The flowers on her mother’s grave told her that her brothers had been there, and she carefully set hers between their bouquets. It was comforting to know she was not alone in stopping by on her mother’s birthday. She said a little prayer, then accepted Gybbon’s hand to help her stand up.
“The town picked a lovely spot to have consecrated ground,” she said as she looked around, noting with approval the trees left to shade the graves.
Gybbon took her hand and walked her back to the cart. “Your brothers stopped by, aye?”
“Aye. They seem to do weel in raising Andrew. I was a wee bit concerned at first,” she confessed, and was not surprised when he laughed.
“Och, aye. Just a wee bit. If ye hadnae been carrying the laddies, ye would have been o’er at the manor every single day.”
She did not even attempt to argue with that statement but set Caitlin up on the cart seat, constantly telling the child to sit down as Gybbon lifted her up and sat her on the seat. As he climbed up, she turned to give the wrestling boys what Gybbon fondly called The Look, and they immediately sat down. She tugged Caitlin back down so the child again sat on the seat.
“And now we go to see what will soon be our home,” said Gybbon, as he set the cart in motion.
“It has taken longer than ye thought it would, hasnae it?”
“Aye, but these things rarely go as planned. Too many things can go wrong, from the weather to supplies nay coming in when they were supposed to, and on and on.”
“And we seem to have discovered every single thing that could go wrong.”
“That we did, but I also had some things I wanted that caused a wee problem or twa. Still, ’tis nearly done and it will be perfect.” Gybbon reached over his daughter to pat Mora on the shoulder.
“It certainly looked to be fine the last time I saw it, before the roof was to go on.” She sighed. “I suspect Sigimor will be pleased to have his manor house back.”
“He will, but he hasnae complained. Said ours is going much more smoothly than his did and he only wants his for one of his brothers. The mon is about to be wed, so that nudge could grow stronger, but he would ne’er suggest we leave just for that. He is too happy about having so many Murrays close to hand, plus thrilled that their arrival rid him of a few troublemakers he figured he would soon have to confront.”
She nodded and studied the land they were traveling through. It was going to take most of the day to get to the place where their manor was being built. Mora had assumed they would stay at Harcourt’s keep, but she wished Gybbon would have let her pack what was needed. Glancing in the back, she frowned at the two chests and several bags he had put in the cart and could not help but wonder what was in them. Deciding not to worry about it, she went back to watching the countryside and judged it as a pleasant place to live. Yawning, she tried to think of everything she wanted to do in her new home when it was finished, hoping it would be enough to keep her awake.
*
Something landed on her lap and Mora started in surprise. She stared down at Freya for a few moments before she realized she had fallen asleep. Frantically, she looked around for Caitlin and found her child in the back of the cart sleeping in a pile with her brothers. When she attempted to lean over and pick the child up, she realized she was tied to the seat. Mora glared at Gybbon.
“Ye tied me up again!”
“Aye, I did. Ye fell asleep. Again. Cannae have ye tumbling out of the cart.”
“Untie me.”
“Ye can untie yourself this time.”
Muttering to herself, she found the knot and untied it. When she unwound it she found that it crossed over her chest and that the ropes were secured to the back of the seat. A closer study found cloth ties set up in the middle of the seat. The man had made harnesses for both her and Caitlin. It annoyed her that she found that touching and frowned at him.
“Ye have made harnesses for both me and Caitlin,” she said, pleased by the hint of anger she had kept in her voice.
“I have. The two of ye keep falling asleep and ’tis a long way to the ground. Happens every time ye are in the cart. It gets rolling along and first one, then the other of ye go out like snuffed candles that snore.”
“I dinnae snore.”
“Weel, nay, not truly. ’Tis more like ye breathe loudly because your head is tipped back. Caitlin snores.”
Mora leaned over the back of the seat and studied her little girl. Her wild mass of blond curls covered her face as she sprawled between her brothers, her legs and arms flung out over them. Then she heard it. She supposed that strange whistling sound could be called a snore, especially since she made the sound as she breathed in and made a louder similar one as she breathed out.
Sighing, Mora turned around and idly smoothed down her skirts. “She will outgrow that.” She ignored his soft laughter. “She is going to be a fine lady one day.”
“Och, aye, as soon as she grows out of snoring, playing in the mud until she fair drips with it, bellowing out commands like some war lord, and trying to pummel Reid.” He laughed harder when she swatted him.
She looked around and realized they were now on the road that would go by their new house. “We are almost there.”
“Aye. Ye had a nice nap.”
She was going to have to figure out some way to stay awake, she decided. It would serve him right if she just kept talking for the whole ride. As they turned down a very rough trail toward the manor, she stared. It looked like there were a lot of people at the manor house, which, she noticed with pleasure, now had a fine slate roof on it.
Gybbon brought the cart to a halt, got down, then walked around to lift her out. A quick look into the back told Mora all the children were still sleeping, so she turned her attention to the people gathered. She gasped with delight when she saw all three of her brothers and ran over to hug Andrew.
“See, Mora? He is still alive,” said David, and laughed when she stuck her tongue out at him.
After greeting Harcourt and Brett, Gybbon walked over to greet his brothers-in-law. They had been a great help to him in finishing the manor this last year. He now had to hope Mora appreciated all their efforts.
“We brought the cart of things we promised,” said Niall.
“What things?” asked Mora as she glanced toward the cart to be sure the children still slept.
“Some things we thought ye would like from the house. Passed ye on the road, but Gybbon was busy tying ye into place when ye fell asleep.” He glanced over at the cart. “And I will go rescue my niece before she starts bellowing.”
Mora looked at the cart and sighed as she saw Caitlin hanging on to the cart seat with her little legs kicking. Niall grabbed her and then the two boys popped up, rubbing their eyes. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she promised herself she would not worry about any of them right now.
“Thank ye,” she said to David, and he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, but not quick enough, because when he straightened up it was to find a grinning Niall standing in front of him with Caitlin in his arms and leaning toward him, pointing to her cheek.
“Seeing as your brithers have an eye on the bairns, let me show ye the inside,” said Gybbon as both brothers muttered mild complaints.
Mora let him lead her away. She went through the thick oaken doors and gazed at the wide hallway. The dining hall was nice and large, and she had to suppress a sigh of pleasure when he led her into the kitchen. There would be few complaints from whomever they got in to work in such a space. As he led her from room to room she got a little uneasy. It was very luxurious. Then he took her to the master bedroom, which was obviously his pride and joy if she judged the expression on his face right.
He showed her the small bedchamber next to it, which had a door to theirs, and was intended for the youngest, and then the ledger room on the other side. But she could almost feel his excitement as he led her into that through a nearly hidden door by the hearth. Then he practically ran across the room to show her the other hidden door by that hearth.