Jacob's Mother—Chapter 19
Balancing Between Two Worlds
Jacob’s Mother is a serialized novel. Start with Chapter One.
Chapter 19: Balancing Between Two Worlds
Ireland—The Old Gaelic World
Before sunrise, Elizabeth wandered through the foggy hills. A glow started to peek over the horizon, and she scanned the land for the faerie folk. At first, all she could see was the mist, completely covering the green grass and most of the sheep that were grazing there. She pulled her woolen shawl tight around her shoulders and waited somewhat impatiently, scanning the horizon. The fog spread across the fields and curled around the base of the Wicklow Mountains. Tiny droplets of mist clung to her eyelashes, and when she breathed it almost felt as if she were under water. The world was still and quiet. Suddenly, through the eerie glow, she could see them. They were all around her.
She stood statue still in the middle of the field and let the creatures pass around her. They moved in the opposite direction from the evening before when they chased the sunset. Ancient folk, dressed in skins and carrying clubs, walked by aimlessly. The Fear Gortach, or the man of hunger, crawled on emaciated knees, stopping before her and reaching out with his hands like a beggar. Elizabeth had nothing to give him, and he stared at her with sad and hungry eyes before moving on.
Then the children appeared, laughing and singing, pale little faces that were once rosy. Toddlers, tots, and older children who carried babies in their arms like dolls. They stopped in front of her and stared at her with big luminous eyes as if they were trying to remember who she was. She knew who they were, changelings who had been stolen by the faerie folk to live in the half-world, forever young. She reached her hands out to them to embrace them, but they knew nothing of such customs. She wanted to grab them all and bring them home with her, to love them and raise them, but they passed right through her, and when they did she felt the pangs of loss that their mothers felt, all those many years ago. For they knew nothing of love, except for faint memories of something called a mother. They knew nothing of family, only of their pack, and following the sunrise and sunset, in a world of perpetual laughter and play. They wandered and played forever. They knew no time or age. Some wore clothes similar to the style of Elizabeth’s time, but many were dressed in skins of the ancient tradition or rags, and some were naked. Elizabeth knew that some of these changelings had wandered for centuries. She felt sorry for their mothers, but also understood that these children, with their hollow laughter and smiles, were no longer human. They felt no love, but they also felt no pain.
The creatures continued on their endless trek across the land, and as the sun rose and the fog began to fade, so did they. They melted into the daylight, and Elizabeth found herself in the middle of a flock of sheep. She had wandered onto the McLaughlin’s land. The sheep ignored her, munching placidly on grass. A familiar figure approached, the fog seeming to vanish in an aura around him. It was James. Solid and sure footed. He was the opposite of the ghostly faery folk who seemed to drift or float across the land. He looked more like the sun rising over the hills with his fiery red hair.
“Maidin mhaith!” he called out to her in the Gaelic greeting of the ancient ones.
Elizabeth waved to him, slightly embarrassed that she had wandered onto his land.
He strode right up to her and bowed before her with a flourish. “To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing this lovely maiden upon the sunrise.”
Elizabeth tried to control the blush that spread across her cheeks. His eyes pierced her soul, more alive than anything she had ever seen, full of hope to see her there. She looked down and mumbled, “I was just wandering through the fields.”
“Oh, is that what they are calling it now?” James face lit up. “Just wandering through the fields?”
“Yes, I mean… no.” Elizabeth felt herself blush. “I was just wandering.”
James smiled as if she were lying and gathered her up in his arms. “You weren’t looking for anyone in particular?”
Elizabeth immediately thought of the Gancanagh and didn’t answer. She could feel James’ heat through his clothes, and she lay her head on his chest, even though she knew it was a bad idea. An idea that could only end in heartbreak for James.
“It’s going to be a lovely day,” James said, and Elizabeth listened to the thump of his heart. He held her close and stroked her hair, and told her he loved her through his touch. She melted into him, just as the creatures of the mist had melted away as soon as the sun touched them. James softly lifted her chin with his rough hand, his face so close that she could see the gold tips on his lashes. Everything about him was golden.
