Chapter 5
Doubts were still whirling through Dylan’s mind.
He was having a hard time locating the strong connection he had felt when he met Maggie for the first time back in Glendaloch.
Never having been in a committed relationship, he was at a loss as to how the Maggie he remembered had changed so much.
He wasn’t a quitter though, he was still crazily attracted to her, and he was determined to figure out the problems between them and make her his.
Where is she? Dylan had been searching for Maggie for the past hour and hadn’t found her anywhere.
Not much had changed in her behavior since his last conversation with her, but he could see that she was trying to make an effort, so he decided to give it more time.
His next area to search was the kitchen, where he found his cousin, Jenna, Mary, the castle cook, and Sophia - a girl from twenty first century San Francisco, who found herself unwillingly brought back to medieval Breaghacraig by Jenna’s crazy ex-husband.
Mary was teaching Sophia how to heat up the bread oven, by starting a fire inside it first with small pieces of kindling, and then adding bigger pieces of firewood.
“Once the bread oven is good and hot, ye’ll sweep the burning embers out into the hearth and then place the bread inside to bake,” he heard Mary explaining.
Cooking in medieval times was a challenge and since marrying Cormac, Jenna had made it her mission to try and help Mary find ways to make her job easier.
She also wanted to try to replicate some of the dishes they all missed from the twenty first century.
Mary had been skeptical at first, but eventually she had warmed to Jenna and they had developed a friendship of sorts.
Dylan had been surprised at how well Jenna fit in at Breaghacraig.
She had always been a take-charge kind of girl when they lived in San Francisco, which tended to rub some people the wrong way.
She had been quite the accomplished chef herself—not a professional, but Dylan had always suspected she could have been if she’d wanted.
Jenna had been responsible for running her parents charitable foundation, arranging for the collection of excess food from local restaurants, which was then distributed to the homeless shelter.
Consequently, Jenna was generally busy all of the time and had been searching for things to keep her equally busy in medieval Scotland.
“Hey, Jenna … Sophia,” Dylan greeted them as he entered the kitchen. “How are you today, Mary?”
“I be fine, Sir. Jenna is trying to teach me to make pasta.” Mary screwed up her face and pronounced the word with something close to disgust.
“Mary, we have to try. Cormac loves it and I want to make it for him,” Jenna said.
Dylan laughed at Mary’s comical expression. “It’s very good, Mary. I think you’d like it. Of course, I’m not sure Jenna will be able to get all the ingredients she needs to make it.”
“I’m improvising,” Jenna said. “We’ll work with what we’ve got here.” She examined the ingredients she had set out on the table and he could see her calculating in her head just how she was going to manage this task.
“Have any of you seen Maggie?” Dylan asked.
Three heads bobbed up to stare at him and Mary spoke. “Have ye looked behind ye?”
Dylan turned to find Maggie standing there, smiling at him. “How long have you been there?”
“Not long,” Maggie replied.
“I’ve been looking all over for you. Where were you?” Dylan couldn’t seem to read Maggie’s mood. She was smiling at him, but he didn’t think it was a genuine smile.
“Oh, wandering about. No place special. I just needed some breathing room.” Maggie surveyed the room and its occupants. “Do ye mind if I sit down for a bit?”
“Nae. Of course not, lass. Please join us.” Mary said, as she began kneading some bread dough. She had several loaves set out and waiting to go in the oven. “Sophia, is the oven ready yet?”
“I’ll check for you,” Sophia responded.
“Sophia,” Maggie said, and she sounded as if she were testing the sound of the name on her lips. “You arrived here around the same time as Jenna and Dylan, didn’t you?”
“That’s right.” Sophia was bent over the bread oven and nodded, seeming satisfied with the heat. “Mary, I think it might be ready now. Do you want to check it to be sure?”
“Aye. Let me look,” Mary said. She stepped closer and put her hands near the opening of the bread oven.
“Very good, Sophia. You’re learning, lass.
” Mary patted Sophia on the back and handed her a small shovel, which was kept by the stove for this very purpose.
“Be careful now. We dinnae want to set the place afire.” Mary returned to her kneading and Sophia began carefully clearing out the oven.
Dylan stood behind Maggie, placing his hands on her shoulders.
