by Jane Stain
Dall reached out his hand as he hastened to the stairs, and Emily grabbed it. She was willing him to speed them on up and out of the gruesome scene before Eamann changed his mind and started talking to them. Or worse. The castle healer had been jealous over all the fuss about Emily being the one to save Alasdair from his choking fit.
But of course Dall had to stop and clasp healthy forearms with the MacGregor who was being bled by leeches. Of course. The two of them spoke in Gaelic. This time, some of the parts that Emily didn’t understand through context, she got by actually knowing some Gaelic words. She didn’t feel she could respond coherently in their language yet, but hearing it spoken was helping solidify her learning of it.
“Och Sean, did you give as good as you got, anyway?”
“Aye Dall, the other fellow shall not stand on his legs for at least a fortnight.”
“How be Molly and your children?”
“They be fine. Looks like you have a new mouth to feed.”
“Aye, but I do not mind at all.”
The two men laughed.
When Dall and Emily climbed the steps and emerged into the crowded dining hall, the meal hadn’t quite started yet. What with the raucous talk of the battle with the Menzies a few days previous and all the people coming and going from the kitchen, no one noticed the newlyweds. Dall led Emily along the stone wall around the huge plank dining table until they stood behind Alasdair, who sat alone at its head next to Colin’s empty throne-like chair.
Emily was glad not to see Colin, nor any other Campbells. All the plaid in the room was MacGregor plaid, the colors she had on. It wasn’t yet regimented into tartan of a specific pattern. That didn’t happen until Queen Victoria’s day. But the clan had its colors so that members could recognize one another at a distance, especially during raids.
People called out as they noticed the new arrivals. Some smiled at Emily, but others looked uneasy.
“Look, it’s Dall.”
“Hello, Dall.”
“And is that Emily?”
“I think it is. And she’s wearing good highlands clothing this time, the dear.”
“Hello, Emily.”
Emily called out in Gaelic, “Hello.” which made everyone smile big and relax a little.
Alasdair plainly heard all this, of course, but he let the greetings crescendo before he turned around and spoke to her and Dall, in Gaelic this time. “So… you sneaked off with the actors in the middle of the night, Dall.” His words were harsh, but the grin on his face and the twinkle in his eye reassured Emily it would be OK.
Dall changed his grip on Emily from holding hands to hugging her by the waist. “More importantly, I snuck off with Emily here to her people in England—and made her my wife.”
“Oooh.”
All the women who were close enough to hear squealed, and then they flooded the hall with high-pitched shouts to the women who had missed it.
“They’re married.”
“Dall married Emily.”
“Emily’s his missus.”
Alasdair stood, and when that caused everyone to quiet down, he addressed the men. Judging by the looks on their faces, most of them had still been too busy discussing the battle to even have noticed much but that Dall had returned with that pretty girl, whatever her name was.
Still in Gaelic, Alasdair said, “Dall has returned to us from England.” The men cheered. “And he has brought with him his bride.” Alasdair picked up his tankard. “Let us drink to Emily here, the newest MacGregor.”
Everyone raised their tankards in a toast. “The newest MacGregor.”
They all drank heartily, and then everyone got out of their seats and rushed toward the new couple. The men all slapped Dall on the back. Mairi and the other wives all hugged Emily, and she hugged each one back with the one arm that Dall wasn’t holding.
After everyone had looked either the bride or the groom in the eye and acknowledged their union, they all sat down. As they ate their meal, they all eagerly told Emily what it meant to join their clan.
“Your children will be descendants of King Alpin through Prince Gregor.”
“And we MacGregors are constables of Kilchurn Castle here.”
“Aye, your sons will have to fight to gain lands for Cailean Liath’s father, but there be honor in that, you ken.”
That was the one sad note in the day. Emily knew that when Colin (Cailean Liath) inherited the chiefship of Clan Campbell in 1547, he would not only kick the MacGregors out of this castle, but also Colin would begin an oppression so severe that by 1594 the MacGregors would all end up either sold as slaves in the new world or hiding their clan name for fear of their very lives.
But that was tomorrow’s trouble. Emily resolved to enjoy this day. It was one of the best of her life. There wasn’t any cake, and they didn’t get any presents, but Emily loved this wedding reception nonetheless. All the welcoming and love and acceptance brought tears to her eyes. She smiled her sweetest smile at everyone, trying her best to let them know these were happy tears and that she was very glad to be a MacGregor.
The new couple were given their own small room on the third floor of the castle. In August, it was quite comfortable there at night with a breeze coming through the wind opening, but Emily kind of dreaded the winters there. To amused comments, she hauled a bucket with a bit of water up three flights of scaffolding to use as a chamber pot. She soaked her dishtowel in the clean water first, so that she and Dall could wash. All this in order to avoid having to use the small room with its holes in the floor down at the end of the balcony.
Which reminded Emily of the photos she had taken of that small holed room the last time she had visited Kilchurn Castle. She wasn’t surprised to find the pictures missing from her phone. She wouldn’t expect the druids to create an elaborate app that could magically transport people in space and time and spy on their conversations—and then for the druids not be able to erase photos through that app.