“James, no. This will never work.”
He didn’t move. He looked deep into her eyes, and Elizabeth didn’t look away. It was as if he was looking for the answer to their dilemma in her eyes, as if he could reach into her and turn off some sort of switch that caused her to act this way.
She could feel life pumping through him, through his breath and through the blood that pumped from his heart and through his veins. Everything about him vibrated with life. James, who she had dreamed about since childhood. James, who she had loved from the pit of her stomach until the Gancanagh. James who wanted no one but her held her in his arms. Maybe she could love him again? Maybe she never stopped loving him? In that moment, wrapped up in James’ heat, she chose life. She chose James.
She reached, touching his warm face. His eyelashes were made of gold in the sunlight. He looked at her as no one had ever looked at her, piercing her soul with his green eyes. It was as if they could look inside of each other. Their breath mixed visibly together in the cold morning air. James bent down and his lips grazed hers in a questioning kiss. She closed her eyes and opened her mouth to him. He sighed and pulled her closer to his chest, as if he couldn’t get enough of her, his hand caressed her neck, and then she felt it. The old familiar burning chill across her collarbone and face, and as James kissed her and caressed her, all she could think about was the Gancanagh running his cool hands over her body, and she imagined that it was the dark haired Gancanagh kissing her instead of James. Instead of sunshine, she yearned for the mist.
Sensing something was wrong, James immediately released her.
“I can’t do this!” Elizabeth cried, backing away from him. “I can’t do this to you! Please don’t follow me!” With that she turned and ran away from him towards the stacked stone wall at the edge of his property. She bumped into a few sheep as she ran and they baa’d, irritated at having their morning breakfast disturbed.
“Lil, wait!” James called out.
But Elizabeth didn’t wait, and she didn’t turn around. She kept running until she got to the woods. The foliage of the trees shaded the woods from the morning sun, and she found herself swimming in fog. She let the cool mist penetrate her body, numbing her emotions with cold. In the fog, she thought she saw a few small faerie folk scamper up into the trees. Her breath was visible as she panted from running. Stopping and leaning against a moss covered tree, she resigned herself to being damp and cold. The sunshine wasn’t hers to have anymore.
She took off the triskele and put it in her pocket. There was no point in keeping the Gancanagh away anymore if she couldn’t be with James without thinking of him. She continued walking towards the sound of the stream, hoping to catch a glimpse of him through the fog. She tried choosing life, but if she couldn’t love James as she wanted, there was no point to living in that world. She sat by the riverbank, waiting for the Gancanagh.
She waited and waited, but no one came. She closed her eyes and imagined the dark haired imp raking his fingers across her skin, and she felt hot and cold all at once. She leaned back onto the forest floor and closed her eyes, waiting for him. Suddenly her woolen shawl weighed heavy on her shoulders, so she flung it off. Her clothes began to feel hot and itchy. The bodice of her dress tightened, and she had to unlace it to breathe. Her skirts weighed heavier and heavier on her legs, until she thought she would be crushed by the weight of them. Finally, she removed each piece of clothing until she was stark naked. The triskele spilled halfway out of her skirt pocket into the mud. Only then did she feel free from the pressing fabric.
She wanted to be one with the fog and let the mist caress her skin with cool droplets. She was chilled to the bone, but it felt good. It numbed the pain she felt for James. She pushed James from her mind, and let her body sink into the damp bed of leaves that lined the ground. Squirmy things scurried and crawled through the leaves, but they didn’t scare her. She let them crawl. She felt her cool breasts, imagining what they would feel like to the Gancanagh, imagining that her hands were his hands. Her whole body felt cold as if dead, and as she shivered on the ground and in the fog, she hoped that the morning frost would envelope her, chilling her and freezing her so she didn’t have to feel the pain in her heart any longer.
