by Sara Donati
“The cabin boy is on his way with more blankets,” he said. “Shall I send for my surgeon?”
“Perhaps an apothecary,” Will suggested.
“Ginger tea,” said Robbie. “Ma mither claimed there was nowt better for a sudden chill.”
“A hot toddy,” suggested Moncrieff.
Curiosity announced her presence at the door with a rap of her knuckles on the paneled wall.
“Men,” she summarized with a throaty croak. “Fallin’ all over each other on account of a little cold water. The child’ll need dry clothes and a warm bed to start with. Mr. Spencer, you free to show your face—be so kind as to go over to the Isis and ask that Hakim fellow for any willow bark he can spare, and chamomile, if he got it.” She punctuated these orders with a cough smothered in her handkerchief.
Moncrieff and Pickering hesitated, until Curiosity fixed them with her hardest stare.
“Don’ you two got talkin’ to do somewhere else?”
Moncrieff colored slightly, but the captain only bowed politely.
“Yes, of course. We’ll be down one deck, Mrs. Bonner, if anyone should need us.”
“There’s some news that will be o’ interest to your menfolk,” Moncrieff added.
Suddenly Curiosity and Elizabeth were alone with the sleeping babies. With a small sigh of relief Elizabeth said, “You think it cannot be so bad?”
Curiosity raised both hands, palms up. “She young, and strong. It ain’t exactly good luck, though. Be so kind as to move them things off the bed, Elizabeth, I hear them now.”
There were more hurried steps and then Nathaniel and Hawkeye and Runs-from-Bears were filling the cabin. Hannah was in Nathaniel’s arms, looking woeful. Her wet hair left a trail of water on the polished floor.
“She’s chilled through.” He put her down on the bed where she looked suddenly small and very young.
“I’m sorry …” Hannah began, but before Elizabeth could say a word Curiosity had sat on the edge of the bed to put a hand on her forehead.
“Now what you got to be sorry about, child? Did you leap out of that canoe on purpose?”
Hannah shook her head and a single tear rolled down her cheek. “It was clumsy of me.”
Elizabeth crouched down beside the cot. “Hannah,” she said softly. “If you are clumsy then there is no hope for the rest of us. A more graceful child has never been put on this earth.” But the dark brown gaze that met her own was so sorrowful Elizabeth wondered if the girl even heard what she had said.
“I’m tired,” said Hannah. “And cold.”
“We’ll get you warm, child. Never fear.” Curiosity’s voice had the crooning tone she used with any hurt thing.
Hannah’s face began to crumple in relief or embarrassment and she turned away to the wall.
Hawkeye raised an eyebrow at Curiosity, as if to ask what he could do, and she fluttered her hands at them all. “Go,” she said softly. “Leave her to us.”
“Yes, do go,” said Elizabeth. “Moncrieff is here.”
All three men’s heads came up as if she had announced the outbreak of a war. Robbie was grinning broadly. “Wee Angus, aye. Now things will happen.”
Nathaniel hesitated after Hawkeye and Robbie had gone. “You’ll come find me right away if she asks for me?”
“Of course we will.” And then, a hand on his arm to stay him: “What news from the Kahnyen’kehàka?”
He shook his head. “We can’t travel with them, Boots. It’s too dangerous.”
She glanced over her shoulder at Curiosity and Hannah, and then followed Nathaniel out into the narrow passageway. In a low voice that gave away more of her fear than she would have liked, Elizabeth said, “It is just as dangerous to spend another night in this port.”
“Not according to Spotted-Fox. Things are quieter here than they are upriver.”
She forced herself to meet his gaze. “Nathaniel, I had thought … perhaps you and Hawkeye should travel south with the Kahnyen’kehàka, and Curiosity and I should take the children home by way of—”
“No.”
“But—”
“No. I will not leave you.”
She put a hand on his arm, pressed hard. “Nathaniel, they could show up here any moment and take you away!”
