Page 9

When Alyssa was finished cleaning the cottage the next morning, she walked outside, finding the guard who was going to walk with her there. She didn’t smile or make eye contact, because she really didn’t want him trailing along behind her on her walk, despite what Kendrick wanted.

She walked to Bonnie’s cottage and told her she was going for a walk, and she would be missing her cooking lesson that morning. “I probably don’t need cooking lessons every morning anymore. I’m figuring things out quickly. Could I still come by and visit most mornings?”

Bonnie nodded, looking excited at the prospect. “Anella and I would love it.”

Alyssa raised her hand and turned around walking toward the other end of the village.

She still wanted to explore the woods and what was behind them.

She had her sword strapped to her side, and she was ready to use it if anything happened.

She was determined to pretend the guard wasn’t behind her.

She carried a basket on her other side, hoping to find a few berries to pick along the way.

As she walked, she stared at the beauty of the highlands that surrounded her. Many of the flowers were dying off as summer was over and autumn was starting, but autumn was her favorite time of year.

She could see the trees had changed their hues, the gold, orange, and red of autumn perking her up as she continued to walk. She paid no attention to whether the guard was still behind her, and she tried not to think of him.

She stepped into the wooded area, which was mostly pine trees, but there were so many other colors that she didn’t mind too much.

She found a tree stump and studied around it, smiling at how it had become entangled in another tree.

This was nature at its finest, before plastic and paper polluted the entire world.

Alyssa paused to fill her basket with all the blackberries she could find. They would be delicious in a crumble, and she was sure she could figure out how to make one with the ingredients at hand. The more she walked, the freer she felt.

She went through the wooded area and beyond, making a huge loop all around the land and around the loch, ending up back on the same road she’d started on. There had been no dangers, and nothing that had frightened her. Surely, she’d be able to go alone now that she’d proven she would stay safe.

Putting her berries on the table, she headed over to the keep for lunch with her friends. It was nice she only had to cook one real meal a day. If she made oatcakes with supper, Kendrick happily ate them for breakfast the next morning.

Her spirits were lifted after the walk, but not as much as she’d hoped for, and she was certain it was because she was constantly thinking about the guard who was following her, no matter how she tried to pretend he didn’t exist.

She joined the others, and they had their first trial of pizza for lunch. It was a bacon cheeseburger pizza because Holli told them the idea of mutton on a pizza made her want to lose everything she’d eat for three months.

Alyssa and Heather both understood and agreed that bacon cheeseburger was a perfectly good pizza to have for their meal.

While they sewed that afternoon, Alyssa talked to her friends about how much she’d enjoyed her walk.

“I went through the woods, and saw the beautiful fall colors, picked some berries, and came back and walked all the way around the lake. I had my sword with me, so I felt as if I was always safe.” She paused, frowning.

“Well, I had my sword and a guard who was behind me the entire way. I’m certain if I looked outside, he’d be standing there, waiting to protect me from God knows what. ”

Holli frowned. “I’m sorry you’re not as happy here as Heather and I are. Do you miss home?”

Alyssa shrugged. “I love the Highlands. Kendrick is everything I wanted in a man and even more. I already love him. What I miss is my freedom . I want to be able to fall out of bed in the morning and go for a nice long walk, all around the village and beyond. There are miles between us and Campbell land. Why can’t I at least walk in that direction? ”

Heather shook her head. “Though they are allies, there are men who may not be the type of nobleman you read about in novels. People are killed at times when leaving the village, though it hasn’t happened in a while. And there are animals that could hurt you as well.”

Alyssa sighed. “I thought Bryson went after all the animals we don’t want close to the village.”

Holli shrugged. “He does, but he doesn’t always hear about the animals until it’s too late. And at times, it’s hard to find the animals. Bryson and Kendrick were out looking for a wild dog when they found me.”

“But I can protect myself with my handy dandy sword!” Alyssa said, nodding toward the sword which she’d taken off and left lying on a large trunk across the room.

Heather frowned. “Alyssa, you’ve been training with a sword for ten days now. That’s not long enough to be adept, and you know it as well as I do.”

“I just hate feeling like a child who can’t go anywhere without a babysitter.”

“I don’t blame you,” Holli said, “but I’d rather you were alive with a babysitter than dead without one.”

Alyssa groaned. “Not you too! I’m good with this little sword of mine. I decapitated several pieces of grass earlier!”

“Did they put up a fight?” Heather asked, trying to lighten the mood, but Alyssa could tell her friends were still worried about her.

Alyssa worried about them as well. They were happy to live in the small area they’d been put into without being free to roam. She had no idea how they’d convinced themselves it was okay.

As they sewed, Alyssa did her best to keep the conversation light. There was no way she could tell her friends she planned to go for a long walk on her own the following morning. They may tell their husbands, and that would only cause problems. No, she’d rebel on her own.

“Do you know when you’re due?” Alyssa asked.

Holli shrugged. “Six months or so? I don’t know. Gavin is always kind of vague when I ask.”

“I see. Did he tell you when you were due?” Alyssa asked Heather.

Heather shrugged. “Not so much, but he told me every day that I was doing well. When he was here, that is. He gave me this nasty stuff to drink while he was gone to keep me from getting sick, but I gave up drinking it after my first trimester when my stomach had settled. Honestly, the hardest part for me was having all the boys so close together. I had all seven in the space of eight years. Well, two are twins, but that’s still a lot of pregnancies fast.”

When Kendrick arrived at the keep to accompany Alyssa home, he asked how she’d enjoyed her walk that day.

