Chapter 9
All seemed back to normal this morning at Breaghacraig. Doreen was with Elena again and Donal was nowhere to be seen. As for Tina, it seemed she’d be spending the day with Jock and Marcas. Walking out into the courtyard, she was greeted by bright sunlight and two mountainous men.
“Lady Tina,” Jock approached with an outstretched hand.
“Please call me Tina. No lady required.” Her nervous laughter gave away her trepidation about this outing.
“I be Jock and this be Marcas.”
“Good day to ye,” Marcas said.
This was the man Donal had gone after last night. She glanced around to make sure Donal wasn’t anywhere nearby. The last thing she wanted or needed was for another brawl to take place over her. Some women might enjoy having two men fight over her, but Tina wasn’t one of them.
“Mary has kindly packed a basket for us. We thought ye might like to sit by the water with us,” Marcas said.
Tina wasn’t so sure that was what she would like at all, but she had agreed to meet the other single men that Ashley and Jenna suggested so she would go through with it. “I’d love that.”
She found herself sandwiched between the two men as they walked out through a side gate and along a path that sat above a strip of beach she hadn’t known existed before this moment.
She’d known they were close to the water, but since she’d arrived, she hadn’t really had time to explore.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. The cry of the gulls and the scent of the salt water brought her back to childhood trips to the beach with her family.
She immediately relaxed. As they approached a narrow path leading down to the water, Marcas went first, holding her hand and leading her down.
Jock followed behind, she imagined to catch her if she fell.
Two sweet men she should consider and give a chance, as she would with Tam.
Jock spread a tartan on the beach where they sat and talked for hours.
Each man took a turn to tell her about his childhood and his life here at Breaghacraig.
She had so many questions for them. Where were they from?
How many brothers and sisters did they have?
Would they miss them if they had to move far away?
That one was important to her. She wasn’t planning to stay, but she didn’t want to drag any of them kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century.
It occurred to her that she hadn’t actually asked Donal these questions either.
She thought back over the time that they had spent together and realized they hadn’t shared much about their families.
How could she possibly be thinking that he was the “one” when she didn’t even know if he had siblings?
Marcas had some reservations about leaving his very large family to move away and couldn’t see anything ever happening that would make him change his mind. Jock on the other hand seemed open to adventure, which life with her would surely be.
“So, you’d be alright moving far away from your family?”
“I would. I dinnae see them verra often. This has been my home and these people have been my family since early on.”
Jock was tall, but weren’t they all, with dark blond hair and hazel eyes.
His features were perfect, but maybe a little too perfect.
No. She was just being picky she told herself.
He was strong and masculine, but he also had a gentle nature.
She had no idea how she knew it, but she did. He’d make a good husband and father.
Marcas was darker in coloring, having dark brown hair and very dark brown eyes.
He reminded her of her brothers. He’d fit in well with her family, but he wasn’t interested in leaving his behind.
That was a deal breaker for her, and she was glad to have at least one of the men off her list. There was something she wanted to ask him, but had avoided until this point. No harm in asking now, though.
“Marcas, why did Donal attack you last night?” she asked, hoping against hope that there’d been some reason for what she’d seen.
He laughed at that, “Och! I teased him about the kitchen maid. He took exception to it.”
“The kitchen maid?” she asked, unsure what the kitchen maid had to with anything.
“Aye. I asked him why he was angry. Was it because the kitchen maid …” he looked down at the sand he was sifting through his fingers as he spoke. It was clear he wasn’t sure if he should tell her what he wasn’t saying.
“Please, you can tell me,” she said, encouraging him. She had to know what had been said and why Donal reacted the way he did.
“Well, Donal has eyes for the kitchen maid, or at least he did until ye arrived. Before ye came to Breaghacraig something always got in the way of …”
This was like pulling teeth. He kept stopping right before the part she was interested in.
“It’s alright. You don’t need to tell me.
” Maybe she didn’t want to know. It sounded very much like Donal was planning to cheat on his wife with the kitchen maid and that made her skin crawl.
He had said that they hadn’t been together for months and clearly, there were a lot of issues with their marriage.
