Jamie hurried to him the moment she spotted him leaning heavily against one of the solid wood pillars toward the back of the room.
“What hae I done t’ ye!” she cried, gently reaching toward his swollen eye.
He tried to smile, but a cut in his lip prevented more than a pathetic attempt. “None of that, lass. I’ll be fine. All part of the sailor’s life.”
“Weel, let me get somethin’ fer that eye, an’ t’ clean up the blood on yer nose.” She hurried into the kitchen.
As they spoke Sadie was carrying on her own discourse with the chief constable, making tactful maneuvers of explanation to avoid a stiff fine on the grounds that her place was a center for trouble.
“Well, I’ll be watching you, Sadie Malone,” said the constable at last. “I’ll let you off this time. I know that Jerry and his rowdy lot have caused trouble more than once. But you and I both know this isn’t the first time it’s happened here at the Doubloon!”
“Humph!” she muttered. Then quickly recovering her composure, perhaps aware that a smiling face would prove better insurance with the law than an angry one, she said, “Well, then, would you care for a drink—on me, of course?”
“What!” returned the chief, “you would attempt to bribe an officer of the Crown? No thank you, mem! You’ll be making even more trouble for yourself!”
He turned and strode from the room, his men following behind him. “Remember,” he called back to Sadie, “I’ll be watching you!”
Furious, Sadie followed them with a glare in her eye, then turned and stalked toward Robbie with her angry eyes flashing.
“What were you thinking of, Robbie Taggart!” she exploded. “I ought to throw you out on your ear! After all I give to—”
“What are you talking about, Sadie!” Robbie retorted vehemently. “I didn’t come in till after the trouble had started!”
“You’re the one that started the row in the first place!”
“And what about yourself! How could you let such low-life trash treat Jamie so? What did you expect me to do?”
“So that’s what this is all about?” For in truth, Sadie had been too preoccupied at the time and had not seen Jamie’s predicament with the drunken sailor.
“Aye!” returned Robbie. “And I trusted you to take care of her.”
“I’m sure the bloke meant no harm. Besides, the girl’s going to have to learn to take care of herself sooner or later.”
“She’s but a child!”
“And bound to remain so with the likes of you hovering over her!”
“If you can’t watch over her any better than that, Sadie, I’ll take both her and my business elsewhere!”
“I told you I was running no home for strays! She’s none of my concern!”
“You make her your concern, or you’ll answer to me!”
“Humph!” she sputtered, eyes flashing. “Humph!”
“I’ll not see her abused, I tell you!” concluded Robbie angrily.
What’s come over him so suddenly? Sadie wondered. He’s as much as accusing me of abusing the girl! Nothing but a stray at that! And after all I’ve done for her!
With a shrewd eye she observed Jamie as she emerged from the kitchen with a warm wet towel.
Perhaps she was not so much a child at that. Could Robbie’s outburst mean more than a mere concern for the girl’s welfare? Could he—?
No! she thought, quickly dismissing the idea. It was impossible Robbie could have anything but a brotherly interest in the bedraggled waif. After all, she and Robbie had long shared an unspoken understanding between them. He would never trade her for such a—a ragamuffin!
“Ye’re hurtin’,” Jamie said, rushing forward. “Sit ye doon.”
She prodded him into one of the few undamaged chairs and began cleaning his wounds with the damp cloth.
“I’m fine,” Robbie protested. “But what about you? I only wish I had come sooner.”
“Oh, he didna hurt me. He jist—”
But Sadie broke in with a disgusted snort.
“Well, ain’t this sweet! And what about me, I’d like to know! No one gives a fig that my place is in shambles and I was nearly arrested for the troubles the two of you brought on me! Look at this!” She grabbed up a broken chair and waved it in their faces. “And all for the questionable virtue of this—this—”
Quickly Robbie was back on his feet, glowering menacingly at her.
“All right! all right!” Sadie relented. “I’ll see to the kettle. That’s what we need, a nice hot cup of tea.”
Jamie sighed as Sadie left for the kitchen.
