Chapter 6 #3
“Thank ye, Bessie, for teaching me how to make tarts. I’d like to surprise my father by making them for him.”
“I am happy to teach ye—even Cailean too. Come back anytime, lass. I can always use a pair of willing and quick hands in the kitchen. But please sit and have tea with me before ye go. Ye must eat the tarts to determine if they are as good as they appear.” Elayne placed the cups on the table and poured the steeped tea.
Bessie dished up a few tarts for them to enjoy.
“I rarely sit and take a break, so I especially enjoy being able to sit down and take tea with ye, Elayne.” Cailean gave Bessie a startled look.
“I can tell ye work hard, lass, by looking at yer hands,” Bessie continued regardless.
“Ye have scrubbed them hard until they are red and chafed. Cailean can take ye to the healer for salve to put on yer hands at night. Please tell me about yerself and yer family, child.”
“I live with my father. The widow Mrs. Logan prepares our food each day, does our laundry, and mends for us. I help my father with his work, otherwise I could cook for us.”
“Mrs. Logan is a lovely woman. What work does yer father do, lass?”
“The blacksmith is my father, and I am his apprentice.”
Cailean’s eyes widened in surprise. That is where she disappears to each day. Bless Bessie’s nosy heart for asking. Now I ken where to find her.
“It is hard and tedious work for a powerful man, much less a bit of a thing like ye,” Bessie said.
“I admire ye for working hard and helping yer father. Now must be especially busy for ye, working at night helping the farrier shoe all the warrior’s horses.
” Cailean’s brows rose in amazement that Bessie was so well informed.
“Aye, it is tiring, dirty, and endless work. My father relies on me to create most of the short nails for the horseshoes, but I can make everything. I’d rather make swords than wagon wheels or farm tools.
I am saving my money to purchase fabric during the summer fair.
I hope someday I can go to a dance and wear a pretty dress.
Nae one would be too eager to dance with me covered in soot and smoke. ” Elayne laughed.
Bessie’s shrewd eyes took in everything, noting how Cailean looked at the lass and listened intently. Some things the lass told her had surprised him. Elayne was beautiful and sweet, genuine and without artifice, and Bessie could understand Cailean’s attraction to her.
It would be difficult for him to get his father to accept marriage to a merchant’s daughter.
The laird built alliances with other clans, and he would compel his children to do his bidding for the clan’s safety and prosperity.
But a lass like Elayne would be an excellent influence for Cailean and the clan.
However, it would take more to persuade the laird of their match.
Cailean relayed Elayne’s history of arriving at the clan over ten years ago as an orphan, then asked, “Do ye recall any information about the clan she may have come from? Elayne remembers little since she was a wee bairn. Others who arrived then have dispersed.”
“Aye, I recall the time. The clan was fighting border wars and rendered aid to the Grant clan. The warriors brought back many people from the Grant clan, and others. Unless ye find someone who ken the lass, it would be hard to ken where she is from.” To Elayne, Bessie said, “Did yer father keep anything ye had with ye from then? Did he ken anything about yer kin?”
“My father never told me anything. I ken I wore a thin dress, had nae shoes, and carried my blanket with me. I remember nothing else.”
“Mayhap Cailean can learn more when he visits other clans after his brother’s wedding.”
Cailean stood up. “Thank ye, Bessie. I learned a lot today from ye.”
“Here, lass, go with Cailean and take these to yer father. Ye made the tarts for him. Please come back anytime to visit or to learn new recipes.”
“Thank ye, Bessie. I will let ye ken how my father likes these.” Elayne curtsied to Bessie, and she and Cailean left the kitchens and returned outside to the courtyard. Cailean’s stomach clenched nervously at the prospect of engaging with Elayne’s father.
“After ye give these to yer father, I want to take ye riding with me.”
“Can we go hunting again so ye can teach me about shooting a bow so I can shoot pheasants? Mrs. Logan and I are going to use their feathers to make pillows to sell at the summer fair. I didn’t realize how many birds it takes to make one pillow.”
“Aye, I will put the bow with extra arrows on my saddle. Do ye want me to come to yer home or would ye prefer to meet me by the well?”
“If ye don’t mind, the well. That would be best.” She left him at the well, mulling ideas over in his mind. She returned minutes later. Her father was nae there. He must be at the widow’s or the farrier’s.