Dall and Emily enjoyed a relaxing night there before they headed out on horseback, riding double once more on a two-week journey out into the highlands to see Dall’s family. It was still fun to cling to Dall’s back as he guided the horse, even after a week of marriage.
“It does not get much warmer here, lass. Enjoy the warmth, you ken?”
Emily clung to Dall tighter and hummed in contentment. “Oh, I am.”
Dall gave her a rewarding laugh.
They took the same route as last time: north along the River Strae to see the MacGregor cattle lands and most of the clan, and then east over the hills into Glen Orchy, where the Campbells ranched their cattle along the easiest passage north.
This time, whenever people asked Dall for the news, he introduced Emily as his new bride as the first item. Everyone congratulated them, and some gave them small bits of food or a tankard of ale. Dall’s cousin Orson and his wife didn’t seem at all surprised by the news that Dall and Emily had wed, and Emily suspected they’d known before she had.
At sunset on the third day of their journey, they at last came to the small MacGregor settlement were Dall’s oldest brother was in charge and Dall’s three children lived in the company of their grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
“Da. Da.” Peadar and Peigi ran out and grabbed Dall as they no doubt always did when he came home to see them between deployments. “You are home again very soon, but we do not mind.”
Dall and Emily laughed, and Emily gave each child a candy again.
Dall knelt and gathered his children close to him for hugs. “Peadar, Peigi, I have married Emily. She is now my wife and part of the MacGregor clan, you ken?”
Mouths puckered from the candy inside, they both nodded. Peigi spoke around hers, “Grandma told us that was going to happen,” the candy clicked and clacked against her teeth, “just after you left with those odd men who raised the alarm.”
“Ah,” Dall said, still kneeling and hugging them, “I hope you will welcome Emily. She is part of our family
now. Not your mother, but a woman to be obeyed just like your aunts and Grandma.”
The children smiled at Emily from their father’s arms and nodded yes. Dall stood and put his arm around Emily. Peadar put his arm around Dall, and then Peigi tentatively went to Emily’s side. Emily hugged the little girl to her, and the four of them walked up the hill together. This time, Emily understood the greetings that the other MacGregors who lived on the hill gave them in Gaelic.
“It is well you have come home, Dall and Emily.”
And then the children’s grandma came walking sedately out of the house, leading little Domhnall by the hand. She had a warm smile for Emily, and she stopped and held out her arms.
Tears streaming down her face, Emily rushed to her and spoke to her in Gaelic. She tried her best to be grammatical, but she knew her mother-in-law loved her and would appreciate the gesture even if she messed it up. That gave her the confidence to try. “Thank you so much. For your ring, and for making these clothes for me. Yours were the best wedding gifts I received.”
Dall’s mom smiled at them and held out her arms.
Emily looked at Dall and he smiled and nodded. And then she rushed into his mother’s arms and hugged her as if she were her own mother.
And then his mother took them both by the hand and led them into the house and up the stairs and over into a corner, where she dropped their hands and pulled down a hatch. A freshly built mini staircase came down with the hatch.
Dall hugged his mom and then started up the stairs, reaching back for Emily’s hand.
She took it, went up, and gasped. The attic had been made into a love nest for the two of them. Everything was freshly cleaned and dusted. All of the stored items had been moved to the low areas on the sides so that Dall had room to stand up in the middle, just barely. A new bed stood near the middle of the room, and a new lamp stood on a lampstand by the top of the new staircase. There was an actual chamber pot on the floor nearby, and a large chest of drawers stood against the far wall.
Dall’s mom followed them up there. “Do you like it?” she said in Gaelic with a smile.
Dall hugged his mom again, and Emily joined in, saying, “It’s wonderful. Thank you so much.”
“None of the children are allowed up here,” his mom said, “though we women will be up to dust and clean. It is a place you can keep secrets safe.” She gave Dall a sad but loving look, as if to say, “And I know you have many secrets to keep, Son.” And then she went over and opened two of the drawers. “There is a change of clothes in here for each of you, and something separate to sleep in.”
They hugged her again.
She stroked both of their hair once, and then she raised her chin and put on a mock serious face. “But you must come down and have supper with the family before bed.” Her face cracked and she grinned at them teasingly before she shooed them down the stairs.
After a family supper complete with more hugs and back slaps and toasts for the newlyweds, and an hour playing with Dall’s children, Dall and Emily made their excuses to all their grinning adult relatives and went up to their lovely new attic bedroom.
Emily had her phone with her, of course. She was deathly afraid of misplacing it here in Dall’s time. That would mean having to beg Eamann to send her home when the druid sent Dall to do his oath bound duty to the druids. She would almost rather just remain in the 1500s. She had an idea, though, and she wanted to share it with Dall. She tapped on his shoulder.
Dall turned to her, grabbed her, and threw her on the bed. “Impatient are you, lass?” He smiled and fell in next to her.
Emily couldn’t help giggling, and anyway this bit of business might help hide what she wanted to try. She got her phone out of her boot and put her finger over her lips while she put on a bit of a show by giggling more and saying, “Ooh. That’s the husband I married.”
