Stone Heart (9 page)

The world needed people like her. There would always be tyrants like he had been. Men who cared nothing for anyone but themselves.

"What are you looking so solemn about?" Karen asked as she walked into the room.

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Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

She was wearing a pink fluffy garment made of some thick fabric and drying her hair with a white cloth.
She should eat
more. But she is still a beauty.
"I was just thinking about the past."

She walked over to him and had to tilt her head back very far to look into his face. "There's nothing anyone can do about the past, Angus. You have from now until the end of your life. And I'm so glad I'm here. I wouldn't have missed knowing you for anything in the world."

He angled his head. "You mean that don't you, lass? None of this frightens you any longer?"

"No. It's going to be one great adventure."
The very last
one
.

He couldn't help staring at her. The sun came through a small slit in the curtains and landed on her honey-colored hair. It glistened like lantern light on precious metal. How was it that someone as contemptible as he was allowed a second chance, and a kind, sweet soul like Karen was so dreadfully ill? He quickly turned away before she could see the emotion he could not hide.

For a moment, she didn't speak. Then she placed a small hand on his arm. "Come on. I'll show you how the bathroom works. There are even some spare razors and some other stuff you can use if you want to."

He turned back toward her, and when she smiled at him, he let himself believe everything might be all right. He smiled back. It was good to have her as a friend. How could he have ever come so far without her?

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Stone Heart

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Karen allowed herself the small luxury of staring at Angus'

beautiful face before leading him to the bathroom. She stood at the door, took a deep breath and led him in by the hand.

"This is the faucet where you can get water to drink. On and off." She demonstrated, then let him try it for himself. When he nodded, she went to the next device. "This is the shower for bathing. Again, there are handles for hot and cold water.

Test the water first so you don't burn yourself."

"Hot and cold water ... right inside a room, without it being carried." He shook his head in bewilderment that men had achieved so much. "And
that?"
He pointed toward the commode.

This was the part she dreaded. "Let's just say that's an indoor privy."

Angus didn't respond, just tilted his head and stared.

"Outhouse? Water closet? Latrine? Loo?" Karen tried every euphemism she knew besides the more obvious, coarse versions.

"Call me a dimwit, lass. I have no idea what you mean."

Oh, Lord
! She inwardly groaned. "It's where you go to ...

when
nature
calls. You
know
."

"Ah! I see." He finally
did
understand. But it puzzled him that anyone would do such a thing without a chamber pot.

"Good! That's fine," she sighed. "I'll be on my way." She started to walk out of the bathroom when he grabbed her upper arm and held her.

"I
still
dunna' know how to use it, lass."

Karen put one hand to her face, leaned against the vanity and let out a long breath. "You sit, do your business, or stand 75

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

if you're a man and have to urinate. Then you do
this
." She pushed the handle down and flushed.

Angus practically stuck his head inside the bowl.

"
Iongantach!
Where does it go?" He watched the water swirl around and drain out.

Karen gazed at the floor. "
Away
, Angus. It goes away."

"And you have no need for soft grass or leaves?"

Karen quickly reached for the roll of toilet paper, pulled some off and handed it to him. "Use this."

Angus held it in his hand for a moment, put it to his face and rubbed it against his cheek. "
Ahhh, super absorbent
. I remember. That is what the man in the box said."

Karen pressed her lips together, patted him on the shoulder and tried to walk out of the bathroom. Again, he stopped her.

"You have something for my beard?"

Stifling an urge to laugh at a situation Angus clearly couldn't help, Karen picked up one of several complimentary razors on the vanity then put the plastic-handled razor down.

Looking him over, she knew the disposable blades wouldn't be nearly sharp enough to tame the thickness of a long beard. "I'll be right back," she told him.

Angus watched her walk away, only to return a few moments later with a pair of scissors in her hand. They were very small, but looked exceedingly sharp. This was something with which he was familiar. "Ah! Scissors are still used."

Karen handed him the scissors from her portable sewing kit, and when he put them in his hand correctly, she was satisfied he knew how to use them. Glad she'd packed the kit 76

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

when her first inclination had been to leave it behind, she realized it might be a small gift she could bestow on him.

Something of hers he could keep and remember her by. Still, the immediate problem wasn't solved. He'd need the complimentary razors in the vanity basket sooner or later.

She picked up one of the pink plastic-handled razors again and methodically took the cap off and put it back on several times. "The cap is to keep you from being accidentally cut.

You have to be careful not to nick yourself because it's sharp."

"That wee thing canna' be too sharp," he commented.

"And the color is like something a woman would prefer."

"Well, the color doesn't matter and it
is
sharp. So be careful," she warned. "You can use as many of these razors as you need. Try them in the shower or the sink with plenty of soap and water,
after
you've used the scissors to do away with most of your beard." She then demonstrated how the razor actually worked by pretending to shave her face. Then she put the razor in his hand and picked up several more items to show him. "Here's shampoo to clean your hair while you're in the shower, and the conditioner is to put in your hair after you shampoo. Towels for drying are right there." She pointed to the towel rack over the commode. "Deodorant is for, uh, underneath your arms so you don't offend anyone with a foul smell?"

"Do I offend?" he asked and automatically lifted one arm, sniffing his arm pit loudly.

Pressing her lips together hard, Karen shook her head.

"You're fine so far. There's a bar of soap here you can also 77

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

use in the shower." Then she continued with the instructions.

"The toothbrush is for cleaning your teeth and toothpaste is to put on the toothbrush." Again, she demonstrated yet another bathroom procedure. "Anything
else?"
she asked as she unwrapped several items, and showed him how to remove and replace caps on individual tubes and bottles.

He looked around and grinned. "This will be a new experience."

