She sat.
“David!” he called out. A door behind him opened and a man came inside carrying a heavy tin pail. He was tall, like Eachann and his brother, but rail thin and bony as a herring. He had bright red-orange hair that came to his shoulders; it was the same color as a new penny.
As he moved closer to Eachann, she could see that his face was a wash of freckles. He had a long and pointed chin with a knob on the end that was about the size of an egg, and when he looked at her and grinned, all she saw was teeth.
He set the pail down with a thump. “These rocks came from the spring. They’re colder than the other ones.”
Eachann opened the wet towel and dumped some smooth stones on the table. He bent over the pail, pulled out more rocks, and wrapped them in the towel. He glanced up at David who was staring at her. “Thanks. This is George.”
“Georgina Bayard,” she corrected in the lightest tone she could come up with, considering she felt an intense desire to add to Eachann’s bruises.
David looked at her. “Like the clocks.”
She nodded.
“Clocks?” Eachann set the towel back on his swollen eye and then looked from David to her.
“Aye,” David said.
She looked at the oaf. “You’d have to be able to read to understand.”
David laughed and gave Georgina a quick wink before he turned around and went over to a range that was set into the far wall.
“Well, I guess you told me.” Eachann stared at her from his good eye.
He stared at her on purpose, just to annoy her, so she made a point of ignoring him.
David set a bowl of steaming rolls on the table, a crock of butter, then added a plate of eggs, bacon and sausage and a slab of ham, potatoes, apple sauce, fresh blueberries, and a large pitcher of milk.
She realized she was still clutching the plate to her chest. She set it down.
It clanked loudly.
She did her best to continue to ignore Eachann while she ate. She was on her second helping of ham when he reached out and stabbed a sausage.
“Too bad you lost your appetite.”
She just gave him a cool stare and cut the ham with a vicious stroke of her knife. She jabbed it into the meat, then looked up and gave him a sweet smile.
He bit off a chunk of sausage and chewed while he grinned at her.
The silence was awkward. The only sounds in the room were made by David, who stood at a worktable, a flour-dusted apron tied around his waist while he punched a huge glob of white dough. The man just didn’t look like a cook.
But the food was wonderful.
“So, David.” Eachann broke the silence. “What do you think of George?”
David looked up and grinned. “She’s a bonny one.”
“You think so?” He made a big deal about eyeing her as if he were trying to see her in a new light. He stabbed another sausage and ate it. “She’s a desperate woman, though.”
“Desperate to get away from you,” she muttered.
“Desperate to get married.”
She looked right through him and took a bite of eggs, pretending she wasn’t listening to him talk about her as if she weren’t there.
“She wants to marry John Cadaver.”
