Beloved Captive (38 page)

Theirs was a long overdue reunion, and Saturday morning, even in the light of what was to come, Caleb found reason to smile. Of course, waking up aboard the
Cormorant
helped.

Fletcher joined him on the deck, the ever-present pipe missing. “What happened?” Caleb inquired as he sipped the bracing coffee that he’d become accustomed to at his mother’s table.

“A casualty of marriage,” he said of the missing pipe, “though what I have gained far exceeds any loss I might feel.”

Caleb grinned. “I half-expected she might join you.”

“Oh, she might have if given the opportunity.” He glanced at Caleb. “Believe it or not, she actually listens to me.”

He hoped his chuckle conveyed the proper amusement. Fletcher, however, was obviously not fooled.

“Your request that I come at once was not based on nostalgia, was it, Caleb?”

“No,” he said. “Hawkins is back.”

Fletcher looked away. “You have a plan, I presume?”

“I do, but I must warn you,” he said, leaning against the gunwale, “the
Cormorant
and her crew will be in danger.”

“My boy,” Fletcher said, “do you not think those aboard wouldn’t follow where you lead?”

He thought of only one: Emilie Gayarre.

“None who haven’t already done so,” he said as he watched the tide ebb and flow against the shallows below the docks.

“So there’s a woman.”

He jerked his attention to Fletcher. “Am I that obvious?”

“Was I?”

Caleb nodded. “Point taken.”

To his credit, Fletcher stepped away to allow Caleb to brood in silence. He might have stood at the gunwale all morning had he not seen a vessel flying the flag of the United States of America appear on the horizon.

* * *

“Emilie, how long are you going to sit by the window pretending to read that novel?” Isabelle stepped into the room, her son in her arms. “I know you cannot possibly enjoy something so much that you read it through twice.”

It was three times, but what did it matter? She could never tell Isabelle that reading
Robinson Crusoe
was as much about enjoying the novel as it was basking in the memory of a stolen kiss.

Two, to be exact.

Because remembering those two kisses always brought her to the third kiss, the one they’d shared just before she walked out of his life.

Tears came afresh, and she did not bother to stop them. The book swam before her, and she reluctantly closed it.
 

Isabelle left the room only to return without Joey. She knelt before Emilie and wrapped her in an embrace. No words were necessary. Each had shed tears over the same dilemma.

Finally, Isabelle pulled away to stand. “You must tell him,” she said. “If he loves you, it won’t matter who your parents were.”

“Who my mother was,” she corrected. “And it will always matter. What you’re suggesting is against the law.”

“Those are man’s laws,” Isabelle said as she pulled her handkerchief out and handed it to Emilie. “Let God tell you what to do.”

Emilie nodded and blew her nose, then tucked the handkerchief into her apron pocket. “Izzy, I’m afraid. What if he doesn’t want me after he learns who I really am?”

Her sister knelt before her once again. “Then he was not the man for you. God makes no mistakes, even if we do.”

“Then I must tell him.”
 

“Yes,” Isabelle said, “you must.”

They rose together, and Emilie cast about for her bonnet.
 

“Em, you can’t just go find him and blurt this out,” Isabelle said. “You must pray over this and make a plan.” She opened the desk drawer and reached for writing paper. “Write him a note and have him meet you somewhere private. There you can have your talk. If he’s the one the Lord has for you, nothing will keep you apart.” She smiled. “Josiah and I are living proof.”

Indeed they were. Still, Emilie held her doubts close as she wrote a brief note asking Caleb to meet her at the old schoolhouse to discuss their future. To be sure he understood, she folded the paper and tucked it into the pages of the novel.
 

Emilie would let
Robinson Crusoe
say what she as yet could not.

When she’d accomplished her task, Emilie donned her bonnet and hurried to the boardinghouse. Thankfully, the judge was not
at the table with the other boarders. She caught Ruby and took
her aside.

“Might you do a favor for me later this morning? I’ve a book I need delivered to Judge Spencer.” She handed Ruby the book. “Be careful to point out to Caleb that there’s a note inside.”

The younger woman grinned. “I’m always happy to advance the course of true love.”

“Oh, I don’t know about all that,” Emilie said.
Though I can hope
.

