Marblestone Mansion 01 - Scandalous Duchess

Obviously,” Sarah muttered.

    Sassy was given a room on the third floor all to herself and a bed she was not forced to share with anyone else. Of course, as more maids came, the other bed in her room would be occupied, but just now it was all hers and she could not believe her good fortune. She even had a dresser, although it was well used and she had little to put in the drawers. McKenna gave her a very fine brush and as tired as she was, she gave her auburn hair a good brushing before bed. She would have liked having a mirror to look in, but she had done without one for years.
    She even had her own porcelain basin for washing with a matching pitcher full of water. The problem was, she could not quite decide if it should go in the middle of the dresser or to one side. She moved it to the right side, climbed into bed, pulled up the covers and closed her eyes. A moment later, she opened them again, threw off the covers, got up, and moved it back to the center. At last, she was content and fell fast asleep.

    The next morning, the smell of bacon filled the air and Hannish expected the Scots to sleep late. Instead, he found most of them eating when he entered the kitchen. He had a well-established habit of coming to the kitchen in the mornings, instead of ringing for tea and disturbing their breakfast. The Scottish servants quickly stood, so the Americans did as well. “Dinna let me disturb you. I manage to wander in here from time to time and ‘tis not necessary to stand, save when we have guests, perhaps.”
    The servant’s dining hall was almost as large as the formal dining room, with plenty of chairs for several more servants without having to eat in shifts.
    “ I have decided not to await my wife’s decorating desires,” said Hannish. “Therefore, we have much work ahead. Prescot, you will take the wagon to town and secure a bed for my sister, if at all possible. Take Shepard with you. McKenna will need bedding and any other suitable furniture you manage to find. If you cannae find any, we will borrow some from the servant’s quarters until new arrives.” He lifted the saucer off the tray Halen held, blew on the contents in the cup and then took a sip. “Thank you, Halen. Prescot, bring back two or three Montgomery Ward Catalogs. I believe the post office has extras. I am counting on the rest of you to make lists of needs for the house and dinna forget a clock for every room.”
    “ And what shall I do?” McKenna asked behind him.
    Again, everyone stood up and again, Hannish urged them to sit back down. He set his tea down, put his arm over her shoulder, and turned her around. “That.”
    “ That what?”
    “ That, my dear sister is the door to a very large pantry that needs fillin’, and if you are very good, I shall let the cooks help you make your list. Winters are harsh in Colorado and we must be fully prepared. No one goes hungry in my house.”
    “ I am happy to hear that!” Sassy said, quickly slipping around McKenna. She sat down at the table and snatched a strip of bacon off the platter in front of her. “Old Mrs. Forthright sure wouldn’t believe this. Bacon on an ordinary day? We was only allowed bacon on Christmas.”
    “ Bacon for Christmas?” Charlotte asked.
    “ Aye and a slice of ham for dinner, if we were very good. I managed the ‘very good’ part two years in a row. ‘Twas not easy, I mean to say. She never called me ‘Sassy’ but that’s what she thought of me, right enough. I should not have done it, I suppose.”
    All eyes were on her, but Sassy stopped talking to enjoy her first bite of bacon. She closed her eyes, savored the taste, and slowly chewed until Dugan could stand it no more, “Should not have done what?”
    Sassy was not about to let him hurry her and chewed several more times before she swallowed. “Hide her paddle, is what. It took nigh on to a week for her to learn the truth of it, and were we not all happy it took that long!”
    “ How did she know you hid it?” Sarah asked.
    “ Confession be good for the soul, Old Mrs. Forthright always said.” Sassy took another bite of bacon and again savored the taste for a while before she continued, “She’d not let us have another meal until someone told where it was, so I was forced to say.”
    “ Did she paddle you?” McKenna asked.
    “ Not too awfully bad. James got it worse than me and all he did was laugh when I refused to cry.” She glanced at all the horrified expressions and smiled,