Sneaks (14 page)

I was hungry enough that the thick oatmeal-type breakfast food wasn’t as unappealing as it normally was. The “pattritch” was mostly awful, but fortunately there was enough cinnamon around that I could flavor it up.

Una walked into the kitchen just as I was shoveling the first bite to my mouth. Her face was serious and drawn. She nodded at me and then turned to her workers and handed out stern instructions.

Mac entered the kitchen a few minutes later. He looked extra clean and well-pressed. My heart sped up just seeing him. Between that and the sleep I’d lost thinking about him, I was beginning to think it was unhealthy to be attracted to someone. But I was energized too, as though I would no longer ever need to really sleep again.

“There ye are. I went to yer room to fetch ye.”

“Oh. Sorry,” I said after I swallowed and tried not to blush. I didn’t even know why I was blushing, but I didn’t want to.

 “No matter. Are ye ready to go?” He couldn’t stand still, and he ran the palm of his hand over the side of his kilt. 

I nodded. “How’s Corc?” I asked before scraping the spoon over the bowl and taking the last bite. I wanted to lick the bowl.

“Good. Fine. Still improving this morning.” 

“Good.”

When he smiled, I realized that his eyes were in a constant state of intense inquisition. The intensity reached all the way to my fingertips. I wanted to say, “What?” but I didn’t.

“Are ye ready?” he repeated.

“Yes.”  

“Let’s go,” Mac said.

I followed him out of the kitchen with one more glance at Una who still looked serious.

We walked through the castle and into the front courtyard where a man waited for us with two readied horses.

“We’re riding those?” I said.

“Aye. Do ye recommend that we walk?”

“Yes.”

“Lass, the market isna too far, but it will be easier on horseback.”

I looked at the animals and tried not to cringe.

“I don’t ride. I don’t really know how.”

“How can that be?”

“It’s not easy to explain.”

Mac sighed. “Weel, then we’ll have to ride on the same horse.”

I wanted to protest again. I had no desire to get back on a horse, even if it was with him - maybe especially if it was him. I wondered what being so close to him might do to me if just seeing him made me fluttery and silly. But, he was right; there was no better transportation.

“Come on, Kally. I wilna tie yer hands again,” he said, almost tentatively.

“I’m in a dress,” I said.

“We can work with that.” Mac swung his large body easily onto the horse. “Come here.” He reached an arm down. I grabbed a hold and he pulled me up so that I was in front of him but sitting as though I was on a side-saddle. There was no saddle, though, just a thick blanket. “There, how’s that?”

It was both awful and wonderful at the same time. It was not comfortable, except that Mac was behind me, his chest at my side and his arms around me. He smelled of Una’s all-purpose soap as well as something distinctly masculine. I tried not to sniff deeper.

“I think this might work,” I said after I cleared my throat. 

Mac laughed. “Verra weel. Of we go.”

I thought it was called trotting, but I wasn’t sure. I told myself that either I would have to get used to the bouncing or try to put it out of my mind. At least I wasn’t thinking about my heart rate and blushing cheeks.

 “This is the land of my great-grandfather,” Mac said. “He was the first laird the castle. He died of a horrible disease a long time ago. His son, my grandfather, was a smart man even at the age of thirteen, which is when he became laird. Fortunately, my great-grandmother, his mother, was smarter than the rest of them and she knew how to help him know what to do. We’ve lived through some hard times, and thankfully Ian has been able to get us through our recent ones.”

“It’s good Ian was here then.”

“Aye. He says ye’ve aged weel, Ian has.”

I didn’t know what to say, but I gurgled a noise. Did Mac think I was more like an aunt than a friend? I didn’t like that idea at all.

“Ye don’t look older than me, Kally.”

“Well, I’m older than you are, but only slightly.”

He was silent as the horse took us up toward another deep green hill.

“How can that be, lass?” he finally asked.

I thought a moment. “Mac, there is an explanation for me, why I was here and then left, and why I’m not much older, and why I have such different shoes. I can’t share it with you right now, but I might able to at some point.”

“When?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why not?”

“It wouldn’t . . . well, because I don’t know exactly.” I wished I hadn’t started down this path.