She lay very still, feeling the tiny fingers of frost slow her blood down in her veins. Her breath became shallow and cool. She lay like this until she wasn’t even sure if she was still breathing. She was becoming fae. She touched herself between her cool thighs and imagined she was dead, and it was the Gancanagh stroking her instead of her own hand. She knew it was wrong, and she knew her mind was playing tricks on her, but it was what she lusted for. Then she lay very still again, letting dead leaves from the trees flutter down onto her cold, damp body. She imagined the leaves and mud swallowing her up for an eternal sleep under the ground.
She waited like this for the Gancanagh for a long while. Time seemed to stop, and she was so cold she couldn’t hear her heartbeat. It was as if it stopped as well. She thought she could smell his smoky smell, and she willed him to approach her. She waited, but the Gancanagh never came. She knew she would eventually lose her mind with wanting, but she didn’t care.
Then the fog slowly dissipated as the sunlight reached down between the trees. A ray of light touched her across her bare belly, and its warmth seemed to melt the chill that had frozen her heart. She opened her eyes. Sunlight poured through the leaves of the trees in sharp rays that broke apart all the mist. The green moss was brighter, and birds began to chirp. The stream babbled merrily along, and Elizabeth sat up, naked as the day she was born. Bathed in dappled sunlight, she realized that the Gancanagh was never coming. She realized that he had moved onto the next maiden and that there was nothing special about her. She realized the he would never come when a lass wanted him to. He got his pleasure from ruining moments, forever sneaking around. This was the curse of the Gancanagh, insatiable longing for him that can only be quenched by death. She stood up, rotting leaves stuck all over her white skin. Perhaps the Bean Nighe was right and her death was inevitable. Sadly, Elizabeth realized that if she didn’t do something, her death would be by her own hand.
Quickly, she reached into her skirt pocket for the triskele. It wasn’t there. In a panic, she shook out her clothes and looked all over the ground. Then she knelt down and dug through the leaves. The triskele was there, stuck in the mud. She grabbed it and put it over her head. Immediately, she felt silly for being naked in the woods. What would James think if he stumbled upon her? She knew he might come looking for her after their kiss in the sunrise. She was a mess, covered in mud and leaves like a wild thing from the woods. Elizabeth washed herself off in the freezing stream.
The cold of the stream was nothing like the cold damp of the mist. She cried out in shock as the icy water poured over her body. She could feel her heart jump with the cold of it. She felt fully alive again and walked shivering up the bank to where the pile of clothes were, naked except for the triskele around her neck. As she bent down to pick up her clothes she heard howling coming from down river.
“Lil! Liiiiil!”
It was the Bean Nighe! Elizabeth grabbed the bundle of her clothes and ran down the stream to find her. Hair disheveled and flying about her face, covered in mud and debris, she was determined to find the Bean Nighe, get her wishes, and finally put an end to all this silliness with the Gancanagh. There was no time to dress. Perhaps the Bean Nighe was her only chance to find happiness with James.
She looked up and down the stream. There was no sign of the Bean Nighe, but she could hear her ghostly cries echoing through the forest. She continued downstream, the cries getting louder and louder. Finally, she saw her. There was a bend in the stream, and the Bean Nighe was on the opposite bank washing out bloody clothes and screaming.
Elizabeth stopped. In theory, getting between the Bean Nighe and the stream seemed easy enough, but as she stood there, listening to the terrifying screams and seeing the blood run continuously from the clothes the old woman was washing, she shivered. However, she needed those three wishes in order to survive her desire of death and the Gancanagh, and she needed the wishes to start a good life with James.
Ducking behind a great rock, Elizabeth put her hand over her breast to calm her hammering heart. I certainly am alive, she thought. Her teeth were chattering from fear and cold. She slowly peeked out from behind the rock, the top of her head and eyes visible for a second.
Instantly, the Bean Nighe tilted her head in her direction in a disturbing bird like manner. “Liiiil!” she screamed.