“I never meant t’ cause ye sich trouble,” she said.
“You did nothing of the sort! Sometimes Sadie can think only of herself. She’ll get over it.”
He paused thoughtfully.
“If the truth be known,” he went on at length, more serious in his tone, “the fault is all mine. And not because I started the row. I should never have brought you into a place like this. I don’t know how I could have been so stupid.”
“An’ where would I be if ye hadna?” Jamie said. “I hae a roof o’er my head, an’ food t’ eat, and e’en a wee bit o’ siller in my pocket—who kens where I be wi’oot ye?”
“Jamie, you are such a dear girl.” He took her hand gently in his own. “I believe your father was right. You were meant for something special. Not a place like the Doubloon. This is no place for you to become the lady your father wanted you to be.”
“But Sadie’s a fine lady, she is.”
“I think your father meant something a little more. And I’m going to do something about it, I will!”
“I dinna care where I be, Robbie, as long as ye’ll always stay my frien’.”
“You need never worry about that!”
He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
“Friends forever!” he said, then stood up. “And now I best go and see about my friendship with Sadie!”
Jamie had hardly heard his final words. She still tingled from the touch of his lips. It was a sensation far different from the awful kisses of the drunken sailor. She had been kissed by her grandfather many times. But this was something altogether new. There was something down inside her, she could not exactly tell where, a faint fluttering somewhere inside her chest.
All she could tell was that she lay down in her bed later that night with a smile on her lips.
17
Broken Dreams
It was several days before Jamie saw Robbie again. But she unconsciously found her thoughts returning to him time and again. She wore Sadie’s dress every day, absent-mindedly thinking that somehow the change in clothes had inspired Robbie’s kiss.
“You ailing, lass?” said Sadie one day, walking in on Jamie languidly mopping the kitchen floor, looking as if her thoughts were hundreds of miles away.
“No, mem,” was Jamie’s only reply.
“Your work’s been none too snappy these last few days.”
“I’m sorry, mem,” replied Jamie, pushing the mop more vigorously across the floor.
“Now listen here, lass,” said Sadie, taking Jamie’s arm to stop her activity. “I’m a woman of the world. And it seems if I’m to be in charge of you, you’d be better off confiding in me. I know more about a young girl’s problems than you might think.”
“Thank ye, mem. But I hae nae problems. I jist been feelin’ a little different than I’ve felt before. ’Tis nothin’.”
“It’s lovesickness, isn’t it, child?”
Jamie stared at her with a confused expression. “I don’t feel sick at all, mem,” she said.
Sadie shook her head and sighed. “You don’t know anything, do you, lass? You’re just an innocent babe. Well, I know all the symptoms, and you may as well not deny it. You’re smitten with Robbie Taggart, aren’t you?”
“I dinna ken, mem,” replied Jamie, her face reddening. “He’s been some awful good t’ me, an’—”
“And
you think you’re in love with him, do you?”
“I dinna ken, mem. I dinna ken hoo love’s supposed t’ feel. I do like him a lot. An’ he’s so kind t’ me.”
“Well, take it from me, child, what you’re feeling is nothing like love. Smitten is what you are, and you’ll get over it when you grow up.”
“Then what is real love, mem?”
“You are lucky to have me around, lass!” Sadie led Jamie to a table. They sat down and Sadie drew close to Jamie as if in a confidential manner. “Love,” she began, as with great importance, “is when you want to spend the rest of your life with someone. It’s when you’re ready not to look at another man, and to, well, to give everything just to him. To follow him wherever he goes. It’s—”
“Luv baireth a’ things, believeth a’ things, hoops a’ things, endureth a’ things,” said Jamie suddenly.
Sadie looked up surprised.
“’Twas somethin’ my gran’daddy used t’ read t’ me,” Jamie explained.
“’Tis kind of a fancy, old-language way of putting it, but I suppose there’s some truth in the words,” said Sadie, then paused and rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
“Mem,” said Jamie after a moment. “I’m thinkin’ I feel that way aboot Robbie.”
