by Fiona Faris
"Lilia," she said, and he smiled.
"A lovely name for a beautiful woman,” he quipped, checking to see if she would blush at a compliment as most did. She raised a brow at his words, but a polite smile played at her lips. He almost laughed, she was not as easy as she looked, or perhaps he just wasn’t doing his best.
"Thank ye,” she said, paying the seller. He wondered how she saw him. He probably had up to ten years on her and had no business wooing her, especially with how tattered he was looking. That was what she probably thought.
He found her rather delectable, but there was too much on his plate at the moment. He hadn't had a good sleep and certainly did not look his best. If he met her again, then he would not hesitate. He bowed.
"Well, I will be on me way now. It was nice to meet ye, Miss Lilia,” he said, giving her his friendliest smile.
"Alright, good day Mister,” she said, bowing as well as he left. Walking away, he continued to hope that he would meet her again and the excitement made his heart thump.
…
Lilia returned to her cottage with her basket full of bread, vegetables, and more beans. She had still not warmed back up to Uielam after the day before when she had been worried after he disappeared from the cottage to go hunting.
Even after Osgar had left and he had come back in, she had given him the cold shoulder all day only responding with noncommittal grunts when he explained what Osgar had come for and that Osgar had taken the deer to prepare it for them.
She had gotten even more irritated when she saw him eating food Osgar had no doubt brought. She wanted to leave him to his own devices for his picky eating, but since he had actually gone out to hunt, she had no choice but to put some effort into making a better quality of food.
She was still as upset as ever, thinking about how much money she had put into food alone. Even when she raised the standard of her life, she could not imagine spending so much on food. Food was for sustenance. Taste was a luxury, and it would continue to be if she were wise. If she developed a rich woman's taste, then it would render her dirt poor.
She thought of the man she had met in the market, his tired dark eyes and his raven hair. He was pleasant enough, but something had just seemed off about him. She tried to shake it off, telling herself that it was only because of the obvious bags under his eyes and because he looked like he’d been sleeping in a bush all of his life.
She felt guilty for judging him as he was not particularly bad looking. If he cleaned up, slept some, and wore some better clothes, then he would be handsome in a quiet way. She had seen the interest spark in his eyes as he looked at her. It was not something she was happy about.
He was obviously much older than her, and for some, that might bring comfort as it meant he would be more muted and inclined towards family. However, she did not want his interests at all.
Look at ye being so materialistic. Ye are probably only discouraged because he came looking so tattered.
She chided herself harshly. That was the only explanation she could come up with for her unease at just speaking to him for a few moments. He had heard her badmouthing Uielam, though, and she blushed at the memory.
She had not been able to stop herself from making such snide remarks when she could clearly hear the women who were swooning over him. Apart from the fact that she was jealous, he was in her house so she knew better how annoying he could be. It was astonishing, his dedication to getting what he wanted. Even now, he was getting her to make the food he wanted.
She reached the door and was just about to open it when it creaked ajar slightly, and Uielam peeked through, scanning the surroundings behind her to make sure there was no one around, before throwing the door open.
"Ye are back!" He announced, throwing open his arms. "Osgar has already brought the meat back, and he also brought extra coins to pay for me food while I am here, will ye start cooking right now?"
He looked quite excited. She rolled her eyes and stepped into the house, allowing him to shut the door behind her. She dropped her shopping on the table, and he pointed to the backyard where the meat was hanging in the sun. The deer he had caught had been bled, cut, and cured. It hung in five parts.
"I need to put those in a barrel before they attract any animals,” she muttered.
"Ah, alright," Uielam said. "So…"
She sighed at his prompting, not knowing if she should be annoyed or impressed by the way he had gotten what he wanted.
"I will put some effort into makin' what ye want…" She said, rolling her eyes. He grinned triumphantly, looking smug. She went back into the house and got a barrel while he stood by the wall and watched her.
She glanced his way, it did not seem to occur to him to help her. Just how spoiled was he? And was she going to let him remain so spoiled under her roof? She would only continue to get angry if she did not at least try to teach him.
"Daenae just stand there. If ye want to eat, then ye must pull yer own weight. Take this barrel and put all the meat inside and bring it back to the house,” she said.
He looked appalled, as though he could not believe she was sending him on errands. She was not budging; however, right now, he was just a regular man and not the Laird's son, and the sooner he realized this, the better for everyone. The way he continued to act, he would probably end up caught the moment he was under the public gaze.
"Can I nae just pay ye to dae it for me?" he asked, causing her to raise a brow.
Seeing that she was serious, he peeled himself off the wall and begrudgingly took the barrel from her, going to do as he was told. She smiled, pleased with herself. Perhaps she just might tame him yet.
