Sneaks (18 page)

Thankfully, he smiled. “Ye have nothing to fash yerself about, lass. Ye will always have a spot in my heart, but I love my wife verra much. Ye seem verra young to me now, but I smile at seeing ye. Ye are a memory of my heart.”

“I suppose it’s good to forever be a memory of someone’s heart.”

“Aye.”

“Mac told me how you took care of the castle and the land when your father … anyway, it must have been a huge responsibility.”

“Sometimes. But mostly, it was my job to do. I could have done it better at times. But I am still learning and the walls are still standing. And my father is improving. Ye are some sort of good luck charm, Kally. I dinna understand why or how ye are here, or why it was only a year for ye, but I guess I just dinna care. Yer presence is like extra smiles. Ye’ll always be welcome.”

“Thank you.”

“I guess that makes me wonder if ye’re going to leave again.”

“Not on purpose. Not for awhile at least.” My mom’s face flashed through my mind again. This time her face was followed by a bunch of others too: Mac’s, the laird, Una, Ian himself. . .

“Good. Ah, and here are the wee ones now,” Ian said as he stood and waited for two miniature versions of himself to tackle him.

They ran to him as though he was their hero, just as it should be.

“There ye are, my bairns. Meet a friend, bairns. This is Mistress Kally. Kally, my daughter Bethia and my son Donnan. I guess ye’ll not have to wait until later to meet them.”

They both looked just like their red-headed father, though Bethia’s features were most definitely feminine. She was beautiful and Donnan was adorable.

“Hello,” I said.

“Hello,” they both said with wide eyes.

“Hello, love,” Ian said to Maisie as she joined us all.

Maisie nodded politely.

“Maisie, Ian, your children are adorable,” I said.

“Thank ye,” Maisie said quietly. “Ian, they’re here.”

“Oh, of course. I’ll be right in. I was just about to let Kally know what was happening this morning. Would ye mind taking the bairns in?”

She nodded politely again before she left with children I’d barely been able to talk to.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Sit again, please.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Weel, it might be upsetting if ye were surprised.”

“Tell me.”

“The castle ye traveled by yesterday?”

“Ivar Lennox.”

“Aye. Weel, they have come to call upon my father this morning.”

“Lennox himself?”

“And his son. And …”

“And?”

“His daughter, who …”

“Who was supposed to marry Mac.”

“Aye, the wedding is now scheduled for next month, but Mac has been fighting it.”

“The wedding is still scheduled?” My stomach fell.

Ian’s eyes were wide. “Oh my. I’m sorry. What did Mac say?”

“He said that he had already refused.”

“Weel, in a way he had, but he no has say over that, I’m afraid. That’s up to our da.”

I’m sure the blood had drained out of my face.

“They saw ye yesterday with Mac and sent a messenger over late last night saying they’d be here this morning. They’re right on time. But ye needna fash yerself, my father will take care of it.”

“What does that mean?” I said weakly.

“He will put off the wedding.”

“Not cancel it?”

Ian sighed. “I suppose that’s a possibility, but Kally, ye’ve not known Mac and he hasna known ye for very long at all. Arrangements have been long made. And besides, what if ye have to leave?”

“I see.”

“So soon, ye care for him verra much?”

I swallowed audibly. “Yes, I do. I don’t understand it, but I do.” I did and I didn’t know how to lie about it.

“And I care for ye, Kally,” Mac said from the doorway.

I didn’t know how long he’d been listening but his face was tight with anger, his long hair pulled back in a messy braid.

Ian sighed. “I believe we will all work through this. I’ll leave the two of ye alone, but I want ye to come in and join us in a moment, Mac.” Ian stood and touched my shoulder lightly. He forced a smile and then turned and passed his much larger and younger brother. They mumbled words to each other but I couldn’t make them out.

“Kally,” Mac said. He seemed afraid to come toward me. “I dinna understand what I feel, but I canna ignore it. Ye said you care for me verra much. Were ye telling the truth?”

“Yes.”

He walked toward me then, his long legs closing the space with only three steps. He sat on the bench and tentatively took my hand.

We sat there, being quiet for a long time. I had a lot to process. Except for using the word, I’d pretty much just exclaimed my love for an 18th century Scottish man, which was strange in itself. The fact that he’d practically exclaimed his love for me was also up there on the strange scale.

But this was real. I didn’t know how else to explain it to myself except that what I felt for Mac was as real as the fact that I’d traveled through time.

“Mac,” I said at the same time he said, “Kally.”

“You go first,” I said.

“Kally, I think we’re supposed to be happy. When people care for each other, they’re supposed to be smiling all the time. I’m not going to marry Isla. I wasna going to marry her anyway. Ye being here didna change that. Ye’re not responsible. Although that kiss last night might have done it if I hadna already made up my mind.”

I smiled, I couldn’t help it. “You can read my mind?”

“No, not yet, but I hope to learn.”

“How old are you?” I knew, but I had a point to make. 

“Sixteen. How old are ye?”

“I’m seventeen, Mac,” I said steadily.

“That’s not much older at all, is it?” He said, smiling.

I shook my head. “Tell me about Isla.”

“Our fathers have known each other since they were bairns. Isla and I played together when we were wee ones ourselves. But there is not anything that I feel for her like, well, like what I should feel. We’ve never shared a kiss, Kally, not one.”

“But your marriage is up to your father, not you.”

Mac smiled. “No one can force me, Kally, and they wilna. My father thinks ye’re a lucky charm, anyway . . .”

