He groaned. “I was tryin’ not tae go there again. Look at what ye hae done tae me. Ye hae been doin’ this all those times?”
“Yes, my love, I can’t wait to show you everything.”
He opened his eyes and winced. “Tis bright. And loud.”
“Cicadas are humming, remember those?”
“Aye, but tis louder and—” He tried to open his eyes again. “Verra bright.”
“If you get up I’ll lead you to the house.”
“Okay.”
He struggled up to his feet with more moans and groans. When he opened his eyes they watered. He clamped them shut again.
“You can keep your eyes closed. Did you see the house?”
“Nae I canna see anythin’ but screamin’ white.”
“Okay.” I held tight to his arm and led him into the house.
I sat Fraoch down in the dining room saying, “This is a table and chair. Put your head down, I’ll turn off the lights.”
Everyone stood around shocked. It was a strange sight — Fraoch looked like a fucking time traveler. He looked darker than I remembered, dustier, musty almost, like there was coal dust on him, like an absence of light. I remembered Magnus looking like that, but didn’t remember ever looking like that myself — it couldn’t be explained by dirt. It was more like his aura. He was big, the same, but his clothes looked so handmade, everything about him seemed handmade, almost like he was crafted and now as I ran around the room telling everyone to shush and back off and turning down the lights and closing the shades, I realized how we all looked machine-made. From Beaty’s hair, now neon-green like her favorite musician, Billie Eilish, to Emma’s perfectly white teeth. Emma was indeed smiling and mouthing, “He came!”
I beamed. I hadn’t needed him to come, hadn’t dreamed of it, was actually used to the idea he was never ever going to come. I didn’t hold it against him, but now he was here and it was the most loving romantic thing anyone had ever done for me.
I was loved.
So so so very much.
I pulled a pair of sunglasses from a kitchen drawer and Zach poured a frosty mug of cold beer and a shot of whisky for Fraoch. I pulled up a chair beside him and whispered, “Turn your head.” I slid the sunglasses onto his nose.
“Now open your eyes but look directly at me. See me?”
“Aye, ye are nae so bright.”
“Good. Don’t look at anything else yet, concentrate on me.”
Zach slid the beer in front of him and dropped the shot of whisky into the glass, clearly pleased with the idea. “Keep your eyes closed, here’s a Boilermaker. Drink up.”
He slammed down the whole thing faster than seemed possible. “Okay, my love, look around.”
He opened his eyes and looked around. “Och.”
“So here you see a wide open room, and everyone is here that you already know, right? And that loud banging is Archie and Ben, and there’s the baby.”
Emma said, “You remember Isla. She’s getting to be a big girl.”
I covered Fraoch’s ears and called into the living room, “Ben! Archie! Uncle Fraoch is here!”
They bustled in yelling, “Haywee!” And climbed into my lap looking suspiciously at the big lump of a man beside me wearing sunglasses in the house, looking all dark and mysterious.
Beaty raised her camera, aimed, and took a bunch of photos. Fraoch cringed. “Och, tis loud.”
Beaty said, “The button? I had forgotten how loud it all was, but you’ll get used tae the sounds, Master Fraoch.” She thrust the camera in front of him and scrolled through the photos she had just taken.
“Och.”
“You look tired. But here...” She led Archie and Ben off my lap, and gestured for me to lean against Fraoch. “You will want tae remember this important occasion with a photo on Insta.”
He put his arm around me and we both smiled. She said, “Perfect.”
Zach said, “I’m going to make a huge dinner in Fraoch’s honor.”
I asked Fraoch, “Do you want to go get in some comfortable clothes?”
Quentin handed him a cold beer. “Take this with you. After a jump a cold beer in the shower really helps.”
I led Fraoch down the hall to my room. When we got to the door, I said, “So now you’ve seen a house.”
“I dinna hae my eyes open.”
I laughed. “Okay, good, we’ll do a tour later, after a warm shower and...” I pushed open the door. “This is my — I mean, our room.” I hadn’t cleaned up. I rushed around, picking underwear and bras off the floor and tossing them into a hamper. In my bathroom makeup littered the counter, jewelry was in disarray, lotions with no tops, empty tubes, razors and tweezers. I swept it into my skirt and dumped half into a drawer, and the other half I dumped into a bin in the cabinet under the sink.
I returned to the bedroom where he stood looking around at the room dumbfounded. “Okay, where do we begin?”
He drank from his beer.
“Do you need to use the bathroom? I’ll introduce you to the garderobe.” I waved him in. “This is the chamberpot — you relieve yourself here. Then...”
He was still wearing the sunglasses, looking around at the brightly lit bathroom with the gigantic wall of mirrors, wincing. “Hold here.” I rushed into the bedroom for a scented candle and brought it to the bathroom, lit it, and turned out the light. The ambient light from the window was closer to twilight level. “Is that better?”
“Och aye.”
The candle light flickered calmingly. I said, “Were you able to understand what I said about using the toilet?”
He nodded, but I could tell it was bullshit, so I reexplained without actually reexplaining. “So once you stand here and pee or sit here and shit, you’ll use some paper to wipe your bum. Then throw it away. This is to flush the water.” I pushed the handle down, flushing nothing. “Make sense?”
“Aye,” he raised his kilt and started whizzing.
“Awesome.” I opened a drawer, pulled out a new toothbrush and ripped open the packaging. “Here’s the toothpaste, you know this right?”
“Aye, every day.”
I turned on the shower and got it the right temperature, beginning a list in my head: take Fraoch to the dentist.
He squirted toothpaste on his brush. Then, brushing his teeth with minty lather all over his mouth, he met me by the shower stall. “What is this then?”
“It’s the shower. Take off your clothes, climb in.”
I untied my boots and pulled them off with the socks. I dropped my skirt to the ground and then pulled my shift off over my arms and dropped it onto a gross pile that needed immediate washing.
I was naked. “It’s hard to tell if you’re enjoying the sight with the sunglasses on.”
He joked as his kilt dropped to the ground. “M’eyes are closed.”
“Well open them, because I’m naked and that’s a thing you like.”
I pulled his shirt off and drew him into the shower and under the water and hugged him. What do you think?”
He looked down on me, his sunglasses covered in water droplets. “I think I am glad tae be here with ye.”