The Wedding Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    England , 1108
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    I t wasn’t love at first sight.
    Lady Brenna didn’t want to be presented to company. She had far more important things to do with her day. Her nursemaid, a dour-faced woman with God-fearing ways and clumped-together, protruding front teeth, wouldn’t listen to her arguments, however. With the determination of a hedgehog, she cornered Brenna in the back of the stables and then lunged forward. Never one to let an opportunity or a little girl slip past her, the nursemaid lectured her charge all the way up the hill and across the muddy courtyard.
    â€œQuit your squirming, Brenna. I’m stronger than you are, and I’m not about to let go. You’ve lost your shoes again, haven’t you? And don’t dare lie to me. I can see your stockings peeking out. Why are you dragging that bridle behind you?”
    Brenna lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “I forgot to put it back.”
    â€œDrop it this minute. You’re always forgetting, and do you know why?”
    â€œI don’t pay attention to what I’m doing, like you tell me to, Elspeth.”
    â€œYou don’t pay attention to anything I tell you, and that’s a fact. You’re more trouble than all the others put together. Your older brothers and sisters have never given me a moment’s worry. Even your baby sister knows how to behave herself, and she’s still sucking on her fingers and wetting herself. I’m warning you, Brenna, if you don’t change your ways and give your parents a little peace, God himself will have to stop his important work and come down here to talk to you. Just how are you going to feel about that? You don’t like it much when your papa has to sit you down on his knee and talk to you about your shameful behavior, now do you?”
    â€œNo, Elspeth. I surely don’t like it. I try to behave. I really do.”
    She peeked up to see if the nursemaid believed she was contrite. She wasn’t, of course, because she really didn’t think she’d done anything wrong, but Elspeth wouldn’t understand.
    â€œDon’t you bat those big blue eyes at me, young lady. I don’t believe you’re the least bit sincere. Lord, but you smell. What have you gotten into?”
    Brenna lowered her head and kept quiet. She’d been chasing after the piglets just an hour before, until the tanner put their mama back in the pen, and Brenna’s peculiar stench was just a small price to pay for all the fun she’d had.
    Her torture had only just begun. Even though she had had a bath just a week before, she was bathed again, and in the middle of the day, of all times. She was scrubbed from head to toes, and so thoroughly she had to cry about it. Elspeth wasn’t at all sympathetic to her wails, and Brenna eventually got tired of crying. She barely struggled at all while Elspeth dressed her in a blue gown and too-tight matching slippers. Her cheeks were pinched hard for color, her whiteblond tangles were brushed into curls, and she was then dragged back down to the hall. She would have to pass her mother’s inspection before she could be left alone.
    Her oldest sister, Matilda, was already seated at the table with her mother. Cook was there too, going over supper arrangements with her mistress.
    â€œI don’t want to meet no company today, Mama. It’s sorely wearisome for me.”
    Elspeth came up behind her and poked her in her shoulder. “Hush now. You mustn’t complain. God doesn’t like women who complain.”
    â€œPapa complains all the time, and God likes him just fine,” Brenna announced. “That’s why Papa’s so big. Only God is bigger than he is.”
    â€œWhere did you hear such nonsense?”
    â€œPapa told me so. I want to go outside now. I won’t run after the piglets again. I promise.”
    â€œYou’re staying right where I can keep my eye on you. You’re going to behave