I dried myself off quickly, wrapping myself in a towel before peeking out into the hallway to make sure Orick wasn’t about to get another peep show—the poor guy had already seen more than enough of me.
Finding it clear, I ran to the room and quickly slipped into the outfit Morna had left for me—a pair of yoga pants and a fitted but incredibly comfortable sweater, along with a pair of tennis shoes. I would look like a slob, especially in the Business Class section where our seats were located, but I didn’t care one bit. She left me other clothes as well, clothes I would pack and wear while in New York that were much more suitable for the public. For now during our long day of travel, I would enjoy the comfort.
I finished getting ready quickly, drying my hair and leaving it down so that it lay loosely around my shoulders. I didn’t put on any makeup and truthfully, after a year spent without it, I didn’t feel like I needed any. There was something truly wonderful about the lack of vanity in the seventeenth century that made me feel more confident and beautiful than I ever had under heaps of makeup in the twenty-first.
After straightening up the room, I shifted through the other clothes left for me and rolled my eyes as I zipped the suitcase closed. I knew what Morna meant to do. She somehow knew how I felt about her and was trying to change that. New York, the clothes, taking care of the car—all of it was just her way to get in my good graces. There was only one thing that would do that, and I wouldn’t know if helping Isobel was within her power until we met her in New York.
I gave the room one last look-over before stepping out into the hallway. I could hear Orick in the living room, marveling over the wonders of the television, and started to make my way toward the stairs to join him but paused as I walked by one of the guest bedrooms, catching a glimpse of Cooper sitting on the bed.
Cooper held his small suitcase in his lap. As he struggled with the zipper, Adwen came to sit down beside him, taking the case off his lap and swiftly zipping it shut.
“Adwen, can I ask you something?”
I smiled and held my place just around the doorway hoping I could continue to watch their conversation unseen. I very much wanted to hear whatever he meant to ask. It was bound to be entertaining.
“Aye, ye can.”
“Do you like Aunt Jane?”
“Aye, I do. I like ye as well, Cooper. Ye two and the rest of the McMillan clan are fine people.”
“Hmm…” Cooper crossed his arms and looked up at Adwen knowingly. “Well, that’s not really what I meant.”
Adwen smiled and clasped Cooper on the shoulder. “What did ye mean, lad? Ye can ask me anything, and I shall answer ye as the wee man that ye are.”
“I mean, do you like her? Like Orick likes that red-haired lady he kept thinking was a ghost.”
Adwen laughed and then answered. “Aye, I do.”
“Oh, good.” Cooper smiled and stood, turning so that he faced Adwen while he spoke. “Then it doesn’t really matter why I asked.”
“Would ye tell me anyway?”
“Sure. I was just going to say that if you didn’t like her that you should try to ’cause she needs somebody, I think. Everybody does, really. And…” he trailed off, bending to lift his suitcase.
“And what, lad? Ye canna leave me in suspense.” Adwen stuck a foot out to keep Cooper’s suitcase on the ground.
“Okay, so, please don’t tell Aunt Jane because I know what she will say. She will say I’m too young to talk about it, and I am, and I don’t really want to know any more than what I do. It’s only that I’m smarter than most kids. I know that, and when one thing happens and then another thing happens after that, and it happens more than once, I know that the one thing makes the other thing. Plus, my Grandmother really likes these things called Soaps so I’ve probably seen more things than I should have.”
I snickered under my breath, feeling rather sorry for Adwen as I watched him. Cooper was rambling, as he always did when he was nervous, and I could tell by the crease in Adwen’s brows, he hadn’t the slightest idea what Cooper meant to say. Truthfully, I didn’t either.
“Ach, lad, I dinna understand a word ye just said. I willna tell yer Aunt Jane a word ye say nor anyone else. So ye needn’t worry about that. Just say what ’tis ye mean to, or I believe ye will make us late.”
“Okay.” Cooper straightened his back and exhaled as if pushing away his nerves.
“I don’t want you to make any more noises like you did with Aunt Jane the other day unless you really, really like her.”
I swallowed, shutting my eyes in mortification.
“Ach, ye werena meant to hear that. Ye dinna see anything, did ye?”
“No, but while Orick and I were playing hide-and-seek, I heard some things that sounded a lot like the things I heard coming from my Mom and E-o’s room once. After that is when her belly started to grow with the baby. Maybe makes me think that storks don’t really have anything to do with babies.”
“A stork, lad?”
“You know, people always say that storks bring babies.”