I raised my head. “Really? Well now I sound like an ass for making light of it. I’m grateful he didn’t kill you, but a little relieved he didn’t ruin my view of your knee.”
“Twould ruin m’knee tae see a scar, if it proves I fought a boar and won?”
“Good point, I take itallback. I’m grateful you won.”
He chuckled again. “Actually, mo leannan, nae, I dinna win, he almost killed me and though I got a dirk in him, twas nae enough tae kill him. He will live tae gore again.”
I said, “Ugh, I’m so sorry about this whole thing, I love you, I’m so sorry about the wound, and I’m glad you’ve survived everything you’ve been through. I’m going to memorize all your scars and learn all the stories of them.”
His fingertips trailed down my hip as I spoke, but then he paused. “I will memorize yers as well...” He lifted his head and looked down. “Like the scar there on yer thigh.”
“I don’t even remember getting that scar.”
“Ye daena?” He blinked, looking at it. Then he grasped my hip, pulling it close. “Yet I remember.”
“What do you mean?”
“I remember we were… walkin’ through the gorse, ye snagged yer skirt and… I canna fully remember where… ye daena remember?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I think I’ve had it much longer than since we met.”
His brow drew down. “Ye daena hae a memory of it?”
“No, but I had it before we were in Scotland. I didn’t get it in Scotland… Is that where you thought it was from?”
“Aye, in the memory of it, tis Scotland, but I daena ken when — the colors are verra bright, tis a sunny day and yer skirts are yellow, ye are angry that ye hae ripped them.”
I asked, “And it’s not a dream?”
“Nae, tis real… itfeelsverra real.”
“Maybe it’s like déjà vu. You get a feeling that you’ve already experienced something, but you can’t place it.”
“Aye, perhaps, I felt the scar upon yer thigh, and knew what twas afore I saw it, the memory came tae me.”
“I would like to say it’s nothing, just your mind playing tricks, but my nightmare about being taken from a hovel that seemed more like a memory...thatended up being true.” I looked down on the scar. “So maybe you were with me when I got this scar, possibly. But also, I swear I had it in high school. I remember putting vitamin e on it, in the locker room at the pool.”
His eyes remained on it, “Yet I canna shake the feelin’ that I was there.”
“That’s weird.”
He lay back down, kissed the top of my head, and I curled up on his arm. All around us the room was soft with early light, pale gold filtering through the half-open curtains, the tops of the trees, my woods, stretching away quiet and endless.
“It’s like you know things about me that I don’t remember telling you.”
He nodded.
“It’s like I’ve known you for a long time, or in a way that I don’t remember, it’s unsettling.”
“I ken, ye are familiar, but I daena ken how.”
I looked up in his eyes, “But this is our first time, I’ve never slept with you before. Except, you know, actual sleeping. We never made love before, this is very much an exhilarating first time, but somehow…”
His hand rubbed down my hips. “Somehow I ken yer scar, and ye feel familiar, under it all.”
“We’re connected.”
His head nodded, right beside mine.
