Bridging the Storm

by Meredith Bond

  “I’ll see you back at the abbey,” she said with a nod and took off in the wake of the last group of staff members—the footmen.

  She followed at a distance until the carriage, filled with her aunt, uncle, Sir Dagonet and the children, passed her by. The new baby had been kept at home with Maryellen.

  With the carriage well away, Kate caught up with the men as they walked slowly in the summer heat, their black wool coats slung casually over their shoulders.

  “Jimmy,” she called out. “Jimmy! Might I have a word?”

  The young footman turned, his eyes wide when he noticed her behind them. He stopped and waited for her to catch up.

  “Miss Kate, why didn’t you go in the carriage with your aunt and uncle? It’s too hot out here,” he said, with a frown of concern.

  She smiled at him. He was one of a few members of the staff who had been able to manage the tricky balance of respect and concern for her welfare. “I wanted to speak with you,” she said.

  He just looked at her expectantly.

  She waited until they had fallen further behind the other men, allowing them some privacy. “Do you remember a while ago I mentioned that I needed someone to accompany me to London?”

  “I thought you’d given up that crazy idea!” he said, but then quickly tried to amend his words. “I mean…”

  “I know what you mean. Yes, maybe it is a crazy idea, but I’m more determined than ever to go through with it.”

  At his look of concern, she added, “My aunt, if you haven’t noticed, is more difficult to deal with now. I suspect she will get worse. She’s… she’s…” Kate tried to phrase her aunt's behavior politely, “disturbed.”

  She’d always been difficult. She’d always had to be in control of everything, but it was getting worse. Kate could see this—everyone could. Her temper, always quick to flare up, now permanently burned. She was harsher in her words and actions, and Kate couldn’t see this getting better—or any easier to deal with. She couldn’t exactly say all this to Jimmy, but she was sure he knew and understood how she felt.

  One side of Jimmy’s mouth twitched into a smile for the briefest moment. Oh, yes, he knew. Kate put a hand on his sleeve. “Please, Jimmy. You’re the only one I can trust. I have money, possibly even enough to purchase a ticket for you as well. Come with me! Let’s escape this horrid place! I want to leave the country. There’s bound to be a ship sailing somewhere—France, America, New South Wales. I don’t care where it’s going, I want to be on it.”

  “Miss Kate…” His voice held a note of warning, trepidation and possibly a little amusement as well.

  “You know I mean this in only the most platonic way,” she quickly amended, not wanting him to think she wanted anything more than an escort. She might have taken her maid if the girl had any brains in her head. Her aunt had assigned the most timid girl on the staff to look after her. No, she needed a man who could find his way. She couldn’t go with Sir Arthur. She needed Jimmy.

  At that, Jimmy did burst out laughing. “I know, Miss Kate. Have no fear, I know how you feel about me.”

  “A friend! Jimmy, you are a friend. And you’re intelligent and have some knowledge of the world, which sadly, I know I do not. I have read enough to know how absolutely naïve I am in the ways of the world. Please say you’ll come with me.” She paused and then went in for the kill. “I will go with or without you. I would feel more at ease if it were with you.”

  His smile and normal easy–going expression slipped off his face. “I believe you would. You are a brave girl—” He left his words hanging as if he would say more but held his tongue.

  “Stupid, but brave. Yes, I know.” She gave him a smile, now confident he would agree to come with her. She had won, but she was smart enough not to gloat.

  He sighed and nodded his head. “All right. I’ll come with you. When you do want to leave?”

  “Tonight,” she said without hesitation.

  “That soon?” Now he was truly surprised.

  “If we don’t, we may lose the opportunity. Both my aunt and uncle will be too preoccupied with their grief to notice us missing for a day or two at least. That’ll give us enough time to get to London. Perhaps we may even find a ship and attain passage.”

  He turned his attention back to the road, clearly thinking this through. Finally, he nodded. “All right. Tonight, then. I’ll meet you in the stables at one, and pray they won’t send anyone after us for stealing horses.”

