by B Button
He sounded so grown up. “Did your father tell you to say that?” I said.
The corner of Mac’s mouth quirked slightly. “No, it was Ian.”
I took my arm out from his and looked up as steadily as I could. “I had fun, too. Thanks.”
“Ye’re welcome,” he said as he bowed lightly. “I hope …”
“What?”
“I want to spend more time with ye,” he said, finally using words that seemed like something he would say.
“I want to spend more time with you, too.” While I was here, we were under the same roof. It would be unavoidable.
“Ye do?”
“Yes.”
“How about breakfast tomorrow, yer riding lesson and then we’ll see what trouble we can get into.”
I suddenly understood that this was courting – or dating if we were talking about my grandmother’s time. I liked it.
Breakfast and the rest of the day and all of the meals worked perfectly. However I said, “How about breakfast and maybe riding lessons?”
“Ye need to learn how to ride.”
“I suppose.”
“Weel, then I’ll see ye tomorrow,” he said before he turned and practically sprinted away.
I watched him leave and wished he hadn’t. Why had he gone so quickly? I thought we could have talked a few more minutes. Had I said something wrong?
I sighed, went into my room and sat on the edge of the bed, hoping to gather my thoughts and bearings. It had been a very crazy day.
Then without a knock or any warning, my door burst open. Mac hesitated in the in the entry for an instant, seeming to notice that maybe he shouldn’t have done what he did, but he didn’t dwell on it for long.
“Mac?” I said, standing from the bed.
He walked the few steps to me and wrapped one arm around my waist and put his other hand on my cheek.
“Lass, I have no idea what I’m doing, but if I dinna kiss ye, I might have had to punch something.”
“Oh. Well. I don’t . . . “
His lips touched mine very gently and I could no longer speak or breathe and I just didn’t care. If he really didn’t know what he was doing, he figured it out quickly enough. He was so much taller than me that I was up on my sneaker-clad toes as he held me close, but we seemed to fit together perfectly, certainly our lips did. His kiss, that began hesitantly, relaxed into something more sure and strong. Emotion swept through me and threatened to make me pass out if I didn’t temper it slightly, but I didn’t want to temper it at all. It was such a full sense of right, of belonging together that I didn’t want it to ever end.
Unfortunately, eventually, we both needed oxygen.
Mac pulled his lips from mine and set my feet back on the ground very slowly.
“I dinna understand it, lass, but I’ve been wantin’ to do that since I saw ye asleep by the boulder. I hope I didna hurt ye.”
“You didn’t hurt me at all.” I touched my lips. “I had no idea.”
“Aye?”
“Aye,” I said, sounding like a pirate.
Mac laughed and let go of me a little more. “I’ve never …”
“Never what?”
“No, it’s nothing,” he said as he took another step backwards, but kept his eyes locked with mine.
“Tell me.”
“Maybe tomorrow. I’d better leave ye to yer rest.”
“Really?” I said, disappointed.
He smiled one more time before he turned to leave. But he stopped at the door.
“Promise me,” he said, “that you wilna leave.”
“I won’t leave on purpose, Mac. Not without explaining everything to you. I promise.” I crossed my heart. A picture of my mother sparked in my mind, but I pushed it to the back.
He hesitated. “Are ye scared?”
I was scared of everything, but I didn’t want him to know. I shook my head.
“Good. We have many things we must do, ye and I.”
I nodded again.
“Sleep well, Kally.”
“Good-night.” I said as he closed the door.
*****
Of course, I didn’t sleep well. That kiss. I knew what kissing was, I just had no idea what it would do to me. That had been my first one and if they only got better, I was looking forward to more.
I tossed and turned and sat up abruptly about a million times as my imagination heard him come back into my room for more kissing. He didn’t come back, though.
Finally, just as I sensed the sun was going to rise, I got out of bed and got ready, spending extra time on my hair. I even contemplated wearing the hair ribbon, but I came to my senses and left it tied to the bed.
