“I just fixed up the room a little.”
He was still looking around. “Where did the piano come from?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I found it in that corner.”
And from then on, the week got worse. He came in one afternoon, went into the kitchen, looked around, then came back. “I forgot to tell you. I sent David to the mainland.”
She had just sat down because she had a pounding headache. “Fine,” she said, rubbing her temples.
“There’s no dinner.”
She waited for the rest of the sentence. When it didn’t come she opened her eyes and looked at him.
“You need to make something.”
“Me? I can’t cook.”
“What are we going to eat?”
She stood up and crossed the room; she paused. “Perhaps you should have thought of that before you sent David to the mainland.” She reached over to a bowl on a small table. “Here, have an apple. It doesn’t have to be cooked.”
The next night she tried to cook something for the children. She found a cookbook with basic instructions and she worked hard. The whole time she was remembering all those times she reprimanded one of the servants, the maids, or the cook. She hadn’t known what hard work was until now.
Eachann sent word that a mare was ready to foal, so he wasn’t there, but she was sitting at the kitchen table with his children.
They’d spent five minutes arguing over which one of them got the first serving. She’d spent over an hour shelling peas and now Graham was blowing them out his nose.
“Graham, stop that right now! Hasn’t your father taught you any manners at all?”
The boy just shrugged.
Kirsty gave a slight gasp, then she looked at Georgina. “Graham farted.”
Georgina dropped her fork and looked at the child. “I’m so glad you shared that with me.”
Kirsty looked a little uneasy. “I just thought you’d want to know.”
She threw down her napkin. “Why? Why would I want to know that? The truth is you said that for the same reason you say and do everything. You want to offend me.” She stood up. “Go to your room. And Graham, if you blow one more pea out your nose you’ll go with her.”
Kirsty just sat there.
“I said, ‘Go to your room.’ “
“I don’t want to.”
“You have one minute to move or... ”
She could see Kirsty was waiting to hear the severity of her threat. It took Georgina about a minute to come up with a good one. “If you don’t go up to your room right now I’ll let Graham be first in everything for a week.”
A second later Kirsty was trudging up the stairs.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Children want limits.
Limits make them feel safe.
—Unknown
