Page 53 of A Promise Through Time

“Really?” Tina wasn’t sure she should believe her.

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because I’m not Elle.” She had to stop letting those old feelings of not being good enough get in the way.

“You’re here. She’s not. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of hers, but I really like you.”

“You do?” There was that disbelief again.

“Wait, don’t tell me. You’ve been living in your sister’s shadow your whole life and you have a hard time believing anyone would want to get to know whoyouare.”

Tina’s lips turned up for the first time in a while. Sara was someone she could call friend. “How’d you guess?”

“I’ve seen it on your face every time someone brings her up.”

Tina was surprised by that. Could everyone see it, or was it just Sara? “I didn’t know I was that transparent.”

“Well, you are,” Sara laughed. “How’s Elena? I hear she’s been sick.”

“Fingers crossed she’s on the road to recovery. Her fever’s gone.” She was relieved to have at least one thing off her plate. Of course, that meant it was time for her to go home. She decided not to think about that right now, after all, the fever could come back and Elena would need her then.

“Oh, good. I was worried about her.”

“Do you worry about having a baby in this time?” Tina was concerned for Sara. She didn’t want to frighten her, but things could go from bad to worse in a heartbeat.

“A little, but Edna won’t let anything happen to us. And Logan has agreed to go back with me if I ever want to.”

“That’s sweet of him.”It must be nice to have a man in your life that you could count on,she thought.

“Now you know why I love him. He’s a good man,” Sara said, rubbing her belly as she began to waddle away. “You know who else is a good man? Donal. Are you coming? I need to sit down.” Sara plopped herself down in one of the chairs by the fire.

Tina wasn’t sure she wanted to hear what came next, but she liked Sara and knew she should hear her out.

“I’m a pretty good judge of character, you know,” Sara said.

“I get the feeling you’re trying to tell me something,” Tina laughed.

“And you’ve got good intuition,” Sara replied.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Tina was truly puzzled by her statement. How could Sara know any such thing about her?

“I mean that you know… you feel, what’s right for you. I think you know Donal is your man. You can fight it all you want and yes, I heard all about the lie and the other women, but give the guy a break. First of all, we have all done things that we might not be proud of. Second, if he had any idea that Sionaid was pregnant he would have married her for real.”

“Are you always this direct,” Tina asked.

“I have a tendency to say whatever’s on my mind. It’s not always a good thing,” she giggled. “One more thing, since I seem to be on a roll here. Donal’s whole life was turned upside down this week. He made some bad choices, but I don’t think he was really in a position to make good ones.”

Tina thought about that. It felt like they had spent a lot of time together, but in reality it was only a few days. He was trying so hard to figure out how to be a dad, maybe she was asking a lot to think that he could figure out how to be a partner at the same time.

“Hey, when you go back would you do me a favor? Would you give a letter to my brother?”

“Of course,” Tina said. “I’d be happy to.”

“Great. She put her hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out two envelopes.”

Tina gazed at them. “What’s in the other envelope?”

“It’s the recipe for the tea. I really think you should do something with it.”