“Listen to me, Elizabeth. It won’t do us any good to rush into more trouble. Tomorrow we’ll be gone one way or the other—Moncrieff’s got something up his sleeve or he wouldn’t be here.”
“I do not like this delay, Nathaniel. It makes me uneasy.”
He ran a hand over her hair. “It makes us all uneasy. Can you trust me a little longer?”
Her tension deflated suddenly, and she leaned forward to put her forehead against his shoulder, still damp with river water. “I’ll trust you until my dying day, Nathaniel. But I cannot help but feel that this is all my fault.”
“Stop,” he said firmly, his mouth against her ear. “Stop it now, I won’t hear it. You just hold tight for a little longer, and let us see to business.”
She nodded against his shoulder, suddenly very sleepy. “I miss home.”
His arms tightened around her. “I’ll get you there as soon as I can, Boots. Let me go talk to Moncrieff, eh? And later I’ll come see if I can figure some way to distract you from your homesickness.”
“You are incorrigible.” She turned to the door but Nathaniel swung her back to him.
“Nathaniel. Let me go to Hannah.”
“First tell me what that means, incorrigible.”
That look of his would be the undoing of her, his eyes half-hooded and his wanting so clear; with all the trouble and worry he could still manage to make her blood rush. Elizabeth said, “It means you are the most stubborn man ever put on the face of the earth.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“And the dearest,” Elizabeth amended.
“Tell the truth and shame the devil,” said Nathaniel, and he let her go with a kiss.
The insides of the Nancy were a maze that Nathaniel had only just started to figure out after a day, but after a few tries he managed to find his way down the right hatch and to the long room where the crew took their meals. There his father and Robbie sat across from Moncrieff, who was hunched over a plate of beef.
“How is the lassie?” asked Robbie.
Nathaniel pulled up a chair. “More scared than hurt. Moncrieff, it’s good to see you in one piece.”
“Angus has just been telling us of his escapades,” Hawkeye said, rubbing his eyes.
“Aye, well, there’s no shortage of them. We’ve had a few of our own,” said Nathaniel. “I reckon I missed the story of what deprived us of your company in Montréal, so sudden like.”
“No mystery there.” Moncrieff put down his tankard with a thump. “The Pembroke came into port a few days ago with a letter for the Governor from Carryck. The two are well acquaint’, ye see. As soon as he learned that the earl has an interest in my welfare, the governor ordered my release,” said Moncrieff. “And no’ a minute too early.”
“He’s got a mighty long reach, your Earl of Carryck,” said Nathaniel.
Robbie snorted into his tankard. “No’ lang enough. The laird might ha’ put in a word for us while he was at it.”
Moncrieff narrowed one eye and leaned across the table. “Aye, Rab. And so he would have, but he didna ken, did he? And it’s no’ like I left ye there to hang, is it?”
“It was Iona wha got us out,” said Rob.
“But it was I wha sent Pickering your way.”
Rab’s jaw worked thoughtfully. “For that, we’re endebted tae ye, Angus.”
“So we are,” agreed Hawkeye.
“Weel, then.” Moncrieff grinned at the Bonners over the edge of his tankard. “Perhaps ye’ll change your minds and sail hame wi’ me to Carryck.”
Hawkeye laughed. “You never give up, I’ll grant you that, Moncrieff. But your business is done and so is ours. We’ll be going home to Lake in the Clouds as fast as
we can.”
“Amen!” Robbie slapped the table with the flat of his hand. “Speak up, Angus, do ye ken a ship for us, or no?”
Moncrieff tugged on a long ear. “I do,” he said. “Listen and I’ll tell ye.”
Nathaniel found Elizabeth sitting under the transom windows with Squirrel’s head bedded in her lap. His daughter was deeply asleep, looking so much like the infant that she once had been that Nathaniel stopped in surprise. She smelled of herbs unfamiliar to him, but bitter and clean. When he touched her face she drew a hitching breath in her sleep and turned her head away. Nathaniel picked her up and settled her on the captain’s bed, pausing to draw the blanket over her.
“She worries me,” Elizabeth said softly behind him.
