Skye O'Malley by Bertrice Small Page B

Dom off to join his friends, then settled herself comfortably and looked at her stepdaughter. “Was it wise to insult Niall Burke and his wife?” she asked.
    “Was it wise for him to insult me?” Skye snapped.
    “You still love him.”
    “I hate him! For pity’s sake, Anne, speak of something else. The babe has a tendency to make me weepy, and I’d rather not be misunderstood.”
    “Of course,” said Anne O’Malley sagely. “It would hardly do for Niall Burke to think you weep for him.”
    “I never realized before what a bitch you can be, stepmother ,” said Skye evenly.
    Anne laughed. “Oh, the babe does make you testy, doesn’t it?”
    “He,” said Skye. “Dom and his father are convinced it’s a lad, and they will accept nothing less.”
    “Oh, I see. And how goes it with you otherwise?”
    “Quite well, actually, Anne. Da did me a great service in wedding me to Dom. Not only have I gained a lecher for a husband, I also have one for a father-in-law. My husband’s sister is a common bitch not averse to stealing my possessions when she can, and whining to her father and brother when she’s caught. It’s a charming new family I have. I am most grateful to Da.
    “My new home is in a shocking state of disrepair, and despite the fine dowry Da gave me, I am told that no money can be found to put it to rights. Half the household items I brought to O’Flaherty House, the silver bowls and candlesticks in particular, are mysteriously missing. In short, I am the mistress of a dung heap peopled by a vain and randy old cock, a vain and randy young cock, and a flighty hen.”
    Anne was shocked. “Do you want to come home until the child is born, Skye?” Sweet Mary! She couldn’t let Skye have her baby in that place!
    “God, yes! I do want to come home, but they’ll not let me for the next O’Flaherty must be born in his own home, Anne. I would appreciate it, however, if you could arrange for Eibhlin to come to me immediately after Candlemass. Though the child isn’t due until early spring, a late-winter storm at the wrong time could delay her, and I would be frightened if she were unable to reach me in time. Besides,” Skye smiled wryly, “I need the company. Claire is none, and neither she, nor Mag, nor our old cook knows about birthing a child.”
    Anne was now very upset.”What of the other women in your household? The maids? The laundresses? Is there no midwife in your village?”
    “The few women we can get to work for us come from our nearby village each day and return to their homes at night. They love their children, and no family would allow their daughters in myhouse because of Dom and his father. They will work O’Flaherty lands, and pay O’Flaherty taxes, and fight for the O’Flahertys, but too many of their girls have been abused by the O’Flaherty men for them to allow their daughters in our house. Even so, Dom and Gilly have had their share of the poor creatures. They go out on horseback and hunt them down while the girls are working in the fields! The O’Flahertys’ reputation is so bad that even Claire has no tiring woman of her own.”
    “I knew it was all wrong from the beginning,” said Anne. “I knew it!”
    “Then why didn’t you speak to Da as you promised me, Anne? You encouraged him to wed me off the very morning of Conn’s birth!”
    “No, no, Skye! That’s not so at all! I tried to tell your father right after Conn was born, but they’d given me herbs in wine to make me sleep, and your father misunderstood me. When I finally awoke two days later, you were wed, and had already been sent to St. Bride’s.”
    “Then you did not betray me to get me out of the house?”
    “You foolish goose! Whatever made you think such a thing? Once you were firmly wed there was nothing I could do. I only wish your father had waited. Even though he was firmly set on the match, perhaps I could have prevented the afterward.”
    “No,” said Skye softly. “At least with Niall