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It was much later when Kendrick walked over to Alyssa and whispered into her ear. “I think it’s time for that wedding night we talked about,” he said.

Alyssa felt flushed and nervous all at once. His lips against her ear…well, they did something to her.

As Kendrick led her from the keep, someone called out loudly, “A toast! To Kendrick and Alyssa! May they have beautiful bairns who will honor their clan!”

Everyone raised a glass, and Kendrick turned. “I thank you all for being at my wedding feast. You keep feasting, and Alyssa and I will feast in a different way!”

Alyssa was shocked and embarrassed at his words, but the entire clan had laughed as if it was a perfectly normal thing to say. Her eyes met Heather’s across the crowded room, and Heather gave a nod.

As they left the keep, Alyssa said, “I’m not sure I’m ready for a wedding night.”

“Is that so?” he asked. “Then why did ye marry me?”

“I didn’t feel like I had a choice!” she said. “I felt forced into marriage, and if you don’t understand that, then you don’t understand anything.”

“I’ll not take ye against yer will, lassie, but I think ye need to think on what yer sayin’ ta me.”

His brogue had thickened in a way that sent heat straight to her core. She did love a Scottish accent. “I…maybe we can go to your cottage and kiss and see where things go from there.” She bit her lip, unsure how he’d react to her suggestion.

He laughed and swung her up into his arms, carrying her toward his cottage. When he strode in, he kicked the door shut, and set her on her feet, kissing her softly at first, and then more firmly as she reacted.

*****

When Alyssa woke the following morning, Kendrick was lying in bed with her, and the cover was down, around their waists. “I had a wonderful wedding night,” he said softly, kissing her shoulder.

She blushed profusely. “I think I’d like to cover up a little!”

He just laughed. “It’s not like I haven’t seen and felt everything you have.” With a kiss to her lips, he swung his legs out of bed with her, and she peeked at his bottom.

How could a butt look that good when he’d never even spent a minute in a gym?

“What are yer plans for the day, lass?”

She wondered if he’d ever call her by her name but decided he probably wouldn’t. “I was invited to the keep to sew with your family this afternoon.”

“Y’mean with yer two best friends and my grandmother. Stay out of trouble, lass, and have supper waiting for me.”

“Wait…what time will you be back? And how do I know what time it is? The phones don’t tell me anymore. They can’t quite orient themselves, because not only are there no cell towers, but I’ve gone back in time.”

He sighed. “Ask me mother, and she will explain. I have no idea!” With one last kiss, he hurried out of the cottage.

As soon as he was gone, Alyssa sat up, covering herself from her neck down with the plaid they’d slept under the night before. She hadn’t even had a chance to explore the little cottage.

Standing up, still holding the cover, she walked from the small bedroom she had shared with Kendrick to the main room, which seemed to be a kitchen and a sitting room all at once.

The only other room was another small bedroom.

She’d better not have seven kids, because she had no idea where they’d all go!

Still, the cottage was all she and Kendrick needed at that moment. When she looked around for food to cook, there was little. In the books she’d read, they only talked about what the lairds and royalty ate, very seldom mentioning the fare of the common man.

She had much to learn, and she would start it with her sisters-in-law. She dressed, having a terrible time with her plaid, and then left the cottage to see if she could find any of the women, she’d met the night before.

She spotted Bonnie, her baby in a basket, as she stood in the street? Road? She didn’t know what to call it. It was a dirt path through the village, and that explanation would have to work for her brain.

Alyssa hurried over to her new sister-in-law. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to eat!”

Bonnie laughed. “Of course, ye dinna. Come into me cottage, and I’ll show ye an easy way to make oat cakes.”

Following her sister-in-law inside her small cottage, she looked around, seeing that it was much like the one she was sharing with Kendrick.

“Now, I’ll show ye both how to make oatcakes and oatmeal, which will be enough of a lesson for today.

” She pulled out a large glass jar with what looked to be a cork stopper.

Realizing she would have trouble memorizing how to make two different things, Alyssa asked, “Do you mind if I record the conversation?”

“What does that mean?” Bonnie asked.

