Not once did the boys shirk their duties. They worked as hard as the adult men in the clan. Harder, perhaps, because Colyne and Raibeart had something to prove; they weren’t necessarily the horrible heathens everyone believed them to be.
While the boys worked, Aeschene and Marisse offered what help they could, but for the most part, kept a good distance. Aeschene knew ’twas better for the boys to learn from the people they were helping. Besides, she couldn’t see and was therefore not much help in that regard. Still, she stood by, proudly observing in her own way, the changes in not only Colyne and Raibeart, but the clanspeople’s attitudes toward them as well.
After only a few days, some of the women began to come out of doors, offering chairs or blankets for Aeschene and Marisse to sit upon. Eventually, some of the women began to join them, doing their sewing or watching their children play whilst they got to know their laird’s new wife a bit better.
On one bright, sunny afternoon, the two women sat on a blanket, enjoying the rare warmth of the afternoon sun. They were soon joined by a little girl named Lilah, and her mother, Francis.
“I was told ye were simpleminded,” the little girl said with a scrunched brow.
“Lilah!” her mother exclaimed.
Aeschene and Marisse laughed freely. “’Tis all right,” Aeschene told mother and daughter. “That rumor has been around for a very long while. But I can assure ye, I am not simple minded.”
Frances cleared her throat and offered Aeschene her most sincere apology and a black berry tart. “Truly, Frances, do not fash over it much. She is just a child,” Aeschene told her. “And this tart? I have never in my life tasted better. But do not tell Hattie I said that.”
Frances gigged and promised she would take that secret to her grave. “I must admit, m’lady, I did hear the same. A few people are convinced ye have the mind of a wean. But after gettin’ to know ye, I have been correctin’ their line of thinkin’, I most surely have.”
“Undoubtedly, that rumor was spread by Loreen,” Marisse said with an unladylike like snort.
“Och! Loreen,” Frances shook her head and clucked her tongue. “Now that be someone ye do not want to be on the bad side of.”
Curious, Aeschene asked her to explain what she meant.
“Well, far be it from me to be talkin’ out of place,” Frances began. Leaning in to whisper, she said, “That woman has had a bee up her hind end for as long as I can recall. She was to have married, Richard, ye ken. But tossed him aside like yesterday’s breadcrumbs, she did. Without so much as a by yer leave, she left. Hied off with some man from the McDunnah clan, ye ken.”
Aeschene’s chest grew tight, her palms damp. “Richard and Loreen?” she asked.
“Well, ’twere not a love match,” Frances told her. “’Twas an arrangement, ye ken. Betwixt our laird, Galen, and Loreen’s da.” She looked heavenward and shook her head. “To tell the truth, I think Richard was right glad when she took off.” She took in a deep breath before continuing with her tale. “Well that did not last long, ye ken, Loreen and that McDunnah lad. Son of a stable master, I think he was. Within a year’s time, Loreen was back, actin’ all high and mighty, thinkin’ she could pick up right where she left off. But Richard was not havin’ it, ye ken. Nae, he surely was not havin’ it.”
Marisse was enthralled with the tale. “What happened next?” she asked breathlessly.
“Well, not long after she returned, the Chisolms attacked. Richard was not here at the time, ye ken. He was back at the MacDougall’s. One of his auld friends from his time there, had called him to come back to be godfather to one of his bairns. Anyway, while Richard was gone, the Chisolms attacked. Lost our keep we did that day.” She shook her head at the memory and dabbed at her eyes with the hem of her apron. “Scattered to the four corners of the earth, we were. ’Twas the saddest of times.”
Aeschene felt an ache deep in her heart. She knew next to nothing about the attacks and wars between her father’s clan and the others in the region. All she knew was that the MacRay’s had once been allies to the MacCullough’s, but something had happened. One day they were allies, the next, bitter enemies.
“But won our keep back, we did. Three years ago,” Frances said with a proud smile. “That be how Richard got his scars, ye ken. One of the Chisolm’s sons is what I heard. Anyway, we lost many men that day. Richard lost his da, all of his brothers, save for Colyne and Raibeart, for they were too young to fight.”
’Twas the saddest of tales and hearing it made Aeschene’s stomach feel as though she had swallowed a bucket of eels. “Why?” she asked in a whisper.
“Why what, m’lady?”
“Why must there be all these wars and battles? Why must men fight over land and holdin’s?”
“’Tis their nature,” Frances answered, as if that explained everything.
“But why do the Chisolms and MacCulloughs hate each other?”
Frances didn’t need time to think on her reply. “Because the Chisolms be nothin’ but a group of blood thirsty sons of whores, my lady.”
While Frances was quite certain she spoke nothing but the truth, Aeschene was certain there had to be more to it than that. “Surely something must have happened in the past to make them hate us so.” The ‘us’ she was referring to, was of course, the MacCulloughs.
“Who kens the truth of it anymore,” Frances replied. “We have been at war with them for as long as anyone can remember.” Momentarily forgetting just who Aeschene was, she added, “But the bigger mystery is why Garrin MacRay broke his allegiance with us and sided with the Chisolms.”
When Frances saw Aeschene’s face burn bright with shame, she reached out and touched her arm. “Och! M’lady, I be so sorry. I just never ken when to keep me own mouth shut.”
Aeschene took in a deep cleansing breath. “Nay, Frances, do not worry it. I, too, have often wondered why my father did what he did.”
“Ye mean ye dunnae ken?” Frances asked incredulously.
Aeschene shook her head, as did Marisse. “We were never told the why of it,” Marisse said. “No matter how many times I asked, or eavesdropped, I could never figure it out. Neither could Aeschene.”
“’Tis the truth,” Aeschene said. “No one would ever tell us.”
“Well, I imagine there be plenty here who would pay handsomely to find out,” Frances said. “For none of us ever knew the reason.”
Apparently, not so much as a sliver of a rumor explaining why Garrin did what he did, had ever been whispered. ’Twas a mystery if ever there was.
This new family of MacCulloughs had settled into a rather nice routine. The boys had seemed to mature overnight, much to their older brother’s amazement. Richard was quite proud of the changes in his young brothers and more than once he praised them for their good deeds.
He had yet, however, to praise or thank his wife for helping bring about these changes. Oh, he knew he should say something but it seemed that whenever they were alone, he had other things on his mind such as joining with her.