“Thank you, sweetie.”
“When are you coming home?”
“Depends on when you’re giving birth.”
“My due date is October tenth.”
“Then mine is October twentieth.” She grinned.
Magnus laughed.
She said to Magnus, “Say hi to the bairn for me, Mags. Tell her that Auntie Hayley will come see her when she has something interesting to say.”
Magnus said to Quentin, “Find out all ye can about the men gatherin’, report back.”
“I will, Boss, back next Sunday.” Then he did some lunges and waved the hem of his kilt around. “It feels good to be back in the ol’ skirt.” He did a perfect plié. Beaty giggled.
He put his sword on his back, checked his dirk at his waist, tightened the gun holstered across his chest under a fold of his great kilt. Then he smiled. “Alright Hayley, let’s go visit the dark ages with our bags full of modern medicine and food. Because we are modern people who refuse to starve.”
“Chocolate is the only thing that makes this acceptable. And guess what? It has magnesium, I’m cleared by Emma to eat as much as I want.” She added, “Fraoch makes it worthwhile too.”
“Have fun!” I said. They each had their own vessel, but they used one, set for the week after Hayley had left.
We hustled for the car just as their storm rose.
Twenty-four - Magnus
Kaitlyn and I went again tae the class on birthin’ the bairn. We were in the room with five other couples and our teacher was talkin’ us through some of the possibilities. She told us that tae keep our wives and the bairn safe we would need tae ken the phone numbers and be ready tae make a call. She said that our job would be easy, simply tae drive our wives tae the hospital when the time came. And tae fill out the paperwork and tae be an ‘advocate’. This was what she called tellin’ the doctors what our wives needed durin’ the labor. Kaitlyn took verra many notes and smiled and nodded durin’ the discussion. The other women did the same.
The men in our group added a phone number tae their phones when asked.
The teacher gave me a look, but Kaitlyn pulled her phone from her pocket and quickly said, “I’m adding it here, he never has a phone on him. It’s just his way.”
The teacher stressed how important our work would be arrivin’ at the hospital at the correct time. Keepin’ track of the ‘rushes.’ Helpin’ our wives.
On our way home Kaitlyn asked, “You’re being quiet?”
“I have a great deal on m’mind.”
“That’s how you get after these classes, I mean, it’s normal to, it’s freaky — the unknown. And you know what’s going to happen in our case?”
“I daena ken.” I watched the trees slide by the window as she drove. I added, “Can ye slow just a bit?”
“Of course.” She added, “I’ll make all the notes, the lists, my phone has the important numbers. Emma will make any phone calls. Quentin will drive. We have a staff, Magnus. That’s what they’re for.”
“I hae just sent Quentin away, he winna be here.”
“He will be. I’m not due for a couple of weeks. It will be fine.” I pulled our car up to the gate and pushed my code to get in.
We ate dinner with Zach and Emma and Beaty. She held the pig on her lap and it grunted throughout the meal. Ben and Archie had eaten an early dinner and were now playin’ while we ate. After dinner Beaty said, “I am goin’ tae m’house tae put Mookie tae bed, he daena like tae sleep without some singing, but...” Her voice trailed off.
Kaitlyn said, “Well that sounds nice, doesn’t it everyone?”
Beaty pouted. “The house is verra quiet. I daena like it.”
Kaitlyn said, “Of course, I completely understand. You can move into Hayley’s room while Quentin’s away.”
“Tis an imposition on ye King Magnus?”
I shook my head, “Nae,” then I joked, “but Hayley will be imposed upon tae find a pig has been sleepin’ in her rooms.”
Twenty-five - Kaitlyn
Beaty and Zach went to Beaty’s house to bring over her bedding and Mookie’s pillows.
Magnus went out to take a turn as a watchman while I helped Archie dress in his pajamas. They were covered in roaring lions, which he thought was cool. I read him a book and put him to bed in the room he shared with Ben. I loved this routine. He had been with me now for almost three months, a long time in his short life.
