“You saw him?”
“He was, of course, present when we found Maddox in your cabin aboard the Cat. Keara and the others—they had already rushed off. I was left alone with him for a few moments.”
“Go on.”
“It happened so quickly, but I’m so afraid…I still love him.”
“What are you afraid of?”
“Never seeing him again.”
“You’re a free woman, Cass. If I’ve learned anything from all of this, we do not have to deny our hearts to be free. The beauty of being able to make our own decisions is that we have so many choices.”
“And yet, we continue to bind ourselves and not choose.”
“Then choose, Cass. Make the choice for yourself. You do not owe me, or anyone else, anything. Wasn’t that the purpose of taking hold of our own destinies?”
“So, you’re telling me that if I choose to go to Alphonse and be with him—stay with him—I’ll have your blessing?”
“You’ve never needed anyone’s blessing—least of all, mine. It’s your life to live. You’ve given enough of it to me, the town, everyone. You’re a gentle and loving soul, Cass. You weren’t meant for this life, and I’ve always known that. I just couldn’t imagine life without that gentleness and you’ve been the closest thing to the kinder and sweeter memories I have. Don’t read me wrong, you’ve done your duty well but if I’ve bound you to me with some invisible burden, I give my full and complete apology. Please…go, and follow whatever your heart and mind tell you. Oh, how I wish I could.”
Ivory stood and walked around the desk, pulling Cassandra to her feet. “I love you, cousin, and don’t believe for one moment that I don’t love you enough to see you happier elsewhere.”
Ivory wrapped her arms around Cass and held tight. For a moment, she didn’t want to let go. She now knew that she had finally found that part of her cousin that Cass had always kept barren and shielded, and she learned she could help fill it herself. She walked Cassandra to the door and opened it for her. “You have both my blessing and my love, Cassandra, you beautiful, wonderful, brave girl.”
“Thank you, Ivory. If I don’t go to him, I’m afraid I’ll regret it forever.” Cassandra sighed. “Oddly enough, I had a similar chat with Keara just the other day.”
Ivory pursed her lips for a moment, but didn’t respond.
“I will miss all this…”Cass continued, sweeping her arms to indicate the ship and all its inhabitants.
“Don’t miss anything…except us, as we will all miss you. Once things settle down, I’ll send word, and we’ll find a way to see each other from time to time.”
“You never were a very good liar.”
“That’s because I’m telling you the truth. Now, get to work. Once we’re back in Port Royal, we’ll get you to Kingston somehow.”
“This feels so final.”
“Well, unless you’re one hell of a swimmer, I’ll see you on deck later.”
They both laughed and embraced again before Cassandra finally went about her tasks, and Ivory was, yet again, alone with her thoughts. She walked to her cot and fell in, when the rumble of her empty stomach and the pounding in her head pulled at her to rise again some time later.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Master Green collected himself and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the pools of sweat from beneath his eyes and around his neck. He rushed about with a candle, relighting as many as he could find, until he managed to rouse several of the crew to assist him. “Relight them all. I must find the Captain.”
Racing to the deck, the glow of the dawning sun washed over the boards and allowed him to make out the silhouettes of familiar things, drawing him forward until he reached the rail on the port side. The first of at least a dozen seagulls moved in overhead, and the cool blue drink below beat softly against the hull, causing the lines to stretch and the old wood to creak in a drowsy rhythm.
An unfamiliar sound turned him abruptly about, and as his eyes adjusted to the faint bit of light, he recognized Maddox, lying face down, groaning and trying to rise. “Maddox!” Green sprinted to his side and took him under the arms, pulling him to his feet. He was alarmed to find he had to bear nearly his friend’s entire weight. He dragged Maddox, drenched and smelling of sea water and blood, to an upright barrel and sat him down. His limp body tipped and still required Green’s full support.
“Captain, what has happened to you?”
