“Yeah of course not — hey that’s a great idea, I should do that.” I took a swig from my beer using the bottle to hide my rolling eyes.
Hayley saw it. “Be nice.”
I whispered, “Be nice? Be nice? Why the hell should I be nice?”
He seemed oblivious to my irritation. “I was also thinking about your situation with all these employees, it might be useful for you to—”
“Wait, did you hear that — James? Did you call me? Hold on, James is calling me.” I slid down from the railing and crossed to the other side of the deck. I stood beside the grill making James block Tyler’s view of me.
I whispered, “Save me.”
James said, “From who, Tyler?”
“Yes, how’d you guess?”
“Tyler’s great. What’s wrong with Tyler?”
“He mansplains everything to me. It’s irritating.”
“God, you’re such a feminist. You know what you should do is—”
“You’re mansplaining! I know what I should do, I should hide behind you until he goes home.” I giggled.
James laughed. “Yeah, what the hell do I know? I can not figure out women.”
“Oh god, stop with that already. You can too figure out women. Women want a guy who loves them and doesn’t sleep around with other women. Period. Did you love Lee Ann?”
“Yes.”
“Did you sleep around with other women?”
“Just that one time but—”
“Then you don’t get her. You don’t get Lee Ann. She’s done. Now next time you meet someone and you really like her, maybe even love her, are you going to sleep with other women?”
“I don’t know…”
“See, until you can say, ‘No. I won’t sleep with other women,’ you don’t get to say, ‘I love her.’ That’s your bad. And you’re smart enough to know this.”
“I know, I don’t know why I do it.” He flipped the burgers on the grill.
“I know why you do it, because you get scared of the idea of loving just one person. It terrifies you so you sabotage yourself. You have an affair so when your relationship ends you won’t be hurt.”
He chuckled.
“What?”
“You’re woman-splaining. Maybe I just like women, lots of women. Maybe I hate the idea of one woman forever.”
I slowly shook my head. “Have I told you today how grateful I am that we broke up?”
James announced, “Burgers are ready!” and piled the burgers on a plate.
* * *
It cooled off considerably as the sun went down so we left the deck for the indoors. We sat around the dining room table and talked and laughed. It felt really good to be surrounded by friends. And Hayley was right, I needed to get out more often. Even if it meant spending time with Tyler.
I kept catching him looking at me. I would need to deal with that later. Send some clear messages of the ‘not interested’ variety.
Hayley said, “So Michael, you and Tyler are going out in the boat tomorrow?”
“Yeah, we were going to go fishing. I should check the weather though, there’s a front moving in.”
He pulled his phone from his pocket but Tyler interrupted. “I’ve got weather alerts set up, I’ll check.” He clicked and scrolled. “Let’s see, um…” Then he said, “Have you guys been watching this story about the insane storms in Scotland?”
I choked on a big swig of beer.
I coughed for a full minute before I said, “What did you say? What?”
Tyler said, “These insane storms in Scotland. They’re huge, building over this one village and then they stop. They start at the same time every day. It’s been like a week. You haven’t been following the news?”
I stood. “Like an electrical storm? What’s the name of the village?”
While everyone else looked from my face to his, Tyler said, “Totally electrical.” He read for a moment, then said, “The village is… let’s see… you’re not going to believe this name, near Spittal of Glenshee. There’s a ruin there, a Talsworth Castle.”
“Quentin can you take us home?” I grabbed my jacket off the back of my chair and pushed my arms into the sleeves.
Hayley said, “What is it — Magnus?”
“That’s the village where he’s from, it…”
Emma rushed down the hall to scoop Baby Ben from the guest room bed and carried him sleeping to the front door where Quentin was already waiting.
Tyler asked, “Wait, Katie, you have to leave?”
“Yeah um, that’s the village, it’s…”
Quentin opened the door and headed out to the car followed by Zach and Emma.
James shrugged. “Maybe that’s why Magnus was so freaked out by storms. The storms in Scotland get so freaky they get international coverage.”
Hayley said, “Call me tonight, let me know what’s going on.”
As I left, Tyler said to James. “But I thought he left her. Why is she worried about the storms over his village?”
I raced down the stairs to the car.
* * *
“That’s the village, Quentin, the village where the ruins of Talsworth are located. Why would storms be happening in 2018 there unless it’s Magnus? What if he’s trying to come through, and he’s just coming there instead of here and maybe something — why are you driving so slow?”
“I’m following the speed limit so I can get you home alive so we can figure this out.”
A text message happened, Hayley: Tell me everything.
Mine: That’s the village, right beside the castle ruins. Where Lady Mairead lived. Those storms.
I wasn’t making sense.
I was scrolling over Scotland’s weather, but the problem with weather.com was every time you looked at it new stories were at the top of the page. I finally found it.
“Look at the photo Quentin.” I held my phone up so Quentin could look while he was driving. I showed it to Emma and Zach in the back seat. “Just look, it looks exactly like the storms.”
