Chapter 23 #2
‘Different? The castle is still here! So, when are we? Have we gone back to where we came from or are we doing a Quantum Leap and I’ve got to kill my own grandfather this time round?’ I sounded a bit hysterical, but with what was going on in my brain, hysteria was the least of it.
Lachlan pulled a face. ‘If you don’t let me tell you, we’re going to be here all night,’ he said evenly.
I opened my mouth to argue but realised he was right and shut up.
‘Good.’ Now Lachlan grinned and it was the same Lachlan grin as I’d been seeing for – actually I had no idea.
Time was beginning to mean nothing. ‘Right. As I was trying to say, we’re back.
We arrived back at the exact point that we’d left, storm coming in over the headland, dig in disarray, stone with Pictish carvings on, et cetera.
Only…’ He stopped again and bent slightly so that he could look right into my face. ‘Only things are different.’
He gave the words a deep, meaningful spin. I was less impressed than he apparently meant me to be.
‘I can bloody see that! My brother is wearing designer jeans! Lenny hasn’t worn anything that didn’t come out of the local “stack it high, sell it cheap” shop since he was born!
He thinks underpant elastic is meant to break after six weeks and that Velcro-fastening shoes are absolutely fine…
’ I caught that rising panic in my voice again and stopped myself.
‘Not just that, Pax. Not just that.’ Lachlan was still looking in my eyes, flicking his gaze from one to the other, then surprising me again suddenly by catching me into another deep hug. ‘I am so, so glad to see you,’ he whispered into my hair.
I gradually relaxed into the hug. Things were weird, that was beginning to seem like my default setting now, but Lachlan was here. Whatever we’d shared in that cellar, in that place, had been real. I could feel it.
‘I’m here,’ I whispered back and tipped my face up so I could see him properly. He was clean-shaven now, his skin smooth under my fingertips as I touched his cheek. ‘I think I preferred the beard,’ I said. ‘Made you look rugged.’
He cleared his throat. ‘Sorry. It’s just been…
well, thank God for Mal, David and Kaylinn, that’s all I can say.
Otherwise I would have been carted off under heavy sedation.
We’ve been tactfully trying to ask the right questions without coming across as a bunch of people who are only one bottle of meths away from hospitalisation, and it’s not been easy, so I’m going to give you the benefit of what we know. All right?’
He smelled clean too. There was no sign of The Proclaimers and his trousers didn’t look as though he’d slept in them for several weeks.
‘Right. Go on.’
‘I said things were different, didn’t I?’ Lachlan stepped a little way back and released the hug.
‘You did.’
Now I got an earnest look. ‘No, I meant very different. Your family is – well, let’s say wealthy, shall we?
They still own the castle. Lennox actually lives here, but he’s still got some vague plan to turn it into a tourist destination.
The place has been in your family all this time, and nearly six hundred years in the same family is quite the selling point. ’
I gasped. ‘So, we kept it? All that stuff with George – it was to keep the castle?’
‘Not just that, Pax. Our lives are different.’
The way he said this sounded so filled with weighty import that I found I was looking down at myself, in my muddy jeans and decidedly grubby jacket. ‘How different?’ I asked carefully.
‘You’re not a chemistry teacher. You’re a historical novelist and a very good one, by all accounts.
You’re here because you’ve sold your flat in York to move to Scotland to research your next series of novels.
’ The words came out in a rush. ‘You arrived today, and we were waiting for you, but nobody could find you until I fetched you out of the cellar.’
I let the words sink into my brain. ‘I’m not…?’
‘No. You trained as a teacher, history apparently, but you only taught for two terms before your first book was turned into a TV series and you’ve been writing full-time ever since.
’ Lachlan’s word spilled out in a rush, as though he was relieved to be telling me.
‘I’ve still got the cottage, I’m employed by Historic Environment Scotland to research castles and film them, and you’re moving in with me for the duration.
We met through work,’ he added. ‘A year ago, apparently. We’ve been dating and we’ve just decided to move in together. The TV companies love us, apparently.’
The world had gone unreal again. ‘TV?’ My voice was reedy.
‘Mmm. I present history programmes for them. You write books they turn into award-winning series. Oh, and did I mention how incredibly well off your family are? I’m not with you for your money, by the way.
Well, not just your money.’ He gave me a grin full of mischief.
It was, incredibly enough, also slightly sexy.
‘Oh.’ I stumbled backwards until I could lean against the stone walls of the castle again. ‘That’s nice,’ I murmured.
‘You cannot believe how tactful my questions have had to be,’ Lachlan said.
