There was a handfasting and a lot of prayers. The ceremony was long and so boring. My hands folded, I couldn’t wait for doing the next thing, celebrating.
Finally the priest declared it over and we all rushed out of the church to the open air.
I was pretty overcome. I hugged Quentin. “If your mama was still alive, she would be so proud of you.”
“You think? Not sure how she would feel about me marrying the white girl in the dark ages.”
I brushed some lint off his jacket, a loaner from one of the men so he would look fabulous on his wedding day. “You are a commander in Magnus’s army, somewhere in the future, and you just married Beaty and are now a full member of the Campbell Clan in the 18th century, she would be very proud of you. I know I am. Magnus is.”
Beaty rushed over eyes only on Quentin. “Quentin, we are married!”
His face broke into a smile. How could it not? She was all sweet dimples, a big smile, fair and silly and so so in love.
“Yes Beaty, we are.” He threw an arm around her waist, lifted her from the ground and kissed her cheek. She threw her arms around him with a giggle. Magnus and I beamed proudly, a stand-in for his family in every age.
Chapter 54
The party went through most of the day. There was food and so much drink. Magnus passed all the candy sticks we had left to everyone there. They were amazed by it all. There was exuberant dancing. Bagpipes were being played and a regular ol’mosh pit as the day wore on, drunken folks dancing in a riotous kicking mess.
When we needed a break from dancing, we collapsed into chairs and watched, leaned on each other, poking fun at their moves. I said, “It’s just like the nightclub in Jax.”
“Tis verra alike, yet this is without the tiny dresses, the bright lights, and the terrible loud music.”
Right then a bagpiper made a particularly loud sound. We both laughed but then our eyes were drawn to the doors at the far end. Two of the young men were walking from man to man urgently telling them something. Then they were all moving to the next man and then —
Magnus said, “Pardon me, Kaitlyn. I will be back.” He went to find Quentin. They all met at the far end of the Great Hall, every man in the party except the drunken cousin who was already passed out in the corner. The music died. The men all left the Great Hall for the courtyard.
I asked Lizbeth, “What’s happening? Can we go listen?”
“Nae, Kaitlyn, just take a chair. The men will tell us of it when tis time for us tae ken.”
* * *
This was easier said than done. All the women were quiet. The long table was cleared, most of us sat and watched. One of the rough parts of being in the 18th century, there wasn’t much to do while waiting. And the waiting took almost an hour.
* * *
Magnus, Sean, Liam, and Quentin came into the room at the head of the other men. They headed straight for our chairs.
Sean announced, “Tis a battle on the morrow.”
I turned to Magnus. “Who?”
“A small army comin’ from the direction of Delapointe’s castle. The Earl has told us we must ride out tomorrow tae meet it. He has paid tae raise an army. We will meet them with a strong force.”
“But—”
Magnus said, “Let us speak of it in private, Kaitlyn.”
We went a little away from the group.
I asked, “Who is it, could it be General Reyes?”
Magnus looked down at me. “I daena ken. It might be Delapointe’s son, as the Earl suspects, but it may be General Reyes. Delapointe haena caused any trouble in a verra long time, I suspect this might nae be what it seems.”
“We could leave?”
He shook his head sadly. “I canna leave when the Earl has given orders tae ride against an army. Twould be desertin’ my family. And Quentin has tae fight, he is a new brother. He must prove himself.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I would greatly like for this trouble tae be caused by Delapointe instead of caused by some evil I have brought upon us.”
“Me too. And you’re injured, you just had a surgery, how can you fight?”
“I will fight okay. I will put the tape on my scar and wear the compressin’ band the doctor gave me. I will be careful.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“We will ride at first light and will meet them on the field the followin’ day, we will return soon after we defeat them.”
I sighed. “So like two days, maybe three? We should decide who will have the vessels.” I watched the far end of the room, the men and women all discussing and planning for the men to leave. “I will take one, you will have one, but do we go to the future?”
