Chapter Twenty-One #2
“Your husband couldnae be a husband to ye and he kenned it. He couldnae give ye a child or e’en get his heir if he wanted to and he kenned that, too.
Aye, I am a wee bit surprised a Murray agreed to such a thing but Harcourt was young.
Still, ye got a bairn and I suspicion ye are verra glad of that and that the making of that bairn was nay a chore.
Also, it didnae hurt your husband to have ye do it so no hurt feelings. Save mayhap yours when Harcourt left.”
“Aye, I was hurt and that was stupid.” As they stepped inside the kitchens, Annys looked around again. “This place definitely needs a staff. And, I think that needs seeing to immediately.”
“Then we must go to the village as these cold meats and bread willnae do for a hearty meal. Ye will now meet some of your people, Lady Annys,” Triona said as she led them out of the keep, slipping around the great hall where they could hear the men talking.
Harcourt sniffed. “Is that a roast I smell?”
Brett did the same. “Aye. There wasnae anything but cold meat and bread in the kitchens when I looked earlier.”
Callum, Gybbon, Tamhas, Nicolas, and the MacFingals wandered in and Ned said, “Suspect the ladies from the village are cooking up some of those supplies they brought with them.”
Harcourt looked toward the kitchens but the heavy doors were shut. “I have ladies cooking in the kitchens?”
Brett poured himself another ale. “The ladies must have had a good look at how bare your larder was and went to do something about it.”
“Oh. That is one of those things I should have seen to, had ready before I brought Annys here, isnae it.” He dragged a hand through his hair, silently cursing how quickly she had seen the poor state of the keep.
“Dinnae look so morose,” said Callum. “We will eat a fine meal soon.”
“I ken it and I do look forward to that but I was concerned about what she would find here. ’Tis why I sent word for it to be cleaned.
I kenned this would nay be what she was accustomed to.
I think it may have been worse than I kenned.
” He sat up straight as he suddenly recalled what the garden looked like, something he had glanced at once, decided it was too much trouble, and walked away from. “There isnae even a garden.”
“Oh, there is one,” said Annys as she and the other two women walked into the great hall. “’Tis just buried beneath weeds and there is e’en a little bonnie garden spot but it will need work as weel.”
Joan looked toward the kitchen and straightened her shoulders. “I will go see that I am kenned by the lassies in there and be certain all we asked for arrived and is as good as promised.”
“That woman is going to be a pure gift,” said Callum.
“Aye,” agreed Harcourt and started in surprise when Joan’s two boys came scurrying out with cheese and bread plus the plates for it. “Thank ye, lads,” he said.
“I will get ye more ale, aye?” asked the taller one.
“Aye and cider, if ye will.”
“My mother will ken what is needed,” said the small one and then they both trotted back to the kitchens.
Before long, food was brought out, and the other men from the garrison began to slip in and fill the other tables.
Harcourt watched in astonishment as his hall became something close to what the great hall at Glencullaich had been.
Good food, servants keeping the platters and jugs filled, and the men all talking, made content by that food.
Even a few of the young maids had cautiously come out of the kitchens to help serve the food.
“They havenae done that since I have been here,” he said. “Some men did it for a wee while and then the women from the village would come with food, bake a few things, and leave before the sun set.”
Annys nodded as she helped herself to a warm chunk of bread and slathered it with honey.
“Joan did a lot of talking when we were in the village, which is a verra pleasant place, although it could use some trees and flowers. She told everyone who would pause long enough to listen that there is now a lady in the keep and that she has come to put the house in order.” She shrugged. “It seemed to help.”
“Just make certain the garrison understands that the lassies are here to work and all flirting has to be consensual,” said Triona from her seat next to Brett, “and the fear that Sir John and his men put in them will fade away.”
Harcourt nodded and turned his attention to his meal.
He kept glancing at Annys as she spoke with Triona about work that needed doing.
He saw no disgust or disappointment, not a hint of anger, but he grew more and more uneasy.
She was well trained in hiding such things before company so he could not put his faith in her apparent calm.
By the time the meal was done, he was ready to talk to her about the state of the home he had brought her to.
He had even composed his apology for the sad state of it.
Unfortunately, Triona and Brett took their leave and Annys was caught up in that.
Then Joan called for her and she ran off to see what the woman needed.
He sat down on the steps to the keep and watched the dust fade from his brother’s leave-taking.
A moment later Gybbon sat down next to him.
“That was the best meal I have ever eaten here,” Gybbon said, rubbing his belly in appreciation.
“I ken it. The great hall actually looked like one should for a wee while.”
“And every man in the garrison is madly in love with your wee wife as weel as Joan.” Gybbon watched Harcourt for a moment. “Strangely, this does nay seem to please you.”
“I have brought her to a keep that will bring her naught but hard work.”
“Ah.”
Harcourt looked at his brother. “Ah? That is all ye have to say? Ah?”
“Weel, wasnae sure I ought to call my older brother an idiot.”
“Ye were at Glencullaich. Ye saw what a fine place that is.” Harcourt waved his hands around to indicate the stark keep and bailey of Gormfeurach. “Look at this.”
“A good sturdy place. A lot cleaner than it was with all the cracks and crumbling parts cleared up and strong again. What has nay been done is what women do. Aye, if we had thought about it we could have done it, but, right or wrong, we dinnae think about it. Have ne’er been trained to, have we?
We saw clean and safe. ’Tis the women who make it comfortable, mayhap even pretty or whate’er ye wish to call it.
Ye have brought her to a good home. It just needs a touch of softness.
And, if that meal tonight is any indication, it also needed a woman here to get the maids back. ”
Harcourt nodded, agreeing with everything his brother said but not feeling all that much better about what he had brought Annys to.
He was not such an idiot as to think she would fall out of love with him just because his home for her did not match what she had left.
What he was terrified to see, however, was her disappointment.
Stiffening his backbone, he stood up and went looking for her.
Annys was just about to explain to a young kitchen maid how she needed to keep a close watch on the supplies when Harcourt strode into the kitchen.
He hesitated when all the women gathered there gaped at him but then took her by the arm and gently led her out of the kitchens.
Harcourt said nothing until he had led her all the way up onto the walls surrounding the keep.
She looked out at the land surrounding the keep and smiled.
The land was not as good as the land at Glencullaich but it had its charm.
There were enough fields and grazing lands to supply them all and that was all that mattered.
And there was water, she thought, looking at the winding burn that wriggled over the land and curved around one side of the keep.
“I am sorry this keep is in such poor repair,” Harcourt said. “I should have warned you.”
She frowned and looked around. “It isnae in poor repair. ’Tis just, weel, bare. Stark.”
He frowned at her. “But that is what is nay right here, what I should have warned ye about.”
Annys shrugged and rested her forearms on the wall. “I couldnae see what was needed until I got here, could I. Ye have linens enough for the beds. The kitchen has all the tools it needs.” She grinned. “And now it has cooks.”
“And that is just because ye are here.”