  “We won’t steal them,” she argued. “I’ll send my uncle a note telling him where to find them. We can’t take them with us, anyway.”

  Jimmy sighed and nodded.

  This was going to work. Finally, finally, she was going to be free and out from under the thumb of her aunt who had ruled her life since she was a little girl. This was long overdue.

  Chapter Twenty–Five

  THE FOLLOWING DAY, Dagonet waited on the bridge for half an hour and spent at least half that time looking at his watch. He didn’t know where Kate was. She usually came here after giving the children their morning lesson. Now it was nearly time for the mid–day meal and she was still nowhere in sight.

  He hated to admit how much he looked forward to their daily chats here. Some of them weren’t exactly pleasant—he still felt a little guilty about pointing out her duty to her aunt to her—but meeting with her, speaking with her, spending time with her every day had rather grown on him.

  And they’d missed too many of these meeting recently—between the funeral the day before and her excursion to assist her aunt with her magic. He had been especially looking forward to seeing her today.

  But she hadn’t come.

  Dagonet heaved a sigh and headed back to the house. He stopped just inside, turning to the footman who closed the door behind him. It wasn’t the usual fellow who manned the door. Dagonet couldn’t remember if he’d seen Jimmy today either. “Have you seen Miss Cherington today?”

  The man looked startled. “No, sir, I have not.”

  That was odd. “Not at all?”

  The man paused but then shook his head. “No, sir, not at all.”

  He didn’t like that! “Is Lord Vallentyn in his study?”

  “No, sir. I believe he’s upstairs with her ladyship.”

  Dagonet gave a nod and headed up the stairs. Perhaps Kate was with her aunt and uncle.

  He stopped at Lady Vallentyn’s private drawing room and gave the door a gentle rap with his knuckles.

  “Come,” Lord Vallentyn’s strong voice carried through the door.

  “I beg your pardon,” Dagonet said, entering the room. His host and hostess sat together on a sofa. It looked as if Vallentyn had been comforting his wife who even now wiped tears from her cheeks. “I’m so sorry to disturb you…”

  “What is it, Sir Arthur,” Lady Vallentyn said with a sniff and a distinct lack of patience.

  He didn’t take her rudeness at face value. She was upset and had every right to be considering she’d buried two of her children the previous day. “I was looking for Miss Cherington. No one seems to have seen her today. I wondered if you knew where she was.”

  Lord Vallentyn stood up. “She’s not in the house?”

  “I haven’t yet checked the nursery, but she didn’t go out for her morning walk as she usually does. The footman in the front hall said he hadn’t seen her today—at all.”

  “That’s very odd, but perhaps she kept to her room today. Yesterday…”

  “Her maid gave me a note from her this morning,” Lady Vallentyn said, as if stating that it was summer.

  Vallentyn turned toward her. “What did it say?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t read it,” she said with a shrug.

  Vallentyn frowned. “Do you have it, my love?”

  She gave a negligent wave of her hand. “It’s in my bed chamber on my dressing table.”

  Her husband strode through the connecting door to his wife’s room. A moment later they heard him exclaim, “Oh,
my God!”

  He reappeared at the door. “Tatiana! You should have read this! Kate is gone! She’s run away.”

  “Run away? How dare she?” Lady Vallentyn asked, anger tainting her voice. “At a time like this?”

  “Where did she go? Why? Did she say?” Dagonet asked.

  Vallentyn looked again at the note in his hand then shook his head. “She just says that she’s leaving to make a life for herself. She doesn’t blame us in any way for not doing more for her, but now sees that it is up to her to take matters into her own hands.” He scanned the lines silently. “And she’ll send word of where I’ll find her horse and one she borrowed for Jimmy, the footman, who accompanied her.”

  “She’s run off with the footman?” Lady Vallentyn asked, horrified.

