The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,8

tae.”

Fraoch’s big tooth-missing grin was wide.

James said, “It’s okay man, that’s the throttle thing I was telling you, try it again.”

I held onto Archie and Ben and fought the impulse to clamp my eyes shut.

With James advising, Magnus leapt the boat forward, then tried again, slowly at first and then faster and faster. He drove us in a run up the waterway kicking up a high wake. He slowed and turned the boat in a wide circle, a plume of water spraying behind us. He drove back the way we came, turned, and did it again, up and down and around. “Och! Tis fun!” His smile was wide.

Finally, a shivering Ben said, “I’m cold!”

I said, “We should head back, dinner will be soon.”

Magnus agreed, “I am famished.” He drove the boat in a slow u-turn and putted back. There, it took ten minutes of forward and reversing, stopping to discuss, and trying again, before Magnus organized the things he knew: the water current, the boat’s buoyancy, his own aim; and got them to correspond to the boat’s speed, and corrected for momentum. Finally, we pulled alongside the dock. And then there we were. Docked.

I was so freaking proud of him, especially when I saw that smile on his face.

It did dawn on me I might rarely see him anymore, that he might spend all his time in the boat, but then again — horses were his true love.

Fraoch and Ben rode back to the house with James.

Archie hung back, choosing to walk with me and Magnus. He only walked for a short period though, before asking to be carried on Magnus’s shoulders.

Magnus and I held hands as we walked. “That was awesome watching you drive the boat.”

“I liked it verra much. Can we go tae see the horses in the morn?”

“Sure, before the feast. I can’t believe we have four horses now. I suppose that’s too many to board at our house.” The road was a quiet lane, woods on both sides of us, the road covered in oyster shells crunching under our feet.

“Master James said the island winna let me. I will hae tae keep them at the stables. Tis an easy walk though, I daena mind it much.”

While he talked I looked up at Archie, his arms around Magnus’s chin, his cheek nestled in Magnus’s hair. His whole being emanated happiness. He was so glad to have his da home. I thought about Mary of Guise leaving her children because of politics and games of thrones, and here we were, the same, centuries later.

I said, “When Isla woke up from her nap she was happy to see me.”

Magnus smiled. “Och, this is verra good news.”

“Yeah, I don’t know if I’ve ever been this happy. The loss of everything is making the little things feel so important.”

“I feel the same way.” A lizard scurried across the road in front of us. Magnus said, “Och, a wee lairg!”

Archie giggled. “Wee lairg!”

Our road inclined toward the beach until we were out from under the trees, crossing the street, walking up the drive to the front door. Hayley was home from work, and it was almost time for dinner.

It was hard to believe it, we had only been home for a day.

Five - Kaitlyn

Day One

Dinner was an easy pasta and meatballs in a sauce with garlic bread and a spinach salad with mandarin oranges. Zach acted like he threw it together, but you could see that he had tried to make something big and substantial to fill us up. We drank Coronas with lime.

Hayley was in a great mood. I was proud of her that she wasn’t drinking alcohol. Zach set-up a non-alcoholic bar, with juices and ice and chunks of fruit, that Magnus and I were drawn to as well. Zach worked hard to meet her needs. Plus she was happy. Back in the past if she had gone for a whole night without drinking I would have heard plenty of bitching. Tonight she was high-spirited and fun.

The night was easy and pretty calm. I was tempted to really celebrate, but tomorrow was Thanksgiving, the big day, so we would wait. I sat on the floor and played with Isla and followed her around and offered to read her a board book. I read Going on a Bear Hunt and she looked at the page and up at my face, and there was that look again — recognition. As if it was buried, but there all the same. My voice, maybe.