“We daena ken for sure if tis safe there. What if the castle has fallen? Hammie told me nae tae come back for three weeks but he couldna guarantee it would be safe, tis a risk if we arna together.”
“So we go back to Georgia and meet there?”
“Aye, but Kaitlyn, daena go without me. If ye can wait, do. Tis verra dangerous for ye tae travel alone right now. There will be guards here, just wait for me tae return, and then we will jump together.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t want to jump alone. I’ll have a vessel but I’ll wait for you. Seriously though maybe this is just Delapointe’s son trying to avenge his father and you will vanquish them and that will be the end of it.”
“I hope tis true.” He added, “I canna come to the room tonight, I have tae help load the weapons and pack the horses. I will need tae take Quentin’s share in it so he can spend the night with Beaty, tis important tae consummate the marriage before he goes in case somethin’ happens...”
“God, don’t say that.” I shivered. “Nothing is going to happen, but yes, let Quentin get lucky tonight. I love you.”
“I love ye too.” He put his arms around me and squeezed.
* * *
The wives said good bye to their husbands so the fighting men could prepare to leave just before dawn. Quentin was allowed to go to his room with Beaty and there was a massive lot of joking and teasing as he left the Great Hall. Beaty was hugged, advised, and encouraged by all the women and when they left he led her by the hand.
Lizbeth said, “Well, tis done, she is an auld married woman now.” She sighed. “Was I ever that young?”
“How old were you when you married?”
“I was fifteen when I chose Liam tae marry, but he had tae marry someone else so I had tae marry Rory, my dear late husband. I was sixteen. I was verra lucky tae win Liam in my middle age.”
“I’m used to people thinking I’m very young and immature at my age, twenty-four.”
She laughed. “You art ancient, my sister, tis a wonder ye arna an auld hag like me.”
“Will you ever forgive Magnus for saying it to you this morning?”
“Nae, I will tease him on that for the rest of his auld age. And I mayna call him Young Magnus anymore either, I will call him Auld Magnus, the other haena been around in enough years, we can consider him long gone I think.”
I gulped in some air at the idea.
She continued, “Would ye like tae come tae m’apartments tonight?”
“I actually would but Magnus might come to the room to pack some things and I want to be there when he does.”
She kissed me on my cheek with a hug and we said goodnight to everyone left in the Great Hall.
Chapter 55
The night was awful. Every sound had me shivering and so freaking scared. The room was so dark even with the fire. Plus there was a scurrying scritching scratching sound along one of the walls. Also my left leg was itchy as hell, which meant a bite of some kind from something here in the bed. I tried to pep-talk myself. I named everything in the room: That’s the chair. That’s the candlestick. That’s the chamberpot. That’s the pointy thing I need to ask Magnus what it’s called. That sound is the rat, no worries, don’t freak out, just a rat. It lives here too.
I finally fell asleep for about twenty minutes while the
fire died down which meant no warmth and no light except the flashlight — all the way across the room in my pack.
I pulled the covers over my head.
After many hours, finally, the door opened and Magnus came in. He whispered, “Are ye awake, mo reul-iuil?”
“Yes.” My voice was tiny under the covers.
He chuckled. “Where are ye?”
“I’m hiding in the bed from the rats.”
“Tis verra cold in here, are ye tryin’ tae turn it intae a refrigerator?”
I sort of pretend wailed, “Maybe the rats’ll turn into popsicles and won’t be able to make a nest in my hair.”
He crouched beside the bed holding my hand under the covers wrapping an arm around my head. “We are packed, we leave verra soon.”
His face was very close to mine in the dark. His breath smelled of beer and food, but not bad, his skin held that musky scent I loved, a bit of salty sweat from the work, a little of horses, not great, but not awful — real smelling like I wanted it to climb on me and fill me with it. Like a man had entered my bedroom and was crouched at the edge of my bed because he missed me, awesome like that.