“Well, it will have your voice on it, telling me how to make the oatcakes and oatmeal. I can play it back later, so I can remember how to do it.” Alyssa looked both ways to be sure no one was looking in the window before pulling out her phone and pushing the record button.

“My name is Alyssa, and I like to use my phone.” Then she played it back for Bonnie. “Like that!”

Bonnie giggled as she heard Alyssa’s voice come back out of the small device. “Oh, aye! I would like to hear my voice come out of that box.”

Alyssa deleted what she’d recorded, and tapped the button again, this time recording what Bonnie was telling her.

The measurement of handfuls didn’t seem very exact to Alyssa and even worse was when she was told to use a pinch.

Oh well, she’d figure it out for herself after getting the vague measurements from Bonnie.

When Bonnie was finished with her lesson, she sat down with Alyssa, and they ate oat cakes together. “Oh, these are delicious,” Alyssa said. “Are oats plentiful?”

“Aye. They are the biggest crop we grow as a clan. Those and potatoes, which I’m told we shouldn’t be able to grow yet, but we’ve had them for my entire lifetime.

The first laird of Clan McClain, after the clan was renamed of course, was said to have the ability to grow anything in a matter of seconds.

I never got to see it happen, as he passed a long time ago, but I would have liked to have seen it. ”

“Does it not strike you as odd that the laird of this clan comes from a family who came from England?”

“Nay. We all grew up with the stories, and it seems normal to this clan. Other clans may feel differently, but we dinna blink at it.”

“Had you heard the story before you married into the family?”

Bonnie grinned. “The stories are told all through the clan. Though, everyone believes them to be just that, stories. When I married into the family, I found out the truth, and I must say, I was shocked. But now? It seems like it’s a normal thing to have your clan run by people with magical powers.”

Alyssa grinned. “I see. How often have you seen the powers used?”

“Oh, I see Collum’s grandfather use his all the time.

I was very ill as I carried Anella here, but he healed me over and over until I could keep food in me to grow that tiny bairn.

Anytime anyone in the clan is hurt, they are taken to him.

He hides what he does behind tinctures and salves, but I think I always knew that he was healing with his hands. ”

“Interesting. Do you ever wish Collum had a power? Like Bryson?”

“Nay. Twould keep him from me and our bairn. All the powers are important. I dinna know what I would do if Collum had to run about healing or dealing with any stray animal who comes upon our village.”

“Is that what Bryson does?” Alyssa asked. “Deal with animals?”

“Aye. If there is a wolf in the woods, he will be called to tell it to go away. We don’t want to hunt the wolves, but we don’t want them attacking us either,” Bonnie said.

“He spends much time training with Kendrick and the other men, but he is called away often. If an animal plagues any of our allied clans, he’s sent for. ”

Alyssa ate the last of her oatcake. “Thank you for teaching me and for feeding me,” she said. “I’m going to go to the keep now and see what Holli is up to.”

“You feel comfortable going to the keep alone?” Bonnie asked.

“Don’t you?”

Bonnie slowly shook her head. “I like Holli, but I canna feel comfortable in a place where magic happens all the time.”

“I can understand that,” Alyssa said. “But Holli and Heather are my best friends. I’m not afraid to spend time with them.” She got to her feet.

“Ye should come back in the morn, and I’ll teach ye more cooking.”

“I’d like that a lot!” Alyssa said as she headed toward the door. “Thank you again for helping me today.”

“What else are sisters for?”

Alyssa looked all around her as she walked toward the keep. It seemed odd to her that the family members of the laird would live so simply, but she didn’t mind of course. She wondered how the former lairds felt about their drop-in stations, though.

When she got to the keep, she wasn’t certain if she should walk right in, or knock.

In Julie Garland’s Highland books, the keep was like a meeting place and people were in and out all the time.

But in some of the others she’d read, it wasn’t like that, and people were expected to knock.

She decided to knock, preferring to err on the side of caution.

Holli opened the door and shook her head. “Just come in, silly.”

When Alyssa explained her thought process, Holli laughed. “I guess I lived here right away, and I didn’t have to worry about things like that.”

