The Guardian by Diana Knightley
Afterword - Kaitlyn
The following day, I found Sophie on the back deck alone staring out at the beach and beyond it the ocean. “Can I show you something?”
“Aye.” She followed me down the walkway and then out over the dunes to the beach.
“What did you think of the donuts this morning?”
“I think they might hae been too sweet.”
I laughed and then exaggeratedly sighed. “Fine, yes, they were too sweet, but the thing about donuts is you power through anyway, and decide that they are perfect.”
She chuckled. “They were perfect.”
“Good answer.”
We walked to the water’s edge where the shells were plentiful. “How’s the noise?”
“Verra loud, and the lights are bright, even with these dark glasses over m’eyes.”
“There is a lot to get used to…”
I knelt down and began to sift through the shells. “We’re looking for shark teeth.”
Her eyes went wide. “Shark teeth, what are shark teeth?”
“They are teeth from big fish, and... we shouldn’t dwell on that part of it, their teeth are all over the beach here and it’s really fun to find them.” I sifted a little, and moved a little further along and then found a very tiny one. “I found one!”
She was crouched beside me, her red hair blowing in the breeze, the dusting of freckles across her nose. “Och, tis a tooth from a beast?”
“Yes, it might be thousands or even millions of years old. If you think about it, you have been in the eighteenth century, then the sixteenth, and now here, in the twenty-first century, and now you’re holding a shark tooth from millions of years ago… time travel is a lot, huh?”
She smiled. “Tis. Do ye want the tooth back?”
“No, I have buckets of them at the house.” I rested my cheek on my knee. “I wanted you to know, that if you’re scared, or worried, or just want to talk — you can talk to me. I might not have been through exactly what you’ve been through, but I have been through many scary and traumatizing things. I’ve heard and seen a lot, and I am a good listener.”
She nodded quietly.
“I know what you went through must have been really hard.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “Twas.”
“Yeah, I bet.” I reached over and tucked a hair behind her ear. “So, how far along in your pregnancy do you think you are?”
Her chin trembled as she looked down at the shark tooth. “I daena ken.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” I chewed my lip. “How many months were you there?”
“I told him I could count the time in days, but I believe twas about eight months. It breaks m’heart tae hae lied tae him.”
“Oh honey, you don’t look that far along.”
“I ken, I daena ken what I am goin’ tae do.” I put my arm around her and held her while she cried.
* * *
The end.