73. Chapter 73 - Kaitlyn
"Mammy? Mammy, wake up!" My face pressed into the pillow, deeply asleep, I felt a nudge on my shoulder.
What?
"Mammy! Da sent us a message!"
I sat up, "What do you mean, what...? You're smiling!" He had a grin across his face.
"I woke up, Mammy, and it stopped."
"It stopped... you mean the chanting? It's not happening?"
"It's not, it's all just... nothing,"
He clamped his eyes shut as if to show me, and said, "There's a clear sky and I can see the flag against it, and I can hear the chanting too, but it's just ‘Long Live the King!' then ‘Long Live Mag Mòr!'" He opened his eyes. "Is that Da?"
I nodded. "Yeah, Mag Mòr is your father, it means Mag the Great."
"He is."
"I know."
"...and I don't have to listen to it, it stops. And it doesn't scare me, it sounds good. They're saying it to Da right now, I think."
"This is great, this is amazing."
I ran my hands up and down on my face to wake up.
Archie said, "Isla, wake up, Da sent us a message!"
"A message?"
Isla woke up and crawled sleepily onto my lap. Jack woke up, sat up, and said, "Da!"
"What message?"
He said, "Look!" He opened the book to the page, there was Magnus's handwriting:
All is well.
June 15, 1291
Please come.
Magnus
Then he pointed at a drawing of a man holding a stick.
I pointed at the words under it.
He said, "Fraoch wrote that so we would know he is there too and he's okay."
Isla said, "Why is he fishing?"
"That's so we can bring his fishing pole."
I laughed. "Oh my gosh, this is amazing, Archie, your Da wants us to come."
"Lady Mairead is going to be so mad, Da wrote all over the book. You want to see, Isla?"
She nodded.
Jack banged his hands. "Eee! Eee!"
Archie flipped the page and pointed. Isla said, "Haggis!"
Haggis ran in from his spot by the fireplace with his tail wagging. Archie said, with so much excitement, "Want to go see Da, boy?"
It made me laugh and cry the way Haggis rushed around the room looking for Da.
Isla clapped.
Archie said, "And here's three horses, that's Dràgon, Thor, and my horse, Mario."
He flipped a couple more pages. "There's a PlayStation controller, some forks, why are there forks?"
I shrugged. "Maybe they don't have forks, wow."
Archie said, "Weird, that's... really weird." He flipped the page. "And a drawing of a man.... I don't know."
I said, "I think that's Chef Zach."
Isla clapped again.
Archie showed me the first page, a sun, and my husband's writing: Tis dawn, we are beginning.
And I clapped. And my children beamed up at me and I said, "I am so excited, who wants to go see Da?"
Everyone said, "Me!" And I threw my arms around them and hugged them close.
"Okay," I wiped my eyes and climbed out of the bed. "We have to pack, we have to tell everyone."
Archie shoved his feet into shoes. "Let's go tell everyone!" We all peed first, and Isla and I put on our shoes.
My lady's maid helped me pull a bodice on and I wrapped a plaid around my shoulders, while Archie was begging to go, but I didn't want to miss anything. Then we all rushed from the room and down the hall. We passed Hayley's room first, and banged, then barged in. Archie said, "Aunt Hayley! Uncle Fraoch sent a message, he wants us to come!"
She said, "But he's okay, right? Everyone is okay?"
Archie nodded. He showed her the page. She said, "Let me guess: He wants me to bring him a fishing pole?"
Archie said, "Yep! We're going to tell everyone!"
We left Hayley's room and continued down the corridor. Zach stuck his head out from his room, Ben rushed out. I said, "Magnus sent a message, he wants us to come!"
Zach said, "To the thirteenth century?"
"We can all talk about it over breakfast."
Quentin's door opened, "What's up?"
"Magnus wants us all to come!"
"Awesome, good, alright." He ran his hand over his hair. "What time is it?"
Archie yelled, "It's dawn! It's a new beginning!"
We went down the corridor and down the steps to James's room. We knocked quietly, he stuck his head out, his hair was sticking out everywhere. Over his shoulder I could see Sophie walking with the baby on her shoulder, soothing him. He said, "Baby was up a lot."
I whispered, "Magnus wants us to come, he's good, meet at breakfast to discuss."
He nodded. "Awesome." He started to turn away but then remembered, he turned back, and put out his fist to Archie, "Man, I am happy for you, dude, you good?"
"So good, Uncle James." They fist-bumped and then James went back into the room.
We all went to Lochie's door and knocked. Lochie said, "Come in!"
All the kids and I, even Ben and Zoe now, crept in. Lochie was up, Ash was still lying down in bed. Lochie said, "What is happenin'?" Looking from Archie to me and back.
Archie said, "Uncle Lochie, Da sent us a message."
"Tis a good message?" He sank into the chair.
Archie nodded and put the book open on Lochie's lap. "Look."
"Och aye! They are well, they want us tae come?"
Archie said, "Yes, and we are supposed to bring a fishing pole, Haggis, the horses, forks, and the Playstation."
"Tis all the most important things. How are ye, wee man? Ye well? I was worried on ye."
"I am well, Uncle Lochie, remember the chants in my mind? They're gone." He swiped his hands out, emphatically. "All gone. Or the bad parts are gone, they are saying ‘Long live the King' now and it's about Da, I'm sure of it."
"Och, that is verra good." He said, "Hae ye all met Ash?"
Ash said, "I am sorry I am not up, my shoulder was disjointed."
Zoe frowned. "Boo-boo."
Ash said, "Exactly."
I said, "How are you, Ash? I've been meaning to come talk, to welcome you?—"
"I am doing really well, I totally understand, Lochie has been talking to me about what's been going on."
I had been watching her looking from Lochie to his nephew and I could see the love in her eyes. It made my heart swell. Lochie was going to be okay. Lochie said, "Ash, this is Archibald and Ben, the nephews, and Jack one of the bairns, and this is Isla and Zoe."
Isla said, "I am Isla the niece and this is Zoe."
Ash said, "I have heard so much about all of you. Where are we going?"
I said, "We have a lot to talk about, I'm calling a meeting downstairs, but Magnus has asked us to come to the thirteenth century and so we're going we need to um..."
Her eyes settled on Lochie. His eyes settled on her.
He said, "We need tae discuss."
I said, "Absolutely, of course, there's a lot to consider." I herded all the kids to the door."Will you be at breakfast?"
Lochie said, "Aye, we will meet ye down there."