“Fever?” Nathaniel put a hand on his daughter’s cheek.
“No,” Elizabeth said. “It’s not that.”
“More adventure than she counted on. High time to get her home.” With a sigh Nathaniel sat down next to Elizabeth and put an arm around her. “Where is Curiosity?”
“Sleeping. She worries me, too.”
He tugged on the long plait that hung over Elizabeth’s shoulder. “Curiosity is strong,” he said, but got only a reluctant nod in return.
“Should we send for Pickering’s surgeon after all?”
“No,” Elizabeth said. And then, more thoughtfully, “Not yet.”
“Bears could slip over to the Isis and have him here in ten minutes.”
“Runs-from-Bears isn’t here. He’s gone back across the river to the Indian camps.”
“What?” Hannah stirred and Nathaniel lowered his voice. “Why would he do that?”
Elizabeth was studying the shape of her own hands; it was a sign he knew well. “I’m not sure.”
“But you’ve got an idea, Boots. I can see that without being told.”
She met his gaze. “Hannah asked him to go.”
He stared at her hard, and she only stared back.
“I don’t know what errand she sent him on, Nathaniel, or I would tell you. Will went with him, that is all I can say.”
Nathaniel stood to get a better view of the river. The sun was almost down, sending a cloak of reds and yellows over the water. On the other shore cook fires flickered in the dusk. Runs-from-Bears had gone off without a word. He could feel the shape of some new trouble, but he could not put a name to it.
“Maybe I should go after them.”
“He said to tell you not to worry.”
There was a stirring from the babies’ basket. Nathaniel walked to the other side of the room and watched as the twins woke, Lily quite quickly and Daniel with less urgency. Their smells were a comfort: the sweetness of their sweat, milky breath, the tang of wet winding clothes. For as long as he lived they would need his care and guidance, and he would do his best to give it. He lifted Lily up to tuck her into the crook of his arm, and she stretched and turned against him. Hannah had once been a child like this, her wants simple and predictable; she had come to him when she needed something.
“The best you can do for Hannah right now is to get us on a boat home.”
Surprised, he turned toward Elizabeth. “And you accuse me of reading your mind.”
She lifted one shoulder, a reluctant smile flickering. “Perhaps it’s a talent that can be learned.”
He said, “There’s a packet sailing tomorrow for Boston.”
The look of pure joy and relief on her face was worth whatever the passage would cost.
“You’re pleased.” He sat down beside her.
“Oh, yes,” Elizabeth said, holding out her arms for Lily. “I am very pleased, indeed. An American ship?”
Nathaniel passed the baby over as he told her the little he knew of the Providence and its captain.
“Good,” she said, producing the first really broad smile he had seen from her in Canada. “Very good news.”
“Boots,” Nathaniel said, watching her closely. “The Jackdaw is hanging around port, and I’m wondering if you have any idea why that might be.”
Her smile was gone as suddenly as it came. She busied herself with Lily for a moment, and then she looked up at him, her expression torn between distress and irritation.
“Has he approached you?”
“Mac Stoker? No. Will he?”
“I fear so, yes.”
Nathaniel considered for a moment. “I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s going on, Boots.”
A squawk from Daniel, which went ignored for the moment while he let Elizabeth stare at him, a tremor at the corner of her mouth and her eyes narrowed. Color crept up her neck and cheeks. She said, “Very well, if you must know. Stoker knows about the Tory gold. At least, he thinks he knows—he has one of the five-guinea pieces.”
He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but she had managed to surprise him. “You paid Stoker with gold coin?”
“I am not an idiot, Nathaniel.” She was struggling for her composure, and not quite able to meet his eye. “I paid him silver. But as we were coming off the Jackdaw one of his men dropped a barrel, there was a lot of confusion … I was pushed. I felt nothing at the time, but later I realized that my chain was gone.” She touched her throat as if to convince herself that the long silver chain she usually wore hidden inside her bodice was really no longer there. She had worn three things on it: a silver-and-pearl pendant that had once belonged to Nathaniel’s mother, a panther tooth, and a single five-guinea piece.
