Geordie took a seat at the table after saying good morning to Mrs. O’Neal. Iain walked in a moment later and stared at him in surprise before sitting down next to him.
“Ye are up and about early,” Iain said as Mrs. O’Neal set a platter of ham down on the table. “I have a loud bairn. What is your excuse?”
Geordie shrugged. “Despite how far and wide your bairn shares that loudness, it wasnae that loudness that roused me. Figured I might as well pack so I am ready when it is decided whether I go along with James or nay.”
“I was wondering why we havenae seen the mon yet. Thank ye, Mrs. O’Neal,” Iain said as the woman put a mound of scrambled eggs on his plate. “I pray that cough your Marie was struggling with yesterday hasnae developed into anything worse.”
“No. It never does. Beginning to think it is from all that dust or whatever it is, floating around in the air at this time of year, that is the troublemaker. You can see it on the fences or anything else left outside.”
“Ever wonder what it is?”
“Comes off the plants and trees this time of year.”
“Huh. How do ye ken that?”
“Ever look at a bee when it is in a flower?”
“Nay, seems like a good way to get your face stung.” Iain grinned when Geordie laughed.
“Well, when I was young, bees fascinated me. Didn’t see that many of them in the city. I used to watch them closely when I could. They would land in a flower, wriggle about, and get loaded up with all this yellow dust, then fly off to another flower. So, if it is there for bees to collect up, it is obviously all round us and the wind can move it. I wager there are some fellows who have studied it and can tell one why and when and all that. Probably even have a name for it.”
“Undoubtedly. And some fast-talking man sells a cure off his wagon. Do you think those who may study it can make a living from that?”
“Who cares?” asked Geordie “If anyone does something about it ye will ken all about it then, for they will have some concoction they will be wanting to sell ye. Or, while ye wait, ye can just try out some things on her, all on your own.”
Iain muttered something about Geordie being heartless, then looked at his wife and brothers as they shuffled into the kitchen and took their seats. “Ye all look like ye had to dig your way out of a cave to get down here.”
“And ye look all cheery and weel rested,” snarled Nigel, one of Geordie’s brothers. “Dinnae ye e’en stir when the bairn screams?”
“No, he does not,” said Emily and glared at her husband before turning her attention to filling her plate.
“I wake when I am needed.”
“What nonsense are you spouting? Are you trying to tell us you can tell why she is wailing?”
“Aye.” Iain ignored his wife’s scornful disbelief. “When she is crying for a cuddle or food I just go back to the sleep she rudely pulled me out of. I willnae spoil her with a cuddle in the middle of the night or whenever she demands one, and I cannae feed her, so I just go back to sleep. Seems the only reasonable thing to do.” Iain quickly took a sip of his coffee to hide his grin when his wife actually growled at him.
Geordie shook his head as he gathered up his empty plate and took it over to the sink. He had to wonder why he thought he would miss this crowd. When Emily’s nephew, Ned, came up and held up his empty plate for him to put in the sink too, Geordie ruffled the boy’s hair. Well, he mused, there were some he’d miss, he decided, and grinned down at the boy. Then he sighed and wandered back to the table to have some more coffee.
He was about to refill his mug when a knock came at the door. Iain hurried out to the front door to see who it was. The greetings were loud enough that Geordie suspected James had finally arrived. When the two friends walked into the kitchen it was clear Iain was very pleased to see the man. Geordie was surprised Matthew was not with him.
“Matthew didnae come?” he suddenly asked and almost grimaced in embarrassment.
“No,” James said as he sat down at the table. “He said he’d come round later. Seems he promised Abbie he’d watch the bairns while she went shopping.”
“How are the major and Maude doing?”
“Just fine. Seems marriage suits them both and they arenae suffering much for fighting on the wrong side. I got the feeling the whole town, where they get their supplies, had split and guess people have decided the only way they can stay in town is to just ignore the reasons for the war. The major and Maude are not in the midst of a town or village, but out in a farming community. Though I got the impression Maude is very skilled at redirecting talk so that it is as if they have landed in a place that doesn’t know the war ever happened. She is also very kind to the people in the area who lost someone.”
“One has to believe that happens more than we know,” said Mrs. O’Neal as she poured James some coffee. “Folk are always fighting somewhere, and yet things settle afterward. The ones that seem to hold hard to what caused the fight are the men who planned to fatten their wallets if they won or the ones who lost what fortune they had because they picked the wrong side.”
“Always comes down to money and power, and they are not the ones who get out and do the fighting.”
“The way of the world,” muttered Iain. “So ye are headed back to Maine.”
“I am. Stayed away for the worst of the cold season, but my mother just sent word that I am to trot my backside home because my fool dad hurt his foot and cannot work.”
“Ah, aye, a request that must get a swift response,” said Iain.
