Page 34 of Only a Breath Away

I rolled my eyes, “Yes, I’m listening, I know to turn, Siri just said it.”

“Ye ought tae note that yer turn is in two stop signs there…”

“I know. Man, you are a backseat driver.”

Fraoch looked over his shoulder. “I am nae in the backseat.”

“It’s just an expression.”

“I am just excited, ye daena hae it readin’ ye directions usually, how does it ken where ye are goin’?”

“I forgot this would be exciting, we don’t need it in Florida, because I know how to get basically everywhere. I think it’s satellites up in the sky.”

He craned to look up out of the front window. “Dost ye think tis right above us? Is it followin’ us?”

I turned at the intersection. “It’s not right above us, it’s so high that it can see a lot of cars, or something like that. I don’t really know.”

Lady Mairead said, “Daena be ridiculous, of course the satellites arna followin’ us. If ye canna see it, tis nae there.”

I pulled up in front of a suburban house with a mailbox out front, solidly middle class. It reminded me of the neighborhood I grew up in before my parents split, before I had to move to an apartment with my mom.

“This is the address I was given.”

Lady Mairead looked up at the house. “This is it? The man who told the story of my brother, the Earl of Breadalbane, lives here in this wee house?”

I said, “It’s notthatsmall.”

To Fraoch I said, “You have to pretend like we are normal people from Florida, just doing some historical research about the Earl. Don’t mention the family connection, that Finch is your half-brother, that gets weird, we’re just with Lady Mairead, the Earl is her ancestor, other than that, he knows nothing about us, right? To reiterate, you cannotlet him know we are time travelers.”

“Twill be easy. I haena ever told anyone that I am a time traveler — what do ye think, twill simply come up in conversation?”

“No, but it might.”

“Daena worry on it, m’bhean ghlan, I can handle the secret.”

Lady Mairead said, “What did ye call her?”

“M’clean wife.”

She exhaled. “Well, now,finally, I hae heard everything.”

We left Hammond in the Jeep, and went up to the front door. I rang the bell.

An older man with bushy gray hair and a thick gray mustache, came to the door. He was wearing Doc Martens, tight jeans, and a summer-weight sweater that had ‘The Replacements’ embroidered across the front. He said, “Ah, you must be Lady Mairead!”

She raised her chin. “Aye, I am a descendant of the Earl of Breadalbane.” She was stiff and didn’t introduce us as if we were unimportant.

From behind her, I put forward my hand. “I’m Hayley, this is Fraoch MacLeod.”

“Hayley and Fraoch MacLeod… good, good. MacLeod, like Duncan MacLeod, ‘There can be only one!’ Loved that movie, time traveling, immortal highlanders, just loved it.” He added, “MacLeod. I mostly research Campbell history, that’s where my interest lies, but I have been know to meet someone with a Scottish surname then spend the next two weeks in a rabbit-hole learning their clan’s history.”

I said, “Fraoch is a bit of an enigma, he was raised by a step-father as a MacDonald, but his mother was a MacLeod, his real father was a Campbell. I use MacLeod as my married name.”

Fraoch said, “I daena care what ye call me as long as someone is calling me, preferably tae supper.”

I glanced at Lady Mairead, as she rolled her eyes.

“I’m Joe Munro, interesting that you’re a Campbell, are you Lady Mairead’s son?”

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