“He told me twas the people.”
“That’s nice.”
As we headed downstairs, Fraoch looked all around or alternately stared straight ahead. At the main floor we sat down in two of the bar chairs at the kitchen island. Zach asked, “Whisky? Or beer? Wait, one of each, plus a Coke.”
He turned around and put three drinks in front of Fraoch: One, a shot of whisky, two, a frosty can of Budweiser, three, a plastic bottle of Coke. He popped open the top of the can of beer. “Drink up Highlander.”
“Och! So many.”
Beaty and Quentin entered. I caught Fraoch glance at her bare legs and quickly away. He held my hand. She said, “Master Fraoch, I canna believe ye’re here. I am so excited. I canna wait tae show ye the new world. We will hae fun. Did ye try the Coke yet? Careful, it may make ye sick tae drink it, but tis worth it, tis so good.” She unscrewed the top of the Coke and pushed it toward him.
He sipped a bit, grimaced, and shook his head, sour face and all. “Och, ye like this?”
“I do, tis so good.”
He tried it again, grimaced again.
I said, “Maybe you just don’t like that flavor, we can try the lime ones too.”
Zach slid another beer in front of him a darker one.
I asked, “Now what? It smells like shrimp and grits?”
“Dinner will be ready in ten minutes. I’m not telling you, it’s something special for Fraoch.”
Emma said, “What should I do with the research? I’m setting the kids here with mac and cheese.” The table had two laptops, a stack of books, and some notebooks around it.
Quentin said, “We can put it on the desk, but I would like to bring it out later tonight, maybe Fraoch has some thoughts.”
“Fraoch will probably need sleep before research, remember how exhausting this is. Have you found any record of them — anything yet?”
Zach said, “I’m still scouring ancestry.com, their records, the time period.”
Quentin said, “Also looking through letters, battle reports, we need to go through the birth and death records.”
Zach said, “I keep running up against blocks. We need to go to the churches, see the actual pages, I think.” He added, “I can’t wait to show you what we found though, but first, follow me outside, first course, oyster shucking.”
On the deck Zach had set up a long table with a plastic table cloth and we all sat down with a big platter of oysters in front of us. James opened the sliding door, “Hey! I wondered where everyone was. Thought maybe Ben and Archie were the only ones here, cooking mac and cheese for themselves. Fraoch! Glad to see you in the real world, man! How’s Scotland?”
“She is verra good.”
“I do miss it.” He pulled a long neck beer out of a bucket of ice, popped the cap, and chugged some. “If the food was better I’d go back in a second.”
We all held up our drinks and cheered.
Fraoch said, “Slainte!”
I teased Fraoch, while I pried open an oyster, “And you haven’t even gotten started on the eating yet. I mean this is great, right? But what’s the next course? That’s what you should be asking yourself, Fraoch, not just ‘this is great’ but also, ‘what’s next?’” I slid an oyster onto a saltine cracker with a bit of cocktail sauce, and fed it to Fraoch.
Zach said, “Next is my famous shrimp and grits: Locally caught shrimp, sautéed with andouille sausage, peppers, and onions, in a Tasso gravy over Blue Dog Farms stone-ground grits, finished with homemade green tomato and Datil pepper chutney. You know, the best fucking shrimp and grits around.”
Emma had her hands full feeding Isla so Zach fed her some steamed oysters. She looked down at Isla. “Oysters and shrimp and grits, this was the meal that used to get Magnus all misty-eyed.”
We all sighed fondly at the memory.
Fraoch said, “I daena ken what half the words mean, but it sounds delicious.”
Zach said, “For dessert, Key lime pie.”
I said, “Scurvy protection covered in whipped cream, perfect.”
We ate so much food. With the kids we walked out on the boardwalk between the main course and the desert. Then we got extra whipped cream because I goaded the boys into begging for it. Then Beaty put the boys to bed. Emma put Isla to bed. Then us adults all sat around the kitchen island again and talked and laughed.
Zach told Fraoch about the refrigerator and the microwave and some other things that were happening, but then Fraoch leaned his head toward mine. I asked, “You tired? Cause I’m exhausted.”
“Aye,” he said.
I led him upstairs to our room.
I went to the bathroom and when I came out he was pressing the mattress testing the softness. He had his borrowed clothes in a pile on the floor and I added to my list: take Fraoch clothes shopping.
I changed into a T-shirt and we climbed into bed under the pile of soft covers. Though it was hot outside they were necessary because it was cool inside, the perfect temperature, always a little colder than necessary.
I pulled the covers up to his chin. “What do you think so far?”
In answer he asked, “What is the wind?”
“It’s called the air conditioning. You can push a button for hotter or for colder.”
He nodded and seemed to be thinking about something. “The lights, they are similar tae the ones Quentin...?”
“Yes, those were portable, these plug into the wall and draw their electricity through wires.” I leaned up and showed him the cord, but he didn’t really try to see it, he just continued staring at the ceiling.
“What is this?”
A ceiling fan slowly spun. “It’s for cooling off the room, though it’s plenty cold enough. It’s just extra.” I snuggled into the sheets. “That’s half of what’s so great about this time, everything is extra. Food, temperature, beds. Doesn’t the bedding feel great? Isn’t the smell fabulous?” I curled up against his chest.
I looked up at his face. “I know it’s really hard to—”
“Am I tae help guard the walls this night? I forgot tae ask Master Quentin, and he dinna tell me.”
“No, I mean, you won’t need... not tonight. I’m sure he’ll talk to you about it tomorrow. Tonight he’s letting you rest.”
Seventy-three - Hayley
We made love right before dawn. This was the time of the morning he usually went to guard duty so he was awake. He shifted beside me and I slowly woke as he touched and felt and pulled me close. It was lovely in our warm comfortable bed. After we were finished we slept a little more until the bagpipes sounded.
He asked, “What is...?”
I groaned loudly. “Beaty, she gets up too early to play the pipes. You want to come see?”
“Aye.”
We dressed and rushed down to the front porch. All I could think of to say was, “Jesus Christ.“ Beaty was in shorts, knee-high rainbow socks, wind blowing through her neon-green hair because she was rollerskating around the circular drive while playing Jack Johnson’s Banana Pancakes on the bagpipes. Ben and Archie were on tricycles riding around her making vroom vroom noises as if they were very important to the whole show.