Chapter 10
Erik’s men disappeared back into the forest, but her husband and Tormod got waylaid by Cook, and stood speaking with him for a few minutes before they, too, headed into the forest. She turned her thoughts to what they would discuss this evening.
His question about where they would lodge had given her a bad moment.
She’d avoided telling him she now owned the house there.
She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to keep that to herself.
Was she afraid the marriage would not work and at some point, she would want to return to Inverness?
Possibly. It was a better alternative than returning to Rose, where its laird would find her another husband.
She’d rather stay out of sight and out of his plans for further alliances.
The one she was currently involved in was enough.
She knew she was lucky to be wed to Erik. He treated her well. She hadn’t seen any sign of the fierce reputation Clan Ross was known for, and frankly, that lack kept her on edge. When would it appear? And how would she deal with it when it did?
There were too many variables to be able to anticipate what she would face.
But it gave her some comfort to think she might have a place to retreat to if she needed it.
A trip to Inverness was important to her for that reason.
And if the house still stood and had not been taken over by strangers, who would she want to take care of it for her?
She needed a lodger, someone to ensure the house remained hers. Hamish?
She should have dealt with some of these questions while still at Rose. Or made the trip back to Inverness as soon as they learned the bridge fire had not spread to the town. She wouldn’t miss another opportunity.
But keeping a secret like this from her husband?
That alone would bring the trouble she feared.
Did her marriage mean that he now owned the house, not her?
That thought stopped her in her tracks. When he found out, if he found out from someone other than her, she might see his fierce side aimed at her.
She needed to ask Mary to find out more about the bequest.
So much to do, to think about, to guard against. She barely knew where to start. But she’d told Erik she would speak to some of the women about their gardens, so that is what she would do.
She put that aside when Cara walked up and introduced herself.
“Cook said ye wished to speak to me.”
The healer lass was not as young as Fiona had imagined.
Close to her own age, she thought. “How did ye come to be the Ross healer?” That was the first question Fiona asked her, mostly to get her talking.
She didn’t want to begin their relationship asking why she couldn’t do all a healer normally did.
“I took on the role simply because no one else would, and I had some ability for it. Ross used to have a healer, an older woman who’d married into Ross, but she left once Donas and Silas were both gone.
She’d been close to Silas and didn’t care for the change in leadership, so she returned to the clan she was born into. ”
“And she didna train ye.”
“She didna train anyone. She guarded her secrets closely. I think she felt they were all that gave her status in the clan after her husband became ill and died a few years ago.”
“Would ye like to train with a healer? Is this what ye want yer future to be in Ross?”
“I think so. I’m good at what little I can do. I dinna ken the herb lore, making potions and such, save for a few simple things any lass learns from her mother. My stitching is neat and precise. And there are a lass and a young lad who sometimes help me treat most of the injured in the clan.”
“Then we’ll designate ye all as clan healers. I will teach ye what I ken of herb lore and such, which isna much, I fear, but it may be new to ye. But we need more—a real healer to train ye.”
“I am glad yer marriage allied us with the clans that were problems under Donas, like Munro. I dinna ken what I wouldha done for battle-wounded men. We’ve nay had terrible injuries since the healer left. I am no’ prepared to deal with them.”
That gave Fiona cold chills. The men were cutting down trees.
Anything could happen, from cuts to being crushed under a falling tree.
She fought down a shudder and listened as Cara talked about Ross and its former enemies.
Her mention of Munro reminded Fiona that a Munro lass remained in Ross, so she asked about her.
“Aye, Tira. Married to Teague. She wasna happy about it at first, and less so when her two friends who came with her ended up leaving. But she seems to have accepted her husband and her place here.”
“What does she do?”
“Mostly, take care of Teague. She was close to Silas, and he to Donas, but they dinna seem to mind that Erik is now laird. She used to do Silas’ bidding, whatever that was on any given day. Now, I dinna ken.”
