Some Like it Scottish, page 29
She climbed inside with him. Pulled the canopy over them to keep out the rain, and laid his head in her lap. The next wave hit and washed them over the edge. She didn’t even want to think what would’ve happened if she’d waited another ten seconds.
She grabbed the satellite phone and called John. He picked up on the first ring.
“Oh, God, thank you,” she cried. “Come get us!”
“Kit? What’s wrong?”
She looked out of the hole in the canvas top and saw the last wave wash Ramsay’s boat under. “It sank, John. We’re in the life raft. Ramsay’s hurt.”
“Where are you?” John was calm and reassuring.
“We were on our way back from Ramsay’s cove. I have the flare gun.”
“Wait five minutes, then use it. We won’t be long.” He hung up.
Kit started counting. She kissed Ramsay’s head and realized she was crying all over him. She got to three hundred, pointed the flare gun outside the canopy, and fired it upward.
Ramsay groaned and moved.
She watched as his eyes fluttered open and never felt happier in her entire life. “You’re awake.”
Ramsay glanced from side to side, wincing. “Where am I?”
“We’re in the lifeboat. John and Ross are on their way.”
“What?” Ramsay tried to sit up, but she held him in her lap.
“Don’t move.”
“Where’s my boat?” he growled.
“It’s gone.”
He began cussing worse than when he’d found the leak.
“What did you expect me to do?” She laughed, just so glad they hadn’t gone down with the boat. “Did you expect me to pull your boat in the life raft with us?”
“What are you smiling at?” He swore again.
She shook her head. “No man who’s about to die could swear with this much proficiency.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “But my boat.”
“I know.” She smoothed his hair back from his face. “You’ve got a hell of a bump going on there.”
A horn blew. Kit unzipped the canopy and looked out. The Armstrong family boat was approaching.
“How is he?” Ross hollered, clearly upset.
“He’s spitting mad.”
Ross smiled. “He’ll be fine. Can you catch this rope?”
“Yes.” Kit made sure to grab onto the handhold and stretched her other arm out as far as she could. She missed it the first time, but got it on the second try.
After they were towed to the boat, John and Ross helped her on board. Ross climbed down into the raft and with John got Ramsay aboard, too.
“Get him covered up,” John said.
“Aye.” Ross pulled out a space blanket and wrapped it around Ramsay.
All the while Ramsay complained. “Holy hell. I only just got her.”
“’Tis a shame,” Ross consoled. “But you and I know the sea takes what she wants.”
“But I only just got her,” he repeated.
Before Kit knew it, they were back at the dock. Doc MacGregor was there waiting for them.
“Maggie called and said I was needed.”
Doc checked out Ramsay and turned to John. “I think he should have a CT scan. Just to be safe.”
“I’m fine.” Ramsay shoved Ross as he tried to help him up.
“Stop arguing.” John succeeded in pulling Ramsay to his feet. “Ye’re as bad as Dand about his bath. Ye’ll go to the hospital in Inverness and that’s the end of it.”
Harper came running down the dock. When she got to Kit, she pulled her in her arms. “Are you okay?”
“She’s grand.” Ross put his arm around the other side of Ramsay. “It’s the Skipper who’s the clumsy oaf. He’s banged his head.”
“You know as soon as I stop seeing two of you that I’m going to kick yere arse.”
Ross laughed. “I’m counting on it, Skipper. I’m counting on it.”
* * *
At the quilting dorm, practically all the women of Gandiegow, along with her clients, were waiting when Kit got out of the shower. They had packed themselves into the hallway.
Harper shooed their audience away as she ushered Kit into the bedroom. “Give her some privacy.”
But Deydie pushed herself into the room anyway. “Is she hurt? I need to see for myself.” She yanked on Kit’s arm until the old woman could look her in the eyes.
Kit tugged Harper’s robe tighter around her body. “I’m fine. Right as rain. Grand, even. Now if only I can put on some underwear.”
Deydie reached up and brushed her cheek. “Aye. But I can see that yere heart is hurting.” She had the decency to say these words quietly enough that only Kit and Harper heard.
Deydie spun around and walked out of the room. “She’s fine all right. Now, everyone back to Quilting Central. Let’s leave the matchmaker and her sister alone.”
Kit appreciated it. Because now that the elation of being alive had worn off, she felt wrung out, almost unable to take another step.
“Here.” Harper handed her a nightgown. “I’ll pour you some hot tea.” She headed toward the door.
“He proposed,” Kit said quietly.
Harper stopped midstep and spun around. “He what?”
Kit hung her head. “Proposed. He had a ring. Was down on one knee. The whole nine yards.”
“I hope to high heaven that you had the sense to say yes. No, I hope you said hell, yes.”
Kit shook her head. “How could I? I’m responsible for you guys. Everyone is counting on me. I can’t get married and live in Scotland. And this is home to Ramsay.” Kit waved her arm around, motioning to the town outside the walls. “He’d never leave here. He told me so.”
Harper’s gaze zeroed in on her. “What do you mean you’re responsible for us?”
Kit stared right back. “Who do you think pays the rent and keeps the lights on? What about your tuition?”
