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

47. Chapter 47 - Karrie

CHAPTER 47 - KARRIE

BALLOCH CASTLE - PRESENT DAY

O ur limo slid up to the front door of the grand castle in Scotland, as Finch and I gawked out of the window. “Wow!”

“Aye, this is a verra nice house for a vacation.”

The limo driver opened our door and then my former boss, Blakely, rushed down the steps, her hot new husband, Liam, standing behind her.“Karrie!”

“Hi! And wow! Look at this place.”

Finch and Liam shook hands, having met each other the weekend of Blakely and Liam’s wedding. It was then that we had also figured out our connection here in this castle. My husband’s half-brother, Magnus, who I had met in person, once, was the owner of this castle and had offered it to Finch and me as a getaway after Finch’s world tour.

Magnus had also asked Liam Campbell, who was a descendant of another relative to be the caretaker of this castle. And Liam Campbell was married to my former boss.

All of this seemed too coincidental, but life was like that sometimes, full of patterns and connections. Blakely said, “I am so excited you’re here, wait until you see the place! You have options, you can do absolutely nothing, and just be here, or we can sightsee all the Outlander and Harry Potter sights, up to you.”

I said, as we went up the steps to the front door, “Mix of both, couple of days of relaxing and nothing, then sightseeing, but no Harry Potter — Arlo would never forgive me. We have to bring him next time and then do it.”

We entered the house, and Finch was looking around at the entrance and up at the chandelier. “Och, it’s verra fine. Do ye see it, Ree-ro?”

“I do, it’s amazing.”

Liam said, “I grew up just down the road, and always knew my many-times great-grandfather had lived here, but it had fallen out of the family until Magnus bought it recently.” He pointed out a few things, then said, “Hungry for brunch?”

I said, “Famished! Is it brunch time? I’m all upside down.”

Finch said, “It’s the middle of the night for us, ye ken, I need food and a drink as well.”

Blakely said, “Day-drinking then, Liam and I are on vacation too, I guess.”

Liam ordered a meal but in the meantime took us on a quick tour of the house. In the Great Hall I looked around at the carved ceilings and the large paintings. “The history in this place is mind-boggling. Imagine the things that happened in this room?”

Liam said, “Aye, it’s wild tae think of the centuries of meals that were shared here, it was originally built in the year 1552, and added ontae in the year 1806, three hundred seventy-five years, there is a great deal of history here.”

Blakely said, “I’m researching everything, but we’ve only been here a few months. There’s a lot to learn — did you hear we are going to have a title? Liam will be the Earl of Breadalbane, they will call us Laird Breadalbane and Lady Breadalbane.”

I said, “Wow, that sounds... like, important . I feel like a hick from the colonies.”

Blakely said, “Yeah, as an American I don’t even understand what this means, what do an Earl and his wife wear? How do we act? Do I have to act like a lady all the time? And girl, you do not look like a hick, in your Dior jeans and Marc Jacob bag. Man, I miss dressing up in LA.”

We ended the tour in a study where a table had been spread with food and we noticed the staff sneaking into the room to see Finch. Three servers appeared to tend bar and Finch ended up signing autographs and taking photos for a few moments.

We ate and drank and talked about married life and what it was like for me and Finch to have spent the last months on a world tour. And then what it was like for Blakely to adjust to living in Scotland and for Blakely and Liam both to adjust to living in a castle in Scotland.

Finch said, “So what’s it like, Laird Liam, tae work for m’brother? Magnus is a mystery tae us.”

Liam said, “It’s more like we work for his mum, Lady Mairead. She was just here earlier this morning, givin’ me chores tae do. I haena seen Magnus or Fraoch and Lochinvar in months.”

I said, “They’re basically all Finch’s brothers.”

Finch held up a beer mug to his lips. “All different mums. Our da got around with the ladies.” He swigged from the beer and put it down. “Och, twas a long tour, I am relieved tae no’ hae a show tomorrow night.”

I said, “Me too, and we had Arlo with us, up all night, traveling, different hotels — I know it sounds fun, but it gets old, doesn’t it, babe?”

Finch said, “Aye.”

I said, “So, Blakely, you don’t regret giving up your career as an agent?”

“Nope, this has been all-consuming; we have construction projects, forest management, landscaping. I’m doing the bookkeeping, we have a whole staff to manage, and then my side hustle — historical research.”

Finch narrowed his eyes. “Ye are lookin’ intae how Lady Mairead can be a lady from the seventeenth century and also a lady in the twenty-first century?”

I said, “Finch, you promised you weren’t going to bring up all your questions.”

He shrugged, “The mysteries of m’brothers and their wealth intrigue me.” He leaned forward. “What hae they told ye about how they make their money?”

Liam said, “What hae they told ye?’

Blakely laughed. “Looks like a deadlock.”

I said, “Finch, you have been told that it’s secret and you don’t believe it anyway.”

Liam chuckled. “I am also told tae keep the secret I know from outside the family.”

Finch said, “I am family. Ye tell me yer secret I will tell mine.”

“True, ye are family. I was told tae give ye the run of the house, nae one told me I needed tae keep a secret from ye.”

“So ye ken the secret… dost ye believe the secret? How do we ken it’s the same secret?”

They both clicked their beers together and drank.

I laughed. “So this is fun, what happens if we say ‘one, two, three, tell the secret’ and it’s two different secrets?”

Finch said, “The secret I ken, I daena believe.”

Liam said, “The secret I ken, I only believe because I hae done it.”

