“So, you’ll support me in this? Even if it’s a showdown?”
“Of course, I will. I trust you implicitly, and even if you haven’t solved all the problems here, the keep runs better than it ever has in my memory.”
“Even if I tell rather than ask?”
“Why should you continue to ask? You’ve tried to blend in and not upset the apple cart, but they’ve chosen to be difficult. Bring them to heel and to understand you won’t be chased away.”
Maude saw no patronizing look in Kieran’s eyes, nor did she sense he was placating her. The opposite seemed true: he was cheering her on to take a stand. She gave him a loud, smacking kiss before he rolled them so she straddled his hips. The sun hadn’t risen when they left their bed, but a few of the women were already in the kitchens when Maude arrived.
* * *
Maude took a deep breath and squared her shoulders before turning to face Fiona. Their battle was about to commence, and she had a room full of witnesses.
“The morning meal has ended, so I want at least ten buckets of water boiled before you douse the fires. You’ll need to shovel the embers out before you scrub the grates and hearth along with the chimney.” Maude announced as her gaze swept across the women gathered before her. She’d alerted Agatha to her plans, since some work she expected done would encroach upon the other woman’s domain. The older woman had been all too happy to support Maude and thanked her for showing some gumption at last. She was also done with her prim court accent.
“Nay,” Fiona refused. “There’s nay time for that. I have a pottage to prepare.”
“I dinna believe I asked a question, so ‘nay’ is nae an acceptable response. Ye will do as I say. I am fed up to my eyeteeth with the abysmal food ye serve. I’ve tasted better when eating two-day-old stew in a dirty tavern. I’ve ignored the issue for long enough. I’ve made diplomatic suggestions aboot seasoning and cooking that ye ignored, but I refuse to continue to ask for any of ye to do what I have always expected. If ye want a hot meal served tonight, ye’d do well to move sharpish. And if I taste pottage again this moon, I will replace ye, Fiona. If we relight the stoves in time, we will have the cured beef that’s aboot to turn putrid if we dinna use it within the next few days. We’ll add it to lamb and bone marrow with fresh vegetables from the garden that needs weeding. There’s barley that needs using before we find weevils. It will be hotchpotch for the evening meal. I’ll send some lads out to fish for haddock this morning, and we can smoke their catches all day. Even if hotchpotch isnae possible because the women dinna work fast enough, we can at least serve Arboath smokies as something hot.”
“Nay,” Fiona declared as she banged a wooden bowl onto the workstation where she was preparing to chop turnips. “Ye dinna run this kitchen. I do. I will take this up with the laird. He willna stand for this. Ye’ll see.”
“And this is where ye are wrong. Where ye are all wrong. I run this keep. I am chatelaine, and I make the decisions, including setting the menu. We’ve met every sennight, and yet ye insist upon preparing dishes that we didna agree upon. I warn ye now, Fiona. Challenge me again, and ye’ll be out on yer arse. There isnae a servant in this keep who I canna replace. Ye’d all do well to remember that. I’ve tried to blend in, and ye’ve been a disrespectful and ungrateful lot. I dinna give a bluidy damn if ye like me. Nae anymore. Ye’ll follow ma instructions without complaint or defiance. Ye’ve erred in assuming I’m a pushover. What ye see now is what ye’ve reaped from the rotten seeds ye sowed when I arrived.” Maude looked around the kitchen at the varying looks of shock and anger. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “Get to work or leave. But if ye go, dinna come back. Dinna come back to work. Dinna come back to eat. Dinna come back to wag yer chins. And if ye wish to tittle-tattle to the laird, he’s in the lists. But ye should be aware that I discussed this with him and have his full support. I believe he asked why I hadnae taken the lot of ye in hand sooner. Now work!”
Maude glided to the stack of buckets beside the door and began handing them out before leading the women to the well. She carried two buckets back and set them to boil. Once they bubbled with steam rising, she poured them onto one of the fires. When the fires were extinguished, she chose four women to sweep out the grates while she tied a cheesecloth over her hair.
“While we clean these fireplaces, some of you can heat more buckets of water in the Great Hall. I expect the older women to sweep away the rushes and the younger ones to scrub the floor. When that is complete, a team of you will go to the gardens and begin weeding. It’s impossible to tell the weeds from the vegetables. I’ll be along to pick herbs that we’ll dry. There will be flavor to our food from now on. If you don’t care for it, you can have bannocks for all three meals or cook in your own homes.”
