“Nae, Hayley and Fraoch are bringin’ them?—”
“We should go to the clearing and meet them!”
He said, “We could, but I think the kids are countin’ on surprising ye, we need tae wait here so we daena ruin it.”
“Is this why we paused for so long, is this why we didn’t go all the way to the woods and we didn’t go to the clearing?”
He nodded.
“I had no idea what you were up to!”
“I ken, I am a master. Ye dinna see the storm as they arrived, I hae been distracting ye with my discussion of the rain and the landscape.”
“Master Magnus, you are going to get such a nice bedding from me for this, of course you invited the kids to come, so we won’t be able to.”
He groaned. “My plan was well laid but has led nae where good.”
His radio squawked again. He pushed the button and said, “Here. At the Boulder by the Twisted Pine.”
Then he said, “Sean is bringing them.”
“I ought to get off the horse and just act natural, pretend to be surprised?”
“Aye.” He climbed from Dràgon and helped me down from Osna, which was no small feat because my skirts were sodden and heavy.
“I hope the kids aren’t too wet.”
“Likely they will be wet through but winna mind.”
“True.” I stood there, hands on hips waiting. “What are we doing? I want to get my story straight.”
“I brought ye tae the woods tae shew ye the trees, the kids will believe ye, ye daena hae tae worry on it, and tomorrow or the next day we will come back for the wood, and twill be?—”
“It’ll be perfect. And yet today was also perfect, in its own entirely waterlogged way. I absolutely love that you worked so hard to surprise me. And if it had worked with wonderful weather I might have been kind of irritated if we were in the woods and the kids walked out from behind a tree.”
“Ye would hae been?”
“Yes, Magnus, anything could have happened to them! How are they in the woods, what has happened! I’m shocked and scared and my heart drops and I think, oh man, someone has chased them here.”
“Ye would hae thought all of that?”
“Yes, it happens all the time, so this is why it’s always better to tell me the surprise, I really will enjoy it so much more.”
He pressed his finger to his lips. Then whispered, “Ye hear…?”
I nodded.
He looked around at the trees, rain drizzling down, and said loudly so his voice would travel down the path, “Ye see it, Kaitlyn? The tree that I meant tae shew ye? It is much like our family, roots tae the ground and branches tae the sky!”
I said, loudly, “I do see it, Magnus, wow! And I really wish the kids were here to see it!”
Just then the horses came from behind us, Haggis bounded up, and Isla yelled, “Ma! Surpise!”
And all my bairns were reaching for me, Jack held by Hayley, Isla held by Fraoch, leading their horses, Gatorbelle and Thor, and Archie on his horse, Mario. Jack yelled, “Mama!”
And I really did burst into happy tears from the surprise. Then he said, his baby face, very serious, “Wet.”
Magnus said, “Jack, this is called dreich.”
