Second Chances

by Carol Ashby

  Lucius clenched his jaw until his teeth hurt. Cornelia might think she’d outsmarted him, but she was sadly mistaken. Even if he might have reconsidered giving the girl to his friend’s son, he would never do that now she’d taken her to prevent it. He would find their daughter, drag her back to his own house, betroth her to Gnaeus, and maybe even bring charges against Cornelia for kidnapping.

  Lucius rubbed his chin. But first he had to find the pair of them.

  Cornelia had a large extended family, including three brothers who despised him and numerous cousins. One of them might have been willing to take them in, especially if they didn’t know about the divorce. She’d headed northeast, and her family had several estates in that direction. As the first step toward recovering Drusilla, he’d send pairs of slaves to see if they’d gone to any of them. Two slaves should be enough to drag the girl back to him immediately...if they found her.

  If Cornelia hadn’t gone to her family, the problem of finding her became more difficult. He’d paid her so little attention in the last eight years that he had no idea who her close friends might be. If one was willing to help her conceal Drusilla from him, it might be a long time before he found them.

  His hand fisted, and he struck his palm.

  The chest held more tablets, and he placed the stack on the desktop. The first listed all the estates of the Drusus family, their approximate worth, and the names of the men Malleolus had placed in charge of each.

  The next tablet listed the many commercial activities Malleolus had established in his own name with Lucius’s money. Some, while extraordinarily profitable, were illegal for a man of the senatorial order to own. It named the men in charge and officially transferred them all to Lucius as a “gift.” The details of Malleolus’s withdrawals of his own share from each were described without implicating Lucius as the real owner, but the same five senators had signed it.

  Lucius opened the final tablet to find a personal letter from Malleolus.

  Publius Claudius Malleolus to Lucius Claudius Drusus Fidelis, greetings. I am writing to inform you that I will no longer be serving as the steward and overseer of the Claudius Drusus estates and business ventures.

  My duty of service was to my noble master and patron, Publius. My obligation to the man who freed me was fulfilled eight years ago when you betrayed him and he was killed in the arena. I have willingly continued to serve Publius by growing the fortune that would someday belong to his beloved grandchildren. I find myself no longer able to serve since you are willing to give his granddaughter to a brute who will hurt her.

  As my final act of service, I have withdrawn exactly the sum of money required to return Cornelia Scipia’s dowry, as required by Roman law and enumerated in the dowry document also in this chest, which was witnessed by five highly respected senators.

  Lucius slammed his fist into the desktop as he swore. As soon as the divorce became public knowledge, those senators would revel in telling the gory details at the baths. If they reported his illegal businesses, he could be in real trouble.

  He shook his hand. Hitting the unyielding wood had been stupid.

  The financial empire I have built for Publius and his grandchildren is in good order. The records of all legitimate business loans are in the strongbox at the town house, as are the deeds for the estates. The estates themselves are in the hands of highly skilled and honest men. I have carefully trained them to take excellent care of their respective parts. The Drusus fortune should continue to grow for Publius’s grandchildren to someday enjoy.

  I have also provided an accurate accounting of the withdrawal of my own savings that had been invested in the family businesses, again witnessed by the same five senators. I have grown old serving this family, and I do not expect to live many years more. But as Publius’s son, I still have a duty to give you a number of hours of service each year until you or I die. Since I do not expect that to be more than ten years, I have deducted the value of ten years of operae from my own money to pay that obligation.

  For the sake of the grandchildren, I have not revealed to those honest men that you have been breaking Roman law by engaging in trade other than selling the produce of your estates and lending money at interest. Since I don’t know any man who is both honest enough to run those businesses and give you their profits and dishonest enough to pretend you don’t own them, I suggest you convert the businesses to gold as soon as possible and invest that in more land for your sons to inherit.

  I do not expect to ever see you again. May the gods give you what you deserve.

  Lucius took a deep breath and released it slowly. The old steward had at least kept his lawbreaking from the senators. He probably should have expected that. Malleolus’s loyalty to his father would keep him from willingly damaging the Drusus reputation.

  He didn’t like the old man, but he’d always acknowledged how fortunate he was to have such a gifted steward multiplying his wealth for so long. It would be impossible to replace him. He was genuinely sorry to have Malleolus leave.

  He wasn’t sorry that Cornelia had left…he was furious. The only thing he would actually miss about her was having the use of her dowry to increase his own wealth, but he would never be content for her to think she got the better of him by taking Drusilla. He would find them and bring the girl back to marry Gnaeus. His motivation had switched from helping his friend Marcus to hurting Cornelia. Drusilla was only a pawn in that game now.

  Chapter 12: Time with the Captain

  Off the coast of Italia

  During lunch, Cornelia found herself once more watching the captain eat with Malleolus. Hector was usually quiet until Malleolus selected something for them to discuss, but then he seemed to enjoy their conversation.

  What would make him choose to sit next to her instead? She didn’t know exactly what they would talk about, but she would find something. She never had any problem conversing with men, even the shy ones.

