And they had gone back to studying together.
Now, Blair’s heart went out watching her two siblings struggling to understand their lessons.
“I’ll carry on with the chores outside, Mither, and tell Ruth to start cleaning upstairs.”
Her mother nodded abstractly, too busy following Adie’s reading out loud to really pay attention. Blair was used to running the household every day anyway and had a good understanding with the scullery maid, Ruth. They divided the chores between them when Mistress Carmichael was too busy doing other things.
Her mother had said it was time Blair learned how to take on the household drudgery in preparation for when she had her own home to keep in order. Blair had her doubts about this reasoning, as she knew her mother preferred to spend the day embroidering and sewing instead.
Blair buckled down to her tasks, aware that the rest of her day would be exactly like every single one before it, and most probably just like the ones to come in the future. The pigs were fed slop from the kitchen; the sheep were herded out to the top field, giving the bottom field time to regrow its grass; the stables were mucked out, and the two plow horses and her father’s beloved brown stallion given fresh straw and water and then let out to run in the paddock. The colt was untethered and allowed to trot around the farmyard looking for its mother. The young stablehand her father had apprenticed five winters ago helped her do the menial labor, leaving Blair to guide the animals and watch over their passage around the farm.
It was a day, just like any other. That was until the sun set behind the Cairngorm mountains, and the family had still not heard the sound of hooves coming back up the lane. Farmer Angus Carmichael was nowhere to be seen.
“Should I ride to the village, Mither, and see if he’s stopped by the alehouse?”
Even as she said the words, Blair knew she was speaking empty platitudes. Her father would never visit an alehouse when he had the best ale on tap waiting for him back at home.
Blair’s mother shook her head. “Nay...let’s give it some time, Blair. It may be raining out by Flichity or one of the mountain streams could have flooded the roads.”
“I want me new poppet!” Maggie complained from her stool next to the supper table. “I shall call her Queen Medb and make her rule over all o’ Connacht across the seas.”
“Ye realize Cu Chulainn turned Queen Medb and her army into minced meat at the cattle raid o’ Cooley, dinnae ye?” Blair teased her little sister as she picked her up off the stool and carried her upstairs to the bedchamber they shared together.
“Nae fair, Blair!” Adie shouted from the kitchen as he ran to keep up with them. “If ye’re going to tell one o’ Faither’s stories, please let me listen.”
As the Carmichael children went upstairs to ready themselves for bed, their mother stayed in the kitchen, twisting her teacup around and around on the saucer, straining her ears for the sound of her husband’s return.
2
Blair Takes Charge
When Blair brought the children down to break their fast early the next morning, she found her mother still seated at the kitchen table, never having risen from it the previous night.
“Dinnae say that Faither has still nae returned!” Blair exclaimed.
She had never seen her mother look so disheveled and tired. The pretty lace cap she had worn at such a jaunty angle on her hair yesterday had fallen down to one side, and her mother’s ringlets lay bedraggled and limp on her shoulders. At the children’s entrance, all Ainslee Carmichael could do was hunch her back and stare at her teacup, trying to hide the bleak expression on her face.
Blair went to the pantry and rustled up two bannocks she had baked yesterday and handed them out to the younger children.
“Go outside and play, ye little rascals, and count yer blessings. There’ll be no lessons today.”
Uttering loud shouts of joy, Adie and Maggie ran out into the yard.
Blair knew Ruth and the stablehand were courting, and so made the decision to allow them to make their own ways to the kitchen this morning.
She freshened the stove fire, popped a kettle on top to boil, and then went down to the cellars to fetch her mother a small dram of whiskey. It would make her sleep and ease her anxiety.
“Come, Mither,” she said gently, patting her mother on the back in a reassuring way. “Take a sip of this and then get yerself upstairs to bed. Ye’re no good to anyone if ye cannae even stand straight.”
Ainslee let out a shuddering sob. “But Blair! Yer faither hasnae returned from the market. Anything could have waylaid him: robbers, pickpockets, alluring women…if yer faither doesnae come back home, who’s to take care of us? I dinnae even ken where he keeps his savings.”
“Now, now, let’s look on the bright side of things, shall we? Get upstairs with ye, and I’ll send Ruth to yer bedchamber anon with a warm glass o’ milk and some water for ye to wash yer face. We wouldnae want anyone seeing that tear-stained face now, would we?”
“Ye sound just like yer grandmother, Blair,” her mother said as she finished the last of the whiskey and walked out of the kitchen. At the doorway, she turned and looked at her eldest child as she busied herself with the pots and pans, readying herself to make dinner.
Blair had blossomed into a beautiful and becoming maiden over the past two years. The harum-scarum, freckle-faced girl who had ridden her pony bareback over the Highland hills had disappeared. In her place was an intensely attractive young woman, slim at the waist and hips, but with a lusciously full bosom that made men in the village whip their heads around when she walked past. She still had the same clear blue eyes set in a pale, heart-shaped face, and her rosebud of a mouth could smile widely or sweetly pout, depending on her mood. Out of all these comely attributes, the one that made Blair stand out from anyone in the crowd was her hair. It really was her crowning glory, a myriad of red curls that danced and bounced with the slightest movement. It fell past her shoulders and lay untamed around her slender neck. No riband or pins were strong enough to train it.
Ainslee gave a sigh, gave one last look at her preoccupied daughter, and went upstairs to lie down.