Elizabeth ducked down and flattened herself against the rock. This was going to be more difficult than she thought. She peered around the rock again, and the Bean Nighe’s black eyes were inches from her face. She had appeared right on the other side of the rock!
“Liiil!” she screamed and pointed a crooked finger with a long talon of a nail. Elizabeth hid between the rock and and some brush. She was getting scratched by the brush, but was happy she didn’t have to worry about her skirts getting caught. She could see the Bean Nighe. Her eyes were solid black, and she had one large nostril where two should have been. In between shrieks, the Bean Nighe would sniff the air as if she could smell Elizabeth. Her skin hung from her face in loose folds, and spittle dotted her jowls as she screamed. Elizabeth almost cried out with shock. She couldn’t believe that the hideous old woman could move so quickly and ducked behind the rock again, prostrating herself on the ground to get as far away from the Bean Nighe as possible. Trembling, she raised her head to peer over the rock once more. The Bean Nighe had vanished from next to the rock and reappeared across the stream. She was back to washing the bloody clothes and seemed to have forgotten about Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was a clever girl, and as revolting and terrifying the Bean Nighe was, she knew she was going to have to figure out how to get between the quick moving creature and the water. Obviously, she wouldn’t be able to simply walk up to her. She peeked out from the rock five more times. Three of the times the Bean Nighe appeared menacingly on the other side of the rock, once up river, and once down river. Elizabeth noticed that the Bean Nighe seemed to sniff the air with her hideous single nostril between her wails, and she began to devise a plan on how to sneak up on her.
She backed away from the stream bank, into the thick part of the forest. Then she doubled back upstream through the trees. She moved stealthily, naked and covered in leaves, a wild sight. When she was a stone’s throw upstream, she stopped, and set her bundle of clothes next to a tree. She sat down on the ground to try to figure out the best way to proceed. She was going to have to sneak up on the Bean Nighe without being detected by smell, which meant swimming down the stream in the protection of the cool water. Some parts of the stream were quite shallow, but some parts were fairly deep. She decided she didn’t want her skirts weighing her down, so she remained stark naked except for the triskele, which dangled between her breasts.
She felt wild and free, standing naked in the woods, and even though she was terrified of the task in front of her, she smiled a little. She looked like a wood sprite standing between the trees with the dappled sunlight dancing over her bare shoulders. Her long dark hair hung softly over the top of her breasts and down her pale back. She crept quietly down to the stream bank, trying to crunch as little as possible with her bare feet on the dead leaves covering the forest floor. She sat down on the sandy stream bank and scooted quietly into the shockingly cold water.
The water only came up to her waist in this part of the stream, and she slowly crouched down in the water to hide herself. The freezing water rose up above her breasts and shoulders, her hair streaming out in all directions around her. She could feel the slimy bottom of the stream and loose pebbles under her feet. She turned around to mark where she had left her clothes, so she wouldn’t lose them if she completed her task.
As she turned, she saw him. A thin, handsome man was sitting on the bank, under the tree where she left her clothes. He wore a hat with a feather, and smoked from an intricately carved wooden pipe. If she was closer, she would have seen that the carvings were of women in various states of undress. He was staring at her. It was the Gancanagh.
She gasped and felt her collarbone and side of her face burning, even though she was kneeling in the freezing stream. The Gancanagh didn’t approach her. He just sat there, his hand resting on top of the little pile of her skirts, a smirk upon his beautiful face. The fact that he casually rested his hand on her skirts up on the stream bank, and that she was in the stream stark naked, made Elizabeth blush head to toe. She tingled all over her body. He did come! He was waiting for her. Perhaps she was special after all. She stood up, the stream water pouring off of her pale breasts in silver rivulets, and she knew she was beautiful. The Gancanagh did not take his eyes off of her, but he also didn’t approach her. Elizabeth stood there in the freezing stream, nipples erect, teeth chattering, water rushing between her thighs, and locked eyes with the Gancanagh. More than anything, she wanted him to come to her, to make love to her in the stream with his cool watery hands. Her body vibrated with wanting, but she didn’t move towards him.
