Page 64 of Highland Sky

Chapter Seventeen

“Nash, I feel guilty bein’ here instead of back at camp helpin’ the others thatch the roofs,” said Kellina the next day as they strolled hand in hand through Kilfinnan after riding for several hours to get here. They’d stabled their horses and were proceeding on foot.

“Dinna feel guilty.” Nash reached over and kissed her on the cheek, making her blush. “Ye have had a hard time lately and deserve some time away. Now, all ye need to do is relax, lass.”

“Och, look at that,” said Kellina, stopping in front of the window of a clothier’s shop. Dresses were displayed in the window, and one of them had caught Kellina’s eye. It was a long skirt, made of wool dyed in bright, colorful orange tones. A white tunic with billowy sleeves and a low neckline was shown with it. “It’s so bonnie.”

“Do ye like it?” asked Nash.

“I do.” Kellina couldn’t take her eyes off of it.

“Then I say we buy it for ye.”

“What?” Her head snapped around and her mouth fell open. “Nay, it’s no’ necessary. I dinna need new clothes.” She acted so humble when she didn’t need to.

Nash made a big show of looking her up and down. She was still dressed in her tunic and braies and boots.

“I think ye do need new clothes, lass. Besides, I would like to see my wife in a skirt, and no’ have her be wearin’ the braies of the family.”

They both laughed.

“It is so bonnie, but I should be wearin’ my clan colors,” she told him.

“Ye’re a MacKeefe now, Kellina. Ye can wear this skirt and the MacKeefe plaid as a sash or shawl over the tunic. I’ll have the weaver back at the MacKeefe camp make one for ye as soon as I can.”

She looked at the outfit in the window again, cocking her head and thinking about it. “All right,” she said. “I think I would like it then.”

“Well, we’d better hurry,” suggested Nash. “They are closin’ the shops early since the market is about to start.”

On market days, the shops in town were required to close and sell their wares from a stall in the marketplace instead. Farmers, peasants, merchants and tradesmen came from towns all around, bringing their wares. They traveled by cart, horseback or on foot, sometimes taking several days just to get there. This wasn’t as large or as elaborate as a trade fair, but was still a prosperous and busy place.

It didn’t take long to buy the clothes, and for Kellina to change into them. She did a quick twirl to show off her new outfit to Nash. He loved it.

“Ye are the bonniest lass at the market today,” he told her.

“I ken ye are just sayin’ that because we havena even been to the market yet, so how could ye come up with that decision?”

“I might be a little biased, since ye are my wife.” Smiling widely, Nash perused his wife, loving the way she looked in these nice clothes. She deserved something good in her life, and he was happy for her.

“I’m sorry, but we are closin’ now, and ye’ll have to leave,” said the shop owner. “I have to join my husband at the market to help him set up our stall.”

“Thank ye,” Kellina told the woman, taking her old clothes and shoving them into the leather bag she carried. Wearing the outfit out of the store, Kellina and Nash followed the crowd, heading over to the marketplace next.

“Look, everyone is settin’ up around the mercat cross,” Nash told her, pointing in the direction that the crowd was heading.

The mercat cross – or market cross, was a round, stone pavilion with a tall stone spire in the center with a cross at the top. This structure denoted that the town had the right to hold a regular market or fair, granted by the king, a bishop, or a baron. There was a church nearby, and streets all around them, lined with the town’s shops.

All the vendors set up their stalls around the mercat cross, hoping to attract buyers to their wares. Farmers came from towns all around, wheeling their carts and carrying their baskets of vegetables to sell. Livestock filled the streets, as sheep, chickens, and even cattle were for sale as well.

“Be careful where ye step, and hold up that new skirt high,” Nash warned Kellina, since the ground was not only muddy with ruts in the road, but also littered with spoiled food and animal feces.

“Och, I wish I had a pair of pattens now,” said Kellina, speaking of the wooden platforms that one wore over their shoes in muddy areas to protect them.

“If I have to carry ye, I will, love.” Nash went to pick her up, but she stopped him, laughing at his attempt.

“I appreciate it, Husband, but I think that would make us too much of a spectacle. I’ll just walk instead.”

“Fresh fruit hand pies for sale. Hot from the oven,” shouted a man, waving them over to his stall.