“Load!” Wesley ordered, already calculating. He should see the angles in his head. He heard a distant shot go off, and all the men tensed, afraid of the fact that they would be hit before they could fire.
“Sir?” Corrigan asked, and Wesley shook his head.
“Hold,” he said. “We can't waste a shot, not with so many of them.”
Another shot came, and Wesley bit his lip. One bad judgment call could end their lives on the ship. Another bad judgment call could mean that the entire port was soon flooded with blood.
“Sir!” Corrigan asked again. “We have to make a call!”
“Hold!” Wesley said. “Just...hold. Something doesn't seem right!”
His heart was thudding a million miles a minute, and he felt sweat pour down his back. He knew that he should give the order to shoot; he knew that they should fire. However, something was wrong. It didn't add up. If they’d heard shots, why weren't there more? Why weren't they flying flags? Why were they gathered so closely together?
“SIR!” Matheson came running down the stairs, and Wesley was prepared to hear the worst. He was prepared to hear that Mr. Harper was dead; that they were boarded or worse. Matheson had a grin on his face. “Don't shoot!”
“Explain,” Wesley said, putting his hands behind his back to hide the fact that they were shaking.
“The ships in the port are ours,” he said, and Wesley's head whipped around.
“How are they ours? They don't have flags; they are cleared for action...”
“They are ours,” Matheson said. “Mr. Harper recognized them. One is the HMS Silver and the other is the HMS Caesar.”
“But---” Wesley could figure out most things that were presented to him. However, he could not figure out why they would possibly be in the situation. “How—why---”
“I don't know, sir,” Matheson said. “But they are ours, so we should probably not fire on them.”
“Stay cleared,” Wesley said to Corrigan. “I'm going up to talk to Mr. Harper. Matheson, stay down here.”
He thumped the stairs himself, to find Harold standing on the deck. He turned around to see the younger man, but he didn't say anything. His spyglass was still out, and he handed it over to Wesley without a word.
“Those are our ships,” Wesley said, watching. His heart was still pounding, and they had not changed sail, so they were approaching at a rapid rate. “Is it possible they've been taken over? Why are they firing?”
“They aren't firing on us,” Harold said. “They are just firing into the water. Almost as if they don't know how to use the guns.”
“This doesn't make any sense,” Wesley said, running his hands through his hair.
“It doesn't make sense to me either,” Harold said. “Rest assured. But I don't think that we are in danger.”
“I've told the men to remain cleared for action,” Wesley said. “Just in case.”
“Good idea,” Harold said, and Wesley could see that he was nervous as well.
“They don't train you for this in officer school, do they?” Harold asked and Wesley shook his head.
“No, sir. Is this on the lieutenant exam?” he asked, and Harold laughed nervously.
“Not that I know of. Mr. Bamber took the exam later than me, though, so you'll have to ask him.”
“I would, gladly,” Wesley replied. “If we ever make it there.”
One of the ships fired again and Wesley winced. Sure enough, they were firing on the ocean and not on them.
A second shot and a third shot came, and Wesley gripped his hand to his side.
“There's Englishmen on the ship too,” he said, as he recognized the uniforms. “Perhaps they've lost their minds?”
“I tend not to ask,” Harold said. “What sailors do in port is their own business. But this seems to be crossing the line.”
“We can't....ignore the possibly that they might have boarded. These might be pirates, trying to lull us into a false sense of security.”
“So what do you want to do?” Harold asked. “We aren't in danger, so there's no reason to wake the captain...you are strategy and tactics, so you need to make the choice.”
“Oy,” Wesley said, closing his eyes. He wished Mr. Bamber was on board now, because Mr. Bamber understood Irish Gaelic, Wesley's native language. And when stress levels were high, English often left his brain. “I'll keep them cleared for action. But we can't very well fire on English ships with Englishmen....even if we think they are acting like lunatics.”
“God help us all,” Harold replied as they glided closer to port.
As they passed the other ships, the crews didn't take much notice of them. Wesley had been right; there were no flags, and they were an English crew. They were running about, yelling, and firing their cannons, as if they were at war with an invisible enemy.
“What the hell are they doing?” Wesley asked, mostly to himself. “Have they gone mad? Perhaps there's some plague in port that we don't know about?”
“Some mythical world?” Harold asked with a smirk. “Leave Mr. Bamber in port for 6 months and he makes the whole world a stage. And no doubt, your Lola is involved.”
Wesley smiled despite himself at the thought of Lola. Their courtship had been rocky, when murders plagued her theatre. It was because of her that he’d had to re-claim his title, in order to clear her name. He had proposed to her last time he was on land, as Harold had proposed to Mr. Bamber's twin, Annabelle. They had a lot waiting for them on land, and a mistake could cost them everything.
“Let's hope that all it is,” he said as they began to glide into their spot. There was no one else in the inner harbor, which confused Wesley even more.
They were able to get a prime spot, and the men slowly came on deck. The fact that their two officers were simply standing there as they passed the other ships was confusing.
“Sir?” Matheson said. “I know we weren't supposed to leave the guns, but....”