  “No, she insisted he accompany her so that she would not be travelling alone, as she knows that can be dangerous. He is only looking after her welfare; she’s very clear on that matter,” Lord Vallentyn said, looking straight at Dagonet.

  “She’ll send word on where to find her horse…” Dagonet repeated. That she went with Jimmy reassured him more than worried him. He was certain she felt nothing for the young man but friendship. In fact, it was quite intelligent of her to have taken the footman along. Not safe for a young woman to travel alone! She was a smart girl to have known that and done something about it, he thought approvingly. “If she won’t be needing her horse…” he continued in an attempt to figure out where she might be found.

  “She wouldn’t attempt to leave the country?”

  “She’s got to be in Portsmouth or London.” He and Vallentyn spoke at the same time.

  “She wouldn’t!” Lady Vallentyn exclaimed.

  “I don’t doubt for a moment that she would,” her husband said with certainty.

  “Neither do I.” Dagonet turned toward the door. He had packing to do and a girl to find. “I’ll be off then.”

  “You’ll bring her back here?” Lord Vallentyn asked.

  “Don’t,” Lady Vallentyn said, rising from the sofa.

  Both men turned and looked at her.

  “I will go and get her,” she said, starting for her bedchamber.

  Vallentyn stepped directly in her path. “No, you will not.”

  “Do not stop me, my lord,” she warned, her voice low and menacing.

  He wasn’t phased, however. “You are not going, Tatiana. You can’t even consider it!”

  “And why not?”

  “You gave birth less than a week ago!” he nearly shouted. “You buried two of our sons yesterday!”

  “And I will go and fetch your wayward niece today,” she said, venom spilling through her voice.

  “No, you are not,” he repeated.

  Dagonet didn’t have time to stand there while the two of them argued. He turned and slipped out of the room. It would take him no more than ten minutes to put his things together and be on his way to London where he was certain to find Kate.

  KATE HAD NEVER felt so small and insignificant as she did standing by the docks near the huge ships that travelled the world.

  It had been a harrowing ride through the night to reach London. She’d been in turns elated to be free of her aunt and terrified of being alone. She’d wanted to turn back and return to the safety of her own bed, but knew that she would find no happiness there.

  She didn’t know that she would find happiness here either, though. The enormity of what she’d done was finally hitting her and there was no going back now. She was certain of it.

  Her maid would have found her note. Her aunt would have read it. It was done. She had no choice but to go forward with this crazy scheme. No. Not just crazy. Stupid.

  How in the world had she ever thought that this was a good idea? To leave her home where she was… well, Uncle Kit loved her, Aunt Vallentyn tolerated her. But now, here… what was she going to do? A young woman travelling alone? And where would she go, assuming Jimmy could book passage on one of these enormous ships? To America?

  She knew no one there. Had no skills. No money beyond what it would cost to pay for the journey. No, this was beyond stupid. This was nearly as insane as her aunt.

  “This must be the one,” Jimmy said, pointing up at the ship they’d just ridden up to.

  Jimmy had been a God–send. He’d known exactly how to get to London—the road wasn’t nearly as straight and obvious as she’d thought it would be. And then he’d stopped and asked directions numerous times within the city until they’d finally found themselves at the docks.

  London! It was a much larger place than Kate had even imagined. It had taken them over forty minutes just to navigate within the city itself. And even at dawn the streets had been crowded with people, horses and carriages.

  One more stop at one of the many taverns that lined the docks and Jimmy had learned that there was one ship leaving for America the following morning. And this was it. The Vespucci.

  “Shall I go and see if I can speak with the captain?” her beloved footman asked.

  “Yes. Do,” Kate said, but with no enthusiasm in her voice. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Do what you can to see if we can get passage.”

  He nodded. He too knew that there was no going back. They’d come too far. They either gained passage on this ship or tried for another. There was no alternative.

  Kate waited with horses while Jimmy nimbly ran up the plank that bridged the ship to the dock. She tried to ignore the stares of the men all around her. If they were very persistent she turned to stare them down as if she had every right to be there. Most backed down, a few made leering noises which scared Kate to no end.

