Page 7

That evening, Kendrick appeared to walk Alyssa home, obviously frustrated by the entire day.

“I want you to not leave the village without a guard from now on,” he said as they walked toward their cottage.

“I’m not trying to control you, but I do need you to be safe.

Walking to other houses in the village is fine.

Even going to the keep is fine, but do not leave the village without me or a man I appoint to take care of you. ”

“What about the woods?” she asked. There was a wooded area on the other side of town from the loch. “I think the woods would be beautiful to walk in.”

“I’m sorry, lass. I have to say no. I don’t know what type of man you’ll run into. There are always allies as well as enemies coming to our land so they can get Grandfather to heal someone. I canna risk you that way.”

Alyssa frowned. “I feel like I’m being kept in a cage. I went everywhere on my own in New York. Heather, Holli, and I even went to the city once to see a play.”

“It is more dangerous here.”

“You haven’t been on the streets in New York!” She told him, trying to think of a compromise. “I could carry a bow and arrow.”

“Nay, lass. You will not be safe enough.” Kendrick looked like he hated having to tell her she couldn’t go anywhere, and she could see he was willing to talk about the issue, but he wasn’t bending so far.

“What if I went out with other women, at least three of us, and I made sure I was within yelling distance of the village at all times?” Alyssa was grasping at straws. Being trapped in the village was not something she wanted.

“Nay. If you want to go on a walk, all you must do is let me know, and I will assign one of me men to guard you. It’s as simple as that.”

“I like to be alone,” Alyssa explained. “And I like to take long walks through nature, just looking at everything around me.”

“And I like having me wife alive!”

“What if I promise not to get killed?” She knew the idea was ridiculous, but she also knew she didn’t want a guard.

“Me cousin thought ye were fetching. He said you’re the type of woman clan wars are fought over.” He opened the door to their cottage. “I canna risk ye, lass. Ye are mine now.”

“But what if I want to walk alone?”

“Me guard will follow ten feet behind ye. Does that work for ye?”

“It’s like being quarantined for Covid all over again! Of course, then it was six feet, now I get ten.” Alyssa sat down at the table despondently. “Are you going to set up a guard for me every day? Because I want to walk around and explore.”

“I dinna like the idea of a man being kept from training, but if that’s what it takes, I’ll do it.”

Alyssa sighed dramatically. “How do you know the guard won’t hurt me?”

He stared at her for a moment. “Yer right. You’ll have to only walk with me.”

And Alyssa knew she could never follow his orders. She couldn’t be always caged. “All right.”

“Ye’ll do as I say?” he asked, watching her carefully.

She shrugged, staring at the floor in front of her. “I made oat cakes this morning, but I don’t know how to make anything else yet. I suppose that will have to do for supper.”

“Dinna ye say ye can cook?”

“Sure, I can. With a proper stove, oven, microwave, and all the other things I had with me in the twenty-first century. I know how to make oat cakes and oatmeal over that fire.”

“A man canna live on oats alone! Dinna ye go to yer cooking lesson this morning?”

“I did, but Bonnie’s baby was sick. So, I didn’t get my lesson. I’ve only learned to cook those two things.”

He groaned. “Ye will keep trying ta learn?”

“Sure.” Alyssa didn’t have a lot to say to him, because she now knew she could never stay with him. He was unreasonable. The more they spent time together, the harder it would be to leave him. Though where she’d go, she had no idea.

“Well, then, I will try one of yer oat cakes, and we will go to beg me mother to cook for us.” Kendrick reached for an oat cake and took a big bite of it. “Is this from your first-time making oat cakes?”

“Yes. Are they good?”

“Delicious,” he said, finishing the first and reaching for another. “They are very sweet.”

She noticed his accent was fading as he was less upset. She didn’t want to think about how strong it would be when he realized she was gone.

