Page 117 of The Empire and the Wolf King

“I hae already started the process to give him a title. He will be the Earl of Breadalbane. Ye ken he is my many-times great-grandson, I found him tae hae a likeness in Sean, who I am still deeply mourning.”

“How did Sean get involved in time travel?”

“He wanted tae help ye, I think. I daena ken, but he died in the act of doing it and therefore…” She wiped her tears.

Magnus said, “The rest of the family was stuck in the past? Who and for how long?”

She pulled a book from her pocket and opened it at a ribbon marker. She listed: “Zach and Emma, and their children, Fraoch was there with his wife, Jack and Isla and Archibald, they had lived there for ten years. Archibald had two men, I daena ken who, he called Uncle, Uncle Cailean, and Uncle Wallace. They lived taegether at Innis Chonnel.”

Magnus’s brow drew down. “Och, Cailean is a good man, though I daena ken how William Wallace has become an ‘uncle’ tae my bairns.”

She said, “He was raising arms with Archibald tae win him yer throne.”

Magnus nodded. “So once ye got the vessel back there, Archibald could hae rescued everyone, but…”

“He tells me that Emma was gravely injured so he wanted tae rescue them earlier.” Her eyes settled on Haggis beside Magnus’s chair. “Part of his reasoning was because of the age of yer dog.”

Magnus said, “Haggis lived that long?”

“Archibald said he was trying tae stay alive for ye tae return, I believe he is givin’ the dog too much credit.”

Magnus scratched Haggis between the ears. “Ye arna givin’ Haggis enough. Right boy? Ye are a cù math.”

She continued on without acknowledging the dog. “But then he decided, against my initial resistance, tae do a full overwrite. Therefore, instead of rescuin’ everyone, Archibald went ahead and murdered Asgall. He also visited ye, because he missed ye, which Ialsodid not agree tae, but I daena hold it against him. He did just what he set out tae do and is done with his part in it. Our conspiring made it possible for this do-over, as ye so eloquently call it, Kaitlyn.”

I asked, “Where is he now, this older Archibald?”

“He has returned tae the year 1301, Scotland. He was goin’ tae raise arms alongside his Uncle Wallace. I do pray he is well, he did me a great service in rescuing us all, but I haena wanted tae look on the official record about his fate. I daena ken if my heart can bear it.”

Magnus said, “We hae a baby coming, is this do-over of our timeline goin’ tae change anythin’ important?”

“Nae, except…” She leveled her eyes on Lochinvar, who was leaning back, balancing on two legs of his chair.

He dropped the front legs. “What?”

“There is the matter of yer wife.”

He blinked.

I said, “His wife? What…?”

She kept her eyes steady on Lochinvar. “Ye gained a wife during all of this.”

Fraoch said, “Och nae, how much time passed? I thought ye were talkin’ about a few weeks, but the lad haena even the courage tae speak tae any lasses, how’s he goin’ tae talk one intae marryin’ him?”

Magnus said, “Och, a marriage is a verra big deal, overwritin’ it was the best we could do?”

“Aye, I couldna come up with anything else, and I did think on it, Lochinvar. I met Ash, I did rather like her.”

Lochinvar’s brow drew down, “Ash? Tis the bonny lass from the Palace Saloon?”

“Aye, I believe that is where ye met her.”

“I never met her before, I hae only admired her from afar…”

“Well, somewhere between,” she flipped a page in her book and her finger trailed down the page, “now and two days from now, ye assured me that ye had made a thumb oath with her.”

Fraoch said, “A thumb oath, what is a thumb oath, the one with the spit?”

---