“I have so been there, Isla, I also want to make sure the time is exactly right. I once waited a whole summer before jumping in the lake. I kept waiting for the right time. Are you sad about it?”
Isla nodded.
I told Kaitlyn, “Aye, she is disappointed.”
Kaitlyn said, “Disappointed? You can’t be disappointed, Isla, you were just waiting for the right time! This is important, ask your Da, is it important?”
Isla looked up at me.
I nodded.
Kaitlyn said, “Ask Fraoch, is it important to do something at the right time?”
Fraoch said, “Och aye.”
Kaitlyn said, “I think your disappointment isn’t that you were waiting, it’s that the time is right, right now, it’s there — are you ready?”
She set her jaw and raised her chin, a little like her grandmother. She said, “Aye, I’m ready.”
“Perfect, there’s no reason to be disappointed, this is the exact right time...”
But Isla was marching down the grassy bank and striding right into the water up to her waist.
I said, “Thank ye, mo reul-iuil, she has gone in.”
Lochinvar, Fraoch, and James stripped off their shirts and jogged down the grassy bank, behind her. They all waded into the water.
Kaitlyn said, “Love you, see you in a few hours. We girls will have dinner ready.”
I dropped m’phone on the floor of the van, took off m’shirt, and ran down the bank after them. The sun was behind a cloud, it was chilly in the air and freezing in the water, but we all waded in and stood there for a minute until Isla turned around, shivering, and marched out and up the bank.
She said, “That was the right time.”
I followed her out and Archie and Ben met us, carrying down our towels, now already damp. I wrapped one towel around her, her teeth chattered.
Archie said, “Isla, it’s okay.”
She huffed.
Ben said, “You didn’t miss anything, Isla, it was cold the whole time.”
She glowered.
And in her eyes she continued looking disappointed.
Fraoch came up and stood beside her, a towel lookin’ small wrapped around his shoulders. She had the same sized towel but hers dragged on the ground. The two of them looked out over the water. While the rest of us finished packing up our things and returned our rafts, they both stood quietly.
Then I heard Fraoch say, “Ye ken, Isla, tis a hard thing tae regret what ye dinna do.”
She nodded.
He said, “But ye canna regret it if ye learned from it, did ye learn something?”
“Aye, Uncle Fraoch, I learned ye ought tae start at the beginning.”
“That’s a good lesson, and well put in a Scottish brogue.” He put out a fist and she brought her fist down on it and they both turned and followed us tae the van for Quentin tae drive us all home.
CHAPTER 2 - KAITLYN
