by Jane Stain
Smiling, Dall changed out of his English trews back into a red MacGregor kilt.
And then they lowered the staircase and went down to tell the family what was up. In Gaelic, of course.
“Da. Did you come in the middle of the night and sleep late again? It is glad I am to see you, Da.”
Emily’s eyes teared up. It was almost too much, seeing seven-year-old Peadar again, running into Dall’s arms full of confidence that his Da would keep the world running right.
Little two-year-old Domhnall came waddling over next and put his pudgy little arms around his Da.
Dall held them both close.
And then.
“Da. I did know you were coming home soon.” Little six-year-old Peigi ran into her father’s arms.
He picked his daughter up and spun around, laughing and kissing her little pink cheek.
Now Emily’s tears rushed down her face. Seeing Peigi free and happy really was too much for her to take. They had to save the young woman she would become, to allow her to marry and have a life.
But right at that moment, Dall just needed to love his children.
Where Dall could hear, Emily gave a significant look to the adults who had gathered to greet the two of them. “I saw something up in the attic that needs mending. Mother, will you come have a look?”
Dall’s mother gave Emily a look of understanding and followed her up the lowered staircase.
Before Emily could think of a way to explain their situation, she felt Dall’s mother put a hand on her arm.
“Emily, I do know that you are in distress. You came in the middle of the day. I know you need some-ought. Pray, just tell me what it is. If it is in my power, then you shall have it.”
Relieved not to have to explain, Emily gestured to the spot in the far corner of the room where she and Dall had left Vange, Peadar, and Ju-long. “We need more chests up here, blocking the view of yon corner, but we also need a way to crawl into yon corner, and enough room there for five of us to sleep or sit, and some blankets to cushion our sleep.”
The older woman gasped at that, but she quickly recovered. “It is tempting to ask when—”
“T—”
Dall’s mother put her hand over Emily’s mouth. “But truly, it is better not to know. I wish to live each day for itself, not in fear of the next day. Come, we will make this room up as you need it.”
Dall’s two brothers hefted ten more heavy chests up the lowered staircase. Some of the chests were flat, and there was a support beam along the low part of the ceiling. With some artful arranging, they managed to create the illusion of a solid stack of chests in the corner while creating a crawl space leading to a hidey hole big enough for five adults to lie down or sit up, and a nest of blankets for them to lie down on. And an alternate route for them to crawl out of, so that they weren’t cornered back in there.
Emily was also careful to leave open the spot where she and Dall had dived over the one chest to hide behind it as the Campbell couple were waking up. And to see that a covered chamber pot was put in the corner before the chests were.
“I only wish you had some Campbell clothing to give us,” Emily said with a sigh.
Dall’s mother gave her a look that could only say, “I can’t believe it.”
“What?”
“One of the neighbors grabbed the wrong knapsack when coming home from the castle. We were all just teasing him about it this morning. He has two Campbell kilts.”
Emily and the older woman stared at each other for a moment, and then they grabbed Dall and went over to the neighbor’s house. They came home with the knapsack.
“Peigi.” Dall gestured her to him.
“Aye?” They little girl scampered over and grabbed her Da’s hands, then made him swing her back and forth by them.
It made Emily smile at a memory.
Dall spoke to his daughter as he swung her gently from side to side by the hands. “If ever you are held captive—which means someone is making you stay where you do not want to—if ever that happens, I will try to come and save you. Be on the watch for me, you ken?”
The six-year-old stared at him for a moment, and then burst out giggling. “Good game, Da. Let’s play captive now.”
Well, that hadn’t worked.
Emily had an idea, though. “You go on and play with your cousins, Peigi. Da and I have an errand.”
Peigi ran off to find willing playmates.
Emily took Dall up into their attic room. “We can come back in a year and warn her again, and keep doing that, Dall, every year until 1546. If she is warned every year at ages 6 through 12, then I really think it will stay with her until she is 26.”
