Chapter 4 #2
He thinks for a moment before asking, “Want to check out the attic?”
“This is going to take way longer than I assumed,” I choke out while coughing as we stand in a crowded, very dusty attic. Even with it being the entire top floor of the Hall, it is crammed full of boxes, old furniture, and junk.
“Whoa.” Lachlan peers around the cluttered mess. “Your family dinna get rid of anything, do they?”
He’s not wrong. Floor to ceiling, wall-to-wall, it’s completely covered.
“We don’t even know what we’re looking for. This is going to take forever,” I whine.
“It won’t be too bad. What if we find treasure?” Lachlan raises his eyebrow and rubs his hands together.
His question makes me giggle. When we were little, we would scour the creek bed next to the faerie tree for shards of glass we pretended to be gemstones. It didn’t matter how often we looked, we always found treasure there.
I exhale. “Ugh, I hope you’re right. How do you want to do this? You take the left, I take the right, or I start here and you go to the other side, and we meet in the middle?”
Lachlan shrugs. “I guess I’ll take the left, and ye can take the right; that way, I’m close by if ye need some muscle.” He flexes his arms, and I giggle again while rolling my eyes.
He’s trying his hardest to keep the mood light, and I really appreciate his effort. It used to be the opposite between us; he was the gloomy one, and I would go out of my way to cheer him up. Now the tables have turned, and I don’t take for granted having him by my side.
The time passes quickly, and we each stick to our sides, opening and browsing boxes before coming up empty-handed and closing them back up.
Periodically, we’d find something interesting that warranted walking to the other side and showing off our treasure.
Lachlan ends up finding more interesting things, but we spend the entire time talking and laughing.
Adoration settles deeper into the marrow of my bones.
I try to pay attention to the boxes before me, but occasionally, Lach will catch my eye, and I’ll admire the way his muscles flex through his long-sleeved shirt or the way his hair falls forward when he moves certain ways; it frames his strong jaw.
He’s so beautiful it’s hard not to stare.
My fascination with him is not new. I feel like I searched for him in all the boys I had casual dalliances with.
But no one ever compared to the one I had stuck on a pedestal.
Lachlan had a few romances throughout the years, and it did sting.
But I didn’t ever have a claim on him. We saw each other sporadically throughout our lives, and even though we were as thick as thieves when we were together, we were apart for much longer.
At the back of my mind, though, I had always hoped we would end up together.
Images of a future with him begin to build as I daydream about a life together, at the Hall where we share so many memories.
Lachlan would be closer to the estates he manages, and with my trust fund, maybe I could go to a university.
I’ve always been fascinated by history. Some of my favorite memories are listening to my parents talk about the great lives of historical figures like Cleopatra or Sappho.
Or maybe we could travel together. One of Lachlan’s great loves was traveling, and it would be wonderful to experience that with him.
I wouldn’t mind having a nomadic lifestyle again if it were with him.
But if I’m being honest, I’ve always been too afraid to put myself out there.
Especially with Lachlan.
That’s a rejection that would cut deeper than any other relationship ever has. Not that I have a ton of experience with relationships, but what little I do have has always felt like I was biding my time for something bigger, for him.
Lachlan catches me staring and quirks his head to the side. “Where’d ye go?”
My blush crawls up my cheeks, and I wipe my forehead with the back of my hand.
“Do you—never mind.” I shake my head and bend down to rifle through the box at my feet.
“Oh no, ye don’t,” he grins broadly. “What?”
I stare down at the box in front of me, not really seeing the contents, and trying to work up the courage to ask him out. But I fail miserably; my confidence is sorely lacking. “Do you ever go to any of the pubs around here?”
Lachlan chuckles. “Of course, I go out with the crew and a few friends all the time. Why? Do ye want to come with us?”
I roll my eyes. Of course, he would have no shortage of friends. He has roots here and is the charismatic one out of the two of us now.
I pull out an ancient leather sandal that has long straps before tossing it back in the box.
“I don’t want to invite myself out with you guys,” I mumble.
“Key,” he drawls, his voice causing my blood to heat. “You’re welcome to go with me anywhere, anytime. I’ve actually got to run up to Orkney next Friday, and I’ll be gone for the weekend.” Lachlan casually throws my way.
My stomach sinks, but I try to play it off. “Oh? What for?” I ask, trying to make my tone nonchalant.
“Well, I’ve been living out of a suitcase for the past month and need to switch some things out and check on my place,” he responds, sliding a box that has a large “B” on the side in front of him.
