Wild Jasmine (34 page)

J
ASMINE

England
1606–1607

Chapter 8

“T
histlewood!
” Skye O’Malley de Marisco leaned precariously out of the window of her coach as it careened along the London Road. Behind her, inside the vehicle, her husband, Adam, sat calmly, a slight smile upon his handsome face. “Damn it, Thistlewood! Can you go no faster?” Skye shouted up to her coachman, who had his hands quite full with the galloping horses and trying to remain securely upon his seat.

“The horses is full out, m’lady,” the terse answer came back.

“God’s foot! We’re going to be late,” Skye concluded as she withdrew back into her coach, raising the window up to keep the cold air out. Grumbling, she pulled the beaver lap robe back over her knees. “Our little princess, the grandchild we’ve never seen, has been at sea for almost six months. A wonderful welcome she’ll receive when she gets to London and finds no one to greet her. She’ll think we don’t want her, Adam! Poor child!” Her Kerry-blue eyes grew misty.

“Sit back, little girl,” her husband advised her quietly, and he took her hand in his big one. “Adali left Queen’s Malvern before the storm blocked the roads between our estate and London. He was safely in town two weeks ago. If our trading fleet arrives early, he will be there to greet his young mistress and to escort her to Greenwood House, where she will be safe until we can reach London. You sent word to the servants to open the house and prepare for our coming. Mrs. Winters will have an ample amount of lads trained for footmen, and Davis will have found his grooms for the stables. As for Mrs. Evans, she’ll be in her glory planning menus.” He patted the icy little hand in his. “We’ll be there soon, Skye, but then when were you ever patient about getting something you wanted? No one knows better than I do how much you desire to get your hands on this particular grandchild of ours.” He chuckled wickedly.

“Are you going to sit there, you maddening old man, and tell me that you aren’t as anxious to meet Yasaman as I am?
That you do not want her with us at long last?” she demanded of him. “That child is Velvet’s firstborn!”

“I know,” he said, “and I won’t lie to you. I’m eager to meet the girl. I want to know what she is like. I’m not a man for mysteries.”

“Ohh, Adam!” Skye continued. “Do you know what a shock it was to me when Adali arrived at Queen’s Malvern on Christmas Day? And the servants! I thought their eyes would pop out of their heads when they saw him in that wonderful furlined robe with a turban upon his head. I am amazed they were able to keep him a secret from the family.” She giggled, a sound he found charming in a woman of her years. “And the family still thinks us mad for our little outburst in the Great Hall after baby Adam’s christening. Willow, in particular, thinks us quite dotty with all our teasing talk of a forty-sixth grandchild. And all our daughters and daughters-in-law were hotly denying that any of them was with child. We had the hall in quite an uproar.” She laughed aloud with the memory.

“Particularly,” he agreed, “as you would not explain yourself to Willow despite her persistence. How your eldest daughter dislikes being kept out of anything. Well, she’ll know soon enough; and I, for one, want to personally be there to see her face when she meets Yasaman.” He chuckled again. “Our dear prim and proper Willow is in for quite a shock.”

“I hope their voyage was a good one,” Skye said. “I remember how tedious the days seemed when we were going out and coming back from India on that expedition for Queen Bess.”

“Adali told me that the voyage was quite pleasant up to the time he left them. Yasaman and Father Cullen spent their days teaching her female servants English. Adali, of course, learned it years ago from Velvet and Father Cullen. That is why the emperor entrusted him with that letter he sent us. I think it quite clever of Adali that he suggested to Captain Small he come ahead in a single ship rather than waiting for the entire fleet. It gave us a good month’s warning so we might prepare for our grandchild’s arrival.

“Aye,” Skye agreed. “Adali is a very clever fellow. His purpose has always been to smooth our grandchild’s way. He tells me that this is the first time in Yasaman’s life that he has been separated from her for any period of time. He’s terribly devoted to the girl. I hope he will be content in England. He says his father was a French sailor. He certainly has a Gallic look
about him, but for his brown skin. I trust him, and I like him, Adam, don’t you?”

“Aye, I do,” Adam replied. “He fit right in, too, with all our good English servants. Your tiring woman Daisy confided in me that he was a ‘
real gentleman
, m’lord.’ He’ll get no higher praise than that coming from our good Daisy,” Adam de Marisco said with a smile.

The coach raced toward London. Outside it was a cold but quite clear day. It had snowed heavily several days before. Now the sunlight glinted off the crystalline whiteness with almost blinding intensity. The bare trees stood out black against the bright blue sky. Already, from his vantage spot atop the coachman’s box, Thistlewood could see the spire of Westminster. He whistled to his horses, encouraging them onward.

The O’Malley-Small trading fleet, fifteen vessels strong, slowly made its way up the Thames River toward the London Pool, where they would anchor. Jasmine de Marisco and her two women servants stood in the large bow window in the master’s cabin watching the landscape pass by.

“There is no green,” Rohana said nervously. “It is so stark a land and so cold.”

“It is winter, but England, I have always been told, is a very green and beautiful land,” Jasmine assured her. “Why are you so fretful? You have seen snow before in Kashmir, Rohana.”

“That is true, my lady princess,” the servant admitted, “but Kashmir was familiar to me. This place is not.”

“It will be soon enough, sister,” Toramalli said briskly. She had always been the braver of the twins. “I, for one, am simply happy to see land at long last! Desert isle or snowy hill, I will be glad to be off this ship after so many months at sea, and pleased to see our dear old Adali again. It has seemed so strange without him.”

