Page 5 of Bride Takes a Laird
Kendra was unsure, but then she spotted John, her father’s attendant. “Oh, John, what is happening? Is there danger?”
John, a young soldier who was old enough to join the other men-at-arms, stayed within the manor and acted more like her father’s manservant than a soldier. His almost-black hair covered his eyes and she couldn’t tell if his gaze bespoke danger or not. When he reached them, he took the reins of her horse and Linet’s.
“Mistress, I was about to send men out to find you. Your da is missing again. I sent a search for him and all are looking beyond the walls. Worry not, for he’ll be found quickly. I suspect he hasn’t gotten far.” The young man assigned to keep watch over her father had a difficult task before him, especially since as a soldier, John was often called to perform his other duties that were more in keeping with his duties as a guardsman.
Kendra raised her hands to her chest as a twinge of pain settled there. “Oh, nay! Wasn’t the gate’s guard keeping an eye out?” She haddirected that the guards keep her father within the walls, but somehow he managed to sneak by them. This wasn’t the first time he’d absconded past the gate.
“They were distracted when a woman was knocked down by one of the soldier’s horses,” John explained. “I heard the commotion and left the manor to give aid and when I returned, your da was gone.”
The more John spoke, the more daunting the news grew. “Oh, gracious, is the woman unharmed?” Kendra hoped she wasn’t severely injured.
“She received a few bruises for her carelessness. But when I returned to the hall where I’d left Lord Rupert, he wasn’t within. I searched the entire manor, around it, and nearby. He was nowhere in sight so I sounded the alarm.”
“My thanks, John. I shall go in search of him too.” Kendra was about to set off to look for her wayward father when the soldiers’ shouts came from the gate.
“Looks like they found him, Mistress.” John released the horses’ reins and turned to make a mad dash toward the gate to reach Lord Graham.
“Hold the horses,” Kendra directed Linet, then rushed after John. There by the gate, her father stood with his head lowered. She put a smile on her face and hurried forward to link her arm with his. “Papa, I worried for you. Come, let us get you inside.”
Her father said nothing but strolled silently next to her with his silvery-haired head lowered in defeat. When they reached the courtyard, he said, “I only wanted to walk about the grounds. Why did they drag me back?”
Kendra couldn’t answer because her father wouldn’t like her response.
As she walked Papa to the house, John led their horses away and the men who had searched for her father returned to their duties. They entered their home with her maid following. Linet took hercloak and set off to let Gilda, the maidservant, know they had returned.
Inside the great hall, their footsteps echoed in the now practically empty room. No tapestries adorned the walls to buffer the sound. The room felt cold as if no one lived there. She guided her father to the small trestle table where only four chairs flanked the wooden surface. Once, there had been a grand table that had sat at least twenty, situated in the center of the large room with smaller tables positioned around it. She’d sold the beautiful table that had been made especially for the hall when the manor was built, along with any other items that could fetch needed coins. Kendra settled her father in a chair and then took the seat opposite of him.
Gilda hurried into the hall and set a basket of warm bread in the center of the table. The maid hastened to the buttery and retrieved a pitcher of ale and cups for them. “The midday meal shall be ready soon.”
“Our thanks, Gilda.” She turned her attention to her father to address his disappearance. Papa, you know you shouldn’t leave the grounds. Remember, we talked about this.”
“Aye, but I just wanted to stretch my legs.” He grunted. “You shouldn’t be telling me where I can go. I am the lord of this manor and your father, and I bid you to remember that.”
Kendra pressed a gentle hand on his arm. She didn’t let his bluster bother her. He sometimes lashed out but she did her best to keep him calm. “Aye, but you know that I worry about you. You promised me that you wouldn’t leave the walls.” Before she continued to reproach her father, the manor’s steward strolled into the room.
Linet’s father, the steward, Norman, approached. “Mistress, I need to speak to you.”
She sighed wearily at Norman’s sorrowful gaze. He appeared displeased and she suspected that he hesitated to come forward. It wasn’t that she disliked the steward, but he always brought bad news andshe’d had enough bad news already that day.
After she poured her father a cup of ale, she addressed him, “Good day, Norman.”
“I would like to meet with you this afternoon to go over the accounts.”
Kendra trusted the steward and had since she reached an age of understanding, and oversaw the keeping of their manor’s accounts. Norman realized that she was just looking out for her father when she’d done the recounting. She ensured his accounting was accurate and that he hadn’t thieved. There was never a miscounting—not that she suspected he would ever take coins from their coffers. When she’d turned ten years of age, she’d insisted that her father teach her to add sums and count coins. Strangely enough, Kendra excelled at figures and she enjoyed the tasks. It truly was her way of looking out for her father. They’d spent many hours together which brought them closer. Her mother had passed when she was very young and in teaching her, it afforded her father time to spend with her. Kendra cherished those times.
In recent years, Norman often came to her when her father was intent on using their wealth on unnecessary items. She had maintained her ability to rein in her father’s spending, a feat that often exhausted her. In the last year, she alone was responsible for the discouraging downfall of their wealth. Kendra had used every pound, shilling, and pence in her quest to find a healer who might cure her father’s ailment. All the coins paid were wasted on hair-brained remedies and unsound advice. Nothing helped and her father continued to be forgetful and worse, he declined.
“Will you make time for me, Mistress?” Norman asked.
Kendra pulled herself from her overwrought thoughts and nodded. “Of course, Norman. I will make myself available whenever you wish to meet. Just find me when you have a moment.”
The steward bowed to her, backed up a few steps, and hastenedfor the hall’s exit.
She took a warm roll from the trencher in the center of the table. Her father peered far off as if his mind was elsewhere. “Papa?” He seemed in a daze and she wondered where he went to in his mind when he was like that.
He came out of it a moment later. “Your cheeks are bright, dearest. Were you out riding?” Her father smiled winsomely at her as if he’d forgotten she was reproaching him for leaving the manor grounds. Perhaps he had.
Kendra decided to let the discussion go for now since it was unlikely he’d remember that he’d promised to stay within the walls or even that he’d left them.