Twelfth Night Page 7

  The differences, of course, were in the areas of refrigeration and cooking methods. At Shotley, all the cooking was done in a huge open fireplace fitted with iron hooks so kettles could be hung over the open flames. There were also what looked like large trivets on long legs, on which iron pots were set for slower cooking. There was also a system of spits of varying sizes, and a young boy whose chief duty was to keep the spits turning so the meat would roast evenly.

  Next to the fireplace an oven had been built into the stone wall and in it bread, meat pies, and pastries were baked. A heavy wooden table sat in the center of the kitchen, a chopping block off to one side. The storage cellars where the fruits and grains of the harvest were kept were directly below the kitchen. Just outside the kitchen door was a smokehouse for meats, and a coldhouse for cream and eggs and butter.

  Aline found the kitchen a most efficient arrangement. Working there and talking with Connie, the cook, the spitboy, or the other servants, she felt a warm sense of belonging. Since Connie and Adam accepted her, no one else questioned her presence at Shotley.

  The servants did think she was peculiar for insisting upon a bath every day. When she offered to go to the bathhouse, Connie was horrified.

  “Oh, no,” she cried. “Aline, you cannot. All the men of the castle go there, and sometimes a woman who lives in the outer bailey joins them. Adam says it was different in the days when Lady Judith was alive, but I have not had the courage to try to change the bathhouse. When I wish to bathe, I do it in my own chamber, and so should you.”

  Thus admonished, Aline allowed herself the luxury of hot baths in her private chamber and she afterward anointed herself with the rose-scented lotion Connie had given her. She now used a concoction of rosemary and mint to clean her teeth, and after washing her hair she rinsed it with chamomile water. Adam had commented several times on how sweetly her hair and skin smelled, so she spared no effort to make herself attractive to him. She noted that, following her example, he came to each day’s feast freshly scrubbed and shaved and emitting the piney tang of rosemary. She loved him all the more for his decision to please her in this way.

  So quickly that she scarcely noticed the passing of time, the holiday season slipped by until it was the early morning before the Twelfth Night celebration that would bring Christmas to an end. Adam and Aline entered the great hall together as usual, only to discover that Blaise and Connie had not yet appeared.

  “How glad I am to see you, Lady Aline,” called a maidservant. “We have a crisis in the kitchen. The cream has curdled and Cook threatens to leave. Lady Constance is still in her chamber. Will you come and see to it?”

  “At once,” Aline said, “though I believe Lady Constance would advise Cook to put mint into the cream to sweeten it again, and tell her she ought to know that without making such a great fuss.” As she left Adam’s side, he caught her chin in one hand and gave her a quick kiss.

  “You see,” he said, “neither they nor I can get along without you. How quickly you have learned how to sweeten both the cream and our lives.”

  Laughing, she hurried to the kitchen to find the tearful cook threatening not only to leave the castle forever, but to beat the spitboy with a large wooden spoon. It took her some time to settle their dispute and to determine that the cream was not curdled at all, but only needed more whipping.

  “I know you are weary,” she said to the cook. “You are perhaps the person in this castle who has worked the hardest during these last two weeks, and I know you are anxious about completing all of today’s chores before noontime. If you can work long enough to produce just one more of your marvelous feasts, then tomorrow you may take a well-earned rest.”

  “Someone forgot to put a bowl of milk and a scrap bread out for the fairies last night,” sniffed the cook with one eye on the spitboy, whose duty this was. “The fairies were annoyed and placed a spell on the cream so it would curdle and not whip properly.”

  “My grandfather once told me that fairies cannot work their enchantments during the blessed Christmas season,” Aline said, silently blessing Gramps for imparting this particular bit of folklore to her. She knew better than to try to argue about any superstition. She had seen enough food left for the fairies, or salt thrown over Cook’s left shoulder when it was spilled, had heard enough special prayers and whispered graces to know the kitchen ran on magical belief as well as on practical common sense and tasty recipes. Her comment about the sacred season apparently pacified the cook, who sent the spitboy back to his work of turning a haunch of venison.

  “As for you,” Cook said to one of the kitchen wenches, “do not let your basting brush rest, or the meat will be dry and not to Lord Adam’s liking. Oh! Good day to you, my lord,” she broke off, staring toward the door.

  Adam stood there, surveying the busy scene. At the cook’s exclamation all work stopped, for Adam never came to the kitchen. This was the domestic side of the castle, and thus the province of the lady of the castle.

  “Forgive the intrusion,” Adam said, treating the cook with the respect she considered her due from her master. “Lady Aline, are you able to leave your work? There is something I want you to see.”

  “I think all is well here.” Aline smiled at the cook. “The feast is in excellent hands.” She followed Adam through the screens passage from the kitchen to the great hall. They came out beside the dais and the high table.

  “Look there.” Adam pointed to the other end of the hall, where Blaise and Connie stood together before the fire. Connie was just giving her husband a cup of wine and a plate containing bread and cheese. The grin on Blaise’s face could have warmed the entire hall. He put Connie’s food offerings down on a nearby bench, then drew his wife into his arms for a long kiss.