There was a knock upon the cabin door and Rohana ran to open it, admitting Cullen Butler. He was dressed as they had never seen him before, in black wool pantaloons and a black velvet doublet with the most modest amount of gold embroidery. There was a small ruff about his neck, and his leather boots came to his knees. Upon his head was a flat black cap of velvet with a small white plume.

Seeing their look of surprise, he explained, “Priests of the Holy Mother Church are not warmly welcomed in England
anymore. It is best that I remain discreet with regard to my calling.”

Jasmine nodded. “And shall I call you cousin Cullen?”

“Aye,” he said. “ ’Twould be best, and the lasses will call me Master Butler.”

“Do you understand?” Jasmine asked her servants, and they nodded in the affirmative. “I think,” she continued, “that you must go home to Ireland as soon as you can, cousin Cullen. If I am safe in my grandmother’s care, then there is little need for you to chaperon me any longer, is there? Your duty to me is done, cousin. You long for your Ireland, I know, and for a little stone church somewhere in its hills. And your mother will want to see you, too, won’t she? I do not imagine she ever expected to see you again.”

“Nay, she surely did not,” he agreed, “but I will wager she already knows that I am coming. Your grandmother will have written to her. It’s true, Jasmine, you really do not need me any longer. You’re educated, and you have grown into a beautiful woman. Your education I can take credit for, but as for your spiritual well-being, I have failed miserably.”

“Is my grandmother a devout woman?” Jasmine asked him.

“In her own way, I suppose,” he said glumly.

“In other words, just like me?” Jasmine teased him.

Cullen Butler thought a moment, and then he laughed. “Aye, I think you’re probably correct, cousin. My aunt Skye has supreme faith in God and her own ability to handle anything that is presented to her. She once told me that God never gave us anything to do he did not truly believe we could handle. It was just before I came out to India. I was so fearful that the emperor would not like me, or that the Jesuits would attempt to interfere in my appointment, or that you would not want me to be your tutor and spiritual advisor.”

“How foolish of you,” Jasmine told him. “I loved you from the first. It will be hard for me to part with you, cousin Cullen, but you are a priest. Your first loyalty must be to God and service to Him. That is why I will send you home to Ireland. I do not need you, but there are many souls who will, I know.”

Her astute words touched him. “Perhaps I have not failed with you after all, Jasmine de Marisco,” he said quietly.

There was another knock upon the door, and Rohana admitted Captain Small. “We’ll be anchoring in another minute or two. The barge from Greenwood House is already awaiting you, my lady,” he said. “I have brought you a fur-lined cape
to wear. It is very chilly upon the river, and you have a bit of a row before you.” He handed Toramalli the garment and, bowing, returned to his duties.

“I know that our clothing isn’t warm enough, cousin,” Jasmine worried. She and her serving women were dressed in salwar pajamas, baggy trousers gathered at the ankles that had been made of soft Kashmir wool. Over the trousers they wore jaguli dresses. Cullen Butler had given each girl several pairs of silk stockings to wear with their dainty slippers so that their feet would stay warm, but he wondered now, given the particularly cold weather, if it was enough.

“There will be a heater in the barge,” he told her, “and hot bricks wrapped in flannel for your feet.” He wrapped the cape about his charge and then escorted the three women out onto the deck. There was a light breeze blowing and it seemed, Jasmine quickly found, to go right through all her many layers of clothing. She looked to her servants and saw that they were already shivering. There was nothing she could do about it, Jasmine thought. She just hoped that they would reach Greenwood House quickly. She walked to the ship’s rail and peered over. Beneath her a very elegant barge bobbed in the waves. It was large, and the cabin appeared to have glass windows.

A turbaned head popped from beneath the wooden canopy. A familiar grin split the face. “Gracious lady!” Adali called up to her. “Welcome to England! Your grandparents should be awaiting you at Greenwood House.”

Jasmine nodded excitedly, suddenly eager once again. She turned and thanked Michael Small and his ship,
Cardiff Rose
, for bringing her in safely from India. She thanked his youngest son, who had been the cabin boy, giving the blushing lad a kiss on the cheek and a tiny ivory elephant for a souvenir. “Shall I take my grandmother any message, Captain Small?” she asked him.

“Just say it was a successful, profitable trip, my lady, and I will await her summons tomorrow. I thank you for asking. Do not fear for your possessions. They will be brought immediately upriver to Greenwood House.”

Rohana and Toramalli had already been put into the Greenwood vessel. Cullen Butler now helped Jasmine into the bosun’s chair, and as soon as she was settled, it was swung out over the ship’s side and lowered to the barge where Adali
helped his mistress out. The chair was hauled up to take the priest, who quickly joined them.

Jasmine and her two servants found themselves settled upon a well-upholstered velvet bench within the cabin. Heavy fur lap robes were tucked in about them. Hot bricks were placed at their feet. A small brazier of hot coals set upon the floor helped to assuage some of the icy, damp air. Adali was grinning delightedly. He and Cullen Butler settled themselves opposite the women.

“I cannot believe you are finally here, gracious lady,” the eunuch said to her. “I arrived over a month ago. I reached your lady grandmother’s house, a place called Queen’s Malvern, on Christmas Day. Your newest cousin was being christened. You have a huge family, gracious lady. They are all most beautiful, but very noisy.”