Quentin joined Zach, who was at the table researching.
Emma was in and out of the room with little Isla in the sling and then she laid a baby blanket on the floor and put Isla in the middle of it with toys all around. Isla immediately started crawling around, up to the coffee table, pulling herself up to standing, and banging her palms on the surface.
“What’s up girlfriend, you want something to play with?”
I put a teething toy in front of her and she shoved it in her mouth, drool pouring down her arm, the front of her shirt completely damp.
I pretend-gagged. “What’s up, girl? You growing more teeth? I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this look, this whole smearing on yourself thing needs to stop. How you going to be Instagram famous covered in spittle and food?” She giggled at me and made a fwooooooosh noise.
“Good talk.”
She grunted and pooped.
I called, “Beaty! The baby took a shit!”
Emma said, “Hayley, if you live here and you smell it, you have to deal with it. It’s a rule. I have it on the refrigerator.”
Isla turned to Emma, held up her arms and said, “Mama!”
I frowned. “Yeah, you’re right.”
I picked Isla up under the arms, holding her a few inches away from my body, and carried her from the room with Emma following me.
Over the diaper Emma said, “So I saw your face, and I get it — she calls me mama, I don’t know what to do about it.”
I took a deep breath, then shook my head. “There’s nothing to do, you’re the closest thing to a mama she knows. What are you going to do, tell a baby that you’re not her mama, that someday her mama might come home, maybe?”
I closed the tape on the sides of the diaper. “She wouldn’t understand. And Kaitlyn might be back any day now. We’ll just figure it out when it happens.”
Emma said, “Yeah. Yeah of course. She might be.”
Seventy-five - Hayley
When I returned to the living room Fraoch was sitting with Zach and Quentin at the dining room table. Still wearing his sunglasses, he was looking at Zach’s laptop screen.
Fraoch was doing an excellent job of pretending to know what they were talking about. “What year dost ye...?”
Zach said, “This is a record from the day Roderick and Lord Philip attacked Balloch. See there’s Magnus’s name and Kaitlyn’s name and Isla and Archie. Did they tell you they were doing it?”
“Nae, but I think twas tae protect the bairn.”
“Yeah, that’s what Quentin and I think too. This is a good sign, Magnus knows to put them down in the record. He knows. So we’re searching the castle and church records, all around the area, looking for any record of Magnus and Kaitlyn, pre-1557.”
Quentin said, “Balloch castle was built not long before it though, it was the dark ages, there are not enough records.”
“Yeah,” Zach sighed. “Not enough records, but we’re still looking. I don’t want to think about the alternative. I already have to talk to Katie’s mom and dad every other day about what I know — when will they be back? What are we doing to solve this? Em and I are in constant crisis management.”
I got up from the table and walked into the kitchen for some wine. I said over my shoulder, “Or, if this proves Magnus knows to leave records, maybe it also proves he didn’t have time to. Maybe Lady Mairead has already gotten them from the past.”
I got down two wine glasses and filled them with too much wine. “This is good news, right? Lady Mairead got them from the past and is jumping them here, and probably, because she’s a bitch, she’s holding them to bring back at the year mark. And while that is unforgivable, it totally fits her personality. So, it won’t be long.”
The whole time I talked I stared at that glass of wine, the one meant for me. Thinking about how good it would taste, and how thirsty I was, then I took a deep breath and poured it down the sink. I grabbed a can of Coke from the refrigerator and returned to the table. I placed the wine glass in front of Fraoch and popped the top of the Coke for me. “And hey, Zach, let me take Katie’s parents. I’ve been dealing with them my whole life. I can be their liaison from now on.”
Zach said, “That would be really great.”
“You and Emma have enough, she freaking looks like she’s about to pop.”
“Yeah, baby is coming soon.” Zach was distracted because he was clicking on the screen and reading something lengthy. I looked over his shoulder to see a list of baptisms in the year 1523.
“How is this relevant?”