  “They came in together just a few moments ago,” Adam said. “We need not ask what has caused Connie’s face to glow as though a hundred candles were shining in her eyes, or why Blaise looks like a proud conqueror.”

  “I’m so happy for them.” Aline turned her head to look at Adam. “And for you. Now you will have the peaceful home you want.”

  “And I have you.” Adam wound his arms around her from behind, pulling her back against his chest. “You have brought blessings beyond measure into my life, Aline.” His lips brushed her ear and then her throat. “Dear lady, might I coax you upstairs for an hour or two?”

  Aline was tempted. The touch of Adam’s mouth on her skin, his one arm around her waist and other arm sliding upward to press against her breasts, all made her heart beat faster. She felt the melting warmth begin deep inside her. She opened her lips to whisper that she would, indeed, escape with him to his chamber, and do it gladly.

  But their swiftly rising desire was not to be fulfilled just yet, for Connie had seen them.

  “Aline! I am sorry to be late and leave all the morning’s work to you, but it was so – I mean, we were – oh, dear. Oh, dear.” The stream of words stopped abruptly, with both of Connie’s hands against her flaming cheeks. But she wasn’t crying. As Adam had noted, her eyes were shining.

  “Good day to you, Daughter.” Releasing Aline, Adam kissed Connie on the cheek.

  “Good morning my lord. I am sorry to be tardy. Truly, I did not mean –“ Connie’s face was by now bright red. Adam wagged a finger at her.

  “Enough. You need not apologize if your husband has kept you long abed. It is his privilege. And, Connie, I have asked you many times to call me Father, as Blaise does. Since you never knew your own father, I hoped you would be glad to find one in me, but if you cannot bring yourself to call me as I wish, then Adam will do. ‘My lord’ is much too formal between close family members.”

  “I think I could call you Father now,” Connie whispered with a tremulous smile. “Now I feel worthy to do so – Father.”

  “Thank you. It means much to me. Aline, I believe Connie wishes to speak with you in private, so you and I will finish our discussion later.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Aline replied demurely, a
nd had in return a wink from her love before he took himself off to join his son. As far as she could tell, in the manner of men in any period of history, they did not talk about what had happened between Blaise and Connie. Adam merely clapped his still-grinning son on the shoulder and said something about seeing to an ailing horse, and off they went together to the stables.

  Connie was much more verbose than the men. She threw herself into Aline’s arms, hugging her hard.

  “Oh, Aline, it was so wonderful! Blaise was marvelous, so tender and gentle at first, and this time I was not frightened when he became fierce. It was like sailing to the stars! And cares for me. He said he does. He said I have changed from a silly fool into an interesting young woman. He even promised to take me to Normandy when spring comes. I am so happy!” She stopped, looking hard at Aline. “Why did no one ever tell me it could be like that? If I had known, I would not have been so frightened these past months. I would not have refused Blaise so often, nor believed that I must only endure what was pleasure for him.”

  “Love is something each woman must discover for herself, in her own way,” Aline said.

  “I have watched you and Adam together.” Connie sounded just the slightest bit resentful. “It has been so easy for you.”

  “No, it has not,” Aline told her. “You don’t know this, Connie, but many years ago I was married. I was even more unhappy than you and Blaise were. With Adam, I also had to learn to set aside my fears and trust him.”

  “Are you happy now?” Connie asked. “I want you to be happy with Adam.”

  “I am,” Aline said. “I’ve never been so happy before.”

  “So it is with me.” Connie hugged her again. “This morning, for the very first time, I feel like a true woman.”

  Chapter 5

  Twelfth Night was different from the other days of Christmas. On this last day of the holiday season, the servants ruled the castle from midday to midnight, while all those usually in authority acted as servants. On the morrow the castle would return to sobriety once more and all the festive greenery would be removed and burned, but for this one afternoon and night a hilarious madness reigned.

  Displaying a fine sense of the ludicrous, the servants chose the spitboy to be their Lord of Misrule during the festivities. In an uproariously foolish ceremony they crowned him with a lopsided homemade circlet of leather trimmed with pieces of multicolored glass for jewels. They then installed him at the high table in the lord’s chair and placed the cook on the lady’s chair beside him as his consort. To her credit, the cook accepted this accolade with a graciousness worthy of a true queen. Servants and ordinary men-at-arms filled the other chairs along the high table and at the upper ends of the two lower tables. Adam, his family, the priest, secretary, the captain of the guard, and officers of the men-at-arms, along with a few others who held important offices at the castle were relegated to places below the salt and they were not allowed to sit down until after they had served the meal.

  Adam himself carried in the haunch of venison and carved it for his people. Blaise passed meat pies. Connie poured wine, and Aline had a huge bowl of vegetable stew and a ladle with which to serve it. The brawny captain of the guard was delegated to carry the silver tray containing dainty sweetmeats, which he did with good humor. Several barrels of wine were broached, and there was plenty of ale, cider, and perry.

  During the afternoon rowdy games were played in the spaces between the tables. A group of men-at-arms sang a series of funny, if somewhat off-color ditties about the castle’s inhabitants. Adam’s usually solemn secretary engaged in a game of leapfrog with two kitchen maids and one of the stableboys. The mistletoe was all but denuded of its remaining berries, as one berry was plucked for each kiss stolen beneath it.

