“Thank ye, Gallia, I will be right down.”
“Aye, my lady.” Gallia curtsied again before leaving.
Ye see, it isn’t everyone, Mairead. She returned the lute to the cabinet and left the room, descending to the great hall feeling much better than she had earlier. Tadhg was already seated at the table, and she joined him there.
“Good afternoon, Lady Matheson. How is the rest of your life going so far?” He gave her his roguish wink, which always made her stomach flutter.
“Well enough,” she answered, deciding not to tell him of her difficulty with the steward yet, nor the gossiping chambermaids. She needed to handle these things herself. If she ran to him at the first sign of trouble, then the staff would not respect her, and he might doubt her abilities to manage his household.
This was the first meal she had eaten at Cnocreidh where she was not surrounded by family. Feeling a little unsure of herself, she remained reserved, but she had the opportunity to learn more about several of Tadhg’s men.
Mairead had already met his commander, Hamish, but had not conversed with him until today. Shorter and with a muscular, stocky build, Hamish looked to be older than Tadhg but not by much, perhaps a bit over a score and ten. His hair was reddish gold and his face and arms were freckled by the sun. He was friendly and very good-natured. Something about him reminded her of her brother Quinn. Although not as quiet, he watched people closely as if reading them. While he seemed rather young to be a commander, she decided his astute nature probably made him an extremely good leader of men.
Tadhg had three captains who reported to Hamish, and they each led a division of guardsmen and men-at-arms. Pol, a man roughly her father’s age with a deep melodious voice, was both taller and broader than Tadhg. “Are ye settling in then, my lady?”
“Aye, thank ye for asking.” Mairead, ye eejit, make conversation. “Uh…until today, I wasn’t aware of exactly how large Cnocreidh is.”
“Aye, it is a grand keep, to be sure.”
“Do ye reside in the keep?”
“Nay, not since I was a young man at least. I live in a wee house in the village with my wife, Mae, and our daughter. Mae is a weaver. I believe ye have met our daughter, Gallia. She is the lass who fetched ye downstairs just now.”
“Oh. Aye, she is lovely,” Mairead said sincerely.
“David here has lived in the keep with his daughters ever since his wife passed. They work here as maids too.”
The second of Tadhg’s captains, David, seemed quiet and serious. He looked to be just shy of two score and ten, with warm dark brown eyes and dark hair that was slightly grey at the temples.
“Do they? I wonder if I have met them.”
“My daughters are named Finola and Meriel.”
She schooled her reaction. Meriel was the maid who had been somewhat rude to her that morning, but Mairead didn’t want to make her father feel uncomfortable. “Aye, I believe I met Meriel this morning as I toured Cnocreidh, but I don’t recall having met Finola yet.”
“Finola and Meriel are both bonny lassies,” said Ian, the third and youngest of Tadhg’s captains. A tall man with thick blond hair and bright blue eyes like her brothers Cullen, Gannon, and Quinn, he looked to be perhaps a few years older than Hamish. He was outgoing and talkative. “My oldest son, Findlay, is rather smitten with both of them. He is ten and seven and is now training as a warrior. He was the laird’s squire before your brother. I keep telling him he needs to focus more on his training and less on the bonny lassies.” He laughed heartily.
“Do ye live in the village with your family, then?”
“Aye, that I do, but our middle son, Ronan, is Hamish’s squire, and he lives here in the keep. Ye may not have met my wife, Katy, yet but ye’ll have no trouble recognizing her when ye do. She is Elspet’s youngest sister and all the lasses in their family are cut from the same cloth. Sometimes it’s hard to tell one from the other.”
Pol grinned mischievously. “Katy is one of the clan’s healers and an excellent midwife. Perhaps ye’ll be needing her services in the coming months.”
Mairead blushed profusely and looked away, but Tadhg simply clasped her hand and smiled broadly. “God willing.”
“Pol’s a rogue, ignore him,” said Ian with a twinkle in his eye.
Regaining her composure, Mairead asked, “Is it just the two sons ye have, then?
Tadhg smiled, and Pol laughed his deep booming laugh. Ian scowled but then chuckled too and explained, “Nay, my lady. We have one more son. Our Duff is ten, but he can find as much trouble as six lads. He’d have ye believe things seem to break spontaneously when he is near them.”