I saw a tiny flicker of lights coming from the south. For some odd reason, I had never contemplated that my possible rescue would be heading north toward Fort William. Julie wasn’t in Fort William. Did they have a hospital there? She and I had only stopped to have a late lunch there and had seen little else but the roadside gas station/café combination.
Something odd about the car lights caught my attention. What was it?
“Oh! That’s right. He’s on the left side of the road!” I said aloud. It would do me no good to hover near the road on the right, as I was. The driver probably wouldn’t see me.
What was I to do? Stand in the middle of the road and pop out of the darkness like a wraith?
“Yes!” I said. I hurried into the road and took up a stance just to the right of the center lane marker. I started waving my arms long before the car even got there.
Keeping an eye on the moving lights, I cringed as they grew larger. There was a very real possibility I could be run over if the driver didn’t see me in time. Although instinct told me to stand by the side of the road, I knew I’d lose my chance to flag down the car. I stood my ground and added jumping up and down to my stop and pick me up performance.
Two large beams came around the corner, and I panicked. My arms froze in midair, as if I were being arrested. I slammed my eyes shut and held my breath.
The sound of screeching brakes galvanized me into action, and I screamed and jumped sideways. I found myself staring at a small sports car well within the opposite lane and in no danger of hitting me. Illuminated by the car’s headlights, I put up a hand to shield my eyes.
A man jumped out and ran around the front of the car. Stopping short of coming to my side, he spoke.
“Miss! Are you all right?” His Scottish burr was pronounced.
With no time to waste, I dispensed with introductions.
“Yes, yes. Can you take me to the nearest town? Is that Fort William?”
Blinded as I was by the car’s lights, I couldn’t see his face well, but he appeared to be over six feet tall and slender.
“Yes, of course,” he responded instantly. “Did you have an accident? Where is your car?”
“No, no car. It’s a long story. Is there any chance I could skip the story and questions and just get to a town?”
The man hesitated and then moved to the car. He opened the passenger door.
“Yes, as you wish,” he said.
“Oh, thank you. Thank you,” I said, hurrying toward the car. If I thought climbing into a wagon in long skirts and a hoop was arduous, I hadn’t bargained on dropping down into a low-slung sports car. I bunched up my skirts and lowered myself, plopping ungracefully into the seat. The pannier took a lot more seat room than was fair. The man reached down and helped stuff the rest of my skirts into the car.
The interior lights of the car highlighted his face as he bent, and I blinked. Handsome with shoulder-length dark hair and blue-gray eyes, he reminded me of Colin. His smile, bright and engaging, accentuated the resemblance.
“Thank you,” I said again as he straightened and shut the door. He rounded the car and climbed into the driver’s seat. Long legs encased in dark-blue jeans slid unde
r the steering wheel. He sported a dark-brown jacket over a light-blue collared shirt topped by a navy-blue sweater.
He put his hand on the gearshift and turned to look at me.
“My name is Gordon Anderson,” he said. “Won’t you at least tell me your name?”
My jaw dropped.
“Anderson?” I squeaked.
“Aye,” he said. “And you?”
“Maggie Scott,” I said.
“You are American,” he stated. He checked his rearview mirror before dropping his eyes to my face.
“Yes, I am. Could we go?”
He drew his brows together but smiled pleasantly and nodded.
“Yes, of course. Where do you want to go?”
Putting the car into gear, he accelerated.
“To the nearest hospital or pharmacy. I don’t know. Do you guys sell antibiotics in pharmacies here without a prescription?”
“Antibiotics?” he repeated, taking his eyes from the road to look at me.
“Yes.”
To my dismay, he shook his head.
“No, madam. Only a doctor can prescribe antibiotics, and even then, it must be for a definitive diagnosis. Scotland is very concerned about the overuse of unnecessary antibiotics and the growing resistance to them.”
I blinked. He seemed to know his stuff.
“Are you a doctor?” I held my breath. Please, please, please...
Chapter Ten
Gordon shook his head.
“No, I’m not. My sister is though. I was just on my way to visit her. She lives in Fort William.” He turned to look at me again but shifted his eyes away quickly. “May I ask? Are you ill? Why do you need antibiotics? Did a doctor prescribe them?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “I don’t even know what kind I need.”
“Are they for a friend then?”
“Yes, a friend,” I said.
“What condition does your friend have?”
I couldn’t very well say typhoid fever. Could I? Wouldn’t that start a bit of a panic? World Health Organization involvement? Global news?
I remained silent, trying to think of something to say.
