Bridgid’s Tuna Surprise

By Jo and B 

Heartsick didn't begin to explain how Bridgid felt. She didn't even know how long she'd sat there with her head down on the table but it seemed like a lifetime.

It was past midday and here she was, un-showered and in the same clothes she had on when she left the cottage a couple of days ago. What did she care? There was no one to impress anyway.

Now she wanted to talk to someone, but who? Everyone saw what went down in the paper and she was somehow feeling embarrassed about it as well as ashamed of herself for treating Jack's proposal the way she did.

She was confused and she needed to snap out of it. The only way she could rectify everything with Jack was to have a clear head and she had an idea of who to talk to.

It didn't take her long to put it together. One tuna casserole just like her mum used to make. Well, maybe not actually her mom but the lovely woman who worked for her mum who went by the name of Marietta.

Bridgid worked as if she were on auto pilot. She boiled the noodles then drained them. Two cans of albacore tuna, two cans of mushroom soup and a half a bag of potato chips were added to make this easy version of comfort food that most of us love to hate.

Jack loved it.

She stood watching the stove for thirty minutes or so as the casserole baked. When the timer went off it startled her out of her reverie. She pulled it out of the oven, placed the Pyrex dish in a carrier that she had for it then she took it to the good Reverend’s mill house.

The drive was surreal. When she arrived she just got out of the car, carried her casserole with her to the door, knocked and stood there with not a word to say.

Alistair opened the door. "Ah, Bridgid," he said, taking in her drooping shoulders, the pain-filled eyes. "Here, let me take this." He reached out and removed the casserole from her hands. "Come on in," he smiled. "Ahnna's not coming today. Do you expect you might be able to stay awhile and share this with me?." He lifted the dish toward his nose, inhaling deeply. "Tuna. I love tuna."

Stepping over his threshold, Bridgid felt a bit lighter. At least she was not alone. "Yeah, I can stay. Don't have anyone... anywhere else to be and tuna is good. It's from the sea, you know?"

What the heck did that mean?

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I? Reckon you're a pretty busy guy."

"Not interrupting a thing, Bridgid. I'm quite glad to see you. Pick a seat there at the table while I get us a couple of plates." He watched as she sat heavily in a chair. She seemed totally lost and distracted. Sticking a large spoon into the dish, he set it on a hot pad between them. "This looks wonderful. I'm so pleased you came."  He plopped a helping on her plate then served himself, waiting for her to lead into what she needed, or was able, to say.

"This is, I mean it was Jack favorite. Not hard to please, huh?"

Pushing a few peas around to pile them together she added, "Just not the same without the peas, is it? Some things just don't work if they are not paired up right."
He noticed too late that the newspaper was right there at the end of the table. It would be obvious to her that he'd seen it so he decided not to dance around the edges of the matter any longer. Reaching across the small table, he lay his hand atop hers. "Bridgid, how did it make you feel, when you first saw Jack's proposal in the paper?"

If nothing else was noticeable at that moment, her eyes resembled those of one of the big sad eyed velvet paintings from the seventies. The corner of her lip twitched before she spoke.

"Guess its pretty obvious huh?" she paused, suddenly feeling her mouth turn to sand paper. "It made me feel like there was no romance left between us but I knee jerked."

Looking down at his hand on hers, Bridgid got the urge to pull away. She felt exposed, helpless and those were emotions she buried deep.

"Life goes on, eh?" she shrugged as she did slowly withdraw her hand. She was good at building walls. Although Bridgid did come to Alistair for some reason. It confused her.  

He let her pull her hand away, moving his then to his lap. "How do you think Jack meant it when he put the proposal in the paper? You know him so much better than I do. Why do you think he went about it the way he did?"

"No idea," she replied." But it kind of hurt my feelings. Alistair, he is a man of his time and sometimes we do misinterpret each other. I love him, always will and my better judgment tells me that I should have given him the benefit of the doubt. I should have but now I think it's too late cause...he's gone." Finally she started to choke back the waterworks. "I can't see my life without him. I don't want to ..exist."

"Do you think, Bridgid," he asked very softly, "that knowing you as he does, that after all the years, all the love you have shared, that after he's thought about this long and hard that he may come to some understanding of why you replied to him as you did? He is, certainly, a man of his time, " Alistair smiled, a mental picture of the Captain forming clearly, "and a grand man at that, but is he not also a man who knows the woman he's chosen to share his life? Might he not, then, yet come to some correct conclusion of why you responded in hurt and anger? He is himself right now both hurt and angry...as you were initially, but it would seem your love and need for him has overcome that. Would it be amiss to hope that his love and his need for you might do the same?"

"I have no idea what realization he'll come to. All I know is that I feel I wronged him. Shoulda talked to him before I put that counter ad in the paper. I messed up big time and now he's gone and I have no way to tell him that...that...I'm sorry."

The last thing she wanted to do was bust up crying in front of Alistair. Placing a hand over her eyes, she swallowed hard. "I know he sailed. It's what he does, but where to. If I could only find him."

Then it dawned on her. How could she be so stupid. Raising her head she looked right at Alistair. "Radio, the vessel has a radio and he knows how to use it."
"That sounds like a plan to me," Alistair smiled fondly. "Love always reaches out, over and over, Bridgid...as often as it takes. Real love does, even when it must do it with a broken hand." 

There was a slight smile on her face. Though the heartache was still there, she had a plan. "Rev, do you mind if I leave you now? Not to be rude but I have a problem to solve. I need to get this sorted now. Right now. I need to find him."