“It’s not, this is me fucking flailing.” He continued scrolling and clicking and opening Wikipedia pages.
“Okay, good. Keep looking is what I’m saying, but also, we should totally be planning their welcome home feast.” I drank another swig of coke.
After a nice late dinner and after the kids were in bed, we sat and talked a little longer. Finally we headed to bed because I declared that day plenty long enough. In bed, washed and brushed and cleaned and in pajamas, I said to Fraoch, “I’m proud of you. You learned a crap-ton of new things today and you barely flinched.”
“Och, I am hidin’ m’astonishment.”
“You’re doing it very well.”
“Good,” he paused. “Ye told me a great deal of it when we were on our rides in Scotland. It all sounded as if it were a story. I believed ye might be makin’ it up, but here we are and tis all true.”
I smiled through the darkness at my husband. “That is so romantic.”
“That I thought ye were tellin’ a story?”
“No, that you listened.”
Seventy-six - Hayley
The next morning after breakfast, James arrived. “Can I borrow Fraoch?”
“Why?”
“I want to take him fishing.”
“Oh, of course.” I held my table knife, menacing. “But no strip clubs. No freaking him out. No instigating sword fights. No telling him about that time in middle school.”
James laughed, “Just fishing. He grew up on a loch, he likes to fish. I’m going to show him my boat. We’ll be back in a few hours.”
Fraoch grinned and stood from his chair. “Dost I need anythin’?”
“Nope I got the rods, the cooler packed, ready to go.”
As they left I called, “Sunscreen, James! He’s from Scotland, make him wear sunscreen!”
Seventy-seven - Kaitlyn
Carrying my bow, I climbed the seventy stairs to the upper part of the castle and found Magnus up on the parapet sitting on the low wall. He had his eyes on the horizon, thinking.
“Hello, husband.”
“Hallo, mo reul-iuil, hae ye been at archery practice?”
“I have.” I held up the bow and showed him my form.
He grinned appreciatively.
I asked, “You left the meeting?”
“Aye, I needed some time. Châtellerault is misunderstandin’ Edward VI’s policy on the borders, and I hae had tae argue with him a great deal.”
“He can be such an ass.”
“Aye.” Magnus smiled. “I greatly prefer the company of Mary of Guise, she is easier tae converse with, nae so dangerous.”
“Oh shit, she’s plenty dangerous. And Châtellerault needs to watch his shit. She has plans, Magnus. I wish I had studied this period of time to know how it will turn out.”
“We must be careful. I hae m’signature on many contracts. We must be sure our advisements deana turn them from their historical path. These are the regents of the queens and kings of history, we canna change them without alterin’ our own destiny.”
“I’m glad the queen is in France where she’s safe, this is some diabolical scheming going on.”
“I am glad as well.” He took my hand. “Dost ye see David’s Tower?” He pointed at the main building in this part of the castle. “Twas built by a King David and inside those rooms there was a murder back a hundred years afore this.”
“Really?”
�
�Aye, twas at a dinner party. The teenage Earl of Douglas and his younger brother were executed in the presence of the king, James II, who was himself a young child. I come here sometimes tae sit and look upon it tae remind myself tae be cautious.”
“That’s so dark, are we in that kind of danger?”
“Nae, but there is a great deal of danger all the same. I wish I could take us from it.”
I put my head against his shoulder. “Me too, but we just have to carry on, right? We’ll survive this if we’re smart. I think Mary of Guise is going to take over as regent, and then it’ll be easier.”
Magnus said, “I am lookin’ out over all of Scotland, and wondering where I should take ye if I could. Would ye like tae go tae Glasgow?”
“God no, that’s where those men who kidnapped me were taking me, to the docks. And then in the future-future we were there, remember? I don’t really want to go... at all. What about London?”
“Edward is only fourteen, we would hae tae contend with Warwick, he is an unknown. We would hae tae relearn the politics.” He sighed, jokingly. “Twould be better tae remain, at least Mary of Guise likes ye.”
