by Jenna Stone
“Lord, please keep him safe,” Rowan chanted in his mind, sending one last prayer for his little brother’s safety heavenward.
“On the count of three, we jump,” Rowan ordered, glancing at Quinn long enough to shoot him a challenging glare, daring him not to follow.
“One….Two…Three!” Rowan exclaimed, still holding Malcolm’s arm as the Murray brothers jumped into the hostile waves of the Atlantic Ocean.
Malcolm surfaced first, thankful to find that Rowan still had a hold of his left arm. He was trying to be grown up and stoic about this adventure, but the truth was that he was bloody scared out of his right mind. Rowan broke the surface of the water and was surprised that it was warmer than he had expected. He scanned the water for Quinn, and reached out to grab his older brother’s shirt as he broke the surface sputtering sea water. He pulled Quinn towards them and thanked God that they had remained together after jumping into the sea.
“Malcolm!” shouted Quinn above the thundering noise of the waves. “Try tae conserve yer strength. I ken that ye can swim, we all can, but we might be in the water for awhile.”
“Alright,” nodded Malcolm, eyes bulging from the terror of being adrift in the massive ocean at the mercy of a raging storm. At only 16 years of age, this was far more adventure than Malcolm had bargained for.
“We’re gonna make it!” Rowan yelled over the deafening waves, reassuring his little brother. “We just need tae stay together if we can.”
The sound of desperate screaming drew their attention back to the sinking ship. The Mary Catherine was now lying helplessly on its side, taking in water quickly with each passing wave that pummeled her hull. The unfortunate souls that could not swim clung to the sides and the railings of the vessel, screaming frantically for help, mercy or any miraculous form of salvation. A giant wave swelled behind the ship and crashed over the top of it, wrenching the last passengers from their grips on the ship and casting them to their deaths in the ocean.
“Lord have mercy on them,” whispered Quinn under his breath. Part of him still wished that he had gone down with the ship, had remained shackled helplessly in the cargo hold.
The brothers treaded water, working against the water to remain next to each other in the waves. The screams from the people who could not swim had gradually died off as they had succumbed to their watery graves. The ship was now completely gone, falling towards its resting place at the bottom of the Atlantic.
“Help!” sputtered a terror ridden female voice amongst the waves. “Get off of me…you’re pulling me under!” There was desperation heavy in her voice as she fought off a man that could not swim, who was using her as a raft to save himself from certain drowning.
Rowan looked over his shoulder and saw the man clawing at the young woman, trying to climb atop her and keep himself out of the water. She fought him ferociously, sputtering and kicking as he pushed her beneath the water.
Enraged by the man’s cowardice, Rowan swam towards the couple, skilled arms carrying him deftly through the waves. They were no more than twenty feet away, and he cleared the distance in mere seconds, being an expert swimmer.
“Get off of her, ye bastard!” Rowan yelled as he pushed the middle aged man away from the young woman. The man was wild with fear, clawing and grabbing at the woman’s dress, sputtering as he inhaled the salty ocean water. Treading water with his legs, Rowan ripped the woman’s dress from the grips of the frantic man, trying to free her so that she could swim. The man caught her wrist and pulled her beneath the water, again trying to climb atop her so that he could keep afloat.
Enough was enough. Rowan pulled back his fist and punched the man square in the jaw.
“Leave her be!” he commanded as he pulled the woman out of the grips of the man, clasping her against his chest and kicking powerfully with his legs to put distance between them and the desperate man. Rowan leaned onto his back and pulled the woman to his chest, wrapping his right arm under her right armpit and across her breasts, tethering her to him as he swam away.
“It’s alright, I’ve got ye,” he whispered against the salty skin of her cheek.
A sob racked her body, and she relaxed against his muscled chest as he swam, allowing her head to fall against his shoulder in exhaustion.
“Thank you,” she said simply. “He was going to pull me under, and I was so scared.”
Rowan immediately noticed the ring of an English accent in her voice, and he gritted his teeth in response. He had more than one reason to hate the English.
“Can ye swim, lass?” Rowan asked as he pulled her through the waves towards his brothers, noticing that the waves were dying down as the worst of the storm had now passed.