“You really should learn to check your messages,” Harper snapped. “Where’s your phone?”
“The bottom of the ocean,” Kit said wryly.
“Mother texted yesterday to say she sold a Modigliani. The gallery is so impressed that they’re making her manager.”
“But what about fall tuition?” Kit said.
Harper grabbed her purse and pulled out a bill, shaking it at her. “I took care of this myself.”
“You did?”
“Of course I did. You being overly responsible isn’t helping anyone. If you do everything for everyone, you’re cheating people of the opportunity to do things for themselves.” She shoved the tuition bill back in her purse. “Bridget and I talked. We love you for taking care of us when we were younger, but we are no longer accepting anything from you. Except sisterly love. You’re done. Retired from being our keeper. We’re going to stand on our own two feet—well, four feet between the two of us. But you know what I mean. Bridget applied for about a hundred scholarships. She got a few and will take out loans for the rest. Our little sister is proud of herself. Would you deny her that feeling of self-reliance? Well, I won’t let you take that away from her. And I won’t tolerate you doing it to me or Mom any longer, either. Your job of mothering, and fathering, the three of us is over.”
“Oh.” Kit had been so busy trying to make enough money for them all, that she hadn’t seen the changes in her family. It looked like her mother had become successful in her own right. Her sisters had grown up. Heck, Harper was teaching her a lesson or two. Maybe it was time for Kit to take a step back and relax.
Kit was astonished. “How did you get so smart?”
“That’s easy. By watching my big sister.” Harper hugged her. “Promise me that you’ll stop being such a control freak and start enjoying your life.”
“I’ll try.”
“Now we need to discuss something really important. What are you going to do about Ramsay?”
* * *
Ramsay cussed all the way to the hospital, the whole time he was being scanned, and all the way home in the car with his brothers. He’d never had a worse day in his whole life.
His boat! His cranking boat was gone. Sunk. But he was almost glad of it. It gave him something to focus on other than Kit. Her rejection was killing him. The future he could see so clearly was gone.
He’d finally said what was in his heart, and she’d stomped on it. The ring in his pocket felt like kryptonite. His love for her made him weak, and he would always be weak for her. No matter what. He hated that he couldn’t hate her. But she had the right of it. She was too good for a fisherman. Too good for him.
John had been too chipper for Ramsay on the drive home. When his older brother pulled into Gandiegow’s parking lot, he piped up, “We’re here.”
“Captain Obvious,” Ramsay grumbled.
Ross opened his door and hopped out, but then turned back toward the opened window. “I’ll run to Doc’s and get a wheelchair.”
“You do and I’ll break yere legs.” Ramsay opened his door. His head hurt like a son of a bitch, but he would walk home by his own devices.
John and Ross rushed to his side.
“Get off.” Ramsay pushed them away.
John gave him that older-brother glower. “The hospital said to watch you. And watch you we will.”
“Aye,” Ross concurred. “It’d be too much trouble otherwise.”
“What do you mean?” Ramsay said.
“Too much trouble to carry yere sorry arse up the bluff.”
But suddenly it was as if the three brothers were having a simultaneous memory—carrying their father’s coffin up the bluff to the cemetery. The grief was almost palpable.
“We’ll not do that again.” John’s jaw was stiff, as if the words had jabbed him on the way out.
“Aye.” Ramsay would do as the hospital said. He’d caused enough worries for his family tonight. “How’s Maggie?”
“I called her from the hospital. She’s fine.”
“The babe?” Ramsay didn’t want to be the cause of trouble for Maggie.
“The bairn’s fine,” John said.
As they walked through the village, Ramsay couldn’t stop his thoughts from wandering back to Kit. How was she doing after the ordeal she’d been through? He wanted to find her. But given her refusal of his proposal, he would respect her space.
He turned to Ross. “Will ye check in on Kit for me? Make sure she’s all right?”
Ross looked at him, concerned. “Do ye not want to do it yereself? We could stop on the way.”
Ramsay didn’t answer.
John gave Ross his or else tone. “Ross’ll take care of it for you.”
John’s protectiveness was irritating, but Ramsay’s pounding head kept him from saying so.
When Ramsay stepped into the cottage, Dand barreled toward him. John and Ross caught him by the arms and backed him up.
“But I want to hug Uncle Skipper,” Dand complained.
“Uncle Skipper?” Ramsay headed for the sofa but wasn’t quick enough.
Dand broke free and ran back to him, tugging on his hand. “Da said ye’ve graduated from Swab to Skipper.”
Ramsay turned a questioning gaze on John.
“Aye. And not because ye got yere own boat.”
Suddenly, everything came into focus for Ramsay. He’d had it wrong all along. He didn’t need his brothers’ approval to have his independence. He just needed to claim it. Live it. And he had. He would always be their little brother, but he was also their equal.
John stuck out his hand, but when Ramsay went to clasp it, John pulled him into a fierce hug. “I love ye. I don’t know what we would’ve done if you’d been lost.”
Dand tackled their legs with a fierce hug. too.
“Break up the lovefest.” Ross pounded them both on the back. “Or ye’ll make me cry.”