I wanted to go down to the kitchen and see if someone needed help with something. I needed something to do, other than think about Mac.
But a noise outside my window distracted me. The back courtyard was outside and slightly behind my small window. I tried to look through it, but couldn’t see much until the person making the noise walked into my narrow line of vision.
It was Ian and from the looks of it he was alone and pacing the length of the courtyard. Seeing him gave me something to do—I’d go talk to him. Maisie wasn’t anywhere around so maybe we could really talk.
I hurried through the castle and out to the courtyard. The sun was peeking up over the horizon just enough to make the air seem slightly gray and yellow at once.
“Kally,” Ian said, a surprised look on his face. “What are ye doing up?”
“I was awake. I saw you from my window and thought I’d come out and say hi. Am I interrupting anything?”
“No, actually, ye’re a refreshing distraction.”
“Oh? What’s wrong.”
“It’s nothing,” he waved it away. “Come. Sit and let’s talk. It’s been … Weel, for me it’s been a long time, really, though ye havena aged. I’m sure ye’ve heard that from everyone, though, and are tired of it.”
My turn to wave it away.
“How have yer last sixteen years been?” Ian asked with a big wink.
What did he know, or what did he think he knew?
“Ian, it was only one year for me,” I said slowly. Bit by bit I was telling my story without meaning to, and perhaps that was best. Sips were easier to swallow than gulps.
His eyes twinkled and he smiled. “Ah, I wondered. Could ye explain further?”
“Not yet, but I think I will be able to. Soon.”
“I can accept that. But it is good ye aren’t older, Kally.”
“Why?”
“I think it makes my brother’s actions more acceptable. If ye were really thirty-two, his sixteen-year-old eyes for ye would be strange. What’s odd, though, is that before, ye were two years older than me and now I’m much older than ye.” He wasn’t sad about our age difference, though. “It sets funny in me.”
“I know. I have a hard time thinking of you as anything but fourteen.” I ignored his comment about Mac’s eyes being for me, but my stupid heart started to beat faster.
Ian laughed. “Oh, I hope I’m much more grown-up.”
“Well, yes, but …to me you’re still sort of fourteen. Can you understand that at all?”
“I suppose it’s good to be forever young to someone.” He looked at me, inspected me. “I loved ye, ye ken,” he said as though it was no big deal.
My mouth fell open. I didn’t know how to respond. I hoped Maisie didn’t choose that moment to walk out into the courtyard.
Thankfully, he smiled. “Ye have nothing to fash yerself about, lass. Ye will always have a spot in my heart, but I love my wife verra much. Ye seem verra young to me now, but I smile at seeing ye. Ye are a memory of my heart.”
“I suppose it’s good to forever be a memory of someone’s heart.”
“Aye.”
“Mac told me how you took care of the castle and the land when your father … anyway, it must have been a huge responsibility.”
“Sometimes. But mostly, it was my jo
b to do. I could have done it better at times. But I am still learning and the walls are still standing. And my father is improving. Ye are some sort of good luck charm, Kally. I dinna understand why or how ye are here, or why it was only a year for ye, but I guess I just dinna care. Yer presence is like extra smiles. Ye’ll always be welcome.”
“Thank you.”
“I guess that makes me wonder if ye’re going to leave again.”
“Not on purpose. Not for awhile at least.” My mom’s face flashed through my mind again. This time her face was followed by a bunch of others too: Mac’s, the laird, Una, Ian himself. . .
“Good. Ah, and here are the wee ones now,” Ian said as he stood and waited for two miniature versions of himself to tackle him.
They ran to him as though he was their hero, just as it should be.
“There ye are, my bairns. Meet a friend, bairns. This is Mistress Kally. Kally, my daughter Bethia and my son Donnan. I guess ye’ll not have to wait until later to meet them.”
