The Barmaid & The Blacksmith

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

For two weeks after Jerud’s burial, they scowled at her, barked commands, and did not let Fiona forget that it was in a fight over her that their friend Jerud Daugherty died.

She assumed the worst of this harassment would die away, though for days she did nothing but wait on the tavern guests, and then retreat quickly to her room upstairs when the evening was over. She rarely saw the mysterious blacksmith. Perhaps he thought her troubles would die away too, she thought.

“I’ll just have to protect myself,” she repeated over and again to herself.

“Is Leedy Mallick getting rough with you, Fi?” Mr. Travis, asked her one afternoon.

“I can handle him,” she assured her employer. “He gets a little drunk and starts talking but I shove him away.”

“I’m not so sure,” he said, shaking his head. “These men are scoundrels, Fiona, and you have no man to take care of you now. I’m not so sure this little valley is the right place for you.”

“I know no other place, sir,” Fiona replied with a haughty proud tone. “This is where I was born, bless both my poor parents. I shall stay here, I wouldn’t know any other place to go.”

He shook his head, looking at the lovely young woman, thinking that like all the other young lasses in this poor valley, she’d be used up quickly, hopefully at the hands of a husband, and not these ruffians or the roving bandits that passed through their village.

There was a brisk penetrating wind howling though a shadowy evening, just after sunset. Fiona was on her way to the smoke house with cured meat, that Jon Travis wanted her to put there. A strange shuffling at her back caused Fiona to turn abruptly.

“My gawd! You shocked me!”

Leedy Mallick was leering at her with pitiful eyes that gave off a light she’d not seen before on any man. Either he was very drunk, or crazy.

He reached out to grab her and she dropped the meat to ground. Wanting to cry out, the best effort that escaped her was a squeal, before Leedy’s hand clamped down on her mouth.

“Don’t say a word, w***e,” he seethed in her ear. “I’d as soon kill you as keep you alive.” Something hard pressed against her ribs. Were it a knife, it was close enough to s***h her, a pistol, her life could be over in seconds.

She felt his other hand pulling at her skirt. Her eyes widened as she recognized what he planned to do. By then, without her realizing it, they were behind the shed; and with the frightful wind, were she to scream, there was little chance anyone would hear her.

“You must be missing your cunt poked, w***e,” Leedy snarled. There was a disgusting bit of spittle on his lips, and she fought to keep her face from him, though those horrid lips were beginning to descend on her.

Annoyed by her heavy woolen skirt, Leedy turned his attention away from her mouth, to the task of pulling the garment away. His hand suddenly found a place to hold on to her thigh. She was afraid she was going to be sick to her stomach, the retched smells of his body, and the rush of fear running rampant though her were making her nauseous.

“Let go of me!” she whispered desperately.

“I told you not to talk,” he confirmed his earlier message. The implement that threatened her pushed even harder against her.

He reached for the top of her underwear and would quickly yank it down, when all of a sudden some mysterious force propelled Leedy away. His body abruptly fell to the ground some distance from Fiona, leaving the woman in a state of dumbfound shock as she stared down at her attacker.

At her side, the blacksmith, Joshua Kane, grabbed at her, leaving Leedy to his own devices, and Fiona was swept up on the dark horse, and carried away.

She rode behind the man in a mindless oblivion, with a torrential rain pouring down around them, soaking them to the skin. Nonetheless, she was warmed by the unexpected but clear assurance that this swift move had protected her life, and she could be nothing but grateful.

***

Fiona woke to a bright sun streaming through the curtains of a small room. The bed she slept in was covered with a lace edged coverlet she would never have expected at the blacksmith’s home. There were other delicate things in the room, a lovely carved chest, a fine porcelain vase, and a thick rug by the bed that belonged in some gentleman’s home, not Joshua Kane’s.

When the burly blacksmith carried her away on his horse the night before, the rain penetrated her clothes, and he threw his own cloak around her shoulders to protect her. The ride to his home was far longer that she anticipated. When they arrived at the quaint cottage both were soaked to the skin. Inside the warmth of his house, Joshua had lent her one of his white night shirts and a robe to use for the night. She sat in a chair by his fire for a time, letting the heat of the flame get inside her weary limbs.

