Chapter 18 #2
Images immediately formed in his mind, adding to recent thoughts of what his life might be like with Morrigan beside him. While he was traveling, he’d found himself pondering that topic over and over. One thing he was sure of, whatever he’d imagined before as an ideal wife and partner had changed.
The raised voices of the children snapped his attention back to the present. They were discussing where they should go next. Each of them appeared to be passionate and determined to have their way.
“Bonfire!”
“Apples!”
“Bonfire!” Catriona tugged to the right.
“Apples!” Briana wished to go left.
“We have a man of the law with us,” Morrigan interjected. “Perhaps Mr. Grant can settle this.”
Two bright-eyed lasses were looking up at him expectantly. Equally strong-willed, one of them was bound to be disappointed if she didn’t get her way.
“Very well,” he said sternly. “Present your cases.”
They stared at him as if he were speaking in a foreign tongue.
“You might consider keeping their ages in mind,” Morrigan reminded him gently.
He got down on one knee and addressed Briana first. “Would you like to tell me why we should go to apple . . . apple . . .”
“Apple dooking,” Morrigan clarified for him.
“Of course. How could I forget? Why should we go there first, rather than second?” he asked.
“Because I’m hungry for an apple now.”
How could he refuse a child this adorable? The sad, serious face. The deep sigh. Quite dramatic. One would think her life depended on her having an apple at this very moment.
“A very reasonable request. Though we must consider whether dunking our heads into a barrel of water for an apple is a good first choice of activities.” Still on his knee, he turned to Catriona. “And why do you think we should go to the bonfire first and not second?”
“Because it’s warm now. It’ll be cold later.”
“So we should go the bonfire while it’s warm?” He knew a troublesome witness when he saw one.
Catriona put her hand to her mouth and whispered, “We need to go now, or we won’t see them.”
He suddenly realized where this might be going, but he had to ask. “See whom?”
Catriona lifted her head and spoke to Morrigan. “You don’t get naked when it gets cold, do you?”
“I . . . what?” Morrigan sputtered, seemingly lost for words.
Aidan looked up as well, interested in her answer. He was quite happy he’d followed this line of questioning.
“Auld Jean says this is the night when women take off their clothes and dance naked around the bonfire.” She lowered her voice and whispered to Aidan, “You can’t dance with her, though.”
“No?” He put on his most disheartened look.
Catriona shook her head. “But if we go now, you can watch from the trees. Like Tam o Shambler.”
God bless Robbie Burns, Aidan thought, slowly pushing to his feet. He was definitely in favor of going to the bonfire first. “Clearly, I’m bound for that line of trees. What do you say, Miss Grant?”
Morrigan had nothing to say, but the glare he was receiving said plenty.
No final decision by him needed to be made, however, for at that moment, the children shrieked with pleasure.
“Look, Old Napoleon is here.” Catriona broke free.
“Fetch your weapon,” the older girl shouted, running after her sister.
He glanced at Morrigan and saw her glare had softened into a smile.
Old Napoleon, the object of the girls’ excitement, turned out to be their Uncle Niall, who was coming across the market square with Maisie. Campbell caught and lifted them, one in each arm, and their giggles rang out.
“It’s an old game. They play Waterloo,” Morrigan explained, coming to stand beside him. “Niall is Old Napoleon, and the girls get to kill him. Of course he comes back to life in time for the next battle.”
“Leave it to the former lieutenant to play war games with children.”
“And what kind of game will you play with your children?” she teased, her eyes dancing mischievously.
“I’ll read to them.”
“I agree books are excellent, but that won’t fill all their free time.”
“Said by the woman who pulls off The Kinkvervankotsdarsprakengotchderns Anecdote off the shelf.”
Her eyes rounded. “I can’t believe you remember that name.”
“Or was it the Kinkerpachydermsprackens?”
“That’s more like it. You’re fallible after all. You don’t remember everything.” She patted him on the arm. “Something else. Parents need alternative battle plans.”
“I’ll teach them to develop an effective argument.”
“You’ll be sorry for that. They’ll soon strip you of your authority.” She motioned toward Niall. He was on one knee, and the girls were trying to climb him like a castle wall. “Children also need physical exercise.”
“I’ll leave that decision to their mother to decide. That is, unless she confuses the nursery with the armory. Of course, what’s the harm of a weapon or two?”
Morrigan’s gaze flew to his face but then darted away quickly.
Aidan cursed inwardly. What was he doing, saying such things?
His life was completely at sixes and sevens right now.
He had a pressing trial ahead of him. As much as thoughts about Morrigan never left him, he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by romance.
Still, despite what his brain told him, his tongue seemed to have an agenda of its own.
The sound of fiddle and pipe, the voices, and the general noise of celebrating filled the air, but neither of them could find the right word to resume their conversation. Maisie approached them and they exchanged greetings.
“Niall and I can take the girls with us.” She turned to Aidan. “Would you be kind enough to escort Morrigan to the bonfire? She’s talked about nothing else all day.”
Before either could say a word, Maisie ran off after her husband and nieces.
He and Morrigan both started talking at once.
“Do I have to stand by the trees?”
“I didn’t mention any bonfire today. Not once!”
They both laughed. Aidan felt a weight had been lifted.
“Auld Jean is the best storyteller of all,” Morrigan told him. “This morning, she was trying to convince us all to wear animal heads and skins and run through the village.”
“That would have been quite a sight.”
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there won’t be any naked women dancing around the fire at Dalmigavie tonight.”
“Then we might as well go and bob for apples.” He offered his arm and she took it. “But perhaps we should stop at the fortune teller first.”
“I need no fortune.”
“I see you’ve been spending far too much time with those children.”
“Just the perfect amount, I’d say.”
She was happy again. Curious about some of the activities, she asked many questions. The crowds were growing more concentrated as the two of them walked along. Aidan drew her closer to his side.
“Your very first Samhain in the Highlands,” he said, stopping by a fire surrounded by a group of young villagers who were cheering loudly. “Did you mark your name on a hazel nut?”
“What for?”
He nodded toward the fire. “Two groups of hazel nuts are placed close to the fire. One group is marked with the names of the village’s maidens, and the other with the eligible bachelors. As the nuts pop, the names of the pairs are linked.”
“None of that silliness for me.” She shook her head and tugged on his arm to continue their walk.
“It’s all quite scientific.”
She laughed. Near the kirk, they found the apple dooking, the busiest activity they’d come upon thus far.
“Among the Highland people, the apple has strong ties with the other world and even immortality,” he told her.
“Then I’ll take one. But you should take two.”
They moved closer, standing where she could watch as men and women waited for their turns to plunge their faces into the barrels of water and catch the fruit with their teeth. Very few appeared to be succeeding.
“It seems easy. But it’s not.”
They joined in with the cheering and the groans when a young man almost had one but immediately lost it back into the barrel. “You have to catch the apple with your teeth. Otherwise it’s gone.”
“So you need a very big mouth.”
She cheered on a young woman who went into the barrel up to her shoulders only to come out with her face and hair and clothes soaked, but no fruit.
“What’s the prize if you get one?” she asked.
“Good fortune for the coming year.”
“More fortune.” She shook her head, smiling at all the excitement. “I like apples, but you won’t catch me standing in a line to dunk my face in cold water.”
“You might be very good at this.”
“Ha! And have you and everyone else make sport of me? No, thank you.”
Aidan tugged at her hand. “Come with me. There is a game here I know you’ll enjoy playing.”
“Will it involve an apple? Do I eat it afterwards?”