Page 86 of Promises to Keep

I dressed in a pair of sweats and a shirt that we brought with us from Maine and went downstairs and met Isla who immediately passed me a bucket. I said hello to Fraoch and James, back from fishing, to wave at Beaty, “How are you?”

“Fine, Queen Kaitlyn, better actually.” She sat up. “Aye, much better.” She scooped up a rice crispy treat and dazedly shuffled from her corner of the room, her hair a faded orange, sticking up all over. “Much better, but Chef Zach, ye ought tae keep the treats a’comin’.”

Quentin said, “You were sick all day, now you’re better in the afternoon?”

“Tis all day illness, Quennie, it means the bairn is goin’ tae be a verra special girl.”

Then Zoe rushed into my arms and I picked up Isla too and the little girls directed me along the shore of the lake, up into the hill, toward the bushes full of blueberries. “Mammy you do like this.” Isla showed me how to pick one and drop it into the bucket. Zoe put one in the bucket and ate the next and we did that for a few moments before Hayley and Emma and Sophie joined us.

Zoe said, “Oh-fee help boo-berries,” and climbed into Sophie’s arms.

Sophie laughed. “Aye, Oh-fee loves picking blueberries.”

Hayley said, “We better love it, we have been picking blueberries nonstop for days.”

Emma said, “So, tell us the story of your trip.”

I said, “Well, ultimately, we found a younger Lady Mairead, but not the current one, the one we are looking for, but we might have narrowed it down to some godforsaken ranch in the nineteenth century — heads up, Magnus’ll probably be taking Fraoch and James and Lochie with him when he goes. I don’t know about Quentin.”

Emma said, “He looks pretty bothered by Hammond’s death, is he okay?”

“I think he’s okay. He didn’t really go into it, but Hammond betrayed him pretty badly. I don’t think he wants to think about it, so he’s not talking about it, but yeah, it’s very complicated. It’s been a tough day. Tough two days... maybe only one day, I can’t remember when I last slept.” I looked around at the bushes and sighed. I was very exhausted and it was many hours until nightfall. “Speaking of... you want to keep picking blueberries while I go take a nap, Isla?”

“Mammy, you can’t take a nap, it’s a waste of your life.”

“This is so true, but also, sometimes, a day in your life is so big and long you just have to rest your eyes for a minute.”

* * *

I found myself lying on the bed in our room, staring up at the giant timber walls.What a weird place.Wondering like I so often did,are we safe?

It felt safe. It felt like a fortress. We were in a part of a state we had never been in before, a new place. I began to fall asleep when the door opened and Magnus, warm and big, climbed onto the bed. “Ye arna under the covers.”

“I’m catty-corner to signify this is just a nap.”

He dropped down beside me across the bed and snuggled his face against my shoulder.

I said, “You were sleepy too?”

“I canna remember when we last slept and I needed yer softness. A lot of the world seems hard right now.”

I turned and wrapped my arms around his head and slowly we fell asleep in the middle of the day.

CHAPTER 43 - KAITLYN

We woke up to the truck pulling up in the gravel by the front door and the sound of bags being dropped in the foyer, keys being dropped into the dish on the counter, Hayley, Sophie, and James returning from a supply run to Walmart.

Magnus said, “Sounds like we are up.”

“Yep.”

We went downstairs to see bags all over the entryway.

Hayley said, “We got two pairs of jeans for everyone, three shirts. Pajamas.”

Quentin and James carried in yet another load of bags behind her.

She continued, “Shoes for all. It’s all plain, and basic, but we can at least get out of these sweats we’ve been wearing for days.”

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