The Gancanagh grinned and patted the pile of skirts. He would never come to her, she realized. She also realized that he had ruined so many maidens before her, and would do so to many maidens after her. Her sex ached as the cold water flowed between her thighs, and she closed her eyes and grabbed the triskele. The Gancanagh didn’t move or stop smirking, as if he knew that eventually she would come to him, and that she wasn’t worth any effort on his part.
Elizabeth held tight to the triskele, trying to control her shivering. She stared into the Gancanagh’s eyes and did not look away. It felt like all of the blood in her body pooled between her legs with pulsing agony. She wanted him inside her.
Then Elizabeth did one of the hardest things she had ever done. She mustered all of her strength and turned from the Gancanagh, kneeled down again in the stream and started swimming down river in the shallow water. She knew he was staring at her, but she didn’t look back. Each step that took her farther away from him eased the insatiable wanting. Each step lessened his spell on her. She smiled at her strength, and wondered if she really did have a bit of the Goddess Danu in her blood. Then she focused. She had a task to do.
The yearning for his touch kept fading as she slowly moved down river. She stayed low in the stream, with just her head above water. At some points her belly would slide over the slimy stones of the river bottom, and at some points she had to paddle like a dog to keep afloat. Eventually, she saw the Bean Nighe. The creature wasn’t screaming, but she was crying and wringing out the bloody clothes. Elizabeth hid herself even more in the stream, only keeping her eyes and nose above water. Luckily, the Bean Nighe was by a deeper part of the stream, so Elizabeth moved her arms back and forth slowly in the water and pedaled her legs to stay afloat. She knew her scent was concealed by the water. Hopefully, the Bean Nighe would stay where she was.
The old woman lifted her nostril up into the wind and sniffed. Elizabeth froze in the water. Then the Bean Nighe cocked her head to the side, listening. Birds were chirping and the steam sounds rushed past. Appearing satisfied that no one was near, the Bean Nighe dipped the bloody clothing in the stream, lifted it, and wrung it out. Watery blood ran down her spongy arms and dripped off her flappy skin. Just when the clothes seemed to get clean, they filled with blood once more, and the Bean Nighe started the never ending process again.
Like a piece of driftwood, Elizabeth let the current push her near the Bean Nighe, the water getting shallower and shallower, the closer she got. When she was a few yards upstream of the creature, she let her knees sink into the sandy bottom and waited to strike.
Although hideous, the Bean Nighe had a sad quality to her. Her black eyes were red rimmed, and to Elizabeth, she seemed a creature in great distress. She watched the Bean Nighe weeping and wringing out the clothes. The creature was dressed in rags from the waist down, bare chested from the waist up, long saggy breasts getting in the way of her washing. Elizabeth sucked in her breath when she noticed that the Bean Nighe had webbed feet. The skin stretched out between her large, dirty toes. Not noticing Elizabeth sneaking up, the Bean Nighe sighed and dunked the bloody clothes in the water, yet again.
Slowly and with great care not to be noticed, Elizabeth crept on all fours through the shallows of the stream towards the woman. She stopped, crouching in the water, right below her. The woman cried, water pouring out of her black eyes, and brought the wet bloody clothing up to her face to wipe away her tears. At this moment, Elizabeth jumped upright with a great splash, and scurried between the water and the Bean Nighe.
The Bean Nighe shrieked in anger. She appeared inches away from Elizabeth’s face, screaming, “Lil!” Then she appeared in her original spot, holding the clothes. Elizabeth stood strong and naked before the woman, unwavering. The woman looked at Elizabeth’s body and screamed, as if her smooth young skin and perky breasts pained her in some way. She opened her mouth, which only had one tooth and screamed again.
“Pardon me,” Elizabeth stated calmly as the woman howled in her face. “But I believe that you owe me three wishes.” It took everything in Elizabeth to stand there calmly. She was cold and trembling, but she also seemed to have a sort of strength from her youth and her nakedness in front of the old woman.