“It's alright,” Wesley said as he waved at the railing. “Just wait here. I'll explain later.”
“Eh---” Matheson looked around and then shrugged. “You can explain or not, sir, as long as we're safe.”
“I think we're safe...” Wesley replied. “But are any of us really safe in this damn war?”
CHAPTER TWO
HOMECOMING
HOMECOMING
“Why are they cleared for action?” Aaron asked, leaning against the side of the carriage with his arms crossed. His twin sister, Annabelle, was beside him, watching as they finished the final docking procedures.
“It means they are coming into port like they are going to war.” He watched the ship half longingly, through the crowds of a busy city center. It had been a long time since he was the middle of the hustle and bustle of so many people. When he was sailing, he came down here to load or unload. When he was at home, he was mostly at the Manor. And since he was put on sick leave, he hadn't been much of anywhere.
Aside from that, the harbor had some bad memories from his childhood that he didn't like to relive. Loading and unloading was fine, but hanging around was not how he chose to spend his free time.
“Are you alright?” Annabelle asked, and he nodded. She had been asking him that pretty much constantly since he had began to recover. Normally, it didn't bother him at all, but that was because she was inquiring about his physical health. She knew why he didn't like hanging around the docks, though, and she was inquiring about his mental health.
“Of course,” he said as the gang plank came down. “Look, there's your fiancé.”
As the lieutenants were directly under the captain, they were the second off the ship. Harold came down the gangplank to supervise the docking procedure, his mind always on work. He couldn't help, however, but glance over to Annabelle with a wide smile.
“You should kiss him,” Aaron said to his sister. “Interrupt his process.”
“That's not proper,” Annabelle replied, although she had a wide grin on her face.
> Suddenly, a carriage pulled up behind them, a flurry of horses coming to a halt.
“I'm here. Did I miss it?” came a voice and Aaron burst out laughing as he turned around.
“Lola, you didn't miss them. How do you miss a giant ship docked right in front of you?”
“Sorry,” Lola, in the sunlight, had stage makeup on, prepared to run off to the theatre for the matinee at the last minute. “I heard they docked and I ran.”
“Did you leave some poor costume mistress in wonder?” Aaron glanced up at the sky. “It is only noon, you have time.”
She was staying with the two of them whenever she toured through London, which was often given the fact that it was a main city. Since Aaron had fallen ill, she had tried to get shows in the city more often than not. She toured and Wesley sailed, which promised for a difficult future if they didn't want to give up their careers. Nevertheless, for now, they both seemed happy.
“Depends on how long I want to greet my fiancé,” she said. She wasn't wearing her ring, but he had given her his signet ring from when he was an Earl. Aaron thought it was the perfect love story for the girl he had known since they were children.
Wesley came off the ship then, looking back over his shoulder.
“Why are you cleared for action?” Aaron yelled, to get his attention, and Wesley's head spun toward them.
That was when he noticed Lola, and anything else he had on his mind was lost. She flew toward him.
Annabelle took that as her cue to go to Harold, and Aaron stood alone at the carriage. He didn't mind so much; he had long since decided that he wouldn't have the happiness his friends had. Love was for them, but it wasn't for him, and that was for one specific reason.
Aaron was a Lord, the heir to the Bamber fortune, including the sprawling estate. Marrying an officer was good enough for his sister, but he was expected to marry nobility.
So when he fell in love long ago with a peasant girl in another British port, he knew that it could never last. Her name was Shauna, and last time he saw her, she was a school teacher. They’d had a torrid love affair whenever he was in port, and his heart had soared. However, it also broke, for he knew he'd never be allowed to be with her. No amount of loving would change her status and make her noble. They both knew that when they fell in love, and when they separated for the last time.
He had accepted that it was better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. He’d told himself that for the past 5 years; which was the last time he had seen her. Sometimes he lay awake at night and thought about her. It was easier when his friends weren't in love, but now that they were, in front of him at that, his heart ached just a bit.
“We were cleared for action,” Wesley said after greeting Lola and walking over to shake Aaron's hand. “Because there were many British ships with no flags shooting at the ocean. What was I supposed to think when we came in?”
“It was the oddest thing,” Harold said as he came over as well. He gave Aaron a hug, grasping him by the shoulders. “You look well, Aaron. I'm glad I got to see you. I had questions that the whole port and all the ships had been taken by pirates.”
“Pi---” Aaron burst out laughing. “You thought it was pirates?”
Harold raised an eyebrow.
“What else was I supposed to think?”
“They are for the navy recruitment exercise,” Aaron said, and both of the boys looked at him, flabbergasted.
“What are you talking about?” Harold asked.
“You two have no idea?” Aaron looked between them.
Lola giggled, hanging onto Wesley's arm.
“I suppose you have been out to sea, but I would have thought you'd have been told when you set sail. The captain must have known.”
“Known what?” Harold was completely lost. “I'm starting to wonder if you're raving.”
“I'm not raving,” Aaron said. “Although that's what I thought when the orders came in. The Navy has decided that over the winter, a series of recruitment exercises will be performed in various ports. They will range between demonstrations and re-staging historical battles.”
