Page 77 of A Promise Through Time

Tina found her voice. “How? Why?”

“When ye left, Edna found the note ye were supposed to give to Zeke. She remembered he ran a medieval martial arts studio in San Francisco and called him.”

A tall, handsome man was behind Donal on the sidewalk. He extended his hand to her, “Hi, I’m Zeke Barrett.”

“It is so great to meet you! Your sister is the inspiration behind my shop. I’m so sorry. She gave me a letter for you and I lost her letter. I have felt terrible about that for weeks.”

“It all worked out. Edna found it and made sure I got it. That letter is the reason I decided to expand. We are opening a Medieval Martial Arts Studio here. I’ve hired a great guy to run it for me. He’s pretty good with a sword and dirk.”

Donal gave him a playful shove, “Better than pretty good.”

Tina let that sink in, “Are you…? Are you really staying?”

“Aye. I’m working for Zeke now. He has been training me for a while and now this will be mine to run.” He wrapped his arms around her and she could feel the clouds lifting, “I’ll be able to provide for ye and Elena. ’Tis all I wanted.”

“Where is Elena?” she asked.

He grinned, “She’s in the studio with Brenna,” Donal said.

“I love you, Donal McCabe, but I’ve got to get my hands on my little girl.” She let him go and ran past Zeke into the studio, thereshe was greeted by a beautiful woman about her age who must be Brenna.

“Elena!” she cried, scooping her up into her arms.

“Mama,” Elena said.

“Yes, baby, I’m your mama.” Happy tears streamed down her cheeks. She found herself enveloped in Donal’s arms as he hugged the two of them.

“We’re going to be a family now,” Donal said. “If ye’ll still have me.”

“Of course I will. I’ve thought about you every day and I was so sad that I would never see you again.” She touched his face wanting to be sure he was real. “My family will be so surprised.”

“I don’t think so,” Zeke said. “They’ve been in on this from the beginning.”

“What? Are you kidding me? They’re not that good at keeping secrets.”

“They did a good job with this one,” Zeke chuckled. He and Brenna stood with their arms around each other, smiling the biggest smiles.

“We’re so verra happy for ye,” Brenna said.

“Thank you,” Tina said, “but I’m going to ring a few necks when I get home. I can’t believe they didn’t tell me.”

“We wanted to surprise ye,” Donal said before planting a kiss on her lips. “I’ve missed ye so much.”

“I’m going to close the shop,” Tina said. “I can’t possibly work today.”

“Donal, why don’t you go home with Tina. We’ll finish up here and then we’ll be joining the Carreras for the big celebration.”

Tina took Donal’s hand and walked him next door, where she turned the sign on the door to closed. She pulled down the shades and locked the door.

“This has got to be the happiest day of my life,” Tina said.

“I’m so in love with ye,” Donal said. “I would have found a way to come to ye even if Edna hadn’t arranged all of this. I never want to be parted from ye again.”

“Never,” Tina agreed.

***

The celebration at the Carrera’s was a big one. Tina was shocked to see that they’d strung lights all around the courtyard, hired a band and that her mother had allowed a caterer to provide all the food.