“Not very well, I can keep myself afloat, but my dress keeps getting tangled up,” she said, brushing her hair back from her face.
“Well, we need tae get ye out of it then,” Rowan said matter-of-factly.
“My dress?” she asked flabbergasted, her body tensing against his chest.
“Well, if ye canna swim with it on, ye need tae get out of it,” Rowan said, this seeming to be a perfectly logical solution in his mind.
“But I’ve only got a shift on underneath my dress!” she exclaimed, clearly unnerved by Rowan’s suggestion.
“It seems tae me that if ye have the choice between drowning or stripping down tae yer shift, the more logical choice would be tae get rid of yer dress,” Rowan said, vowing that he would never understand women.
“Will you look at me?” she asked, still tense against his chest as he closed the distance between them and his brothers.
“No, I won’t look at ye. I promise tae be most respectable,” he grumbled, thinking that this was surely a silly lass to be concerned with such modesty when she was in jeopardy of drowning. Then he realized that his right arm was in quite a precarious position, right between her lovely breasts, pulling her lithe body close against his as he swam. Mayhap he would sneak a peek at her when she took of the dress.
“Alright, can you unlace the back of my dress then?” she asked, leaning forward to bear her laces to him.
Rowan stopped swimming and treaded water, struggling to rip out the laces from the back of her gown as the salt water splattered his face. He tore the laces free, and felt the bodice of her gown give way. Seeking to help her out of the confines of the dress, he pulled the sleeve down her arm and jerked it roughly when it seemed to catch on something.
“My bracelet!” she screamed, flailing frantically in the water. “Oh my God, is it caught in the sleeve?” she asked frantically, hands searching the fabric of the soaked gown. “You lost it!” she screamed angrily, eyes piercing Rowan like daggers. “It was all I had left of them!”
“It’s gone lass, I’m sorry, the sleeve was stuck and I just pulled it…” Rowan trailed off, feeling guilty that the loss of this bracelet had upset her so much.
The woman clung to his shoulders and he helped her slip out of the skirt of the gown. When her legs were free, she started to tread water, now able to swim for herself. Still her hands clung around his shoulders, and it was only then that Rowan realized how beautiful the young lady actually was. Her blonde hair was unbound and hung loosely about her face, curling slightly from the sea water. A smattering of freckles dusted her nose and her large hazel eyes were rimmed with thick black lashes. She clung to him trustingly and her hazel eyes focused on his.
“That bracelet was all that I had left of my family,” she seethed, eyebrows now knit together in anger, “And you lost it!” she said, voice wringing with anger. She used her hands to push off from his chest and tried to swim away. The crest of a rather large wave dumped on top of her and she sputtered, scrambling to regain control of the situation and keep her head above water.
Rowan swam after her fluidly, glancing over his shoulder at his brothers to make sure that they were still safe. He grabbed her about her middle and pulled her up close to his body, fighting off her protests easily, being a more than competent swimmer.
“I’m fine, you oaf! Let me go!” she protested, kicking in an effort to free herself from his embrace.
“I’m not going tae let ye drown, sae ye might as well give up fightin’ I’m a fair bit stronger than ye!”
“We’ll see about that!” she challenged, using her arms to try to wriggle out of Rowan’s grasp.
“Alright, drown if that’s what ye want. I’m sorry about yer bracelet,” Rowan said sincerely as he let her go.
“I’m still mad at you for that,” she said, stopping and facing Rowan. “You have no idea of how much that bracelet meant to me,” she said, eyes welling up with tears.
“Mayhap I can make it up tae ye?” Rowan offered tentatively, he hated it when a woman started to cry. “Why don’t ye come with me over tae where my brothers are? Maybe we can help ye.”
The girl started at him, and he could see her defenses melting. From the look on her face, he knew that she was alone.
She pondered his suggestion as if she had all the time in the world to make a decision. A look of surrender or possibly defeat spread across her face. “Alright, I’ll go with you,” she said begrudgingly, not used to accepting help from other people. “Can you help me swim?” she gritted out between clenched teeth.
