The Empire and the Wolf King (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #21)

11. Chapter 11 - Kaitlyn

CHAPTER 11 - KAITLYN

SECOND BEST ROOM IN THE COACHMAN’S REST - 1775

M agnus sank into his chair with a look of exuberance on his face. “Och aye, Kaitlyn, we hae done it!”

“I’m literally thrilled, that was a miracle, and we got him to put our names in his book! Thomas Jefferson wrote our names down, and the date, and he wrote about the pen, didn’t you see him write about the pen?”

“Och aye, he wrote with a modern pen about the modern pen. The scholars will be writin’ about the meeting here taenight for years.”

“That they will!” I raised my cup and we clinked and finished our drinks.

We smiled at each other merrily, then sighed.

We stood up and Magnus took me by the arm.

“I desperately need to piss, where do you suppose a flushing toilet is in this fine establishment?”

“There is certain tae be an outhouse outside.”

We went out the back door and there was a small shack of an outhouse a distance away with two men standing at it.

“Och nae.”

I said, “I don’t want to stand in line.”

“Aye and I will hae tae block yer door as ye go and then what, leave ye outside tae fend for yerself while I go?” He huffed. “Can ye wait until we get tae our room? I will ask the host tae direct us.”

“Yeah, I can wait, but what a pain in the ass, just to go take a piss. I’ll be glad when this is over, we’re so much closer now.”

We found the host and followed him upstairs, down a narrow corridor to our room. When he opened the door I first noted the simple rope bed with a lumpy straw mattress and rough woolen blankets. Second, I saw the washstand with a chipped ceramic basin and pitcher. Beyond it, the beckoning piss pot.

Using the flame from his lantern, the host lit the single tallow candle that stood in a battered tin holder, and I thought, oh no, that is not enough light. The light flickered feebly against the darkness. There was no fireplace, alas, fine, it was hot outside, but still .

The host whispered, “My apologies, sire, there is no hearth. I have given away our finest room, but this one is our next finest, I assure you. As you saw, sire, we have been blessed with the presence of Thomas Jefferson, he considers our lowly inn to be a favorite. You spoke with him?”

Magnus said, “Aye, I met Mister Jefferson, a fine fellow.”

“Good good, I pray you will also favor the Coachman’s Rest, and that the rooms are to your satisfaction.”

“Tis a fine room. The Lady Kaitlyn and I winna want for the fireplace, thank ye.”

The host bowed out of the room.

Magnus stood with his hands on his hips and huffed, and joked, “Tommy has taken our room with the hearth, we are goin’ tae want it, and I definitely outrank him. I might never forgive him the slight. Maybe he daena get my ships for his wee revolution.”

I pulled up all my skirts, squatted over the bowl, and urinated in a rush. I was in a good mood so I groaned happily. “Wow, I needed to pee.”

I wriggled dry. “My kingdom for a square of toilet paper!”

Magnus took his turn pissing into the pot, a loud rushing stream. “We traded our kingdom for a land with nae toilet paper, I question all my choices.”

I removed my bonnet and washed up in the basin with soap, lathering up around my hands, and then splashed a little on my face, but not too much. It was another stinging soap, and was likely to make my skin raw.

He dropped his kilt and washed his hands and face with rough swiping movements while I dried my hands on a linen cloth and then took off my apron and shawl and dropped onto the bed. I had been right, it was a lumpy awful sack mattress on ropes stretched across a frame. It creaked, the joints straining under my weight. “I wonder if Tommy got a better bed too?” I bounced up and down — creak, creak. “I hope it holds you, it’s straining to hold me up off the floor.”

“It better hold me, I want a good night’s sleep after last night in a hayloft.”

He crawled onto the bed with it squeaking and straining under his weight and lay on his side near the wall.

I was sitting up. “I’m just so excited, Magnus, we had a plan, we fulfilled our plan. We could be rescued any day now. Tommy wrote the name of the inn we will be staying in tomorrow, what was it called?”

“The Oakhurst.”

“...and we… we will get there tomorrow…” I blinked. “Uh oh.”

He put his arm under his head. “Aye, we are in the wrong place, mo reul-iuil. It gives me pause.”

I nodded. “Right, yeah, when we said we would be in Charlottesville. We were not… we aren’t there. What if someone shows up to rescue us and we haven’t gotten there yet? How long does it take to get there?”

“Some hours, but afore ye ask, Kaitlyn, we canna go tonight.”

“How did you guess I was going to ask that?”

“Tis not, as Chef Zach would say, my first day at yer rodeo.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, but we can’t ? I mean, I know we can’t, we can’t travel at night…” I sighed deeply. “But we can make it there by tomorrow night?”

“Aye, we will leave first thing.”

“So if someone does go to get us there tomorrow we will be there, just in the evening, they will just hae to wait for us. They will probably wait for us, definitely. If they are coming.”

I lay down beside him so he was spooning me, my head resting on his bicep. “Now I’m kind of bummed, I didn’t really think about the fact that we were putting our location in the journal and that it wasn’t where we actually were.”

“Thomas looks tae be the kind of fella who will write in his journal where he met us.”

“So anyone who rescues us will know to check both places.”

“Aye.”

“So we could leave a message here, with the tavern host that we left and went to Charlottesville”

“That will be good.”

“Exactly, that will be good. It’s all good. But in that case we maybe could just stay here…? Seems like a lot can happen in a trip of many hours by carriage through Colonial Virginia. We could get lost, injured, waylaid in some way — maybe we should have just told Tommy that we were staying here.”

Magnus was very quiet, then he kissed my head behind my ear.

I asked, “Why don’t we just stay here?”

“Because this is a verra small village, just a junction really, an inn for travelers and not much else, tis nae fit tae be a place for us tae live.”

“Oh, in case…?”

“Aye, in case.”

“That’s depressing.”

He inhaled deeply and exhaled.

“So we might be here, in the year 1775 for a while?”

“We ought tae plan for it.” He kissed my hair again.

“Without the kids, without our friends, without anything?”

There was the shift of his head against mine as he nodded.

“Drat. Now I think we should have told Thomas Jefferson we were going to Richmond, or Boston, we might need our information in more journals, on more contracts, what if it wasn’t enough? And then…” My eyes went wide. “But we can’t leave! When we get to Charlottesville, how will we leave? We said we will be there, now we’re stuck there.”

“Ye hae gone through all the emotions, mo reul-iuil. I dinna mean tae frighten ye, but ye need tae be prepared. Tis just as likely that we will be livin’ in this time as that there will be a rescue party awaiting us at the Oakhurst Inn in Charlottesville. Ye must be thankful if we are rescued, and prepared tae survive if nae rescue is forthcoming.”

I nodded. “I have to be strong. I can’t worry about the fact that Thomas Jefferson might drop his journal in a mud puddle and never mention us at all ever except in passing and no one will ever know that we are here…”

“Aye, we are both dependin’ on each other for strength, I need ye.”

I nodded. My hand enclosed in his, I kissed the soft side of his forearm. “When will we go?”

“We leave at dawn.”

“Maybe, just maybe by the time we get up, someone will be here to rescue us, three day buffer and all, but maybe . Maybe we’ll be reunited with the kids when we wake up.”

I felt the press of his lips against my hair again and then the slowing of his breath as he fell asleep.