Fiona said very little to her rescuer, still shaken by the brush with rape and possible death. She considered her escape nothing but miraculous. But with death so close, she wondered if it might not have been better to die, as face what would happen now that she’d survived Leedy’s attack. He was not the first man that had assaulted her since Jerud’s death, though she had not taken any of the unwanted advances seriously. What would she have done if Joshua Kane had not been there? And what of Joshua Kane? What was his intent bringing her to his house, she a young woman, and he an older man? This arrangement was scandalous at best, though she could be certain, at least for the time being, no one knew of it. How long that would last was difficult to speculate.

All these thoughts clamored for space in Fiona’s worried brain, but she was at the very least assured that Joshua Kane’s first inclinations were honorable. He was insistent that she simply rest after her awful ordeal.

“What am I to do, sir,” she finally spoke as the fire was dwindling down, and it was clearly time to retire for the night.

“Nothing tonight. You’ll think about it in the morning, Fiona McTavish,” he ordered her sternly. “You need your rest now.”

She was content to obey him, her mind not ready to solve any problem.

With the sun up and shining into the room, the world now looked much brighter to the barmaid. Though, as she sat up in Joshua’s lovely guest room, she still wondered how this sudden turn of events would play out.

Pulling herself out of the bed, Fiona realized by the position of the sun, that it was well into the morning, and she’d slept far longer than she was accustomed to. She looked to see that her clothes had dried, and Joshua had apparently delivered them to her, as they were neatly lying on a chair just inside the room. Dressing, she took a quick look in a mirror hanging over the chest of drawers, wishing she had a brush to comb out her tangled mass of hair. Pinching her pale cheeks, she then dashed out the door to find her rescuer.

Her first real look at Joshua’s cottage in daylight revealed a neat but small home, with just several rooms upstairs, a kitchen, dining room and sitting room downstairs. There was little ornamentation to decorate the house, though she expected little from the unpretentious bachelor. Looking about, she discovered that Joshua was no were to be found inside. Expecting as much, she peered outside, and spied him just inside his barn, working at his forge.

Quickly exiting the cottage, she made her way to the doorway of the barn, to see the blacksmith’s sweating body plying his trade before the hot fire. His shoulder length hair, the full beard, and well muscled chest made him look more fierce than the other times she’d seen him. And yet, despite his robust earthy aspect, when he looked up at her, his eyes were quite tender.

Backing away from his work, he approached her, motioning her into the fresh morning air, where they could view the valley that went on for miles beyond them. They stood for some moments eyeing the breathtaking sight as white fluffy clouds marched along the sky creating patches of gray along a valley floor that was otherwise bathed in the bright sun.

“I see your clothes have dried,” Joshua said, turning to her.

“Yes, thank you. I really have slept far too long today. Mr. Travis will be wondering where I am.”

“Mr. Travis knows where you are. I sent him word early this morning.”

“Then I should be getting back to the Tavern.”

“No, you won’t,” the blacksmith answered firmly.

“But sir?” she objected.

“You’ll stay here. It’s safer.”

“Oh no, Mr. Kane, Leedy Mallick won’t bother me again.”

“No, he will not, because you’re not safe in the east side of the valley. You’ll stay here until we can find a suitable position for you elsewhere. I’ve already made some inquiries.”

“Inquiries?”

“Friends of mine. Something will come up shortly.”

“But sir, my staying here. This is hardly appropriate,” she countered him, though only half-heartedly. She liked the comfort of this blacksmith’s home, and his kind manner. She would be happy to remain here, even though an unmarried woman, living with an unmarried man could become a scandalous situation with just a few brief remarks to the wrong sort of people.

“There will be nothing to fear from me, and until I know you’re safe, you’ll remain in my house. Now, I have work to do. If you want to be useful, you may bring me dinner in an hour.”

Fiona gave him a swift smile. It was all she could, since he turned abruptly and went back to the barn. Fiona returned to the house, and Joshua Kane’s generous larder, to find something suitable for a dinner meal.