The Forgotten Wife

The Visitor

The next day went by quickly for Lorna, she did most of the chores around the tavern and helped her Mother out in the kitchen like she did each day. The tavern had been busy today, there were the locals who used the tavern often and unknown merchants who tried to sell on their goods to the customers. Lorna had been stopped a few times by some of the merchants while she was serving customers, they tried offering her golden necklaces and silk garments for a quiet moment in the alleyway behind the tavern.

Lorna may have only been fifteen, but she wasn't stupid like some of the other girls who worked in the local taverns in the City. She wouldn't even dream of doing anything undignified with any of the customers who visited the tavern, she knew what goes on in the alleyways after hours. Poor women forced into prostitution by criminals for money, their only way of means to support their families. She refused their advances and continued serving the customers, it would be closing time soon and this visitor the Landlord was expecting would be here soon. She returned back to the kitchen and helped out her Mother with the last of the dish washing. They put all of the clean pots away in the cupboards and swept the floors of the tavern before they put away all of the unused ingredients in the pantry. 

Lorna just needed to blow out all of the candles in the lanterns outside of the tavern and scrub the stone steps of the building. Her Mother heated up some water in the cooking pot over the fireplace, she poured some of the hot water into a bucket and handed her a scrubbing brush. She told Lorna to be quick, she said Kenny Ackerman would be arriving soon. Quickly leaving the kitchen with the bucket of hot water Lorna greeted the Landlord before she opened the big wooden door of the tavern, she then hurried through the doorway. She placed the bucket down near an empty ale barrel, she really hated scrubbing the steps of the tavern. The steps were normally covered in dirt and mud or even blood sometimes if the customers decided to get a little bit rowdy before closing time. 

Picking up the bucket up from the ground she poured half of the hot water over the seven stone steps, she then placed the bucket back down next to the ale barrel. Dipping the wooden scrubbing brush into the bucket of water she crouched on the second step and began to quickly scrub the top step, she blew some of her fringe away from my eyes as she began to scrub the step harder. Dipping the scrubbing brush back into the bucket of water again she partly climbed onto the third step and brushed some cobwebs away near the corner of the door frame. Turning her attention back to the steps she crouched on the third step of tavern and continued to scrub them. But without ant warning she felt someone barge passed her.

" Move out of the way girl, you're blocking my way!" Said a man. 

Lorna wobbled slightly and fell onto her knees, she groaned when she felt a sharp pain on her left hand. She quickly looked at her hand and frowned when she saw a scrape on the palm. She looking up from her hand and saw two men walking up the steps, they didn't even apologize for knocking her over. One of the men was tall and slim, he had an air of authority about him. He was wearing a large black overcoat that reached passed his knees and a bowler hat with a white band around it on his head. The other man was quite short with short straight black hair styled into undercut, he was wearing casual clothes and black cloak. Lorna clenched her scraped hand and quickly got to her feet, they clearly had no manners at all.

" Hey!" Lorna frowned, she raised her voice at them. " Surely you saw me cleaning the steps before you knocked me out of your way, I suggest you apologize to me before I tell my Father of you!"

" Will you just shut up!" Said the tall man. 

" I will not shut up!" Lorna said. " Also we're closed, so I would also suggest if you would please leave before our important visitor arrives! And look what you have done to my clean steps, there's dirty footsteps all over them! I'm going to have to redo them all over again now, thanks a lot for your inconsiderate behaviour!"

" You surely are a chirpy little runt, I would suggest you shut your pretty little mouth before I let my boy here silence you for your lack of respect for your elders!" Said the tall man. " Levi my dear boy, if you wouldn't mind teaching her some manners while I meet the owner of this establishment. But be quick, there is more important matters at hand than whiny little maidens!"

Lorna watched the man wearing the large black overcoat enter the tavern, the other man who he referred to as Levi stopped and looked at her over his shoulder. She held the scrubbing brush towards him and threatened to hit him with it if he laid one finger on her. He didn't even seem fazed by her threat, he just continued staring at her with his narrow grey coloured eyes. His face was expressionless, she had no idea what he was thinking or if he was even planning on attacking her. After awhile she lowered her scrubbing brush, her arm was getting tried anyway and she had enough of his staring. She turned her gaze away from him and crouched back down on the third step again, she was going to ignore him and get on with the last of her chores before her Mother served up supper.

" Don't piss your pants, I wouldn't attack an unharmed girl without a reason." Levi said, his voice was emotionless. " By the way, you've missed a spot..."

" What?" Lorna asked. 

Lorna looked up at him from the step, he continued staring at her for awhile longer until he decided to turn his gaze away from her. He walk through the doorway of the tavern and slammed the door behind him, he was a very bad mannered man. Lorna sighed to herself as she looked back down at the stone step, what an asshole she thought to herself before she began to scrub the steps of the tavern once again.