I said, “Here in America, the place where you are, we date men first, before we get married, to see if we fit.”
Jen sighed. “But no one fits, except Lexi and Cooper.”
He said, “Mistress Lexi, ye hae a husband?”
“We are still dating, but we’ll probably get married — someday... hopefully soon.”
Jen said, “He’s asking you this weekend, I will bet money on it, if I had any.”
“Where is he now?”
“He went to pitch an idea to some investors, he wants to have an eco-tourism spot, near here with cabins.” I directed my next words to Jen. “Did I tell you, he thinks it went well?”
“Yep, earlier, and thank God, he’s been dreaming about this for so long, some might say obsessing, it’ll be good for him to get onto the next stage of it.”
I nodded.
Torin said, “I daena understand much, but this man — he haena married ye, Mistress Lexi? He leaves tae go on a journey without seein’ tae yer safety and protection?” He scowled. “This world causes bewilderment... but ye haena explained — where are we?”
Jen said, “America — you don’t know the United States? Oh right, that was after you were… whoa, this is weird.”
“Tis Europe? Or perhaps farther?”
I remembered there was an atlas. “Hold that thought!”
I opened the closet door and pulled the atlas from its spot under a stack of blankets. Jen pushed food away to make room on the counter.
I said, “Muchfarther, Columbus discovered this land in 1492, have you heard of that?”
“Aye, the Italian, Cristoforo Colombo. He discovered the New World.” He looked all around the room. “This is the New World?”
“Yep.” I opened the book to the world map and pointed. “We are a whole nother continent. There’s Scotland, and this is about where we are. This whole place was settled by people from England, Scotland, and other parts of Europe. Over the centuries it became its own country?—”
Jen added, “After a revolution, we overthrew the King of England.”
He nodded, “Well done.”
I said, “Except he was also the king of Scotland at the time, the whole place.”
Torin scowled. “Nae, that canna be possible, we would never stand for it.”
Jen started to answer, but I shook my head so instead she said, “Maybe I’m remembering my history wrong, but... the US has been our own country for over two hundred years now.”
I said, “It’s called the United States of America, and you are in one of the states, North Carolina.”
“How far is it tae get tae Scotland?”
“If you fly byairplane, like I told you about earlier, it’s a six hour flight, I think.” I drew my finger across the blue of the Atlantic Ocean.
“Och, over the ocean? Ye would fly it, nae by boat?”
Jen and I shook our heads.
He grew very quiet and finished his beer in one chug and put the bottle down.
Jen asked, “Want another beer?”
“Nae, I think I need m’head about me in case there are… troubles.” He closed the cover on the atlas and pushed it away.