  Luckily, the one time a man had actually started to come toward her, some other sailors stopped him. Kate could only pray that Jimmy didn’t take too much longer.

  “Miss Kate! Miss Kate!” Jimmy called from the ship. He gestured to her to join him.

  She climbed down from her horse, tying both her horse and Jimmy’s to a nearby post and untied her portmanteau from the back of her saddle.

  Jimmy bounded up to her, clearly proud of his accomplishments and excited for the coming journey. He took both her luggage and his own and returned to the ship.

  Slowly Kate followed him, navigating the plank much more slowly. She didn’t want to go. She had no where to go to. No one to go with. For the first time in her life adventure looked her in the eye—and she blinked.

  In fact, she had to blink frequently to clear the tears from her eyes. They were blurring her vision and this bridge was terrifying enough without being able to see her way properly.

  WITH EACH DOCKSIDE tavern Dagonet searched, he became more frantic. There weren’t that many taverns by the port of London. She had to be in one of them.

  At each one, he asked after a refined young lady. Surely, she would stick out like a rose in a bed of weeds. But no one had seen her. How could this be?

  Could he have been wrong? Had she not come to London? Had she gone to Portsmouth instead? Surely she knew that most of the ships sailing to the Americas left from London.

  Had she had decided to go to India instead? That was a possibility. But she seemed so taken with his description of Philadelphia, he was certain she would have wanted to go there.

  He strode furiously from tavern to tavern, finally reaching the very last one… the one he knew the best. The Duck’s Head was owned by a good friend of his and one of the few men who knew Dagonet’s secret. He’d frequented this particular pub ever since its establishment in the 16th century by a fellow named Turnquet. The tavern had passed down to his son, and then to his son after him. Through the generations, Dagonet had returned to this tavern every time he’d come into port and before every journey he’d made.

  He walked into the pub now, completely at his wits end and ready to throttle Kate if he ever did find her.

  “Dagonet!” the owner of the bar greeted him the minute he walked into the common room.

  “Hello, Dagonet,” an extremely buxom y
oung woman purred, her dress slipping off one shoulder suggestively. She sauntered up to him with a tray filled with tankards of ale in her hand. “You’re looking good.”

  If he hadn’t known the girl from the time she’d been toddling around and falling on her face as she learned to walk, her words might have elicited more of a response. Instead, he shook his head in a disapproving manner, and said, “Felicity, you should be ashamed of yourself.” He hooked one finger under the edge of her dress and placed it back onto her shoulder.

  “Tsk! You’re no fun!”

  “Hey! Watch where you’re touching her!” some drunken young sailor, said, weaving up to him.

  “Oh, stuff it, Frank,” she said, turning away. “He’s like a father to me.”

  “A father? Rather young to be a father,” the fellow said, following after her like a besotted puppy.

  Dagonet turned away and joined Turnquet at the bar. “Have you seen a young woman, a young lady?” he asked his old friend.

  “No. Looking for someone in particular, I take it?”

  “Yes. Been to nearly every pub along the docks, don’t you know?” He hated the sick feeling that festered in the pit of his stomach.

  He couldn’t have missed her. He turned back to his friend. “Have any ships left for America this morning?”

  “This morning? No. Tomorrow morning,” Turnquet said, putting a full tankard of ale in front of Dagonet.

  He pushed it away; he had no stomach for anything just now. “Tomorrow morning? Which one? Which ship?”

  “The Vespucci. About three slips down,” his friend said and nodded in the direction Dagonet had been heading.

  There was a distinct lightening of his stomach. He pulled the tankard back and drained half of it in one go. “Thanks, I’ll be back. Keep that for me.”

  His friend shook his head and smiled, as he ran out the door.

  It took him only a few minutes to find The Vespucci and even less to find Kate. She was there! Right there crossing the gangway onto the ship.