Catalina's Caress (27 page)

J
ake opened her eyes, wondering at the amazing warmth and comfort that surrounded her. She had never enjoyed such luxury, and she hated to leave the bed.

The door opened and Sophie entered. She drew back the drapes to let in the morning sun, then turned to the bed.

Jake giggled softly at the cautious way she approached her.

"M-miss?" she said carefully.

When Jake sat up abruptly, Sophie let out a startled squeak and stepped back.

"Oh, Sophie. I am truly sorry about all the things I said to you yesterday. I was just so frightened. I'd really like to befriends with you. I don't have a friend around here. You'd be my first."

Sophie smiled hesitantly and came a little closer to the bed.

"Miss Charlotte's waiting in the breakfast room, miss. She said you're to dress for shopping."

"I'll dress ... as soon as you say you'll forgive me for being so mean."

"Oh, miss." Sophie giggled. "It's not up to me to be forgiving you."

Jake got out of bed, went over to a very started

Sophie, and took one of her hands in both of hers.

"You're a person, Sophie, and I'm a person. I lived on the docks all my life. If I come in here and put on pretty clothes, does that make me any different, any better?"

"I don't know, miss."

"I don't want to be better, Sophie. I just want to be friends. Will you be my friend?"

Sophie realized now that Jake truly meant what she was saying. She smiled. "All right, miss, I'd be truly pleased."

"Thank you," Jake said softly. Thank you."

"But I'll be skinned, miss, if you don't get down to breakfast. Miss Charlotte isn't one to be kept waiting."

"I wish—"

"What, miss?"

"That Seth wasn't gone. This is all so... big, so frightening."

"He'll be back before too long, and you'll have a grand time at parties and all."

Jake was silent, thinking that she was now alone to face the newness of her life. "Sophie?"

"Yes, miss," Sophie replied as she placed on the bed the bundle of clothes that Charlotte had ordered her to take from Catalina's room.

"You've been here some time?"

"Yes, miss."

"Can you tell me about this family?"

"You mean Mr. Seth, miss?" Sophie giggled softly.

"Don't get impertinent," Jake said arrogantly, trying to mimic what she felt was the proper tone for a lady to use under such circumstances.

"Sorry, miss," Sophie replied. She remained silent as she started to help Jake dress, too silent to suit Jake.

"Well?"

"Well what, miss?" Sophie said innocently.

"What about Seth?" Jake said impatiently, her cheeks pinkening.

"He's quite a nice gentleman, miss. Always been just a little bit wild, but Miss Charlotte says a young man's got to sew his wild oats while he's young. Mr. Seth, he's really a good-hearted lad. He's always been kind to all of us, and he surely loves Miss Charlotte and his sister, miss."

"His sister?"

"Yes, miss. Miss Catalina. She's a lovely creature and Mr. Seth has always felt her to be very special."

"I suppose," Jake said, her uncertainty surfacing, "she is a lady?"

"Oh, yes, miss... a lovely lady. All the gentlemen love her, and she's kind and generous and unselfish and—"

"My goodness," Jake said flippantly, "she's about perfect."

"Yes, miss." Sophie totally misconstrued Jake's words. "She's truly a lady."

When Sophie finished buttoning Jake's dress, Jake spun-to face her.

"A lady, a lady. Well not everybody wants to be a puny lady. I'll bet she'd faint if she had to walk the docks for a day. Being a lady isn't so special."

"No, miss. I guess it isn't that important. But you see, Miss Cat, she's nice. I mean, she never says anything to hurt like some people do. I don't think it would matter where Miss Cat was or what she was doing. Even on the dirty docks, she'd still be a lady. That's what makes her special."

Jake felt ashamed for lashing out at Sophie when she knew it was her uncertainty and jealousy that had spoken.

"I'm sorry again, Sophie." She smiled. "I suppose I've a long way to go."

"Yes, miss. And you'd better get started cause Miss Charlotte isn't pleased when she's kept waiting."

Jake nodded and walked to the door. As she walked down the steps beside Sophie, she began to plan. One day Seth and his perfect sister Catalina would return. When they did, she would prove that she was every bit as much a lady as Cat.

As Charlotte watched Jake walk across the room toward her, she smiled.

Awkward and uncomfortable in the clothes, she nonetheless moved with an innate pride that Charlotte found captivating.

She was entrancing, half-child, half-woman, and Charlotte was more than certain Seth would be in for the surprise of his life—more of a surprise, she felt, than Jake herself was in for.

"Good morning, child."

"Good morning, Miss McNeil," Jake said.

"No .. . Aunt Charlotte. Call me Aunt Charlotte."

"Thank you. I... I wasn't sure just what would be proper. And Aunt Charlotte, please don't call me ... child."

"All right." Charlotte laughed softly. "I shall call you Jake until you tell me to call you something else. Is that a bargain?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"Now, come and eat. The carriage is being brought around, and we will spend the day seeing just how pretty we can make you. The thought excites me. It's like dressing my own daughter. And tomorrow night we are going to the theater. I have plans for every hour—almost every minute. By the time Seth returns we shall have had a grand holiday."