“How dare you stand before me in such a state, you hideous gangly thing,” the Bean Nighe hissed. “Remove yourself at once.”
Elizabeth did not feel shame in her nakedness, nor did she try to cover herself. “Not until you grant me three wishes.”
The Bean Nighe lunged at her menacingly but didn’t touch her. She tried to rush past Elizabeth to get to the water. She screamed, “Lil!” in her face.
“Oh no!” Elizabeth cried. “I’ll be having my three wishes, please.”
Realizing that Elizabeth had the upper hand, the Bean Nighe puckered up her wrinkled face in thought. “Very well, cheeky lass.” She stomped a webbed foot in the mud. “Three wishes for the answers to three questions from the girl who is all arms and legs, that’s the rule.”
“Very well,” Elizabeth said. Standing tall and wet in the cool breeze.
The washer woman looked uncomfortably towards her pile of bloody laundry, and peered with her black bird like eyes into Elizabeth’s face. Her head moved awkwardly on her head, and her breasts rested on her protruding belly.
“Question one.” The Bean Nighe got very close to Elizabeth, and her single nostril whistled with each ragged breath she took. “Are you of here or there?”
Elizabeth was unsure of how to answer, but she imagined lying would mean an ill fate. She stood there, quietly, contemplating how to answer this question in the best and most honest way.
The Bean Nighe leaned back, breasts swaying, nipples pointing down to the ground. She put her hands on her wide hips over her ragged skirt, waiting for Elizabeth’s answer. “Come now, I don’t have all day. The washing must be done!” she snapped.
“Well,” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “I suppose if by ‘here or there’ you mean I am standing in front of you here, or behind you over there? I am here.”
The Bean Nighe screeched in anger and shook a crooked fist in her face.
“However,” Elizabeth continued, trying to appear calm, even though she was naked and her heart had dropped down into her ankles, “If by ‘here or there’ you mean, am I of the living world or the faerie world? I would have to say both.”
This seemed to interest the Bean Nighe and she tilted her head towards Elizabeth as if to hear out of a bad ear. “Continue,” she said.
“Well,” Elizabeth wanted to look away from the hideous woman, but kept eye contact. “I straddle both worlds. My mother is descended from the Goddess Danu, which means I am, too. I have the sight and often pine after the mist of the faerie world, but I choose life. I choose the world of the living.” She thrust her shoulders back, confident in her answer and defying the Bean Nighe to tell her otherwise.
The Bean Nighe laughed and screeched horribly. “Foolish child! Foolish child!” She cackled and pointed at Elizabeth. “Foolish naked skinny thing. You choose the world of the living without realizing that all living things die. What an imbecile! Wouldn’t you rather wish to be immortal than live in that fleeting world?”
“Ah, you asked your second question,” Elizabeth smiled.
“What! No!” the Bean Nighe howled. “You tricked me! You tricked me! That was not my second question.”
“I most certainly did not trick you, Madam,” Elizabeth replied. “And yes, that was your second question.”
The Bean Nighe stamped her web feet again in frustration. “Very well, tricky lass. Answer me.”
Elizabeth fingered the triskele that hung between her breasts. It felt solid in her hands. “I choose life, because of the ones I love. I am not ready to leave them yet.” Elizabeth blinked and the Bean Nighe had re-appeared ten paces back from where she was before, tilting her head in her bird like manner.
“Fool!” she hissed, laughing. “Love is but a myth. Your heart will be broken and broken and broken. Everything dies.” Her black eyes darted over to the bloody pile of clothes in the mud. Then the Bean Nighe looked sad. “For my third question I ask, what makes this life that you choose better than an eternal life of shadows and mist? I feel that I may have experienced your so called life at some point, but it was so insignificant that I can’t remember.”
