“I see. Did he tell you when you were due?” Alyssa asked Heather.
Heather shrugged. “Not so much, but he told me every day that I was doing well. When he was here, that is. He gave me this nasty stuff to drink while he was gone to keep me from getting sick, but I gave up drinking it after my first trimester when my stomach had settled. Honestly, the hardest part for me was having all the boys so close together. I had all seven in the space of eight years. Well, two are twins, but that’s still a lot of pregnancies fast.”
When Kendrick arrived at the keep to accompany Alyssa home, he asked how she’d enjoyed her walk that day. “It would have been better if I had been alone, of course, but it was fine. I picked some berries that I’m going to make into a pie or cobbler later this week. Oh, maybe I’ll make little pie pockets. Those would be yummy!”
He grinned, happy that she’d had a good day, even though she still complained of the guard. That was fine with him, as long as she walked with him.
When they got home, she threw several things into a pot and put it all into the fireplace to cook. She’d enjoyed Dutch Oven cooking back in New York, and she saw no reason why she couldn’t apply the same principals to the large pot and lid she had for it.
After putting supper on—which she realized she should have done after their walk—she sat with him at the table. “How much longer are the men going to be working on that wall?”
He chuckled. “Until I feel they’re strong enough to continue training. I can’t believe how weak some of the men have gotten. We haven’t been to war or a clan skirmish in quite some time, and they’ve all gotten soft.”
She smiled. “Oh, we should have a few berries now,” she said, jumping up and washing the berries in water she’d drawn from the well that morning. She put them into a bowl, added a little sugar, so they wouldn’t be quite so sour, and mixed it all together, serving them in bowls with spoons. “Now we have something to eat while we wait on our supper.”
“This would be really good with an oat cake,” he said after his first bite.
Alyssa laughed and got him some oat cakes from across the way. She was determined to act as if she was fine, so she could go for a walk the next morning without him suspecting what she was planning.
“What are your plans for tomorrow?” he asked, casually.
“I’m going to visit with Bonnie in the morning, and I’ll probably spend the afternoon with Holli and Heather again. We’re making progress on the baby clothes Holli needs. Your mother said that all the clothes she had for you and your brothers have worn out.”
He nodded. “There were seven of us. Not many garments would be able to withstand seven people wearing them.”
“This is true.” She yawned. “We tried pizza for lunch, and I think we almost have it perfected. We’ll wait until Beth and Gavin are back before we have it again though. Cook really did a nice job on it.”
“Where all did you go on your walk?” Kendrick asked. His guard had already told him, but he wanted to hear it from her. He was certain she was happier with conversation than with silence.
“Through the woods, around the keep and over the hill on the other side of the keep, and around the loch before I went back to the keep.”
“Did you talk to your guard?”
She shook her head. “No, I was trying to pretend he wasn’t there. I hate having someone walk with me that way.”
He frowned. “But you did get to walk everywhere you wanted to go?”
“Yes, I did.” There was no reason to say more on the matter as far as Alyssa was concerned. She’d have a real walk in the morning. “Little Anella is doing much better after being so sick. I’m so thankful. I really like Bonnie, and I don’t make friends very easily.”
“It seems to me you’re surrounded by friends,” Kendrick said.
Alyssa thought about that for a minute. “Well, I have Heather and Holli, and I think Beth and Bonnie are shaping up to be friends as well. It’s odd when you realize that before I came back in time the only person I felt comfortable talking to was a purple-haired crazy woman.”
He chuckled. “Dr. Lachele?”
She grinned at him. “I guess you have heard of her, haven’t you?”
“She’s a legend in our family,” he said. “She arranged for my grandparents, parents, and my brother to meet.”
“And you,” she said.
He chuckled. “I hadn’t thought of her as the one who made us meet. I like knowing she is the one though.” He looked at her for a moment. “What made you decide to follow your friends back in time?”
Alyssa sighed. “It took me forever. I think I went to book club four times dressed and ready to go and chickened out every time. I finally called her and asked her to come over and send me back. I knew if I did it quickly, it would be harder for me to back out.”
“You were afraid?”
She laughed. “Wouldn’t you be? How would you feel if you knew you were about to travel back in time to marry an unknown person? Wouldn’t that frighten you?”