“Are you hungry, Ramsay?” Maggie had appeared. She leaned up and kissed John. “Thanks for calling from the hospital. I let Harper know Ramsay’s okay. Is it all right if he eats?”
Ramsay broke apart from his brothers and went to Maggie, giving her a quick hug. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you how happy I am about the babe. Ross, John, and I are going to take over all your housekeeping duties. You’ve done a grand job of taking care of us, and now it’s our turn to take care of you.” She’d had such a rough go of it when she’d lost the other babes. Ramsay turned to the other men in the room. “Agreed?”
The other two nodded.
“Ye’re one with the speeches,” she said. “Tell me then, what are ye going to do about our matchmaker?”
That shut him up. “I’m not hungry. I’m going to bed.”
John blocked the hallway.
“What are you about? Going to tuck me in?” Ramsay steadied himself with a hand on the back of the chair.
John didn’t budge. “The hospital said you should stay up a few more hours.”
Ross piped up from the other side of the room. “We’ll both sit up with you.”
“Gawd. I’m not a bairn.”
“No. But yere brothers are going to sit with you anyway. Ross, make him some tea. Dand, get Skipper his fishing magazine over there.” John turned to Maggie. “Wife, off to bed with ye. I’ll get Dand settled.”
“But—” Maggie started.
John took two steps and kissed her soundly on the mouth. Ramsay assumed it was to shut her up, but it was also a reminder of how much his brother loved his wife. The kind of love their parents had had. The love of a lifetime. Like the love he had for Kit. She belonged here with him. But she’d slipped through his hands.
After the kiss, Maggie waved to them all. “Good night then.” She sauntered off to bed.
John threw Dand over his shoulder, tickling him. “And you, my little sea monster, it’s off to bed with you, too.” He carried him away as well.
Ramsay sat on the couch, willing his headache to go away. He wanted the thoughts of Kit to go away, too. But he wasn’t getting what he wanted.
Ross set a mug down for him on the side table. “In all seriousness, what are you going to do about Kit? Ye’re not going to let her go back to America, are ye?”
So much for not thinking about her. “What do you expect me to do?” He pulled out the ring box and held it up. “She said no.”
Ross took the box and opened it up. “So you actually did it.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
But Ross was a bastard and plowed ahead anyway. “In the old days, you would’ve just snatched your bride and run off with her. And keep her away until she accepts you as her husband.”
“Aye. Now it’s called kidnapping and punishable by law.” Ramsay turned away from his brother’s gaze. “Look, she’s made up her mind. We all have to accept it. She’s going back to America and that’s the end of it.”
Ross snapped the box shut. “Ye’re giving up too easy.”
But Ross didn’t understand that when you loved someone, you would do anything to make her happy, even let her go. Kit didn’t want him. Whether it killed him or not, he was letting her go home.
After Dand was in bed, John rejoined them. The three of them talked about fishing, but avoided the elephant in the room—Ramsay’s sunk boat.
After a while, Ross and John both fell asleep, but Ramsay couldn’t, his thoughts churning like a restless sea. He sat on the couch where he and Kit had held each other and slept. Before the sunrise, he stood and stretched.
John roused and stood also. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to get ready for the day,” Ramsay said.
John shook his head as if Ramsay was Dand with a harebrained idea. “Nay. You’re staying home. You’ll not be fishing with us today.”
“But I’m fine,” Ramsay lied. His head hurt like an anchor had fallen on it. But if he didn’t go fishing, what would he do? “I won’t sit here all day.”
“What are you two girls bickering about?” Ross wiped a bit of drool from his mouth.
“Ye’re staying home, Ramsay.” John crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s final. The hospital said for ye to take a few days off to rest.”
“Ye’re sounding like a broken record, brother.” Ramsay exhaled, in no mood to do more than complain. “What do you expect me to do with my time?”
“Ross, go get Skipper’s present,” John said.
“Are ye sure this is the right time?” Ross questioned. “I mean, well, ye know . . .”
John raised an eyebrow and Ross went to the hall closet and pulled out a large paper bag.
John took it and handed the bag to Ramsay. “We had it made for you. We thought we’d give it to you at the christening.”
“What is it?” Ramsay wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a frigging gift, and he started to give it back.
“Open it,” John said.
Ramsay looked inside and pulled out the wooden cross, which was nearly identical to the cross hanging on their family fishing boat. He stared at it for a long moment, not knowing how he was supposed to feel. He ran his hand over the wood. John had given him his own cross? Did this mean that he forgave him for starting his own business? Ramsay glanced up at his eldest brother. “Why?” And why now? Ramsay had nowhere to hang it. His wonder and amazement turned into anger. He glared at John. Was he just rubbing it in?
But Ross broke into his thoughts by taking the cross from Ramsay. “We went to Abraham Clacher and had him make it for ye in his woodshop.”
John removed the cross from Ross’s hands. “You want to know what ye’re going to do with your time now, Skipper?” He passed the cross back to Ramsay. “Ye’re going to figure out how to get yereself another boat.”
Bastard. “So much for ignoring the elephant in the room,” Ramsay grumbled and frowned at John. “My life savings are at the bottom of the Pirate’s Cove. The insurance won’t give me enough to get another boat like her.”
