by Alisa Adams
“Twas Breadalbane not beatle brain, and ye well know that, moi graidh.” Tristan leaned over, giving up. He laid his hand flat on her knife, pushing it back down to the table as he lightly bit her full bottom lip, catching her sigh at the same time. He stared into his wife’s eyes and said quietly, “No, not for Ina, never. Ye are right, and oh so wise.” And he kissed her again, lingering there, tasting his wife’s lips as he stared into her eyes, his mouth smiling on hers as her eyes smiled back.
Ina stared at Ceena and Tristan, sighing as she dropped her chin in her hand. Moi graidh meant “my love.”
“It is all so romantic,” she said with a long, drawn out sigh. “All the kissing and staring into one another’s eyes and blissfully making babies all day long…”
“Ina!” Tristan said with a short laugh. “You do not—” he flustered as Ceena poked him in the ribs to hush him. “You should not…well…you know nothing of these things!” he finished lamely.
“But I want to,” Ina said to him. “I will have me own true love to blissfully make babies with.”
“Ina!” Tristan and Ceena shouted at her at the same time.
Tristan said sternly, “We know nothing of this man.”
“Now mo graidh, I kept ye,” Ceena said, “And Loughlin kept Flori. And neither of us knew much about the other.”
“Tis not the same!” Tristan said in frustration. “Who is he? No one knows.”
Ina started to answer them but she watched as Flori and Loughlin came down the stairs, their arms wrapped around each other’s waists. They had eyes only for each other.
“Luckily me oldest sister Godet is here without Gordon or I would be overcome by all the love between you couples who have declared ye were keeping each other,” Ina said and sighed with a mischievous smile. She kept the smile as she started stirring her porridge around aimlessly in the wooden bowl in front of her. “Och but I must check in on me stranger. Do ye think he is awake yet? I can bring some porridge to his bedside and wipe his brow and tell him some more stories to entertain his time as he heals. I talked to him at length last evening while I saw to his injuries. And I must check on those bandages I applied to the wounds on his very large and very intriguing chest.”
“Och, Ina, ye shouldnae be looking at a man’s chest in that way,” Ceena tsked. “That poor mon probably got no rest with all your storytelling,” Ceena said and laughed lightly.
“You do have a way with words Ina, and talking at length,” Godet said with a kind smile.
“Aye, I wager he’ll be well before long just to have some peace and quiet,” Tristan said. “I’ll make sure to loan him a shirt so ye dinnae embarrass him with all your ogling. Tis not proper Ina! And as for all your storytelling, let the mon sleep, tis the best thing for his injuries.”
“Och, I think he liked my talking to him, though he never woke. And how could I clean his wounds without looking at his chest? I am not a young girl any longer, I am ready for marriage as ye know because all of ye have a hand in pushing these terrible prospects before me.” She paused, taking a breath. “And I have seen a mon’s chest before,” she said impishly as she batted her eyelashes innocently at her sisters and Tristan. “Just not one as fine as the mon above stairs.”
Before her sisters or Tristan could do anything more than narrow their eyes at Ina, she grinned at them and left the hall.
Days passed as Ina continued to care for the sleeping man. She talked to him as his pain-filled sleep held him in its grasp. His only response was moans of pain and an occasional groan as she washed his wounds. Her gentle voice seemed to calm him as she cared for his wounds. She carefully spooned broth into his mouth and watched as he swallowed, groaning quietly.
“Please wake up,” she would whisper to him.
His horse’s injuries healed, but still the man slept on. Ina did not give up but talked to him endlessly, quietly, of all kinds of things. Of her life at the castle. Of her sisters and her aunts. She found herself looking forward to the time she spent with the stranger.
One morning when all were breaking their fast at the table, the doors to the main hall flew open. In came Aunt Hexy and Aunt Burnie. They both looked disheveled and out of breath, and very excited.
“We did it! We found him!” Aunt Hexy shouted. “Weel no, not really, as he was on his way here anyway! But we found him going the wrong way and told him the correct path!”
Ina watched in fascination as Aunt Hexy trotted the full length of the great hall, her breath huffing noisily. Aunt Burnie was trying to keep up; she appeared to be lurching back and forth like she was on a ship at sea. She had a broad grin on her face that matched Aunt Hexy’s.