“Listen to you!” she said, laughing loudly, unsuccessfully attempting to repress her mirth. “Let me tell you, when it’s the real thing, you won’t just think, you’ll know!”
Embarrassed, Jamie said self-consciously, “Ye won’t breathe a word o’ this t’ Robbie, will ye, mem?”
“Oh, I’ll be as quiet as a church mouse, you can count on me.”
———
That evening a remarkably good-natured Robbie Taggart again returned to The Golden Doubloon. Signaling everyone present to fill their glasses on his tab, he threw his arm around Sadie and planted an affectionate kiss on her glowing cheek.
“I tell you, Sadie,” he said jubilantly, “I really never imagined it would happen so soon!”
“What’s your good fortune?” she asked. “Did you discover the lost treasure of the Speedy Return?”
“That old Darien schooner! Heaven knows we’d all like to know where Drummond buried her, and plenty have tried to find out. But no, that’s not it!”
“What then?”
“First mate, Sadie! I’ve been made first mate!”
“Well, I always told you that you were lucky to have Sadie around! I never once doubted you! And you’ll make captain, too! Mark my words!”
Robbie laughed.
“I’m satisfied with the way it is for now,” he said. “And I know I’m lucky to have you for a friend, Sadie Malone!”
Sadie’s confidence was greatly bolstered by Robbie’s words. Slightly ruffled by her conversation earlier in the day with Jamie, she thought that perhaps the time had come to elicit from Robbie a more positive commitment before she let him slip through her fingers. They had never spoken of marriage in a definite way, but it had been on Sadie’s mind.
“And we’ve been friends a long time,” she said, drawing close to him.
“A long time,” Robbie agreed.
“I would say we were even fond of one another,” Sadie added. “You do know my heart is yours, Robbie?”
“Of course! And you’re my one and only!” he returned, grinning lightheartedly.
Growing more self-assured by the moment, Sadie, in her overconfidence, did not note the mischievous twinkle in Robbie’s eye as he spoke. Heartened by his words, she gave little thought to what she said next.
“Well,” she laughed, “I’m afraid that’s going to be quite a blow to my little maid.”
“Your little maid? You mean Jamie?”
“Aye. The poor child’s smitten with you, Robbie.”
“With me! Don’t be ridiculous.”
“’Tis true. Ain’t it the craziest thing you ever heard?” replied Sadie, still laughing.
“I don’t know that I see the humor in it, Sadie.” Robbie’s brow knit together, the twinkle in his eye giving way to a far-off, pensive look.
“Imagine such a baby entertaining an idea like that.” Sadie dabbed her eyes. Observing Robbie’s seriousness, she tried to curb her amusement. “In love, of all things!”
“The idea may be ridiculous,” said Robbie slowly, “but then again it may not be quite so—”
Looking up he saw Jamie in the doorway to the kitchen. Her miserable countenance was proof that she had heard at least a portion of the conversation.
He rose and took a step toward her, but she shot across the floor and up the narrow stairs to her room. Repressing the tears threatening to spill from her eyes, she yanked Sadie’s dress off and tossed it in a corner.
She was stupid to think it had made any difference! She was nothing but a coarse, country waif! She would never be anything else.
She slipped into her old tunic and breeches and dropped onto the bed, where the tears began to flow unchecked.
A few minutes later she heard a gentle knock on the door. Instinctively she knew it was Robbie. She sniffed twice and wiped a sleeve across her eyes—the last thing she wanted was for him to know she’d been crying. But her voice betrayed her.
“Yes?” she said thickly.
“Jamie, I want to talk to you,” replied Robbie.
“I dinna see the need fer it.”
“I deserve at least one chance, don’t I?”
Jamie was silent a long while. She knew he was right; he had done so much for her, he deserved his say.
“What d’ ye want t’ talk aboot?” she asked at length.
“It would be easier without the door against my face.”
A smile tugged at the corners of Jamie’s lips. “It isna locked.”
Slowly the door opened and Robbie stepped in. He remained standing, not particularly comfortable himself with the turn of events. He cleared his throat several times. Now that he was here he did not know quite what to say.
