Page 20 of The Iron Highlander
The next morning, Kate went out to the fields to help some of the servants bring in some of the harvest. There was an entire field of corn which was ready for the picking, and the baskets they had put the corn in had filled and were overflowing. Her sisters were already there when she got to the field, each one of them doing their part to help. It felt a little strange that they would do work here, and be thanked for it, as Max had made them work, and forced them to believe that it was imposed on them.
As she moved through the fields, she would take her larger basket, and find a basket that was almost filled, and then she would take its contents, empty it into her own until it was filled. Then she would lift it to her head and carry it back to the pantry in the castle. She found a basket and turned over the contents into her own.
“Are ye done?” the servant asked.
“Nae, I have two more to gather,” Kate replied with a smile before moving forward.
She got to the next one, which had been gathered by Freya and Willow, and put it into her basket. Willow turned to look at Kate, holding the stalk of wheat on the bridge of her nose. She looked absolutely ridiculous, and Kate giggled at what she had just seen. Willow took several steps forward before the cob fell off as she stumbled. Kate reached forward to help her sister from falling, but Willow balanced herself before she could reach the ground. Once she was stable again, she opened both her arms wide and gestured as though she had just offered a grand performance.
“Ye better be careful, Willow, don’t go hurting yerself out here.”
“Aye,” Willow replied.
Kate took their corn and tried lifting it. Seeing it was too heavy, she noticed a pair of legs walking by and tapped them, calling out to the servant to help her lift the basket up on her head. As she stood, she turned around to realize that she had not stopped a servant, but she had touched Laird Reuben, who had not spoken to her since the previous night. He stopped and stared at her, causing her to break off mid-sentence.
“Help me get the basket o…”
Reuben lifted the basket with ease and brought it to her head, wordlessly. He stared at her face for a moment, before walking away. Kate let out a breath as she felt a little stunned by what had just happened, realizing that the Laird was certainly still angry ather. She took the basket and made her way for the pantry where she put down the corn for the other servants there to continue working on it.
“Kate, have ye seen Freya?” Lily asked from behind her, carrying water in a pitcher. She was taking it out to the workers in the field.
“She’s out in the fields, ye probably didnae see her through all of the grass.” Kate followed Lily out with her basket, pointing over to Willow. “Ask yer sister, she’ll know.”
As Lily walked out to find Freya, Kate stared across the fields, looking for Reuben. She had considered apologizing to him again, and was looking for a chance to talk to him. She spotted him out in a corner where he worked on his lot and made her way out to him. As she approached, he looked up and saw her.
Kate watched as he walked away instantly. Reuben refused to make eye contact with her. Instead he walked to the far side of the farm and sat with a few servants who were taking a break. Kate walked away from the spot he had been working on, and Reuben returned to that spot, telling Kate that he did not want her anywhere near him.
“Wait,” Kate called out to Hudson as he walked by.
“Aye,” Hudson replied in his usually gruff voice. His eyes were still dull from all of the drinking of the previous day. “What can I do for ye?”
“I need to…” Kate paused as she thought of the relationship Reuben had with Hudson. Anything she said to him would only be passed back to the man she was inquiring about. “…know if ye have any corn.”
Hudson looked down at his hands, raised them up with a smile. “Nae, I daenae work the farm today. Just came by to talk to the Laird. Ye walk by Noah, he has a basket full. Ye can take that down to the pantry. Ye know yer way around, aye?”
“Aye,” Kate replied. “I do. Thank ye.”
Kate walked around, listening in on conversations which were held by the servants concerning the Laird. None of them seemed to have anything negative to them, but what she was hoping to hear, was something about her. But she heard nothing. Each time she got close to him, Reuben would walk away, and it became clear to her. He was not going to give her a chance, and wanted nothing to do with her.
“Did ye speak to Reuben today?” she asked Freya.
“Nae, but Lily did,” Freya replied, turning to Lily.
Kate turned to Lily as well. “What did ye talk about?”
“The harvest, some of the flowers he put down, and he wanted some water from the pitcher,” Lily replied. “Why do ye ask?”
“He said nothing about me?” Kate asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Nae,” Lily answered, rubbing her chin. “But I saw him looking at ye for a bit. But he said nothing really.”
Kate nodded. For the next few days, Reuben continued that way, saying nothing to her when they had breakfast, and even going as far as blatantly ignoring her. Understanding her fate, she decided not to talk to him either. Now, all she had to do was find where they would move to, and leave the McDonald castle for good.
Freya watched as Kate dropped into the bed. She had watched her eldest sister all day, and knew she was worried about the Laird. Freya saw that Reuben was upset with her, but before then, Freya could tell that the Laird was attracted to Kate. Twenty minutes later, Kate fell asleep, and Freya rushed to Willow and Lily, calling them out of the room to the balcony just outside the door.
“What do ye want Freya?” Willow asked, not pleased to be pulled away from what she was doing.
“I reckon I’m not the only one who’s noticed the tension between Reuben and Kate, nae?”