“Can she cook? Could she—”
Cara laughed and shook her head. “Nay, that I ken for certain. She and Cook dinna get along at all. I wouldna want the two of them together with blades in hand. One or both wouldna make it out of the cot alive.”
Fiona chuckled. “I willna suggest she spend time doing that. Tell me, do the men do most of the fishing?”
“In the boats out on the firth, aye. With lines near to shore, both lads and lasses, even young ones, do that. And gather shellfish, too.”
“How often do they do that?”
“Silas had them harvesting every two or three days. No’ every day. Some days there’s venison or a stew, other days fish or a fish stew, other days shellfish and such, or pork of some kind. Wild pig or boar. Coney. The forest and the sea provide for us.”
“I can see I need to spend more time with Cook. There are many more questions I must ask him. Such as, who makes butter and cheese? I havena seen any cows.”
“Most roam the hills, but a few are kept closer for their milk. And Erik made the men build pens for the chickens and ducks we keep for eggs and meat. They used to have the run of the village, and into the cots. They made quite a mess. ’Tis better they’re kept away.”
Fiona frowned to herself. What else had she failed to notice about the village?
True, she’d been here only four days, but some things were so basic, she’d taken them for granted.
If she wanted to be taken seriously in her duty as lady of the clan, she must not keep making that mistake.
And she needed to have another conversation with Cook right away about the animal husbandry of the clan.
Who gathered eggs? Cows had to be milked every day.
Who made butter and cheese? The clan had bread and ale and cider.
Where were the fields of oats and barley?
The apple trees? These were all things the clan’s lady should know.
Because of the MacBean betrothal, Mary had shared much with her before she left for Inverness.
There, she’d been grateful for the training she’d received.
It helped her to run Arabella’s household.
Though her charge’s home was much smaller than a clan’s keep, many of the same tasks and concerns applied, just as they would here.
“Ye have given me much to think about. I thank ye for that. Do ye think there is any chance that I could entice the former Ross healer to return?”
“I dinna think so. She left on bad terms with most of the elders.”
“Then I will find out if one of our allied clans can spare a healer to come here and train ye and any others who would like to learn.”
“That would be wonderful,” Cara said. “Thank ye. The sooner the better, of course, and training several of us would mean we could care for more and share experiences as time goes on.”
“Exactly.”
Erik walked with Tormod toward the area where the men were already back at work.
They’d been delayed by Cook as they left the midday meal, checking with them about plans for bringing the cattle down out of the hills behind them for the winter.
Erik hadn’t yet considered it time to move them out of the coming cold at higher elevations, and the reminder irritated him.
It was one more thing that must be done, but that would slow work on the defensive wall he wanted built.
“I ken ye had hopes,” Tormod told him as they passed under towering pines and by leafy trees, some showing color and some already bare of branch, “that when ye returned from Rose with yer new bride, the people of Ross would be pleased.”
“With Fiona? Aye, of course.”
“And with ye, so that they would take on the tasks ye set for them. They would believe in what ye and Fiona would do to make their lives better.”
“Aye, of course. I had, but nay longer. The glacial pace of work on the wall sets my teeth on edge.” Erik fought constant battles with himself to keep from berating the men, threatening dire consequences if they did not do as he directed as fast or faster than he wanted it.
“We dinna have enough manpower for all the things Ross needs. The curtain wall, the hall, larger, warmer homes for its people, stables, pens for animals—the list is endless.”
And every day, Fiona added to it.
On top of that, she wanted to steal some of his men whose wives had revealed other skills their men had—a brewer, a metal worker, a mason, and more.
To do jobs for which they lacked the tools.
They had no smithy. That would be hardest to come by.
A mason would be useful, but this man had no experience on large projects such as a curtain wall.
He’d built kitchen hearths and shored up collapsing walls of poorly-built cottages.
“Mayhap we should have been stealing craftsmen, no’ brides, these past few years,” Tormod remarked.