So that was just what they did. Dall’s face marked the change in his daughter as she grew up, and he was careful to adjust the way he spoke to her so that it was age-appropriate.
Emily admired that.
All the parents she knew from her time had to be coached in things like that because they’d been so busy watching TV and playing on their phones during their teens that they seldom interacted with aunts and uncles and cousins. They didn’t have any parenting examples to follow.
And then Dall and Emily went back up into their attic room, changed back into their ironically neutral English clothing (it was neither Campbell nor MacGregor, after all), crawled into their places in the hidden corner, and swirled forward in time to Vange, Ju-long, and Peadar with their new knapsack of Campbell kilts, anxious to see if their handiwork with the chests had lasted twenty years.
“Achoo. Achoo. Achoo.” Vange was sneezing out of control when Emily and Dall returned.
Looking at the blankets that were now beneath the five of them, Emily saw why. Twenty years’ worth of cat hair resided thereon.
Of course. Cats would love this secluded comfy spot. At least it’s still here.
Hopefully before anyone downstairs noticed the sneezing, Emily grabbed Vange and fiddled with the settings in the Time Management app while she told the men, “Move away from me and Vange.” Emily pushed the ‘Go’ button as soon as the men moved away and only Vange was touching her.
The world went swirly.
Emily’s parents’ garage appeared around them. She could see the starry sky through the windows in the top of the garage door in this small town where she’d grown up.
“Vange.” Emily called out as she ran to the back door. “Let’s go to your parents’ house and get your emergency allergy medicine.”
“Achoo. Achoo. Can you get it for me? I don’t want to walk across the street while I’m—Achoo.—sneezing like this. What if Tiffany saw me? Achoo. Achoo. I’d never live it down. And what was a cat doing inside your trailer, anyway? Achoo. Achoo. And where are Peadar, Dall, and Ju-long? I thought we were all going—”
Ug.
Emily had forgotten again that Vange wouldn’t remember being in another time once she returned to her own.
But that wasn’t the worst of it.
“What a surprise.” Emily’s mom came into the garage with a basketful of laundry. “Where’s Dall?” She looked around.
“Achoo. Achoo. Achoo. Em, please go get my medicine. Please?” Vange’s eyes were watering, and her face was covered in snot.
Ew. Vange was right. No way could she risk Tiffany seeing her like that.
“I’ll be right back.” Emily called out to Vange and Mom as she dashed out the back door. It was eleven o’clock at night. What was Mom doing up?
“Oh, you poor thing,” Emily heard Mom say to Vange. “What on Earth set you off like that here in our garage? And why …”
Emily hoofed it over to Vange’s parents’ house as fast as she could and climbed up the tree to Vange’s room. Good, the window still didn’t close all the way. She hadn’t been sure, because the last time she used this trick she’d been in middle school. Whew. She got Vange’s medicine out of the nightstand and slipped back out through the window, careful to close it as much as she could after her.
No sen
se in making both sets of parents ask the kind of questions her own mom was doubtless asking Vange right now. Maybe it was just as well Vange didn’t remember going back in time. The fact that Vange knew they had at least teleported into the garage was problematic enough.
Emily ran her fastest, hoping to get back to Mom before Vange made up a bigger cover story than Emily could catch up with. She went in the same way, through the back door into the garage.
Good, she could hear Vange and Mom talking in the kitchen.
“Achoo. Yeah, so Emily just wanted to surprise you by making that chocolate cake recipe that you like so much for your birthday—before she and Dall and the faire move to Australia in October. She was going to grab it and then I was going to take her back. I’m not sure what the plan is now that you know we’re here, though.”
Thank you, Vange. You’re the best best-friend ever. I can work with that. Hold on. What day is it to Mom, again? I’ve lost track, I’ve been to so many other times lately.
