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"Jetta is fine," Jetta said gently.
"Truly?" Mavis asked. "'Cause I'll keep trying to remember to call ye Sorcha, do ye wish it."
"Nay. Truly, Jetta is what I would prefer to be called," she assured her, and then smiled crookedly and pointed out, "I do not even know who Sorcha is. I do not remember being her. I am Jetta now."
"Aye, well, if ye get ye're memories back, change yer mind and would prefer Sorcha, ye just let me ken," Mavis said, and then glanced to Aulay. "Put the lass down and cover yerself up. Ye've a room full o' people wanting to talk to ye. Besides, the maids'll be up here soon with food and water and do no' need to get another eyeful."
Nodding, Aulay turned toward the bed, and started to bend forward, intending to set Jetta down, but Mavis immediately squawked, "Nay! No' on the bed, Aulay! What are ye thinkin'? Ye're both filthy. I'd ha'e to ha'e the maids change the linens again and just had that done this morn. Set her in one o' the chairs by the fire."
Heaving a sigh, Aulay straightened and carried Jetta to the chair closest to the fire. He set her in it and then straightened, and they both saw that Mavis had grabbed a plaid and brought it over. The moment Aulay was upright, she wrapped it around his waist and quickly pinned it at his hip, muttering, "Reminds me o' when I used to change yer nappies."
Finished with covering him from the waist down, she shifted her attention to his shirt and frowned her displeasure. Reaching up, she began tugging on it, asking, "What the devil ha'e ye done to yer shirt? Why is it all caught up behind yer head? Who taught ye to dress yerself?"
"You did," Aulay said with amusement. Unfazed by her fussing, he reached up to pull the front of his shirt back over his head and let it drop down into place. Raising an eyebrow then, he asked, "Better?"
"It'll do," she said dryly and then turned to survey the group milling just inside the door. "Well, get over here and talk to him then. But once the bath is ready I want ye all out o' here so I can see these two cleaned up. They're filthy and smell bad. I do no' ken how they can stand it."
Eyes widening, Jetta raised her arm to sniff it and then grimaced. She smelled like smoked pork, a food her father loved above all others. The thought made her still briefly, and she almost told Aulay that she'd remembered that her uncle liked smoked pork, but then decided against it. That wasn't a very useful memory.
Sighing, she glanced up and managed a smile as her new family moved over to join them by the fire.
Greer was the first to speak, expression solemn he suggested, "Ye'll ha'e to arrange the guard ye mentioned ye wanted on Jetta now. I ken ye planned to wait until tomorrow morn because ye'd be with her, but--"
"Aye," Aulay interrupted. "As soon as the men finish up at the stables."
"Do ye ken who ye want?" Dougall asked with concern.
"I was thinking I'd have Cullen pick three other men he trusts and ha'e the four men guard her."
"Aye, Cullen's a good man," Dougall murmured.
"What about you?" Jetta asked as the men fell silent, and they all turned to look at her with uncertainty. Scowling at Aulay, she pointed out, "You were in the stables too. You should have a guard also."
Aulay shook his head. "Nay. I was no' the target. I just happened to be there."
"How can you be sure?" she asked at once. "First Katie was shot with the arrow, then I was pushed down the stairs, and now both you and I were locked in burning stables. It seems to me there is no real target. Someone is just rushing about trying to kill people."
Aulay smiled at her with approval. "Ye noticed that, did ye? That the stable doors were blocked?"
"The doors were open when you carried me in and you did not go back and close them, 'tis why I was so reticent at first. I wanted you to at least close the doors, and was going to ask you to, but then you distracted me," she admitted, and knew from the heat in her cheeks that she was blushing brightly. Rushing on, she said, "I know the doors were open when we fell asleep after . . . er . . ." Her face was positively on fire now. Unable to verbalize what they'd been doing, she skipped to, "Yet they were closed when I woke up to see the stables were on fire. That bothered me, so I looked back on the way to the keep and saw that not only were they shut, but pieces of wood had been jammed against them to keep them closed."
"The doors were jammed?" Dougall asked with surprise. "How did ye get out then?"
"Aulay hacked an opening in the back wall of the stables," Jetta told him proudly.
"It was only big enough fer Jetta to get out when I stopped to try to get her to leave, but the men arrived from the castle and started helping from the other side," Aulay said with a shrug. "They must ha'e approached just ere I stopped to fetch Jetta and try to get her to leave and heard me hacking away. That or something else made them look around back and see the hole I'd started."
"Ye were lucky," Dougall said, and then shook his head. "Sorry we did no' get to ye sooner, Aulay. We were at the high table waitin' on ye and Jetta to arrive, and joking about what might be delaying ye. By the time we realized something was amiss, half the men were already out the doors and the others were fighting to follow and blocking our way."
Jetta could almost visualize what Dougall said. Mealtime in a great hall was always a noisy affair with lots of movement. There were people constantly coming and going, and everyone was shouting along the tables to others. With the high table so far from the doors, the people at it were often the last to learn what was happening if someone ran in from the bailey with news.
"Here we are," Mavis said briskly as two men carted a tub through the door. They were followed by several maids all carrying pails of water. Jetta was vaguely surprised that the job had been left to the women, but then realized that the men were all presently busy. She supposed it was lucky that two had been found to carry the tub.
Jetta watched with silent amusement as Mavis hustled the others out of the room. The woman was as firm with them as if they were still children in her charge and they responded as such. Even Greer, Cam, Edith and Murine obediently left the room under her chivvying, and they had not been in her charge as children. But then, Jetta realized, she reacted the same way to the woman. Her motherly nature and take-charge attitude just made you instinctively want to please her and obey.
"Now." Mavis turned to survey them and then settled her gaze on Aulay and raised her eyebrows. "Did ye plan to share the bath, or shall I attend Jetta and then ye can--"
"We'll share," Aulay said at once with a grin, and the blush that had just left Jetta's face immediately warmed her cheeks again.
"Then I'll go see what's taking that tray from Cook so long," Mavis announced, reaching for the door. But then she paused and pursed her lips before saying, "I gather from what our Jetta said . . . and did no' say . . . that ye consummated the wedding in the stables?"
Groaning, Jetta lowered her head with embarrassment.
"I'll no' harangue ye, Aulay, fer doing it in the stable, o' all places," Mavis went on. "For if 'twas good enough fer Mary to birth Jesus, then I suppose 'tis good enough fer what ye got up to. But, Lord love us, lad, could ye no' ha'e at least taken a linen with ye so we'd ha'e something to show on the morrow?" she asked with exasperation.
Jetta glanced up with alarm as she realized there would be no bloody sheet as proof of her innocence when the priest came to collect it in the morning.
Sighing, Mavis shook her head. "I'll see if I can find ye some blood somewhere. I dare no' ask Cook. He'd suspect what it was for. I suppose I'll ha'e to kill a chicken or something to get it without anyone else kenning."
"There's no need, Mavis," Aulay interrupted gently. "I'll tend it."
Eyebrows rising, she asked, "Are ye sure?"
"Aye," he said and there was no mistaking the relief on the woman's face as she turned to open the door. It seemed she hadn't been looking forward to killing a chicken.
Jetta watched the door close and then smiled at Aulay as he walked toward her. "Mavis is . . ." Jetta hesitated and then picked the only word she could t
hink of. "Special."
"Aye," Aulay agreed solemnly, reaching for her stays and beginning to undo them. "Our mother was wonderful, but with nine children and a castle to tend, she was always busy. Mavis stepped in and made sure we had what we needed and that none o' us felt left out when Mother was busy with the others."
"She was like a second mother to you all," Jetta said as he pulled her arms free of the undone gown.
