Morna's Legacy 04 - Love Beyond Measure (5 page)

I understood Cooper’s words immediately upon looking at the man, and the room suddenly seemed to grow quite small. I reached behind to steady myself but found that I groped at nothing but air until Jerry’s knowing hand found mine as he stepped to my side. “Are ye alright, lass?”

I nodded as Jerry led me to a chair next to Cooper. He spoke up on my behalf.

“She’s just a bit tired is all. Verra long trip from America. I think some sleep would do her good.”

“Well, she canna sleep yet. Her inner clock would be totally awry if she were to sleep now. She must at least make it through the day before resting.” Jerry’s wife stepped toward me in greeting, placing her hand on my shoulder, much as Jerry had done. “I’m Morna, I’ll get ye some coffee.”

I said nothing to her as I continued to stare at the man who remained in the doorway. Scars or no, this couldn’t have been the man Cooper believed he’d seen. The attendant had said herself the man wasn’t on our flight. Even if he had been, how could he have beaten us here? We’d been shuttled straight from the airport to the car rental and come straight from the car rental here. Besides, Jerry had said this man had been a guest at the inn for months.

Allowing myself to rationalize the man’s presence and Cooper’s reaction to him as a simple case of mistaken identity, I allowed myself to look him over without such a sense of overwhelming alarm. Much like the stranger Cooper spoke of, I found nothing about this man’s appearance frightening, although intimidating was another matter entirely.

Despite his ridiculous outfit of stark white tennis shoes, socks that went halfway up his calves, black athletic shorts, and a simple white undershirt, he exuded such confident masculinity it made something within my veins hum to life with awareness of him. He filled the width of the doorway with his wide shoulders and was tall enough to have to crouch underneath it. I imagined he stood at least six feet five and, despite being quite lean in stature, I guessed him to weigh a good two hundred and sixty pounds—all muscle.

His eyes were shockingly green, highlighted by specks of gold that seemed to reflect light in a way that made his eyes stand out amongst the mass of red hair that reached his shoulders. His state of dress made little sense to me; there was such a raw manliness to him, a note of pride and refinement to the way he carried himself that I couldn’t imagine him wearing such a laid-back outfit on a day-to-day basis.

Only when I tore my gaze away from his eyes and focused on the scar that ran from the top of his temple on his right side, all the way down to the top of his sock, did I understand the garb. He didn’t bear the scars of an old wound but a new one. They were still fresh—pink and angry in their appearance, still soft and, I supposed, very much still sore.

Cooper’s voice startled me, and I glanced down at the plate Morna placed in front of me with embarrassment. I’d unapologetically been staring the man down, most likely the last thing he needed after whatever horrible thing had happened to him to cause such a wound.

“Hey, mister, didn’t you hear what I said? Did you come here on the same plane? What’s your name?”

I glanced up from my plate with reddened cheeks and watched the man’s reaction to my son closely. He too seemed to have to pull himself away from something. Only then did I realize that he’d been studying me just as closely as I had him.

He coughed into a clenched fist seemingly to find his voice and took a step into the kitchen, pulling himself up to his full height for the first time. Looking at Cooper, he shook his head and smiled. “No, I dinna. Me name is Eoghanan. What shall I call ye, lad?”

Cooper beamed at the oddity of the man’s name. Pushing himself away from the table, he stood and approached the man who towered over him.

“Yo-yu-what? My name is Cooper.”

He stuck his hand out toward the man who took it gladly, allowing Cooper to shake it for far longer than was customary. At least the man seemed to have patience when it came to children. That said something about his character.

The man announced his name again, only a little more slowly, making it sound even more unusual. Cooper couldn’t refrain from giggling.

“I’ve never heard a name like that before. Yo-yun…yo-yun..” Cooper fumbled with the strange syllables before finally throwing his hands up in exasperation. “I give up. How about I just call you E-o? Would that be okay?”

E-o, as my son renamed him, let loose a smile so bright that it seemed to ease some of the tension in the room before his deep laughter made everyone smile in curious wonderment at what he found so funny.

