The Midwife by Ceci Giltenan

Author:Ceci Giltenan
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Duncurra LLC
Published: 2016-03-02T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Elizabeth was jarred awake suddenly by the sound of metal crashing into metal and an intense pain in the back of her head. She sat up in bed, confused for a moment. She had been dreaming about being in the cab when the accident happened. She blinked several times in early morning light, taking in the room around her. Right. The pocket watch. Thirteenth century Scotland.

Not ready to venture beyond the warmth of her bed, she lay back down, snuggling under the covers. She tried to remember the dream. The cabbie had been asking her about music. He’d asked her what kind of music she liked, but he didn’t want to listen to country-western. He asked her about Christian rock, salsa, gangsta rap and…something obscure. Why did she think it had something to do with video games?

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and tried to relax. Maybe she could remember the whole conversation. After he shot down country-western he had asked if there was anything she didn’t like.

“I don’t think so.”

“Christian Rock?”

“That’s fine.”

“Salsa?”

“Whatever.”

“Gangsta rap?”

“I guess I don’t really care for gangsta rap.”

“How about Nintendocore?”

Nintendocore. That was it. That was the last word she’d said. She hadn’t heard of it before and remembered thinking it might have something to do with video games but the accident happened before she could ask the cabbie.

Nintendocore was the return word. She just needed to tell Gertrude and she could go back to the twenty-first century. For some reason, this thought made her sad.

She had been in the thirteenth century for nearly four weeks. From the moment she’d arrived, she’d struggled every day to remember the word. Now that she had, why did her heart feel so heavy?

Because the truth is you haven’t struggled every day to remember the word. You stopped thinking about it after the first few days.

What had changed? What had quieted the desire to go back to her old life? And when did she start thinking of it as her old life, instead of home?

She didn’t want to think about the future. She had five weeks before she had to go back. Besides, she couldn’t do anything until Gertrude sought her out anyway.

Elizabeth rose, dressed and ventured downstairs. She must have only slept a few hours as it appeared many people were just beginning their work.

She popped into the kitchen to get a bannock and the herb tea that had become a replacement for her morning coffee.

Ellen and the other women working in the kitchen had heard the news about the baby and greeted her exuberantly.

“Come, sit down here at the table and I’ll make ye a bowl of the sweet porridge ye like.”

The words ‘nay thank ye’ were on the tip of her tongue but she couldn’t say them. Ellen wanted to do this for her and Elizabeth wouldn’t deny her that.

So she sat in the kitchen chatting with the women and eating her breakfast. They wanted details of how Jessie’s labor had gone. They were all aware of the trouble she’d had bearing Flora.

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