She said, “Holy shit, where the fuck were you?”
“The dark ages, you know this. My head itches.”
“Let me see.” She parted my hair at the base and looked. “Ugh, oh my god, yeah, um...” She grabbed her purse off the chair. “Yeah, headed to the drug store, anybody need anything else?”
Eighty-seven - Kaitlyn
Magnus and I went to our bathroom to shower. It was the greatest goddamn thing ever. Absolutely ever, ever, ever. There was nothing more. Afterward, we wrapped in robes and applied the lice treatment, and then we showered again.
Then in towels and robes and barefoot and clean as could be, squeaky clean, so clean we just about ran out the water heater and it was a big ass water heater, I sat in front of Hayley and Magnus sat in front of me for lice-picking. This was actually rather funny. Especially when Fraoch said, “Why?”
“Because there are bugs in our hair.”
He joked, “Och, they are tae bedevil ye so ye will remember tae praise God.”
Hayley teased, “Are you saying that lice are there to keep us religious?”
“Aye. We hae tae hae trials and tribulations tae ken heaven when it comes.” Hayley pulled the comb through my hair and sloshed it in the bowl of soapy water.
“Bullshit, bugs serve no purpose, and just for that Mister Highlander, you might need to go take a shower.”
I said, wincing from the comb, but rather enjoying her fingers massaging my scalp and pulling through my hair, “I don’t actually think we need any more trials and tribulations.”
Magnus said, “Nae, or reasons tae pray, we hae been down on our knees verra regular. I would like tae walk on m’feet for a time, without bugs in m’hair.”
So then, James joined us, and while we drank a steady stream of beers from the cold, blissfully cold refrigerator, Magnus and I began to tell our story. Zach jumped from his seat to get his laptop as I was telling the story of the nursery. “You were there in the winter of 1551-1552. Was the baby named Duncan?”
“Yes.”
Zach’s eyes went wide. “His name is Duncan of the Seven Castles, Black Duncan to be exact. Look at the portrait of him.”
I said, “What the hell,” and crossed my arms across my chest reflexively. “Gross.”
“Not really, it’s kind of cool, you might have kept him alive and he built many of the castles around there.”
Magnus said, “Which ones?”
Zach listed them, “Kilchurn, Achallader, Loch Dochart, Finlairg, Edinample, and your family’s, Balloch.”
Magnus said, “Kilchurn as well?” He turned to me, “Ye ken, tis m’favorite castle. Twas Uncle Baldie’s home. Ye might hae played a hand in it!”
I sighed. “Fine, I’ll agree that maybe that’s kind of cool.”
James was looking at a portrait of Duncan. “What a fine looking chap, that ruffle around his neck really makes his eyes pop.”
The portrait was ridiculous, he was an ugly little man with a scowl and protruding eyes. I said, “He was cuter when he was baby, though not by much.”
Magnus and I continued the story and when we got to the part about Edinburgh we did a Wikipedia search of Mary of Guise and Lord Châtellerault and found that she was poised to take over as regent not long after we left.
“Good,” I said, “she was way cooler.”
“Aye,” said Magnus.
I turned to him. “Can you believe it? That we can look this up and know how it turns out?”
“Tis as if we hae been conversin’ with ghosts.”
“Yeah, true.” We held hands and continued on with the stories. We ate dinner there on the furniture in the living room, drinking, talking. How do you share a whole year’s worth of living with people who weren’t there? It was impossible but we tried, with Zach following along with the laptop, showing photos as we talked.
At one point he showed us a reimagined video of mid-sixteenth century Edinburgh. Magnus scowled. “Tis nothin’ like it. Twas filthy, verra noisy, and had an awful stench.” We all laughed.
All this time Isla toddled around, or went to Emma’s lap and sat with her, or with Beaty, obviously knowing she could ask Beaty for anything at any time, and she even sat in between Fraoch and Hayley and made Hayley read a board book.
I sat there within inches listening, aching to hold her.
Magnus and Archie were doing better. Archie ignored me so far, his feelings were so intense toward his Da. He ran off to play with Ben but came back to show Magnus a car or a game and then would run off again. Until finally, dinner over. Bedtime for the boys. Magnus went to take Archie to bed and tuck him in.
He came back and said, “I promised him we would be here in the morn.”
“It’s a scary promise, huh? It feels like a dream, like I can’t promise anything because I can’t believe I’m home.”
“He asked for ye tae come in.”
“Really, me?”
“Aye.”
Eighty-eight - Kaitlyn
I tiptoed into Archie's room.
"Hey, did you need me?"
In the dim light I could see him nod.
I kneeled down beside his head and tentatively smoothed the hair off his sweaty brow. Before I could think about it I said, "I missed you so much."
His face screwed up. "I missed you too."
I gathered him up and held him while he cried. I whispered, "I am so so sorry. Please, please forgive me, I... the whole time I was away I was heartbroken that I couldn't come home to you. I'm so sorry."
And he cried for a very long time while I held him. Until he was finally done crying and I laid his head back on his pillow.
His red-rimmed eyes were wet and glazed with sleepiness. He asked, "Will you be here while I go sleep?"
"Yes, definitely. Good night Archie, I love you."
He curled on his side. "Goodnight, mammy."
I kissed his cheek and sobbed, "Thank you."
When I came from the room, my own eyes swollen and red from crying. Magnus asked, "What happened?"
"He called me mammy."
"Och." He hugged me in his arms.
"I know." I let go of him and wiped my eyes. I said, "It's like no other word works but 'och'. I feel it in my soul."
Eighty-nine - Kaitlyn
Emma came through the room. “I’m taking Isla to her nursery, want to come?”
I followed her. “It’s a lot, huh? Two babies?”
“So much, thank God for Beaty. Or I don’t know how Zach and I would have handled all four.”
Hayley said, “And me!”
Emma laughed. “Oh yeah, and Hayley too, she even changed a diaper.”
Hayley joked, “I’ll never forget it — worst day of my life. And I’ve had some terrible days, I watched my bestie get taken away to the dark ages.”
Isla had those deep drooping sleepy eyes. I stood to the side, quiet, unobtrusively, while Emma put her down in the crib, saying, “Shhhhhhhh, Isla, time to sleep.”