Cooper seemed especially intent on finding out. “What’s so funny? I just gave you a nickname is all. Lots of people have those. Mine is Coop. Mama calls me that a lot. You can call me that if you want to, too. That, or just Cooper, I don’t mind either one.”

Now free from my son’s handshake, Eoghanan moved across the room to fill his own plate, speaking with his back toward us as he did so. “’Tis only that yer ‘nickname’ as ye called it, made me think of someone verra dear. She too has trouble with me name and decided on the same name as ye have, lad. And aye, ye may call me E-o for I know she wouldna mind sharing it with ye.”

With his plate full, he joined us at the table, sitting next to Morna and across from me and Cooper with Jerry rounding out the table by sitting at its head. The table was smaller than what one would find at the average restaurant. As a result, the five of us found ourselves sitting in very close proximity. No matter that most of us were strangers to one another, I found it impossible to behave that way with the familiar way in which we sat, and I unthinkingly blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“The woman who called you by the same name—was she a girlfriend? Or an ex-wife perhaps?” The questions slipped out, and I groaned internally. It was absolutely none of my business. Apparently, lack of sleep had the remarkable ability to loosen my tongue. It no longer seemed safe for me to be in the presence of those I might insult, and decided it time that Cooper and I leave to explore the area for the rest of the day—just as soon as we finished our meal.

With an even deeper blush than before, I raised my eyes to see a look of amusement on the man’s face.

“I doona believe that I know yer name, lass.”

“I…I’m sorry. It’s. I’m Grace.” I sat down my fork and held out a hand in between stuttered words. He took my fingertips into his hand, kissing my knuckles before pulling away and directing his attention back to his food.

“’Tis a pleasure to meet ye, Grace. Aye, the lass is the bonniest of girlfriends. Can one have an ex-wife as ye said? I doona know, but she is no me wife. She is me brother’s.”

“Ah.” The noise made little sense, but neither did his explanation. Either he didn’t understand what a girlfriend was, or he’d just gleefully confessed to sleeping with his sister-in-law. And to my knowledge there were few places left in the world that didn’t acknowledge some sort of spousal separation. Perhaps it was his way of making some sort of joke I didn’t get. I very much hoped he wasn’t a comedian.

Not wishing to delve further into that can of worms, I finished my food as quickly as possible and waited patiently for Cooper to do the same. Once he’d clearly had his fill, I stood scooping up both our plates so that I could rinse them, only stopping at Morna’s insistence.

“If ye know what’s best for ye, lass, ye will leave those dishes be right this instant. No guest of mine will ever clean a dish if I have anything to say about it. Why doona ye go with Jerry, and he’ll help ye carry yer bags to yer room and allow ye some time to settle in?”

Obeying, I left the dishes inside the sink, turning so that I could properly address her. “Thank you, but I think we’ll wait to get our bags if that’s alright? I’d like to go ahead and scope out the lay of the land and decide just what I want to work on photographing tomorrow.”

Morna stood as Cooper hopped down from his seat to make his way over to me. “Aye, o’course. The two of ye are free to do as ye wish.”

“Okay, great. We will be back sometime this afternoon. Thank you for the food. It was delicious.” I reached to rub my fingers through Cooper’s hair as he approached me. “Wasn’t it, Coop? You ready?”

“Yep, but can I ask E-o one question first?”

A scary question coming from someone as inquisitive as Cooper, but I didn’t imagine there was much chance of him asking something as intrusive as I had done. “I don’t mind, but it’s up to him whether or not he answers your question.”

Eoghanan smiled, clearly ready to hear what Cooper meant to ask him. “Ask whatever ye wish, lad. I’ll answer ye.”

“If you didn’t come here on the plane with us, did you fly in on a spaceship? ’Cause I know you’re the same man I saw at the playground and at the airport.” Astonishingly, he didn’t smile or laugh as he asked. He meant it as an entirely serious question.