Ina had never seen the two old aunts have that much energy.
Then she noticed their tartans were falling down where they were wrapped around them, their skirts were muddied, and their hair was in total disarray. For them, that is. Aunt Burnie didn’t have much hair on her precious, bald fuzzy head but what was there had some leaves and a small bramble caught in it. Then Ina looked at Aunt Hexy. Her hair was full of brambles and leaves and even a piece of branch. As usual her messy hair bun had fallen sideways down her head to land on her ear. There was a branch sticking straight out of it making it look like there was a tree growing out of the side of her head.
“Bi crivens Aunts what has happened to ye?” Ina called out to them as the two tiny, ancient ladies came trotting up, breathing heavily. Ina jumped up and looked around. She grabbed the cups of tea out of Ceena and Tristan’s hands as they stared—startled, frozen—at her aunts. Ina thrust the tea mugs into their hands.
Ceena and Tristan never even noticed their tea was gone.
Ina pushed the aunts down to sit on the bench that was pulled up to the table. “Explain! What have ye gotten into now?” Ina demanded. “And drink up!”
“We’ve done it we have!” Aunt Hexy crowed with delight. Aunt Burnie sat beside her nodding her head in agreement.
“What have ye done?” Ina asked with dread.
She heard Tristan’s short laugh just before he said, “What have those two not done or gotten into?” he said drolly. He placed his chin in his hand and leaned forward to listen to what the two old mischief makers had gotten themselves into now.
Ina saw Ceena elbow him in the ribs; Tristan shoved her right back.
Aunt Hexy eyed them with a stern eye. “Children!” she said sharply to them. At her strict voice Ceena and Tristan straightened up, sitting up tall with their hands neatly folded on the table in front of them, trying not to laugh. Aunt Hexy just looked at them and shook her head. Then she turned back to Ina, her face excited once again. “He’ll be here any moment! He was right behind us, wasnae he Burnie?” Aunt Hexy said dramatically and looked at her friend.
Aunt Burnie just nodded again, her head bobbing as she leaned forward to speak. “We also found me a pet too, just like Hexy. I have me a cat!” Aunt Burnie said triumphantly.
She pulled the most tattered, torn up, bedraggled-looking creature out from under her tartan. One ear was partially missing, its tail was bent in half, and one side of its face was missing its whiskers. It also looked blind in one eye, as the eyelid was swollen closed. The animal made a plaintive sound that started as a mewling and ended in a hiss. Aunt Burnie stroked its patchy greyish fur and attempted to cuddle it into her tartan. Then she tried pushing it back under her wrap but the creature’s claws were sticking into her old tartan.
“Oh dear,” Ina said, then added incredulously, “Ye mean to tell me that she has a cat?” Ina’s voice got louder as she spoke so she could be heard over the cat’s hissing. “And ye have what ye say is a dog Aunt Hexy? What is that other noise?” Ina demanded in a bellowing voice so that she could be heard above the chaos that was ensuing and seemed to be escalating. She could hear some sort of discordant growling coming from under Aunt Hexy’s tartan that was adding to the noise.
Aunt Hexy screeched above the din, “They just have to get used to each other is all!” She grabb
ed some bread off of the table and shoved it under her tartan.
Tristan smacked his hand to his forehead and then covered his ears.
Godet got up quickly and left the table. Flori and Loughlin hastily followed her. They mumbled something about the noise waking the babies and that they must go check on them.
Ceena just watched it all with her chin in her hand and a grin on her face.
Ina rolled her eyes.
“Aunt Hexy! Aunt Burnie!” Ina’s voice shouted above the cacophony. “Are ye gaunnie quiet those animals and tell me what is going on!” she bellowed in a very unladylike voice.
Suddenly there came total silence. Sunlight streamed in through the main door to the hall. There at the threshold stood a handsome, elegantly attired blond-haired man. The sun was at his back and lit up his golden hair like a halo. It also glinted off the large silver sword that hung at his trim waist. Behind him in the courtyard could be seen a large white horse in the finest livery.
