The Ocean's Daughter (Sequel to Sirene)

Dedicating this chapter to VictoriaHether.  Thanks so much for you support on my stories :)

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Chapter 12

Oceana had come up with a plan. She would take Beth to the library and then set off to find a walking cane for her friend. That way, tomorrow they could still go and sight-see a little. Beth was determined not to go out at all, saying one day of sightseeing was enough for her, but Oceana was sure she could change her friend’s mind. All that was needed was a little time and a good walking cane.

“Why don’t you just go sightseeing on your own, I’ll be perfectly happy in the library.” Beth said as Oceana helped her hobble down the stairs.

“The idea, Beth, is that we spend time together. It’s not fun looking at Edinburg on my own. Rest your ankle today and we’ll see how it is tomorrow.”

“This is probably the reason people take holidays in summer.” Beth couldn’t help but say with a giggle.

“Nonsense, winter holidays can be great fun, the secret is to always watch where you are going.”

“I don’t think it quite fair that it was me who…oh no.” Beth’s voice died and her face went pale.

Oceana looked around and caught sight what had caused her friend to become distressed. Sitting in the lobby, hat in hand, was none other than Dr. Blackwood. A smile came to his face when he saw the girls and he rose to greet them.

“Good morn to ye, lassies.” He stated in a pleasant voice.

Beth didn’t want to be rude, but she was afraid to raise her eyes in case they should meet his again. She looked at the floor and tried to keep from appearing as awkward as she felt.

“Dr. Blackwood, this is a surprise indeed.” Oceana had to take matters into her own hands. “We didn’t expect to see you here. What is it this time that brings you to our hotel?”

“I cam to see if my patient was feelin’ any better.” Dr. Blackwood replied, the smile still beaming on his lips. “And to bring her this.” He pointed to the walking cane resting against the chair he had been sitting on. “I figured she would need it.”

“That was very thoughtful of you.” Oceana said, nudging Beth at the same to respond somehow.

“Thank you, Dr. Blackwood.” Beth forced herself to raise her eyes. “But please don't let us bother you. I am sure you have other patients who need you.”

Dr. Blackwood chuckled. “Nae, I dorn’t. I’m taking somethin’ *ay a holiday an' so I *hae no patients but yerself.”

“What a coincidence.” Oceana couldn’t help from saying. “We are on holiday too.”

“I troost yer ankle is *daein' better, Miss Warren?”

“It is, thank you.”

“Ye made a cold compress yesterday?”

“We did indeed. The swelling has gone down but I still can’t step on it.”

“An’ ye *shooldnae fur a while. *Lit it rest. Were ye on yer way out?”

“Not really, I only wanted to see what books the library has to offer.” Beth said with a smile, nudging Oceana that now might be a good moment to excuse themselves. “There is something of  library here and I was just on my way discover it.”

 “*Allaw me to help ye.” Dr. Blackwood said, handing Beth the cane. Oceana gently released herself from Beth’s grasp and Beth found herself taking the arm Dr. Blackwood had offered her. She shot Oceana and angry look, while Oceana shook her head with a justified expression on her face.

“So, Miss Warren, ye are *frae London I take it?”

“I am indeed, Dr. Blackwood. I was born and raised there. Are you from Edinburgh?”

“I was born in Glasgow, but I’ve spent most of my life in Edinburgh. *Main if I ask *whit brooght ye to Edinburgh?”

“It was Miss McNeil’s idea. I was visiting her for the winter holidays and she suggested we come and visit the capital of Scotland.”

By this time they had reached the library and Dr. Blackwood help Beth into a chair, pulled one out for Oceana and then took a seat himself. “Miss McNeil, yer *nam suggests that you are from Scootlund, but yer accent suggests otherwise. I cannae *pit my hand on it, but I *ken fur sure it *isnae Scottish.”

“I’m not from Scotland.” Oceana explained. “McNeil is the name of my adopted father with whom I now live.”

“Ah, is that how it is. An' where are ye really frae?”

“Where am I from?” Oceana repeated the question with a thoughtful expression. Beth winced a little, not knowing what Oceana was going to say.

“I’m from the ocean.” Oceana said at last.

“The ocean?” Dr. Blackwood wasn’t sure if he had heard right.

“Yes, I guess you could say I’m the Ocean’s Daughter.”

Beth coughed loudly. “Oceana!” she sputtered. “Where did that story come from?”

“Didn’t I ever tell you?” Oceana glanced over at her friend. “No, evidently I didn’t. McDuff came up with the story.”

Dr. Blackwood looked from Oceana to Beth with a perplexed expression.

“Allow me to explain.” Oceana said. “Brian McDuff is the local story teller in my village. He spends most of his days sitting on a bench by the road and telling tall tales to anyone willing to listen. When I was a baby I was found by two smugglers in a boat that was adrift. So when McDuff heard that he decided that the story of how I got into that boat was not good enough and came up with his own. According to him I am the daughter of the ocean.”

“Ah, now that does make fur a great *taa tale. An' what is th' true story ay how you got into th' boat?”

