Sneaks (21 page)

I crawled out of the bed, stretched and walked over to the chair across from him.

“You carve?”

“Och. Dunno,” he shrugged.

He had carved about ten different horses out of small pieces of wood. They couldn’t be more than a couple inches high, but I could see strands of mane, leg muscles and even which direction their eyes were looking.

“These are amazing.”

“It’s too bad ye dinna like horses.”

“I like these horses.” I grabbed one that was reared up but balanced perfectly when I set it on the table.

“They’re yers then.”

“I can’t take them. They’re amazing, though.”

“Take that one, then. I’m glad ye like it.”

“I love it. Thank you.”

“Ye’re welcome,” he smiled.

A knock on the door brought us back to reality.

“Mac, is Kally with ye?” the laird’s said from the other side.

We had some explaining to do. 

*****

No one bought into the idea of Mac and me staying in the same room. That is, unless we were married. I stuck by my guns about wanting to be courted and neither of us told the others about my travels through time. We thought we might someday, but I figured they might send me away if they thought I made it up.

Brian and Ian Duncan wanted us to get married as quickly as possible, but I knew their motives were purely business. They wanted Mac to be married so he couldn’t marry someone else. It was the best possible thing to tell Ivar Lennox. I still wasn’t swayed. I knew it was smart to give it just a little more time. 

And then suddenly, the weeks passed more quickly than I had ever experienced. Things became routine and normal. I worked on clocks and allowed Mac to court me in the most regal ways possible. He was romantic and a total gentleman, until one night.

Just as I’d about drifted off to sleep, I felt someone join me in my bed. My eyes sprung open and I sat up quickly.

“I’m sorry, lass. It’s just me.” Mac’s eyes twinkled off the moonlight coming in through the window.

“Mac. What are you doing?”

“I just want to talk to ye. No one will find us.” He circled his arm around my waist and pulled me back down to the bed.

“I don’t think this is such a good idea.”

“I want ye close for what I have to tell ye.”

“Sounds serious.”

“Aye.” I curled my back to Mac’s chest. He wrapped his arm over me and sighed deeply. “Ye feel wonderful, though.”

“Mac.”

He laughed. “I ken, I ken.”

“What do you have to tell me?”

“Something’s happened.”

“What?”

“I have to go away for a short time.”

“Go away?” I tried to sit up again, but his arm tightened and I stayed in place. “Where?”

“Not far. My father has work for me to do – but I have to visit others to take care of the task.”

“I see. Do you have to collect money?” I remembered the first time I met Corc.

“That’s not my job. I have to help some people with a cow.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

“Of course ye dinna understand what I mean. I have to take a cow out to people who lost theirs. They’ll be hungry through the winter if they no have the milk to drink or to make their cheese.”

Of course. It was both as simple and as complicated at that. Life here was very dependant on livestock. I’d figured that out.

“That’s nice of you.”

“It’s nothing. It is my job to do.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“Just two days. But there’s more.”

“Uh-oh.”

“I’ll be gone for the two days. But when I return, my da . . . Ian . . . I hope ye’ll . . .”

“What?”

“We need to get married, lass. If ye’ll consider having me now. I ken I haven’t courted ye for as long as ye’d like, but Da and Ian are starting to get impatient and Lennox is pressuring us all. This is my proposal, and I ken that it isna perfect. But I love ye completely. Lass?”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Lass, I need to ken. Do ye want to marry me?”

I turned over and wrapped myself around him. I’d known he was the one, and I’d stalled long enough. I’d given myself time to think and I knew that I could either stay and marry him soon or go home to my mother. I’d been torn, but when it came down to it, the thought of leaving Mac tore me apart more than the thought of never seeing my mother again. It was time. “Yes, Mac, I want to marry you.”

“Good.” He laughed lightly. “I ken ye’d come to yer senses.”

“Mac,” I loosened my vice-grip on him. “How do I plan a wedding in two days?”

“Una will take care of everything.” 

And she did.

*****

My life in 2185 had become unreal, more like a dream than a life. I’d pushed everything from that time and place to somewhere else in my consciousness, somewhere that was behind a wall; fuzzy and incomplete.

Even though I’d made my decision, an image of my mom, clear and not fuzzy at all, kept finding its way to the front of my mind, especially as I prepared for my wedding – something that was accomplished with an appointment with the Division of Marriage in my time. But, true to my grandmother’s stories, this wedding would have a white dress, music, flowers and an aisle to walk down.

And I wanted my mother to see it, see me.

It was an impossible wish but thoughts of her were a part of every flower I looked at, every moment of dress fitting, every ribbon I dropped on the floor.

I also couldn’t deny a sense of dread that hung with me too. I chalked it up to missing my mother, but I couldn’t shake it. Maybe I was just nervous, but I didn’t think so. Something stuck in my gut and made me feel afraid.

Mac was supposed to be back the day before the wedding, so when he didn’t show up when he was supposed to, the sense of foreboding grew into full-on fear. Had something happened to him? Was I sensing that he was hurt, or worse?  

As the day turned into night, I was beside myself, but I was the only one. Everyone told me that the sort of excursion that Mac was on frequently took longer than expected. I waited for him in the courtyard.

Surprisingly, it was Maisie who brought me a piece of burlap to rest on.

“Kally, I have something I must tell ye,” she said, her eyes still avoiding mine.

Those were the most words she’d ever said to me.

“What?”