* * *

“Don’t make me do this.” Claire O’Connor leaned against the side of Tucker’s Feed and Supply and closed her eyes, the book still clutched to her chest.

“I saw the woman go into the boardinghouse,” Jean Luc said. “And I know she gave you the book, for she was carrying it when she went in but not when she departed.”

Thomas Hawkins’s second-in-command snatched the book from her and thumbed through the pages until he found the note. A smile dawned, and he stepped away from Claire.

Claire’s gaze darted to the only exit from the alley she’d blindly allowed Jean Luc to trick her into entering. When it came to men, she’d never been known to have good sense.

Ben and Jamie Hawkins, Thomas’s younger brothers, had been stationed at the end of the alley, either keeping watch or watching Jean Luc. As yet, it seemed to be the latter.

She returned her attention to the Frenchman who’d courted her right under Thomas’s nose. Perhaps the spark of interest had not yet completely died.

“Jean Luc,” she said as she leaned forward to grasp his shoulders and draw him near. “I owe this woman a favor. Let me do that favor for her; then maybe we can find time to be alone and talk about what I might do for you.”

“Sweet Claire,” he whispered as he touched his lips to her neck. “You grow more beautiful every day.” Abruptly, he grasped her hands and held them against his chest. “But Thomas, he grows more tired of waiting.”

“Please give me back the book, Jean Luc.”

The Frenchman pointed to the paper, and Jamie Hawkins delivered it to him. He broke the seal and read the document, then handed it back to Jamie. “We’re going to take this to the judge ourselves. Make amends with him, as it were.”

“You are?” Her smile was genuine. “How can I thank you, Jean Luc?”

He nuzzled close, his breath smelling of whatever he’d had for dinner. “In the usual way, Claire,” he murmured. “And if you don’t show tonight, I’ll have to go to Thomas. Thus far, the three of us have kept our mouths shut.”

Ben and Jamie nodded.
 

Claire yanked the book away and slipped past the three men to emerge onto the sidewalk. By the time she reached the boardinghouse, she’d become Ruby O’Shea again.

* * *

Emilie waited at her cottage until the mantel clock struck nine. Caleb was late.

Or perhaps he wasn’t coming at all.

She moved from the parlor to the porch rocker and took her Bible with her. It was dark, too dark to read, but the feel of the book in her hand gave her comfort.
 

When the garden gate opened, she rose. “Caleb. You came.”

But it wasn’t Caleb.

“Hello, pigeon.” Emilie opened her mouth to scream but found her voice strangely silenced. When the gag went in, she cast about for its source and found the formerly polite Frenchman standing behind her.

Time began to move faster. She jerked at the gag. Her hands were caught. Tied together. Blindfolded. The smell of something akin to medicine. Something like what her father took when the pain was too bad to stand.

“Good work, Jean Luc,” Hawkins said. “Now show me the way out of here. I’ll not risk having myself found out. Might be bad for business.”

The world upended and the sounds stopped.

Chapter 41

November 20, 1836

Good morning, Mr. Secretary,” Caleb said as he arrived in his office to find the secretary of the navy sitting at his desk. “I trust you slept well.”

“What sort of ship are you running here, Spencer?” he said as he opened each desk drawer, then slammed it shut.
 

“A tight ship,” Caleb said. “You’ve seen the log book. The men here are doing an impressive amount of business for the government. Even with the expenditure for the schoolhouse, there’s a substantial sum in the coffers.”

He looked up. “Tell me more about this school.”

Caleb told him what he knew, then concluded with an offer to visit the location. “Let’s,” the secretary said. “I’m impressed you would think of such a thing.”

“It was not my idea, sir, as you might have gathered from the letters the townspeople sent.”

The older man nodded. “Indeed, though I must tell you most were complimentary of you, even as they complained about their school.”

“Oh?”

“Perhaps we should see this school,” he said. “I’ve told the press in Washington of the largesse of the United States Navy. I should view the building I’ve laid claim to thinking of!”

“You’ve laid claim to the idea?” Caleb chuckled.
 

“Yes, sir,” he said. “And a brilliant idea it is.”