“Sure,” Rowan said, offering his hand. She placed her hand in his and he pulled her against his chest. She settled herself against him trustingly and allowed him to pull her towards his brothers. The seas had calmed significantly, and Rowan was thankful that it was now easier to navigate the waves. Rowan deftly swam up to his brothers, still holding the lass tightly against his chest; he shifted his arm so that it rested about her waist, still not trusting her ability to swim by herself.
“Are ye alright, Malcolm?” Rowan asked his little brother, worried by the look of panic that was still fresh on the boy’s face.
“I’m fine, just wishin’ that we were on dry land,” Malcolm said, chuckling slightly as his head bobbed above the waves.
“This is…” Rowan trailed off as he tried to introduce the young lady to his brothers. He realized that he didn’t even know her name.
“Anna,” she interjected, still holding on to Rowan’s arm for support in the waves. “Anna Stanton.”
“Nice tae meet ye, Anna. I’m Malcolm, and this is my brother Quinn,” Malcolm said, nodding towards his oldest brother. “He wanted tae go down with the ship, sae don’t expect much conversation out of him.”
Anna’s eyes darted between the brothers, a look of concern flashed across her face as she wondered why Quinn would have wanted to go down with the ship.
“And who is he?” Anna asked as she craned her neck towards her savior, her hand still wrapped tightly around his biceps.
“Why that’s Rowan,” explained Malcolm. “Was he sae rude as no tae introduce himself?”
“I was busy trying tae save her from drowning, there was no time for introductions,” Rowan said, annoyance thick in his voice.
“Mam would be most displeased with ye brother, I ken that she taught ye how tae behave around womenfolk,” Malcolm chided, some of the fear dissipating from his green eyes.
“It’s quite alright, Malcolm. I can see that your brother needs to learn some manners. He already forced me to strip out of my dress.”
“He what?” Malcolm and Quinn asked in simultaneous disbelief, eyes focused now intently on their brother.
“Well, I did have her strip out of her dress, but only because she was drowning in it, she was all tangled in the skirts, and I thought that she might be able tae swim better without it…” Rowan trailed off, seeing that his reasoning was falling upon deaf ears.
Malcolm shook his head in dismay. “Ye really asked her tae take off her dress?”
“Aye, I had to!” Rowan exclaimed in defense.
“Anna, I’d like tae apologize for my brother’s rudeness,” Quinn offered with a hint of a smile. “I’m sure that the stress of this adventure has caused him to lose all rational thought.”
“It’s quite alright, I mean, I can swim better without it,” Anna said, eyes darting back towards Rowan.
“Still, it’s absolutely deplorable that Rowan would disgrace ye in such a way, askin’ ye tae take yer clothes off. This being a life or death situation and all Rowan can think of is how tae get ye out of yer gown!” Malcolm exclaimed in mock disbelief, eyes taunting his brother.
Anna looked over her shoulder at Rowan, who shrugged in a gesture of innocence. Surely he had not just been thinking about how to get her out of her gown, and had been truly seeking to help her chances of surviving this ordeal.
Having grown up in England, Anna had been taught to be wary of their Scottish neighbors to the North. She had heard of their brutal ways, their heathen nature, and it didn’t help that English forces were at war with the Scots now, in the final stages of quelling their uprising against the Crown. Despite all of this, there was something about these brothers, Rowan included, that caused Anna to trust them.
“I think that we had better start moving towards the shore, ye can see it in the distance if ye look,” Rowan said, seeking to change the subject and remove some of the heat that his brothers had been placing on him.
“Aye, the storm has died down, we might be able tae make it before nightfall if the current is strong,” Quinn surmised, hoping to use the swells from the last waves of the storm to propel them towards the shore.
“If we make it there, will we be free?” Malcolm asked, raising a hand to his brow as he looked towards the land far in the distance.
“Aye, this has worked out better than we might have hoped,” Rowan said as he again pulled Anna to his chest and began swimming towards the distant shoreline.
Anna’s heart sank because she knew that freedom was not an option for herself, and her next thought was about her safety. She felt Rowan’s arm strong about her waist as his powerful legs kicked them both towards the shore. A feeling of dread settled in her stomach.
