Chapter Four
It was much later when Kendrick walked over to Alyssa and whispered into her ear. “I think it’s time for that wedding night we talked about,” he said.
Alyssa felt flushed and nervous all at once. His lips against her ear…well, they did something to her.
As Kendrick led her from the keep, someone called out loudly, “A toast! To Kendrick and Alyssa! May they have beautiful bairns who will honor their clan!”
Everyone raised a glass, and Kendrick turned. “I thank you all for being at my wedding feast. You keep feasting, and Alyssa and I will feast in a different way!”
Alyssa was shocked and embarrassed at his words, but the entire clan had laughed as if it was a perfectly normal thing to say. Her eyes met Heather’s across the crowded room, and Heather gave a nod.
As they left the keep, Alyssa said, “I’m not sure I’m ready for a wedding night.”
“Is that so?” he asked. “Then why did ye marry me?”
“I didn’t feel like I had a choice!” she said. “I felt forced into marriage, and if you don’t understand that, then you don’t understand anything.”
“I’ll not take ye against yer will, lassie, but I think ye need to think on what yer sayin’ ta me.”
His brogue had thickened in a way that sent heat straight to her core. She did love a Scottish accent. “I…maybe we can go to your cottage and kiss and see where things go from there.” She bit her lip, unsure how he’d react to her suggestion.
He laughed and swung her up into his arms, carrying her toward his cottage. When he strode in, he kicked the door shut, and set her on her feet, kissing her softly at first, and then more firmly as she reacted.
*****
When Alyssa woke the following morning, Kendrick was lying in bed with her, and the cover was down, around their waists. “I had a wonderful wedding night,” he said softly, kissing her shoulder.
She blushed profusely. “I think I’d like to cover up a little!”
He just laughed. “It’s not like I haven’t seen and felt everything you have.” With a kiss to her lips, he swung his legs out of bed with her, and she peeked at his bottom.
How could a butt look that good when he’d never even spent a minute in a gym?
“What are yer plans for the day, lass?”
She wondered if he’d ever call her by her name but decided he probably wouldn’t. “I was invited to the keep to sew with your family this afternoon.”
“Y’mean with yer two best friends and my grandmother. Stay out of trouble, lass, and have supper waiting for me.”
“Wait…what time will you be back? And how do I know what time it is? The phones don’t tell me anymore. They can’t quite orient themselves, because not only are there no cell towers, but I’ve gone back in time.”
He sighed. “Ask me mother, and she will explain. I have no idea!” With one last kiss, he hurried out of the cottage.
As soon as he was gone, Alyssa sat up, covering herself from her neck down with the plaid they’d slept under the night before. She hadn’t even had a chance to explore the little cottage.
Standing up, still holding the cover, she walked from the small bedroom she had shared with Kendrick to the main room, which seemed to be a kitchen and a sitting room all at once. The only other room was another small bedroom. She’d better not have seven kids, because she had no idea where they’d all go!
Still, the cottage was all she and Kendrick needed at that moment. When she looked around for food to cook, there waslittle. In the books she’d read, they only talked about what the lairds and royalty ate, very seldom mentioning the fare of the common man.
She had much to learn, and she would start it with her sisters-in-law. She dressed, having a terrible time with her plaid, and then left the cottage to see if she could find any of the women, she’d met the night before.
She spotted Bonnie, her baby in a basket, as she stood in the street? Road? She didn’t know what to call it. It was a dirt path through the village, and that explanation would have to work for her brain.
Alyssa hurried over to her new sister-in-law. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to eat!”
Bonnie laughed. “Of course, ye dinna. Come into me cottage, and I’ll show ye an easy way to make oat cakes.”
Following her sister-in-law inside her small cottage, she looked around, seeing that it was much like the one she was sharing with Kendrick. “Now, I’ll show ye both how to make oatcakes and oatmeal, which will be enough of a lesson for today.” She pulled out a large glass jar with what looked to be a cork stopper.
