Page 25 of A Promise Through Time

“I’m sorry. I overreacted. It’s not like you were trying to…”

His eyebrows scrunched together and his lips pursed as he tipped his head waiting for her to finish.

“Oh, never mind. It’s fine.” He was really quite good looking. Just the kind of guy she had always wished for, but could never find. Real romance novel material. Tall, strong, impossibly blue eyes paired with dark hair. She liked that.

“Are ye well, lass?”

She realized she’d been staring at him as she made a list of all his fine attributes. “Yes. Definitely. It looks like Elena has finally fallen asleep.” She gently set her in her cradle. “I’ll head back to my room. I’m right next door, so if you need me…I mean if Elena…If you need help, I’m right there.” She finally managed to string the right words together as she made her escape out the door.

***

Donal smiled to himself as he disrobed and got into bed careful not to wake Elena. He knew the look Tina’d been giving him, he’d seen it before. Plenty of times. There was a difference here though, he felt something more for her than he had with all those other women he’d been with. He admired her ability to soothe Elena and her willingness to help him. He also admired her lovely figure, which had been quite visible in the firelight as it shone through the gauzy shift she wore. He’d been careful not to stare, but it had taken every ounce of self-restraint he possessed not to. Her soft brown locks fell in lustrous ringlets over her shoulders and down to touch the tips of her breasts. She couldn’t be just another roll in the hay, she would be his salvation. He didn’t have much time though. She said she was only here for a short visit. He’d have to work fast if he was to convince her to stay and mother wee Elena. If he had to be married, she’d do nicely.

Chapter 6

“Donal has a baby?” Sara exclaimed. “I didn’t know he was married.” Tina thought if her eyes opened any wider they might pop right out of her head.

“None of us did,” Ashley said.

Ashley had asked Tina if she wanted to come with her to visit Sara this morning and Tina had been more than happy to join her. She thought it odd none of them knew Donal was married. From what she’d seen Breaghacraig was like a small town. Everyone knew each other and they all knew each other’s business.

“Go figure,” Sara said. “I guess anything’s possible around here.” She poured some tea for each of them and placed some oddly shaped muffins on the table.

“It’s sad that she passed though, don’t you think?” Tina asked, wondering at the lack of empathy she was seeing from these two women.

“Oh, of course it’s sad,” Sara exclaimed. “It’s terribly sad. Do we know who she was?”

“No. I’m afraid not. All we know is her name was Sionaid.”

“That’s a pretty name,” Sara said, helping herself to one of the muffins.

“Wait. I just thought of something. It wouldn’t be Sionaid who worked in the kitchen, would it?” Ashley asked.

“I don’t think I know her. I haven’t been here as long as you have,” Sara said.

“Hmmm…She hasn’t been around for quite a while.”

“Well, we aren’t going to figure out this mystery today,” Sara said. “Tina, Edna sent you to find your man. How exciting!”

Tina had just taken a bite out of one of the muffins and was unable to speak. She had been told Sara was learning to cook and she imagined that would be a doubly hard thing to do here with no modern appliances or tools. She sipped her tea to help moisten the contents of her mouth before swallowing and stifling a cough.

“They’re dry. I know,” Sara said. “They’re better than the last batch I made. Those were as hard as rocks. Poor Logan. He always tells me they’re good, no matter how bad they are.”

“The tea’s delicious,” Tina said. She wasn’t going to say anything about the muffins, but she wasn’t lying about the tea. It really was good.

“Thanks. My friend, Ayla, used to live in this cottage. She gave me the recipe and showed me how to grow the herbs to make it.”

“You know this would sell like crazy in our time,” Tina said. “People would go nuts over it.”

“Maybe I’ll give you the recipe and you can give that a try,” Sara suggested. “I’m not going back anytime soon.”

“You really like it here?” Tina asked.

“I do, but Edna promised me that if I ever wanted to go back. I mean, if Logan and I ever wanted to go back, she’d get us there.”

“It’s nice that you have that option,” Tina said.

“Well, I kind of forced her to send me,” she shrugged and looked past Tina. “I do miss my brother, though.” She absently wiped a tear from her eye and Tina felt terrible for her.