Ian's Rose: Book One of The Mackintoshes and McLarens (15 page)

Rose loved her husband. Truly she did. But this, this was just unacceptable . As they watched the men hitch the team to the wagons, an idea began to form in Rose’s mind. Turning to face the women, she said, “My friends, ’tis time we took matters into our own hands.”

R
ose had been fast asleep
when Ian came to bed and he left before she was awake. It had been like this for days now — days of having no time alone with her husband to discuss important matters.

The men had erected tents near the quarry, where they would take refuge whenever the rains came. The moment the rain let up enough, they immediately went back to work. When she did see Ian, he was often too exhausted or too preoccupied to talk. She had requested just a few moments alone with him on numerous occasions. “I promise, Rose, I will try to set aside some time fer ye later,” was always his response.

She pretended not to be hurt or insulted by his lack of attention. Logically, she knew he was very busy, with important duties, a keep to build…but that did very little to ease the ache in her heart.

Her plan had been quite simple; go to the auld McLaren keep, dismantle the granary, and bring those planks back by wagon. It would save time for everyone and it would solve the problem of ruined clothing and spoiled food. If Ian had given her just a few moments of his precious time, she could have explained it logically to him. But once again, he was gone before she woke.

“Enough is enough,” she declared as she stepped out of bed onto a still soggy floor. Reasoning that neither her husband nor his men could be bothered, she dressed quickly and set about enlisting the help of her clanswomen.

Ronna, though aged and oft tired-looking, was all too willing to help, as was Della.

“I agree,” Ronna said, “that me grandchildren will be grandparents before our men get around to planks fer floors, or even buildin’ huts fer us.”

At this point, Rose could not say she disagreed. “I pray ye’re no’ right, Ronna,” she said as they sought out more women to help. “I fear I’ll strangle Ian in his sleep if he makes me wait that long fer a sound roof and walls that do no’ leak.” ’Twas neither an exaggeration nor bold boast.

Soon, they had rounded up ten more women of varying ages, who were all too eager to help. “Who among us kens how to ready a team of horses?” Rose asked as they made their way to the corral where the horses were kept.

“I do!” Anna Markland piped up. “I help me husband all the time.”

“Verra well then, Anna, ye shall be in charge of the horses.” She smiled at the young woman. “We shall need tools to help dismantle the granary. I fear all I have is a hammer.”

Liza Markland, sister-by-law to Anna, slowly raised her hand. “Me husband, he has spare tools in our tent.”

“Good!” Rose said cheerfully. Thus far, things were going quite well. “I’ll need someone to help Anna with the horses.”

“But we have no wagons,” Ronna pointed out.

Rose looked around the encampment and spotted two empty wagons sitting near the tower. “Oh, but we do!” she exclaimed happily as she pointed.

“Now, we shall go get our tools, and any weapons ye can find. Anna, can ye also ride?”

“Aye,” she said as she backed the first horse up to the wagon. “So can Liza, and I believe Lena can as well.”

Liza and Lena said they could in fact ride and ride well. “So be it,” Rose said. “Let us gather our tools, weapons and a lunch, and meet back here in a quarter of an hour.”

* * *

R
ose returned to her tent
, grabbed the hammer, the
sgian dubh
Ian had given her a long time ago, as well as two dirks and a sword he kept in the tent. Feeling quite strongly that she was doing the right thing, she headed back to the meeting place. On her way, she saw Leona near one of the cooking fires.

“Leona, I need yer help.”

As was typical, the pretty young woman seemed distracted as she stared into the fire. Rose approached cautiously. “Leona?”

Slowly, she looked up and bid Rose a half-hearted good morn. Rose was pressed for time. If it had been any other day, she would have asked if something was the matter and offered any help she could. But the other women were waiting for her. “Leona, if Ian asks where I am, please tell him we went to the auld keep and should be back before nightfall.”

Leona nodded and gave her a smile. “Aye, I will.”

’Twas never easy to tell if the young girl was listening or not. Rose was about to ask if she understood when Ronna and Della called for her. “The auld keep, Leona. We’re goin’ to the auld keep.”

“I heard ye,” she replied without looking up.

With very little time to waste, Rose thanked her kindly and left her staring blankly into the fire.

* * *

T
here had been no
one manning the gate when the band of determined women headed off that morning. Most of the men were working in the quarry and only a few were patrolling farther out. With light hearts, the group made the mile long journey to the auld McLaren keep in very little time.

For Rose, and Ronna McLaren, the lightness in their hearts faded the moment they set eyes on the auld keep. Not-too-distant memories trickled in, leaving Rose feeling sad and angry all at once. Sad for the days of her childhood when things hadn’t been quite as bad, and heavy-hearted with missing Aggie.

Rose’s skin turned to gooseflesh as they filed through the gate, seeing the keep lifeless, marred still by a fire set nearly a year past. The cheerful banter among the women faded and an eerie silence filled the air.

“I never thought I’d see this place again,” Ronna remarked in a barely audible whisper. “Truth be told, I never wanted to.”

