Eoghanan held up both garments. The first, while about the length of a kilt, was made of a fabric he’d never seen before and had two holes, one for each of his legs, he assumed. The top scrunched together and, as he pulled on the sides, he watched in fascination as the bottoms grew and shrunk with his efforts. “And what are these, Morna?”
“I believe that American men wear them while they play sports. Jerry said he’s seen basketball players don them. I thought that since the waistband is moveable, it would hurt less than placing ye in a pair of fitted pants.”
Eoghanan frowned down at the garments. “Men must take no pride in how they look to wear such ridiculous garments. Can I no just wear me kilt?”
“It’s too heavy just yet. It would rub right against yer scars. Just strip yer clothes, and I’ll help ye. Doona be shy about it either. All these months of healing ye, I’ve seen every blessed inch of ye, and ye know it well.”
Not a skilled talker on his best day, Eoghanan knew the witch would win every war of words with him. So he stood to step out of the thin linen pants, deciding not to argue the point further. His mind took him, instead, back to where he’d been only moments before. “The lad saw me this time. I know he did. I suspected he did the first time, but I couldna be sure. This time though, he waved at me.”
He thought back on the boy, smiling and waving at him as if he’d known him all his young life.
“Oh?” Morna’s voice spoke as she lifted his foot to slide into a solid white, strange foot covering she called a ‘tennis-shoe.’ “I’ll no say that it surprises me that a child was the one to see ye. They are much more perceptive than adults.”
“Aye, I believe the boy to be verra wise for his small age. He dinna seem to be afraid of the way I look.” Eoghanan tried to wiggle his toes, grimacing at the monstrosity being strapped to his foot.
“Why would he be? Ye look mighty fine in me eyes, and I’d be hard pressed to find any lass that dinna think ye so.”
He pulled up one corner of his mouth in disagreement. “Mayhap once, but no so much anymore. I doona mind it, but ’tis true well enough.”
“Hogwash,” Morna swatted his covered foot dismissively. “Yer scars may look a bit painful now, but as they fade, they will only draw lassies to ye, wait and see. Makes ye look a wee bit dangerous, and I doona know any lass that doesna like a bit of danger whether she is willing to admit it or no. No matter that ye are about as dangerous as a wee kitten, ye willna look that way, and that’s what matters.”
“If ye say so. Are ye done with me? I feel rather foolish.”
In answer to his question, Morna stood from her crouching place at his feet. “Aye. Ye know ye seemed surprised that the child wasna scared of the way ye looked. Children are only afraid of what they’re taught to be afraid of.” She paused and opened the bedroom door, motioning toward him so that he would follow her into the hallway. “’Tis a credit to the boy’s mother that he wasna bothered by ye. It means she’s taught him to look at more than how a person looks.”
Mention of the lad’s mother, as he followed Morna down the stairs and into the hallway, made Eoghanan think back to the way her garment felt in his hands and the risk he’d taken by going after it once she’d left it. It smelled lovely, as if he were holding her in his arms. He almost wished to keep it for himself but instead had left it for her, quickly rushing back to his place in the shadows. He could almost smell it now, the same scent he’d noticed on the covering. The fragrance so lifelike in his memory, he found himself bewildered by it. How could he smell something so strongly when it wasn’t there?
He stepped into the kitchen to greet the inn’s new guests and stopped still. The scent that lingered in his memory instead clung to the very woman he thought of. She stood before him now, both she and the young lad.
Chapter 5
“Hey, I know you. Did you get on the same plane as us?”
I’d just sat Cooper down at the kitchen table with a plate full of eggs and some sort of weird sausage I had no intention of eating when Cooper’s exclamation caused me to glance up to where Jerry’s wife, along with the inn’s other resident, appeared in the doorway.
I understood Cooper’s words immediately upon looking at the man, and the room suddenly seemed to grow quite small. I reached behind to steady myself but found that I groped at nothing but air until Jerry’s knowing hand found mine as he stepped to my side. “Are ye alright, lass?”
I nodded as Jerry led me to a chair next to Cooper. He spoke up on my behalf.
“She’s just a bit tired is all. Verra long trip from America. I think some sleep would do her good.”