After his second oat cake, he took her hand and led her to his mother’s cottage next door. “Mother,” he said, kissing her cheek. “Alyssa hasn’t learned how to cook yet…”

Heather opened her door wide. “I’ll have to find someone to work with her on that. I’m not the best cook in the world.” She looked at Alyssa and her eyes narrowed. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve just been told that I’m now a prisoner of the village, so not exactly.”

Heather looked at her son. “A prisoner of the village? How did this come about?” She folded her arms across her chest, all but daring him to tell her what her friend meant.

“She walked around the loch today, and one of the Campbell cousins frightened her. I told her not to leave the village unless she has either a guard or me at her side.” Kendrick said, as if it was all totally reasonable, he didn’t want his wife to leave the village.

Heather took a step closer to the large man and stuck her finger right in the middle of his chest. “You cannot keep a woman of the twenty-first century confined that way. She will leave, and then you will have to go and find her and bring her back unharmed. I understand your worries, but that is taking things much too far.”

“But ye have always—”

“What I have done to appease your father is not what every woman would do. You will allow her to walk with a female friend, or you will allow her to carry a weapon, once you have trained her in its use. There will be no prisoners in this village!” She stabbed him with her finger multiple times to get her point across.

Alyssa bit her lip to keep from laughing. She had only seen her friend as just that, her friend. Seeing her in mom-mode, getting onto her son who was at least half a foot taller than her and not backing down a single inch was almost comical.

“Mother, it’s not that simple—”

Heather took a step even closer to Kendrick.

“Oh, yes, it is. Ye will not turn your wife into a prisoner. I know you care for her, and I know she cares for you, but this is ridiculous. Teach her to use a knife, or there is the sword all of you boys learned to fight with. Teach her, and you won’t have to worry anymore! ”

Kendrick sighed deeply. “Would you agree to staying in the village until I was able to train you to use a sword?”

Alyssa nodded. “I would be happy to. It’s such a reasonable compromise.” In a way, she felt guilty about siccing his mother on him, but there was no way she was going to stay locked up in the small village with a whole world to explore just outside it.

“We will begin training tomorrow evening,” he told her.

Derek stood in the corner of the room, trying not to grin about the way his son was brought down a peg by his mother.

“What are we cooking tonight, Heather?” Alyssa asked. She would be happy to jump in and help if Heather needed it.

Heather shrugged. “I have some ground beef. I’ll probably throw some potatoes in with it, like sliced into tiny pieces. Add some carrots and some seasoning and call it a meal.”

“Sounds good to me!” Alyssa said. “Why don’t I start with the potatoes. I’ll peel and slice.”

They worked together to make supper, while Kendrick and Derek went for a walk.

As soon as they were out of hearing distance, Derek clapped his son on the shoulder. “Next time you want to make a rule for your wife, talk to me about it first.”

Kendrick shook his head. “Who would have thought Mother would fly off the handle like that when all I was doing was trying to keep her friend safe?”

“I could have told you how that would go. Your mother considers herself a woman of the twenty-first century, even though we are living in 1329. I know it doesn’t make sense, but she’s a woman.”

“Aye,” Kendrick said. “Now I must go home and find a way to tell my wife she may never run to my mother when we disagree again.”

Derek laughed heartily at that. “I don’t believe that’s what you really want, son.”

Kendrick shook his head. “Mother would be angry with me again, wouldn’t she?”

“Oh, aye, she would. She would be furious. Alyssa came here as one of your mother’s best friends.

She didn’t expect to marry her friend’s son, but that’s what’s happened.

She was here for your mother before you.

Aye, she wanted love, but she missed her best friends.

Your wife will seek refuge with someone else in the village or leave the clan territory completely if you tell her not to go anywhere.

You must learn that these women of the future are different than our men who think the world is led only by men.

In the future, women will be ruling some countries even.

At least that’s what Heather and me own mother have told me. ”

“But tis not right for her to run to mother if there’s a problem with me. We will never learn to settle our own disputes!”

Derek nodded. “But there has to be a way to let her know that without telling her she can’t talk to your mother about it.”