“We are not going to get into that.” Beth firmly stated. “Trust me, Dr. Blackwood, the story she claims to be true is just as outlandish as her being the daughter of the ocean.”

“No it isn’t.” Oceana protested.

“Now ye hae me really interested.” Dr. Blackwood stated. There was a whole lot more to these young ladies than he had first anticipated.

“Well the story goes I am a the daughter of a sailor and mermaid. My mother put me in that boat to save me from my grandfather who hated me because I was a half breed.” Oceana summed it up as short as she could to save Beth from embarrassment.

Dr. Blackwood tried hard to keep the laughter in. “That is a very interestin' story.” He said at last. “An' where did this one come frae?”

“She had it told to her when she was young by the man who pulled her out of the boat.” Beth hasted to explain.

“So *aw ye can pure prove is that ye were foond in a boat as a *bairn, an' then fowk comes up wi' ideas ay hoo ye got there?”

“I suppose you could say it like that.” Oceana nodded her head. “I have to say, Dr. Blackwood, your reaction was very original. Mostly people stare at me as if I am a total lunatic, but you had the presence of mind to laugh.”

“Aye, *weel whit was I supposed to do? I will gie ye this, Miss McNeil, it does make fur a good story.”

“Thank you, Dr. Blackwood. And I beg of you, do not call me Miss McNeil, not even my students call me that. Miss Oceana.”

“If ye so wish, Miss Oceana. Students ye say, are ye a school teacher then?”

“I am.”

“An' is Miss Warren a school teacher too?” He turned to Beth with bright eyes.

“No, I’m not a school teacher.” Beth found felt the heat rising to her cheeks. Why did she have to blush every time he looked at her? “I uh, I don’t really do anything…for a living.”

“Beth is from a good family.” Oceana saw Beth was uncomfortable and came to the rescue.

“Ah.” Dr. Blackwood nodded his head, understanding what was meant.

“How about you, Dr. Blackwood. Since we have met you, I do not remember you even once saying anything of yourself. How long have you been a doctor?” Oceana prodded, interesting to find out something about this man.

“I finished medical school in th' summer ay 1908 and fur th' past year and a half hae been workin’ at a hospital here in Edinburgh.”

“What do you do at the hospital?” Despite herself, Beth found she was curious to find more him.

“I mostly perf'rm operations, set bones an' at times remove th' ones beyond repair."

“Oooh, so you are a surgeon on top of it all, very impressive.” Oceana smiled. “Mind if I ask what made you want to take the profession of a doctor?”

“My father was a doctur an' *efter lookin' at him I foond myself wanted to be one too.”

“So medicine runs in the family?” Beth timidly asked.

“Not at all. Just me an’ my father. The rest of my family, well…” Dr. Blackwood couldn’t help from chuckling when he thought of his family. “They don’t *kin anythin' abit the medical world *nur do they want tay. I wish I could explain it, let *jist say mine is one ay those large crazy families that not really all in there. They can pure be overwhelmin' at times.”

“That sounds nice.” Beth couldn’t stop herself from saying.

“A large crazy family is certainly better than a broken family.” Oceana pointed out, thinking of poor lonely Callum back at home.

“Or no family at all.” Beth said, while her gaze rested on the floor.

Dr. Blackwood looked at her, wondering what had caused the sudden drop her in mood.“I *huner ye *wulnae mind me askin’, but now that Miss Warren has sprained her ankle, do ye plan to spend yer entire holiday indoors?”

 “I'm afraid I can hardly see myself walking. I told Miss McNeil to go without me but she is being very stubborn.” Beth said.

“I came here with the express purpose of showing Beth the city and she wants me to view it on my own. Tell me, Dr. Blackwood, do you even think that remotely fair?”

“I don’t. Troost me, Miss Warren, Edinburgh is a bonnie city and one ye must certainly see.”

"Unfortunately my ankle, Dr. Blackwood, seems to think otherwise.”

“That is a pity.” Dr. Blackwood nodded his head as a plan began forming in his head. He wouldn’t speak of it just yet, but if it worked out he would have a very good reason to come by this hotel again tomorrow.

“Maybe we’ll just end up renting a carriage and driving around the city.” Oceana still had her heart on sightseeing. “This isn’t the highlands after all. The city has plenty of roads by which you may roll along and take in the views.”

 “You prefer carriage to motorcars?” Dr. Blackwood asked.

“We’ve never ridden in motorcar.” Oceana replied. “Have you?”

“Aye, aye I have. As it so happens, I ken *someain who owns a motorcar. He goes by th' name of James MacMorrow. I might as well add that this man is my cousin. Jist yesterday he booght himself a shiny new car an' now him and his wife are jist itchin' to show it off to all of Scootlund. I’m *awreddy *boak ay hearing abit it. Yesterday it th' only thing our family was talkin' abit. Serioosly, ye would hae thooght th' man booght a palace or conquered th' north pole. I mean, if Aunt Mae could hae it her way aw th' newspapers would be printin' that James MacMorrow has booght himself a motorcar.”

