Page 137 of Only a Breath Away

“Was there something?”

“Nae, we ought tae... we ought tae feed the bairns. Does everyone want some food?” He called the butler in. “Helms, how does a family of...” He pretended tae count heads, and finished, “this many people eat dinner here in New York City?”

“Well, sire, I could ask your mother’s chef to come in, though it was her day off and...”

“Nae, that inna necessary.” The kids ran through yelling with the dog and the pig close at their heels. “We probably daena want anyone witnessin’ how we are behavin’ in this fine grand house. Daena report on me tae m’mother, Helms, she will be wrathful.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, sire. You might go to a restaurant?”

Emma groaned. “I cannot imagine taking all these littles out somewhere, they are in the mood for chaos.”

Helms said, “You could order in, sire, enough for a hundred and thirty-three people and a menagerie of animals.”

Magnus chuckled. “Och aye, let’s order in, Kaitlyn, would ye make a list?”

Emma figured out some of the closest restaurants. I took orders: we needed Italian for some, Chinese for others, and Zach ordered a pile of meatballs from a famous restaurant he had seen on a morning show. Also, there had to be a cookie delivery for Lochinvar. Then he stood on the front stoop waiting for the food, his mouth hanging open in amazement.

It took so much wrangling and cost a fortune to get three cars converging on the front step at about the same time. Lochinvar’s eyes were wide as we all grabbed boxes and bags from drivers. “What are we doin’?”

I joked, “Making dinner!”

We placed the food out on the countertops in the giant gourmet kitchen. Zach said, “Do you see all this counter space? Now this is great kitchen. If we knocked out the living room and two of the bedrooms at the lake house, we might have a proper-sized kitchen there.”

Magnus joked, “Ye want even fewer bedrooms in the lake house than we had? I think next time ye get the bunkhouse.”

We filled plates and sat the adults down the long table in the opulent dining room. The walls were painted a pale blue, there were ornately carved shelves, a giant fireplace and an exquisite chandelier. There were four Picasso paintings on the wall.

Magnus, digging his serving spoon into a container of orange chicken, said, “Are all the houses in Manhattan this big and fancy?”

James and Quentin laughed. James said, “Hell no, this is a freaking palace.”

Emma said, “It’s like she is competing with her brother, ‘Fine, you have a nice eighteenth century castle, I will have a bigger, better castle in the middle of Manhattan in the twenty-first century.’”

Magnus said, “Also in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, I think she had this manor house built for her. I suppose compared tae m’uncle keeping Balloch for four decades, keeping a mansion in New York for three centuries is exceptional.”

We finished our meals and then went out for a night stroll around the block with the whole family, showing them the skyline of the city. It was a cool night, and everyone, even those of us who had lived in the modern world were blown away by the lights and sounds and crowds of New York, but for our friends and family who were visiting from the past, it was absolutely shocking.

Lochinvar gaped at the sky and spun in circles trying to see the tops of buildings. Beaty kept pointing and gasping and Sophie took small peeks and hid her face in James’s shoulder. Central Park was right beside us, people bustling everywhere, bumping and jostling us on the sidewalk. The traffic, the noise, the smells, bags of trash along the sidewalks. A horse-drawn carriage went by and the Scottish men stood dumbfounded. Fraoch asked, “Why...?”

James said, “Those belong to people who weren’t able to pass their driver’s tests.”

Fraoch said, “Och aye, that makes sense.”

Magnus, carrying Isla, felt it was his duty to listen to every song being played by every musician, dancing and nodding along, and cheering when it was done. Zach followed behind him, giving Archie and Ben money to toss in the hats.

Fraoch criticized the city, full of judgments on it. “Ye ken, ye ought nae hae these many buildings, this tight,” and, “Why would ye put a shop that close tae the street?” And startled by the metal plates on the sidewalk, “Why dost they hae these doors here, we might fall in!” He shook his head. “Tis nae sensible tae hae this many people in one place...”

On our way home, Isla was growing sleepy, her wee head heavy on Magnus’s shoulder. He held my hand. I said, “What’re you thinking about?”

“A few things, but one of them is I am pleased I can show m’family a night like this, twas a braw meal in a good house, and a proper large family all out for a stroll. Tis a bit like being at Kilchurn but even better.”

Lochinvar was carrying the big bag of cookies and he came up right then with one for Isla. “Cookie?”

“Thank you, Uncle Lochie.”

“Ye’re welcome, Niece-wee-Islee.” She giggled.

We meandered back to the house and everyone was wound down enough to go to their guest rooms to sleep, except Magnus. He said to me and Hayley and Fraoch, “Would ye remain downstairs for a moment? I need tae speak tae ye.”

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