“I will encounter ye on the road.” She walked toward the meadow while Cailean strode to the stable and saddled his horse.
He took his bow with him, and he sheathed a sword on his back.
Cailean leaped up on his horse and rode through the courtyard and past the village.
Hastily, he stopped for Elayne, lifted her into the saddle in front of him, and rode into the forest. Excited to distinguish the animal tracks, Elayne pointed. “Look, here’s a fox’s footprint.”
They dismounted and she got her bearings, as she didn’t want them to get lost. They spied pheasants at a distance and crept closer, making it easier for Elayne to take the shot.
Cailean placed his arms around Elayne and showed her how to position her arrow and pull the bowstring.
He instructed her where to aim, then he stepped back and cocked his own bow and they both let loose their arrows at the same time.
They both shot pheasants, and Elayne tried to contain her excitement.
The other birds had flown away. They walked to where the pheasants lay in the tall grasses and Cailean retrieved them.
“Good shooting. Let’s find more.” He grinned at her.
Cailean enjoyed hunting with Elayne. She wasn’t like other lasses who incessantly needed to talk and fill any space with their blather.
Elayne contented herself with silence and communicating eloquently with her eyes and smiles.
Friends of his sisters were always talking about fashions and who’d gotten betrothed or expected babies.
Despite his dislike for the subject of fashion, Cailean wanted to give Elayne the fabric that meant so much to her.
He would ask his sisters if they had any extra for her.
After drinking from a stream, Cailean said, “For yer dress for dancing, what kind of fabric are ye looking for? On my travels, I may find something ye might like.”
“I’d like a lovely light blue fabric, the kind moves with ye when ye dance. I would also like wool material in red or green, similar to the MacPherson tartan, but ye can nae buy fabric for me.”
“I could buy it for my sisters.” He grinned at her.
“I wouldn’t accept it if ye did.”
“What would I do with it if my sisters didn’t like it?” His facial expression showed he thought he had been clever, like a cat who had a secret lick of rich cream.
They continued to hunt, and Cailean spied a deer from a distance and gave Elayne tips on hunting deer.
“They are skittish and have keen hearing,” he whispered.
“Ye must be downwind of the deer. If they smell ye, as delectable as ye smell, they will run away.” He motioned for her to be quiet and follow him as he crept closer, took careful aim with his huge biceps straining against the fabric of his shirt, and let loose the arrow with a clean and swift shot.
The deer fell to the ground, dead. They walked to the deer and Cailean whistled to his horse, who came trotting up moments later.
“The problem ye have is that ye can nae lift or carry such a heavy animal. Ye would need to carve the meat so ye could carry it home and prepare it. If meat is outside too long, it can make ye sick. In hot weather, meat spoils faster too. It would be best if ye hunted with others in a group, nae alone. Ye could divide the meat among ye, like we do in a hunting party.”
Cailean circled the deer, assessing its carcass. He knelt next to it and first lifted the head, then pulled it over his shoulders and threw it over his well-trained horse. Impressed with his strength, Elayne observed how his muscles bulged, flexed, and strained with the weight of the deer.
“It is spring, so it is best not to shoot a female deer in the spring. I hope ye don’t mind, but I think it best we walk back to the castle. I can give the deer to yer father to smoke for winter, and he can share it with the farrier. If anyone asks ye, I came upon ye walking back to the castle.”
“Won’t they wonder why ye are giving it to me?”
“I doubt they will ask me outright. When and if they ask ye, tell them I called out to ye and asked if ye’d like the deer I shot. I wanted to surprise ye with something else today. But I will have to wait for tomorrow.”
Elayne glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. “Ye already surprised me several times today. Did ye forget? Making tarts in the castle, taking me hunting and shooting pheasants, and then a deer. I ken ye are an expert hunter.”
Cailean blushed under her sincere praise.
“I enjoy hunting and putting food on the table for the clan. Few can hunt because they must work. Others may go hunting but cannot find anything to shoot. Like fishing, hunting takes much patience and practice. Ye were my good luck charm today. What time will ye finish yer work tonight?”
“I’m nae sure. Three hours after sundown, mayhap longer.”
“I’ll be waiting for ye at the well.”
“All right.”
“I want to show ye something. There will be a full moon tonight.”
He stopped his horse at the forge. He had collected a crowd with the huge stag slung over Night.