Finch and I met eyes. He asked, “Do ye think we’re talking about the same thing, Ree-ro?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea.”

Blakely said, “Here’s a hint about ours. We did it and we ended up in Florida, with no money and no passport, and had to make our way back home.”

Finch said, “Och, how could the secret hae taken yer wallets? It daena make sense, none of it makes sense.”

I raised my brow. “All I know is your brother told you not to tell anyone… what if he doesn’t trust you anymore?”

“Och, I already told ye about it, I already broke m’promise.”

“I am your wife, of c ourse you told me.”

Finch pointed at Liam. “And he is a cousin, and he already knows the secret — but ye are right, Ree-ro, I canna break their trust. I wouldna want tae cross Magnus.”

Liam said, “Lady Mairead might be far more formidable.”

“But all the rest of m’brothers were in on it, it daena seem fair that I daena ken if it’s true or no. I canna decide if they were playin’ me for a fool.”

Liam said, “They arna playin’ ye for a fool, it’s true.”

Finch leaned forward. “It’s no’ bullshite?”

“Aye.”

Liam said tae Blakely, “I’m goin’ tae tell them, Woodshee.”

He turned to Finch, “But if anyone asks either of us, we dinna tell each other, we both already knew. Good?”

“Good.”

“They are time travelers. Is it what they told ye?”

“Aye, that’s what they told me, but I daena believe it, it canna be true. Ye did it?”

“That’s how we found out about it. Lady Mairead had a wee machine and it dragged Blakely and me through time. By surprise .”

My eyes went wide. “No way, that can’t possibly be true.”

Blakely said, “It hurts like hell and we ended up in a clearing in a forest in medieval Scotland.”

I shook my head. “That’s not… that cannot be true.” I glanced at Finch, his brow was drawn down and he was peeling the label off his beer.

Liam said, “We woke up and Fraoch was there, he was missing a tooth and looked about ten years older, we saw Magnus’s kids?—

Finch said, “Archie and Isla, they were young, how old would ye say, Ree-ro?”

“Archie was a little older than Arlo, Isla was younger. I don’t know their ages, exactly.”

“Archie was almost nineteen. They were all dressed in medieval clothes.”

I asked, “Were there medieval houses and a castle?”

“I dinna see anything but a clearing, a few horses and the people, do ye ken Zach? Tall guy with tats? He was there.”

Finch said, “Aye, the chef. He was in medieval times?”

“Aye, ridin’ a horse.”

“What ye are sayin’, Liam, is that ye just woke up in a forest — how did ye ken it was medieval times?”

Blakely said, “It’s hard to explain, it was dark, my sound was muffled. My heartbeat and breathing were too loud, but it just was , it was true. Oh, and Isla and the other girl, what was her name?”

Liam said, “Zoe.”

Blakely said, “They’re young teens?—”

I said, “But we met them. They were like, I don’t know, four? How long ago was that, last year?”

Finch said, “Twas just before the tour.”

Blakely said, “Isla and Zoe were so excited by my used ChapStick. She hadn’t had anything like it ‘in years .’ That’s a direct quote. They were talking about how long they had been without batteries. It sounded tragic.”

Liam said, “Archie used the time travel machine tae jump us tae this time, but left us in Florida. It took us two full days tae get back here.”

Blakely said, “I don’t really understand what he was about to do, he was going to go back and rescue them when they were younger.”

I scrunched up my face. “That’s a thing they can do?”

Liam and Blakely nodded.

Blakely said, “Apparently so. Apparently there’s been a big family crisis where their time travel vessels stopped working and by Liam and I delivering the machine we helped rescue them all.”

Liam said, “We dug it up in the garden. Speaking of, ye ever see one?”

Finch said, “Ye hae one here?”

Liam jumped up, “I do!” and left the room.

Blakely got us another round of drinks.

I said, “Day drinking and talking about time travel in Scotland while jet lagged, this is mind-blowing!”

Finch chuckled, then yawned widely. “Och I will be ready for bed, but how can we sleep? It’s too excitin’.” He stretched and put an arm around me and kissed my forehead.

Liam returned a few moments later carrying a fine cardboard box with tissue paper sticking out from under the lid. He pushed a tray of meat and cheese to the side and placed the box in the middle of the table. He lifted the lid. “Lady Mairead delivered it this morning.” He pushed the paper away and showed us a small device. “She calls it a vessel.” It was a little bit longer than a red bull can, a dull gray metal, smooth, and there were markings and symbols along the sides.

I reached toward them. “Can I touch it?”

“Ye can touch it, but ye ought no’ hold it. It grabbed us. We were holdin’ it, and then it ripped us away. It’s verra painful.”

“Then I definitely won’t.” I poked it.

Finch poked it, then Liam poked it.

It rolled in the box and seemed weighted, alive, it came to a stop and settled there.

I said, “She just dropped it off?”

Blakely said, “She had a very handsome young man with her, she gave him a tour of the castle.”

Liam said, “I thought she was goin’ tae spend the day, but she left when I told her ye were comin’.”

Finch laughed, “Me?”

I said, “Well the father of her son was also yer father, she probably inna interested in meetin’ you.”

Finch said, “Ye’re probably right, though I am a lovely person, she ought no’ hold m’father against me.”

Liam said, “So I am tasked with a job — I hae tae replace it intae its box under a tree. And then I am tae go look in another box under a different tree and report tae Lady Mairead if it’s empty.”

Finch said, “Ye need some help? It’s too early tae sleep, I need something tae do.”