“I…”
“Wait, let me get you to your cabin.” Maddox found the strength to nod, and Green leaned over and lifted the man—large in his own right— onto his shoulder as if he were no more than a child.
Once inside the cabin, Green rushed to the water barrel and filled the pitcher that still sat where Maddox had left it. The, back at his Captain’s side, he filled the goblet and poured the water into Maddox’s mouth, until he was waved off when his friend had enough.
“I…let her go.”
“No, she escaped. Do you not remember?” Green paused. “You have been fighting; are you wounded?”
“No.” Maddox pointed in the direction of the adjacent pier. “She found a boat and I…I let her go.”
Alphonse sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. When they reopened, he had a determined look on his face. “This is a good thing, but it is also very bad. What shall we tell the guard of Ivory’s escape?”
“Just get us out of here right now. There will be nothing to tell once we’ve gone.”
“But Maddox, they will pursue us.”
“My old friend, have you such little faith in me?”
A knock came at the cabin door, and Alphonse rushed to answer it and found a young sailor, nervously stepping from foot to foot in the hall. “What is it?”
“It’s the Cap,n, sir. I’ve just come from town and they’s sayin’ Cap’n Carbonale is…dead.”
Alphonse turned and looked back at his friend, now drifting off to sleep. He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door. “What did you see?”
“I only saw ‘em pull a man from the water near that pier over there, and they was sayin’ ‘twas the Capt’n. Had his whip, his fancy pants on and all.”
“Did you see the body of this man?”
“No, I laid back but I heard ‘em say he was carved up pretty good, Master Green. Hard to say who it were, but they seemed pretty convinced it were him.”
“Get the rest of the crew aboard. Tell them to say nothing to anyone. Tell them to prepare to set sail immediately.”
“But the Cap’n, sir? Don’t ye want to find out about the body?”
“Just do as I told you. Now go!”
Alphonse returned to Maddox’s side and looked him over well. He wore the slops of a lowly swab, and the worn, tired face of a battered sail. Alphonse nodded his head and then bowed to his captain. “My faith has been restored, as you shall be in time, my friend. We are going home now.”
* * * *
By mid-afternoon, the Cat was miles from Nassau with no pursuing vessels in sight. Once Green was certain there was no imminent danger, he addressed the crew and informed them their captain was very much alive, but that he’d been ambushed and robbed early that morning. He had, of course, bested his attacker and made it back to the ship. The crew seemed cheered by the victory of their captain. However, they were less than pleased with the fact that they would not be getting their share of the reward for Ivory.
“You will still get the share you were promised. Somehow, the Captain and I will see to that,” Green reassured them. Although most walked away bellyaching and doubtful, he knew this was nothing that couldn’t be achieved once Maddox was rested and back on his feet.
“You are awake,” Green noted upon entering Maddox’s cabin and finding him naked and bathing with what was left in the water pitcher.
“You do realize there was a time when you knocked prior to entering?”
Green chuckled and turned his back. “Aye, indeed I do remember those days. However, tha
t was before I found you flopping like a dying fish on the deck.”
“I was hardly dying, nor was there any flopping, although that poor young man to whom I bid farewell this morning put up a valiant fight. I’m assuming they found him, since we are obviously unpursued on our way back to Kingston.”
“They did.” He paused. “Murder is a terrible sin. However, I am sure you had your ends—besides requiring a dead version of yourself, that is.”
“Shall we change subjects? I believe this topic has met its close.” Maddox pulled a clean pair of stockings and pants from his trunk, as well as a fresh white linen shirt, and dressed as Alphonse continued.
“What comes next?”
“What comes next is we return to Kingston, I see my cat, and, whilst heavily guarded of course, I climb into my own bed and sleep for a day or two.”
“What will you do once the guard realizes that you are, in fact, very much alive?”
“Hadn’t I mentioned that we will be moving on?”
“Moving on?”
“Yes, I do believe I’ve had more than enough of this. Ten years is a long time to survive out here, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes, I would agree. But, where will we go?”