“I had no idea what I was supposed to do for food. I ended up going to Bonnie’s house, and she taught me to make oatcakes and oatmeal, and she was super excited when I recorded her.

” Alyssa shook her head. “I don’t know exactly how much two handfuls of oats is, but I’m sure going to try to figure it out! Her oatcakes were amazing.”

Holli nodded. “They are. She makes the best oatcakes I’ve eaten here.”

“So, let’s talk potatoes…”

Holli grinned. “Harvest was just in. It’s September, and the leaves will start turning soon. At least they tell me they will. It’s my first year here too, remember.”

“Can we eat baked potatoes for lunch?” Alyssa asked. “And how do you think Kendrick would feel about my baked potato soup.” Alyssa had cooked a good deal more than either of her roommates, and she was excited to start experimenting with the foods that were available.

Holli stood. “I’ll let Cook know you want baked potatoes.”

“You have a cook named Cook?”

Holli giggled. “Wouldn’t that be funny? But no, when she started cooking here when Heather first arrived, everyone quit calling her by her name, and started calling her Cook. She responds to it, and it’s not hard to remember.”

“But doesn’t it dehumanize her?”

Holli tilted her head to one side to think about the question. “I don’t think so. It’s how she introduced herself to me.”

“Okay. If she doesn’t mind, then who am I to throw a fit over it?”

“I’ll be right back. Going to tell her baked potatoes. This clan has now had potatoes for three generations. We don’t trade or share them though, so history shouldn’t change. Even Clan Campbell doesn’t get a share of potatoes.” With that, Holli disappeared behind a door.

When she came back, she had a huge grin on her face.

“Cook said she’d anticipated me, and they’re already baking.

” Holli led the way into the parlor, plopping down on a wooden bench that seemed to double as a sofa.

“I’ve been craving potatoes with little Herbert here, so she’s kind of figured out I need them daily. ”

“Herbert? Tell me you are not going to name that poor baby Herbert.”

“Probably not. But it’s fun to call him that. I think we’re probably going to settle on Finn, but don’t tell Bryson I told you. He’s convinced that if people know the baby’s name before he’s born, it’s bad luck.”

“That’s odd,” Alyssa said. “I’ve never heard that.”

“Yeah, I thought it was weird too. Heather tried to convince all her sons that it wouldn’t happen that way, but apparently, no one believed her.” Holli shrugged. “The clan influence is much too strong when it comes to superstition.”

“I get that. It’s their culture. Of course, their culture is also sort of modern American?” Alyssa shook her head. “Every time I try to figure out this time travel stuff, my head starts to hurt.”

Holli shrugged. “I’ve quit trying. Being pregnant is good for me.”

“How far along are you?”

“Within the first few days of being here,” Holli responded. “It’s nice having a healer for a grandfather who can just tell you when your child is due.”

“Does he deliver the babies too?”

“Well, yeah! Who else is qualified?”

Alyssa frowned. “Is there no midwife?”

“Not one who can do what Gavin can. Seriously, the man is a walking miracle.” Holli shrugged. “I wouldn’t take a midwife with their archaic childbirth methods if my life depended on it. Nope. Gavin is my man.”

“I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable with a man delivering my baby.” Alyssa realized that she could also be pregnant, but she didn’t think it would happen as quickly for her as it had for Holli. She wasn’t the one who was destined to have seven babies, after all.

“I’m sure someone else could catch the baby and be the one all up in your girly bits if it was that important to you. But you’d still want Gavin there. If anything went wrong with either you or the baby, he could heal you fast.”

“How does the healing work?” Alyssa asked.

“I asked the same thing when I got here,” Holli said. “He takes a bit of the pain onto himself, and it leaves your body. He is sick for just a moment as his body heals itself from the wound. Pretty cool, huh?”

“I sure think so!” Alyssa said. “Maybe I will have him there when I have babies. If I have babies. What if I can’t?”

“Then Gavin will heal you so you can. He’s good at what he does.”

“What is the clan going to do when he passes away?” Alyssa thought they may be relying too heavily on an old man.

“I guess we’ll learn to go to normal healers then. But it won’t be easy!”