  “Come and dance with me.” Adam pulled her into a group of people.

  “I don’t know the steps,” she protested.

  “You will soon learn them.” He caught her hands and swung her out, then back into the pattern of the dance while her new friends laughed and clapped and cheered her on. Before long she discerned what the pattern was and found she could keep up with the others.

  Aline noticed that never did the servants carry their merriment too far. They enjoyed a noisy, cheerful day and made a few observant comments about Blaise and Connie, or Adam and Aline, but they did nothing that might offend their noble masters. And when midnight came, like Cinderella with her coach and horses and footmen, they would all resume their ordinary lives. Aline thought this night was a wonderful idea, a time for masters and servants alike to let off steam and release a few discontents that might otherwise fester through the long winter months yet to come. In a place so closed in upon itself by cold and snow and ice, this celebration was needed. For it had begun to snow again, the second blizzard in twelve days.

  “My lady.” Adam interrupted her musings by sliding an arm about her waist. “I believe you and I have an interesting conversation yet to finish.”

  “I do seem to remember something begun this morning and left uncompleted,” she murmured. “But dare we leave the party?”

  “It is almost over,” he said. “Here comes Father John with my secretary, Robert, to tell us when it’s midnight.”

  “If you think either of them will be accurate timekeepers, you are much mistaken,” she informed him. “They have both had too much wine and may well imagine it is still Christmas when February arrives.”

  When Adam burst into laughter at this remark, she added, “Don’t be surprised if Robert asks your permission to marry Connie’s personal maid. If he doesn’t, he ought to, after what I caught them doing an hour ago when I went into the coldhouse to get more butter.”

  Adam’s renewed laughter was drowned out by the sudden noisy appearance of Connie, who came from the kitchen with Blaise behind her. Flushed, and with her hair pulling loose from her braided earmuffs, Connie was banging on a pan with a rolling pin while her husband cried loudly that midnight was nigh.

  “There’s another who has had too much wine in celebration,” Adam observed. “Ah, well, Blaise can hold her head when morning comes. It will make him a better husband.”

  “Listen, one and all,” cried Father John, supporting himself with a hand on Robert’s shoulder. “’Tis midnight, ‘tis time to end the feasting and revels. Go ye to your beds now and rise early to the profitable performance of your duties with hearts grateful to Lord Adam, who has allowed you to make so merry this night and all the other nights of Christmas.” He concluded with a loud hiccup that brought a murmur of quiet laughter as those in the great hall began to disband. Calling their good nights and thanks to Adam, they filed out to the barracks, or the loft above the stable, or the kitchen hearth, to seek their pallets.

  “A major cleanup job is needed here,” Aline noted, looking around the suddenly empty hall.

  “Tomorrow,” Adam said. “For now, my lady, I am taking you to bed. I have a few important things to say to you.”

  “And some interesting things to show me, too, I am sure,” Aline teased.

  “Always,” he whispered, urging her up the curving staircase.

  When they had almost reached the top, Aline looked back to see Blaise and Connie climbing up behind them.

  “Good night,” Connie called out. “Sleep well.”

  “And you, my dear friend.” Obeying an impulse, Aline went down a few steps to meet Connie so she could hug her and kiss her cheek. “Be happy always, Connie. and you, too, Blaise. Treasure what you have found in each other.” She touched Blaise’s face lightly with one hand. He caught it, holding her where she was for a moment.

  “Thank you, Lady Aline. I regret those harsh words I spoke to you a few days ago. You are a wonderfully wise woman.”

  She stood watching them hurry along the short corridor to their bedroom, until Adam caught her at the waist again, drawing her upward toward the lord’s chamber at the top of the stairs.

  “What a day it has been,” he said, taking her into his arms. “
No man on earth is more blessed than I am tonight. My people sleep safe and secure, healthy and well fed, so I need not worry about them. My son is happy in his marriage at last, and I believe he will continue that way. And I have in my heart and in my bed the most wonderful woman in all the world.”

  When he kissed her, Aline wound her fingers through his grey-streaked hair and pressed herself against his strength. She felt his hands along her spine and then upon her hips, where he worked to free the knotted sash that rested there.

  “I love you, Adam.”

  “I love you, with all my heart.”

  Swiftly he undressed her and then himself before he lifted her into his arms to kiss her again. With his mouth still upon hers he carried her to the bed. There, slowly and tenderly, he aroused her to a state of desperate need until she wept for the aching emptiness he had created and pleaded with him to take her.

  “If you are half-mad with longing,” he muttered, “then I am completely mad. Only with you do I feel such passion, Aline. Only with you.”

  He knelt between her thighs and with one hard thrust buried himself in her. Aline received him with a wild cry of joy, giving herself up to his hot, driving passion, responding eagerly to his ever-deepening movements. She loved his complete lack of inhibition when he was inside her, loved the way he stayed with her, no matter how long it took, until she shuddered and gasped and cried out his name over and over in a strangled voice. But with Adam it never took very long; with him her fulfillment was easy and natural, and always, always, exquisitely tender in spite of his forcefulness.