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"I can handle it. Surly Scots are much harder to deal with than their excitable moms."
"Wasnae surly." He holds the cafe door open for me as we exit, then lays a hand on my back to guide me toward the Harley. "I was grumpy. There's a difference."
"Ah, yes. A very important distinction."
He climbs onto the Harley and picks up our helmets. "Haud yer wheesht and get on the bike with me, ye cheeky lass."
I get on behind him, and we roll down the street. I'm about to meet his parents.
Oh dear lord. What have I gotten myself into?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Callum
The minute we pull up in front of my parents' house, Ma rushes out the front door to greet us. I've barely set the kickstand, and we haven't even removed our helmets yet. But Ma cannae be stopped. She starts rambling in Gaelic, and Da has to hold her back so Kate and I can get off the Harley. The second Kate's feet hit the ground, Ma drags her into a bear hug.
"Oh, dearie," she coos, "we are so happy to meet ye."
She acts as if this is a surprise, but I had rung my parents before Kate and I left Dùndubhan to let them know we would stop by for dinner.
I don't bother trying to tear my mother away from Kate. "Ye haven't met her yet, Ma. All you've done is suffocate the lass."
Greer MacTaggart steps back, holding Kate at arm's length. "Let me look at ye,gràidh. Oh, ye are a bonnie thing. Cannae believe my boy finally found the right woman."
The right woman? I've just introduced her to Kate, and already my mother is going barmy, dreaming up a fantasy of me and Kate getting married and having twenty bairns. Jack is giving her one bairn. That means I donnae need to rush to produce more MacTaggarts. We've got plenty in the Highlands already.
Ma kisses both of Kate's cheeks. "Come inside, dearie. I need to get to know Callum's girl."
"Bloody hell, Ma," I say. "I've known Kate for two weeks. It is not time to plan the wedding."
"I haven't planned the wedding,mo luran." Ma smiles and winks. "You need to propose first."
Propose? She's completely off her head. But when she calls me her darling boy in Gaelic, I feel like a wee laddie again.
Kate looks at me and shrugs, which I take to mean she realizes there's no point in arguing with my mother. Ma commandeers Kate's hand as she leads her into the house. Da walks beside me and claps a hand on my shoulder.
"Just give in," Alistair MacTaggart says. "Women are crackers when it comes to all that romantic rubbish. Let your mother get it out of her system."
"You mean the way she did when Jack brought Autumn home. Ma went so far off her head that it was rolling down the street."
But aye, he's right. No one can stop a MacTaggart woman when she finds out one of her sons has a new lass in his life. Jack probably fed her a load of bollocks about how Kate is the right woman for me. Maybe she is, I donnae know. Whether she wants to be the woman for me is another question altogether.
My mother does not stop havering even when we reach the dining room. She hugs Kate again, then tells us all where to sit. Naturally, she orders me to sit right beside Kate. I would've done that anyway, but letting Ma fuss over us makes her happy. Da sits at the head of the table while Ma bustles away to the kitchen while still havering—to herself now.
"So Kate," Da says, "where are you from?"
"Toledo, Ohio. My family still lives there."
"Ye must miss them."
"I do, of course. We keep in touch with phone calls, emails, and video chats. Not the same as being there, but it's the next best thing."
I clasp her hand under the table. "Cannae imagine not seeing my family in person for more than a year."
Kate shrugs. "It was my decision to move to Scotland, and I do love it here. So I can't complain."
"Donnae need to hide the fact you're homesick."
