Chapter 3 #2
Iona was as shrewd as she was wise. “Och lad. Stow yer embarrassment. But ye would have been better off to have let us leave for the bothy an’ then come to woo Ada there instead of thwarting her wish to leave the Castle.
The flames from her hair sink so deep into her moods, ye’ll have a hard time bringin’ her around to yer way o’ thinkin’ now that she’s takin’ such a dislike to ye. ”
To show him she had no hard feelings, Iona leaned forward and patted the disconsolate Lachlan’s knee.
He found no comfort from this information other than acknowledging a certain happiness when the healer said she held no malice against him for wanting to keep Ada close by.
Lachlan was sitting close enough to hear the healer’s daughter mounting the stairs from the cellar. She blazed into the room with a vibrant energy radiating out from her.
“The cordial simmered away merrily and has concentrated into a thick syrup, Mither. I have put it on the bench to cool. Now, let’s go for a tramp in the forest to see if the flowers are waning.”
The two women looked at Lachlan expectantly. He was flummoxed.
“D’ye honestly want me to carry yer mither into the forest all day, lass? It will nae be comfortable for either of us!”
Ada said nothing, just stood there tapping her foot.
“Give me a moment, ladies.” Lachlan backed himself out of the cottage hastily, “I’ll be back in a flash.”
He sprinted to the stables and began looking for his horse’s harness. A groom came to help him, and after leaving the tack room, the two men had Lachlan’s gelding, Monstro, saddled as fast as humanly possible.
The groom grinned. “So the healer’s daughter has ye runnin’ round in circles to do her bidding, MacNair? Ye an’ a dozen others like ye.”
The statement only served to make Lachlan even more eager to please the young woman in such a way that she might look upon him more favorably. Riding with them into the forest might give him the chance to impress her, but what mattered the most was getting the chance to earn her forgiveness.
He only saw the problem with his plan when he galloped back to the cottage, his horse’s hooves kicking up the dust in the Castle courtyard.
“Here ye go, Mistress Iona,” Lachlan said, dismounting from Monstro and holding out the bridle for Iona to take. “I’ll give ye a hand up onto me horse, an’ I’ll walk beside ye next to Ada.”
“Hoots, lad!” Iona laughed. “I could never ride such a tall beast on me own. I would nae ken what to do with all those leather straps an’ whatnot.”
Ada stepped forward to stroke Monstro’s mane and explain further.
“Mither has only ever ridden a mule with a folded plaid for a saddle an’ twine for a bridle. Ye’ll have to ride with Mither in front of ye. But that’s alright; I ken what plants we seek.”
And so Iona sat at the front of Lachlan’s saddle, shouting down every now and again to her daughter who was walking beside them.
“I’m so high up! I would break every bone in me body if I were to fall!”
Lachlan was not entirely unhappy with the arrangement. He got the occasional glimpse of Ada’s lovely face when she tilted it upward to talk to her mother. The two women knew where they were going, and it was not a long ride before they reached the forest that provided the Castle with its firewood.
“There are some hardy conifers in this woodland,” Lachlan said in a conversational tone. “The forester has taken good care of the trees.”
He was pleased when Ada replied to this.
“Aye. Forester Aidan is our cousin. He makes sure all kindling sent to the Castle kitchens in summer is deadwood from the winter. He keeps the canopy cut back so the sun can reach our herbs.”
When they got to a forest clearing, Lachlan asked Iona’s permission to help her off the horse so she could sit on the grass while he helped Ada harvest the fungi, herbs, and roots.
The rest of the morning was almost idyllic.
Walking beside Ada as she stepped amidst the shady summer foliage was heavenly.
It gave him the chance to see her up close: the way her thick braids fell forward when she bent down; the delicate pallor of her skin.
She held a tiny, razor-sharp scythe in her hand, pointing out various plants.
“That’s rue. It will be the first to die when the frosts come.
We use it to keep the Castle cats an’ dogs free o’ pests and the floors free o’ vermin.
” She bent to sever the plant stems and then handed the bunches to Lachlan for him to carry.
He sneezed as the pungently soapy smell hit his nose.
“Over there, we have dandelions for wine an’ brews.
I will cut the big ones before they wilt after seeding.
We only take the leaves after the seeds have blown away because dandelion flowers are the first to bloom in spring, which the bees need for food after a long winter.
This mushroom is poison… This toadstool is edible but has no flavor… ”
And so it went on until Iona shouted from her perch on a fallen log, “I hear the noontime warning bell ringing! Dinner will be served anon!”
By the time Lachlan had hoisted the laden saddlebags onto his horse and helped Iona back into the saddle and climbed behind her, the second warning bell for dinner had sounded. He couldn’t urge Monstro into a trot because that would mean leaving Ada to walk behind. Iona had her own plan, though.
“Hie, young man. Ride a little to the left where yon hut lies hidden away betwixt the trees. That’s where the forester, Cousin Aidan, lives. I think I’ll take me dinner with him an’ his wife an’ find out which forest blooms have no’ yet wilted in the heat.”
Lachlan did as she said, but before Iona went inside, she whispered to him, “Ye’ll make it home in time for yer food if ye ride with Ada up in front o’ yer saddle.”