At first he had been wary, sizing me up. Once he came up with a game where he hit me with a stuffed animal and then laughed and did it again and laughed and did it again and again, so that it crossed over into an angry hitting, and confusion — he had an anger inside that he didn’t know what to do with. So I let him hit me with that stuffed animal a few times, out of what was the necessity of it all, the bubbling up of being abandoned by his mother, and then I turned to him with the saddest face and he dropped the animal, “Kay-be okay?”
I asked, “Archie okay?”
He burst into tears and climbed into my lap. His two fingers in his mouth, his other hand entwined in my hair. This was a few days into our relationship and after that, day by day, he grew to trust me. I proved that I wasn’t going to leave. I wasn’t going to pull away.
I was Kaitlyn, stalwart and loyal, and like I had promised him as a baby, I would always be in his corner. I was thinking about that as I pulled up his little roaring lion pants and pulling down the shirt that matched with a big lion on the front. “Ly-o.” He said.
I kissed his forehead and he climbed into his bed. And I sat beside the bed and let him entwine his fingers through my hair. Every night he had the same routine. He put his fingers in his mouth but pulled them out, wet, because he had forgotten to ask, “Kay-be in the morn?”
“Yes, I’ll see you in the morning.”
He put his fingers back in his mouth, and it would take about four minutes for his eyes to flutter and then for him to fall asleep.
It made sense, he was an energy machine of activity during the day.
As I sat there in the dark I thought about being still and firm and loyal for Archie and it washed over me, things I needed to say.
Twenty-six - Magnus
She met me in the hallway and said, “Come to our room.”
I had been up on the roof walk, watchin’ over the property. It was a night of overcast skies, a harbinger of the hurricane that was now over the Atlantic ocean, far off, but worryin’ us with its direction. I had been watchin’ the storm on the radar with Chef Zach and wishin’ I could as effectively track our own time-travelin’ storms, the vessels that were coming and going.
Though it had been long days since it had been necessary. Nae danger, only peace for a time.
So when I saw Kaitlyn in the hallway, I was fresh from the night breeze, and thinking on our future as one full of peace and prosperity, twas a nice feelin’ tae have.
She led me down the hall, the bairn makin’ her arse verra full and—
Without turnin’ her head she asked, “Are you thinking about my ass?”
I laughed. “Och, ye ken m’mind. I was thinking on yer arse and how it might be nice tae hold it in m’hands. It has been since yesterday.”
She teased, “So long!”
We entered our room. “Now I want you to sit right here, in the middle of the carpet.”
“How?”
“However you are most comfortable.”
I got down on my knees.
“That’s comfortable for you?”
“Tis the prayin’ tae God position, comfortable or nae, I can do it for a long time... What are ye about?”
She lit the candle by our bed and turned all the lights off. She opened the doors along the bedroom wall so that the night air drifted intae our room.
“I wanted to talk to you about something....” She let her hair down and unbuttoned her large over-shirt so she was wearin’ nae thing but her clothes for our yoga class.
“Tis a risk tae talk tae me about somet
hin’ when ye daena have on clothes, I daena ken if I can hear ye.”
She laughed and then sighed. “I have on clothes, dear husband. You will hear me fine as long as you concentrate. This is important.” She stood still in front of me. Her bare feet planted in the thick rug.
She looked down at me. “Hi.”
I reached tae pull her hips closer.
She shook her head. “Sit on your heels please and put your hands on your knees. Be comfortable. Now close your eyes so I can say something to you.”
“Tis a bad thing ye are telling me?”
“No, it’s good.”
I closed m’eyes. “Promise?”
“I don’t lie, as you know, and I won’t start now. I’ve been thinking about you. I think you have been nervous about the birth, my love, and that is completely normal. It’s fine. But I wanted to talk to you about it. About what is really going to happen. Okay?”
I nodded.
“I am Kaitlyn Campbell. I am a bad ass, a terrible arse, a kick-butt woman. Have you ever known me to say I was going to do something that I didn’t accomplish? Ever?”
“Nae, except one.”