Elizabeth looked at the Bean Nighe in a different light. Yes, she was hideous, but she was more sad than terrifying. What a horrible existence to be an omen of death. This poor woman was doomed to wash the bloody clothes of who-knows-whom forever and ever. She grabbed the triskele tighter.
“Stop looking at me like that!” the Bean Nighe snapped. “And don’t think I don’t know what that trinket around your neck is. You won’t trick me into asking. Don’t think it will protect you, because it won’t. You would be much better protected by wearing some clothes. Now, answer my question.”
“What is life?” Elizabeth asked. “Life warmth and light. Life is the wind blowing through the grass and the sheep in the field. Life is the feeling of an embrace. Life is laughter. Life is a maiden vibrant with love and possibility and devastated with heartbreak and loss. Life is a mother, bringing forth a precious baby through pain and blood. Life is the crone who warns the maiden of her mistakes. I choose it, because I want to feel everything. It is love and devastation all at once. I suppose life is a large endless wheel that keeps going around and around and around.”
“A wheel?” the Bean Nighe laughed. “How tiresome to do the same thing over and over again.” With this she scooped up the bloody clothing from the mud to begin washing again.
“Not so fast,” Elizabeth warned. “Now my three wishes.”
The Bean Nighe stomped her foot. “Very well.”
“For my first wish, I wish to be free of the spell of the Gancanagh.”
“Stupid girl. The Gancanagh is handsome and desired by all.”
“I choose life, and he his not part of that world. Grant my wish.”
“It is done,” hissed the Bean Nighe.
Elizabeth didn’t feel any different. She wondered if the Bean Nighe could really lift the curse. She felt her heart beating in her chest. More than anything, she just wanted to be normal. She wanted to be free to love whomever she chose, and she chose James.
“Now, for your second wish,” said the Bean Nighe. “Let me guess. You want to wish for more wishes, or perhaps you want to secure the heart of your true love?”
Elizabeth thought quietly, standing in the sunlight, water dripping from her wet hair. She knew that if she wished for more wishes, she would never be free of the Bean Nighe, and would be caught in an endless cycle of wishing, never to be satisfied. That was not the life she wanted. She also knew that if she wished for James’ endless love, she would always wonder if he loved her for herself or because of the wish. That also wasn’t the life she wanted. Being clever and thoughtful, she smiled a wry smile.
“Dearest Bean Nighe, I am not ready to tell you my second wish.”
The Bean Nighe scowled at her with her horrible droopy face.
Elizabeth continued, “I will wish when I am good and ready and on my own terms.”
The Bean Nighe howled in agony. “Wretched girl! I long to be done with you! How dare you make me your slave when you are too foolish to even know what to wish for.”
Elizabeth stood firm. “I will tell you the second wish when I summon you. Not before and not after.”
“Fool!” the crone hissed with her single tooth and vanished along with her pile of washing.
Elizabeth let out a deep breath. She looked around, and the Bean Nighe was nowhere to be seen. She quickly made her way back upstream to her little pile of clothes. There was no sign of the Gancanagh. She didn’t hear or see anything else out of the ordinary. Looking down at herself, she laughed. She looked ridiculous. Naked, covered in mud and leaves. If someone stumbled upon her, they might think she was of the faerie world. Maybe she was.
She hurried into her skirts, and as she was slipping her arms through her bodice, she heard a crashing through the woods.
“Lil!” a voice called. It was James, he came bounding through the trees. “Thank the gods I found you!” He ran up to her, heat streaming of his body. He stopped. “What are you doing?”
Lil smiled up at him, and finished lacing her bodice. James eyes shined with desire. “Oh, I was bathing. It’s a good thing you didn’t come two minutes earlier. I was stark naked.”
James stood there speechless, and Lil walked right up to him, hair loose and flowing over her shoulders, raised up on her tiptoes, and kissed him right on the mouth. She kissed him deeply and with her whole self. This time she didn’t give a second thought to the Gancanagh.
Continue to Chapter 20.
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Jacob’s Mother is an original publication by Laura Ellis. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law and fair use.