I typed Scotland storms into news and came up with photo after photo of tall banking clouds and electrical arcs of lightning. I read out loud, “‘Every day at the same time.’ It’s like he’s trying to tell me something. To send me a message. I have to go.”
Quentin nodded. “We have to go.”
I texted Hayley: It’s got to be Magnus. I have to go to Scotland.
She texted back: When?
Maybe tomorrow.
Don’t go without talking to me first, I’ll come with you.
Really?
Really. Just text me the details.
Kaitlyn
Back at my apartment, Zach and Quentin and I came up with a plan. Zach would stay in Florida. He and Emma would be here in case Magnus showed up. Also to handle any business/house/life things that needed to be handled. And finally, in case I found Magnus but needed lawyers, banks, or specialists of some kind, it would be good to have someone on the ground at home who could handle the research or phone calls or whatever it would take. Extradition? Importing? How would we get him home without a passport? I didn’t want to worry about it yet.
Plus, none of us wanted to take Zach without Emma or Emma without Ben and I had no idea what we were about to find. It didn’t seem wise to take Ben into an unknown.
I called Hayley and confirmed that she would get on a plane with me the next day. She said yes. I told her she was saying that because she had been drinking and she would be pissed when I woke her up to go to the airport in six hours.
She told me that she would be ready to go, with a lot of complaints about my lack of trust.
I bought three tickets to Edinburgh, departing in seven hours.
Quentin went to his apartment to pack.
I packed my bags fueled by excitement. All I knew was that Magnus was coming home. That’s what this meant. The storms — he was coming home.
Magnus
I had nothin’ tae do. I couldna train, I could barely breathe
from the ache in my ribs. All I did was rest. I went tae the gym and walked the track for a while concentratin’ on my breathin’ and my worries.
I wasna physically ready tae overthrow the king. I had gotten my arse kicked as Master Quentin would say. I won, but barely. I wasna ready.
Bella had a plan in motion though and it was happenin’. I needed tae make m’self ready.
When I returned tae my room, Bella was lounged on my bed, facin’ the door, waitin’ for me.
I sat on the edge of the bed. “My apologies I dinna argue for ye last night, Bella. I dinna ken the rules of Donnan’s game.”
She sat up against the headboard. “There’s only one rule with Donnan, he is the one with all the power. But you’re the next king, you should challenge him. Especially over me.”
I nodded and looked down at the wedding band on my left hand. “I haena lied tae ye about bein’ married. I am nae lookin’ for a new wife. You say Kaitlyn is dead, but I canna think of her as gone. She is alive in my heart and tis enough for me.”
She looked petulant and flicked the covers tae the side. “We’ve been sharing a bed, living together, and you’re telling me you don’t want me? You are so weak.”
“I am tellin’ ye that I am married. Tis nae weakness.
She huffed and rose from the bed in a fury. “So what, I have to return to Donnan?”
“Nae, I will protect ye. I winna let him have ye anymore. I think that is enough.”
“It’s not enough.” She banged on the door. “Guards, let me out!”
I grabbed her elbow. “Bella, what are ye doin’?”
“I’m leaving. I’ll go back to Donnan. I’d rather do that than be here with you.”
“You canna go back tae Donnan. We have a plan, twill nae work if ye go back tae him.”
She raised her chin as imperiously as she could. “Tell me, am I yours? In the future, when you are the king, will I be your wife, your queen?”
“I have told ye, tis nae possible, I am married tae Kaitlyn.”
“Stop saying her name! Stop saying her name to me! You make me sick.” She banged through the bathroom doorway again and slammed the door leavin’ me alone in the room.
Kaitlyn
First of all, as predicted, Hayley was not happy when we arrived at her door at 4:35 am.
Her suitcase was packed, but she was completely crashed. Quentin stood at the front door checking his watch, while I cajoled her out of bed, into sweatpants and a T-shirt, and put on her shoes. “You’re acting like Ben, you’re making me put your shoes on like Ben. And he’s a one-year-old.”
She twisted her hair up in a messy bun, yawned, and said, “I’m only saying this because I’m his aunt, but he is very manipulative.”
“Says the grown ass woman who has another grown ass woman tying her shoes, for no other good reason than she’s too tired.”
“I also drank too much. I need to address that.”
“This is a recurring theme with you. Stop addressing how much you need to address it and do something about it.” I tied the last bow. And blew toward my forehead. Hot work struggling shoes on a grown ass woman who wasn’t in a helpful mood. “Thank you for coming with me by the way. It means a lot.”
“I know and it better, you owe me big.” She collapsed back on the bed, moaned, struggled over to the side, pulled herself up way-dramatically, and finally lumbered to her feet with a groan. “What time is it?”
“4:43, we have to hit the road.”
“How did you talk me into this?”
“Magnus,” I said as I jogged down the steps to the car.
* * *
An hour and twenty minutes later we were boarding our flight. I had a full blown sweat going by the time I dropped into the middle seat. Quentin took the aisle like a good security guard. Hayley got the window seat, yanked the shade down, put her head on my shoulder, and fell asleep immediately. I rested my cheek on her head and tried to do the same.
