An Ending is Also a Beginning…

L ady Wilmiton was displeased.

Rhona knew the pinched look around the lady's face heralded the arrival of the Lady of the House's temper. Normally Rhona would have fled back to the cottage where she lived with her mother, but her father was dead now and Lady Wilmiton was in charge of everything until her son came of age.

So there would be no running away.

Rhona stood alongside her mother while the lawyers waited for Lady Wilmiton to sign the documents they had laid in front of her. But the Lady scowled at the paper, clearly displeased with what was written on it. She'd already signed more than a dozen sheets, a necessity of inheritance but this one seemed to anger her.

She looked at Rhona. The Lady had no love for her, that was something Rhona knew very well even at the age of ten.

"My Lady," one of the lawyers decided to attempt to prod Lady Wilmiton. "It is but a small country house—with all the other holdings you have, it is nothing of significance. The will is very clear, if you do not sign this property over, you will not receive the rest of the estate and holdings."

"As you will!" Lady Wilmiton hissed at Rhona.

She grabbed the quill, jabbed its silver point into the ink well, and put it on the paper. Her son looked down at the document, his eyes moving back and forth while he read.

"There," Lady Wilmiton declared. She sent Rhona's mother a scathing look. "Take your whore's earnings. You will freeze up there on the borderland. I promise you the dowry promised to your daughter will go to the Church! For no man should have to suffer your bastard daughter for a wife! Put them out!"

Put them out…

Rhona had heard the words being whispered in the kitchen and back rooms since the night the Lord took the last sacrament. A hush had fallen over the house in the days that followed, only the whispers growing in volume.

They will be put out…

Rhona knew the whispers were about her mother and herself. And now, the silent footmen behind them came forward. Their gazes were averted, and tight expressions appeared on their faces. They began to herd her and her mother much in the same way that they might deal with geese, with their arms spread out wide.

Rhona's mother darted around one of the men, dipping low to avoid his outstretched arms. There was a crinkle of paper when she grabbed the newly signed and sealed sheet of parchment. The lawyer's assistant tossed a large bag to her.

"Put them out at once!" Lady Wilmiton's voice became shrill. "Go to the border and die there!"

"Mother…Rhona is my sister," the new Lord Wilmiton spoke up.

"You are never to say such a thing again." Lady Wilmiton turned on her son. "She is the spawn of lust. A product of adultery. She is to take the veil, lest she follows her mother's path."

Whatever else Lady Wilmiton said, Rhona didn't hear it because the footmen pushed them past the doors which were closed tightly behind them.

It was a relief to be out of the room and yet, Rhona shivered because she had known no other home.

" Psst … psst …"

Rhona looked over to see one of the kitchen maids hiding in the passageway. She looked fearfully toward the closed doors before waving at them.

Rhona's mother grabbed her wrist and ran toward the woman. The footmen were left behind.

"I had the tinker wait."

The tinker came around every month or so with items to trade. Rhona had always liked going to see what his wagon had collected on his journeys.

The kitchen maid took them through the storerooms. She stopped and looked behind them to make sure no one was following them.

"Here now," the maid said. "Take these bundles. It's not much. You understand I can't have the lady notice anything missing, or I might lose my place."

"I am grateful for your kindness," Rhona's mother whispered.

The maid nodded. "His Lordship loved you with all his heart. Here…" She pulled a little pouch from her bodice. "His Lordship wanted you to have this."

There was a jingle of coins when her mother grasped it.

"Hurry…the tinker will be leaving soon." The maid encouraged Rhona's mother toward the door.

Rhona's mother tugged her out into the yard beyond the kitchen. The tinker was there with his wagon. Instead of flashing Rhona a smile and bringing her something he hoped her father might purchase for her, today, the tinker pointed at an open place in his wagon. Her mother climbed up and pulled her along with her.

The tinker took his place at the front of the wagon. He made a clicking sound that the horses recognized. The wagon lumbered forward, Rhona and her mother swaying along with the rest of the cargo. Rhona looked back at the house.

"Look forward Rhona," her mother advised her. "Always choose life. Never look back at death for it will catch us all soon enough."