Page 98 of Only a Breath Away

He stuck his head around the corner. “Who?”

“Um, Finch Mac and his wife and son and her mother and father and her sister, are all coming. Apparently Lady Mairead explained that Fraoch and Magnus are Finch Mac’s brother and now he wants to meet us and… yeah.”

Magnus said, “This is the man ye broke intae his house and stole his things?”

Fraoch said, “Aye.”

Magnus said, “Then it needs tae be a verra fine meal.”

Hayley said, “He seemed to think the letter from Lady Mairead explained it well enough, he was blown away by what she gave him, likereallyexcited, but still… he said Finch Mac left his tour to come home and yeah, we robbed them, broke the window and…”

Beaty said, “Finch Mac? He will be here? Finch Mac, dost ye think… Finch Mac! I hae tae dye m’hair, the blue is too faded!”

I looked down. We were all wearing sweats and t-shirts. It was all we had, basic clothes, the bare essentials all bought from Walmart.

Magnus said, “We ought tae clean up.”

Zach said, “Tracy and I will grill, sound good?”

Tracy had been looking back and forth from all our faces. “You guys stole from Finch Mac and now he’s coming here?”

Zach said, “Yep, it’s a pretty ordinary day-in-the-life for us, the point is, it’s going to be great.” He counted in the air. “Twenty! I think this is dinner for twenty people. Wait... twenty-one? Or no, nineteen...? How many?” He counted on his fingers.

I said, “But... but... we’re waiting for James and Quentin, they could arrive at any time, we can’t do this… we can’t have company while we’re doing this! Call him back and tell him—”

Hayley’s eyes went wide. “I can’t tell Joe Munro no! He wants to talk to us about the items Lady Mairead left for them, and Finch Mac is upset and wants to meet his brothers. I didn’t know what to say! What could I have said?”

“I don’t know? Like we were going out of town.”

“He knew our home number!”

I sighed. “I suppose there’s nothing we can do. And how bad can it be? They must not be too angry, they’re bringing the whole family.” I looked around at all the kids. “What are you waiting for, everyone get pretty for Finch Mac!”

* * *

We all raced around straightening up the house and getting it ready for company. I said to Hayley, when we passed. “Do you have any idea what Lady Mairead said in her letter to Joe Munro? How much did she tell him?”

“I have no idea. There was a stack of priceless letters, a book, I think it was a journal from the Earl of Breadalbane, and her letter had a wax seal.”

I said, “We have to saynothinguntil they let us know what they know.”

To say we were excited was an understatement. We were also nervous.

We were worried though too, about James and Quentin. I asked Magnus when he was staring at the far edge of the lake. “Wouldn’t you think James and Quentin should already be here?”

He said, “Aye, but there are still hours remaining in the day.”

I passed Hayley and Fraoch in the living room. “They should be here, right?”

She said, “Soon, I think, I’m not worried yet, late afternoon, then I get worried.”

Fraoch mumbled. “I should hae gone with them.”

Hayley said, “Then you would be lost too! Plus you’re part of the rescue if they’re not back.”

“Aye,” he scrubbed his hands down his face. “Me and Magnus, using the Trailblazer, twill be good.”

“And Lochinvar.”

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