“Be safe okay? Don’t be too much of a hero, stay alive. I need you.” Tears welled up. “Archie needs you. And Quentin and Zach and Me and Ben and Emma and Me and Hayley and Hammie and Me and James and...”
He chuckled. His cheek pressed against mine. “Och, tis a lot of people needin’ me.” His lips brushed down my cheek to my lips and he kissed me long and slow and sweet. “Ye canna stay here, mo reul-iuil. Tis too cold for ye. I fear ye will turn tae an icicle and even the rats winna be able tae keep ye warm. Get ye up, I will take ye tae Lizbeth. Bring yer quilt.”
I climbed from bed with the quilt wrapped around me and shoved my feet into my boots. It was so dark there was no way I could see so I bumped against Magnus and he put an arm around me and led me out of our room and down the halls to Lizbeth and Liam’s apartment at the other end of the floor.
Magnus knocked quietly. Lizbeth’s voice, “Aye?”
“Tis Magnus, can I leave Kaitlyn with ye? She winna survive the night on her own, she inna able tae fight off the vermin.”
The door opened and Lizbeth said, “Of course, come in Kaitlyn.”
I padded in, penguin-like, my hair sticking from the top of the burrito-wrapped quilt. “Thank you.” I said.
Magnus said, “Goodbye, mo ghradh, I will see ye in two days.”
I said, “Three at the latest.”
“Three at the latest, ” he agreed and kissed me on my forehead. He said goodbye to Lizbeth and left me standing in the middle of her apartment. She had a robust fire going in the hearth though, already it was an improvement on my own room. She knew how to do things like survive a Scottish castle at night alone.
She said, “The chamber pot is there, because I daena want tae go tae the garderobe tonight. Dost ye need tae go?” I gratefully and a little sheepishly peed in her chamberpot and then she said, “Ye can sleep on my side of the bed, tis nae so uncomfortable.”
“I’m just so grateful. I’d sleep on the floor if you wanted me to.”
She said, “The legs on the bed be there for a reason.” She climbed onto her side and slid in between the covers. The soft quilt I gave her was closest to her body. I climbed into the covers, still wrapped in my own quilt, thinking happily there would be enough warmth to get through the night. “Good night tae ye, Kaitlyn.”
“Goodnight, Lizbeth.”
The fire gave the room a soft glow and the small pops and crackles of the flames were a comforting sound.
After a few moments when I was just on the edge of falling asleep, Lizbeth’s voice broke the silence. “Kaitlyn, I have been wantin’ tae talk tae ye of somethin’.”
I could only make out the barest shimmer of light on her face. She was looking at the ceiling.
“Sure?”
“I want ye tae take her with ye.”
“Who, Beaty?”
“Aye.”
I stared at the ceiling for a moment. “You mean to the West Indies?”
“Nae, I want ye tae take her with ye tae your time.”
My eyes went wide. “I don’t know what you’re talking about... how do you...?”
“Years ago my dear mother told me about it. She brought me a great many presents — paintings and clothing and perfumes, and asked me if I wanted tae go.”
I rolled onto my side facing her. “Lady Mairead told you what exactly?”
“That she was able tae travel tae a different time. She shared with me the most amazin’ foods and asked me tae accompany her. She said the future was full of wondrous inventions and twould be safe for me there, but I chose nae tae go.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I couldna leave Sean. Lady Mairead said she wouldna take him because he wouldna understand. I kent Magnus would be safe in the future. He dinna need me, but Sean does. If I went with Magnus, we would be leavin’ Sean all alone and he wouldna survive without me tellin’ him what tae do. But I tell ye, Kaitlyn, I dinna really believe her. Twas too much like magic tae fly through the air and end in a different year. It dinna sound like twas real.”
“When did you begin to believe her?”