Realizing she didn’t need to think it through, Emily just looked at her phone. Local day was Monday. Thinking it through after all, she remembered it was now two days after their night at Brittany’s favorite club. It was also five days before the party Dall had invited their five new best friends to, in the trailer at the renaissance festival site.
“Here you go.” Emily called out as she pushed through the door into the kitchen from the garage.
“Achoo. Achoo.” Vange accepted the pill bottle from Emily and took her medicine, washing it down with some of the tea Mom must have made for her.
“I know you like those costumes, honey,” Mom said, “but it is a little strange for you to be wearing one away from the renaissance festival site, don’t you think?”
Emily looked down at the 1560s English menswear she and Vange had donned to go rescue Peadar. “Not any stranger than you being up doing laundry so late at night, and on a work night, too.”
Wow. Did I just turn the tables on Mom? How is she going to react to that? Do I have time to take it back?
But Mom was laughing. “Ha hehe ha. Touché, Emily. Touché.”
“Achoo.” Vange was still sneezing. She blew her nose.
And then Mom sobered up and gave Emily a sad smile. “Well, I guess being a married woman and all, you’re old enough to know that your father is having a tough time at work. They’re probably going out of business. But in the meantime, they have him burning the midnight oil, trying to get every last chance in, that they might stay afloat. And when he isn’t home, I have trouble sleeping.”
Emily felt sick. “Oh Mom, you and dad shouldn’t have spent so much on me and Dall’s wedding. It must have cost you your life’s savings—”
“Now honey, don’t you go worrying over it. Hopefully, you’re only going to get married once in your life. Your father and I wouldn’t do anything differently, if we had it to do all over again.” Mom moved in to hug her.
Emily hugged Mom close for a long time. “I love you so much, Mom. It’s going to be OK. I promise.”
“I know it will, honey. I know it will,” Mom said, but she only reluctantly let the hug end.
And then Emily said to Vange, “Do you mind if I just borrow the car and take myself home? I have to get going, but will you stay here with my mom until my dad gets home?”
“Achoo. Achoo. Ack. It starts right up again whenever I let go—Achoo.—with the handkerchief.” Vange blew her nose again. And she nodded yes. “Yeah, good idea. Take the car. Remember to come get me for Renfest on Friday, though.”
Visibly remembering the reason Vange had given for Emily’s visit, Mom hugged Emily one more time and then sauntered off into the bathroom, saying, “Go ahead and go, dear. You’ll already be driving late into the night. I don’t want you to have an accident.”
Vange pointed at Mom’s recipe box on the kitchen counter, whispering, “I told her you were here—Achoo.—for her chocolate cake recipe, for her birthday.”
“I heard. Thanks, Vange. You’re the bestest best-friend ever.”
The two best friends hugged.
Emily whispered in Vange’s ear, “I’ll leave the car at Shroeder’s.”
Vange nodded yes and gave Emily an excited look. “Promise me you’ll show me the real thing soon. Achoo.” She wiped her nose with the hanky. “I mean, this … traveling around is awesome, but …” She gave Emily a face that said, “You’ve been holding out on me.”
Emily nodded and smiled at her friend, feeling sad that time travel wasn’t something they could talk about. Then she took the keys out of Vange’s purse and ran off to drive the car down the street to the market before swirling back to the men in the attic in 1560.
“Is all well with your best lass, Emily?” Dall whispered where they all sat in the small blanket nest space behind the trunks in the far corner of the attic room in the highlands house on Rannoch land that had once belonged to the Menzies clan.
He looked concerned.
“Huh. Where be Vange?” Peadar looked disappointed.
“Yeah, all is well with Vange, but I left her to console my mom. My dad’s work is going out of business.” Emily felt a tear leak out of her eye.
Dall held Emily close. “Mayhap we can help him find a new source of income, lass.” He fingered the dagger in his boot.
Emily smiled in spite of herself. “You know what? I bet we can.”
Ju-long grimaced and held his hands up for attention. “Emily get me outside. I fire weapon. Everyone go outside. Dall and Peadar get Peigi.”
