Chapter 7

--- It was early morning when Nan woke. Grimacing as the cold invaded her backside and she looked to find her sweet little Jamie had stolen all the blankets, lying half off their bed snoring quite loudly from his awkward position. With a mild glare at the child, she looked from him to the small cracks in the walls of their home. It was still raining outside, but at least it was light enough to see. For several minutes, Nan lay in bed rolling all that she needed do that day through her head before pulling herself from the mattress, careful not to wake Jamie as she dressed and set out a meager breakfast of bread and cheese for him. Grabbing her shawl and a well worn coat that had been patched and stitched back together so often it now looked like a dirty old quilt; she wrapped the shawl tightly about her head and shoulders. Took a large black leather bag from in front of the trunk and made her way to the door, giving one last look to Jamie before quietly opening leaving.  If the weather was going to persist in this fashion, she would need more provisions then she’d get in town with her remedies. And where she would get those, she could not take Jamie. --- Carrie sat at her vanity combing out her ruby locks as William sipped his tea. The rain still had not let up and he was in no mood to ride home in it. If he was going to be cold and wet, it would be on a ship at sea, not on the back of a horse. Besides he had already sent word to his groom, to have his carriage brought here not an hour before, all he’d need do was sit and wait. Only waiting was having a far more dulling effect on him than it normally did. Carrie, while pleasant enough a bed, was not, for a good conversation and her meager choices of reading material left much to be desired. A time or two, he had considered going down stairs to start a game of cards, or billiards with the other patron’s but quickly threw the idea aside. He was prone to be a sore loser with a vicious temper when he did. And those that would accommodate him would do so out of fear or arrogance, which more often than not started the fight he sought to avoid, though it did bring with it a mild sort of entertainment for him. Still, Carrie had warned him that if he started one more fight in her house she would ban him from it. So, he sat quietly sipping his tea, bored out of his skull. With a look to the breakfast tray, he scanned for the cream. “Your girl forgot the cream.” He muttered, as he sat his cup on the tray and rose from his seat. “And where do ya think you’re goin’?” Carrie asked eying him from her mirror, her hands working to pin her hair up in some elaborate manner. “To get the cream, my dear.” He spoke, running his fingers through the free tresses that lay against her neck before placing a light kiss on her shoulder and leaving. Nimbly, he jogged down the stairs, happy for an excuse to be out of the room. He could not stand being idle it irked him fiercely to just sit about. Though when he entered the kitchen he almost wished he’d stayed upstairs with Carrie. Almost. Nan stood oblivious to the man staring at her from the kitchen’s doorway as she tentatively examined the inner thigh of one of Carrie’s girls. A cheeky slender brunet, currently sitting on the edge of a butcher’s block, her skirts bunched to her stomach. A look of boredom etched on the girl’s face until she spotted William and grinned from ear to ear, giving him a wicked wink as she took in his shocked expression. Though William’s look had less to do with his seeing two woman at play than it did to see Nan was one of the women. “How long has it been like this?” Nan asked regarding the girl with a business-like tone, her hands lightly pressing about the ugly red rash on her inner thigh. “Not more than two days.” The girl shrugged. “Two days!” Nan snapped, her shocked eyes meeting the uncaring ones of the girl seated before her. “Does Carrie know about this?” “It’s not but a bit of poison oak. Ain’t any call to be tellin’ Carrie about it.” The girl pouted, with yet another uncaring shrug. “If it tis poison oak.” Nan hissed, turning away from the girl as she began to rifle through the large black bag, she had brought with her, setting out small jars and packets of various ingredients. Pulling spoons, cups and bowls from the cabinets and drawers as she worked on mixing her ingredients to create a soothing agent for the girl’s rash.“And you best be hopin it tis, or Carrie’ll turn you out to the cold.” Nan grumbled, “She’ll not have you be stayin’ here if you’re gonna to be making her customers ill.”