“But I haven’t heard it, either,” Julia Kerr piped up. “And everyone says I shall soon be a young lady.” Though twice her sister’s age, Julia was not much bigger. Already she bid fair to be as lovely as her mother when she grew up.
She lofted an appealing gaze at her father, which he had never been known to resist. “Will you tell us the story, Papa?”
Sir Robert gave his daughter’s delicate hand a gentle squeeze. “I believe there may be time enough before we dock. It happened this way, you see. Ten years ago, your mama arrived in Halifax as chaperone to a ship full of young ladies who had come to marry settlers in the colony. But the letter announcing their arrival had gotten lost somehow and no one knew they were coming, until one day their ship appeared in the harbor.”
Little Edwina removed her thumb from her mouth again. “Is that twue, Mama?”
Jocelyn nodded. “Indeed it is, pet.”
“Naturally,” continued Sir Robert, “a huge crowd gathered to see this ship that had brought so many lovely young ladies to the colony. But the governor of the colony was a gruff, cross old ogre of a fellow who thought everyone should work hard and be serious all the time and never have any amusement. He thought this bride ship, especially the beautiful chaperone, would cast a spell over everyone in the colony and make them giddy and foolish instead of minding their duties as they ought. So he marched down to the wharf and ordered the bride ship to sail away and never come back.”
Edwina’s blue eyes grew very round as she listened with grave attention. But her sister’s elfin features took on a stormy cast and it was not long before she burst out, “What a hateful creature! I hope you fought that nasty governor and made him let Mama and the bride ship stay.”
“Not…exactly.” Sir Robert struggled to keep from laughing. “You see—”
His wife must have taken pity on him for she continued the tale, “You see, dearest, though the governor was rather gruff, he was not an ogre. In fact, he was quite handsome and he only expected people to work hard because he worked so very hard, himself, trying to make their lives better.”
Julia’s fine dark brows knit in a thoughtful frown as she tried to grasp the idea of someone who appeared to be the villain of the story but who still had the makings of a hero.
“I did not have anyone to fight on my behalf,” continued Jocelyn. “So I challenged the governor to a duel. He showed his gallantry by insisting we settle our differences in a chess match, which he allowed me to win.”
“I most certainly did not,” Sir Robert protested.
“Papa!” Julia’s rosebud mouth fell open. “You were the ogre?”
He gave a rueful nod. “Until the enchantment of a beautiful princess, or rather a beautiful chaperone, broke the evil spell that kept me from enjoying life.”
His daughter looked quite perplexed, trying to work out how her doting papa could ever have been the way he described.
But Edwina regarded her father gravely for a moment, then shook her head. “Poor you.”
Dear little soul—she could grow up to be far too much like him if he and Jocelyn were not careful.
“You needn’t feel too sorry for me, missy.” He seized the sturdy little figure up off the deck. Then he proceeded to bounce her in his arms and nuzzle her plump cheek until she shrieked with glee. “Like all good stories, it came out well in the end.”
Very well indeed, as it happened. The marquess had refused to hear of Sir Robert and his daughter waiting to be wed. He arranged a plum appointment for his new son-in-law in the Colonial Office where Sir Robert could put his firsthand experience with colonial administration to work.
The marquess also put his London town house and Breckland Manor at the newlyweds’ disposal. Several years later, when Sir Robert had been approached to stand for Parliament, the marquess has been unstinting in his support. Proud as the old man was of his grandsons, he doted even more on little Julia and Edwina, who seemed to work the same enchantment over him as their mama had over their papa.
“Gracious!” cried Julia as their ship docked at the quay. She pointed toward the crowded wharf. “Have all those people come to welcome us?”
So it seemed. As soon as the current governor had concluded a warm speech of greeting, Sir Robert and Lady Jocelyn were surrounded by old friends bowing, shaking hands and embracing. Many couples from that first bride ship were on hand with their families.
“Duckworth!” Sir Robert cried upon seeing his former aide. “Aren’t you a prosperous-looking fellow! Being a magistrate must agree with you. Or perhaps it is fathering such a handsome family.”
“Is that your secret, sir? I do believe you look younger than when we parted ten years ago.”
“Liar!” Sir Robert laughed. “It is rather a trade-off, as a matter of fact. My duties in the Commons have given me a few gray hairs, but my home life keeps me feeling young.”
The crowd on the wharf gradually migrated up Salter Street toward Government House. Sir Robert was surprised to find the former front entrance had been turned into an elegant fenced lawn. There another surprise awaited Jocelyn and he.
