Page 28 of Promises to Keep

Magnus said, “The truth is, Colonel Quentin, ye are a good man, and ye will be very consequential in yer son’s life.” He raised his coffee mug. “Tae Quentin and Beaty, may yer son live a life full of courage and free from battles.”

Quentin raised his mug, we all raised our mugs.

Magnus said, “We fight so our sons winna need tae.”

Hayley said, “Or daughters.”

The men all laughed.

Hayley said, “Y’all are a bunch of sexist pigs.”

Beaty said, lying on her stomach, her face smashed against the pillow, a hand on Mookie, “Shhhh, daena badmouth pigs, Madame Hayley.”

We all laughed that time.

Beaty said, “And how come ye are speaking on a son? This is a girl. I ken because I had a fae visit me in the night, she said twould be a girl bairn.”

Quentin said, “A fae? Well, either way, it’s great.”

Magnus said, “When I say our sons, I mean ourchildren, I daena want any of our bairns tae hae tae fight.” He raised his mug. “Tae a peaceful world for the bairns.”

We all drank from our coffees in agreement.

Quentin said, “So speaking of peaceful worlds, you were going to talk about the plan and what we were going to do first, please let it involve riding horses in Scotland.”

Magnus put down his mug, “We do need tae go tae Scotland, but ye daena hae tae worry on it, we daena all hae tae do it.”

Quentin looked suspicious. “What do you mean, ‘we daena all’?”

“Ye hae a baby on the way, ‘we’ can hae ye take some more time and do another part of—”

“More time! Another part!” Quentin scowled. “That sounds suspiciously like I am not a part of the main plan, and I just spent the longest few days of my life bored out of my mind sitting on a rock in Central Park, after sitting in a lawn chair by a lake. I want to be in the action of the main part.”

Beaty groaned, lumbered up, came across the room and curled up on the chair beside Quentin. He kissed the top of her head. She said, “Magnus, I ken Quennie is drivin’ ye tae distraction with his whining about bein’ bored, but I love him and he does want tae do something that is involved in the main part of it and—”

She clamped her hand over her mouth and retched.

Quentin grimaced, clamped his hand over his mouth, and retched too.

James said, “Don’t get me started!” He retched.

Sophie put a dainty hand on her lips and gulped. “Madame Beaty, ye are goin’ tae get all of us up-surgin’.”

Quentin swallowed, recovered his calm and said, “And what do you mean by ‘we can allow you,’ Boss? I’m a part of the ‘we’, don’t be having meetings without me. Who’s the ‘we’ that ‘can allow me’, to what—?”

Magnus said, “Och nae, I meant the royal ‘we’, Colonel Quentin, because I am the king—”

I patted his shoulder. “My love, lots of people use the ‘royal we’ not just kings.”

“Aye, but I get tae use it especially, as I am the king of all over the place and all through time—”

James joked, “I’m not so sure about that — didn’t your kingliness get wiped off of Wikipedia? I’m not sure you get to pull the king card right now.”

Magnus chuckled. “I am a future king—”

Fraoch said, “Three hundred years from now.”

“I will be someday, so I demand tae be able tae use ‘we’ tae mean I. Because I say so.”

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