Chapter Ten
Uielam stared at the food on his wooden plate with an odd sense of satisfaction. It was not the best meal he has ever had, but he felt oddly happy with the food. Lila had made pottage with beans, vegetables, and meat from the deer.
She had directed him to cut and boil the meat, and so it was his very first meal that he had cooked, although he had not done everything himself. Lilia brought her bowl to the table and sat, sliding over a cup of mead to him.
"Dae ye like it?" she asked, searching his face as she held her spoon ready to eat.
"Aye… I cannae explain it, it is nae as good as the food I eat in the castle, but there is this feeling that comes with it,” he told her, hoping he had expressed himself sufficiently. He relaxed when she gave a knowing laugh.
"Aye, I understand what ye mean. Me maither used to say there is a simple joy in eatin' the work of yer own hands,” she said. "She taught me how to make me own food in this very cottage."
He saw her eyes change… a faraway look in them as she spoke of her mother.
"What happened to yer maither?" he asked tentatively, hoping that the direction he was taking the conversation would not upset her. She paused with her spoon in the air and then lowered it.
"Me maither died when I was fourteen. She was sick, and died. She had already dragged on too long to take care of me, so it was a mercy. She went quietly in her sleep, with a smile on her face after makin' me promise that I would be alright,” she said.
There was a glint of sadness in her eyes, but she masked it by eating, bending her head, and taking three spoonfuls at once. Uielam ate as well, allowing a few moments of silence to pass.
"What about yer faither? Was he nae the one who built this house?" he asked. She looked up at him with a slight frown.
"Nay, nae at all. I daenae ken who me faither is. From the way that maither spoke of him, I believe he might have been dead. I have only ever ken me maither.
Uielam's brow raised and he looked over the cottage
"...but the cottage…" he said, trailing off in confusion. Lilia sighed.
"Me maither was workin' as a wet nurse for an English lady when I was six summers old. I had a brother, but he didnae live very long as a baby since he was sickly, and we were poor, stranded in England. I asked me maither why we had been in England if we were from c
lan MacNab, but she never said. After me brother died, maither found work as a wet nurse."
Uielam noted that her fist was clenched around her spoon, and she was staring at the table. It was obviously not something she liked to discuss.
"The job didnae pay much, but at least it gave us a roof over our heads and kept us from the rain. Luckily for maither, the English Lady's son was rather fond of her, and the English woman didnae have her son weaned until he was four summers old. It was fortunate that we’d been taken in for that long. It was even luckier that after me maither's job was done, the Lady's friend decided to help me maither. It was on that kind woman's coin that me maither brought me here and had this cottage built,” she finished.
Uielam could not even imagine a life such as the one she had just told him of. He had never known lack nor what it felt like to be stranded in a foreign land. He had never left Scotland in his life.
"I am nae much different from ye,” she said, beginning to eat again. "Ye have only ever ken yer faither too."
He angled his head to one side, considering her words. She was right. His mother had died giving birth to him, and since then, his father had not married again, choosing to raise him alone.
"Aye, I suppose ye are right although where ye never ken yer faither, I never ken me maither," he said.
She chewed thoughtfully as she looked at him, swallowing before speaking.
"Did ye nae ever miss her? I reckon it was nae easy. Probably even more difficult than nae havin' a faither like me,” she said.
He was somewhat taken aback. It had been a while since anyone had asked him that. He smiled; she had opened up to him, so he guessed he owed her to do the same.
"I did miss me maither. It was nae an easy task, growin' up without one. Faither tried to be there the best that he could, but I still found myself feelin' left out when I went to play with Osgar and saw his maither hug him. I was envious, and I wanted a maither too. Osgar's maither saw this and tried to give me attention as well. I took as much maitherly love as I could until one night when I was with summers old. I was sleepin' at the Abernathy manor for the day, and I happened to overhear Osgar's parents as they talked about me thinking that I was asleep," he said.
He could still hear them as clearly as though it had only happened yesterday. It had been a defining moment in his life anyway.
"I am sure they didnae mean any harm by it, but Osgar's maither was talkin' about how desperate I was for maitherly love and how she felt bad for me. She said that I needed a maither and that while me faither choosin' nae to marry again spoke volumes of his love for me maither, he wasnae doin' the right thing as he tried to give me everythin' I wanted but would never be able to make up for me nae having a maither,” he continued.
The words were strange on his tongue as he had never admitted it to anyone, not even Osgar, who was his best friend. He had always brushed it off when asked, saying that his father's love had always been enough.
"I hated the fact that my neediness meant me faither who was giving his all wasnae doin' enough. I realized that trying to have a different maither was unimportant since I already had a maither, a maither who me faither had loved so much he swore nae to marry again. After that day, I stopped going to Osgar's house to play just so I wouldnae have to see his maither. Instead, Osgar was free to come to the castle whenever he liked and even had his own quarters, as did Flora. I stopped thinking about having a maither and visited maither's paintings whenever I felt like I needed her. I have never admitted this to anyone before," he finished.