Beth giggled at this. “It sure sound like you have a wonderful family, Dr. Blackwood.”

“Aye, I do lass, though they can gie a wee tiresome at times. But ye learn to loove them. Speaking of family, I *trysted I would be *haem fur lunch. With all th' time I spend at th' hospital I don’t see them very often and they are a wee overprotective.”

“Please, do not allow us to detain you.” Oceana said.

“I am glad yer ankle is better, Miss Warren. Gie it plenty ay rest and ye *micht want to keep it slightly elevated. That will help the rest of the swellin' to go down. Good day to ye.” Dr. Blackwood bowed to the girls and putting on his hat walked off.

“He gives the impression of a very good man.” Oceana said. “Beth, you sit here, I’m going out.”

“Where too?” Beth asked in surprise.

“To do some detective work. I want to find out all I can about Dr. Blackwood.”

“And how do you plan to do that?”

“Nothing simpler, I will visit the hospital where he works and ask all I can about him.”

“Oh Oceana.” Beth rolled her eyes. "Who would have though you would turn stalker?"

“Don’t you ‘oh Oceana’ me. You don’t want to go anywhere and I don’t want to remain indoors. So you read your book and I’ll drop over the hospital. I’ll be back around lunch time.” Oceana gave her friend a kiss on the cheek and went off to put her coat and hat on.

***

“Pardon me, Miss Warren, Miss McNeil, but a gentleman left ye his card.” An attendant walked up to where Oceana and Beth were eating a late breakfast. Beth took the card and her eyes went wide.

“Oceana, I do declare, there is no escaping the man.”

“Dr. Blackwood left his card?”

“Yes, and it comes with a note saying he has spoken with his cousin and his cousin has agreed to give you and me a drive through Edinburgh in his car.”

“You don’t say?”

“I do say. It’s written here black on white, take a look yourself if you don’t believe me. Oh, Oceana, what are we going to do?”

“We are going to go for a drive.”

“Oceana!”

“Beth, it will be fun. Trust me. Now we can go sightseeing and it won’t hurt your foot. Dr. Blackwood is a good man, at the hospital they can only praise him. He his honest, hard working, and of a cheerful countenance; all his patients have nothing but respect and gratitude for him. Excuse me, sir.” Oceana called the attendant who had delivered them the note. “The gentleman who asked you to give this to us, is he still here?”

“He is, Miss. He is waitin' in th' lobby.”

“Thank you.” Oceana rose and went to the lobby. Beth was left alone, fiddling with the note and trying to make sense of everything that was happening to her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Dr. Blackwood, quite the opposite. Ever since he had first come to help her there was something about him that she admired and this frightened her. After the whole incident with Edward she did not want to come near another man. To think that she might have been on her wedding trip right now. But no, he had proved unfaithful and she was left with a broken heart. All this had only happened six months ago, so it wasn’t right to blush so when Dr. Blackwood looked at her, or haeve her heart skip a beat when he came to mind. Miss Patterson would never approve of him. He was just a doctor, and from Scotland on top of that. Beth was supposed to marry a man of good family and considerable money. Someone with a good name that society knew and would approve of. It all been very easy with Edward, now Beth found herself torn. There certainly was an attraction to Dr. Blackwood, and at the same time, Beth didn’t want there to be one.

Her thoughts were interrupted with Oceana’s return. “Come along Beth, everything will be just fine. His cousin and his cousin’s wife are going to go with us, so it will all be very proper. They are extremely eager to take us on a tour of the city and to show off their new car while they are at it. I told them we have finished our breakfast and it will take us about fifteen minutes to ready ourselves. Only beware, his cousin’s wife talks an awful lot and she has a terribly thick accent, so you won't understand half of what she is saying.”

Beth bit her lip for a second and then gave in. With Oceana’s help stood up from her seat and hobbled to dress warmly. She did want to take at least a peak at the city and she did want to know what it would be like to ride in a motorcar. If they would be in the company of a married woman everything would be alright. Despite her behavior, Beth felt as though it would be safe to trust Dr. Blackwood. So far he had proved to be nothing but a perfect gentleman and he was interesting to talk too. Deep down Beth was finding that she was starting to enjoy the young doctor’s company. Only she would die before she admitted it to anyone, especially Oceana.

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If you like the idea of Beth and Dr. Blackwood, I'm sure you'll enjoy the next chapter. It should be up on Monday (the 6th)

Glossary for unfamiliar words:

abit: about,   aw: all,   allaw: allow,   awreddy: already,   ay: of,   bairn: baby,   boak: sick,  

daein: doing,   efter: after,   fowk: folk,   frae: from,   gie: give/get,   hae: have,   haem: home,

huner: hope,   isnae: is not,   jist: just,   ken: know,   kin: understand,   lit: let,   main: may,  

micht: might,   nam: name,   nur: nor,   pit: put,   shooldnae: should not,   someain: someone,

taa: tall,   tay: too,   trysted: promised,   weel: well,   whit: what,   wulnae: will not.