They walked toward the school, and the secretary fell silent. As the town slipped behind them, he cleared his throat. “You know, Spencer, I was skeptical about taking you into the department. Your father, well, he had a good reputation over at the attorney general’s office, and we who knew him always thought you’d follow in his footsteps.”

“Indeed, sir, that has been my aim.”

He smiled. “I’m glad to hear it,” he said. “I’ve been talking to the AG.”

“The attorney general?”

“Seems his aide’s a bit of a disappointment. He suggested I might want to swap one of my navy boys for this fellow. Send him out in the field and bring my man to Washington.” He slapped Caleb on
the back. “Problem is you’ve earned a bit of a reputation thanks to
the admiral’s daughter.”

“Sir, I never touched her. Never said an untoward—”

He held his hand up to silence Caleb. “I believe you,” he said, “which is why I feel safe in sending the man who has helped me catch the eye of the president over to the AG.”

Caleb stopped abruptly. “Wait. You’re sending me back to
Washington to work as aide to the attorney general?”

The secretary nodded. “Let me see if I can explain this. See, we’re taking a beating in the press on this Indian war issue. Nasty business fighting with the Seminoles.” He shrugged. “So naturally building schools in the same territory where the nastiness is happening sort of evens things out.”

Realization dawned. “So you didn’t request I go forward with the school because of those letters?”

“Oh, they helped. Without them, I’d never have heard of this mosquito-ridden backwater.” He pointed to the clearing ahead. “Is that the school?”

“No,” Caleb said. “That’s the schoolteacher’s home.”

“Excellent. Take me to meet her.” He reached for the garden gate and a moment later was banging on her door.
 

“I think she’s staying in town with her sister,” Caleb finally said. “Perhaps we’ll find her there.”

But when they reached Isabelle Carter’s doorstep, she said, “No, I
haven’t seen Emilie since she set off to meet you yesterday.”

“Meet me?” Caleb shook his head. “I was never informed of a meeting.”

“Oh, dear,” Isabelle said. “I assumed. . .” Her eyes widened. “Oh dear.”

“Isabelle,” he said slowly though his heart beat in his throat and his blood raced. “When and where was the meeting to take place?”

She shook her head. “Let me think. The time, I’m not clear, but the location was her home. This I know.”

“But we just returned from there,” the secretary said, “and that place was empty.”

“Oh dear,” Isabelle repeated. “If only Josiah hadn’t taken his father and the missionaries down to Key West aboard the
Freedom
. He would know what to do.”

“What about Micah?” Caleb asked. “Might he know where Emilie is?”

Again she shook her head. “He’s with them.”

* * *

Gradually, light encroached on the darkness. Emilie lay back against the bunk and tried not to cry. With her hands tied, it made wiping her tears or swiping at her nose quite impossible.

Thus far, the horrible pirate had left her alone. She’d been taken aboard a ship, this she remembered, then somehow transported to dry land. Now, with the rocking beneath her, she knew she was back aboard a seagoing vessel.

Shouting erupted above her, and a great lurch followed. The rocking increased until it felt more like a pitch and roll than a forward motion. Then it all stopped.

Abruptly.

The noise was deafening.
 

Then, silence.

* * *

“Wreck ashore,” the lookout called as Caleb and the secretary were coming out of the Carter home. “Wreck ashore,” he said again.

“Someone’s on the reef,” Caleb said to the secretary. “Now the men will go out and fetch first the passengers, then the crew. When they are safely in, the men will board the vessel for anything of value.

“Splendid,” the secretary said. “Let’s go.”

Caleb shook his head. “You want to go aboard a wrecking vessel?”

“I do,” he said.

He shrugged. “Then we should hurry. Likely they’ll be loading up and leaving soon.”

They reached the dock as the last boat was loosening the lines. The man at the helm pointed to Micah’s vacant vessel. “We need all the help we can get,” he said. “Judge, can you operate a wrecking ship?”

“I’ll vouch for the fact he can.”

Caleb turned to see Fletcher and several of the crew from the
Cormorant
standing dockside. One of them held the Benning flag across his arm. Lifting a brow, he sent a silent question to Fletcher, who shrugged. Quick introductions were made as Micah’s vessel set out to follow the others.