Rose felt much the same way.

Beyond the main keep was the granary. ’Twas just as dilapidated as she remembered; however, the wide wooden planks it had been made from seemed to be in good enough condition to be useful.

Anna led the team and wagon across the empty yard, coming to a stop next to the auld building. The women sat in silence as they stared at the project before them. When Rose had first come up with the idea, it had seemed an easy enough task. But now that they were here, and she could once again see just how large the building was, a sense of dread settled in.

Not quite ready to give up, she took a deep breath and jumped down from the wagon, bringing her hammer with her. “’Tis a bit bigger than I remember, but we shall no’ let that stop us.” She tried to sound less disheartened and more a hopeful leader.

While the women climbed out of the wagon, she went to speak to the three on horseback. “I doubt we’ll have any troubles, but if we do, I need ye to run back to camp and tell Ian and the others.”

Anna appeared not only fully prepared but also fully capable of defending herself against any intruders. Liza and Lena seemed a little more worried about the prospect. “Just patrol where we discussed earlier. Blow the horn fer a warnin’ then ride as fast as ye can. We shall be fine, but. ‘tis best to be cautious.”

With the most serious expression, Anna patted the horn that hung around her neck then the sword that hung at her waist, signifying she was absolutely ready for anything. “Come ladies, we’ve work to do,” she said as she tapped the flanks of her horse.

Rose listened to Anna give bits of advice as the trio pulled away. “The trick, ye ken, is never to panic, as well as to remain as quiet as a church mouse…”

Feeling mayhap a bit safer than she ought, Rose returned to the group of women who would, for today at least, be carpenters and laborers.

“We should begin inside,” she said as she led them in to the interior of the granary. In each corner of the building sat tall, square bins that were meant to store grain. Old, decrepit looking ladders rested against each of the structures. Scattered about the room were remnants and reminders of the winter when this large building housed some fifty men and women. Rocks placed in circles still contained the charred remains of old fires; a few pieces of broken pottery were the only things left to prove people had once lived in this place.

“Let’s dismantle the bins first,” Rose suggested. Her hammer in hand, she took the ladder up to the top of the first bin. Studying it for a moment, she realized she was far too short to reach the very top of the bin. Twisting her bottom lip, she felt the stirrings of doubt begin to creep in.

“Start in the middle,” Della suggested from the bin opposite Rose. The woman had already climbed up the ladder and was working a heavy iron bar betwixt two pieces of wood. “We can no’ get it all, but we’ll settle fer what we
can
get.”

Della’s positivity was contagious. Rose pushed all doubt aside when Maribet Mackintosh tapped her on the leg with an iron bar. “This might work better than yer hammer.”

Exchanging one tool for another, Rose set about working the bar between the planks. Back and forth, sliding the bar from side to side, she was ready to give up hope when she heard the plank moan before it gave way just enough to offer a glimmer of a chance they would be successful. It seemed to take forever before she was able to work the plank free on one side. Still, ’twas progress.

After much struggling, elbow grease, and a wee bit of cursing, the first plank finally broke free. It nearly knocked her from the ladder, but thankfully, she was able to keep herself from falling to the ground. Maribet caught one edge of the heavy piece of wood before it had the chance to land on her head.

“Bloody hell!” the young woman cursed.

“Mayhap ye should no’ stand so close,” Rose offered after apologizing.

Maribet cast her a stern look before bursting into laughter. “Mayhap I should work at dismantlin’ and let ye catch. Della has two planks down and is workin’ on her third.”

Rose looked across to see that Maribet spoke the truth. Giggling, she said, “I let her have the easy one, with the rotted wood.”

Della chimed in. “Mayhap ye should take the rotted wood, m’lady. We do no’ want ye hurtin’ yer pretty hands.”

Unable to contain her laughter, Rose leaned her head against the bin. She knew Della spoke in jest, for ’twas a conversation they’d had many times over the past weeks. ‘
Ye do no’ work like any mistress I’ve ever kent,’
Della had told her numerous times.
‘I’ve never seen such worn hands on a lady before.’
The jests were her way of complimenting Rose, in her own round about way.

At the end of the first hour, Rose had dismantled four boards to Della’s nine. Covered in sweat and grime, both women eagerly gave over their tools for a quick rest, allowing others to ascend the ladders and take over.

Working in teams, while four women dismantled the bins, the women on the ground loaded the planks into the wagon. ’Twas not as easy as Rose had anticipated, but together, they worked diligently and proudly. By the end of the day, they had a sizable amount of lumber loaded into the wagons.

“Our men will be verra proud of us,” Rose declared as she looked over the contents of the wagon. “Verra proud indeed!”

* * *

“
W
here the bloody
hell is me wife?” Ian shouted as he stormed through the encampment. When she had not brought him his noonin’ meal — as she’d been doing for weeks now — he thought mayhap she’d simply gotten too busy with something else. And when a handful of other men began to wonder where their wives were, they concluded their women must be together. But what could be so important that they’d forget to feed the men? Ian had volunteered to go back to find out.