  How pleasant it would be to have those brown eyes looking into her own, his head cocked as he listened to her. She would pick a topic that would cause the corners of his mouth to lift into a smile as he nodded, like he did when he talked with Malleollus. That smile might even broaden enough to crinkle the corners of his eyes, like when Drusilla was excited about something he was showing her.

  Cornelia suppressed a sigh. Drusilla was on the couch next to the captain, happy just to sit with the two men. She would have rather been sitting there herself.

  The moon, framed by Hector’s window, slipped behind a veil of thin clouds, but he could still see the bunk above him. He’d expected the dream. He seldom made it five nights without it, and the last one had come after he almost broke down the first time he played Mercenaries with Drusilla.

  He’d prayed for the eight months at sea to be enough to get him past the worst of the pain. It had been. Searing grief had been replaced by cold heartache. He could face living at the farm again with only his son. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but he could bear it. He was doing better, but the dream still came.

  He rose and headed out to the rail. A few minutes at the rail were sometimes enough to let him return to his bed and sleep. Sometimes it took many more than a few. Tonight felt like one of those.

  Drusilla’s eyes popped open. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she stared at the bunk above her.

  In her dream, she’d been strolling through flowers in a meadow. Mother was on one side, Captain on the other. She smiled up at Captain, and he scooped her up to place her on his shoulders. Then Mother moved over next to Captain and wrapped her arm around his. He turned toward her and leaned over to kiss her tenderly on the lips. Then they kept walking together until she woke up.

  The soothsayers claimed dreams could foretell the future. What if they really did?

  Every day, she liked the captain more. Malleolus liked him, too, and she’d heard Mother say good things about him to Anthusa. Maybe Captain and Mother could fall in love. Captain
would be wonderful to have as a father.

  As she lay smiling at the thought of the three of them becoming a family, the hinge on Captain’s door creaked. She slipped out of bed and tiptoed over to open her own door a crack. His form blocked the moonlight in the cabin doorway before he shut the door behind him.

  Hector was standing at the rail, staring across the waves, when he heard a soft rustle behind him. He twisted around to see Drusilla standing in the moonlight.

  “Captain? Is anything wrong?”

  “No. You should be in bed, child.”

  She stepped up to the rail to stand beside him. “I heard you go out. I thought maybe you needed some company.”

  His hands rested on the rail again. She placed one of her own on the rail and the second on his hand. “Can I stay here with you for a while? I like the moonlight dancing on the waves. I’ve never seen that before.”

  He gazed down at the hopeful smile she directed at him and sighed. “You can stay. I won’t be out here long.”

  She stood in silence beside him for several minutes. Then she shivered in the cool night breeze. He wrapped his arm around her and drew her against his side to warm her. “It’s getting cold for you. Time to go back in.”

  She turned a little and wrapped both arms around him as well. “So soon? That cloud is about to hide the moon. Can we stay here until it does? The waves are so pretty, and I want to watch them a little longer.”

  “But then we go in.”

  “Yes, Captain.” She grinned up at him and snuggled closer.

  As he stood in the moonlight with his arm around her, he found himself focusing on the beauty of the moon reflecting from the waves, as seen by the eyes of a little girl. For that moment at least, he forgot about the hole in his heart.

  The next day, when Hector came from the cabin top to join his passengers for the midday meal, he picked up a codex from the chair next to Malleolus and moved it to the couch before he settled in.

  Malleolus’s usual smile greeted him. “It’s a beautiful day, Captain. It seems we’re making good time.”

  “We are. In four days, we’ll have crossed the Mare Ionium to dock in Corcyra. Then along the coast of Macedonia and Achaia to Corinth, some open-water sailing to Ephesus, then up the coast of Asia to the Mare Propontis and Perinthus. Less than four weeks and you’ll reach your new home.”

  “And you’ll have earned four months rest at home while the sea is closed.”

  Home…without Damara and Charissa. His smile faded. “Rest is not always a blessing. I’d rather be at sea.”

  Drusilla wandered over and picked up the codex. Malleolus opened his arm, and she snuggled against him.

  Hector stood. “Please excuse me, Malleolus.”

  The old man’s brow furrowed, then relaxed. A sympathetic smile accompanied his nod, as if he knew what it was to bury himself in work as a balm for pain.

  Hector jerked when Drusilla’s fingertips touched his arm.

  “Captain? Can I ask you something?”

  “What, child?”

  She held out the codex. “Would you read to me? I can read myself, but this story is so much better when someone reads it to me.”

  He hadn’t read to a child since Charissa died. He didn’t want to now. He could tell Drusilla he needed to get back to the cabin top, but those eyes were looking at him with such hope in them.

  “I can read for a while if the writing is Greek. My Latin is good enough to get by in Roman ports, but I don’t read it well.”

  “I brought all my scrolls and codices, and many of them are Greek. When we finish those, I can read the Latin ones to you.”

  Malleolus stood and waved his hand toward the couch as he moved to the chair.

  Hector settled onto the couch, leaving plenty of room for her to sit beside him. Instead, she crawled into his lap and snuggled in…just like Charissa used to do.