“Why?” Wesley asked, confused.
“Because we need to do something. Our numbers have been very low, so we need a radical change,” Aaron said. “The historical demonstrations and camps will be accurate to our camps aboard, so there will be vendors, there will be women---”
“You're involved, aren't you?” Wesley looked down to Lola, who smirked.
“They came to my London company first with the contract, so we got our pick of the roles. I get to play visiting royalty.”
“She's being modest,” Aaron said. “She gets to be a princess. They'll pay for everyone. The rest of us are to be as we are. Some of us will be on the ships, some of us on the ground...”
“Hence why they were practicing,” Harold practically smacked his face with his hand. “I should have figured it out.”
“How?” Wesley asked. “We've never heard of anything like this. Are some of them to be the enemy ships?”
“Yes,” Aaron replied. “I think the Silver is going to be a French ship.”
“Hence the flags being pulled down,” Wesley answered. “This is madness. But it's such madness that it might just work. The recruitment numbers could go through the roof. We should probably report to HQ right away, as I'm sure the men will have questions we won't be able to answer.”
“You've been on the ship how many months and you want to run off?” Lola teased him as he bent down to kiss her.
“Well, maybe not right away,” he answered.
Aaron smiled as they moved past him to get into the carriage. Matheson and Corrigan were to join them later, as they were set to help unload the ship. The rest of them were planning to head to Bamber Manor for the duration of their stay.
As Harold passed him, Aaron turned his head to the side, to let him by. He was excited that his friends were home, and excited for the new opportunities. He had been cleared by headquarters to work the events, so long as he didn't over exert himself. It was going to be a new way to experience life; which was something that he’d always enjoyed.
The crowd swirled around him, and he suddenly froze. It was just for a second, but he thought he saw a familiar head of long brown hair go through the crowd. Tall and willowy, her hips swayed from side to side as she moved, unburdened by the crowd.
His mind thought that it was Shauna right away, staring after her.
This was something that happened several times a year. He'd think that he saw her in the crowd, on the street, in a restaurant.
“Aaron,” Lola stuck her head out of the carriage. “What are you waiting for?”
“Nothing,” Aaron said, shaking himself out of it. “Nothing. I just...I thought I saw someone.”
“Alright...” Lola paused. “I have to get going, so...”
“I'm coming, I'm coming,” he said, heaving himself into the carriage. Nevertheless, he couldn't help but notice that he was the odd man out.
“Who did you think you saw?” Lola asked, and he smiled. His smile was disarming, and he knew it. He could smile so well that no one would think anything was wrong.
“No one,” he said, shrugging. “I'm going crazy.”
“Well, we know that,” Harold said, squeezing Annabelle's hand. The couples were clearly thrilled to be together.
Aaron leaned his head against the window, watching the world go by. He did like the diversity of the streets, seeing people from all walks of life on their way to their days. There were women with children, men on the way to business, some sailors who were already gathered. There were vagabonds begging, old women arm in arm with their husbands.
The carriage rattled along the streets, and he closed his eyes for a moment. Perhaps it was best that he was unmarried. One seizure had taken him out for months. Even though he was heir to a Manor and a title, he felt like he had nothing to offer a wife in terms of health. If she wanted a strong husband who could work ha
rd and provide, he wasn't sure he could be that person.
The carriage went over a bump and his eyes flew open.
He didn't expect to be met with blue eyes that were just like his. He was used to seeing his mirror reflection in Annabelle, but these pair of eyes belonged to a child, just outside the carriage on the sidewalk.
“What the---” He leaned forward, but the child was gone, lost in the crowd that was gathering as they went through downtown.
“Aaron?” Harold asked, concerned.
“Did you see that?” He turned to his best friend.
“See what?”
“The child---” he said, realizing he sounded crazy. “Just—on the sidewalk.”
“Brother, I'm starting to think that this was too much excitement for one day,” Annabelle said.
“Maybe,” Aaron replied, leaning back against the carriage door. His heart was pounding, and he wondered if he was just imagining it.
However, he was sure he had just seen his own eyes staring back at him.
CHAPTER THREE
BLUE EYES
BLUE EYES
“She could have been my child,” Aaron said to Lola the next morning, as she munched through a plate of buttered toast. Last night, everyone had been absorbed in reuniting with their lovers, it seemed, and he had pretty much had been left alone to sit in front of the fire. Those eyes haunted him so much that he couldn't help but mention it to Lola the next morning. Both of them tended to have minds that didn't stop, and they were often awake earlier than the rest of the house. They were awake earlier than the servants, who would probably be scandalized that they were preparing their own food. Everyone had to be at Navy HQ at dawn, for orientation and assignments. “I thought I was looking into a mirror.”
“That's odd,” Lola said as she chewed her toast. “Have you seen this child around town before?”
“No,” Aaron said. “That's the oddest thing. I would have noticed if I had seen her before. Therefore, she must be new to town. It's just haunting, is all.”
The Lord’s Secret (The Regency Renegades - Beauty and Titles) (A Regency Romance Story) Page 2
