I didn’t answer him right away, instead turning toward Adwen and Orick who were just venturing outside.
“Will you two stay right out here and don’t go poking around just yet? None of us need to be seen. We all look ridiculous in these clothes, but Cooper and I at least know enough about society in this time to talk our way out of it if we are seen. You two would just make a mess of it. We will be back in a minute.”
They both nodded, and I walked with Cooper to the other side of the castle. Except for the lack of snow, it was hard to tell we’d even changed time periods.
“Coop, I am well aware of the fact we have to go to Morna’s. I’m not pleased about it at all. And frankly, I don’t care how late it is or what time we get there. I’ll take some pleasure out of waking the old bag up in the middle of the night.”
“You won’t wake her up, Aunt Jane. She’ll know we are coming.”
I glared at him, and he quickly stopped speaking. He was probably right about that, but he knew that wasn’t the point of the conversation.
“I am so glad that you are okay, but I have never been so angry with you. Do you understand why?”
“Yes, but…”
“Nope.” I held up a hand to stop him. “No buts. I understand why you did what you did, but that does not make it okay, Cooper. You’re the most grown child I know, but you are still a child. That means that you do not get to make the decisions, and you have to listen to what the people in charge of you say. What if something had happened to you, Cooper? Your mother would never forgive me. She left you in my care. I am responsible for you. Don’t ever do anything like this ever again.”
By the time I finished, he was looking down at his feet. He cared very much about others and had always been incredibly conscious of how he made others feel.
“I’m sorry, Aunt Jane. I didn’t mean to scare you or be bad. I just wanted to help Isobel. We’re going to, right? Now that we’re here…you’re not going to make us leave without helping her, are you?”
After everything that had happened, I was embarrassed that it had taken Isobel coughing up blood in front of me for me to see reason. I reached for Cooper, pulling him into my lap to squeeze him close.
“Yes, Coop. We’re going to try, although I don’t know what Morna will be able to do about it. I don’t have very much faith in the lunatic.” My blood pressure rose just thinking about her.
“What’s a lunatic?”
“A crazy person. I know you like her, but I’m really not excited about seeing her.”
Cooper scooted off my lap and stood, holding a hand to help pull me up. “She’s not crazy, Aunt Jane. You just haven’t gotten the chance to know her. She’s a really swell gal.”
A laugh loud enough to echo escaped me, and I had to quickly stifle it, remembering the strangers that were inside the castle. “A really swell gal? Before we got here, did you visit the nineteen-fifties, Coop?”
“Nah, I heard Bebop say that about some lady he met in the village back home. I thought it sounded pretty neat.”
“I see.” We started to make our way back toward Adwen and Orick. “Well, you can think she’s ‘swell’ all you want to. I do not share that opinion.”
“She will change your mind before you go back.”
I scoffed. “Would you like to place money on that?”
Cooper laughed, pulling on my hand so that I would look down at him.
“Of course not, Aunt Jane. I’m only six years old. I don’t have any money.”
CHAPTER 29
“Just what is it that ye’d like us to steal, lass? Is thievery no punishable in this time?”
I walked past Adwen to look around the corner once more. The car that had pulled up in front of the castle nearly five minutes ago still sat empty and running. Whoever it belonged to would come back for it soon and, frankly, I didn’t see that we had many other options other than to make our getaway in it before that happened.
“Okay, first of all, it is a car. It will get us to Morna’s by morning. If we walk, it will take us days. Second of all, we aren’t stealing anything. We are borrowing it. We will return it along with some apology money that Cooper will convince Morna to give us. On top of that, she can probably make them forget it was ever taken. How else do you plan for us to get there? I don’t see any horses around, do you? The stables are shambles.”
Adwen shook his head as he paced. “It doesna seem right, lass. Canna ye ask them if we might borrow it?”
I laughed. “Adwen, I appreciate you being so noble, I really do, but we look like a band of crazies dressed as we are. They don’t know us. They have no reason to trust us, and it’s clear we aren’t in any real distress. I don’t even have any money or personal belongings to leave behind as collateral.”