Page 16 of Lion and the Lamb: Easter

“She, is your new stepmother and you will address her as Lady Rachael or Mother,” he told his daughter.

“I’ll never call her Mother,” sneered the girl.

“Lady Rachael will be doing something about her hair as well,” Lionel continued. “Now, excuse me, I have duties to attend to and won’t be back for the rest of the day.”

He turned and headed away, leaving Rachael standing there not knowing what to say to Winifred.

“I’m sorry,” she told the girl.

“For what?” Winifred turned her head and looked the other way when she spoke.

Rachael wanted to tell her that her father was going to betroth her, but decided not to. If she was going to be living here as Lionel’s wife for the next six weeks, she didn’t want to anger him more than she already had.

“I’m sorry that you and your father don’t get along. Has it always been that way?”

“What do you care?”

“I’m also sorry that you had no choice in getting me for a stepmother.”

That seemed to shut the girl up. She obviously didn’t expect Rachael to say that.

“Are you really going to make me plait my hair?” asked Winifred.

“I’ll tell you what. You can watch me fix my hair, and then, only if you want to, I’ll help you with yours as well.”

“Really?” The girl looked at her suspiciously.

“Really.”

“All right. We can go to my chamber. It’s this way.” Winifred turned and headed away.

“My lady, what are you doing?” whispered Agnes, once the girl was out of earshot. “You heard Lord Lionel. If you both don’t have your hair tied back or covered, he is going to be furious.”

“Don’t worry. When I’m done, Winifred will be more than willing to do as her father wishes. Now, see if you can find some wildflowers and bring them to the girl’s solar. Oh, and do bring Drew along with you. If they are going to be stepbrother and stepsister now, I’d like them to meet.”

“Are you sure you know what you are doing?” asked Agnes, wringing her hands in front of her.

“Nay, not at all,” she told Agnes with a smile. “Then again, I didn’t know what I was doing when I birthed a baby at a young age either, and somehow I survived. I am sure Winifred will figure out the answers, too, in time. She just needs to feel that she is doing it on her own.”

“Well, I hope you are right,” said Agnes. “Because if not, things are going to get worse around here.”

“I am not sure they could get any worse than they already are,” Rachael answered. “The girl just needs someone to listen to her, since it doesn’t seem that she and her father have any kind of relationship between them at all.

* * *

“Let me see those ledgers again,”said Lionel, holding out his hand to the dockmaster. Now that he was in charge of his father’s shipping business, he wanted to make certain things added up. Ever since the shipment of wool that went missing years ago starting a feud between them and Rachael’s family, Lionel thought something just wasn’t right. He hadn’t been home much in years, and his absence seemed to bring about many changes. Lionel felt like he didn’t know what was going on at Castle Hatchet anymore. His father had let the shipping business slip out of his control. Neither did Lionel seem to know his daughter anymore. He aimed to fix everything as soon as he could.

“I checked the numbers three times myself,” said the dockmaster. “Everything is fine, my lord, I assure you.”

“Mayhap,” said Lionel, paging through the ledgers. He couldn’t find anything wrong, just like the dockmaster said. “I suppose it’s good to go.”

“Shall I have it moved to the dockhouse, my lord, until the ship arrives and we can send it off to its destination?”

“For now. But I want things stored in the undercroft of my alehouse from now on.”

“The alehouse?” asked the man. “But that will mean moving the shipment there and then back when the ship arrives.”

“I know. I will return with Willard and my squire when it gets dark and we will move it then. Don’t mention it to anyone.” Dozens of barrels were spread out over the dock. It was going to be much more work moving the goods several times, but Lionel didn’t care. If someone was stealing from him, then he needed to keep a better eye on his shipments.