"Brother, tell me about it," she murmured, and tried again not to burst out laughing. She quickly walked out of the bathroom when he proceeded to undress. Karen only turned to face the small bath area again after she heard the door close.

When she heard the shower running and Angus hoot in glee, she quickly dressed in soft cotton underwear, a Kelly green sweater, jeans and hiking boots. Then she picked up her purse, extracted a brush and ran it through her hair.

Seeing Angus' leather pants, shirt and boots lying just outside the bathroom door where he'd carelessly tossed them, she picked them up. "Hmmm, no underwear," she mused, and wagged her eyebrows suggestively as a wicked scene of leather against his privates ran through her imagination.

Knowing he wouldn't dare leave the room without clothing, he would be safely confined until she returned. And there might be some store where she could use his leather garments to figure out his correct size. As she walked down the hallway later, her mouth twisted into a grin and she 78

Stone Heart

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started laughing hard.
Thank God I didn't have to
demonstrate a bidet.

Karen was still laughing when she walked out into the sunshine. Down the street from the hotel, there was a row of shops. Since this was the first and last time she would ever shop for a man, nothing in the world was going to keep her from getting exactly what she pleased. "Angus, my man, you are gonna' stop traffic."

* * * *

Angus took a lengthy shower, luxuriating in the feel of warm water, clean hair and skin. He congratulated himself for using most of the items Karen showed him in what he surmised was their proper order. Then he finished toweling with the thick cloth, and looked at himself in the counter-length mirror. For a moment the image confounded him.

Never had he seen himself so clearly. He thought himself a striking figure of a man, but he did not know if the rest of the world would share that opinion. His hair was the same length as when he was cursed but his beard was now gone. The remains of it lay in the water of the beastie Karen referred to as a commode.

He felt his age was the same thirty and three years as it had been when the curse befell him. For him, all things had stopped on that fateful night. But the rest of the world had certainly moved on. He ran one hand over his face. "For Karen's sake, I hope I look well. More to the point, I hope I act well," he softly muttered to himself. "She should share her time with a better man. Not some savage brute like me."

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Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

For a long time he stared at his own image and remembered some of the horrible things he'd done. But he couldn't reconcile where that man had come from. The former Angus MacGregor simply didn't exist, though the deeds had still been done.
He
was still responsible.

Angus finally finished his bathing chores and cast one last glance in the mirror. He touched its surface and shook his head in wonder. "Never could I dream of such things in one single, small room. I have so much to learn." When he opened the bathroom door and couldn't find his clothes, he grew alarmed. Karen said she was going out for food. Nothing was mentioned about relieving him of the only clothing to his name. He glanced down at the towel which was tightly tied about his hips. "A man canna' go about like this. I will catch my death."

He paced the room, waiting for her to make an appearance before deciding to tidy up in the bathing area. The last thing he did was to flush the remains of his long beard down the commode beastie. The hair swirled away, but made a strange gurgling sound as it did so. He tilted his head, considered that was probably normal, then forgot about the matter altogether, when he heard approaching voices in the outer hallway.

Angus quickly exited the bathroom and grabbed Karen's robe off the bed. He held it against himself as she walked in carrying bundles and bags. She shot him a radiant smile, walked on by him and dropped her parcels on the nearest bed. Two uniformed men walked in behind her and placed more bags beside the others. It occurred to him that modesty 80

Stone Heart

by Candace Sams

had not been one of his previous characteristics, but he was in a strange world. What might these people think of him with only a small piece of cloth to cover his manhood?

One of the men heard the strange gurgling coming from the bathroom and glanced through the door. "Hey now!" he cried out. "You've got a bad mess in 'ere, lady. I'll 'ave to call maintenance to 'ave a look at the plumbing."

Karen rushed to the bathroom door and saw water running from the commode and onto the white-tiled floor. Remains of long dark hair mingled with the water. Immediately knowing what happened, she closed her eyes to block out the unsightly mess. Then she opened them and walked back toward the main room. The other porter was rushing out the door without so much as a tip, leaving his companion to deal with the bathroom overflow.

Karen said nothing as she watched Angus move forward to see the mess the remaining man was trying to clean. The big Druid looked back at her with such a woeful expression that she simply couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing.

Angus quickly approached Karen and stood so close to her that the man in the bathroom couldn't hear his words. He pointed toward the bathroom door. "Did I cause that mess, lass?"

With tears of mirth clouding her vision, Karen couldn't respond. She just sat on the bed while the hotel porter got on the phone, called maintenance, then went into the bathroom again. Presumably, he was still attempting to clean up the mess. The poor man was mumbling what sounded like curses as he did so.

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"'Tis verra' sorry I am, Karen. I dinna' mean this to happen."

"I-it's not your fault, Angus. It's mine." She laughed.

"How can you find this amusing? That poor man has to clean up my mess," Angus guiltily muttered. "And 'tis
my
fault. No' yours," he insisted.

"No, it isn't. I should have told you to put your beard into that small basket by the commode. It's called a
waste
basket.

You throw things in it that aren't supposed to be flushed down the commode," she explained, then began to laugh again and had to turn away to cover her face with her hands. Poor Angus looked so confused and embarrassed. And the man now cursing loudly in the bathroom wasn't helping matters.

But it was still one of, if not the most, hysterical situations she'd ever been through. In fact, the entire bathroom experience for the day was causing her so much merriment that she actually had to reach into her jeans pocket and pull out her prescription bottle. Her chest began to hurt from laughing so hard.

Angus quickly sat by Karen and watched her take whatever medicinal aid she now swallowed. Ignoring the loud complaints coming from the bathroom and other men rushing in from the hall to help their companion clean up
his
mess, he softly spoke to her. "Are you all right, Karen?" He put one arm around her shoulders.