Janie made a grim face. “That was when Yarmille was here all the time, as she is whenever Garrick is away. She owns no slaves herself, and so takes delight in her authority over us. She is also a woman who cannot abide idle hands. She would have us clean a room that is already spotless, just to keep us busy at all times. ’Tis fortunate she only comes once or twice a week when Garrick is home.”
“Does Garrick know what a hard taskmaster she is?” Brenna asked.
“Nay, but ’twould bode ill to tell him. In a sense, Yarmille is family. Her bastard son is Garrick’s half-brother.”
“I see.”
“She is also the only one around who has no family or farm to tend, so Master Garrick needs her. Others have a wife to leave in charge of their household when they are away—Garrick has Yarmille.”
“So he would think twice before he would reprimand her for her severity.”
“Yea, I would imagine so.”
“But that is terrible!” Brenna said in outrage. “He really should be advised of the situation.”
“’Tis not so bad, Brenna. He is home more than he is away. Except for last winter, of course. That should not happen again, however. Besides, he does not demand much of us when he is here, only that he be served according to his needs, and that when he has guests, they be treated with respect.”
“And their every wish granted,” Brenna added in obvious disgust.
Janie smiled. “Ah, these Vikings do like their pleasure.”
“Lusty bastards is what they are!” Brenna spat, her gray eyes sparkling with contempt. “A servant I will be, but not in that respect. He can starve me if he will, but I willnotbe his whore!”
“Is that what he did?”
“Nay, but he threatened to,” Brenna admitted. “He plays the game most foully.”
“Mayhaps you need not worry,” Janie offered. “When guests come, you can hide as you did before. They come to our quarters looking for us, but you could stay in the sewing room again.”
“I will not be going back to the quarters,” Brenna replied. She still did not understand why. “Garrick has bid me stay in Yarmille’s room.”
Janie grinned. “Mayhaps you really have no cause to worry. It seems Garrick would keep you for himself.”
“Nay, if that were so, I would have had a hard time this last week in his chamber, but I did not. He has no interest in me that way.”
“He has not taken you yet?” Janie asked in surprise.
Brenna’s face reddened considerably. “Yea, but only twice,” she snapped in embarrassment. “And he will surely regret it if he tries again!”
“No doubt ’twill be awhile before he does,” Janie remarked. “The man tries hard to do without women, he distrusts them so. And if you recall the reason for it, mayhaps that is why he has been in such a dark mood of late. Morna has returned.”
“Returned?”
“Yea, a few days past. Perrin told me of it. It seems her rich husband perished of consumption. She has returned to her family a wealthy widow. It can mean only trouble.”
“Why so?”
Janie frowned. “Perrin thinks she has it in mind to turn her attentions to Garrick again.”
Brenna’s back stiffened. “And he would take her back?”
“She was his first love and not easily forgotten. Yet in truth she hurt him badly,” Janie said, then shrugged. “’Tis my opinion he would be a fool to want her again after what she did to him. But who can say what is in a man’s heart?”
“Only the man, and most times he will not,” Brenna murmured with a slightly bitter edge to her tone. She would give anything to know Garrick’s thoughts.
Janie and Brenna spent the rest of the morning and afternoon doing the wash. Brenna did the scrubbing while Janie kept water boiling from the huge vat of rain water beside the house, and then hung the clothing to dry. Brenna rubbed Garrick’s clothes over the scrubbing board with a vengeance, tearing seams that she only had to repair afterward. As there were not many hours of actual daylight, the clothes did not dry with the help of the sun, but had to be thoroughly wrung out and hung in the cold wind. It was near eventide when the clothes were brought in, and it was then that Brenna saw the northern lights for the first time. She was frightened at first by the strange formless glow until Janie explained that the greenish yellow light appeared frequently in the sky. She also warned Brenna that the light took different shades, and was sometimes white. The more beautiful lights were blue, red or even violet. Brenna was enthralled, and looked forward to seeing more. This land of many mysteries, so different from her own, was another world entirely.
It was late when Garrick finally came in for his meal. Brenna’s eyes were drawn quickly to his blood-stained trousers, the crimson red standing out on the tanned deerskin, and then she peered questioningly into his face.