“It’s complicated, huh, highlander?”
A slow smile spread across his face, “It has been easier for me of late, because I hae been changin’ how I think of it. I am not trying tae watch the future, but lookin’ behind, watchin’ it unfold, walkin’ backward, keepin’ m’eyes on the story.”
I leaned against his chest, my gaze looking out over the landscape, too. He pointed. “Way over there, in that direction, dost ye see it? The green that spreads and the mountains beyond? There lies a castle, nestled along a river. Twas built by Sir Colin the Gray, the father of Duncan. Ye kent him while he was a wee bairn.”
“That is so weird that I nursed him.”
“Aye,” he chuckled, “but also nae, ye nursed a bairn who needed tae be nursed. Twas somethin’ kind ye did. And it is part of our story, ye are entwined with the construction of the castle and someday I will be there, a bairn m’self. And our bairn hae been there as well. If ye remember, the castle protected our bairn from Roderick. I told Sir Colin tae build strong walls.”
I leaned back, nestling into his arms.
“I like that story, what else lies back there?”
“That castle, someday, will hold m’mother and m’uncles and finally, m’brother Sean and m’sister Lizbeth and their children as well, and it will go on and on until there is a kingdom of time travelers built upon the lands and those men will rule for centuries intae the future.”
“And Magnus too, he will rule.”
“Aye, but nae, I am nae there. Ye and I hae become lost from our times. We are only visitors now, stranded, balanced on strands of time.”
I turned in his arms and straightened the front of his coat and smoothed his hair from his face. “What are you about to do now?”
“Châtellerault received an emissary with a treaty from France. He has asked me tae witness his signature upon it.”
I said, “Every signature gets us closer to being found.”
“Aye, and he kens ye are a friend tae Mary of Guise. He wants tae hae me on the record. Tae hae me tied tae his aims.”
“It grows ever more complicated, but we’ll get through this. I used to compete on YouTube. I was high in the ratings. I dealt, on the daily, with crazy, conniving YouTubers. I can steer us though the maneuverings of medieval men. Or, if not, you and I, my love, have a tent. With heated sleeping bags. If things get too messy, we can always leave and hide for a while.”
He smiled and nodded. “I am glad ye are hopeful.”
He stood and straightened his coat and we walked together through the castle to Châtellerault’s office. At the door, his eyes twinkled, he held up his pen. “I hae m’blue ink ready”
I laughed. “Good, easier to find.”
“Och aye, and when Châtellerault signs, I sign twice as large as his.”
“Awesome, do that, blue and big enough to be seen from space.”
I left him at the door and returned to archery practice.
Seventy-eight - Hayley
Fraoch was walking up the driveway with a string of fish over his shoulder. I was standing on the porch waiting. Now that he wore a watch, he was like clockwork. Now that he knew how to take James’s boat from the dock out into the intracoastal waterways, he always returned with some fish too. The deep freezer stocked, Zach joked we’d never eat it all. But for Fraoch it was comforting. In a world of everything being totally new, he was fishing for normalcy. Setting out into the waterway in the boat, casting a line into the water. That and riding the horses was the closest he got to familiar.
He waved as he saw me, and as he drew close, said, “I caught a giant iasg mòr, look at him!” He held up a big, long flounder. “And I witnessed a uile-bhèist. He was as long as the boat.”
“You did, you mean a gator? Did you growl at him to scare him away?”
“Nae, we hae come tae an agreement, I winna acknowledge them and they winna eat me.”
“I’m relieved about your agreement. And yum yum, can’t wait for fish.”
“Och aye, we will hae a feast!” He kissed me and we trudged around to the back of the house where the cleaning sink was.
He set up his knives and cutting board. “What hae ye been doin’?”
“I checked in at work. It’s all good. Came back to have some afternoon fun with you, I was thinking we could go to the stables after lunch, take the horses for a ride,” He sliced through the fish and expertly filleted it. “It’s awfully hot today though, maybe nap time, by which I mean sex, in our air conditioned bedroom.“
Fraoch tossed the fish into a Tupperware box, added a bit of water, and sealed the lid.