“Will Carmont, you rascal!” He ignored his friend’s outstretched hand in favor of a hearty embrace. “Have you left Upper Canada undefended to go gadding off for a seaside holiday?”
“I had to drag him away from his duties,” declared Sally. “But you must recall how determined I can be when I set my mind on something.”
“Immediate surrender was the only option.” Will pretended to cower in fear.
They whiled away the rest of that afternoon at a garden party hosted by the governor and his lady. Later the Kerrs and the Carmonts sailed out to Birch Cove where the governor had loaned them the use of Prince’s Lodge for their visit. There they found Miz Ada most happily installed, anxious to prepare all Sir Robert’s favorite dishes and spoil his little daughters quite shamelessly.
The summer passed in an almost unbroken round of pleasure for all concerned. There were several splendid band concerts at the Grand Parade. Lord Thetford most enjoyed a rustic party on Powers Island cooking lobster, clams and mussels in big black pots over open fires on the beach. His brother spent many happy hours haunting the Citadel and the round tower at Point Pleasant, between hunting and fishing expeditions.
Jocelyn enjoyed frequent visits with her former charges from the bride ship, hearing how they had fared in their new homeland and admiring their growing families. Sir Robert mixed duty with pleasure, hosting meetings with the governors of all the North Atlantic colonies and hearing briefs from the councils of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton about the prospect of combining them into a single colony again. By far his most pleasant duty was a visit to Seal Island to unveil a plaque in his honor at the lighthouse there.
“Mama,” Edwina asked at dinner one evening, “is evewything a party in Nova Scotia?”
So it must have seemed to her, for Jocelyn, Sally and Mrs. Duckworth were planning a grand picnic to cap off their visit, reuniting all the bride-ship families. The changeable Nova Scotia weather gave them a little anxiety, but the day of the picnic dawned sunny and warm.
That afternoon there were games and races and treats for the children, as well as boating jaunts around Birch Cove and the pond behind the lodge. Endless stories were told from that first summer, including several exaggerated versions of the Seige of Prince’s Lodge. Everyone ate rather more than was good for them, but no one seemed to mind. A few future matches between various small ladies and gentlemen were proposed, only half in jest.
That evening there was dancing in the music pavilion, including a number of the country dances popular ten years before. Those gradually gave way to the waltz that had once been considered “wicked” but was now all the fashion.
“I declare,” said Jocelyn as she twirled around the dance floor in her husband’s arms, “it has been a marvelous day, but seeing all my girls again with their families makes me feel like an old matriarch.”
Robert laughed away such non
sense. “You forget, my dear, how little older you were than most of your charges. Besides, if you are feeling your years, I believe I can suggest a perfect restorative.”
“Can you? And what might that be?”
He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “Perhaps after our guests depart and the children are all in bed, you and I can steal back down here…”
Jocelyn glanced toward an innocent-looking chaise lounge, then back at her husband. Her eyes glowed with dusky desire. “Are you suggesting a starlight tryst, dearest?”
“After all,” he said, feigning his old earnest diligence, “I would not want to be remiss in performing my husbandly duty.”
“Do your duty?” Jocelyn teased. “Or take your pleasure?”
She reached up to caress his cheek with the backs of her fingers, sending a fevered shiver of anticipation through him.
“My darling.” He lavished her with an adoring gaze. “Surely you must know by now, you make every duty a pleasure. And every pleasure a joy.”
Author Note
The places depicted in this book are quite real. Government House still stands, all the finer for having acquired the mellow grace of age. Sadly, Prince’s Lodge is long gone, but the heart-shaped pond and the trails that were once part of its grounds remain, as well as the little music pavilion overlooking Bedford Basin.
By contrast, the characters in The Bride Ship are products of my imagination, though Sir Robert Kerr did draw inspiration from a number of fine gentlemen who served as lieutenant governors of Nova Scotia during the early part of the nineteenth century. For the purposes of this story, I have shortened that title to “governor.”
I have also taken liberties with the chronology of a number of events and issues in Nova Scotia’s colonial history for dramatic effect. The lighthouse on Seal Island, for instance, was not built until some years later. But the story of the real-life heroes and heroines who first settled the island is true.
A bride ship was dispatched from England to the west coast colony of British Columbia in 1862 by England’s great philanthropist, Angela Burdett-Coutts. I hope readers will enjoy my attempt to imagine what might have happened if one had come to Nova Scotia half a century earlier.
—Deborah Hale
ISBN: 978-1-4592-2959-4
THE BRIDE SHIP
Copyright © 2006 by Deborah M. Hale
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and TM are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.eHarlequin.com
Deborah Hale Page 27
