Chapter Thirty
Emma awoke with a headache. She’d spent hours trying to fall asleep, but was not successful. For the first time in her marriage, she hadn’t wanted Morgan’s attentions, to the point that she’d pretended she was asleep when he’d arrived after the supper hour.
He’d attempted to awaken her, but after a few shakes and calling her name softly, he’d rolled over and fell asleep almost immediately.
Damn the man.
Extremely tired, she made her way to the great hall to break her fast. A group of serving maids were standing together, laughing, and talking, and doing everything except clearing off the tables and bringing out fresh food.
She walked over to them and attempted to smile. “Good morn, lasses. Will ye please start clearing off the tables and bring me a mug of ale and some bannocks?”
No one moved.
Emma gritted her teeth and offered a smile that would most likely frighten small children. “Whether ye like me or no’, I am still Lady Gunn and have the authority to supervise all the members of the clan. Including ye.”
The lasses looked at each other and began to slowly move toward the tables, picking up a mug or platter here and there.
“I would like some ale and bannocks, please.”
One of the maids huffed and stomped to the kitchen. Emma didn’t know if she intended to bring her what she’d requested or not.
She took a seat and tapped her fingers on the table. No one came. Should she go to the kitchen and make a scene? Just as she was trying to decide, a young mother hurried into the great hall, holding a screaming lad.
“The healer is missing from the hut. Someone in the kitchen said there is a healer here?”
Emma jumped up. “Aye, I am a healer.”
The woman stopped and studied her. “Aren’t ye the spy?”
She took a deep breath. “Nay. I am Lady Gunn, yer laird’s wife.”
The woman’s brows climbed to her hairline. “A Mackenzie, aye?”
“Aye. I was born a Mackenzie, but I am now a Gunn.” It was difficult to say that, but the poor bairn was still wailing.
The woman drew her lad close to her body as if Emma was about to snatch the bairn from her. “Ne’er mind. I’ll go back to the hut and wait for Margaret to return.”
“Please, mistress, doona let yer lad suffer. Let me take a look at him. I treated the laird for bruised ribs and a serious wound on his leg when I was his healer.”
“Aye, and in order for him to be released from the Mackenzie dungeon, he had to marry ye.” The woman shook her head and turned, leaving the great hall through the kitchen.
Emma slumped and realized she would never be accepted here. The woman would rather see her lad suffer than allow Emma to touch him. There was no other course of action for her but to leave and return to her clan.
She left the great hall, went to the bedchamber she shared with her husband, and packed a few things in one of the sacks they’d brought with them from Castle Leod.
Then she cajoled one of the grooms into letting her take a horse, telling him she was doing an errand for the laird; then rode off without looking back. She headed for the village, where she would send a message to Laird Daniel Mackenzie to bring her home.
*
Morgan used his forearm to wipe the sweat off his forehead, content with how well he’d done on the lists.
He worked with the younger lads telling them they would learn best by practicing with the laird.
What he didn’t tell them—or anyone else—was that he wasn’t up to practicing with the more seasoned warriors yet.
Patrick remained a problem, but his following seemed slight. The men respected him as the Second-in-Command, but the camaraderie Morgan himself had shared with the men as Second-in-Command to his uncle was not there.
In fact, he planned to replace Patrick in that position soon. There was something that was itching at the back of his neck with regard to that man.
However, he knew his uneasiness had more to do with Emma than anything else he was facing right now. He knew she was unhappy, but she had to make her place in the clan.
A few of the men mentioned that their women had been told things about his wife that were not only untrue, but were most likely keeping her from being accepted.
It amazed him how men could shrug off any sort of rumors or tales while women seemed to thrive on them.
It was another reason Emma had to take over.
He had no intention of supervising servants.
Emma was a kind, caring, helpful woman. She certainly had put up with a lot with him when he arrived in her healing hut yelling and screaming. If she would get involved with healing again, it would probably help her to be accepted.
He trudged up the stairs to their bed chamber, his ribs causing him more pain. Most likely he’d overdone it, trying to impress the lads.
Emma had not been in the great hall, so he assumed she was in the kitchen seeing that the evening meal was coming along.
He eyed the bed, fighting the need to lay his battered body down, but instead, shrugged off his clothes and boots and walked to the bowl of cold water on the table in the corner.
Apparently, Emma was unable to get the maids to do what was necessary in their bedchamber. He felt his anger grow. No matter what they thought of her, he was their laird, and this was his bedchamber. As much as he hated to do it, it might be time for him to step in.
Once he was cleaned and dressed in fresh clothes, he left the bed chamber and headed to the kitchen.
There was a table of lasses doing various jobs, and the cook, Mary, who he didn’t know so well since he’d never spent time in the kitchen stirred something in a large kettle.
It smelled delicious and had his stomach rumbling.
“Mary, do ye ken where Lady Gunn is?”
The woman stopped her work to look over at him, and smiled. “Good evening to ye, Laird.”
He nodded and repeated his question.
“I doona ken, Laird. I haven’t seen her all day.”
“Has she no’ been here to go over the menu with ye?”
The woman shook her head. “Nay, Laird. Maisie handles all of that. As ye ken she did it for yer uncle.”
And also shared his bed, he knew. “’Tis time for my wife to take over those duties.”
The cook shrugged her shoulders and stood there watching him.
He turned and left the kitchen, twice as mad as he’d been when he left the bedchamber.
Thinking of that, he turned back again and returned to the kitchen.
He pointed at one of the maids and said, “Go to my bedchamber and clean it, bring clean warm water, dump the chamber pot, and fix the bed hangings.”
She blushed a bright red and glanced at Mary. The cook nodded to her. “Go, Eileen, do as the laird asks.”
He then turned his attention to Mary. “And ye answer to Lady Gunn from now on.”
Now to find Maisie and get to the bottom of this.
After asking numerous people, Maisie was not to be found. If she still thinks of herself as in charge, why was she missing right as the evening meal was about to be served?
He’d searched for Emma at the same time. No one had seen her all day, and she was nowhere he looked.
In his search, he cleared up a few things that had been making his wife miserable. No one would treat his wife any way except with respect or they would be tossed from the castle.
Forgetting about his meal, he downed a mug of ale and reviewed all the places he’d looked for his wife. After a while, he realized the only place he hadn’t checked—besides the lists—was the stables.
So he made his way there and approached one of the stable hands. The man said, “Aye, Laird, yer wife said she was doing an errand for ye, so I gave her an easy ride since I wasn’t sure of her ability.”
Morgan placed his hands on his hips, his fatigue completely gone with this news. “When was this?”
The stable lad chewed on a piece of straw. “’Twas right around time to break yer fast.”
“And it ne’er occurred to ye to find me and tell me she’s been gone since morn?”
“What is the problem, Laird?” Duncan walked from the back of the stable, wiping his hands on an already dirty piece of linen.
“My wife. The lad tells me she left this morn and hasn’t returned. Said she was doing an errand for me. Which is no’ true.”
He walked past the lad and Duncan, to lead Demon from his stall. His thoughts were in a whirl as he saddled the horse himself. Where could she be? He mounted up and raced from the stables to the village.