They both looked just like their red-headed father, though Bethia’s features were most definitely feminine. She was beautiful and Donnan was adorable.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hello,” they both said with wide eyes.
“Hello, love,” Ian said to Maisie as she joined us all.
Maisie nodded politely.
“Maisie, Ian, your children are adorable,” I said.
“Thank ye,” Maisie said quietly. “Ian, they’re here.”
“Oh, of course. I’ll be right in. I was just about to let Kally know what was happening this morning. Would ye mind taking the bairns in?”
She nodded politely again before she left with children I’d barely been able to talk to.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Sit again, please.”
“Uh-oh.”
“Weel, it might be upsetting if ye were surprised.”
“Tell me.”
“The castle ye traveled by yesterday?”
“Ivar Lennox.”
“Aye. Weel, they have come to call upon my father this morning.”
“Lennox himself?”
“And his son. And …”
“And?”
“His daughter, who …”
“Who was supposed to marry Mac.”
“Aye, the wedding is now scheduled for next month, but Mac has been fighting it.”
“The wedding is still scheduled?” My stomach fell.
Ian’s eyes were wide. “Oh my. I’m sorry. What did Mac say?”
“He said that he had already refused.”
“Weel, in a way he had, but he no has say over that, I’m afraid. That’s up to our da.”
I’m sure the blood had drained out of my face.
“They saw ye yesterday with Mac and sent a messenger over late last night saying they’d be here this morning. They’re right on time. But ye needna fash yerself, my father will take care of it.”
“What does that mean?” I said weakly.
“He will put off the wedding.”
“Not cancel it?”
Ian sighed. “I suppose that’s a possibility, but Kally, ye’ve not known Mac and he hasna known ye for very long at all. Arrangements have been long made. And besides, what if ye have to leave?”
“I see.”
“So soon, ye care for him verra much?”
I swallowed audibly. “Yes, I do. I don’t understand it, but I do.” I did and I didn’t know how to lie about it.
“And I care for ye, Kally,” Mac said from the doorway.
I didn’t know how long he’d been listening but his face was tight with anger, his long hair pulled back in a messy braid.
Ian sighed. “I believe we will all work through this. I’ll leave the two of ye alone, but I want ye to come in and join us in a moment, Mac.” Ian stood and touched my shoulder lightly. He forced a smile and then turned and passed his much larger and younger brother. They mumbled words to each other but I couldn’t make them out.
“Kally,” Mac said. He seemed afraid to come toward me. “I dinna understand what I feel, but I canna ignore it. Ye said you care for me verra much. Were ye telling the truth?”
“Yes.”
He walked toward me then, his long legs closing the space with only three steps. He sat on the bench and tentatively took my hand.
We sat there, being quiet for a long time. I had a lot to process. Except for using the word, I’d pretty much just exclaimed my love for an 18th century Scottish man, which was strange in itself. The fact that he’d practically exclaimed his love for me was also up there on the strange scale.
But this was real. I didn’t know how else to explain it to myself except that what I felt for Mac was as real as the fact that I’d traveled through time.
“Mac,” I said at the same time he said, “Kally.”
“You go first,” I said.
“Kally, I think we’re supposed to be happy. When people care for each other, they’re supposed to be smiling all the time. I’m not going to marry Isla. I wasna going to marry her anyway. Ye being here didna change that. Ye’re not responsible. Although that kiss last night might have done it if I hadna already made up my mind.”
I smiled, I couldn’t help it. “You can read my mind?”
“No, not yet, but I hope to learn.”
“How old are you?” I knew, but I had a point to make.
“Sixteen. How old are ye?”
“I’m seventeen, Mac,” I said steadily.
“That’s not much older at all, is it?” He said, smiling.
I shook my head. “Tell me about Isla.”
“Our fathers have known each other since they were bairns. Isla and I played together when we were wee ones ourselves. But there is not anything that I feel for her like, well, like what I should feel. We’ve never shared a kiss, Kally, not one.”
