I hesitated, looking around me; but no girl seemed ashamed to be naked, so I threw my own shift aside and splashed into the water, exhilaration flooding me as the coolness closed over my head.
It was a delight to splash and play in the water as I had so often done with August and Cathy and the other girls in our district; I felt delight such as I had not known since two years ago, when we had all been together at Brianag, before Sean went away. The girls all squealed and laughed and I laughed, too. Mary Ellen surfaced near me.
"I'm glad you came with us; you seem not so sad," she said.
I smiled. "Thank you," I said.
"Your Robbie is a favorite among us," she said, "we all love him."
I just looked at her, smiling.
"You will grow to love it here," she said, "as Robbie does."
I knew that I would never love any place as much as Brianag, but I felt very grateful to her.
We sat on the rocks in the sun to dry off; there were girls of all ages, including one about my age with a pregnant belly. Her name was Celia and she was married to Rody, the son of Hamish's son Donnach.
She stroked the roundness of her belly. "It's a blessed thing, the growing of a child inside you," said Celia. "It is something a man cannot do."
I laughed. "Indeed, you speak truly!"
"Of course the seed must first be sown," she said, and I felt myself blushing.
Robbie had not touched me since we had been married; he had not kissed me since the day after our wedding, on the porch at Brianag. I grew hot and then shivery, the tips of my breasts hardening. I hugged myself to hide it. Celia laughed.
"You need not be ashamed, it is only natural to desire it," she said. "We must be fruitful and multiply, as the word tells us, and that is the only way to obey."
Suddenly we heard a rustling in the bushes above us, and looked up to see a little boy's face peering down. The girls squealed and jumped into the water. Celia called up, "Run home, little boys, or I shall tell Uncle Hamish about you!"
I was shocked for a moment, but then laughed with everyone else. The tightness around my heart began to ease. I felt a little peace begin to seep into my soul.