Cooper nodded, clearly expecting this response. “Yeah, everybody says that.”
“And ye…” Jerry lowered his voice so that I knew he now spoke to me and not Cooper, “must be Grace, aye?”
I nodded, battling a brief moment of confusion. The reservation must have required something more than the name of the magazine for him to know my first name. I knew for certain I hadn’t been given the chance to introduce myself yet.
We stepped into the kitchen and, while the smell was enough to alert us that someone had been busy cooking, the room was empty. Still, Jerry ushered us inside.
“Go on and have a seat, the both of ye. I believe me wife has stepped upstairs to invite our other guest down for a meal, though he usually dines in his room, I expect he’d like to meet the two of ye.”
“Why?” I asked the question before I had a chance to check it, but I didn’t understand his conclusion. If I were staying at an inn, I certainly wouldn’t feel the need to meet and greet every new guest that checked in.
“Ach, well,” the old man seemed slightly rattled by my question, or perhaps, the bluntness of it. “He’s been here several months now, and the two of ye are the first guests we’ve had since he arrived. I expect me wife thinks ’twould do him good to see some other people.”
“Don’t you think a grown man can decide for himself what would do him good? Why has he been here so long? It certainly doesn’t look like there would be much to do around here.” I surprised myself once again with another question. Usually, I wasn’t this blunt, but something about this situation and the conversation at present felt very odd to me, and I couldn’t help but continue my inquiry.
“Why, lass, I just offered ye food. Why ye feel the need to berate me so, I doona know. Both of yer questions ye can ask the lad yerself when he gets down here. Now, sit.”
He pointed at a chair to his left. I did as he bid, ashamed at my lack of manners. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid jet-lag is hitting me rather hard. I appreciate the food. We both do.”
Jerry patted and squeezed my shoulder once again. “Doona worry about it, lass. Travel is a tough business. Ye two help yerself to the food. I’ll go see if me wife needs some help.”
He slipped quickly away. Before I could gather the energy to stand, I glanced over to see Cooper standing on his tiptoes in an effort to reach the eggs on the stove, just nearly about to dump them right onto the floor.
Leaping from my seat, I pulled on the last of my energy reserves to reach for the tilting plate.
*
“How do ye feel, lad?”
Morna’s voice next to his bedside worried Eoghanan. Perhaps the travel had injured him this time, though as he lay with his eyes closed, he felt no more pain than usual. Each time the journey made his head ache and his wounds burn, but all in all, he seemed in less pain than the previous times.
He jerked his eyes open, adjusting to the bright light above him, working to collect himself from the slight confusion that followed each journey before finally looking in Morna’s direction.
“I feel better than before, though me head aches as it always does.”
“Aye, I’m afraid there’s no way around that bit of it. Do ye feel like rising from yer bed for a while? We have new visitors who will be staying with us. I think it polite if ye come and meet them. Ye are bound to bump into one another over the next few weeks.”
Her words surprised him. Not a soul had happened across his host’s home since his arrival. So many days spent in near solitude made him doubt his ability to communicate suitably, especially if the visitors were from the time he found himself in now. “No, thank ye, Morna. I think it best that I rest a while more.”
The look on Morna’s face confirmed his fears. She’d not meant it as a real question and threw a wad of strange clothes on him. “I dinna ask ye for ye to say ‘no’. Now, ye can either get up, or I shall drag ye up, but downstairs to the kitchen ye shall go one way or the other.”
Resigned, Eoghanan slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed, sitting up. Thankfully, the task of moving about normally became easier with each passing day. “Fine. I dinna think ye would let me stay here, but I thought it worth a try.”
“Ye knew it fruitless to try before ye uttered the words. Now put these on. Ye canna wear the loose linen ye have on now, for no man would wear it in this time. I have tried to find ye the lightest modern material I could, so it willna press too much against yer side, but no doubt ye will feel it against the scar.”