Maude turned back to the hearth she stood beside and sank to her knees. She dipped a scrub brush into the mixture of lye and water before proceeding to scrub the stones surrounding the fireplaces. It took a moment before the women organized themselves, and two slender women climbed into the chimneys and began knocking the soot loose with flue brushes. When they finished, Maude dismissed them to wash and change their clothing. She scooted over and began scrubbing the walls behind where the flames usually roared. She called over a woman who’d been willing to help her in the past and asked her to join her in scrubbing. Fiona stood, watching as Maude turned her kitchen upside-down as women scurried about to follow Maude’s orders. The older woman seethed, but she realized there was little she could do. Even if Maude hadn’t spoken to Kieran about her plans, Fiona understood he’d support Maude before taking anyone else’s side.
The work went faster than Maude expected, and it pleased her that by the time they served the noon meal, the kitchen’s fireplaces sparkled. She beamed at Kieran and nodded as he met her at the doors of the kitchen. He peeked inside and whistled as he saw that not only had they cleaned the fireplaces, but they’d cleaned every surface and door in the kitchens. He caught sight of Fiona scowling at Maude’s back, and he feared what the woman might do to retaliate. He bid Maude wait for him before he stepped into the kitchen. Several of the women were still preparing platters when he entered. He stepped in front of Fiona and crossed his arms.
“I can imagine what’s caused your snit, Fiona, but you can cease immediately. Lady MacLeod will run this keep as she sees fit, and I support her choices and edicts. I hadn’t realized the state of disrepair this kitchen existed in until now, when I can see how it should be. I’m certain my wife has warned you that you’re to fall in line, or she’ll replace you. If she hasn’t, then let me make that clear to you.” He swept his gaze over the women. “To all of you. My feelings from last night haven’t wavered. I’m ashamed of this clan, and I expect changes to be made immediately, and that includes obeying and fulfilling Lady MacLeod’s instructions. My mother has spoiled not only my sisters, but those employed in this keep. Fiona, you’ve been given far too much freedom, and we have suffered for it. You’ll cook as my wife wishes, or it’ll be my wrath you face.”
Kieran didn’t wait for any responses before turning on his heel and pushing through the doorway. Maude remained where she’d been when he left her. She gave him a rueful smile and shook her head.
“Thank you for your support, but the women must recognize that it’s my wrath they should worry aboot. I must be the final authority on what happens within these walls, or they’ll also think they can run and complain to you.”
“I didn’t mean to undermine your authority.”
“I know you didn’t, and that’s why I’m not upset. But I’d have it be clear between us.”
“I defer to you, buttercup. This is your domain, and I won’t intervene unless you ask.” Kieran wrapped his arms around her and burrowed his nose into the lemon verbena scent of her hair after he pulled the cheesecloth from it. “I threatened to find you a kertch before we married. Do you find this to be an improvement?”
“No,” Maude chuckled. “But it was what was available when I decided I must continue to lead by example. If I am going to make demands no one’s prepared for, then I must share in the work. They’re already going to call me a bitch for ordering them aboot. I don’t need to add prim and lazy to the list of my faults.”
“You are hardly any of those things, mo chridhe.”
“You may believe that, but I doubt many others would agree.”
They took their seats at the dais, and Kieran filled Maude in on his morning and the tasks he had to accomplish that afternoon. It disappointed him that she wouldn’t be able to accompany him when he rode out to inspect the fields. Halfway through the meal, he changed his mind and decided the visit to the fields could wait until the next day. He finished the last bite of his meal when a loud slamming of a door abovestairs rang through the hall. Kieran stifled a groan as he waited to see if it was Adeline or Abigail coming to complain. After what Maude shared of her plans, he assumed whichever woman it was had discovered the change in candles. According to Agatha, his mother and sister hid in the ladies’ solar all morning. Abigail stormed down the stairs and onto the dais, shaking tallow candles as she marched. She tossed them in front of Maude before putting her hands on her hips.
“What’s the meaning of these foul things? Where are my candles?” she demanded. When Kieran made a move to admonish Abigail for her tone, Maude laid a hand on his arm.
“I had the finer candles removed and stored for Beltane. You’ll make do with the same candles as everyone else, including your brother,the laird. If you don’t care for the scent, I suggest you gather some flowers for your chamber.” When Abigail’s mouth pursed and a conniving glint entered her eyes, Maude laughed. “You won’t be able to get to them. They’re locked away, and only two people have the key. I won’t give them to you, and neither will Agatha. By the by, I also collected the spare keys your mother had hidden. You will learn to live with this, or you may ask to live elsewhere. I’m certain you’ll find Queen Elizabeth as accommodating as I am, or better yet, a withered and fat widower looking for sons might be tolerant of your tantrums. But I am not.”
Abigail huffed before bursting into tears. “You’re hideous. An ogre who’s cruel to me and doesn’t care aboot anyone but herself. You’re selfish believing you know more aboot this clan than my mother, who’s been a true lady since before you were hatched, you old crow.”
Before Maude could respond, Kieran was out of his seat and storming around the table. He hoisted his sister over his shoulder and carried her abovestairs where he dumped her inside her chamber.
