Fraoch said, “I want tae go tae the Roman coliseum.”
Magnus’s eyes went wide. “Och nae, tis verra far in the past, we canna use the trailblazer tae do it, twould kill us, likely, but…” His eyes softened and went far away. “Twould be verra good, and we would probably survive it.”
“Twould be worth it.”
Emma asked, “Which of you ladies want to go with me to Regency London?”
I raised my hand.
Hayley said, “Hell yeah.”
Emma said, “We could get a hotel, parasols, long dresses. Oooh, we could have those little calling cards, we place them on the tray by the door.”
She pretended to put a calling card on the table and batted her eyes.
I said, “Magnus and I were close to that time and he wore these breeches and…” I glanced at the kids. “Ilikethat time period a lot, let’s go there. We should do that.”
Magnus raised his brow. “Am I invited?”
“Perhaps, maybe we do need an escort, but it seems like it should be a girls’ trip.”
He chuckled. “Tis fine, since ye only likemybreeches, I am nae worried.”
“What about you, Beaty?”
“Ye ken, I am verra happy with the time we are in, tis verra fine. I would like tae go see a farm. Could we go tae a farm?”
Isla said, “We could go to Laura’s house fromthe Little House on the Prairiebook!”
Sophie clapped her hands.
Beaty asked, “Couldwe? They are m’favorite books. We read them every night.”
I said, “Yes we could, we could knock on Laura Ingall’s door and ask for a tour.”
Emma said, “And we could go see where Almanzo Wilder fromFarmer Boygrew up too. You would like that, boys?”
“We’d have to see if we can get invited to breakfast, huh Ben, remember how big those meals were?” Archie rubbed his stomach. “Man, I’m hungry for pancakes.”
Zach said, “You sound just like your dad. I literally just fed you.”
Archie said, “Ya always gotta have room for pancakes.”
Magnus pretended to use a napkin to proudly wipe his eyes.
Zach said, “We have dessert, but the grownups are still eating, so you’ll have to run off and do something else until we’re done.” The big kids all ran off with Haggis loping behind. Jack began banging on his highchair tray like he wanted to go too, his face screwing up like he might cry.
Zach tossed a piece of crusty bread to both Jack and Noah and they began gumming and chewing it and banging it on their trays, suddenly distracted and happy once more.
Magnus said, “Now we are alone we can speak freely — Kaitlyn and I are plannin’ a trip tae Balloch tae deliver some chests tae Sean and Lizbeth.”
Zach said, “But we’re not all going? The boys will really want to visit.”
“We still hae time tae visit later, but for now we will take the chests. Twill be a quiet visit, then when Sean and Lizbeth are ready tae move, we will go with the whole family. We will fill the castle with our raucous excitement at their moving.”
Emma said, “So you’re not taking the kids? Will you tell them you’re going or is this a secret getaway?”
Magnus said, “Nae, we will tell them, and they winna worry. They will ken this is an ordinary visit, the world is calm. We are goin’ tae go tomorrow night after they hae gone tae sleep, we will forgo the three day turn-around rule and return the next day instead.”
