Wikipedia search of Mary of Guise and Lord Châtellerault and found that she was poised to take over as regent not long after we left.
“Good,” I said, “she was way cooler.”
“Aye,” said Magnus.
I turned to him. “Can you believe it? That we can look this up and know how it turns out?”
“Tis as if we hae been conversin’ with ghosts.”
“Yeah, true.” We held hands and continued on with the stories. We ate dinner there on the furniture in the living room, drinking, talking. How do you share a whole year’s worth of living with people who weren’t there? It was impossible but we tried, with Zach following along with the laptop, showing photos as we talked.
At one point he showed us a reimagined video of mid-sixteenth century Edinburgh. Magnus scowled. “Tis nothin’ like it. Twas filthy, verra noisy, and had an awful stench.” We all laughed.
All this time Isla toddled around, or went to Emma’s lap and sat with her, or with Beaty, obviously knowing she could ask Beaty for anything at any time, and she even sat in between Fraoch and Hayley and made Hayley read a board book.
I sat there within inches listening, aching to hold her.
Magnus and Archie were doing better. Archie ignored me so far, his feelings were so intense toward his Da. He ran off to play with Ben but came back to show Magnus a car or a game and then would run off again. Until finally, dinner over. Bedtime for the boys. Magnus went to take Archie to bed and tuck him in.
He came back and said, “I promised him we would be here in the morn.”
“It’s a scary promise, huh? It feels like a dream, like I can’t promise anything because I can’t believe I’m home.”
“He asked for ye tae come in.”
“Really, me?”
“Aye.”
Eighty-eight - Kaitlyn
I tiptoed into Archie's room.
"Hey, did you need me?"
In the dim light I could see him nod.
I kneeled down beside his head and tentatively smoothed the hair off his sweaty brow. Before I could think about it I said, "I missed you so much."
His face screwed up. "I missed you too."
I gathered him up and held him while he cried. I whispered, "I am so so sorry. Please, please forgive me, I... the whole time I was away I was heartbroken that I couldn't come home to you. I'm so sorry."
And he cried for a very long time while I held him. Until he was finally done crying and I laid his head back on his pillow.
His red-rimmed eyes were wet and glazed with sleepiness. He asked, "Will you be here while I go sleep?"
"Yes, definitely. Good night Archie, I love you."
He curled on his side. "Goodnight, mammy."
I kissed his cheek and sobbed, "Thank you."
When I came from the room, my own eyes swollen and red from crying. Magnus asked, "What happened?"
"He called me mammy."
"Och." He hugged me in his arms.
"I know." I let go of him and wiped my eyes. I said, "It's like no other word works but 'och'. I feel it in my soul."
Eighty-nine - Kaitlyn
Emma came through the room. “I’m taking Isla to her nursery, want to come?”
I followed her. “It’s a lot, huh? Two babies?”
“So much, thank God for Beaty. Or I don’t know how Zach and I would have handled all four.”
Hayley said, “And me!”
Emma laughed. “Oh yeah, and Hayley too, she even changed a diaper.”
Hayley joked, “I’ll never forget it — worst day of my life. And I’ve had some terrible days, I watched my bestie get taken away to the dark ages.”
Isla had those deep drooping sleepy eyes. I stood to the side, quiet, unobtrusively, while Emma put her down in the crib, saying, “Shhhhhhhh, Isla, time to sleep.”
Emma whispered to me, “Would you turn down the light?”
I turned off the lamp and stood by the crib while Emma made a shhhhhhh sound for a moment more, then she nodded at me and let me take over. I tentatively smoothed back Isla’s downy hair, my heart breaking from the closeness and the distance. Then I began to sing, a lullaby that I used to sing to her when she was brand new—
My baby loves wild horses... wi-ild horses...
My baby loves horses, wi-ild ones.
My baby loves berries... black, blue, and strawberry...
My baby loves berries, wi-ild ones.
My voice wavering, tears streaming, Isla looked up into my eyes, listening, pupils wide and drawing me in, entwining us, floating us down.