Chapter Seven
Jo raced through Durham’s narrow, bustling streets. Her heart pounded and her breaths came in great heaves from her exertions, but thanks to Ruby, she did not need to push her way through the crowds. As always, people scurried out of the way of her wild-looking pet.
When she hastened around a corner and spied the over-sized wooden sheers denoting the Tailor’s shop, her heart leapt, but then the door swung wide. Jeremiah stepped out, his cloak covering his shoulders, and he carried a large parcel.
“Wait, Jeremiah,” she shouted as she saw him turn to face the door, key in hand. Again, she called his name, heedless of the stares of passersby. Finally, the tailor turned. She smiled and waved, receiving only a frown in return.
Breathless, she came to an abrupt halt when she reached his side. “I’m sorry,” she panted. “Late...loom broke.” She held out the folded fabric. “But I have it.”
He held her gaze for several moments before sighing. “All right, you can come in, but we must be quick. I will get an earful from the wife if I’m late for supper again.”
Jo started inside. “Bless you,” she breathed as relief poured over her.
“Hold.” Jeremiah held out his hand to stop her. “You know that beast is not welcome here.”
“Of course,” Jo said quickly. “Forgive me, I was hurrying so, that I forgot.” She walked Ruby to the nearest hitching post. “Sorry, girl,” Jo crooned as she tied off Ruby’s leash.
The impatient expression on the tailor’s face urged Jo not to linger.
“I’m coming,” she called and hastened back, following Jeremiah inside his shop.
After setting his parcel on the rough-hewn table near the cold hearth, Jeremiah lit a candle and sat down, awaiting her presentation.
“The pattern is beautiful.” His brow furrowed as he inspected her work. “Truly, you’ve outdone yourself.”
Her heart swelled at his praise, but when he stood and retrieved his yardstick, her heart started to race.
He spread her hard work out on the large cutting table.
She held her breath as he swept his hand over the soft fabric.
“It truly is stunning. Lady Ashton will be...” His voice trailed off.
Her heart sank when his smile faded. “There are snags, Jo, and I don’t have to measure to know it is shorter than we discussed. ”
“Only by a few inches,” she insisted.
He slowly shook his head. “I’m surprised. You are usually so careful, which is why I chose you for this commission.”
She swallowed, knowing he was right. “I told you, my loom broke as I was finishing.”
His lips pressed in a grim line. “This piece is for the tunic Lady Ashton will wear at her son’s wedding. My expectations were clear, Jo.”
She ran her hand across the myriad colors. “Look at the bead work, and the pattern is exceptional.”
“But it is marred, and the bead work is incomplete, and there is still the matter of the missing length.”
Her face grew warm as her temper surged. “You remarked on its beauty just now. Why should anything else matter?”
“Those missing inches will matter to Lady Ashton.”
“But how will she even know?”
“She always insists on inspecting the fabric before I begin sewing.”
Jo sank into a nearby chair and expelled a slow breath.
Sighing, the tailor sat in the chair beside hers. “I’m sorry, but you know I cannot pay you the four marks as promised.”
Refusing to give up, she scooted to the edge of her seat, looking the tailor hard in the eye. “Please, reconsider,” she said, seizing his hand. “There is enough there to make two tunics.”
Frowning, he shook his head and pulled his hand free from hers.
“If I show this to my lady, she will expect me to lower my commission considerably on her tunic. You know how eccentric the noble class is. She may see it as being flawed and no longer wish to use it all together. I’m sorry, Jo, but two marks is all I can offer. ”
“But I paid nearly a mark to buy the thread!” Her mind raced while she considered his offer.
With the profit, she would have enough to pay her rent and for her mother’s care but there wouldn’t be enough to purchase a new loom.
She could sell the piece independently for more, but the next big market was two days away.
But then what about food? What about the state of her home? MacLemore was not the most understanding of men. She knew how he would suggest she work off the damages, satisfying his salacious needs.
At that moment, she remembered the promise made by the red-haired giant before he raced from her life as quickly as he’d entered it.
He had vowed to pay for the damages. She leaned forward and dropped her head in her hands.
But what was his promise worth—the word of a stranger, one clearly embroiled in his own troubles.
She did not doubt that he had already forgotten about the girl whose life he ruined.
Not that it hadn’t been ruined already, but at least with a loom, she could keep going. She could eat and have a roof over her head. Without it, she was nothing, just another penniless, unconnected young woman facing starvation or worse...accepting her landlord’s so-called help.
“Jo,” Jeremiah said, drawing her gaze. “I need your answer.”
Shaking off her despair, she sat straight. She would find a way. Ignoring the voice in her head reminding her that she had to start again but, this time, without her mother’s guidance and strength or their costly jewels, she looked Jeremiah hard in the eye and held out her hand. “I accept.”