“I haven’t decided yet, and since we’ve plenty of time before they realize that poor bastard isn’t me, I suppose I’ll spend the next week or so considering it.”
“Does this mean you will be selling the ship?”
“I have an obligation to pay these men, so the Cat, as well as all but one of the other vessels will be sold so that I may give them their shares. I will use what’s left to supply that lone, last ship and gather a small crew to accompany me to whatever destination I choose. You, of course, are a free man and may do as you wish.” Maddox swept his hands through his damp hair and checked the time. “Alas! It’s half past noon, Alphonse, and we haven’t yet had a drop of rum.” Maddox smiled as he walked to his desk and pulled the cork from a bottle. He poured two goblets and handed one to Green.
“America?” Alphonse proposed.
“Perhaps. I’ve heard very good things of their New Orleans. Does that interest you?”
“It does.”
“There’s something else I wanted to mention. Do you recall our discussion of… shall we say…”unlogged items”, prior to the sacking of the Blue Diamond?”
“Of course. The matter of what was really aboard that ship when Madame Ivory took it.”
“Correct. Well, it so happens that the unfortunate young man from this morning was rather chatty when I removed my whip from his throat.”
“What did he tell you?”
“It seems we were right all along. Apparently, the Blue Diamond’s original captain was a smuggler of more than just African slaves. He also had a ridiculous stash of diamonds.”
“How clever of Madame Ivory to rename the ship as she did.”
“I don’t believe it was clever at all, Alphonse. How incriminating do you think that was? I don’t believe for one minute that the previous captain was working alone, either. The fifty thousand pounds makes much more sense when you figure in what those diamonds are worth—and where they were going.”
“And you plan to just let her sail away, knowing she has them hidden somewhere?”
“She pillaged them and, therefore, they are hers. However, swag such as that could make her an even larger target than she already is. You see, Alphonse? After all of these years, we were still nothing but pawns in England’s game. The guard used us to do their dirty work, and now I am at complete ease with my decision to release her. And the only person who stood to disclose this information for his own personal gain is gone.”
“If you do not mind my asking, what of your affection for Madame Ivory?”
Maddox’s eyes shot up from his cup at Green in surprise. “What of it?”
“You let her go before you had this piece of intelligence.”
“Yes, I let her go, and what is your point?”
“Have you given thought to seeing her again?”
Maddox sighed and waved his goblet as he spoke. “My friend, I miss our old conversations of looting and sacking ships.” Maddox walked to his favorite chair and sat. “This talk of women and feelings has become tedious. What the devil is that banging?”
“Tedious is it, or painful?”
“Madame Ivory and I, shall we say, enjoyed each other’s company for a brief time. Now the time has come to move on.” Maddox lowered his eyes and stared into his rum.
“I have spoken all that I intend to on the matter, but for this one last statement, and then, I will see you on deck; you can deny…”
“Oh, for the love of Christ! What on earth is going on out there?” The banging continued until Maddox could no longer listen or speak. He slammed down his cup and rose to his feet. “Are you hearing this?” he bellowed at Green and then marched to the door, pulled it open, and stomped into the hallway. “You there!”
Green stepped out behind him and they both looked in the direction of the cabin to the left. A carpenter was at work repairing the broken door on what was Ivory’s cell. “Apologies, Cap’n. Won’t be but a bit longer.”
“As I was saying, Maddox, you can deny those feelings if you wish, but that noise in your head will continue long after the carpenter’s work is done.”
“Enough of this, and enough of you, for one day.” Maddox turned back into his cabin and slammed the door. He took a long, deep breath, walked to his waiting goblet, and drank it straight down. When he lifted the bottle to pour another, it was empty. He pulled at the desk drawers hoping he’d hidden one and wouldn’t have to leave his cabin again right away.
