Page 54 of A Thistle Beyond Time
“Good morning, sleepy heads,” Dylan greeted. “And just why are we sleeping on the sofa? Rumor has it that a bed is much more comfortable.”
Jenna yawned and stretched, accidentally hitting Cormac’s chin. “Good morning,” she managed as she blinked the sleep from her eyes. Reaching out she gently massaged Cormac’s chin. “I’m sorry, Cormac, I didn’t mean to pop you.”
“Dinnae fear, love, it would take more than that to hurt me,” Cormac reassured her. He released his hold on Jenna and she sat up.
“I hope you two made up,” Dylan said, with a teasing glint in his eyes.
“We weren’t fighting, Dylan,” Jenna said. “Or, I guess I should say, Cormac wasn’t fighting.” She repositioned herself on the sofa and wrapped the blanket closer around her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Cormac. It seems like I’m always saying that and before you tell me that it’s okay, I’m going to tell you that it’s not. I don’t know what’s wrong with me; I don’t seem to have any control over my emotions lately.”
“I willnae tell ye it’sokay,instead, I’ll accept yer apology, if ye promise me that today ye will not be angry with me.”
“I think I can do that. I promise.” She smiled shyly at him. “Okay. We’ve got one more day together and we should enjoy it. How about if we just spend time together. I don’t have any specific plans. Let’s just see where the day takes us.”
“I believe that will be fine. I just want to spend the day with ye.” Jenna could see the love in his eyes and her heart ached at the thought of not seeing him again after tomorrow.
“I just have one question for you and I want you to be honest with me,” she stated. “I’ve been told more than enough lies lately.”
“What is it, love?” Cormac asked.
“I need you to tell me the truth. Have you and Dylan been playing a practical joke on me?” she demanded quietly.
“Jenna, I ken yer not able to believe what I’ve told ye, but ye can believe that I am nae trying to fool ye about anything.”
“He’s telling the truth, Jenna. There’s no practical joke,” Dylan added. He seemed rather serious, which Jenna knew was not typical for Dylan. If he was joking around, he surely wouldn’t have been able to keep it going for a whole week. But that left her with an even bigger conundrum. Time travel? Witches? She might not believe it, but both Cormac and Dylan apparently did. She’d try to keep an open mind and let this play out as it would. What else could she do?
“Okay. I believe you,” she said, even though she was still struggling. “I’m not going to give it another thought. Let’s make today a day that neither one of us will forget.”
“A day to remember, aye?” Cormac nodded.
Chester padded into the room, looking sleepy-eyed. “Chester, where have ye been?” Cormac fluffed his ears and ruffled the fur on the dog’s back. Chester responded by licking Cormac’s face and wriggling his delight from head to toe.
“I’m going to take Chester for his morning walk. I’ll be back a bit later. You two have fun,” Dylan winked in their direction as he leashed Chester and headed for the door. “Should we all have dinner together tonight, or would you rather be alone?”
“Together,” Cormac said, much to Jenna’s disappointment. “But only for dinner. After that I’d like to spend my final evening here with Jenna alone.”
“No problem, bro. I’ll leave you alone after we eat,” Dylan continued with a grin, opening the door.
“I’ll cook,” Jenna said. “We’ll go shopping for groceries while we’re out.”
“Okay. See you later then.” And with that, Dylan and Chester were gone, leaving Jenna alone with Cormac.
“We should get dressed,” Jenna announced, as she headed for her room. “Let’s go get some coffee.”
“And food?” Cormac asked hopefully.
“Of course,” Jenna answered. Cormac appeared very happy with the response, clearly he must have been starving. “I’ll meet you back out here.”
* * *
The coffee shop was quite crowded and Cormac couldn’t believe that all these people were waiting in line for coffee. He didn’t understand it. Coffee was good, but he didn’t think it was so good that it warranted stores on every corner and lines out through the door. People in this time seemed to always have a cup of coffee in one hand and their phone in the other. They were completely unaware of what was going on around them. Dangerous to be sure. Why only this morning, he had seen two people almost hit by the speeding wagons people used to get around. They barely looked up from their phones to notice their near demise.
Jenna paid for the coffee and pastries and led the way to a corner table for two. She ordered herself a drink with a verra long title and he got his coffee black. After drinking it with cream and sugar, he had discovered that he preferred it black. It had tasted bitter at first, but after getting used to it, he discovered he enjoyed the flavor of the coffee. Everything here was either too sweet or too salty to his taste buds. Jenna handed him abagel and cream cheese.
“Thank ye, Jenna. What do I do with this?” he asked, holding up the small container of cream cheese.
“It’s to spread on your bagel, silly,” she smiled sweetly at him. He watched carefully as she spread cream cheese on her own bagel. He immediately followed suit and took a bite and then another. If this was his breakfast, he was going to be hungry again verra soon. He sipped his coffee and admired Jenna as she ate. She was so ladylike and dainty in her movements. Exactly the woman he had imagined would be his wife. He deliberately pushed the thought away. It would do nothing but serve to sadden him.
Cormac perused the people in the room. Since his arrival, he had taken great pleasure in observing those he saw around him. He tried to imagine what their lives were like. He knew not everyone lived as Jenna and her cousin did. He had seen people, who in his time, would likely be merchants or artisans. There were plenty of poor and homeless. He had seen evidence of that daily. At Breaghacraig everyone was well cared for and had what they needed to live a good life. He knew that wasn’t the case in all parts of Scotland in his time, but those the MacKenzies were responsible for had no complaints to speak of. He felt sorry for those in San Francisco whom he’d seen sleeping in doorways and being passed by as if they didn’t exist. He was just about to ask Jenna about it when there was a scuffle outside the coffee shop. An older woman was wrestling with a much younger man, who was attempting to steal her purse and her phone. Cormac immediately rose from his seat and before Jenna could stop him, he was outside.