“I been sich a fool,” Jamie said instead, breaking the awkward silence as she sat up.
“No. No, you haven’t,” Robbie answered quickly. “It’s just been a misunderstanding, that’s all.”
“That’s all, then,” said Jamie, looking down at her hands in her lap. “I thought . . . I mean, I hoped—weel, it was foolish of me to . . .”
Robbie dropped down on the floor before her and took her hands in his. Had he stopped to consider how such an action was bound to raise her hopes, he might not have done so. But he was only thinking about how to keep from hurting this innocent child any further.
“Jamie,” he said, “you are a sweet girl—and bonnie, too.”
He reached up and touched her smudged cheek.
“Why, one of these days, when you’re a mite older, you’ll meet someone just as special as you are yourself, and he’ll love you and want to protect you—and that’s what you deserve, Jamie MacLeod! You know I care for you, and always will. I’ll always be a big brother to you . . . that’s not so bad, is it?”
Jamie nodded her assent, but inside she could never agree.
“Brothers and sisters love each other, Jamie,” Robbie continued; “’tis just a different kind of love. I hope you’ll always be my little sister, Jamie. I couldn’t bear it if that changed.”
Jamie sniffed and looked away. “Ye’re right,” she said, trying to sound convincing. “I’ve ne’er had a big brother, an’ it seems I’m needin’ one noo.”
“We need each other,” he said, rising and laying his hand on her shoulder. “Now, how about if you come down and celebrate with me?”
“What are ye celebratin’?”
“I’ve just been made first mate of my ship.”
“That’s grand, Robbie.”
“Now, come with me.” He took her hand and led her back downstairs.
For a youngster enduring her first experience of unrequited love, Jamie managed to put up quite an accomplished front to hide her broken heart. She did not even know it was her heart tha
t was breaking. She only knew that a rock lay in the pit of her stomach, and if she did not hold it back, a certain undefined lump in her throat would rise and bring tears to her eyes. And every time she looked at Sadie openly lavishing her affection on Robbie, she wanted to turn away. But it would be some years before she would fully understand what had taken place that day and why it had affected her so.
’Tis Sadie he loves, thought Jamie as she watched them. An’ no wonder! She’s a lady! He’d be prood t’ hae her at his side. I’m nae fit t’ be a lady!
For the first time in a long while Jamie’s thought returned to Donachie. She had placed such high hopes on her coming to the city. But she didn’t fit here. Yet there was nothing on the mountain to go back to. Where could she turn? In what direction did her future life lay?
Still, she did not think of her grandfather, whose memory might have brought new hope to her troubled spirit. Nor did she think of his old Bible, whose words might have brought comfort to her confused mind. Instead, she looked longingly toward Robbie who was at that moment dancing with Sadie. Though she had known him but a few weeks, whatever answers there were seemed to lie only with him, and in her pain she did not have the heart to look elsewhere.
The first moment she thought she could slip away unnoticed, she crept unobtrusively up the stairs. Once in her room she lay down and fell quickly asleep, hoping the dawn of morning would bring promise of new direction.
18
The Vicar’s Wife
The next morning brought nothing to Jamie but a new storm. Icy rain and intermittent snow pelted the coastline for several days. The forty-mile-per-hour winds threatened to dislodge several of the harbor’s smaller vessels from their moorings. Robbie was shipbound, supervising frantic repairs necessitated by the turn in the weather, and no one in the Doubloon saw him throughout the duration of the storm.
Jamie had been so preoccupied with her own troubles and adjustments that she had scarcely noticed Sadie’s changed disposition, which had taken a distinct turn for the worse. Robbie’s concern over Jamie had taken him out of the proper frame of mind into which Sadie had thought to lead him. Now with his imminent departure looming closer as soon as the weather cleared, she knew there would undoubtedly be no opportunity to beguile him into talk of marriage this season. And who could tell what the next winter would bring? He would be visiting many distant ports, meeting foreign maidens younger and more attractive than herself . . . she didn’t even want to think of it!
Jamie MacLeod Page 13