“Oh!” Ina said in a quiet whoosh of breath.
“Oh my…” said Ceena in appreciation.
Tristan huffed as he sat up straight, looking at the stranger with great interest.
The man took a step into the great hall. They could see him better now. His hair was indeed golden, finely combed and styled to sweep up and away from his forehead. His face was fine, his chin square, his nose straight. His shoulders appeared broad under the capped cloak he wore, and his legs were encased in fine dark brown breeches and tall leather boots. He wore a long, fitted leather vest in a rich cognac color, under which was a soft beige linen shirt. Over all this was a knee-length brown cloak with a short cape over the shoulders. It was split open down the front with tiny buttons that looked to be more decorative than useful. The sleeves of the cloak were also slit to reveal the fine embroidered scrolling vines in gold thread on his linen shirt sleeves.
Ina realized her mouth had dropped open. As her eyes traveled back up the man’s fine clothing to his perfect face, she saw that his bright blue eyes were staring at her. He had a smile on his face that showed off his perfect white teeth.
Ina quickly shut her mouth and reached up to straighten her hair. She had been out in the stables earlier that morning looking after Myrtle and knew she probably had hay everywhere.
“Sards!” she said as she tried to straighten her white blouse and tartan blue skirt. Then she realized what she had said and covered her mouth in embarrassment. She heard Tristan chuckle.
Aunt Hexy sighed and cooed as she clapped her hands in excitement. She trotted forward to the man with Aunt Burnie in her wake. She grabbed his arm and pulled him down the hall to the table where Tristan now stood with Ceena at his side. Ina was still standing immobile, staring at this handsome man.
“Here he is!” Aunt Hexy proclaimed proudly.
There came silence.
“This is him!” Aunt Hexy repeated, louder this time.
More silence.
The young man—for he was young now that he was standing closer to them to see him better—chuckled quietly and bowed his head elegantly to the ladies.
“Forgive me for intruding, but I met these”—he looked down at the two old women staring up at him with twigs and leaves and branches caught in their clothing and hair—“enchanting ladies in the forest and they showed me the correct path to this ever so charming little castle.” He looked around at the staring, silent faces. “I must quench my thirst and rest my tired mare.”
Then his head turned to Ina and if a smile could be even larger, his was. Ina had never seen a smile that big, and white, and perfect.
“And you must be Lady Ina. You are even more beautiful than I was told. Your eyes are the color of a clear blue sky, or the sea when it is calm and sunny. Your lips are full as a new rose, ready to be plucked off the bush,” he said as he spread his hands wide.
Ina ignored him and tilted her head sideways to look past him at the beautiful, powerfully muscled white horse outside the front doors. That horse was not female, it was all male.
Ceena hurried forward to greet him and lead him over to the table while Tristan eyed the man up and down.
Ina had recovered herself enough to speak. “What did ye say yer name was?”
He turned to her, his blue eyes piercing. “Oh! Do forgive me, I never said did I?” He chuckled pleasantly. “I was so beguiled by these two ladies and your beauty that I must have forgotten my manners. How rude of me.”
Aunt Hexy preened and giggled and Aunt Burnie just stared at the man’s chest with a foolish grin. “Och now,” Aunt Hexy said in a girlish tone as she tried to shove the ball of hair off her ear and back to the top of her head. It fell right back down. “Niver would we say ye are rude dear sir!”
“Och no niver!” Aunt Burnie parroted her. “Have ye seen me cat sir?” she said and held out her new pet which immediately started howling again.
“Oh goodness! What an unusual animal you have there,” he said as he leaned as far away as possible from the angry animal.
“Aunt Burnie,” Ina said loudly over the cat’s howling, “put him back under yer wrap. The poor thing hasnae any fur. He seems quiet and happy under yer tartan where he is warm. Put him back there please.”
Aunt Burnie quickly swaddled the cat back under her tartan. There was instant silence.
“Ah, under the warm and comforting bosom of a woman your cat is now happy!” the man said in a dramatic flourish of hands once again. ”Much like a man!” He chuckled at that and looked markedly at Ina’s chest. “The bounty of a woman, combined with her great beauty, is all the boon a man can want. A very lucky man tis true!”