Night had descended, cloaking Durham in shadow. Jo gazed heavenward, her own future as cloudy and bleak as the starless sky overhead.
“How will I ever afford a new loom?” she asked Ruby who looked up at her with adoration in her yellow eyes, but whose only answer was to nuzzle her head into Jo’s waist. “Thank the good Lord for you,” Jo murmured, wrapping her arms around her beloved pet.
“Come on. Let us return home. We’ll think of something. ”
Opening the door, she stepped inside and sucked in a sharp breath as she locked eyes with her landlord. Ruby lunged, barking ferociously. Yanked forward, Jo dug her heels into the ground and strained with all her might to hold her massive protector at bay.
Seizing one of her chairs, MacLemore held it high like a sword at the ready. “Let the bitch come!”
“You shouldn’t be in here,” Jo gritted.
“You are in no position to tell me what I should not do,” he snarled, motioning to the gaping hole above their heads. “What the hell happened?”
“I hardly know myself,” Jo blurted. “Men crashed down from the heavens nearly upon my head.” She gestured angrily toward the bits of wood scattered about the floor. “Look at what they did to my loom!”
He stopped and stared at her, his wide eyes slowly narrowing into mean slits. “Men?”
She nodded. “Yes, three in all, two of them as big as mountains.”
His face nearly purple, he made a grab for her arm, but Ruby snapped at him. He jerked away, barely escaping the animal’s fierce jaws.
“Try to put your hands on me again and I will let her go!”
He backed away, shaking his head at her, his eyes flashing with fury. “So, is that what it takes to get beneath your skirts? You like big men, do you?”
Her eyes widened. Shaking her head furiously, she blurted, “I never said that. I said that men—”
“How were they here, if you didn’t welcome them inside?”
“I just told ye, they fell from the very sky.” Realizing what her landlord was implying, she gasped. “You cannot possibly think I would—How dare you suggest—”
“How did they get inside?” he boomed.
“I’ve already told you,” she snapped. “I was working at my loom. I stood and crossed the room for a drink. Before I knew what was happening, the first man fell through the roof, landing directly on my loom. Seconds later, another man fell, then another.”
“That’s absurd. You’re lying!”
“I swear I’m not.”
“They were your lovers, no doubt. Let me guess, you were entertaining one man when another walked in and then another, and in a jealous rage over you, a fight broke out, destroying my property.”
“No! You’re wrong! I’ve never taken a lover!”
His lips twisted in an ugly sneer. “All this while you have turned your nose at my advances. Now, I know why. It is not your chaste heart but me you’ve rejected.” He leaned close. “So, you think you’re better than me? You who are as common as the dirt on my boots.”
“I am no more common than you,” she snapped.
“You’re a whore,” he growled. “Yes, that’s right—a whore! Mayhap, they weren’t fighting over you at all. Mayhap, you were entertaining all three men at once, and they humped their way right through my roof!”
She put her hands on her hips. “That’s ridiculous! You’re accusing me of entertaining men on your roof.”
“I don’t know what sick appetites your lovers have.”
She gasped. “How dare you?”
“How dare I? You’ve damaged my property, and you will pay.” He held out his hand. “Give me your purse.”
“Nay,” she cried, backing away, pulling hard on Ruby who was still growling and snapping her jaws. “It is all I have, and I’ve no loom now to earn more.”
“Give it to me now or I’ll fetch the constable and have him drag you off to debtors prison.” His voice dropped deadly quiet. “Who will look after your mother and your precious dog then?”
Her nostrils flared. “Damn you.” But what choice did she have? She tossed the purse on the ground.
He seized it and gave it a shake, clinking the handful of coin. “This won’t cover it all.”
“I told you, it’s all I have.”
He glowered at her. “You’re lucky I don’t make you work for the rest.” His gaze scanned the length of her, his lip curling with disgust. “But I don’t buy cheap goods.” He pointed to the door. “Get your things and get out of my house!”
Her eyes widened with fear. “But you cannot take it all. Some of that coin is for my mother.”
He snatched an open missive off her table. “A messenger from the abbey came while I was awaiting your return.” He shoved it at her. “Your mother doesn’t need more coin. She needs a miracle, but God does not smile on whores.”
Glaring at him, her heart pounding, she seized the missive...Dearest Jo,
Your mother has taken a turn for the worse...
“Oh God,” Jo gasped. “She’s dying. Please Master MacLemore, leave me some coin to—.”
“Get out of my sight!” he bellowed.
Clutching Ruby’s leash, she turned on her heel and raced out into the night toward Durham Abbey. “Keep breathing, Mama! Keep fighting!”