“I also thought we could go up and have dinner tonight at Joe’s 2nd Street Bistro and after we can hit the Green Turtle. It was, I mean is, one of Magnus’s favorites. I would love to show you. Are you ready for going out in public—”
Quentin called down, “Fraoch, Hayley, check this out!”
“Coming, hold on a second!”
Fraoch put the last of the fish in the deep freezer, and we washed our hands in the sink with lemon to get the fish smell off them. I washed out of solidarity, because Fraoch was still getting used to the idea that hand-washing was necessary. Then we went upstairs.
Quentin was waiting for us, “Shit, y’all take your time?”
Chef Zach said, “We had something fucking crazy to tell you.”
They were at the table again, surrounded by the research.
Emma flattened a magazine in front of me. “This! Check it out! I was taking a nap, flipping through this month’s Smithsonian magazine, and look at this article!”
I read out loud: “The Mysterious case of the Medieval Ballpoint Pen Signatures.”
I screwed my face up. “What?”
She pointed under the headline, “Here! It’s important, read it!”
I read, “Okay, yes, it says...” I read for a moment not understanding why. “What is this, I’m not getting it?”
She huffed. “Fine. To paraphrase: there are a bunch of Scottish documents from the mid-sixteenth century that look as if they were signed by ballpoint pens! Blue ink, Hayley, it wasn’t even invented yet!”
I looked down at the article. “Do you think this is Magnus?”
She pointed at an image. “This is not Magnus’s signature, this is Lord Châtellerault’s signature, but he is clearly using a ballpoint pen. The date is 1552. They have two more samples: Another of Lord Châtellerault’s signature and one of Mary of Guise’s signature. They cannot figure it out because they weren’t even that close. How did they both get ball point pens? Some are suggesting these are forgeries, but that’s not a good explanation. At the time these signatures were important and necessary. They’re just clearly using a ballpoint pen. Look! And historians are all ‘intrigued.’”
“Me too, that date would fit, right? And would Magnus have a ballp
oint pen with him?”
Quentin said, “Hell yeah, he was obsessed.”
“Weird and cool.”
“So since Emma told us this, we’ve been looking for more examples and check this out.” Quentin grabbed a piece of paper from the printer, then said, “Fuck the printer cartridge is blown.” What followed was a couple of moments where Quentin had to replace the printer cartridge while Zach said, “Hold on, wait, wait, he’s changing the cartridge,” which we could clearly see. Then Zach pushed ‘print’ again and the printer went chucka-chucka-chucka until there was a paper sliding into the tray.
Quentin placed it in front of me, jabbing at it with his finger. “There!”
Centered in the middle of the page was a parchment colored square with a very large, confident, and blue signature: Magnus Archibald Caehlin Campbell. Beside it the numbers: 1552
“You found him!” My hands shook. It was like seeing Magnus in real life. “He’s alive. That means Katie’s alive, right?” Quentin shrugged. I said, “It totally means she’s alive. She’s smart. She’s the reason he’s signing like this, the reason they’re alive and sending us a message. I’m sure of it.”
“Yes, and this is in 1552. This is when...?” Zach peered at the screen. “It’s hard as hell to make out what this says...” He peered longer. “All I know is that it’s from 1552, but it says Edinburgh. And this is J. Hamilton, Châtellerault, who also signed in blue ink. He was the regent for Mary Queen of Scots and—”
“Mary Queen of Scots?” My eyes went wide. “What the hell, did Katie meet her?”
Zach flipped a piece of paper over. “I don’t think so, here it says she was young. She’s living in France at this time, and her regent is running the country. For some unexplainable reason, this document has Magnus’s signature on it.”
I grinned. “They’re alive! They’re alive and they’re back there. Now we just need to figure out how to get them home.”
Son and Throne (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 11) Page 28