Ina scowled at him and then looked over at Tristan and Ceena, who shrugged their shoulders impishly at her. “Now then,” Ina said, “ye still havenae said yer name.”
“Ina!” Ceena admonished her quietly. “Perhaps he would like some refreshments.” Ceena did not take her eyes off the man but waved her hand at Tristan. “Can someone go to the kitchen and see about some refreshments for our visitor? Tristan?” There was only silence at her command so she tore her eyes from their visitor and looked at her husband. He was staring at her with his arms across his chest and an eyebrow raised. “Och…” Ceena blushed bright red. “I meant, Tristan can you please summon one of the kitchen maids or send one of yer men, of course.”
Tristan’s eyebrow raised even higher, but he motioned to one of the guards, sending them towards the kitchen.
Ina stood there, her toe tapping impatiently. “Still waiting,” she said under her breath.
The man looked at her and smiled brightly. He strode up to her and captured her hand. “You are indeed the loveliest creature of the land. As bright and golden as a tiny fairy of the flowers, blooming in the sunshine! Indeed you are as radiant as the sun, as lovely as a moonlit night, as glorious as the heather in bloom, as perfect as the golden wheat in the fields…” At that he bent over her hand and placed the whisper of a kiss just above it.
Ina rolled her eyes as his head lowered over her hand. She looked down at his hand where it held hers. Why are his hands a bit rough? She narrowed her eyes as she further studied him. When he straightened up she could see his clothes better. Why do they seem slightly large on him? The sleeves seemed a bit too long. Perhaps it was the fashion, she wouldn’t know. But she had noticed that his mouth never touched her hand. He hadn’t actually placed a kiss on her hand. Is my hand dirty? She turned her hand over to look more closely at it but then he grabbed it again.
“Even your hands my lady, they are as soft and feminine as a newborn doe of the forest. Dainty and pale and oh so slender!” he said as he waved his own hand in the air to enunciate each word. Then he turned her hand over and frowned as he peered at the calluses there. He did not pause long and quickly continued, “Your beauty is known far and wide. I have made a journey to search for you. For you are indeed this beauty all speak of, and now,” he said pointing to the ceiling with one finger, “now it is I that has found you. Your au
nts have led me to you,” he said. His eyes narrowed as they went to her hair. His nose wrinkled as he plucked a piece of horse hay out of it. “I would be most honored if you—”
Ina pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. Is this what she sounded like when she waxed on about things? Sards! “Weel now,” she said quickly to interrupt him. “I think that is all quite a bit o’ fancy blethering! Me hands are callused, not smooth. And they are rough from throwing me knives and riding me horse. I have hay in me hair from feeding me horse this morn. Hay in me hair is an everyday occurrence. Me horse happens to tower over me and drops things on me head. So, enough of that haivering, what is—”
“Here you are sir!” came Ceena’s voice.
Aunt Hexy clapped her hands happily. She grabbed the visitor’s arm and pulled him back over to the table, pushing him down onto the bench. “Ye must eat and drink. Ye look fair puggled and puckled!”
“He doesnae look out of breath to me Hexy,” Burnie said in confusion as she stared raptly at the man. “But yes, he does look tired out,” Burnie agreed. “Perhaps ye should take yer cloak off? And yer vest as well?” she said eagerly.
The man smiled awkwardly at Burnie as he took the cup that was thrust into his hands by Aunt Hexy. “Drink!” Hexy ordered. He looked at the cup in his hands and sniffed it gently as he eyed the two old ladies.
“You two sweet ladies wouldn’t be drugging me now, would you? So that you could take advantage of a poor exhausted worn out traveler who has lost his men and has no protection against you?” He chuckled slightly as he stared at them, still leaning slightly away from the two of them as they hovered much too close.
“How did ye lose yer men?” Ina asked abruptly. ”And seems to me ye have a mighty sword to protect yerself from me old aunties,” she said with a small grin on her face. She looked at her two aunts meaningfully. “Aunts, give the mon some room!” They made pouting faces and moved back away from the visitor. They took a seat on either side of him instead and stared at his face with a sigh.