“I don’t have a right to …”

“No, ye are’na listening. That,” – he pointed toward the castle – “has not a thing to do with ye. This,” – he lifted my hand – “has to do with ye. The two are separate.” He sighed heavily. “Now, there’s nothing I’d like better right now than to kiss ye again and again,” he blushed, “but I have to go inside. Do ye think we can see each other later?”

“I don’t know how you could miss me.”

Mac lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed it lightly. “I didna mean for this to happen. If I’d ken they’d be coming here today, I n’er would have taken ye over there.”

I nodded as I watched his lips touch my hand. My skin tingled all the way up my arm, to my earlobe.

I wanted to go with him to talk to them but it didn’t feel right to ask. I let him go and then followed a couple seconds later.

They’d be in the large front room. The castle was already busy with activity. I knew that if Una caught me, I’d never make it far. I ducked and flattened my back against walls and turned my head when I thought a passerby might give me up. There was nothing that was going to stop me from seeing Isla.

The conversation wasn’t quiet, so as I approached the room I didn’t worry about being heard, but I stayed around a corner so I wouldn’t be seen.

“Now, Ivar, there’s no reason to be so upset,” Brian Duncan said.

“Upset. Yer son shows up on … on the land under dispute with another lass and there’s no reason to be upset?” That sounded like Ivar Lennox.

“Mac has not agreed to marry Isla, and perhaps the land is under dispute, but that’s no reason for him to stay away from it.”

“Och, and what does it matter that Mac hasna agreed to the marriage? Ye and yer son Ian and I have, and that’s all that matters.”

The silence that followed felt heavy and tight at the same time.

“Duncan,” Lennox continued, “ye wilna go back on yer word, will ye?”

I heard someone sigh.

“I’m not sure it was my word to give.”

“I wilna sit here and let you insult my daughter. Ye will think about this long and hard before ye break her heart.”

“It is not my intention to break yer heart, Isla. Ye are a lovely lass. I’m sorry for the confusion.”

I couldn’t make out her words, but her response sounded unworried.

“Mac, what have ye to say for yerself?” Lennox asked.

“I’m truly sorry to Isla. To ye, weel, I think ye’re a horse’s arse.”

“Now, gentlemen, let us be civilized. There is a young lass in the room, after all,” Ian, ever the voice of reason, said.

“She may be the only reason I’ll no slit yer throat at this verra moment,” Lennox said, probably to Mac.

“Ye will leave my home, now. Ye may not come under my roof and threaten my family,” Duncan said.

“Ye will regret this, all of ye,” Lennox threatened.

I dared to peek around the corner. I had a perfect view to watch the backs of the Lennox family as they departed. Isla was the first to leave. She was very short and very thin and had the longest, blondest hair I’d ever seen.

Turn around, I willed her direction.

Her brother Kirk and then her father followed her through the entryway. Mac was the next person out the door.

“Isla,” he said. She turned and I almost gasped. She was truly the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I couldn’t tell what color her eyes were, but I could see they were perfect, as was everything else about her. I looked nothing like her.

Isla nodded graciously, her tightened, perfect lips the only part of her showing any aggravation. She turned again and led her family out of the castle.

“Mac,” the laird called from the room. He turned and went back to his father and brother.

“Lass,” Una said in my ear. I gasped. “What are ye doing?”

“Nothing.”

She pinched her eyebrows together. “I know there are some clocks that need your attention. Would ye like to have a look?”

“Yes, actually, I would.” I needed a distraction. 

“I thought ye might.”

I sent a fleeting glace back toward the front room, but turned and followed Una to the kitchen, thoughts of wonder at seeing the beautiful woman Mac was supposed to marry.

The riding lessons that had been discussed the previous evening had been forgotten. I went to work, throwing myself into the serenity of a couple clocks that Una had rounded up. They always made sense, especially when nothing else did. I’d lost track of how much time passed when Mac appeared at the table.

“Kally, what are ye working on?” he asked. I hadn’t seen him come into the kitchen. He stood at my worktable.

“Fixing clocks.”

“You dinna have to work.” His face was serious and stern. Whatever had gone on after the Lennoxes left must have been rough.

“This isn’t work for me.” I wanted us to be happy to see each other, but there was more strain than happiness.

“Can ye be done for awhile and come with me?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Come along, let’s go out of the castle a bit.”

 “No more horses today. Please.”

“No. I’ve just the place and it’s only a small walk away.”

“I’m ready.” I stood and put my tools into my pocket.

We went out through the back courtyard, where we traveled over more green hills. Neither of us said much as we walked. I didn’t know what to say. 

“Just over here,” Mac said as we came upon a patch of trees next to a stream.

When he’d taken my hand this morning, he’d been so confident and mature and now he seemed unsure and worried.

“There we are,” Mac said as he sighed and looked back the direction of the castle. The hills were just right that we couldn’t see it any longer.  “I need to talk to ye, Kally.”

“That doesn’t sound good.” 

Mac laughed but it sounded forced. “No, it’s not that bad.”

“Then tell me.”

“Here, sit.” I took a spot under the tree and he sat next to me. “I’m sorry I didn’t think to bring something to sit on.”

We made ourselves as comfortable as possible and I waited. He was so serious.

He took a deep breath and said, “I ken ye overheard this morning’s meeting.”

“I was going to confess, but you mentioned it first. Sorry I eavesdropped.”

“Aye, weel, no need to be sorry. I hoped ye would – I would have if it had been ye.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Aye. Kally, I’m not going to marry the wee lass, Isla. I’m not.”

“Uh-oh.”