Nay, not really. Not compared to—
“How about when Leanna soaked Mother’s thread in cat urine, then dried it?” Robena continued. “None of us discovered it until we started to handle it!”
Leanna wrinkled her nose. That had been terrible. It might’ve been funny, had she not also been one to have to sew with the cursed thread!
Nicola’s lips were twitching. “My favorite was when Leanna—ye were, what, thirteen, mayhap?—learned to process tallow, just so she could help the candlemaker. Remember? She slowly started mixing tallow in with those fine white beeswax candles Mother prefers, until Mother was burning all-tallow candles and didnae even realize it!”
“It took a year,” Leanna offered with a proud smile.
“Aye, and Da gave ye an arse-whooping as I recall,” Nicola pointed out. “Turns out, tallow candles are bad for his treatises!”
Wynda was still chuckling. “Ye’re all forgetting her best attempt! Remember two years ago, when Leanna brought those three pigs up to the bed chamber corridor, opened all the doors, then let them loose?”
Leanna began to giggle at the memory, as did Nicola.
“Dinnae forget the funniest part,” the healer reminded them. “She painted the numbers one, two and four on them! Mother went mad searching for number three!”
Now Leanna was outright guffawing, as was Wynda.
“I cannae believe ye think I did that!” Leanna managed, clutching her chest in mock horror.
Nicolas rolled her eyes, still chuckling. “Who else would’ve tormented their own mother that way? She should’ve stopped having bairns after Fen!”
Leanna stuck her tongue out. “She had to keep going until she got perfection. Me!”
“Puir Mother,” Fen said with a sigh, obviously trying to forestall an argument. She waggled the cup of paint. “So what are ye up to this time?”
Leanna smiled, her list of “projects” making her more proud than ashamed. “I’m going to paint green spots on Mother’s looking glass, so when she holds it up to check her reflection…”
She trailed off, then lifted her palms at shoulder height and shrugged, as if the result should be obvious.
Wynda snorted. “She’ll think she has some sort of horrible, green-spotted affliction?”
As Robena and Fen began to giggle, Nicola rolled her eyes. “And who is she going to come running to, demanding a cure?”
This sister of theirs, who was known for her healing ability, could ruin everything.
Leanna clapped the looking glass to her chest. “Oh, please dinnae give away the game so early, Nicola! Let her spend at least a few hours thinking she has spots.”
“Aye, we can all play along,” agreed Robena. “Remember when she decided she had the plague?”
“Or that summer she had to be carried everywhere, because of gout? Which she didnae have?” Wynda rolled her eyes.
Luckily, Nicola’s lips were twitching. “Och, aye, her afflictions can be…afflictions, I suppose.”
“On us,” Leanna hurried to point out.
“Surely there’s something ye can give her for green spots?” asked Robena hurriedly.
Nicola pinched her brow. “I suppose…”
“Fennel!” Fen burst out, and when they all turned to face her, she shrugged and gestured happily with the cup containing the green paint as she spoke. “Mother likes fennel, aye? So tell her ‘tis what she needs, and I’ll bake some fish with it, and ye’ll declare her cured.”
Nicola pointed a finger at Leanna. “And then ye’ll sneak in and clean the green spots from her looking glass?”
“On my honor!” Leanna declared, pleased her sister was allowing her some fun.
Finally.