Stranded by the Highlander by Rebecca Preston

Author:Rebecca Preston
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Time travel
Published: 2019-12-25T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 32

“This must be the coldest day yet,” Nancy complained to Anna as they trekked back into the castle for dinner. It had been a blustery, cold afternoon, the dark, dismal autumn weather making sword fighting a lot more of a grind than usual. They’d been training all afternoon — there was little else to do with the men on patrol, and things with the food raids still in a curious stalemate. “I miss summer already. Bring it back.”

“I don’t think even Maggie’s that powerful.” Anna chuckled. “But it’ll be summer again before we know it. And autumn’s quite nice. We’ve got the harvest festival to look forward to yet… plus, once winter sets in, everyone brings out their best stories for the long nights.” Anna’s eyes gleamed. “I’ve got a few myself, actually. It’ll be nice to have an audience member who actually gets my references.”

“Will there be a harvest festival if the thefts aren’t dealt with, though?” Nancy asked with a frown.

A shadow passed over Anna’s face at the reminder. “Good point,” she admitted. “We’ve still got a week or two before it all starts, I suppose… let’s just hope the men find the thieves and sort them out before then.”

They ambled into the dining hall together. Donal and Malcolm were both on patrol — the nights were closing in earlier and earlier these days, and the men tended to either have a very early or a very late dinner. It was nice to spend more time with Anna, though. Nancy was enjoying getting to know the tough, clever soldier — she had a wicked sense of humor when you got through her guarded exterior, and a kind heart.

They ate together, talking happily of the future they’d both come from. Nancy had stopped thinking about how she was going to get home — for now, her focus was on averting a famine. After all, there was plenty of time to work out how to get back to her own time, if that was even possible — at the very least, she was going to get a message to her dad. But tonight, for some reason, she found her thoughts returning to her father, to the family she’d left behind, and she raised an eyebrow at Anna as their laughter died down.

“Do you ever miss your family? Back home, I mean?”

Anna shrugged, taking another bite of a piece of bread. “My family’s here,” she pointed out, one hand resting on her belly.

“I mean — you know, your parents. You have a brother, right?”

“I do miss them sometimes,” Anna admitted. “It’s weird that they don’t… exist, you know? They haven’t been born yet, they’re not anywhere.”

“Do you ever worry that they think you’re dead? I think about my dad a lot. He’s going to have nobody to look after him now I’m gone.”

“Isn’t he an ex-SEAL?” Anna quirked an eyebrow. “Those guys don’t need anybody to look after them.”

“Yeah, he’s pretty tough.” Nancy smiled to herself. “But still. He thinks I drowned in a cave.

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