Prescribed for Love (20 page)

“Good,”
said Keith with an approving nod.

Keith
continued to ask about
Catriona’s
various exploits all the way until supper
. “I have a good one to tell ye,” said Branan.
He normally dined with Lainie, but she was with her mother this evening.

“
Please,
” said Keith,
“Enlighten me.”
Cat
thought she knew which story he was going to tell
.

“Well, as ye must know by now, when we first met yer
sister
, we thought she was a witch. There was a misunderstanding and we thought she had threatened Ailsa. Laird
Alasdair
had locked her in a room, but yer sister didna
e
find that at all acceptable.
”

“No,” laughed Keith, “She would not have enjoyed that.”

Branan continued his retelling, “I
nstead of staying locked in the room, she used the sheets and her dress to make a r
ope and climb out
the window
to escape.”

“Huh, I’m actually impressed.
” To his sister he said, “It looks like I actually managed to teach you something. But, more importantly, how was your form?”

“
Poor. I was still wearing heels,
”
replied Cat.

“Ha, you would get taken from home the one day you were wearing them,”
chuckled
Keith.

“Speaking of yer home, when will ye be leaving?” asked Branan. “Lady Cat has been most anxious to return.”

Before either Cat or Keith could answer, Ailsa interjected, “Surely ye are nae leaving so soon! Ye must stay awhile longer.”

It sounded to Cat like Ailsa was trying to keep her here for other reasons. But since she could not leave without the book, she took
advantage of the girl’s offer.
“Well, I guess we
could stay a few more weeks—as
long as we aren’t a burden.”

“Nay, ye are
nae
a burden. Ye are welcome to stay as long as ye wish,” said
Alasdair
. He had just entered the hall. He had wanted to secure the book in the secret compartment in his room before joining everyone else for supper.

“Are you sure?” asked Cat. She knew they could stay at Elspeth’s if they really did become a burden.

“I am certain,” replied Alasdair. “But, if ye would like to lessen the burden, ye could sing for yer supper. I hear ye are quite talented, and I am sure everyone here would appreciate the entertainment.”

Catriona thought this sounded like a fair price. Once she and Keith finished their meal, they put on a little performance
, altering their favorite songs to fit the time as best they could.

***

Alasdair
felt guilty agreeing to his sister’s invitation. Especially since i
t was essentially his fault
Catriona and Keith could not
yet
leave.
He only intended to keep the book until he could ensure there were no additional threats to his clan—it had nothing to do with his desire to have Catriona stay awhile longer.
Aye Alasdair—keep lying to yerself.

***

“Wake up!” Her brother’s shout
wrenched
Cat out of a deep sleep.

Instead of getting up, she rolled over. “Go away,” she slurred
.

“Someone’s cranky
this
morning,” teased Keith.
“
Maybe
I won’t give you
my present
after all.”

“Present?”

“I knew that would get your attention. Here.” He tossed something at her face.

Catching the item she asked,
“What is it?”

“Pants.”

“And why would I want pants?
” she asked, even though she was looking at them longingly.
She begrudgingly handed them back,
“
While I appreciate the gesture, everyone will look at me oddly if I do wear them.”

“I just didn’t want you almost killing yourself again,” said Keith, “Especially considering what we’re gonna be doing today.”

“You can’t actually be serious.”

“I’m completely serious. Now hurry up and get dressed, we’re wasting daylight,” instructed her brother.
Keith
turned
his back to her so she could change
.
“And if you’re so worried about what people will think, just put the pants on under your dress
for now,” he suggested. “
Oh, and just for the record, that nightgown makes you look like a grandma.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m just sayin’.”

“Alright, I’m ready.” Cat walked
over to her brother.
“Hey!
What do you think you are doing?
Oh no you don’t!” she said as she smacked his
hand. He was rifling through her purse. “I told you before, that chocolate is on strict rations, and I’m definitely going to need
it
later if I’m stuck here awhile.”

“I was just looking for the
toolset you always keep in here.”

“Liar.”

“Fine, you got me. But you do have the toolset don’t you? It could be useful.” Catriona n
odded in response. “Excellent!”

“This way,” said Cat as she led her brother away from the castle.
Normally, she had to sneak past the guards if she wanted to leave the confines of the keep, but apparently they thought her brother was adequate protection. If only they knew
the axes he carried were not for defense
. “Here you go, one dilapidated hut
almost completely
destroyed by fire,”
said Cat as they arrived at their destination.

“Do they all look like this?” asked Keith.

“No, this is one of the worst. I figured no one would mind if we screwed around with it,” replied Cat.

Getting down to business, Keith said,
“Let’s clear out all this burnt stuff. There still might be usable wood here. No sense in not making use of what is already available.
”
Cat took off her dress so she was just wearing the pants her brother brought her and a shirt.
Seeing this was likely going to be a very dirty job, she reached into her purse for her bandana
. “Really, Cat? A babushka? Now you really do look like a grandma.”