“Try living your whole life out of a suitcase,” I mumble.
He whips his head towards me and chuckles. “Are ye upset with me?”
My feigned, uncaring mask falls away. He can read me like a book. I don’t know why I’m so surprised; my mom always told me I was an open book, freely showing my emotions like a picture on a page.
“No, sorry.” I grimace. “I’ll just miss you, is all.”
Lachlan freezes when he glances into the open box. “I think ye should come take a look at this.”
I shuffle along the walkway until I make it to the other side of the box he has opened. Placed right on top is a gaudy necklace of braided metal with three sizable, spaced-out blue rectangles that are made to resemble sapphires.
“Whoa, that’s heavier than I thought it would be,” I mutter, passing it off to Lachlan.
The next items are long, almost sheer, flowing skirts in different shades of white and cream. They’re thicker than chiffon but just as light and silken in my hand; it’s a fabric I can’t quite place. Below the skirts, I find an even bigger swathe of the same fabric and hold it up to my chest.
“This looks just like something my mom would wear,” I whisper.
Lachlan eyes me warily. No doubt waiting for my mood to shift into something darker. But the sleeveless gown is beautiful. The neckline cuts straight across the collarbones, and ruching is sewn across the bodice in three different places. It’s very regal and totally my mother.
I move to drape the dress across the boxes next to us and reach back in for the piles of leather at the bottom.
But a piece of folded parchment falls to the floor when I pull out the pile of leather straps that have become entangled.
Lachlan stoops to pick up the folded parchment that had clattered to the floor, and he carefully unfolds it.
A light floral fragrance wafts from the paper. Something about the scent tugs at my memory, and I instantly forget about the tangled leather and drop it back into the box as I study the faded ink on the parchment.
It’s hard to make it out completely, but it looks like a map of an island.
The island is drawn out in black ink, but there are several depictions on the island drawn in gold ink. Some of the gold-colored drawings are of curved mounds with small openings resembling burial sites. The other drawing is of small vertical lines, twelve of them in a circle.
But what catches my eye is the drawing of my medallion shimmering in the top right corner of the map.
“Lachlan, that’s my medallion in the corner. Look!”
The elation at finally finding something related to the necklace has me jumping up and down.
A cheer flies from my lips, and I quickly smother it behind my hands to avoid waking Gran.
He chuckles at my exuberance, but then his brows furrow in concentration.
Relief flows through me as if a heavy load has been lifted.
Lachlan gently lays the map out on top of the box and leans in closer to study the gold drawings. Realization flickers across his features, and he digs his phone out of his pocket. A couple of swipes later, he holds his phone out to me, excitement brimming in his smile.
“Look!” His phone is pulled up on a map of the Orkney Islands; it’s a perfect copy of the map in front of us.
“It’s Orkney!” I gasp.
Lachlan is still glancing back and forth between his phone and the map. “The gold drawings here line up with the Ring of Brodgar, and look, that mound is where the Maeshowe chambered cairn is.” He grins broadly at me. “Would ye care to join me now?”
I’ve never been to Orkney, but from the way he describes it, I think it sounds like a place I would love to see.
But leaving Gran for the weekend when we don’t know how many good days she has left really worries me.
My mind is spinning with the connections and the possibilities this could mean, though.
I bet if I asked Maggie to stay with Lizzie, I could manage a weekend trip.
That and Gran’s last words, “You need to go,” push me.
“Can I really come with you this weekend? There might be something there that would have answers, and I—”
Lachlan cuts me off. “I would love to ha’ ye come with me, Key.”
Satisfied that he seems genuine and isn’t just placating me, I smile back at him, saying, “I can’t believe we actually found something.”
Lachlan still seems to be locked onto the map, tracing the outline of the medallion. I don’t know if it’s the excitement fueling my newfound courage or just his unnaturally handsome face, but I quietly say, “I’m excited about our first adventure together; we make a great team.”
Lachlan’s eyes quickly flash from the map to mine, and he smiles. “We do make a great team.” His eyes are bright, spurring me on.
“We kind of belong together.” I hold my breath, waiting for his reply.
His eyes dim. “Of course we do; you’re the Key to my Lach.”
His smile is comforting, but his words are not.
It really doesn’t answer my romantically charged questions, but if all I can ever have from him is friendship, I’ll take it. I’ll take whatever he can give me as long as he always stays around.
“So what does one wear in Orkney?” I tap my finger on my chin, contemplating what to pack, and he chuckles.