“How wonderful! I’m pleased to meet you, Brenna.”
“As I am ye,” Brenna said. Breaghacraig was so different from Castle Treun. She always felt isolated from the world back there. Everyone here seemed so welcoming. She couldn’t imagine Greer and Gillian behaving this way. They were always off in a corner devising some new way to embarrass her.
Little Emma wanted her mother. She held out her arms to Ashley. “I’ll take her for a minute, Brenna. Would you mind taking Andrew?”
Brenna hesitated for a moment. He was so small and fragile looking, but she made the switch with Ashley. “She’s very sweet,” she said, smiling warmly at Emma.
“She’s been a very good natured lass from the very beginning.” Ashley beamed proudly. “And she loves her new baby brother. Don’t you?” She kissed Emma’s chubby little cheeks.
“When was yer son born?” she asked.
“It’s been a little over a week now. I thought I was tired after Emma was born, but that’s nothing compared to how I feel this time around. It seems Andrew is always hungry and in need of my attention but I don’t want to ignore Emma.” She hugged her daughter close as she spoke. “Combine that with sleepless nights and… all I can say is thank goodness for Helene. She’s a lifesaver.”
“’Tis nothing,” Helene answered as she picked up around the chamber. “Let me know when yer ready to get up and I’ll take Emma.”
Andrew began to fuss a little and Brenna looked frantically to Helene. “He’ll be fine.”
“He’s just eaten,” Ashley added.
Helene helped her adjust Andrew and showed her how to burp him. Brenna followed instructions and smiled when her efforts worked.
“Someday ye’ll have bairns of yer own,” Helene said. “This is good practice.”
Brenna imagined what her life might look like in the future. She hadn’t given much thought to husbands and bairns while living with her Da. She thought about what it might be like to be a mother, imagining a little boy who looked a lot like Zeke.
“Cailin told me that Zeke Barrett is here,” Ashley said.
“Aye. He is,” Helene said, continuing to straighten the room. She moved to the wardrobe and removed a gown for Ashley and placed it on the foot of the bed.
“Was it weird seeing him?” Ashley asked.
Brenna tipped her head at this, not understanding the meaning of the question. Ashley sounded much like Zeke. She wondered if she, too, was from San Francisco.
“It was at first, but then… “ Helene stopped mid-sentence.
“But then what?” Ashley asked.
“Nothing. He’s a good man. He treated me well in San Francisco and I imagine if I had stayed there I could have made a life with him.”
Brenna was shocked at this news. “Do ye love him?” She couldn’t control herself, the question just popped out.
“I do, but not in a romantic way. I love Dougall. Zeke will always be special to me.”
“Does he love you?” Brenna asked, trying to keep the worry from her voice.
“He did once, but I knew I wanted to be with Dougall. I ken it was hard for him and I didnae wish to hurt him, but I had to follow my heart, which had always been with Dougall. It was because he loved me that he let me go. He knew Dougall and I were meant to be together.” Helene took Emma from Ashley, holding her in one arm while helping Ashley rise from the bed with the other.
Brenna wasn’t happy to hear this. If Zeke still loved Helene, then he couldn’t ever love her. It was good she found this out now.
“Is something wrong?” Ashley asked Brenna. “Do you need me to take Andrew?”
Brenna shook her head. “All is well,” she lied. Thoughts of a son who looked like Zeke flew from her head. She’d warmed to him since they’d shared those first kisses in her chamber at Castle Treun. They’d kept each other at arm’s length since then, but when he rescued her from Nevil Munro and held her in his arms, she felt like she belonged there. She’d started thinking of him differently. She thought he might have done the same, butall along he was probably thinking of Helene. How could he not still love her? She was everything Brenna hoped to be. Dougall would protect her with his life and now she knew that Zeke would, as well.
For a brief moment, she thought she’d found the man for her. He was kind, thoughtful, brave, strong and quite handsome. Other than her brother Dougall and Logan, she hadn’t known many men with those characteristics. But now, all hope had been sucked right out of her. He wanted Helene, not her.
“Brenna, keep an eye on Emma while I help Ashley dress.” She placed Emma in the center of the bed, where she sat entranced by an object Brenna didn’t recognize.
“What is that?” she asked as she sat on the edge of the bed. Andrew had fallen asleep in her arms and his sweet little lips were puckering in and out as if he were still attached to his mother’s breast.