It was light outside in this time, morning, and they could hear the sounds of the family breaking their overnight fast. Everyone was awake and downstairs.
Emily looked to Dall and Peadar for criticism of Ju-long’s plan. She thought it was brilliant. Simple and straightforward.
They apparently did too, because no criticisms were raised, just questions.
Dall whispered, “Do we have the outside marked, lass?”
Emily shook her head. “No, but we do have the wee phone app’s map. The surrounding area was completely free of people when we walked it together twenty years ago.
Dall started to object.
Emily rushed on. She really wanted to try the Time Management app’s map. “This early in the morning, it should be fine. No one is out or about yet. Besides, when we went to Peadar, the app hid us in that thicket, and when we came here to Peigi, it hid us in this attic. I feel confident it will hide me no matter when or where I tell it to take me… within reason. It may not be able to hide me in the middle of a city.”
Peadar looked convinced. “Aye, Da. It is a good plan. I say we let them try it. Shall we put on the Campbell kilts?” He waited for Dall to agree to the plan, looking at him politely. Only his hand inching toward the knapsack gave away his impatience.
Dall sighed. “Aye, well enough, let us put on the Campbell kilts.” He did not look happy. “First, let us get claymores out of this chest here.” He stood up in the very corner, the only place in the chest fort that would allow it, and wriggled two claymores out of the nearest chest.
Peadar smiled big when his Da handed him one of their traditional swords.
Next, the two highlander men got the blue plaid kilts out and waited for Emily and Ju-long to leave and make room for them to roll up in them.
Emily fiddled with the settings on her phone so that the time remained the same, but the destination was down the hill from the small settlement that contained her mother-in-law’s old house that they were in. She selected this on the map and looked up.
Dall’s eyes looked worried. “You do not have to do this, lass. We will find another way.”
Emily caressed her husband’s face, and then thought better of it and kissed him soundly. “I want to help so that you can help her.”
Dall nodded.
They shared their contented cat smile, and then Emily turned to Ju-long. “Is your weapon ready?”
He nodded once. He was holding the weapon out in fron
t of him, but they were all seated on the blankets, so it looked funny.
Emily kissed Dall again. “I love you. Now stay back.” She moved over away from Dall and Peadar and took Ju-long’s hand. “Ready?”
Ju-long nodded again.
The world went swirly.
And Emily and Ju-long materialized right in the middle of some game a bunch of children were playing. The children were dressed in Campbell colors. The boys wore trews, but other than that, they were all dressed as mini adults.
Houses and cattle dotted the land around them. What once had been empty land now was part of the settlement, which had grown so much it should be called a town.
A ball of sorts, made out of sewn-together bits of rough leather, bounced off Ju-long’s Darth-Vader-shaped brown leather helmet.
Ju-long stoically held his position, which was sitting in the dirt, because that was how he had been on the blankets in the attic. He pulled the loaded firearm closer in to his chest and sort of cradled it, looking around insecurely at the children.
Emily felt a sense of relief at that. The last thing they needed was for some child to get away with the instrument of the distraction they were trying to make. Or, OK, yeah, for a child to get hurt by the firearm. And she didn’t even suggest that he fire it into the air. All of the powder would come out before he even tried, if he raised the barrel up like that. This was a primitive firearm, not yet a gun.
The children were irritated, though. In Gaelic, they called out the fact that there were strangers among them.
“Hey. Where’d you come from?”
“No fair. They weren’t here a moment ago.”
“Yes they were. Stop cheating.”
“I’m not cheating. They weren’t here.”
Some grown-ups were starting to take notice of the strangers in their children’s midst. They were strolling over casually so far.
But Emily had no good reason in mind to tell them, about why she was there. And Ju-long? There really was no explanation they were likely to accept for him.
She kept a firm grip on Ju-long’s hand and said the Gaelic phrase she had initially thought meant, “I want a do over.”