She pulled her covers to her chin. “She told me she was taking Magnus to his kingdom and when Magnus returned and his story was much the same, I suspected twas true. Then you came along, and you were nae at all like the girls here. But twas the machines that convinced me.”
“They were shocking even for me. I’m from the future, they’re from the future-future.”
“The men are all takin’ them as normal, because they daena ken what tae think of them, but I kent Mairead was tellin’ the truth. What year dost ye hail from?”
“Right now in my time it is the year 2018 and Magnus’s kingdom is in the year 2382.”
“And is it as magical as Lady Mairead told me?”
“I would say yes, definitely, very magical compared to this time. You should think about coming—”
“I couldna leave my bairn, but that is what I am urgin’ ye, Kaitlyn. Please take Beaty with ye. I was talkin’ tae her tonight, her father beats her verra soundly and she is afeared of him. Her sisters have all left tae be married and she is a great deal lonely and scared of him. She is just married and if Quentin leaves her tae go with Magnus, she will be all alone here in this castle. Her father might think tae come and take her back tae work for him again. I daena think she has the strength tae be waitin’ for Quentin for long months and years. And she canna be a widow around these Campbell men, she daena have the wit tae manage herself. I need ye tae take her or I fear somethin’ terrible might happen tae her and she is too sweet and silly tae have such a tragic end.”
I could see Lizbeth’s chin tremble a little while she spoke, something I didn’t think I would ever see.
“I didn’t consider it before because we thought we shouldn’t tell anyone here. We thought you wouldn’t understand and — I didn’t know about her father. Quentin would want to protect her. I do think you’re right. She’s just married and Quentin shouldn’t leave her behind when we go. Thank you for talking to me about it. I’ll talk to Magnus. I’ll do my best to persuade him.”
“Thank you Kaitlyn. I appreciate it verra much.”
“And thank you for confiding in me. Here I thought I was so good at keeping secrets.”
She chuckled, “With your outlandish shoes.”
“Oh it was my shoes that did it? I figured it was the wacky dress I was wearing that one time.”
“Och, twas also that ‘wacky’ dress, and the word ‘wacky’.”
There was a soft knock on the door. Lizbeth said, “Aye?”
Quentin’s voice, “Madame Lizbeth, it’s me, um, Quentin, I mean, Black Mac, and um, Beaty is afraid to be left alone. I didn’t know what to do. She said you might let her stay with you in your rooms?”
Lizbeth looked at me with a raised brow and a nod then climbed fro
m the bed. “Och aye, Colonel Peters, Queen Kaitlyn is already here as well. I am a safe harbor tonight.” She opened the door and Quentin was standing there with Beaty clinging around his neck.
Lizbeth said, “Now now, dear Beaty, you will needs be lettin’ go of your husband. Set your back straight and tell him tae travel safe and God speed.”
Beaty pulled her arms from around Quentin’s neck and mumbled what Lizbeth told her to say.
Quentin said, “I love you Beaty, I’ll be back in just a few days.”
She said, “I love ye too.”
He said, “Madame Lizbeth, thank you,” he whisper-called over her shoulder, “Good night, Katie.”
“Good night Quentin, keep him safe, and you stay safe too. Don’t be a hero.”
“Aye, ” he said, and rushed away.
* * *
It was a tight fit all three of us on the bed, but so much more comfortable and warm and safe-feeling than my own bed, even with Beaty beside me sniffling as she tried to cry herself to sleep. After a few moments Lizbeth laughed, “What are ye cryin’ on, dear Beaty?”
“He has left me.”
“Of course he has left ye, tis the way of it for a warrior. He has tae protect ye and he canna with your arms around his neck.”
“I ken. I just daena want tae be alone.”
“Ye arna alone, ye have us and ye have your baby if he has done the deed correctly. Are ye carryin’ a bairn now?”
There was a pause then Beaty said, “I daena ken if I — how would I...? Tis just when your middle grows round...”
Magnus and a Love Beyond Words Page 19