“You needn’t say anything, I know very well that I should not have gone to see him, even with Bears. That was bad enough, but to let that gold piece fall into Mac Stoker’s hands—”
In one movement she was away with Lily clutched to her breast; Nathaniel caught her by the skirt and pulled her up short. Daniel began to cry in earnest and Lily joined him; Elizabeth rounded on Nathaniel with a furious look. “Let me go!”
But he pulled Elizabeth down next to him, trusting that she would put Lily’s needs and distress above her own. Then he retrieved Daniel and held him until Elizabeth could handle both infants, suffering her thunderous expression without comment.
When the babies were settled she said, “Aren’t you ever going to say anything?”
“You told me not to.”
A twitching at the corner of her mouth. “I have never known you to be so compliant.”
“I’m just biding my time,” Nathaniel said.
“Until I come to my senses.” She was wound so tight that the muscles in her jaw jumped and all her bones seemed to come up close to the skin.
“Until you get the better of your hurt pride.”
She shuddered then, her expression turning from anger to grief with such suddenness that for a moment Nathaniel could see what she might look like as an old woman, with a will as contentious and sharp as a new blade, her heart as tender and strong as ever.
“Of course my pride is hurt. It was a damnably stupid thing to do.” Her eyes sparked a warning, daring him to contradict her. Elizabeth rocked the nursing children tighter against her and narrowed her eyes up at him, waiting.
And she was right, it had been a mistake. She had not intended it, but she had given Mac Stoker some power over them. He knew they had at least some of the Tory gold, he knew they were on the run, and he knew exactly where they were.
“It was bad luck,” he said quietly.
She laughed hoarsely and then caught herself up suddenly, blinking hard, and turned her face away. “You are kinder than I deserve.”
“Christ, Boots. I couldn’t be any harder on you than you are on yourself.”
She drew in a deep breath. “All day I have been expecting some word from Stoker and wondering how to handle him.”
“He’ll be nosing around soon enough, that’s true. But there’s nothing he can do if he can’t find us.”
Elizabeth’s head came up, her expression much brighter. “Shall we go to the Providence straightaway, then?”
He looked out at the shape of the Isis in the
growing dark, the vaguely shimmering face of the Lass in Green, ivory and gold and ebony. Candlelight glowed from the Great Cabin, and he could just make out movement there.
“What did you think of Pickering’s surgeon when he came by?”
She creased her brow at him. “He seemed knowledgeable, and a gentleman. He spoke kindly to Hannah, and he had a conversation with Curiosity. But he was only here for a short time, Nathaniel, so I really could not say more. Why is it relevant?”
“There’s more than Stoker to worry about, Boots.”
She waited, one brow raised.
Nathaniel said, “Don’t it strike you as strange that Somerville’s got every redcoat he can muster looking for us upriver, while things are so quiet around here?”
She let out a harsh laugh. “You are not looking for more trouble?”
“Not exactly on the lookout, no. But expecting more than we’ve run into. There was a whaleboat full of soldiers on the river—that’s what startled Hannah into falling out of the canoe—and they never even looked hard at us.”
A thoughtful look came over her. “Well, you were traveling with a child. And you have changed your clothes since you left Montréal.”
“You think a change of clothes could hide Robbie MacLachlan in a crowd? Or my father, or me, either? If they’re looking for us, they ain’t looking very hard. It just don’t feel right.”
Elizabeth was more herself now that he had given her something to puzzle through. He could almost see the thoughts flying behind her eyes. “Wouldn’t Pickering or Moncrieff have heard if the search had been called off?”
“I don’t know. The thing is, we can’t walk into the garrison and ask if they’re looking for us.”
“But Will could inquire,” Elizabeth said, glancing out of the windows. “If only he would come back.”
“Aye, well. In the meantime I was thinking that it’s time Pickering’s surgeon took a look at Curiosity,” said Nathaniel. “See what he can do for that cough of hers. We’ll all go.”