Her voice was soft. “Yes, our baby.” She ran her fingers down the side of my face. Trailed her fingers down the edge of m’ear. “You have many scars my love from our years together, but you have some scars inside that we can’t see, but they are there...”
“Ye hae them too.”
She said, “I do, on my heart, but also, I have a baby growing there, healing me from the inside, making me stronger and braver. You will meet the baby and then the baby will make you stronger and braver too.”
I joked, “I am plenty strong and brave enough.”
She said, “Very funny. And true. But you know what I mean.”
“Aye, I do.”
“So what do you think is going to happen?”
“Someone will hurt ye and I canna draw m’sword against him.”
“True, you can’t, plus you won’t have a sword so it won’t even be an issue. This is not your battle to wage, this is mine... right?”
“Aye.”
“And I’m a Campbell wife, sister of Lizbeth, daughter-in-law of Mairead, lover of King Magnus the First. I can do this. That doesn’t mean I’m not nervous, I get nervous too, but now I know what’s going to happen.” She lifted m’chin. “You can open your eyes.”
She said, “I’m going to begin to feel the ‘rushes’ as our teacher called it and I’m going to tell you that the baby is coming. That’s the first thing.” She stroked the hair from my forehead. “Then I’m going to yell, ‘Cruachan!’ like a good Campbell wife—”
I moaned happily. “I love it when ye say it.”
“Cruachan!” I whispered. “And I’m going to ride into battle.”
“I winna ken how tae protect ye.”
“You don’t have to, what you have to do is this...” She put her hands on my shoulders and leaned on me, bowing her cheek to the top of my head. “I need you to go quiet and still like the mountain and just be with me. Let me do the battle. You just be my mountain of strength.” She stepped over my knees and reclined against m’back. “You might be my chair,” she sat there for a long time, her full weight on me. Then she raised up and draped her arms over my shoulders. “You might be my bed, but you don’t need to do anything more than this, waiting, while I do the work.” She slowly raised up and climbed around me to my front. Keeping her mouth near my ear she said, “Can you do that? Be the mountain, my love?”
I nodded. Then she crouched across m’knees. Her arms around my neck and her forehead against my chest, she waited there. “Just like this.” She slowly slid up my knees and wrapped her legs around me “Can you be my mountain?”
I growled, “Aye.”
“Good,” she whispered into my ear. “Cruachan.” Her arms were stretched long around me, grasping, but then with a laugh she let go and fell back on her arms. She wailed, “My belly is too big! That was supposed to be an epic moment where I blew your mind with my sexiness and then seduced you right here on the floor but my belly was too big!”
I laughed, growled, scooped her up, and tried to stand with her, but we collapsed back to the carpet. “Magnus Campbell, did you just drop me?”
I laughed, “M’foot went tae sleep, I canna stand.” I banged my foot against the floor, then rolled tae m’back. “Och, the pains are shootin’ up m’leg.”
She giggled.
“M’plight is funny tae ye, lassie? Ye are laughin’ at the mountain?” I grabbed her around the waist laughing and rolled her over so she was astride me.
She said, “My belly is too big to kiss you. Either my hips can touch you or my lips, I have to choose.”
“Ye could take turns.” I put my hands behind my head and gave m’foot one more kick trying to get the blood flow tae it.
“So what you’re saying is I could sit like this,” she wiggled her hips on me, “or I could do like a — downward dog.” She raised her hips up and leaned down and kissed me. “And then I could sit back down, like this, and then raise up like that and kiss you again, and it’s like you’re a seesaw,” she sat back down. “And hello, you’re happy to have me back.” She grinned widely.
I bounced m’hips causin’ her tae squeal.
“Okay, Buck-o, that there was a promise.” She pulled her shirt off, then leaned over to kiss me while stripping her pants down off her legs.
I said, “Our yoga instructor would be verra pleased with ye.”
“That kissing downward dog with the one-handed pant removal? Definitely. Truth told it’s the whole reason to take yoga.”