Quentin hooked his thumbs on his thighs and planted himself, still and watchful. He didn’t move and barely blinked. I teased him about it usually, that he was like the British guards in front of the royal palace, unmovable and unflappably calm. He told me that was why Magnus hired him, which wasn’t wrong.
He did finally fall asleep with his head lolling. I jiggled him awake to give him the neck pillow I bought for myself. Who was I kidding bringing it? After an hour of exhausted passing out, I was too excited to sleep.
* * *
We had a layover in New York. Then we flew directly to Edinburgh. We rented a car and it was in the car that Hayley finally woke up.
“So where are we, actually?”
“You’ve just gone through three airports and a car rental—”
Quentin joked, “A car hire.”
I chuckled, “A car hire, and now Quentin—”
He interrupted again, “Stop talking to me. I’m driving on the wrong side of the road. It’s taking all my concentration.”
Hayley joked, “I was wondering what was going on, figured I was sitting in the car upside down again.” She yawned and straightened up in her seat. “Where are we headed?”
“Eastern Perth and Kinross, near the Spittal of Glenshee. If that helps at all.” I was looking at the map the car hire people gave us, because come to find out our phones didn’t have much cell service and it was a lot like being in Scotland in the eighteenth century. I loud-whispered to Hayley in the backseat, “Shhhhh, Quentin is driving. We’ll be there in about an hour. Of course he’s driving at half the speed limit so maybe longer.”
“Look at the speed limit signs. I’m doing all this math in my head.”
“You don’t have to do any math. You just have to look at the dial and correspond it to the sign, brainiac.”
He chuckled. “Oh yeah, right. Man, I’m tired. I’m not thinking right.”
Hayley said, “How did I get through the airport?”
“You woke up enough to smile at the passport guy and hand him your passport. He only thought I was people-trafficking you a little bit.”
“When do we get to our hotel?”
“I haven’t booked one yet, this is a very classy operation.”
“So basically our security guard with questionable driving skills is taking us to the middle of Scotland to the ruins of a castle to look for a time machine? And we might be homeless?”
“You’re catching on. It should be easy to find the ruins too, they are strung with caution tape. We may have to sneak in.”
“Can I go back to sleep?” She wadded up one of the jackets.
“That’s why you’re in the back seat.”
* * *
We took two wrong turns and had to stop for directions but we finally found the correct Unnamed Road with the Historic Sites sign and followed it to the ruins of Talsworth Castle. The parking lot was empty. The ticket booth was empty. A sign on the front said, ‘closed.’ Caution tape stretched across the foot path. Absolutely nothing looked familiar to me from 1702. Nothing. Just a path going past the ticket booth and a sign that showed a couple of walking trails.
“What time is the storm usually?” asked Quentin.
“The news story said it happens at 4:15 pm every day. So about three hours from now.”
Quentin looked around. “Should we risk leaving the car here? Someone might come by and investigate. We don’t want to be found before we see the storm, or whatever it is we’re looking for.”
“Now that I’m here I actually have no idea what I’m looking for or why. This sounds really crazy.”
Hayley said, “If you think about it you’re like a storm chaser.”
“Well, that sounds better than ‘insane person’.”
Quentin said, “How about I park back where the road branches away and we hike in?” I took a photo of the trail map and we returned to the car.
* * *
We had been hiking for a while before Hayley started complaining. “Where the hell is a pub? Isn’t that why
people come to Scotland? I’m in Scotland and so far all I’ve seen is trees and hills. A couple of farms. Now I’m on a hike. If I wanted to hike, I’d go on the Appalachian trail.”
Quentin bantered with her. “Would you? I mean seriously, I don’t think you’re much for camping or the outdoors.”
“Yeah, you’re right, I hate being in nature. I just had such a good complaint going I forgot to make sense.” She laughed. We all laughed.
A few moments later the small woods opened up and we had a view of the front partial wall of the castle. “Oh!”
My memory filled in the missing spots — Talsworth.
It hit me all at once: the long ago past, the castle, riding towards it with Magnus behind me on the horse, all the fear.
“Oh,” I said again, staring up at what was left of the walls. “I don’t know what to…”
Quentin asked, “Does it look familiar?”
“Yeah, this is the castle. I stood right here three hundred plus years ago.”
“Let’s walk around the grounds, maybe we’ll get a feeling for the best place to watch the storm.”
“How long have we got left?”
“Two hours.”
We walked up to the front gate now nothing more than a partial wall with a section of a tower in one corner. We walked across the courtyard to the staircase where I met Lord Delapointe that first time. Kaitlyn Campbell! Well, well, a daughter! Him and his sleazy smile. Now the staircase climbed toward nothing.
There was an enclosed hall near the back of the square but that was really it. I took in the scope of it turning around. I said, “It was so big before, it towered over the land. We were up on the second floor, trapped in Lord Delapointe’s office, and I didn’t think I would be able to escape.” — I love you, strong as an oak, near a stone wall, aligned with a castle tower — I stopped dead in my tracks.
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