“Except for there, everywhere else, except the garderobe or the kitchen, or the stores or the — you know what, after you carry me room from room, you can carry me to our bedroom and we’ll lie there together on our perfect mattress and have proper alone sex.”
“Och, I think if I hae been carryin’ ye from room tae room all day it might needs be some improper sex as well.”
I grinned. It felt so good to grin.
“It’s a deal. But now you mention it, improper sex sounds good right about now, and who needs all that lifting beforehand? That might weaken you. Let’s go into this with all our stamina.”
The jumping was kicking my arse. I had been back and forth and back and forth for so long I had to keep a piece of paper in my pocket with dates on it, so I wouldn’t get confused.
As Emma said, “This is not healthy and just because you’re taking vitamins doesn’t mean you can do it indefinitely.”
“But Archie! But Isla!”
“I know, but if you can’t stay here, if you can’t live here, maybe don’t come. If you decided to stay away for a while we would figure it out. We would explain it. We would help them through it.”
“I can’t.”
“You might have to is all I’m saying.”
And then when I got back to the past, Fraoch said, “Ye are goin’ tae kill yerself.”
“Yeah? Well, I hope not.”
“Ye hope not? Ye are supposed tae say, ‘Nae Fraoch, ye canna die from time travel or I wouldna be riskin’ it.’”
“Well that would be a lie wouldn’t it? And I’m not going to lie to you. It’s dangerous. But so is living in the long ago past. What if it’s winter? Did you see what she was wearing? Basically a shirt, a skirt, a tartan wrap, that’s it. She might have frozen to death and we would never know.”
“I thought Magnus carried her a coat and a pair of boots.”
“Maybe, but what if he didn’t find her? She didn’t even have a bodice on because she was nursing. She was nursing that baby and then she was gone. Ugh, I can’t bear it. My heart is breaking. Our nephew Archie is having nightmares. He cries in the middle of the night. Emma said it’s like he can’t see them or hear them. Can you imagine? He’s that devastated. It’s like we can’t help him. This is our niece and our nephew, and there’s nothing I can do.”
“Tis a tragedy.”
Lizbeth came to join us for dinner. She asked, “They arna home?”
“No, not yet.”
She sighed. “Dinna ye tell me that Lady Mairead said a year?”
“Yeah, before she finally stopped.”
“So dost ye think she will wait and bring them back tae ye then tae prove a lesson tae ye?”
“I don’t know, I mean, I really hope not. That would be so cruel.”
“Aye, and she can be cruel, but I truly believe she daena ken how tae get them. I believe if she can she will. She wouldna risk their lives. I ken she will be evil when she can be, but for Magnus she will try tae do what is right. She is just...”
“A bitch,” I finished.
“Aye, she is that. I am sure she is doin’ her best tae understand it. How dost ye think it works?”
“I don’t have any idea.” I shrugged.
She looked off at the carved details in the ceiling. “I was weavin’ the other day, hae ye done it yet, Madame Hayley?”
“No, but I’ve seen the looms in the weaving room upstairs.”
“Aye, I like tae sit there sometimes. Tis a good escape from the business of running the household.”
“I get it, it’s meditative.” Her brow drew down so I added, ”Like calming.”
“Aye, and I was thinking on the weave. I haena time traveled but when I hae considered it, I imagine time is a bit like cloth. The warp and the weft hae a strength as long as they are woven taegether, but if a strand comes undone, tis a chance it might unravel it all. I believe Magnus’s life there and his life here are woven taegether in a strong tapestry.”
I nodded. “I can totally see that.”
“But when the weave is unfinished, there is only the warp, and though tis tightly held on the loom, it daena hae true strength. Without the weft tis only string.”
“I’m not sure I...”
“I think Young Magnus and my sister Kaitlyn hae found themselves on the unfinished part of the weaving. Lady Mairead will only need tae learn how tae finish the weave, the warp and weft of time, tae be able tae bring them home.”
“I like that metaphor, the warp and weft of time... Please tell me Lady Mairead knows how to weave.”
“Och aye, she is the one who taught me the skill, though I must be honest, Hayley, she daena like tae do it, she finds it verra beneath her.”
I groaned. “And she’s our only hope, the kids need Kaitlyn.”
She took a drink of ale and shook her head sadly. “Aye.”
“I just hope they aren’t gone for much longer, this going back and forth is so hard.”
Fraoch said, “Ye could wait longer afore ye go again. Ye need tae rest and—”
“But the children... I don’t know.”
Lizbeth watched us her brow drawn down. Then she said, “Fraoch MacLeod, ye could go with her. I haena wanted tae travel, but I haena had a reason tae. Ye hae a wife who needs tae be there.”
“Nae, Madame Lizbeth, I canna go.”
“Ye might hae tae—”
Fraoch abruptly stood, his chair scraping loudly. “Hayley promised me she wouldna require it of me. Tis the work of the devil. Ye yerself hae said yer mother is evil and she is a regular user of the vessels.”
Lizbeth whispered, “Fraoch MacLeod, ye keep yer voice down!”
Eyes turned to watch us in the room. “Ye sit down, Master Fraoch.”
He sat down.
She said, “Lady Mairead does use the vessels for malevolence, but your wife is nae malevolent. Magnus is nae evil. Kaitlyn is a Godly, motherly, wifely woman, she has a boisterous wit, but she is nae evil. I hae prayed beside her. Ye are a brave man, a good man, ye hae been loyal tae Magnus and m’own family and I am grateful tae ye for the work and protection ye hae offered us, but in this ye are wrong. Yer wife is living two lives and is torn between them because ye are being cowardly about it. There is a new world beckoning ye. Magnus is your brother and his children need tae be cared for, and what of your own? If your own positions were reversed what would Magnus do for ye?”
Fraoch scowled.
“If ye and Hayley were lost and there was a bairn and a son, what would he do?”
“He would take them intae his home.”
I spoke up. “Magnus has friends, he has Quentin and Zach, Madame Emma, they are taking care of his bairn. Fraoch doesn’t have to—”
“I am nae askin’ if Fraoch has tae. I am askin’ Master Fraoch what Magnus would do for him, and if he is tae be the kind of man who kens that another man would do something that he himself inna willing tae do? If ye were lost Magnus would take care of yer bairn. He would take them intae his home. Master Fraoch, ye ken tis true. Kaitlyn took in Young Magnus’s son by another woman, and has been raisin’ him as her own, she would take in your bairn if ye were lost. Tis the type of woman she is and the regard she holds ye in. Your wife is trying tae be honorable and tae live up tae her friend’s regard, and tis time for ye tae do your part in it.”