Rhoswyn shook her head. “That is not what I meant,” she said. “Ye did what Lady Warenton would have done had this been her own home. De Wolfe women are strong. We have tae be.”
“Aye, my lady,” Mattie said, though she still felt as if she were verging on being scolded and sought to somehow break the ice with Gar’s mother. “I… I am sorry you were unable to come to Hensingham, but I understand your most distressing reason. I do hope your son’s wife and child are doing well.”
Rhoswyn nodded. “Surprisingly, they are,” she said. “The infant seems to be growing stronger. ’Tis a blessing.”
“Indeed,” Mattie said. “That is good news.”
“Thank ye for asking after them.”
“My pleasure, my lady.”
An awkward silence briefly descended. Rhoswyn took a few steps toward Mattie, towering over her. Rhoswyn was quite tall, a strong and sturdy woman in general, whereas Mattie didn’t have a height or weight advantage. For a moment, Rhoswyn simply looked her over, an appraising expression but not unkind.
The moments ticked away.
“I’m told my son is fond of ye,” she finally said in Gaelic. “I’m glad he is. He dinna want tae marry, but I am glad ye changed his mind. He needs a strong wife, my lady. Can ye be that for him? Strong?”
Mattie nodded. “I can,” she answered in Gaelic. “I will, I promise. I will not fail him.”
Rhoswyn nodded her head. “Good,” she said. Then, she reached out a hand to Mattie, who timidly took it. “Come along, lass. This keep is now yers and ye have a good deal of work tae do. But after what I’ve seen, I think ye can do it.”
Mattie let her mother-in-law lead her out of the kitchens where Brickie was piling wood on the fire to strengthen the blaze. He didn’t look at her as she quit the kitchen, but Mattie didn’t care. Somehow, in this strange incident, she had earned Rhoswyn’s approval. If not her approval, then at least her respect.
Perhaps there was hope after all.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
There was nowhereto go but up.
That was what Mattie decided the day following her arrival at Gleann na Fola. All she knew was that she couldn’t live in the castle in its current state—and since Gar had told her the castle was her domain, she took him literally.
She was going to take on the daunting task of cleaning it.
God help her.
The rest of yesterday after her arrival had been dedicated to meeting more family and touring more places around the castle. Everyone had seemed more than happy to show her around and teach her about the place she would now call home. Lady Warenton, or Jordan as she asked to be called, was at the head of it all, making sure Mattie had all of her questions answered. Caria, too, stayed by Mattie’s side and Mattie had to admit that it was a far warmer welcome than she had expected. She didn’t mind Caria, even if the girl was a little clingy. She was sweet and helpful.
Mattie appreciated that.
But the next day, the real work began.
Since Jordan knew the villages along the borders, on both sides, the first thing she helped with was bringing on more women to help clean. There was a small parish to the south of Gleann na Fola, with parishioners almost all farmers and tradesmen, and she was able to bring ten women to the castle by midmorning. They were promised a decent wage, as Mattie had made that clear, and they all gathered in the hall as Mattie and Jordan decided how to handle the situation. Plans were laid. Duties were given.
Meanwhile, the men were confused.
Gar watched all of it with some concern even though he’d told Mattie that she could do as she wished with the keep. He wasn’t going to go back on his word, but he honestly hadn’t thought she was going to start her management the very next day after her arrival. But she was. In a castle where there were usually no women, suddenly, there were more than a dozen and they were all armed with buckets of water mixed with vinegar. He could smell it. But then, he began to discover something.
The way she went about cleaning this atrocity of a castle was quite methodical.
Brilliant, even.
When Gar should have been focused on the plans of Westerkirk, he found himself watching that slip of a woman he’d been forced to marry. Last night, they’d slept in the same bed, in his great chamber, but they hardly said two words to one another before Mattie was fast asleep, exhausted from the travel and from the day’s events, and this morning, he’d risen while she was still snoring softly upon the pillow. The first chance he’d had to see her was when she’d gathered her army of women in the great hall, an army that included his mother and grandmother, and as he watched with fascination, the army went to work.
It started with sweeping. So much sweeping. The dogs were chased out by the brooms, running outside, which was whereMattie wanted them. As three or four women swept, the rest of them followed with mops and brushes, scrubbing the floor behind them. More vinegar water was splashed across the floor and before Gar could get away, Mattie commandeered him for furniture moving. He sent servants to fetch Tor and Atreus and Andreas, and between the four of them, they moved the tables around so Mattie and her ladies could clean years of grime and filth off the floors.
But along with the cleaning women, there was also another addition.
Perseus.
