“Aye, ’tis good. How did you sleep?”
“Very well.” She cleared her throat and smiled. “Thank you for the gowns you left atop Alex’s trunk. I found them when I woke. How was your sleep?”
“Peaceful. James left for Dunvegan this morn to deliver news of your handfast. MacLeod will soon know our feud has been set aside.” She smoothed out the lower ruffles of Anne’s skirts then stood. “This deep blue matches your eyes to perfection. I thought it would. Come, it’s nearly midday and so lovely outside. We’ll gather flowers for the tables.”
“I’m allowed beyond the gates?”
“You’re kin now, so aye.”
She followed Mary downstairs. This was what she’d come to Scotland for, to find family and to tour the countryside. Now she had both, and all at the same time. Overwhelming, yet wonderfully so. “Thank you, Annie,” she whispered under her breath.
At the door, they collected two woven baskets and with them looped over their arms, walked out into the sunshine. The fresh sea air fully awakened her. “I can’t believe how beautiful this place is. I thought it so cold to start with.”
“What do you mean? To start with?” Mary linked her free arm through hers and they passed under the arch and headed toward the drawbridge.
“Oh, just that I enjoy when the season changes.”
“As do I.” She called out to the burly guardsman who shadowed them. “Good morn, Alan. Why do you follow us?”
He marched to their side. “My lady, the men practice this way.”
“As they have for all the years I’ve known them to.” Mary giggled. “Anne and I willnae disturb them. We need to fill these baskets. When the chief returns, I want every room awash in welcome.”
“I will still watch over ye.”
“We dinnae require protection on our land, or at least no’ this close to the castle.”
He grunted. “No wandering farther than the meadow. I’ll keep an eye out.”
“Come, Anne. The wildflowers await.” She tugged her over the stone walled bridge, murmuring, “’Tis a grand sight if you wish to see the men training. They battle hard.”
“Where are they?”
“Beyond the outbuildings near the shore where there is a goodly amount of flat land.”
“I see.” A great cloud of dust rose from that direction. They followed the meandering trail scattered with rocks, passed children playing near the stables. Uphill, they climbed, and at the top, Anne raised a hand to her brow. Stunning. Dunscaith sat at the mouth of Loch Eishort, and the waters shimmered blue-green from this vantage point. James would certainly have favorable conditions as he sailed to Dunvegan Castle along the coast.
“The Cuillin mountains look majestic today.” Mary plucked several flowers from within the lush green grass.
“Yes.” The mountains rose majestically. Wispy clouds dotted the horizon, floating toward the home of her ancestors. She was descended from the direct MacLeod bloodline, and that had never been more obvious than when Annie had stood before her. Theirs surely was fairy blood, for such a wish to come true.
Oh, but Dunvegan. How she’d love to visit the stronghold of her ancestors. She’d intended to go, determined to see it all by traveling the entire length of Skye.
Now, in the most unique way, that wish had come true.
“Mum, Dad, I wish you could be here,” she murmured.
If only that were—oh my goodness. She was living in the past, and well before the time her parents had been taken.
Would it be possible for her to alert them of the danger ahead?
Her heartbeat raced. Why not?
This could be the reason she’d come, and not simply because of Annie’s wish. Maybe she could leave her parents a message, one that warned them ahead of time of the fire that would take their lives.
Only how could she do that? New Zealand was a long way away and she still had no idea what year she’d arrived in.
“Anne, come and join me.”
She spun and faced Mary. “I know this will sound strange, but indulge me. What year is it?”
“Oh, Anne.” She laughed. “You are such a delight.”
Delight aside, she had to know. “Do you believe the world is flat?”
Her giggles continued. “Nay. Men have sailed far and wide and have no’ fallen off the sides. And there is the moon. Surely you’ve seen the roundness of it? Why would the Earth no’ be so?”
“Rrright.” She slapped her forehead. The moon was round. Geez, where had she heard about people believing the world had been flat?
So what time had she ended up in? From the brochure she’d read during her trip here, Dunscaith had been abandoned by the clan around sixteen-hundred and eighteen when the current chief had received a royal charter of the lands in the far north of Skye at Trotternish. Whatever time this was, it had to be prior to that.
If only the chief’s name wasn’t Donald MacDonald. Every chief she could recall from this clan had been named such.