“I’ve been following ye. I’ve been spying on ye.”

“You? Why?”

“I was afraid my Ian would still love ye, but I ken that isna true – well, maybe it’s true, but he loves me and his bairns more. I wanted to make sure ye stayed away from him.”

“I see.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I hope you know better now.”

“I see how much ye and Mac love each other. I’m sorry.”

“I have a question, Maisie.”

 “Aye?”

“Was it you who attacked me sixteen years ago, the last time I was here?”

The scrunch in her forehead and the surprise in her eyes seemed genuine.

“No, Kally, never. I would never have hurt ye. I just wanted Ian to love me.”

“He does.”

“Aye, but he did love ye, ye canna deny it. I wouldna hurt ye, though. Never.” She stood and hurried away. I’d have to work on my relationship with her.

I just wanted Mac to get home, but I was glad Maisie had found the courage to talk to me – glad and a little freaked out. Learning who had been following me was like adding the last piece to a puzzle. Once a puzzle is complete, aren’t you supposed to move on to the next one or start the first one over? There was something wrong, somewhere. I just didn’t know where.

I spread out the burlap and waited. Surprising even myself, I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, someone was pulling at my sleeve.

“Kally, wake up, lass. I’m home.” Mac’s voice brought me directly out of my sleep and straight into the air. I wrapped my arms around him and let him lift me off the ground.

“Ah, now that’s a welcome,” he purred in my ear.

“I really missed you.” I didn’t mention that my imagination had made me worried that he’d been eaten by dragons, or wolves or whatever other creatures roamed around 18th century Scotland.

“I can tell.”

He put my feet down on the ground and kissed me lightly.

“I think you can do better than that.” I tightened my grip.

Mac cleared his throat. “We have company.” He pointed to his left with his head. The front courtyard danced in shadows created by torches placed here and there, some stuck into the ground and some hung on the outside walls. I looked over and at first only saw a smaller, darkly shadowed figure. But the figure soon moved forward and I made out exactly who it was.

“Berna? Berna. How are you?” I put my hand on her arm.

She looked up at me with question and confusion but didn’t say anything.

“I’d sent someone out to check on her some time ago, but I thought I should make sure she was well. I found her at her cabin. I dinna think she’s eaten much in some time. I fed her what little I had left and then she asked about ye. She begged me to bring her to ye,” Mac said.

“Really? Why, Berna?”

She peered from under a scarf that covered her head, and then she looked at Mac and back to me, shaking her head ever so slightly.

“Oh. You don’t want to speak in front of Mac?”

“Aye,” she said quietly

“Uhm.”

“Lass, ye should talk to the old woman, first. She kens about our plans and she wants to talk to ye before we get married.”

No one else was around, making me think it was late, but I didn’t check the time as I helped her to the big front room and sat her gently on a chair. The lantern light inside was better than outside and when she took her scarf off, I could see the terrible shape she was in. There was little meat on her bones and her shriveled face was pale and pinched in disturbing folds. 

“Can you get her some food or something?” I said to Mac as I guided Berna to two facing small couches.

“Aye, of course.”

“I’ll be fine if ye could just get me some water and maybe some soup.” Berna’s voice didn’t sound as weak as she looked.

“Talk to her, Kally.” Mac left the room.

“What do you need to tell me?” 

 “Ye need to go home, lass.”

“Excuse me?”

“Tonight, this night, ye need to go home.”

“I am home, Berna.” Tears blurred my eyes. The sense of dread was turning into something real and I didn’t want to face it.

“Yer mother is ill, lass. She needs ye.”

 My gut bottomed out and my breathing became shallow. My mother was ill?

“What’s wrong with her?” I asked weakly.

Berna shrugged one shoulder. “I dinna ken for sure. But ye need to see her.”

 “Kally, what is it?” Mac ran into the room.

I looked at him, the complete horror of the moment tugging my features in a thousand different directions.

“Ye screamed. What is it?” Mac demanded.

I didn’t know I’d screamed, but I wasn’t surprised.

“Mac,” I said. My eyes were blurry and my head was beginning to hurt.

He hurried to me. “What did ye say to her?” he asked Berna.

Berna remained silent. 

“She said that I need to go home. Go back to my mother, that my mother is sick,” I said numbly.

“I dinna understand. Ye need to go back to . . . yer time, yer mother?”

“Yes, that’s what she said.” I nodded toward Berna.

“What? How does she ken? What does she ken anyway?”

“I don’t know.”

“Berna, tell us what ye ken. Ye ken Kally is from another time?”

She nodded.

“How do ye ken about her mother?”

Berna looked at me.

“I told him everything, Berna,” I said.

Her eyes opened wide for a moment but then her entire body relaxed. “Aye, I suppose I ken ye would.”

She rocked her small body for two beats and sighed heavily. “I canna tell ye much. I ken about traveling through time. I ken about the pendants,” she nodded at my throat, “and I ken yer mother is ill, but that’s all. If ye dinna go home now, ye might miss yer chance to say goodbye. It is yer choice, though.”

“That’s not much of a choice,” I said.  

Berna shrugged.

“If I go home now, will I come back on my next birthday?”

“I dinna ken.” 

“Will sixteen years pass here to one of mine?”

“I dinna ken.”

“Berna, you seem to know very little. Surely, you don’t know anything about my mother.” I wanted to make sense of what was happening, and suddenly it felt like I was grasping at vapors.