“Why not?”

“Because!”

He blew air out of his nose just like I’d seen the horses do. “Fine. Tell me as soon as ye think it will make sense.”

“I will. I promise.”

“Ah, a promise.”

“Yes. When. I. Think. The. Time. Is. Right.”

“A promise is important to me, Kally.”

“Me too. I don’t make many of them.”

 “Good.”

Would I ever be able to explain my travels through time?

“Will ye disappear again?” Mac asked.

 “Oh. Well.” I would leave again, I was certain. “Mac, if I do disappear without telling someone, know it was against my will. If I leave on my own, cross my heart that I will tell someone first.”

“No, not someone.”

“What?”

“Ye will tell me.”

“I will?”

”Aye.”

“Is that an order?”

“I dinna think ye’re the kind of girl who takes orders, Mistress Kally, so I suppose I’ll say ‘if ye please.’”

“Okay, I’ll tell you.”

“Thank ye.”

We were silent as Mac worked to maneuver the horse over rocky land and around a green cliff. I liked this nicer version of him better than the other one.

“Over that direction is where ye came from.” He pointed. “We’re going this way today. I hope to find some of the horses that got away yesterday, so keep yer eyes open.”

I doubted I could tell one horse from another but I said, “Okay.”

“And there,” he pointed, “is the market.”

It wasn’t far away but we’d have to travel down the other side of the hill we’d climbed.

“Are we going to stop?” I wanted off the horse, even for a minute or two. 

“Aye.” Mac steered the horse down the hill and stopped right outside the market. He helped me down and I tried not to look too ridiculous as tried to get the feeling back to my lower body parts.

There were lots of people walking around the small village that looked to be straight out of an old storybook. There were straw huts and a number of carts in two lines, keeping a wide aisle in between. From these, people sold food, clothing or herbs.

“Is this where Una gets the vegetables?” I asked.

“Some. Many things are delivered to the castle. But I know she insists on coming here for eggs. The castle has never been able to produce good hens.”

Mac picked up two pears and handed one to me. He pulled coins out from a pouch on his kilt and handed them to the man tending the fruit cart. The man, though his teeth were horrible, had a happy face and very blonde, curly hair.

“Thank ye, my lord,” he said to Mac.

Everyone smiled at us as we walked by and looked at their items.

I didn’t know if they really liked Mac and his family or if they felt like they had to be friendly. Did being a member of the laird’s family make him intimidating?

“Mac, do you know where and how I found you?” I asked as we looked at a cart full of feathers.

“Aye. I had been taken from my mother’s death bed and left in the woods.”

“Why would someone have done that?”

He shrugged. “Dunno, lass. Used to drive Da crazy. He wanted his due vengeance.”

“But he never got it?”

“No. He still doesn’t ken who took me.”

The market was small, filled with the necessities of the day, but the final table went beyond needs, to wants. The vendor sold jewelry, most of it made of rope and twine strung through some sort of metal piece. There were bracelets and necklaces, really pretty stuff even though it was primitive.

The vendor was an old woman with long gray hair that fell down over small shoulders and to her lower back. Every inch of her face was wrinkled. 

I glanced at the table of items. Back home, I wouldn’t have been allowed to own any of the jewelry. I’d spent the last year hiding the globe pendant from everyone, but even in the black market there wouldn’t be a table with jewelry for sale. Why sell it if wearers had to hide it? I’d been angry before about life in my time - all the restrictions, the laws, no real choices. Seeing the table full of jewelry made me angry again. I suddenly hated the thought of restrictions. Women might not have equality in 18th century Scotland, but at least they could wear whatever jewelry they wanted to wear.

Pulling me from my thoughts, the old woman gasped and put her fingers to her neck.

“What is it?” Mac asked.

“Yer pendant. It is beautiful.” She pointed at my neck.

“Thanks.”

“I ne’r seen one like it,” she said. “Trade ye something for it?”

“No. It means . . . I want to keep it.”

“Are ye certain? I would trade ye many things.”

“No.” I put my hand over the pendant. 

“Aye, I supposed ye wouldna. Lad, ye ought to buy something for the lass.” she said.