Chapter 4 #2
Upstairs in Ashley’s room, they placed Elena in a shallow wash basin where Ashley took over the bathing responsibilities as Tina watched with keen interest. Things here didn’t seem too different.
She knew they’d had to heat up the water for the bath, which was not what she was used to, but there was a sweet smelling soap and a cloth for washing her as well. “Is that lavender I smell?”
“Yes. Isn’t it heavenly? We grow our own here at the castle and the soaper makes it for us.
She makes an absolutely divine pine scented soap that Cailin uses.
I love the smell of it on him.” She closed her eyes, inhaling as if she could smell it in this moment.
“Don’t worry, I’ll show you all the toiletries you’ll be using while you’re here.
You’ll be clean and smelling sweet the whole time. ”
There was a knock at the door before it opened to reveal another young woman. “Hi.” she said.
“Jenna, come in. This is Tina. She’s Elle’s sister.”
Jenna crossed the room, hand outstretched for Tina to take. “Nice to meet you. What brings you to Breaghacraig, as if I couldn’t guess,” she laughed. “And who’s this?”
“This is Elena,” Ashley answered. “Donal’s daughter.”
“I didn’t know he had a daughter,” Jenna said, “but then again there’s a lot I don’t know.” She grabbed a large cloth from the back of an oversized chair near the window. “Here, you look like you’re about done.”
“Thanks,” Ashley wrapped Elena up in the towel and handed her to Tina.
“So, tell me, how’s Elle?” Jenna asked. “We are all, or should I say were, huge fans of her music.”
“We’re still fans,” Ashley corrected. “I only wish we could hear some of her new songs.”
“Wouldn’t that be amazing? She gave us a little concert here in the great hall,” Jenna said.
“That must have been nice,” Tina said, feeling for all the world like she was still living in Elle’s shadow.
She thought for sure that here in medieval Scotland she’d at least get a break from the constant adulation aimed at her sister.
Elle deserved it, of course, but for as long as Tina could remember people were only interested in her as long as she could introduce them to Elle, or get them tickets to her concerts.
Every boyfriend she’d ever had in high school, or thought she’d had, and every friend was only interested in her because of Elle.
It had frustrated her then and it still did to this day, although she was trying really hard not to let it.
Now here she was faced with it again, but in a different way.
“Sara will be so excited!” Ashley said. “She’s an even bigger fan, if you can believe it.”
“Oh, I can believe it,” she hoped her tone didn’t give away her true feelings.
Elle was her sister and she loved her dearly, but there was always that feeling of not measuring up.
The sense that no one outside of her family really cared about her, that if she were in the same room with Elle, no one would even see her.
She’d be invisible. The sound of Elena’s sweet babbling drew her back from her dive down the rabbit hole of self pity.
Ashley and Jenna were focused on Elena and so it was now or never for Tina to shake herself free and join the conversation again.
“Elle’s pregnant,” she said to Jenna.
“How exciting! I’ll bet Hamish is over the moon.”
“Pretty much. He’s so cute with her. Treats her like he’s afraid she’s going to break,” she explained.
“Once he sees the whole birth process, he may rethink that.”
The women all laughed.
“Well, I just wanted to come say hi. I’ve got to go check on my little guy. He was napping, but it’s about time for him to wake up. Then we’re going to go visit a few of the village elders. I’ll see you tonight,” she said to Tina as she left.
“This is so weird,” Tina said. “I know I’ve time traveled, but meeting you and Jenna …”
“I hear ya,” Ashley laughed. “We look the part, but we bring a lot of our twenty-first centuryisms with us.”
“You all live here in the castle?” Tina asked.
“We do. It’s nice. We’ve all got each other to count on.” She wrapped Elena snuggly in the cloth Jenna had handed her.
“One big happy family,” Tina observed.
“Sounds cliché, but it’s true.”
“I like that. We’ve got a big family and we all live in the same house. It is not as big as the castle, of course. Elle and Hamish live right next door, so we’re all under each others’ noses all the time.”
“We are, too, I suppose, but it is more fun than I thought it would be. Jenna and I have been friends forever, we were practically sisters before ending up here, so it just feels right to be raising our kids together. Which bridge did you come by way of?” Ashley asked as she leaned in to kiss Elena’s cheek.
