TUS NUA - ch 21

TUS NUA – ch 21

New Beginnings – Mia and Midnight

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Finola watched as Neil drove his horse and wagon down the long drive. She turned and when she walked back inside, heard Tauri and Sybil in an excited conversation.

“Sybil,” Tauri was saying “I think that’s a very wonderful and ambitious idea. If it’s all right with you, I’d like to help get you started. We can begin here.”

Finola smiled and hid her laughter. She knew what her cousin and Sybil were thinking but decided to allow them their joy at telling her.

“So, Tauri, Sybil, what are you going to begin doing here? Is this something that should worry me?” She hid her laughter very well.

Sybil, now, looked worried. While she knew how kind Finola was, this was, after all a house that belonged to Finola and her family. She knew she really had no right to assume anything.

“Finola, when you brought me here, you said it was with the understanding that I could stay as long as I wanted. It isn’t that I want to leave but I’ve decided what I’d like to do with my life and Tauri offered to help, but that’s with your approval.”

Finola walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of tea, then sat at dining room table. Before she spoke, she projected an approving smile to her cousin.

Tauri spoke, “Sybil, let’s sit and we can tell Finola everything. In fact, I’ll get some tea for us.”

Sybil lowered her head just a bit to hide the worry Finola already saw. “Sybil, yes, I said you could stay here as long as you wanted. Or leave, when you wanted. That choice has always been yours. The only stipulation I insisted on was that you recover from the ordeal that brought you here. I know you have recovered very well, so tell me, mo stor, what’s on your mind.”

Finola already knew but also knew Sybil needed to talk it out, needed to use her own voice, her own words, her own thoughts.

“Well, before, well before the Moretti’s, I’d decided rather than an academic college, I wanted to attend a culinary school. My parents weren’t thrilled but accepted the fact that I liked to cook. Since I was already living in New York City, I took a day to check on the ones I found interesting. I remember stopping for lunch, then the next thing I knew,I was here. I’m not even sure how long I was gone, but I still want to cook; but now I want to do that here. I’ve fallen in love with the Irish cuisine. Tauri said she’d help me, that is if it’s okay with you that I try developing here what I hope to be a talent for cooking.”

Finola finally allowed herself to smile. “Of course, mo stor. You definitely can make use our kitchen and try anything you’d like. If there’s something you need that we don’t have, we’ll be sure to get it. Now, before we scrounge around the kitchen for ample supplies, why don’t you go into my little office and call your parents. If they’re willing, while you and Tauri play cook in our kitchen, Mia and I can bring your parents here.”

“Oh, Finola, that would be wonderful. Yes, I’d love to call them. Uh, oh, I ..”

“Sybil, would you allow me to enter your mind? I can find out how long you were missing and if your parents are still looking for you.”

“You can? Oh, wow, holy cow! Finola, that would be a huge treat for me!”

“You wouldn’t be worried about what I might find?”

“Finola, after what you’ve learned about me since I’ve been here, I doubt anything would shock either of us.”

They retreated to Finola’s small office and Alistar saw the dejected look on Mia’s face.

He walked to where she was sitting, staring out the window.

“Oh, my ghra! Please don’t look so sad. I can’t tell you what Aintin knows. She’d curse me for sure if I did. Just please know that what is about to happen is a good thing. And Aintin is blocking you but for a good reason.”

“She’s causing this? She’s put a block on my abilities? But why? Did I upset her or do something wrong?”

Alistar hugged her. “Oh, heavens no, mo chailin daor (my dear girl). Just trust Aintin. You won’t be sorry. Here she comes now.”

The first thing Mia asked was, “Aintin? Is Sybil ok? Will her parents come here?”

“We found out that she’s been gone nine years. Her parents were frantic but while they tried to resume their normal lives, never gave up hope of finding her. To say they were overjoyed at seeing her face, is an understatement. Yes, before you ask, we checked and found out their phones were equiped with that FaceTime app. When I offered to go get them and bring them directly here, well, if they could have jumped through the phone, they would have. Are you up for a quick trip? It will also give us a chance to talk and I know you’re bursting with questions.”

While butterflies flittered in her belly, she also worried. “Good news? Bad news? I need to put this away. Alistar said to trust. So I will.”

“Aintin, just let me go to the bathroom. Nature is calling and I’d like to wash my hands and face.”

“Take your time, mo ghra (my love) and think of this: it’s all good.”

As Mia walked to the back room where the bathroom was, Midnight followed. She meowed, “I could say, ‘oh ye of little faith, but before you leave, I’d like a bowl of tuna, better yet, some of that leftover haddock.”

Mia smiled and rubbed Midnight’s head. “Do you ever think of anything but your stomach?”

In cat-speak, Midnight said, “Why should I?” If cat’s could laugh, Mia was sure that was the noise she heard coming from her familiar.