Were these Scotsmen dangerous prisoners? What were they running from?
Chapter Three
The setting sun loomed behind them as they finally reached the shore, casting hues or orange and red into the evening sky. Rowan set Anna on her feet and they trudged exhausted onto the beach, his arm still around her waist, unsure if she would be able to support herself after the long swim.
“We made it! We’re alive and we’re free!” Malcolm screamed at the top of his lungs as he rolled in the sand.
Quinn crawled from the water and sat in the sand, brushing his shoulder length chestnut hair back from his face and resting his head wearily on his knees. Rowan and Anna walked slowly over next to him and sat down in the sand.
“Do you think that we are the only ones who survived?” Anna asked, wringing out her wet hair and tying it in a knot at the nape of her neck.
“Surely not,” replied Rowan as he squinted into the last light of the sun before it dropped below the horizon, looking for movement in the sea. “All good sailors ken how tae swim. Mayhap the current took them further down the beach.”
Rowan glanced over at Anna who sat rigid as a board staring blankly out at the ocean, feet tucked demurely beneath the shredded fabric of her chemise. “Were you traveling with someone?” Rowan ventured cautiously, suddenly feeling insensitive for assuming that the lass had been traveling alone. Mayhap she had lost someone in the shipwreck and he had not even had the common decency to ask until now.
“No,” Anna whispered, eyes still fixed on the now calm, rolling waves of the Atlantic.
Rowan sat quietly, expecting Anna to elaborate on her situation, but she did not offer any more information. She was perplexing indeed, so small and fragile, but with such an air of confidence about her that Rowan knew there was more to Anna Stanton than what met the eye. His gaze flashed over her body which
was thin and lithe, he couldn’t help but notice how the thin fabric of her chemise clung to her full breasts and flat stomach.
“Do ye have any idea of where we might be?” Quinn broke the silence as he looked over at his brother, who he caught in the act of blatantly appraising Anna. “I ken that we were supposed tae arrive in Williamsburg, but I’ve got a feeling that the storm took us off course.”
“I don’t think this is Williamsburg,” replied Anna. “From what I heard, Williamsburg is much colder than this. Look at these trees!” she exclaimed, eyes drifting upwards towards the unfamiliar palm trees.
“I think that we’ve landed further south,” added Rowan. “I’m not even sure that this is the mainland. Could be an island, ken?”
“Wherever we are, we’d better find some shelter for the night. It’s getting dark,” said Quinn, ever the practical one of the three brothers. “Malcolm!” he shouted down the beach at his brother who was already exploring in the last light of the day.
Malcolm trotted obediently back up the beach, and joined his companions as they stood up, brushing the remnants of sand from their clothes. Anna was suddenly aware of just how little the thin linen of her shift left to the imagination, and crossed her arms defensively across her breasts.
Seeing her anxiousness, Rowan rucked his shirt up over his head and tossed it at Anna. “There’s my penance for askin’ ye tae strip out of yer gown,” he said as he trudged towards the trees.
***
“What’s a lass like yerself doing all alone on a ship to the New World?” Malcolm asked breaking the silence as the dark began to shroud the beach.
“How do you know that I was traveling alone?” Anna asked, knowing that Malcolm had not been privy to her earlier confession.
“I don’t ken, it’s just that if ye were traveling with someone, ye would probably be upset that they hadna survived the shipwreck,” Malcolm said, toying with some sea grass to keep his fingers occupied.
“Actually, I was traveling to the New World to get married,” Anna said, smiling nervously, crossing her arms in front of her and wrapping Rowan’s shirt more closely about herself. A chill was rising in the air, and she wondered how Rowan sat across from her shirtless, seemingly unfazed by the cold. She noticed just how perfect his tan muscled body was, and how his trousers were slung low on his hips, accentuating his toned abdominal muscles. Rowan was no doubt a handsome man; his angular jaw was now dusted with a day’s growth of stubble, lending him a rugged look. His jaw length chestnut hair had curled slightly from the ocean, and fell loose ringlets about his shoulders.
