Chapter Seven
“There is soap in my eye!”
Caledonia squeezed her stinging eye shut as a maid poured water all over her head and face, rinsing off the slimy soap that smelled of lavender and rose, something that had been scrubbed into her skin and hair until everything was fresh and tingling.
All of it under the direction of a rather dictatorial young woman.
After Thor had left Caledonia with a wink and a smile, he’d returned a short time later with a beautiful young woman at his side.
She was petite, with luxurious red hair and the same bright blue eyes that Thor had.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out they were related, even before Thor introduced her as his youngest sister, Lady Nicola de Reyne.
It was Nicola who took charge of preparing her brother’s bride, from dresses she brought with her to a bathtub that had been filled with hot water and floating rose petals.
Nicola had brought three servants with her, women who moved efficiently to their mistress’ orders, and that had included stripping Caledonia of what she was wearing and nearly drowning her in the bathtub she currently sat in.
Lots of soap, lots of scrubbing, and the final insult was rinsing her hair with flat ale that stung her eyes and did nothing to help her aching head.
Meanwhile, Thor must have been standing outside of the chamber door, because Nicola kept going to the panel and talking through it.
It seemed that they were debating about what dress Caledonia should wear, as if she didn’t have a say in the matter, and when she was finally scoured within an inch of her life, she was pulled out of the tub and plopped in front of the hearth that had a steady fire in it.
The wood crackled and popped as she was vigorously dried, all of which aggravated her aching head, until Thor passed something through the door to Nicola, who brought it over to a table near Caledonia.
It was a basin that contained some kind of liquid, and Nicola made a compress out of the rag that was in it.
She had Caledonia lean forward as she put a cold compress smelling strongly of mint on the back of her neck.
It was enough to elicit a groan of relief from Caledonia.
After that, she didn’t much care what Nicola did to her.
Her head was forward, the compress was on her neck, and the servants went about drying her hair in front of the heat.
Nicola gave the order to remove the tub, and it was promptly withdrawn as Thor stood in the doorway and supervised.
But his gaze soon moved to his betrothed as she sat in front of the fire wrapped in several towels.
It wasn’t improper because she was covered up, but Nicola kicked him out and shut the door in his face once the tub was removed.
She could hear her brother complaining through the closed panel.
“He asked me to help, so I am helping,” Nicola said as she approached Caledonia. “Now he wants to come in and bother us, but we do not need his help. He can wait until the final product is presented.”
Caledonia’s head was still down, but she assumed that Nicola was speaking to her. “You have been most helpful, my lady,” she said, though she felt as if she’d been beaten on a rock like a pile of laundry. “I hope it was not too much trouble for you.”
Nicola knelt on the ground next to Caledonia so she could look her in the eye. “It was no trouble at all,” she said. “I was already at Westminster.”
Caledonia could see her from the corner of her eye, as it was difficult to turn her head with the compress on her neck. “Are you visiting?”
Nicola shook her head. “I serve at court,” she said. “My mother sent me to the queen two years ago. I do not think I have ever seen you, my lady. I hear you are the Countess of Tamworth and Stafford.”
Caledonia’s initial impression of Nicola, aside from her being rather bossy, was one of kindness.
Strangely enough, it was. The woman was decisive and gave orders, but she also had an easy manner about her.
Even now, in speaking to a woman she didn’t know, she smiled and seemed very interested in her. That put Caledonia at ease somewhat.
“I do not travel in the same social circles that you do because my husband was not part of that crowd,” Caledonia said after a moment. “Do… do you like it at court?”
Nicola shrugged. “Mostly,” she said. “These days I help Lady de Dreux with her children, and I do like being around the children.”
“Who is Lady de Dreux?”
“Beatrice,” Nicola said. “The king’s younger daughter. She and her children have been at Westminster for some time and I have been tutoring the older children.”
Caledonia smiled politely. “How clever you must be,” she said. “Are you married, my lady?”
Nicola grinned, but it was an embarrassed gesture. “Not yet,” she said. “I am the youngest of eight children and the youngest daughter, so my parents are in no hurry for me to marry even though there is someone I am sweet on.”
One of the servants took away the cold compress to refresh it, and Caledonia sat up straight as another servant continued to dry her hair. “Ah,” she said. “Then I wish you well, my lady. I hope he is sweet on you, also.”
“He is,” Nicola assured her. “At least, he’d better be. A de Winter is very hard to tame, you know. They are notorious for dodging matrimony.”
“De Winter?”
“Aye,” Nicola said, rising from her kneeling position. “The House of de Winter. They are great supporters of the king, you know. They have an enormous army.”
“Where are they from?”
“East Anglia.”
“I do not know them,” Caledonia admitted. “But I also do not travel in military circles.”
Nicola’s gaze lingered on her. “When you marry my brother, you will,” she said. “But do not worry. I will help you all that I can so you know who people are and who are friends and who are foe. You will not be alone in this, I promise.”
Caledonia found those to be comforting words.
She wasn’t used to anyone comforting her, or even being kind to her, so Nicola de Reyne was a new experience altogether.
Long ago, when she fostered at Prudhoe Castle, she had friends there, young ladies she trusted, but once she married Robert, those friendships faded away.
She didn’t stay in touch with them like she should have, mostly because her attention was on Robert and their turbulent relationship.
Sometimes she wondered what became of Lady Carina and Lady Estelle, but in a way, she was glad they couldn’t see what had become of her.
It occurred to her, however, that her direction in life was changing.
She was marrying a de Reyne, a man who said he wanted her by his side.
He needed her help. That was still an astonishing concept to her.
No one had ever needed her. No one had ever wanted her, but Thor evidently did.
And Nicola, his sister, was being quite kind to her.
Was it possible her life really was changing?
Or were these people only pretending until the marriage was completed?
Caledonia pondered those very things as Nicola smiled at her and headed over to the bed where all of the dresses she had brought with her were laid out very neatly.
Caledonia remained by the hearth as the servants finished drying her hair, but she could see the dresses on the bed.
She could see yellow and blue and orange and even a red one as Nicola pawed over them.
Nicola held up the yellow one, which was silk and quite lovely, but she evidently didn’t think that one was good enough because she picked up the blue one that was right next to her.
“Blue symbolizes purity,” she said, holding it up for Caledonia to see. “But that is usually worn by women who have never been married before, so mayhap this isn’t the right one for you.”
Caledonia was precluded by responding because Nicola was making the decision that the blue dress simply wasn’t appropriate.
It was a very pretty dress, but it was off the table as the yellow dress and the orange brocade were held up for inspection.
After a few moments of consideration, those dresses were put aside with the blue dress.
That left the red dress, but when that was picked up, Caledonia could see another dress underneath it.
That dress was silver.
“This one,” Nicola said with confidence, picking up the silver dress that, upon closer inspection, was more an icy shade of blue than actually silver. “This is exquisite and very nearly matches your hair. I think you should wear this one.”
Yet again, Caledonia had no say in the decision-making process.
Nicola seemed to know what was pretty and what was appropriate, so Caledonia let her select the wedding dress.
Truth be told, she really didn’t care. As Nicola had said, she had already been married once.
She had already been through a large wedding mass with hundreds of guests and had already been through an enormous wedding feast that her parents had paid for.
Robert had only been mildly attentive to her for the duration, spending a few moments at the start of the feast with her, but he quickly retreated to his group of friends and proceeded to get drunk.
That had led to a disappointing wedding night.