Page 18 of A Promise Through Time

Donal waved to her and then realized he was leaving with the clothes he’d just been handed. “Ye’ll need these,” he said as he handed the clothes back to Ashley.

“Don’t you want to kiss her before you leave?” Tina asked.

He had a lot to learn about bairns. He had no idea you were supposed to kiss them when ye left. He bent down and gave her a tiny kiss on her soft cheek. “Goodbye, sweetling. Da will see ye later this day.”

***

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 wakeup. 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.”