His eyes scanned the desk and came up empty, until he recognized the folded letter he had hastily tucked beneath a paperweight. His long fingers crawled forward across the desk until they reached it. He tugged at it with his middle and forefinger until it slid free, and he turned it up to his eyes. He took his seat slowly and leaned back, bouncing the paper in front of his face until one edge fell free, and her handwriting appeared inches from his eyes.
He sat up fast and folded it again and then slammed it down hard on the desk. “No,” he said aloud as the hammering continued, exacerbating his already anxious spirit. “Oh, to hell with it,” he groaned as he picked it back up and flipped it open, deliberately this time, and read each word again.
It saddens me that after what we’ve shared, you would still wish me dead. I’ve never known such a complicated man, but then again, I haven’t known many. Even had I believe you played me and your intentions were not pure, I still would have done nothing differently. I choose where I am frail and where I am strong. You had no hand in that. I am a pirate, and I am unashamed. I am also a free woman, and that part of me you shall never own. As are your beautiful gowns, Maddox Carbonale, I am shredded tonight… but you have lost nothing. I have much in common with those gowns, for as you said, you have dozens more.
Ivory
Maddox read the letter again and again. After each reading, he raised it to the candle flame and then saved it before the fire took hold. As the rum coursed through his veins, and her words washed through his mind, his cavalier façade withered away. He began to ask himself what he’d done, and why he’d done it. He slammed the letter down on the desk and pushed hard away from it. He hadn’t the strength to burn it, but he needed to get away from it before his hard and calloused ego wore smooth and made him, in his eyes, weak.
Remembering he still had a job to do, he picked up the log and slammed it down on top of the letter to conceal it from his eyes and then put on his belt, arming himself and barging out of the cabin as if her words were chasing him. Once on deck, the noise and the warm wind in his face stole the angst and regret within minutes, and he was, once again, in his captain skin. He arched his back and moved forward, taking the wheel from his helmsman and steering for home.
Chapter Twenty-Five
On the first night at sea, heading steadily back to P
ort Royal, the ladies decided they needed some time together to catch up and raise a few glasses to their victory. Calm waters and fine winds sustained the morale and high spirits of the crew, and the sounds of shanties and hard laughter could be heard on deck long past midnight. Although Ivory discouraged heavy drinking under her command—especially during missions — she lowered the bar and allowed them to carry on, so long as the helmsman and several of the crew kept their wits about them enough not to run them off course, or worse, aground.
All four of the women sat about Ivory’s cabin in their underthings as if they were school girls gathered for a sleepover, and their rum-induced giggles and snorts only elevated that feeling. Their faces were rose-colored from the sun, and their eyes twinkled with laughter as they exchanged anecdotes and shared the more intimate experiences of their recent lives. These personal details were the river they’d all crossed, one that had separated them from those early years together, but had finally brought them closer than perhaps they’d been in quite some time. They gathered together on this night for one, as yet unspoken, reason—to tighten their bonds before their impending separation.
“So…I know nothing of this Sandy person, Miranda,” Ivory said as she lay back on her bunk, nudging Miranda’s hip with her big toe.
“Aye, cousin…you’re asking for trouble,” Miranda said with a howl.
“I’ll tell!” Keara shouted, tossing her bare feet over the arm of her chair and squirming for comfort.
“You’ll do no such thing, Ke. Go on, Miranda, tell us…everything!” Cassandra laughed, lying back against Ivory’s shoulder.
Miranda rose from her seat at the end of the bunk and raised her cup for a long drink. “Well, he’s a bit older, as you know.”
“And a bit wiser, I’d wager,” Keara snickered, as they giggled.
“Go on, Mir,” Ivory said, refilling her cup from the bottle she held tucked between her thighs.
Miranda sauntered across the room as she spoke. “He’s a rather gruff exterior, and he’s strong as a bull—which is what I call him in private— but he’s a heart of gold, that one. The fact that he jumped ship on ol’ Blacksnake to help find you should prove that.”
The Blue Diamond (The Razor's Edge Book 1) Page 20