“What? Cooper, why would you ask him that?” I answered in Eoghanan’s place, wishing to spare him the oncoming conversation.

“Maybe he’s like the little prince in the book, Mom. He flies around to different places like the little prince did to different planets.”

“Oh, I see.” Realization dawned on me as I remembered our flight time story. At least he was making text-to-world connections, regardless of how far-fetched they might be. “Coop, you know that was just a story, right?”

He twisted where he stood, crossing his arms as he looked up at me, disappointed. “Oh man, Mom. I guess that means you’re a real grown-up then. Only a grown-up would say it was just a story. Don’t you remember the problem with grown-ups from the book? Kids see things more clearly.”

This would require a longer conversation than I was willing to have in front of our captive audience. “Often times they do, Coop, but I don’t think your new friend is the same man. We’ll talk about it more in a minute. Let’s get out of everyone’s hair for a bit.”

I took a step toward the doorway. Thankfully, Cooper followed.

“Okay, but it doesn’t matter what you say, Mom. I know he’s the same guy.”

I stood waiting for him in the doorway, but he stopped right as he walked past Eoghanan. Spinning on his heels, Cooper faced him and pointed an accusing finger in Eoghanan’s direction before he spoke once more.

“I don’t know why you’re not agreeing with me, sir. I know who I saw and it was you.” He emphasized the last word and thrust his finger forward for drama. “If you lie and say you weren’t at the park
and
at the airport, I won’t believe you.” Switching his attitude as quickly as one could flip a switch, he spun once more to face Jerry and Morna. “Thanks for the eggs. They were so yummy. See you guys later.”

With that, he spun a final time, marching past me, down the hall, and out the front door of the inn.

“That’s some lad ye have there, Grace.” Jerry chuckled as he spoke.

“Yes, quite.” I glanced down at my watch, drained in every imaginable way as I took off down the hallway after him. It was only eleven a.m.

Apparently immune to any symptoms of jetlag, Cooper’s energy didn’t drag until we finally turned into the inn late that evening, after hours of driving and walking around the Scottish countryside surrounding the oddly placed inn.

Thankfully, I awoke the next morning much more adjusted to the time difference and determined not to be as loose-lipped or grumpy as I’d been the day before.

My resolve lasted for most of the morning but by noon, with too little work completed, I found myself wishing for a daycare that could take Coop off my hands, if only for a few hours. He would’ve hated every minute of it, but unless he wanted me fired, I thought it a form of torture he could handle for an afternoon—not that there was any daycare to subject him to anyway.

“Coop, if you jump up in front of my camera lens while I’m taking a photo one more time, I am going to unleash the tickle monster.”

“Okay…okay. I’ll stop.” He collapsed onto the lawn in front of me, busying himself by picking at blades of grass. While most children would’ve antagonized further at the threat of a good tickle, Cooper hated it, and I knew the threat would stop him.

As if in answer to my silent prayer, Cooper jumped up in exclamation at our two approaching visitors, Jerry and Eoghanan. “Look Mom! Look!”

Placing my camera back in its bag, I waved them over, happy to see anyone who would provide Cooper a moment of distraction.

“We come with strict instructions to see the two of ye properly fed.” Eoghanan lifted the basket he held in his hands, sitting it on the ground as he neared us.

“Oh thank goodness, I’m starving.” Cooper ran toward them, squeezing in between them and grabbing each man’s hand as he bounced excitedly between them.

I shook my head as I moved to greet them, “Starving? I’m sure glad I packed those gummy bears before we left. You’ve just eaten a pound of them.”

Once Jerry and Eoghanan stopped walking, Cooper released their hands and stepped toward me. “I would’ve eaten two pounds if you’d let me.”

“I have no doubt. That’s why I stopped you.” Though thin now, I’d been a chunky kid. I didn’t wish Cooper to repeat history.

“What is a ‘gummy bear’?” Eoghanan’s face twisted with confusion.

I could only hope they called them by a different name in Scotland. Surely, he didn’t truly not know what a gummy bear was.