But still, she wanted to believe that she would choose a partner that would never cheat.
No relationship was perfect, she understood that and had seen her parents fight and make up over the years.
She wanted someone that would work with her through their problems. That didn’t mean Donal was the right choice, she’d seen his temper and it had frightened her.
It was not something she thought she could live with.
Marcas seemed relieved as he glanced over at Jock.
“He’s had some bad luck of late,” Jock said. “Finding himself with a wee bairn to raise on his own would be daunting for him. When ye arrived, he thought his problems solved. He said he’d marry ye and ye’d raise the child.”
“What?” Did Jock really just say that?
The men looked at each other and some sort of silent conversation was happening between them. “I’m sorry. I thought ye’d ken it. I thought he’d spoken with ye.”
“No. I didn’t know.” So all this time, Donal had only been nice to her because he needed a wife to care for Elena.
The nerve of him. She could feel the anger building inside her, but right alongside of it was a different sort of pain, one that centered near her heart.
She chose to ignore that. It seemed he was just like every other guy she’d ever dated.
They never just wanted her. There was always an ulterior motive where she was concerned.
All they cared about was what she could do for them.
“I was surprised when Cailin asked if we’d like to … get to know ye. We both thought ye were Donal’s lass.”
How was she supposed to find the mystery man that Edna intended if Donal had already told them all to back off? “No. I’m not Donal’s lass. I’m not anybody’s lass.”
She could see now she’d made a terrible mistake. She wanted to go home. Back to her own time where women weren’t treated like possessions.
“I’m sorry. It seems I’ve upset ye.”
Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself. She wouldn’t let them see how bothered she was. “No. Not at all. It’s good to know what his intentions were.” This wasn’t sitting well with her and she needed to talk to Ashley about contacting Edna. “I think I’d like to go back now, if you don’t mind.”
The men rose and helped her to her feet, folded the plaid and refilled the basket.
As they walked back to Breaghacraig, Tina was quiet, reflecting on her expectations of this trek back in time and the reality of it.
When she really thought about it, everyone had been so nice to her.
Everything had seemed to be going well until this point.
It was clear to her that everything wrong with this trip was due to Donal and her expectations of him.
Really it wasn’t his fault. He was just being Donal and she shouldn’t have expected him to meet some unrealistic vision she had of the perfect man.
Obviously she hadn’t found that man yet and it was becoming clear to her that he may not be here at all.
***
The kitchen was as hot as it had been on her first visit, but Mary and the other women working there didn’t seem fazed by it. The hustle and bustle was constant when there were so many mouths to feed.
“Good day to ye, lass,” Mary said as she entered. “What can we do for ye?”
“I wondered if I might get some tea,” she said. That wasn’t really her reason for visiting, but she thought she’d ease into that.
“Sit right there, dear,” Mary said, motioning to the table where she was busy chopping vegetables and where Sophia was kneading dough. Two other young women were also working feverishly in the background.
“Sophia? Right?” she said. “We met the other day.”
“Yes. How are you?”
“Okay.”
“You don’t sound okay.” she said.
“I’m sure you know how I’m feeling.”
“Like a fish out of water?”
“Something like that.”
“Here ye go, lass. Honey?” Mary asked, placing her tea down in front of her.
“Yes, please.”
Mary set a small jar down for her.
“Thank you. You must be getting ready for tonight’s meal,” Tina said.
“Oh, aye. We’re always getting ready for one meal or another.” Mary set a slice of warm bread down in front of her.
“Mmmm … That looks and smells wonderful.”
“Enjoy it, lass. I hear ye havenae been eating much.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve heard from the lads. Jock and Marcas told me ye hardly touched the food I packed for them. And Donal says ye havenae liked the food.”
Thankfully, Mary seemed more concerned than angry. Tina didn’t want to offend her cooking, especially when she worked so hard to feed so many people day in and day out. “It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just different.”
“Well, eat that bread,” Mary ordered. “I dinnae wish ye to go back to yer home looking as if we didnae feed ye.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m a picky eater at home, too.”
Mary chuckled at this.
“Have any of you seen Donal?” she asked.
“Nae,” Mary said. “Lassies?”