When he had touched her in Glendaloch he’d experienced a rush of heat, but here, he didn’t feel anything.
Maggie didn’t seemed impressed by his touch either.
If anything, her posture had grown more rigid, as if she was uncomfortable with his attention.
Dylan removed his hands and sat down in a nearby chair.
Strangely, now that he was in the same room with Maggie, all he could think about was getting as far away from her as possible.
He took a deep breath and forced himself to stay put.
Mary and Jenna had their heads together over the pasta dough and Maggie seemed mesmerized by Sophia’s actions as she carefully brushed the burning embers out of the oven and into the hearth.
She had a very strange expression on her face and Dylan was just about to ask her what was wrong, when Sophia screamed.
All eyes turned towards her in horror as they realized her gown had caught fire.
Jenna and Dylan sprang into action, pushing Sophia down onto the floor and rolling her back and forth, until the fire was out.
“Oh my God,” Jenna cried. “Are you alright, Sophia?”
It was apparent Sophia was in shock—her eyes were wide and her body shook uncontrollably.
“Fire! Fire!” Mary yelled. Everyone’s attention was immediately drawn to the hearth. The fire seemed much larger than it should be, and was leaping dangerously towards the wooden furniture and beams in the kitchen.
“Hurry! We need to get out of here,” Dylan called. Mary was trying unsuccessfully to put the fire out, even as she continued to shout for assistance.
Mary’s shouting drew Latharn, Cormac and Angus’s young companion, Alec, to the kitchen; they appeared in the doorway and surveyed the situation swiftly, concern visible in their faces.
The room was quickly filling with smoke and it was apparent everyone needed to get out before it was too late.
Latharn ran to Sophia, picking her up in his arms, and battled his way through the thickening smoke and fire.
Cormac grabbed Jenna under one arm and hurried her to the doorway before he turned and headed back for Mary, who was still trying to extinguish the fire single-handedly.
“Mary, we must leave,” Cormac shouted, picking her up and sprinting out of the kitchen.
“My kitchen!” Mary cried, trying to wriggle out of Cormac’s firm grasp.
Dylan couldn’t believe his eyes. Everything had been fine and then out of nowhere, they found themselves in the middle of a huge blaze.
There was something strange about the way the fire had jumped out of the hearth and it had him concerned.
To his shock, Maggie was still sitting in exactly the same spot.
The fire seemed to be dancing around her as if she were cocooned inside a protective bubble.
“Maggie, come on! We’ve got to get out of here.
” Dylan put his hand out to take hers and was confused when his fingers seemed to hit something solid, as if there was an invisible wall between him and Maggie.
He tried a second time and Maggie reached for his hand and took it.
He dragged her out of the chair and ran toward the doorway, shocked to see Alec standing just inside the entrance of the kitchen, completely immobile.
While Cormac and Latharn had immediately sprung into action to rescue the women, Alec seemed dazed and he stared at the fire, as though in a trance.
“Alec, let’s go!” Dylan shouted, but Alec remained focused on the fire.
In the split second that Dylan and Maggie stood waiting for Alec to react, the fire disappeared. Without any warning, it was completely gone. The kitchen was damaged, but there was not one lick of flame to be seen. “What just happened?” Dylan demanded.
“I dinnae ken,” Alec replied, and the strange trance he seemed to have been held in disappeared as abruptly as the flames had. “’Tis odd. The fire’s gone.” Alec turned to Dylan. “We should all get outside in the fresh air. We’ve breathed in much smoke.”
As if on cue, Maggie began coughing and Dylan gently guided her outside into the fresh air. ‘Alec’ followed along behind them, filled with annoyance because she knew Brielle had started the fire on purpose.
***
“I told ye to be careful, Sophia, didnae I?” Mary was saying. Despite the fact she was yelling, it was obvious that she was very concerned about Sophia’s welfare.
“I don’t know what happened. I did everything the way you showed me and it all looked fine and then next thing I knew, my dress had caught fire.” Sophia sat cradled in Latharn’s arms.
“Ye scared me good, Sophia,” Latharn said as he stroked her cheek and planted a kiss on her forehead.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. It all happened so fast,” Sophia said.