'I be born in the year the old queen died, or so I was told,' Comfort Rogers said. 'Me mam died with the eighth baby, and me dad run off soon after. I be the oldest, and was transported for stealing bread to feed me brothers and sisters.'
'What happened to them?' Fortune asked the girl.
Comfort shrugged. 'Don't know,' the girl said, seemingly unconcerned.
'You will not wander into the woods again, Comfort?' Fortune fixed a stern gaze on the girl.
Comfort didn't answer. She just stared at Fortune.
'You have not answered me, Comfort,' her mistress said.
'Didn't mean to get lost,' Comfort replied. 'I was looking for berries for Master Kieran's breakfast.'
'Do not go into the woods again unless you have someone with you who can find their way back to the house,' Fortune said firmly.
'You can't tell me what to do,' Comfort said boldly. 'Only the master can give me orders.'
Before Kieran might remonstrate with the girl Mrs. Hawkins whacked her hard on her bottom with a large wooden spoon. 'Mind yer manners, ye little London trull. This be the mistress of the house, and the house belongs to her, and all in it. It is she who will tell ye what to do, and ye will do it, Comfort Rogers, else she sell yer bond elsewhere, which I'm thinking would be a good idea.' She turned to Fortune. 'She can clean, I'll give her that, but she has no respect for her betters, m'lady. Didn't learn it in her own home, if indeed she ever had a home, and a mam she remembers.'
'Master! Ohhh, master,' Comfort howled, and flung herself at Kieran, clinging to him. 'Don't let
'Now, now, lass, just do your work, and mind my good lady wife,' Kieran said, 'and we'll have no problems. Mrs. Hawkins knows the lay of the land. The house is indeed my lady's. Your loyalty should be first with your mistress.' Kieran patted the girl on the shoulder, and untangled her from his person.
Fortune slipped her arm through her husband's. 'You will call us when dinner is ready,' she said to Mrs. Hawkins, ignoring Comfort.
'Yes, m'lady,' came the prompt reply.
'Dolly, follow along, and come meet the children,' Fortune said.
'Cow!' Comfort said when her master and mistress had gone.
'Ye'd best behave, wench. Her ladyship will be patient to a point, but then ye'll find yerself in a kettle of hot water. The master ain't for you, and he ain't never going to be,' Mrs. Hawkins said.
'If she really loved him she would have come with him when he arrived in Mary's Land,' Comfort said. 'It's been almost two years since they've been together. Why didn't she come sooner if she loved him? Do you see how he looks at me? He wants me. I knows men.'
Mrs. Hawkins sniffed scornfully. 'Yer a fool, Comfort Rogers. The master don't look at you in any special way, if indeed he has looked at you at all. Her ladyship didn't come at first because she was with child. Then Governor Calvert ordered that no more women and children come until there was decent shelter for them. We had no choice in the matter being bondservants, but the master wanted her ladyship and his babe safe.' She smiled slyly. 'There'll be another babe born in this house within a year, I can tell you. Tonight, and for many nights to come, master will be plowing a good furrow with his lady.'
Comfort glared at the older woman. 'I hate you,' she said.
Mrs. Hawkins cackled, pleased to have tweaked the uppity wench's temper. The girl was trouble, and had been from the start. Sadly the poor master couldn't see it, but then men were never very clever where women were concerned. But the mistress had seen it right away. Comfort Rogers would not get her own way with the master now.
Dolly and the children took to one another almost at once, leaving Rois free to help her mistress unpack a few things.
'I'll live out of the trunks until we get the plaster done, and the furniture properly placed,' Fortune told her serving woman. 'Let's go and see the cottage Kevin has built for you.'
Rois's new home was located within sight of Fortune's Fancy. It had two rooms, and a loft. The floor was packed dirt. There were two fireplaces and three windows covered with oilpaper, each with its own shutter. A small dormer window had been installed in the loft. The heavy wooden door was hung with stout iron hinges. Rois walked about her new home, well-pleased, nodding at the small brick oven built into the side of the main fireplace, and the iron pot arm that could be swung about above the iron grate. The cottage, however, was empty for Kevin had not dared to place his wife's furniture which stood out in the yard.
'Let's bring it inside,' Fortune suggested. 'You can't leave it out in the night air.' She picked up a small wooden chair.
'Oh, m'lady, you shouldn't be doing that,' Rois cried.
Fortune smiled at her servant. 'And who else is there to do it if we don't, Rois? I haven't been raised to be so fine a lady that I can't bring a small chair into a house. Come on!'
Working together the two women lugged several chairs, a trestle table, and a wooden settle into the main room of the cottage. Then they brought in the bed with its head, foot, and rope springs. Looking for his wife, Kieran Devers saw what the two women were doing. Calling to Kevin, they joined their wives, putting the bed together, bringing in the mattress and featherbed, as well as Brendan's large oaken cradle, which was set by the small hearth in what was to be the bedchamber.
Suddenly Rois stopped, and looking distressed said, 'What am I to cook for dinner? I have no pots unpacked yet, or food to feed us.'
'You'll eat with us,' Fortune said quietly. 'Mrs. Hawkins said she was roasting a turkey.'
'But, m'lady, it isn't proper that we sit at table with our betters,' Rois worried. 'What would yer mam say? What would my grandmam say for that matter? It isn't right.'
'Rois,' Fortune said patiently, 'this isn't England, or Scotland, or Ireland; and Fortune's Fancy certainly isn't a castle, or the fine mansion it will be one day. This is Mary's Land. I will wager my husband hasn't been sitting in isolated splendor all these months at his meals. He's eaten with Kevin, and whoever else came to table.' She looked to Kieran, and he nodded. 'You see,' Fortune said. 'Now, no nonsense about it. In time I'll have an elegant room for dining, but for now it is the keeping room for all.'
Mrs. Hawkins had roasted a large bird that she served with yams that had been baked in the coals, new peas, fresh bread, butter, and cheese. Afterward there was a dessert made of dried apples and honey. Fortune ordered that a small barrel of October ale that she had transported be broached for them to enjoy. The four bondmen sitting at the far end of the trestle, thanked her. They had not tasted good English beer in a long time. The two mothers cut tiny pieces of turkey to feed their children along with mashed yams, and bits of bread and cheese. Both Aine and Brendan already had a few teeth, and were eager to use them. Dolly proved most helpful, giving her mistress and Rois opportunity to eat while she kept the two little ones amused. Comfort Rogers, however, did not sit at the trestle for Mrs. Hawkins had her busy helping to serve the meal.
'When do I get to eat?' Comfort whined. 'There'll be nothing left by the time
'If there's no turkey, you can have a nice bowl of corn mush,' Mrs.