Kendrick groaned. “I married the wrong lass, didn’t I? I should never have married Mother’s best friend.”

Derek smiled. “I don’t believe you married the wrong lass. I believed the lass you married is more complicated than a woman from the village would be. There is nothing wrong with that, but it will take some time to get used to her ways.”

“I can see that now.” Kendrick decided to keep thinking about his dilemma throughout the evening.

By the time they had walked all the way around the village and back to his parent’s cottage, supper was ready, and he perked up a great deal. “This is delicious. You seasoned it better than you did last time,” Kendrick said.

“That would be your wife. I keep telling you she’s a much better cook than I am. I never get the seasoning how I want it, and she does such a good job with it.”

Kendrick smiled at Alyssa. “I look forward to eating a meal you’ve made. The oat cakes were delicious this evening.”

“Thank you. It was my first attempt. I’ve never cooked in a fireplace either.” The whole thing had been a strange experience, but she was thrilled they came out so well.

After supper, Heather and Alyssa did the dishes together as they’d done many times in the past…or rather the future. When they were finished, Kendrick invited Alyssa for a walk.

She nodded, wondering what he was going to say after she talked to his mother about what had happened. She needed to remember not to vent to her friend, because Heather would always butt in, but in that time, well, she’d needed to.

Alyssa hugged Heather. “Thanks for supper and the cooking meat in a fireplace lesson. I bet I could make that meal again.”

“No doubt in my mind!” Heather said.

Kendrick waited for Alyssa, allowing her to precede him out the door.

As soon as they were outside, she turned to him.

“I’m sorry to tell your mother on you. That wasn’t my intention.

I was simply telling my friend how my new husband was forcing me to stay in the village, and she took it from there. ”

Kendrick smiled and nodded. “Thank you. I was trying to figure out how to tell you it isn’t fair to involve my mother, but I wasn’t certain how to bring it up.”

She laughed softly. “Well, I realize my mistake, and I will try to not do it again.”

“I appreciate that.” He started toward the woods, and she walked beside him, gripping his arm as they went along.

“I need to tell you a story about my Grandmother Gillian and these woods.” He quickly recounted the story where his grandparents had played house, and his grandfather had removed a wolf’s heart.

“Someone else told me that same story! I cannot wait to meet your grandmother Gillian.”

“She’s a good person. She does some small healing of her own with tinctures and ointments. Nothing like my grandfather, of course, but she was the healer for the clan before he was born.”

“I think it’s so neat that there have been so many different powers in your family. I love hearing stories about how they were used.”

“And your family? What stories do you have about your family?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Normal family. I didn’t appreciate my parents enough.

I wasn’t rebellious, but I just didn’t see them as anything special.

They died in a car accident while I was in massage school, so I inherited their house.

It was large, so I invited Heather to live with us, and then she met Holli, and we had a trio of roommates, who did everything together.

” Heather and Holli had somehow replaced having a family.

She didn’t have parents anymore, but she had two sisters.

“And this book club, I’ve heard Mother and Grandmother talk about. What was that like?”

She smiled. “How many books have you seen in your life.”

He shrugged. “Probably fifteen or more,” he said proudly. His parents had an extensive library, unrivaled by anyone else in the clan, or in the families of their allies.

“Well, imagine walking into a room, and there being shelves and shelves and shelves of books. Thousands or more. And then you climb a flight of stairs, and on the second floor, you see the same thing again, with tables all around where you can sit with friends or work on your own. That’s where we held our meetings. ”

“That sounds truly amazing.”

“Come to think of it, it was amazing. Now I can hold hundreds and hundreds of books on those devices I brought back with me. It’s not the same as holding a real book in my hands. I love how books smell and feel. I will hug a special book to my chest when it’s over.”

“And the pounding sweets game?”

“Yes, Candy Crush as well.”

“I don’t know why my grandmother is obsessed with that game.”

“I have never played so I don’t know…”