“But your marriage is up to your father, not you.”
Mac smiled. “No one can force me, Kally, and they wilna. My father thinks ye’re a lucky charm, anyway . . .”
“I don’t have a right to …”
“No, ye are’na listening. That,” – he pointed toward the castle – “has not a thing to do with ye. This,” – he lifted my hand – “has to do with ye. The two are separate.” He sighed heavily. “Now, there’s nothing I’d like better right now than to kiss ye again and again,” he blushed, “but I have to go inside. Do ye think we can see each other later?”
“I don’t know how you could miss me.”
Mac lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed it lightly. “I didna mean for this to happen. If I’d ken they’d be coming here today, I n’er would have taken ye over there.”
I nodded as I watched his lips touch my hand. My skin tingled all the way up my arm, to my earlobe.
I wanted to go with him to talk to them but it didn’t feel right to ask. I let him go and then followed a couple seconds later.
They’d be in the large front room. The castle was already busy with activity. I knew that if Una caught me, I’d never make it far. I ducked and flattened my back against walls and turned my head when I thought a passerby might give me up. There was nothing that was going to stop me from seeing Isla.
The conversation wasn’t quiet, so as I approached the room I didn’t worry about being heard, but I stayed around a corner so I wouldn’t be seen.
“Now, Ivar, there’s no reason to be so upset,” Brian Duncan said.
“Upset. Yer son shows up on … on the land under dispute with another lass and there’s no reason to be upset?” That sounded like Ivar Lennox.
“Mac has not agreed to marry Isla, and perhaps the land is under dispute, but that’s no reason for him to stay away from it.”
“Och, and what does it matter that Mac hasna agreed to the marriage? Ye and yer son Ian and I have, and that’s all that matters.”
The silence that followed felt heavy and tight at the same time.
“Duncan,” Lennox co
ntinued, “ye wilna go back on yer word, will ye?”
I heard someone sigh.
“I’m not sure it was my word to give.”
“I wilna sit here and let you insult my daughter. Ye will think about this long and hard before ye break her heart.”
“It is not my intention to break yer heart, Isla. Ye are a lovely lass. I’m sorry for the confusion.”
I couldn’t make out her words, but her response sounded unworried.
“Mac, what have ye to say for yerself?” Lennox asked.
“I’m truly sorry to Isla. To ye, weel, I think ye’re a horse’s arse.”
“Now, gentlemen, let us be civilized. There is a young lass in the room, after all,” Ian, ever the voice of reason, said.
“She may be the only reason I’ll no slit yer throat at this verra moment,” Lennox said, probably to Mac.
“Ye will leave my home, now. Ye may not come under my roof and threaten my family,” Duncan said.
“Ye will regret this, all of ye,” Lennox threatened.
I dared to peek around the corner. I had a perfect view to watch the backs of the Lennox family as they departed. Isla was the first to leave. She was very short and very thin and had the longest, blondest hair I’d ever seen.
Turn around, I willed her direction.
Her brother Kirk and then her father followed her through the entryway. Mac was the next person out the door.
“Isla,” he said. She turned and I almost gasped. She was truly the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I couldn’t tell what color her eyes were, but I could see they were perfect, as was everything else about her. I looked nothing like her.
Isla nodded graciously, her tightened, perfect lips the only part of her showing any aggravation. She turned again and led her family out of the castle.
“Mac,” the laird called from the room. He turned and went back to his father and brother.
“Lass,” Una said in my ear. I gasped. “What are ye doing?”
“Nothing.”
She pinched her eyebrows together. “I know there are some clocks that need your attention. Would ye like to have a look?”
“Yes, actually, I would.” I needed a distraction.
“I thought ye might.”
I sent a fleeting glace back toward the front room, but turned and followed Una to the kitchen, thoughts of wonder at seeing the beautiful woman Mac was supposed to marry.