Page 12 of A Promise Through Time

Just outside the castle gates, all he could see were the crowds of people coming and going from market day. There were carts, horses and throngs of people. So many that he’d be lucky to find the man and woman who’d just ruined his life.

He didn’t believe curses truly existed, but the way the last few days had gone he could be convinced of it. He headed back to the courtyard, awkwardly holding the bundle he’d been handed. Securing the bairn in one arm, he used his other hand to move the plaid to find a very unhappy wee one staring out at him, tears spilling from her eyes, face red from all the angry screaming she’d been doing.

“What is yer name? They didnae even tell me that.” His heart sank. How is it that he’d never, ever given a thought to one of the many women he’d been with having his bairn? Bethia was right. He was a daft fool.

“What have we here?” Cormac’s voice forced him to look up from the babe.

He found he was unable to speak.

Cailin, Logan, Robert and Dougall joined Cormac fresh from the practice field. He was surrounded by men he counted as his brothers, but he was too stunned to speak. A cry from the bundle drew all their eyes and he watched as each man realized what he was holding.

“Is the bairn yers?” Cailin asked.

“So I’ve been told,” he muttered. Donal had never shied away from sharing his conquests with them, but now he worried what they would think. He had been careless and now there was a bairn without a mother. It was all his fault and he didn’t know what these men would think of him. For the first time since arriving at the castle, he feared that they would turn him out. It was no less than he deserved.

“Who’s the mother and where is she?” Dougall asked.

Robert reached into the bundle and touched the bairn’s face, tracing her eye brows and down her nose. She immediately quieted and reached for his hand. “That would be my question as well,” he added.

Donal focused on the bairn, it was easier than looking up to see the disappointment he knew would be in their eyes. “She was a kitchen maid here. I didnae ken she was with child. She didnae tell me.” She must have understood what a poor excuse for a father he’d be and thought better of it. “She’s passed and her Ma and Da brought the bairn to me.”

They were silent and Donal felt the heaviness on his shoulders. He tried his best to remember what Sionaid looked like. If she was the lass he was thinking of, she was quite pretty with blonde locks and emerald green eyes. He was ashamed of himself. So wrapped up in his own conquests that he neverthought this might happen. He hadn’t mean to hurt anyone. He had been so careless. What a sorry excuse for a man.

“I dinnae wish to say anything about yer skills in the Da department, but this wee one needs a Ma,” Robert said. “I’ll send condolences to her family. I’m hoping Mary kens who they are.”

“What will I do?” The helpless feeling in his gut was growing to the point where he thought he might be sick. He gazed at the screaming bairn in his arms.

“Ye must rock her a bit,” Cailin said, swaying back and forth. “Like this.”

Donal felt like a fool, but he did as Cailin suggested and was pleased that after a moment or two the babe quieted. They were not throwing him out and that small bit of reassurance allowed him to look up into their eyes.

“Here, wipe her tears and her nose,” Cormac said, handing him a kerchief.

Again, Donal did as he was told. “She’s a pretty wee one,” he said, a bit of pride slipping into his voice.

“Aye. She must take after her mother.” Dougall chuckled, placing a hand on Donal’s shoulder.

The group of Highlanders gathered around the wee lass, cooing at her and doing their best to make her smile. Donal wasn’t sure how he would manage, but knowing that his friends were by his side made him feel a wee bit better.

***

Wallace guided the wagon into the inner courtyard of Breaghacraig. The tall stone walls of the castle were formidable, stretching up high into the bright blue of the sky. Smaller buildings lined the walls of the courtyard, housing a blacksmith, stables and other things she couldn’t name. Tina was awestruck by the sight of it. She felt a bit overwhelmed as it reconfirmedthat she was in the sixteenth-century. The people they passed nodded to Wallace as he brought the wagon to a stop in front of two large wooden doors.

“It seems we’ve arrived just in time,” Wallace said, nodding towards the group of men huddled together.

“What are they doing?” she asked. They appeared to be focused on something one of the men was holding. “Is that a baby?”

“I believe ’tis,” Wallace said.

She had no idea who the man was that she was supposed to meet, but the group she was seeing were all very handsome. “Is one of them the man I’m here for?”

“I dinnae ken, lass. Edna has told me verra little.” He got down from the wagon and came around to her side to help her down.

“So, she’s told yousomething,” Tina said hoping he’d divulge any information he may have.

Wallace rolled his eyes in his head. “She told me to bring ye here. ’Tis all I know.”

“Are you going to leave me? I don’t know what to do.” Panic crept into her voice at the thought of navigating her way here in this foreign land and ancient time. She must have been out of her mind thinking she could do this. This was no vacation. This was real.