Page 35 of Promises to Keep

I nodded. “Lochinvar and I were a wee over-excited, but everythin’ was essential. I daena ken how we would hae pared down.”

She joked as she plucked a bottle of perfume from the crate. “This bodega perfume is essential? These teddy bears?”

“Aye, hae ye smelled the perfume, Kaitlyn? It smells as if angels live among us.”

She took the lid off and sniffed, then sneezed.

“And the teddy bears are essential.” I held one up. “He is wearing a wee hat! The bairns canna live without it, ye ken, Kaitlyn, what is the point of livin’ without bears with wee hats?”

“You sound like Beaty.”

“She is verra wise about the necessary things for happiness.”

“Speaking of happiness, you got the coffee for Sean and Lizbeth? They’re probably desperate now that they have a taste for it.”

“Aye, two verra big cans.”

Lochinvar pushed the flat-cart, piled high with boxes and bags, while Kaitlyn and I followed it down the sidewalk and then crossed the busy street and through the gates tae Central Park. We walked up the path aways and then pushed the flat-cart up a hill. This took a great deal of exertion, gettin’ the presents tae a safe space behind a cluster of trees in a bit of a clearing. M’mother had chosen this spot years ago and had shewn me the location and the numbers tae get here.

We had tae roust a homeless man, restin’ behind a large boulder. I pulled some money from m’sporran. “Here, this is tae buy ye a proper meal.”

He slurred, “Yesh, thanks,” put it in his pocket and continued to sit there.

“I meant for ye tae go now.”

He looked at me blankly. “Where?”

“For food, or ye ken, at least down the hill so we can hae a picnic.”

Kaitlyn looked up at the sky. “Looks like a storm is coming, you might want to get under cover.”

He grumbled as he staggered down the hill, dragging his sleeping bag behind him.

Kaitlyn grimaced. “It smells like piss all around here, gross.”

I said, “When we were back in 1929 we had tae live here for a few days. There was much urinatin’ here.”

“So all around here there are centuries of piss? Wow. Your piss, over here somewhere — a century ago?”

I nodded and pointed. “Near that stone there.”

“Now that is weirdly wonderful, do you think that tree grew from your piss? I mean, that’s cool. We’re in the middle of New York and yet this spot is timeless.”

“Except for the trees. Trees always mark the passage of time.”

CHAPTER 21 - KAITLYN

Inoticed Magnus turned away from Lochinvar to hide the working of the vessel when he twisted it, being cautious.

And I totally agreed — now that we were finding all these brothers we needed to be very cautious, especially with the ones who could fight him in a stadium. As Magnus had said before,I daena want tae kill him. I daenae want tae kill a brother or a cousin just because they share m’bloodline, tis barbaric. I hae done it enough.

I could hear him saying it in my head, that push pull between past barbarism and present attempts at being a civilized man: a courageous warrior, a thoughtful king, a good father, a loving husband. He balanced all of that with having to also be bloodthirsty and it was heartrending to watch the struggle sometimes. And it weighed heavy on him.

That heaviness explained my presence now, why I was here. He had promised his mother, taken an oath to protect her, but he needed to be so much more than her warrior — he needed reminders of his humanity, too, and if it had been safe to keep the kids nearby, they’d be here, as well.

Instead it was just us.

I was his human, his humane, influence, to help him beat back the dark as he took on the role of hero.

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