“Glendaloch.”
“That’s the way I got here, too.”
“If I hadn’t experienced it, I’d never believe it,” Tina said.
They dressed Elena in a beautiful blue velvet dress.
“Don’t you look pretty?” Tina asked of wee Elena.
“It looks like it was made for her,” Ashley said.
“Did you make this?” Tina asked, realizing there wasn’t a mall down the street to buy baby clothes from.
“I sure did. I make all their clothes.”
“Wow! I know how to thread a needle, but that’s about it.”
“If you live in this time, you do what you have to do. No modern conveniences.”
“I guess not,” Tina said. “Do you miss them? The modern conveniences?”
“Sometimes. I think the thing I miss the most is a hot shower.”
“Yeah. That would be a tough one for me.”
“I take it you’re not planning on staying here.”
“No. I couldn’t leave my family. I’m only here for the experience.” And to find my man.
***
Donal walked outside into the bright sunshine and stood there feeling lost. The courtyard was crowded with people rushing to and fro, but he hardly noticed them.
He wanted to run, but where and why? Escaping his current situation would be easy enough, but it would hardly be the right thing to do.
His head was spinning with thoughts of Sionaid, or the lass he thought she must have been, little Elena and how, above all else, he was going to get out of this mess.
The lass Tina could be the perfect solution to his problem.
He could see if she’d be interested in raising Elena as her own, leaving him to go back to life the way he liked it, without responsibility.
Or, he could marry her. He’d have a wife to care for his daughter and a woman to share his bed.
All this thinking was giving him a headache. He needed a drink.
He headed back to the barracks. He might as well get his clothes. He’d be staying in the castle. That was a boon he hadn’t expected.
“Donal, I hear yer a Da,” Marcas laughed, joined by Tam and Jock.
“I am. I dare ye to saying anything more of it.” It riled him that word had already spread to the men and that they thought his situation so funny, but he knew if it were one of them in his spot, he’d do the same.
“Where are ye going?” Tam asked.
“I’m staying in the castle with the bairn.” He knew that would get them.
“Aye?” The joy they seemed to find in his misfortune disappeared. “How long will they let ye stay?”
“I cannae say. I’ll have to find me own croft and someone to care for wee Elena.
” Once again, it hit him as if he’d run headlong into the castle walls.
He was a Da. Would his life ever be the same?
“There’s a lass just arrived. I plan to marry her.
She’ll care for the bairn and I can go about my life as if nary a thing has changed.
” He had no idea whether any of that would ever work, but he wanted these oafs to believe it would.
Once alone in his room, he reached under the bed to find the flask of whisky he kept there.
He needed a swig to settle his nerves. He was as fearless as they came in battle, but the thought of his wee bairn put fear in his heart like he’d never felt before.
He wished Hamish were here. He’d know exactly what to do, he always did.
“Och … Hamish, what will I do?” he asked aloud.
There was no need for Hamish to be there with him because Donal could hear him now. “Donal, ye ken ye must do what’s right. The wee bairn needs a Da. Yer days as a randy bull must end and ye must find a lass, settle down and raise yer wee daughter.”
Donal knew that was what he should do, but without his old friend to make him feel guilty, he probably wouldn’t.
Instead he’d focus on what needed to be done now.
As a soldier, if there was a task that needed his attention, he saw to it.
He might be irresponsible in the rest of his life, but he never shirked his duties.
He made a mental list, find a croft of his own and find a wife, or at the very least someone to take care of Elena.
It was a simple enough plan, now he had to execute it.
He took another long drink of whisky and eyed the chamber that had become his when Hamish left.
It was small, as was the bed and fireplace that kept him warm on cold nights.
A thin wooden door separated him from the other men who shared these barracks with him.
One thing was for certain, he wouldn’t miss climbing over them to get out of his chamber.
The more he thought about it, the more he decided that discovering he was a father was a blessing in disguise.
Nothing seemed to be going right for him, but evidently someone was watching out for him.
After all, he’d be spending this night and many more in a soft bed where he would surely sleep well.
So, for now he’d see where things would lead him and enjoy his stay in the castle.
***