‘Can you imagine having to ask other people about the state of your own relationship? I’ve had to point Mal at random people and set him on them.
The guys have been great, though. I’m thinking of doing some kind of archaeology programme next, get them on screen. ’
‘And I’m really…?’ The stone felt warm at my back. Reassuringly solid. I thought that I was taking this all a lot harder than I had when I’d fallen backwards through time.
‘Oh yes. You’ve got a really nice car too.’ Lachlan’s grin was back. ‘I’m jealous. I’ve only got a Land Rover.’
‘And the castle?’ I looked up now at the walls, which reared full height to the roof. There were a few more windows now, I noticed, and they had glass in them.
‘Oh, aye, it’s had a bit of work done over the years.
I think you’re hoping to set your new series here and you’re trying to persuade Lachlan to hold off on the tourist-trap construction until you get finished.
Of course, you basing books here will have them flocking in their droves, so he’s fine about it. ’
‘And I’m here to do research.’
‘And move in with me.’ He sounded a bit uncertain now. ‘Is that…? I mean, I know we don’t know each other that well yet, not in our reality, even though we’ve been seeing one another for a year in this one. We can take it steady though, no need for us to rush anything, there’s hotels and the like.’
‘But your cottage is in the middle of nowhere?’
‘Perfect for the writing,’ he said robustly. ‘And I’ve a spare room and a little bothy that will make a great office and you can stay out there if you… if we… if this… er…’
I took a really deep breath. ‘I think the three weeks or so that we spent living in a cellar in the eighteenth century are probably equivalent to six years dating in this world,’ I said.
‘We’ve already seen one another at our worst, and we’ve gone through a lot more than date nights and dinner at the Ivy. ’
‘So we’re moving fast, even though to everyone here we’re moving really slowly?’ He sounded hopeful.
‘Let’s try not to think about it, all right?’ I patted his arm. ‘And I’m a well-known novelist? Seriously?’
‘Oh yes. You write some quite steamy scenes too. I read them all,’ Lachlan added proudly. ‘I can only hope they’re modelled on me. Or will be modelled on me. Or have been. Oh, this tenses lark is difficult.’
‘Pax!’ This was Lenny yelling in a very Lenny-fashion from the other side of the wall. ‘Come on! They’re here!’
‘Who are?’ I whispered to Lachlan, but he shrugged.
‘No idea. If I were you I’d read through your texts and then your emails. That’s what I did, to get up to speed. That, and the tactful questions. And the very untactful Mal.’
‘Pax! Come on, Lachlan, put her down, we’ve got stuff on!’
‘Better go and see.’ Lachlan fumbled around for a moment. ‘Shall I hold your hand? Is that all right? It might be expected, as we’re… whatever we are, here. And there might be photographers.’
‘Photographers?’ I asked weakly. ‘Isn’t that a bit… over the top?’
He shrugged. ‘We’re minor celebrities, and the gossip mags aren’t any better in this timeline.’
‘Oh, bugger.’
Lachlan took my hand and shook it lightly. ‘Come on. We’ve got this. It will be easier with two – we can cover for each other.’
We walked out around the side of the castle and now I could see the full extent of the site.
The archaeological dig was bigger than I’d thought: a whole team of diggers were clearing another trench and there were some tents pitched in the cover of the wall.
The kirk still stood but one end wall had been replaced with a full-height wood and glass window through which I could see sofas arranged around a fireplace, so it had obviously been converted into living accommodation.
There were vehicles parked around the site and I wondered which one was my ‘nice car’.
I had my hopes pinned on the Volkswagen ID.
5 that was plugged in and charging outside the kirk.
‘There you are!’ Lenny came loping over. To my astonishment he had his arm around Kaylinn, who was looking happily relaxed wearing a cute outfit of a linen smock-type dress and boots and was snuggled up to Lenny as though they’d been together forever.
‘Hi, Pax!’ Kaylinn trilled, giving me the widest smile I’d ever seen.
Lenny looked at her, and then at me. ‘I didn’t know you two had met?’
She gained an instant expression of backtracking panic and I rode to the rescue with a smoothness that surprised even me. ‘Oh, this happens all the time. People who’ve read my… books often feel they’ve met me before. Perfectly normal. Nice to meet you… err…’
‘Kaylinn,’ said Kaylinn, Lachlan and Lenny simultaneously.
‘Yes,’ Kaylinn came in on a backwash of terror. ‘You’re so right! I feel like we’ve been friends forever. Because I’ve read your books.’