She sat down again and pushed my shirt up and off. Then ran her hands across my chest and down my stomach and then she unbuckled m’kilt and pushed it down my legs. Twas quite acrobatic tae see her accomplish it all. Then she settled on top of me, drawin’ me in, weighing me down, coverin’, soothin’ me with her caresses and soft breaths in my ear.
“Do you feel better?” She asked, rockin’ up and down on me. One hand clutchin’ my hair, her other between us, caressing and stroking and...
“Aye.” I said, and twas true.
She kissed me, sweetly, and then rose up above me and lost her head in a wild rhythm and moan. Twas a verra nice sight above me, Kaitlyn, blindin’ me with her brightness and strength, explainin’ the world tae me again, guiding me, mo reul-iuil, ridin’ me through our worries.
She collapsed down on me and then rolled to my side and we lay sprawled on the carpet. “That was awesome.”
“Twas, and necessary.”
“You do get all up in your head sometimes, it’s good to fuck you, so you can relax.”
I chuckled. “Tis the way with me then? I am so simple, there is only tae fuck me tae soothe me?”
She smiled widely. “Aye, ye are a verra good husband,” she said in a perfect Scottish brogue. “I like ye verra much, Master Magnus, yer cannon is large, but ye are still easy tae soothe.”
I rolled tae my side and leaned on an arm and pulled her thigh up tae my hip. “I like ye as well, mo reul-iuil.”
“And you aren’t nervous anymore?”
I said, “Nae, but also I winna tell ye if I were. Are ye nervous?”
“Nope. But I wouldn’t tell you if I was either. From now on it’s nothing but hope and excitement until the birth. I have my birth plan printed, in the folder by the door. We’re ready... only a couple of weeks left to go.
Twenty-seven - Kaitlyn
In hindsight this is probably why Magnus should have been more surprised about my emotions the following night, because it was my turn to freak out.
I couldn’t sleep because the baby was kicking wildly and there were these Braxton Hicks contractions happening. Everyone told me they were fine, but they made it hard to sleep. So I climbed out of bed to sit by myself in the living room with a book about having babies open in my lap and I had been there for a while before Magnus came to check on me.
“Ye okay, m
o reul-iuil?”
“No, I mean yes — but did you know that if we make it, if the baby is born and everything, against all odds, is okay—”
“The physician said ye are doin’ verra well, he said ye are—”
“We don’t know, we never know.”
“Och, I ken the truth of it. We will meet the baby, or else why have hundreds of years of medicine and science tae improve on it? For what purpose than tae keep ye safe, tae bring the bairn tae safety?”
“Yeah, but even if it all goes well, then we, you and I, will need to bathe the baby — did you know that? And look at this page, Magnus, see all this stuff? I’m going down the list and there are things I don’t understand. What’s this thing?” I pointed at a rubber ball squeegeeing thing. “I mean, I’ve seen Emma use it, but it was like I just saw her do it... I didn’t pay attention to it.” Without waiting for an answer I let the book close and slide to the seat beside me. “That’s the problem with me, the whole problem, I never pay attention to these details. My baby’s life is on the line. Her life, Magnus, and I don’t understand why I have to have plenty of cotton balls.” I looked directly at him. “What if I get shampoo in her eyes, Magnus? I might. I might not know how to do any of this at all.”
“Och, ye are feeling it.” He moved the book away, sat down beside me on the couch, and lifted his arm for me to climb under.
“I am.” I curled up against him. “What if I’m not good enough? I’m not Emma, she’s perfect. She was made for being a mom. I never wanted to be a mom until I met you. I haven’t been practicing. When Emma was playing house I was pretending to be a famous New York City ballerina. I should have been practicing. What if I’m not good enough and she loves Emma more than me? I mean, I wouldn’t blame her, not really, Emma deserves the love and the baby deserves to be loved by someone who is good at this and—”
Magnus ran his hand down my head, stroking back my hair. He softly said, “Wheesht.”
Our Shared Horizon (Kaitlyn and the Highlander Book 10) Page 12