Tess shook her head to clear the echo of Colin’swords from her mind. They werehisfamily.Hispeople. She was nothing more than a stranger that he’d run intoduring a storm. He didn’t need a complication like Tess in hislife.
She walked as far as the ruined building of thechapel, watching him until he disappeared over the crest of hill.He never once looked back.
She stabbed away a tear. She could feel a sob risinginto her throat and fought to choke it down.
Gone.
The urge to run away boiled up inside of her. Theunfairness of what the rest of her life was to be was tearing ather gut. She thought of him standing by this ruined chapel, lookingin. Tess could not take it any longer and turned to the westerncliffs. Where could she go, though, to escape her thoughts ofhim?
Before she could take a step, however, Makyn’sbleating penetrated Tess’s distress.
She hurried to the animal. The pregnant ewe wasstill lying on the dried bedding. This was not the way the birthsnormally went. If the ewe were not having difficulty with thelambing, she would have delivered by now. Tess immediately crouchedbeside Makyn and, pushing up her sleeves, tried to examine her fortrouble. She had stood by many times as Makyn and the other eweshad given birth. For the most part, the sheep would simply lie downand birth a pair of lambs. Once and twice, though, she had watchedGarth try to help a mother having difficulties.
Tess put a tight leash on her emotions and focusedon the struggling ewe.
“Come on, mother. What is wrong?”
Makyn continued to cry out, but didn’t move whenTess began checking her. It didn’t take long to discover the causeof the sheep’s trouble. She could feel the head, but there was onlyone leg of the lamb in the birth canal. The other leg must bestopping the birth from proceeding. And if Tess didn’t dosomething, Makyn and the lamb could both die.
An instant of panic took hold of her, as suddenlyshe couldn’t remember what to do. None of the births she’dwitnessed had involved trouble like this. A complaints of the ewepenetrated her thoughts again, though, and she forced herself tofocus on the laboring animal.
“We need to put this right, now, don’twe?”
Tess tried to not think about the large amounts ofmucus tinged pink with blood that were darkening the dried seaweedbedding. She forced herself to ignore Makyn’s pained cries andfutile struggles. Instead, she closed her eyes and, feeling withone hand, physically pushed the lamb back up the birth canal. Itwas hard going, but when there was space, she slipped her fingersaround the shoulder, trying to find the missing leg.
Her fingers wrapped around the thin leg. Somehow, itmust have caught on the rim of the ewe’s pelvis. Working carefully,she started pulling it into the birth canal.
Her efforts had an immediate effect. As soon as theleg was free, Makyn took charge. Two feet appeared first. With theknees came the lamb’s nose. She held her breath as Makyn pausedbefore pushing again. And then the head and shoulders were out,with the rest of the lamb following.
Tears were coursing down Tess’s face, and she satback on her heels in awe as a second lamb slipped out with none ofthe trouble of the first one.
Makyn acted as if nothing were amiss and startedcleaning both of her lambs. One of them was white and the othernearly black.
Her laughter mixed with her tears as Tess watchedthe new family. Animals were so much more resilient than people,she thought a few short moments later as the lambs tried to pushthemselves to their feet. The ewe stood up and shook herself beforelying down again a few feet off.
“You’re welcome,” Tess whispered, letting out abreath of relief.
Clouds were racing overhead, though the wind wasbarely a breeze now. The morning sun was shining in its full glory.Thoughts of Colin pierced the moment, and she looked with a frownat the hill to the east. The weight in her chest returnedinstantly. Tess started to wipe away her tears, but she noticed herhands and arms and sleeve were a mess. She rose to her feet andfound the front of her dress soaked and stained, too.
Tess turned to go inside and change, but stoppeddead in her tracks
“And I thought you’d be spending the day pining overme leaving!”
Colin saw her blink once, twice, as if she couldn’treally believe what she was seeing. He pushed away from the wall ofthe old church and took a step toward her.
“Well, is this the only welcome I get?”
“You…you’re still here.”
He cast a quick eye over her soiled dress andtearstained face. She was a mess, to be sure. But a beautifulone.
“Why? Why didn’t you go?”
“I decided the sea was still too rough.” He camenearer. “And there was the problem of not knowing who it might bethat I was entrusting my life with. And then the question of whichvillage these fishermen were going back to. And then the hardshipof finding a way back to Benmore Castle.”
“Those are not very good reasons.”
“Aye.” He touched the flute at his belt. “The truthis, lass, no one had ever complimented me on my musical talentbefore you. How could I go?”
