“I dinnae wish to be a burden to ye, Zeke. I can care fer meself. Ye’ll see. While I’m here with ye, I’ll take care of yer household. The cooking and cleaning. ’Tis what I do back home,” she explained.
“That would be great. I’m not very good at either of those things as you can probably tell from the sandwich.”
“Sandwich.” An unusual word. What she’d eaten didnae contain sand, but had it been created by witchcraft? Nae. She’d seen him go to the kitchen to make it and from all the sounds she’d heard coming forth from that room, he wasnae a witch, but she thought she should check. “Yer nae a witch, are ye?”
“A witch? No way.”
“I’m sorry I didnae wish to offend.”
“You didn’t. Why would you think I was a witch?” He looked at her and it was as if he suddenly understood. “The sandwich, right?”
“Aye. Is it nae that kind of witch?”
“Nope.” He chuckled. “I can see it’s going to be fun helping you get acclimated to your new surroundings.”
Yes,she thought,this is certainly going to be fun and I’m going to enjoy me stay here - no matter how long it be.
“I’m going to call Sara now. Maybe she can come right over.”
Helene watched as he pulled an object from his pocket and poked at it with his finger. He held it up to his ear for a moment before speaking. “Hey, Sara. It’s me, Zeke.”
He paused again. She could faintly hear the sound of a woman’s voice coming from the object he held to his head.
“Yeah. I’ve got a favor to ask. Can you come by and bring some of your clothes with you?” He waited again. “I know that sounds weird, but you’ll understand why I need them when you get here. Come on, please. You owe me anyway, remember?” Zeke chuckled at whatever the woman had said. “Okay. See you in a bit then.”
He put the object back in his pocket. “That’s my cell phone,” he said, removing it again and holding the object up for her to see. “Sara’s my sister. She’s about your size. She’s bringing clothes for you.”
“’Tis kind of her.”
“She’s going to freak when she finds out you’re from the past. I’ve told her all about Nick and Richard, but she never believes me.”
“I can understand why. I can hardly believe it meself.”
“I love your accent. Nick had an accent like yours, but it wasn’t as cute coming out of him.”
“Cute?”
“Yeah, you know, like adorable or endearing.”
She understood what he meant now. “Cute,” she said, smiling warmly at this handsome stranger.
Helene finished her sandwich and Zeke took the plate from her. “Can I get you anything else? Some cookies, maybe?”
“Nae. ’Twas verra good. Thank ye.” She drank some of the water and placed the glass back on the table.
He seemed to be staring at her again. She must look terrible. She tried to fix her hair and found it was all knotted and a mess.
“Would you like to get cleaned up?” he asked.
“Aye. I would. I dinnae ken what I must look like, but I can tell by the way yer gaping at me that it mustnae be good.”
“Oh, no. You look fine. I can show you where the bathroom is, so you can wash up. Sara will be here soon and she can help you with anything else you might need.”
She was making him nervous, she could tell. She stood and followed him into a small room.
“This is the bathroom. This is the sink. You turn the water on here. Hot water here and cold water here. You can use both to make it whatever temperature you like.”
She must have appeared puzzled, because he showed her all over again. “I’m sorry. I know this is all foreign to you, but you’ll get the hang of it. I promise.” He showed her all of the other things in the bathroom and how they worked and then he closed the door and left her alone.
