Blair saw her mother leave and allowed her face to show the concern she felt inside.
This has never happened before! Faither has gone to market once a sennight, either with some livestock or crops to sell and, regular as clockwork, he would return home before nightfall, come rain or shine! Where could he be? What could have happened?
The list of events and setbacks that might have caused her father to break his routine was endless. As she cleaned and cooked, Blair’s imagination ran riot. Maybe the mare cast a shoe? No, her father would have checked the hooves before setting off, just like he always did. Perhaps the mare was fractious, leaving her colt behind? Again, this was unlikely; Farmer Carmichael was an excellent horseman and well able to control any horse he rode.
Ruth came in, and Blair sent her upstairs to check on Ainslee and tidy the bedchambers. She went outside to complete her round of chores and see if the stablehand was available to help her. It was only when she found him still fast asleep in his loft that Blair realized she needed her father back at the farm as soon as possible. He had not even been gone one day, and his farm helper was already acting like a layabout. Something would have to be done, and fast.
Will, the stablehand, had plenty of excuses as to why she had found him sleeping at such a late hour, but Blair had no way of verifying his whining justifications.
“A likely farradiddle, Will!” she said with her hands on her hips, glaring at him, her curls frothing around her face as she shook her head. “I ken me faither is nae the one bound to wake ye in the mornings. In fact, it’s usually the opposite way ’round. When he comes back and finds ye’ve been idle, he’s likely to tan yer worthless hide. Now, come and help me milk the cows and lead them to pasture. Then ye can help Ruthie with skimming the cream.”
Will rushed to do her bidding. While Blair pressed her face against her milk cow’s side and squirted the fresh milk into her pail, her thoughts turned to practical matters. She knew the farm would soon be in tatters if her father did not return this evening. Not only was he the sole breadwinner, the only one capable of riding to market to sell the farm produce, but he was the main worker on the farm, rising at dawn and finishing at dusk to keep everything running smoothly.
We’re in the soup with Faither gone an’ that’s no lie! I think I should keep watch at me bedchamber window all tonight and let Mither sleep. Maybe Faither is walking home on foot, and if I hear his voice, I can ride out and find him.
This seemed like the most beneficial thing to do, and Blair informed her mother of the plan at supper that evening.
“Are ye sayin’ it’s possible he’s crawling home along the king’s highway, shouting for help all the way? And if ye hear his cries from yer bedchamber window at the back of the house, ye'll run to the stables in the dark and ride down the lane to fetch him?”
When her mother put it that way, Blair realized how silly her suggestion had been, but she was exhausted from a hard day’s work, doing the chores her father would do if he were here. Also, she found it self-defeating for her mother to phrase it so sarcastically in front of the children.
“Has Faither hurt himself?” Maggie whimpered. “Is that why he’s nae come home?”
“Nay, Maggie, dinnae fash,” Blair said in a comforting voice to her little sister. “Go to the parlor and ready yerself for another story about Cu Chulainn, and take yer brither with ye.”
When the children had left, she turned to her mother with an angry look on her face,
“Maybe ye’re right! Maybe me plan was futile and doomed to fail. But ye shouldnae have said as much in front o’ the bairns! I will sit in the kitchen since it faces the lane, and have Pooka saddled and waiting for me. Then ye can set yer mind at ease that if, or when, I hear Faither, I can ride immediately to his aid—that’s even if he needs it.”
“Dinnae take that tone o’ voice with me, young lady!” Ainslee spoke out shrilly, half in worry and half in indignation. “I’m the one who’s stuck with three mouths to feed and no one there to help me do it!”
This statement was untrue, and both women knew it to be so. Blair struggled with her better nature not to lash out and say all the things she wanted to scream out at the top of her lungs.
I wasnae the one to sleep in bed all day and ring the bell for ale whenever I needed it! But Faither would want me to take care of things as best I can. I ken this in me heart.
She realized it would do no good if she bickered with her mother. They would both regret anything said in the heat of emotion and it would not bring her father back any faster.
She went to give her mother a hug, saying, “Let’s both get a good night’s sleep, Mither. Come morn, we’ll have a better idea of what actions to take.”
Ainslee patted Blair’s arm affectionately, and mother and daughter left the kitchen to get the younger children to bed.
The window casement began to lighten on yet another day with no sign of Farmer Carmichael. Blair jumped straight out of bed when the room started to turn grey. She made sure not to waken Maggie, who was fast asleep on the truckle bed and, stopping only to shrug on an old dressing gown over her shift, ran down to the stables to see if the mare was back. The stall was empty.
She decided what had to be done then and there. The thought of leaving the farmhouse, and everything she knew and loved, and setting out to find her father did not distress her as much as she believed it would, however. There was a very large part of Blair’s heart that wanted to quit the confines of the family farmstead and see if any of her father’s stories about brave men and monsters were true. Calmly, she went back upstairs to her bedchamber and began to dress for a journey. For how long she would be gone, Blair did not know, but her mind was made up to go out into the wide world and do her best with what she had until she found her father.
It was a troublesome time of year for which to pack and dress. The summer months were on the cusp, but it was still possible for the last of the harsh winter weather to make a final stand before allowing the heat to return. The Highland seasons were notoriously difficult for traveling: freezing nights in spring; humid and full of midges in summer; blustery and biting when the time came around again for the leaves to fall.
Blair chose her old woolen riding habit from the lavender-lined chest in the corner of the room. It was threadbare in places, but no one would be able to see that when she covered herself with a traveling cloak. The dark fabric would ride for days without showing dirt, and she could wash out her chemise at every inn stop, dry it by the fire overnight, and wear it again the next day. She folded up a spare chemise and petticoat neatly and placed them into a sack fashioned out of one of her shawls, just in case. It only remained to roll some woolen stockings over her knees and pull on her best pair of visiting boots. When she looked in the ancient polished metal shield that served her as a mirror when tying on her hat, Blair was pleased with what she saw.
I could pass for some fine lady come to Flichity to squander me coins buying a peddler’s goods.
Maggie was still fast asleep when her eldest sister left the room and stepped quietly downstairs to the writing desk in the parlor. Blair went to the fireplace, checked the door to make sure no one was watching, and then removed a brick cleverly concealed in the fireplace step. Underneath it was a small pouch of coins. She removed two gold ones, sat back to think about how long she might be away, and removed four more from the bag. She hid the pouch under the brick and slid it back in place.
She took two coins and placed them in a pocket inside her devantiere. The four remaining gold coins were put on the writing desk. Blair began to compose the letter she had been thinking about writing since her father had not come home.
Dearest Mither, Adie, and Maggie,
I’m off to get to the bottom of why Faither hasnae returned. Mither, try nae to worry too much and take care of the children until we return. I’ve taken some money and am leaving ye a generous portion with which to make do. Dinnae spend it all in one week as I’m nae sure how long this will take.