Dall’s face turned curious, and he nodded, and then he played along by kissing her noisily.
It felt good. Emily had trouble concentrating on powering her phone up and bringing up the Time Management app. When it did come up, she showed Dall the screen so he could see what she was doing.
Figuring the druids’ time travel app was much like a GPS app with the added dimensions of time and transport, Emily wanted to see if she could bookmark their current location. She wanted to be able to come straight here sometimes, rather than always arriving in Eamann’s creepy healer hole at Kilchurn Castle. Dall’s mom had seemed to be suggesting that, even, by saying this was a place they could keep secrets safe.
There it was, the map with their location indicator, and all of the colored buttons surrounding it. Holding her breath, Emily hovered over one of the buttons to see if it would tell her what it did. Yep. Sure enough, it did, but Emily hastily moved away from that button. She didn’t want to edit the map. Who knew what that might do?
After twenty minutes of trial and error and braving some drop down menus, Emily finally found a button that said it would save their current location in memory. After a really long kiss—which Emily wondered if Dall had also given just in case it was their last—Emily pushed that button.
The result was almost a let-down. A little window popped up, saying, “Your current location has been saved as a destination. Please name this destination.” Emily looked at Dall, who shrugged, and then she typed in, “Home.”
Much later, Emily checked to see if she had any other saved destinations. Yep. Apparently, their trailer had been saved as a destination when they traveled from it. That destination was only named for the date they had left, and she changed it to something she would remember better. She did the same for Siobhan’s trailer’s old location. She also named the Kilchurn Castle destination that instead of the date it had been named the last time the two of them left from there.
Dall was still watching over her shoulder, but then he held out his hand for a turn playing with the phone. They were certainly not equipped to travel right at this moment, but she trusted Dall.
She smiled at him and handed it over, snuggling up to him to watch what he would do with this dangerous toy.
Emily woke up the next morning still safe in that new bed in the attic of her in-laws’ highlands house. She was surprised to realize she was disappointed. Being back here in 1540 was more relaxing than being in her own time. Too relaxing. She was only 23. She would relax when she was old. She wanted excitement. Adventure. Besides, she was really curious.
“Dall?”
“Mmm?”
“Are you awake?”
“Nay.”
Emily hit him with her pillow. “Are you sure?”
Dall caught her pillow when it hit him and used it to pull Emily to him. He grabbed her with his whole body. “Aye.”
A long while later, Emily looked at her husband in a way that she hoped told him she had a fun idea. “Let’s try…”
And then she remembered the druids could hear them. She debated with herself for a moment. Did it really matter if the druids found out Emily wanted to experiment with the Time Travel app? Now that they were married and Emily was on staff at the fair, there didn’t seem to be any big secrets kept from Emily. So why did she feel the need to keep secrets from them?
She didn’t know, but something made her point to Dall’s sporran, and they used his tiny spiral notebook and ballpoint pen to discuss it.
She wrote, “Let’s try traveling with the phone instead of our feet, and while we’re at it, let’s travel in time, too.” She could feel her face cracking, she was smiling so big.
Dall wrote, “I do think we should put our clothes on first, lass.” While she giggled about that, he wrote, “And mayhap go down and break our fast.”
Smiling at him, she wrote, “I suppose you’re right.”
So they got dressed and went down to breakfast. And played with Dall’s children. And hugged them a lot. And heard Dall’s brother tell a tale about the biggest Menzies raid the settlement had ever withstood. And walked down the hill because he said, �
��Oh, did you not know there was a faire on this week?”
At this real Scottish renaissance fair, they danced real Scottish dances and played rounders and ate all sorts of uh, good Scottish foods such as haggis, which made Emily blanch, much to Dall’s amusement. There was no jousting. Nor were there any displays of sword fighting, but Dall walked arm in arm with Emily all over, and they talked with the neighbors while examining the crafters’ goods. She traded wax-paper wrapped candies for another dagger, which she sheathed in her other boot when they got home.
And they had another family dinner. And played with Dall’s children. With one thing and another, it was late and they were sleepy again. And the faire was on all week, so this happened again and again.
Finally, it was the night before Dall and Emily were supposed to leave on horseback for Kilchurn Castle, by way of Orem’s ranch.
Emily said, “We can still try using the app, in the morning.”
Dall’s face looked puzzled. “But then would it not be time to leave, the next time we came back here?”
“Why would it be time to leave? We saved this destination two weeks ago.” Emily felt her brow scrunching up and did her best to relax it so she didn’t get wrinkles.
“But then we stayed here, you ken. We cannot come here from the future when we are already here in the present, lass.”
Emily tried to think that through. It did make sense, and Dall’s logic especially impressed her because he hadn’t seen Doctor Who. He must have come up with it all on his own. “Well what good is having a time travel app if we never use it?” She said it out of frustration, and then she realized they had been speaking out loud. She gasped.
“What is it?” Dall’s face was all concerned for her now.
Emily looked at her phone and spoke to it. “Well, now you know that we’re thinking of using the app on our own. If you have any advice for us, then make sure we get it soon. We aren’t going anywhere until after we sleep, but then all bets are off.”