“It would have been better if I had been alone, of course, but it was fine. I picked some berries that I’m going to make into a pie or cobbler later this week.

Oh, maybe I’ll make little pie pockets. Those would be yummy! ”

He grinned, happy that she’d had a good day, even though she still complained of the guard. That was fine with him, as long as she walked with him.

When they got home, she threw several things into a pot and put it all into the fireplace to cook. She’d enjoyed Dutch Oven cooking back in New York, and she saw no reason why she couldn’t apply the same principals to the large pot and lid she had for it.

After putting supper on—which she realized she should have done after their walk—she sat with him at the table. “How much longer are the men going to be working on that wall?”

He chuckled. “Until I feel they’re strong enough to continue training. I can’t believe how weak some of the men have gotten. We haven’t been to war or a clan skirmish in quite some time, and they’ve all gotten soft.”

She smiled. “Oh, we should have a few berries now,” she said, jumping up and washing the berries in water she’d drawn from the well that morning.

She put them into a bowl, added a little sugar, so they wouldn’t be quite so sour, and mixed it all together, serving them in bowls with spoons.

“Now we have something to eat while we wait on our supper.”

“This would be really good with an oat cake,” he said after his first bite.

Alyssa laughed and got him some oat cakes from across the way. She was determined to act as if she was fine, so she could go for a walk the next morning without him suspecting what she was planning.

“What are your plans for tomorrow?” he asked, casually.

“I’m going to visit with Bonnie in the morning, and I’ll probably spend the afternoon with Holli and Heather again. We’re making progress on the baby clothes Holli needs. Your mother said that all the clothes she had for you and your brothers have worn out.”

He nodded. “There were seven of us. Not many garments would be able to withstand seven people wearing them.”

“This is true.” She yawned. “We tried pizza for lunch, and I think we almost have it perfected. We’ll wait until Beth and Gavin are back before we have it again though. Cook really did a nice job on it.”

“Where all did you go on your walk?” Kendrick asked. His guard had already told him, but he wanted to hear it from her. He was certain she was happier with conversation than with silence.

“Through the woods, around the keep and over the hill on the other side of the keep, and around the loch before I went back to the keep.”

“Did you talk to your guard?”

She shook her head. “No, I was trying to pretend he wasn’t there. I hate having someone walk with me that way.”

He frowned. “But you did get to walk everywhere you wanted to go?”

“Yes, I did.” There was no reason to say more on the matter as far as Alyssa was concerned. She’d have a real walk in the morning. “Little Anella is doing much better after being so sick. I’m so thankful. I really like Bonnie, and I don’t make friends very easily.”

“It seems to me you’re surrounded by friends,” Kendrick said.

Alyssa thought about that for a minute. “Well, I have Heather and Holli, and I think Beth and Bonnie are shaping up to be friends as well. It’s odd when you realize that before I came back in time the only person I felt comfortable talking to was a purple-haired crazy woman.”

He chuckled. “Dr. Lachele?”

She grinned at him. “I guess you have heard of her, haven’t you?”

“She’s a legend in our family,” he said. “She arranged for my grandparents, parents, and my brother to meet.”

“And you,” she said.

He chuckled. “I hadn’t thought of her as the one who made us meet. I like knowing she is the one though.” He looked at her for a moment. “What made you decide to follow your friends back in time?”

Alyssa sighed. “It took me forever. I think I went to book club four times dressed and ready to go and chickened out every time. I finally called her and asked her to come over and send me back. I knew if I did it quickly, it would be harder for me to back out.”

“You were afraid?”

She laughed. “Wouldn’t you be? How would you feel if you knew you were about to travel back in time to marry an unknown person? Wouldn’t that frighten you?”

“I don’t know. I know I’ll never do that because I’m married, so I haven’t given it much thought.”

By the time supper was ready it was late. “I’m sorry I’m serving supper this late. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“I’m happy to have sustenance, and a beautiful wife serving me supper, whether it’s early or late.”

After putting his plate on the table, she leaned down and kissed his cheek. “You may just be my favorite husband.”

He laughed. “I’d better be the only one.”

Early the next morning, Alyssa did what she’d told Kendrick she would do.

After cleaning the cottage, she walked to Bonnie’s house and visited for a bit, and then she began her walk.

This time she started in the woods again, but she went out and around the village on the other side, enjoying herself immensely.

As she walked, she thought about how happy she was with Kendrick. Maybe they had different ideas about whether she should go out alone or not, but she loved him. He was a good man. Heather and Holli had been right when they urged her to marry him.

She got back to the village just in time to join Heather and Holli for lunch, though this time her mood was very different than the day before.

It had been all she could do not to sing the song, “Sound of Music,” in her very offkey voice as she walked.

She had spun like Maria Von Trapp a couple of times, though, as she hummed the song to herself.

As they ate their baked potatoes with all the good fixings, Heather told a story about her twin sons.

“They couldn’t have been more than five or six, and they kept trying to go into the loch all summer, even though neither of them had any idea how to swim.

It seems that Bryson had decided if they got into trouble in the water, he would just call the fish to bring them to the surface. ”

“Did it not work that way?” Alyssa asked.

“Thankfully, I never found out. When I pulled them out of the water for the fifth time that summer, I set them down and asked them why they kept getting into danger. Kendrick told me it was always Bryson’s idea, which didn’t sound quite right, but I asked Bryson next.

Bryson told me that his friends the fish were watching him and ready to float him to the surface of the water.

‘Don’t worry, Mama. The fish friends will keep us safe.

’ I wanted to spank them both and make them sit in an inescapable room for hours.

Instead, I held them close and begged them to never do that to me again. ”