be angry at me, but I am yer Da, and I am sorry I hurt ye. Ye canna hurt me more than I a’ready feel it. Ye can yell at me, but I was lost, and I was tryin’ tae get home, and I couldna. It was verra hard. Please daena hold it against me.”
Archie said, “I hate you.” But as he said it he climbed into Magnus’s lap and curled up sobbing.
“I am yer father, please daena hate me, I love ye and I am doin’ m’best.” And Magnus wrapped his arms around Archie and held him there in the doorway.
Ben stood farther away watching all the fuss. The two boys were so much bigger, what was Archie now, almost four? Older? I needed my calendar. I would probably need to ask Emma. I looked over at Emma sitting in a chair, nursing one baby, consoling the other.
Zach said, “Okay, great, one down. Let’s see — I’m making dinner. What do you want Magnus, Katie?”
“A Big Mac and fries?”
“How about an Angus burger, loaded with bacon and cheddar, with truffle fries, a gigantic salad with citrus, and to top it off, ice cream with all the toppings?”
I said, “You had me at Angus, and loaded, and yes to toppings, all of it.” I turned to Hayley. “And, quick thing, tough to mention without — um... Could you get me a lice treatment? Probably for Magnus too?”
She said, “Holy shit, where the fuck were you?”
“The dark ages, you know this. My head itches.”
“Let me see.” She parted my hair at the base and looked. “Ugh, oh my god, yeah, um...” She grabbed her purse off the chair. “Yeah, headed to the drug store, anybody need anything else?”
Eighty-seven - Kaitlyn
Magnus and I went to our bathroom to shower. It was the greatest goddamn thing ever. Absolutely ever, ever, ever. There was nothing more. Afterward, we wrapped in robes and applied the lice treatment, and then we showered again.
Then in towels and robes and barefoot and clean as could be, squeaky clean, so clean we just about ran out the water heater and it was a big ass water heater, I sat in front of Hayley and Magnus sat in front of me for lice-picking. This was actually rather funny. Especially when Fraoch said, “Why?”
“Because there are bugs in our hair.”
He joked, “Och, they are tae bedevil ye so ye will remember tae praise God.”
Hayley teased, “Are you saying that lice are there to keep us religious?”
“Aye. We hae tae hae trials and tribulations tae ken heaven when it comes.” Hayley pulled the comb through my hair and sloshed it in the bowl of soapy water.
“Bullshit, bugs serve no purpose, and just for that Mister Highlander, you might need to go take a shower.”
I said, wincing from the comb, but rather enjoying her fingers massaging my scalp and pulling through my hair, “I don’t actually think we need any more trials and tribulations.”
Magnus said, “Nae, or reasons tae pray, we hae been down on our knees verra regular. I would like tae walk on m’feet for a time, without bugs in m’hair.”
So then, James joined us, and while we drank a steady stream of beers from the cold, blissfully cold refrigerator, Magnus and I began to tell our story. Zach jumped from his seat to get his laptop as I was telling the story of the nursery. “You were there in the winter of 1551-1552. Was the baby named Duncan?”
“Yes.”
Zach’s eyes went wide. “His name is Duncan of the Seven Castles, Black Duncan to be exact. Look at the portrait of him.”
I said, “What the hell,” and crossed my arms across my chest reflexively. “Gross.”
“Not really, it’s kind of cool, you might have kept him alive and he built many of the castles around there.”
Magnus said, “Which ones?”
Zach listed them, “Kilchurn, Achallader, Loch Dochart, Finlairg, Edinample, and your family’s, Balloch.”
Magnus said, “Kilchurn as well?” He turned to me, “Ye ken, tis m’favorite castle. Twas Uncle Baldie’s home. Ye might hae played a hand in it!”
I sighed. “Fine, I’ll agree that maybe that’s kind of cool.”
James was looking at a portrait of Duncan. “What a fine looking chap, that ruffle around his neck really makes his eyes pop.”
The portrait was ridiculous, he was an ugly little man with a scowl and protruding eyes. I said, “He was cuter when he was baby, though not by much.”
Magnus and I continued the story and when we got to the part about Edinburgh we did a