Jack nodded, noticing his mother had scarcely eaten a bite of her parritch.

“You’re probably very busy today, aren’t you?” Frae’s voice rose an octave, betraying how anxious she still was to speak to him.

Jack met her gaze. “I do have a few things to accomplish today. Why do you ask, Frae?”

“Nothing,” his sister blurted, and shoveled another spoonful of parritch in her mouth, blushing.

It was apparent she wanted to ask him something and was too afraid to voice it. Jack had only been a brother for less than a day in his mind, but he wanted her to feel comfortable enough to speak to him, to not be timid when she was with him. He realized he was frowning.

He softened his expression as he looked at Frae. “Is there something you need help with?”

Frae glanced at Mirin, who was staring at her parritch until she sighed, raising her eyes to Jack’s.

“No, Jack. But thank you for offering.”

Frae’s shoulders stooped. Jack sensed that his mother and sister were reluctant to ask him to do anything. Chagrined, he decided he would have to unearth their needs another way. Without asking or making them ask.

Frae rose from the table first. Gathering the empty dishes, she carried them to the wash barrel. When Mirin made to rise and join her, Jack surprised himself by taking the bowl right out of her hands.

“Let me,” he said, and Mirin, in her shock, relented. She looked so tired and worn, and her bowl was still full of parritch.

It worried him.

He joined Frae at the wash barrel, and she gave a little gasp when he began to dunk the bowls beneath the water.

“This is my chore,” she said. As if she would fight him for it.

“Do you know what, Frae?”

She hesitated and then said, “What?”

“This used to be my chore too, when I was your age. I will wash and you can dry. How does that sound?”

She still looked perplexed, but then Jack handed her a freshly washed bowl, and she took it and began to wipe it dry with a rag. They worked in rhythm with each other, and when the table was clear, Jack said, “Will you take me on a tour of the yard, sister? It’s been so long since I was home, I don’t remember where everything is.”

Frae was ecstatic. She threw the door open, grabbed her shawl when Mirin chided her to, and led Jack through the kail yard. She pointed out every single vegetable and herb and fruit they were growing, her voice as sweet as a bell that never ceased ringing. Jack patiently listened, but he was gradually taking them in the direction of the northern face of the house, where his shutters sat open to welcome the sunlight.