The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,108

a scrape a week earlier.

“Aye, twas a terrible booboo, twas—”

I raised m’head tae see the door where wee Ben stood. “Master Ben! Are ye come tae see me as well? Come tae the pile, I hae the need of all the arms around me.” He came to the pile and jumped on as well.

Archie asked, “Are ye well, Da?”

“I am just tired again, I hae been told I am ‘stressed out’.”

Kaitlyn crawled into the tent. “Hey.”

“Hallo, mo reul-iuil. Ye brought the bairn? And even Ben?”

Behind her Chef Zach put his head through the door. “Shit, just as I guessed, you’re wasting away.”

I chuckled. “It has only been a day.”

“Nope, don’t say it, look at you, you’re starving, back here in the sixteenth century, probably not a proper cut of steak for miles. I had to come and remedy that. How you doing?”

“I hae been better, but now with all around me, I am feelin’ renewed.”

“Good. Hey Ben, hug Magnus then come out for a minute, I need you to help me gather some firewood.”

He withdrew, followed by Ben, and then Quentin stuck his head through the door. “Hey Boss, you good?”

“Aye, is everyone here?”

“Yep, except for your mother, she left on a business trip as she likes to do. Everyone else is here. Apparently we’re camping. Apparently this is something we like to do.”

“Och, thank ye, Colonel Quentin, for accompanyin’ m’family.”

“You’re welcome. Now I gotta bury an… um… something that came with…”

He withdrew.

Kaitlyn gave me a sad frown.

“Ye hae been worried, mo reul-iuil.”

“So worried, so so so worried.” She looked at the kids. “But we held hands and came to get you so we wouldn’t be worried anymore, didn’t we Archie and Isla?” The bairn nodded solemnly.

I said, “Och, nae long faces, we are camping! We will hae a time in the sixteenth century Scottish woods. We will have a… what dost ye call it Kaitlyn? When we sing…?”

“A campfire singalong?”

“Aye, we will do that, a campfire singalong. Ye will hear yer ma sing about the pasta and meatballs, twill be quite a moment for ye.” I chuckled and Kaitlyn batted my shoulder playfully.

She said, “Kids, will you go out and help with the firewood?”

Isla and Archie crawled from the tent.

Kaitlyn curled up beside me. “Now that I see you it’s like relief washed over me. I can’t even deal with the fact that you’re in bed, not yet, I’m just relieved you exist.”

I said, “When I woke up and James was nae here there was a moment of introspection for me as well. What if he dinna return? I had all the vessels, but they might stop workin’. This might hae been where I continued my days and tis a dreary past.”

She pressed her lips to my neck. “God, I couldn’t bear the thought.” She burst into tears and sobbed quietly beside me. “You promised me you wouldn’t die, you promised.” She grasped my shirt pulling it to her face while she cried intae it.

Her crying lasted for a time and I kent I had tae let it happen. She had been worried, twas her way tae cry it out.

As her tears waned though, I whispered, “I dinna die, I promised and I dinna, this is nae me breaking a promise, I am keepin’ it.”

She let go of the grip she had on my shirt and spread it out on my chest. “I know, I’m just so… Don’t do that again, don’t get this close to it.”

“I will do m’best.”

We listened tae the sounds of our family puttin’ up tents from within the canvas walls of our own. “How many times did we dream on this, bringin’ the bairn here?”

Kaitlyn said, “Every minute, and here we are — you always make my dreams come true.”

I joked, “This is yer doin’.”

Isla’s voice from outside. “Me want! Me want it!”

Archie’s, “Let her have it Ben, it’s just a stick.”

“But it’s my stick…”

Hayley’s voice, “Everyone gets a stick, it’s the woods. All you have to do is pick them up.”

I exhaled long and low. “I daena think m’body wants me tae fight anymore.”

“I agree with your body, it is exactly right.”

I looked up at the inside of the tent. “What am I tae do?”

She raised up on one arm and looked down at me. “You’ll do what all humans do, when their hearts tell them they have to slow down — you’ll slow down, because you love us so much you have to, to keep on living with us. It’s just what