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Just until she found out more about herself and could leave.

Then she’d free Ian of the burden she had become to him.

Kate set the pies aside, took a wet cloth and wiped a few crumbs off the table. Then she went outside to get another bucket of water. She noticed the cart was empty now and stood without the horse. Ian was nowhere to be seen.

Kate had just put the bucket on the hook above the well when a female voice called out, “And who would ye be, lass?”

Kate turned around. On a bench a few feet from the door sat a short, plump woman in a simple dress and apron, wiry gray hair sticking out from under her white cap. She had adorable rosy cheeks.

Kate wiped her hands. “My name is Kate. Ian hired me to cook.”

The woman’s eyebrows rose to the cap. “Lord hired ye? Oh, dearie, what about my brother?”

“Your brother?”

“Aye. Manning. The cook.”

This woman was Manning’s sister? Maybe she knew something about Kate.

“We both will be cooking. I hope Ian doesn’t fire him because of me.”

“Aye?” The woman looked her over suspiciously. “Mayhap so. Manning and I worked here our whole lives. My name is Cadha.”

The woman stood up and walked towards Kate, wobbling on one leg a little. Stopping in front of Kate, she propped her hands on her hips.

“And where do ye come from, lass? Ye speak peculiar…”

Kate sighed. “I don’t know. I lost my memory in a fall. I don’t remember anything about myself, except that I’m a cook. But I did recall the lamb roast. No idea why.”

“Ohhhh!” Cadha glanced her over with curiosity, then pity. “Ye poor lass. Losing all yer memory?”

“I was hoping Crazy Mary—well, Manning—would know something about me, since the name Crazy Mary was one of the first things I remembered. But he said he doesn’t know me. Do you?”

Cadha cocked her brow. “Nae, lass, sorry. ’Tis the first time I see ye. But I can tell ye one thing. Ye’re nae from the Highlands.”

Kate looked down at her feet. It didn’t surprise her—the memories that were coming back were way too different from anything she’d seen or experienced here so far. Still, the words sank in her psyche like rocks. She was no closer to understanding who she was. She was a complete stranger who couldn’t even relate to people.

“Ah, dinna look so sad, lass,” Cadha said. “Come on, let us get ye settled. If ye’re goin’ to work here, ye need somewhere to sleep. Aye?”

Kate pressed out a smile. “Aye. Well, yes. Thank you, Cadha.”

“Follow me.”

They went into the house again and climbed the circular stairs of the tower. Cadha told Kate that on the first floor was the lord’s hall and a chamber, on the second were three bedrooms, and on the third was the biggest bedroom of all—the lord’s bedchamber—and another small chamber. The stairs continued up from the third floor, and that was where Cadha led Kate.

“Maids sleep in the garret,” Cadha explained through a strained breath. “We dinna have any currently. I do all the housekeeping, but as ye can see, I’m nae enough. Cooks used to sleep in the kitchen, but the old lord, God rest his soul, was kind enough to allow Manning and me to live in what used to be a larder. We’re nae young chickens nae more.”

She finally climbed into the attic and stood, panting, before a small door. Kate joined her, breathing heavily as well.

“I used to sleep here, too, with the maids, when we had any. Now ’tis for ye. A luxury, havin’ a room all to yerself.”

She opened the door into a room with a low ceiling, one side of which slanted down at a steep angle. There was only one small window on the opposite wall, and the shutters were closed. It smelled like dust and mice. Kate could see five beds in total.

“Sorry, dearie, ’tis nae tidy. No one has been living here since our Ian was gone. That was when the old lord started to decline.” She sighed heavily, her face sad. “Everything changed that year. ’Twas as though the lord didna ken what to live for any longer. And didna want to. Stopped caring about the rent collection. About the household. What he ate. What he drank. Stayed indoors. He’d already been grieving his whole life after his wife died. But after Ian… All his lands became like him. Lost and uncared for.”

Kate listened with an aching heart. She knew Ian had been away and had been assumed dead, but she hadn’t given much thought to what it had meant for his family. Seeing this great house in such a condition of desolation said it all. Her hands itched to clean it and make it better.

“I’ll help you with cleaning and tidying whenever I can. I like to be useful.”