“Oh, sh
ut up Keith,” she said as she rolled her pants to just below the knee, they were a few inches too long.

“Anything else you need to do before helping? Some
stretches maybe?”

Cat just glared at her brother
. Once satisfied she had made her point, she
started to help clear away the charred pieces. They
worked individually
until the pieces got too large for Cat to lift by herself.
At this point, Keith suggested she start separating out the salvageable pieces while he finished the last of the heavy lifting.

“So boss, what’s the plan?”
asked Cat
once
they were ready to actually start rebuilding.

“There was some usable wood, but I wouldn’t trust it for the main supports.
” Keith sighed,
“
We’re going to have to cut down
a tree
.”

“
Do you think these trees will work? There aren’t that many here an
d they tend to not be very tall,
”
replied Cat.

“
Well,
” said Keith,
“H
opefully we can find
one that will suit our purposes
.”

They
searched
the surrounding area
until
they found a suitable tree
.
Grab
bing the saw he brought
, Keith
instructed
Cat
to
cu
t off the low-hanging branches.
While she
cut, he assessed
—
looking at
the tree’s angle to best determine which side to first attack with the axe
.
Reaching a decision, he began to chip away at the trunk once Cat had finished with the branches. She then grabbed the other axe to help.
They
took turns cutting into the
tree until Keith said,
“Okay stop, now we need to cut into
the other side so it falls that
way.”

Their chopping quickly
grew rhythmic—the repetitive thuds almost became soothing to Cat. She
had not realized how much tension she had been holding until she had been able to release it on the tree.
Finally, the tree started to fal
l.
“Timber!” yelled C
at. Keith rolled his eyes
. “What?
” she asked.
“
I always wanted to yell that.”

“It’s not like anyone else is here, or like they would understand what that meant,” said Keith.

“Spoilsport,
”
she said before sticking out her tongue.
“Man, I’m wicked hungry, we should get something to eat.”

“You know, just because you are eating for two doesn’t mean you get to talk in the royal ‘we’,”
said Keith. Cat glared at him. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop.” They
walked back to where Cat left her purse with the lunches she had packed for them.
“What did you pack? Preggo waffles? What? Don’t look at me like that. Ahh, come on! You couldn’t honestly expect me not to say that at some point! Fine,
now
I’m done.”

“Not too bad for a full day’s work,” said Keith. They had managed to
raise and secure
th
e main supports
.

“Yeah, too bad my blisters have blisters,”
moaned Cat, although truthfully, she was proud of what they had done.

“Same time tomorrow?”

“Sure, I’ll pack the lunches again.”

“So how do you wanna do the walls?” asked Cat. “I don’t think there’s enough wood here.”

“No, there definitely isn’t enough. We’ll have to go with the normal approach for this time period—sticks and mud,” replied Keith.

“Well, at least that’s less likely to make my blisters worse. Do you want me on stick duty or mud duty?” she asked.

“You take the sticks, I’ll tak
e the mud,” said Keith. “L
et me
just
show you what I need you to do.”

Cat weaved the sticks in through the main support as Keith had
instructed
while he tried to find the exact mud composition he desired
. She actually found
this part
pretty fun; it was like trying to put together a really large puzzle.
Once Keith found the ideal mud recipe, he would follow behind to pack it into all the crevices formed by the weave.
While this was nowhere near as laborious as the previous day, it still took almost all of the daylight hours. “So now what? We let this dry overnight and tackle the roof in the morning?” she asked.

“You got it!” said Keith.

“Fine, but we’re ordering take-out tomorrow! And you’re paying.”

“No problem. I’ll just call over to Italy for some pizza, I’m sure it will be here before the end of the year. Do you think they take Visa?”

“I don’t think they have tomatoes yet,” s
tated
Cat.

“Really Cat, with all the problems in that statement, you decided the lack of the tomatoes was the most absurd?”
asked Keith incredulously
.

“
Hey, my suspension of disbelief only goes so far,” she laughed.

***

Alasdair knew Catriona had wanted to distance herself from him, but this seemed a little extreme. He had not seen her, or her brother, for almost three days.
Curious, he went in search of them. After asking
the guards about the keep, he was told Catriona and Keith had left the confines of the castle
ev
ery morning
.
He tried to discover their purpose, but no one seemed to know why the siblings left each day. At least the guard at the gate had been able to point Alasdair in the direction they had travelled.

Following the path to the village, Alasdair wondered what could possibly keep the pair away almost
the entire day. Catriona had frequently gone to administer aid to the sick or injured; but previously, she had always returned by midday. Alasdair was just approaching the outskirts of the village when he heard laughter a few yards away. The unrestrained glee could only belong to one person.