  The sharp claw of regret dug into his heart. Could he bear holding another little girl in his lap? He was about to tell her he remembered something else he needed to do. Then she turned her face up toward his, and the happy glow in her eyes as she smiled stopped him.

  “I already read part of it, but we should start over at the beginning so you don’t miss any of the story.”

  His little girl was gone, but he could make another little girl happy, a girl who truly needed someone willing to do that. “Open it wherever you want me to start.”

  As he began reading from the beginning, he wrapped his arms around her and held the codex in front of them both. After the first few words, Drusilla relaxed against him and sighed.

  Cornelia sat watching Hector, as she usually did whenever he joined them under the canopy, and she couldn’t stop her smile. It was sheer delight to see this brawny man with her daughter in his arms, to hear his deep voice pronouncing the Greek, to see the glow in Drusilla’s eyes as she turned each page when he finished it. Her friends in Rome would laugh at her if she told them how extraordinarily masculine and appealing he seemed as he sat reading a child’s story.

  She would be sorry when they reached Perinthus. The captain must have been a wonderful father. Drusilla lit up whenever he did something with her. At first, she’d been glad to see that, but it was becoming a little worrisome. For the first time in her life, her daughter was receiving the attention from a man that a good father would have given her. She craved spending time with him, no matter what they were doing.

  Drusilla would miss the captain terribly when he was gone. How could she prevent her daughter’s grief over losing him when the voyage was over? Perhaps there was some way she could get them together after they left the ship.

  If anyone were to ask, she would have told them she wanted to continue contact with Hector for Drusilla’s sake. Truth be told, she found herself more strongly attracted to the man with every passing day.

  She only knew four things about him: he was a widowed ship’s captain with a farm near Perinthus, he had a heart that could love someone so deeply he still struggled a year after losing them, he was so very kind to her daughter, and he made her feel both safe and off balance at the same time. She wanted to know more…much more. She’d be at least as sorry as Drusilla if he were to disappear completely from their lives after the voyage ended.

  Chapter 13: Just like Grandfather

  The predawn sky was still gray when Hector headed toward the crew cabin at the bow of the ship. It was Sunday again, time for the weekly worship with his men. Even Malleolus didn’t get up this early, so none of his passengers would be looking for him. His scripture reading and their prayers should remain unnoticed.

  Drusilla had been awake for several minutes. She turned around on her bunk so she could lie under her blanket as she watched the dark gray lighten. Why did the sky look so different out here at sea than it had back at the villa?

  The soft creak of Captain’s door hinge interrupted her thoughts. She slid off the bed and opened her own door a crack to peek out. She got there just in time to see the cabin door close behind him.

  She stepped back to her bed to get the blanket. If the captain had gone out to watch the waves, like he did at night, she planned to join him. Maybe he knew why the sky looked so different. Even if he didn’t, maybe he would let her stand with him and hold her snug against him to keep her warm. That part was almost as much fun as watching the waves dancing in the moonlight. Time with Captain was the best part of each day.

  She wrapped her blanket around her shoulders and tiptoed toward the cabin door. So close to morning, any noise might awaken her mother or Anthusa. She was about to open the door when she froze. Captain might not think she was cold if she had her blanket. She crept back to her room to toss it on the bed before following him out the door.

  She pushed against the door with one hand as she pulled back on it with the other so it wouldn’t make any noise as it latched. When she finally stepped past the front of the cabin where she could see where he usually stood at
the rail, the captain was nowhere to be seen. She moved far enough forward of the cabin to see if he was on the cabin top, but only the crewman who was on night duty at the rudders was up there. She slipped back along the cabin to check for him under the canopy. No captain. As she walked back toward the center deck again, she caught sight of a light flickering under the door of the crew quarters.

  The captain had told her the crew quarters were off limits. He told her to stay out of them, and she obeyed him. Still, what could the men be doing so early in the morning that needed a light? She worked her way along the rail to find out. If she didn’t actually go in, she wouldn’t be disobeying him.

  When she reached the cabin wall, quiet voices leaked through the closed door. The captain’s deep voice silenced them.

  “We thank you, Father, for the gift of your son, Jesus, to save us from our sins, and for this gospel that You have given us that we may know Him. May your Spirit fill me and give me Your words this day. In the name of Jesus, I pray.”

  Silence, then Captain’s voice again. “One day Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.’ So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we’re going to drown!’ He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. ‘Where is your faith?’ he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, ‘Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.’”

  Silence. She placed her ear against the door.

  “Many times, we’ve faced storms. A few times, they’ve been far beyond what we thought the ship could stand. But each time, we’ve asked our Lord Jesus to protect us from loss at sea. He’s always answered us, and we’ve come safe into port. But even if this ship should go down, we know there’s nothing to fear. Jesus promised to always be with us. He promised us eternal life with him as our Lord and Savior. No matter what happens to us in this life, we can be certain of what will happen in the next, when we will be with Jesus forever. Always remember how much He loves us and that we never have to be afraid.