There were a few moments of silence after Lilia spoke, and he gulped down his food. He never expected that in his life, he would be seated in a maid's cottage, eating food he had cooked with her and sharing secrets from his childhood.
A wooden mug in front of his face made him look up in surprise, and he found Lilia with her cup extended towards him.
"Salut to childhood with one parent," she prompted. Slowly Uielam's surprise gave way to a smile, and he lifted his mug to hers.
"Here here…" he said, and they both drank. He laughed softly at her simple reaction, although he was not sure what he had been expecting.
They continued to eat, and Uielam could not stop himself from glancing at Lilia. It was subtle, and he could not be sure it was there, but something had changed between them. Or at least in the way that he saw her.
"Thank ye for teachin' me the joy of doin' things meself,” he said, and he could only smile when she let out a surprised,
"Ye're welcome."
…
The days had passed in a blur since Uielam had cooked with her, and whatever connection she thought she had felt seemed to be fading away very quickly. The tournament was beginning, and Uielam was going out to practice every day. A part of her wondered if he didn’t want to be in the cottage with her for the whole day. It was also true that there were not a lot of things to do in her home, so perhaps that was why. Either way, he seemed to be entirely focused on the tournament.
This meant that cooking together did not become a routine. He did not wake up early enough in the mornings for them to make breakfast, so she simply made it for him, and once it was midday, he left the cottage to practice, and by the time he returned, she had already made dinner. Lilia also found that she was beginning to run out of things to do in her home. She was used to working at the castle for four days each week, but since Uielam was staying, she had dropped her job at the castle temporarily.
Now all she did was stay home, and she was running out of things to do. After her chores, there was nothing else. She had begun to check the house for parts that needed fixing out of boredom. It had become rather underwhelming as she had expected more excitement from Uielam’s stay. He even teased her less, even though they ate dinner together every evening and were all alone. It once again felt like it had in the castle when he only flirted with her when he saw her, but she was out of his mind the moment he turned around.
She felt stupid for feeling disappointed. After all, she already knew better than to think he would fall for her or begin to take her seriously. It made no sense to be upset that he was focusing on the tournament and spending less time with her. He was annoying, and the tournament was the reason he had come to her cottage in the first place. She knew all of these things, yet it did nothing to stop her irrational feelings.
“Is everythin’ alright, Lilia? Ye have been standing there for several minutes now, just starin’ into the wall and holdin’ me cup of mead,” Flora’s voice suddenly said in the back of her mind. Lilia jumped, nearly tossing the wooden mug she was holding in her hand. Right, Flora had visited her and was sitting at her table waiting for the mead she had offered.
“Ah, dae forgive me, I was simply lost in thought,” Lilia said, collecting herself quickly and taking the mug to Flora before getting a drink for herself as well.
Her friend looked at her skeptically as though trying to read her soul. Flora certainly looked concerned, but Lilia tried to wave it off by taking a sip from her mug.
“Lilia… are ye sure that ye are alright? Ye ken that ye can tell me what is botherin’ ye. Is it Uielam? That pile of horse dung, I will teach him a lesson, I warned him that if he messed with ye, I wouldnae forgive him yet he is still givin’ ye a hard time…” Flora began.
Lilia’s eyes widened as her friend went off on a spiel. Flora did that often, asking a question, then answering it herself and going on to get into a rage. She scrambled to stop her, waving her arms frantically.
“Nay, nay, The Younger didnae dae anythin’. In fact, I am actually surprised. I barely see him as he spends all day going out to practice. The problem is entirely with me,” she said, calming Flora down. The noblewoman blinked at her, dropping her fists and pouting.
“The problem is with ye? What dae ye mean?” Flora asked, concerned. “Ye are so sweet and unproblematic how could ye possibly be the one with the problem?”
Lilia almost slapped her palm to her face. She chuckled at her defe
nsive friend.
“I mean that I have a problem that does nae involve The Younger, nae that I am the problem,” she explained.
“Ah,” Flora said, realizing. “So, what is yer problem?”
“I am beginning to get bored,” Lilia admitted. “I stopped workin’ at the castle so that I would be able to dae this little plan with yer brother and The Younger, and it is a lot less exciting than we had thought. I spend most of me day alone now, and I’m beginning to run out of things to dae when I am alone.”
Flora blinked, looking as though that was the last thing she had expected Lilia to complain about.
“Ah, now that ye mention it, it would get rather borin’ livin’ in a house all by yerself,” she mused, before perking up. “Well, if ye are bored, ye can always come to me house to visit me. I have told ye before that ye are always welcome at the Abernathy manor. Oh, and ye will be even more so welcome when me own manor is finished.”