Charlotte kept her word and they were always busy as the days turned into weeks. Caught up in this whirlwind of activity, Jake was much less conscious of her metamorphosis than Charlotte was. The older woman was watching a small miracle unfold before her.

With her natural spontaneity and gaiety Jake was soon popular with a group of young people who helped educate her without knowing they were doing so. Within two weeks Jake had learned to laugh freely, to dance, to choose the best clothes, the best wines. She had even learned how to tease and flirt while giggling with young people of her own age.

At Charlotte's urging, she began to learn to read and to write and to think. For the unleashing of her mind, Jake was most grateful She now saw all the things of beauty that she could enjoy and, under Charlotte's guidance, learn to appreciate it.

❧

Seth stood at the stern rail and watched the paddlewheel churn the water.

His thoughts were torn between the situation Cat was in and the one in which he had left Jake.

He worried about how Jake would accustom herself to the abrupt change in her life.

It would be hard, but as much as he wanted to turn back and help her, he knew Cat needed him much more now.

He was involved in thought when Charles joined him at the rail.

"A penny for your thoughts." Charles smiled.

"There are too many of them. You'd owe me a banker's ransom."

"Can't be as bad as all that."

"It's just that I'd like to be in two places at once."

"Damn near impossible."

"I know. Charles, this Marc ... Garrison, Cope-land, or whatever the hell his name is."

"Marc Copeland Garrison," Charles supplied.

"Whatever. Tell me a bit about him."

"You mean his situation with women?" Charles asked astutely. Seth turned to him and nodded silently.

"He's got quite a reputation with the ladies. If he's made as many conquests as he's been given credit for, he must spend the majority of his time in bed. But I suppose one cannot put much stock in rumor."

"Where there's smoke there's fire."

"Well he travels about with a lovely Oriental creature called, of all things, China, and, from what I've been told, a bevy of other beauties. Whatever the truth is, the man never lacks feminine companionship."

"God," Seth murmured. "I wonder how Cat is faring."

"Cat is an enterprising young woman."

"But can she defend herself against this rake?"

"If she chooses to."

"What does that mean?"

"Garrison does not rape women; he seduces them."

"Cat is no fool."

"Of course not. But she's in a vulnerable position that will require wit."

"Between men like Travis and Marc," Seth said, "she's in a difficult position. Neither man can be trusted."

"Well, we can only follow her, Seth. Maybe they'll still be docked in Natchez when we arrive. It is a lovely city, and perhaps Cat will be intrigued enough to want to stay there for a few days."

"With any kind of luck we just might catch up with them there."

"Seth?"

"Yes."

"What will you do?"

"What do you mean?" Seth asked, though he knew

what Charles meant"

"Should you find them, and find ..."

"That my sister has been dishonored?"

Charles nodded.

"I have brought a rather ornate box with me. It's in my stateroom. It contains my father's dueling pistols. I shall defend my family's honor in the only way left"

"You will challenge them both?"

"I shall."

"I don't know about Travis, he is not known for being honorable. But Marc Garrison, he will fight you and he is no novice with the dueling pistols."

"Whatever may happen, Charles, I have little choice in the matter."

"But you have."

"What choicer

"Allow Catalina to make her own decisions. It could be that she has already done so and honor has nothing to do with it. She chose to go on this journey of her own free will. She began the game, and maybe she will choose to end it in her own way... without violence, without bloodshed—and without your help."

"What are you telling me, Charles?"

"I really don't know. I have found out a lot about Marc Garrison, but none of it has darkened his name. I just have a feeling that fate may have arranged something that has nothing to do with any of our plans."

"You sound like a mystic." Seth laughed.

"Maybe so. But I don't want to see either of you hurt."

"What do you suggest?"

"If you find them in Natchez, go to your sister first. Find out what is truth and what is rumor. Then abide by her will and save yourself a lot of grief, maybe even a tragedy."

"And if I don't find them in Natchez?"

"We will continue on until we do find them."

"Why do you feel Marc isn't guilty?" Seth asked quietly.

Charles looked at him, unable to put into words exactly what he felt. He had sought an answer, and had come up with a question instead.

"Seth, what makes you think he's not?"

Seth sighed. "I don't know. When he won the
Belle
from me, it was my foolishness and an honest game. I surely am more guilty than he is, because it is my fault that we are all in this position. Still, I have a feeling that there is much more to all this. I would like ..."

"What Seth?"

"I would like to face him and ask him what his intentions were and are. I'd like to know if he meant to damage me, or to reach Cat I'd like to have some answers."

"Well, let us pray we will find them in Natchez."

"Yes."

"Why don't you get some sleep, Seth? It's very late."

"No, you go below. I'll stay here and think for a while, if you don't mind."

"All right. Good night"

"Good night."

Charles went to his bed wishing he could have said something that would have eased Seth's mind, while Seth watched the waters of the great river pass behind the boat in a white froth of lace.

He thought of Cat and realized that Charles had been right. Cat had a right to decide the outcome of the situation. He would be prepared to do whatever was necessary, but he would speak to Cat first. Many questions needed to be asked, and he felt that she might have secured answers to them, to the why of Marc Garrison.

He thought of Jake, of leaving her, and decided that he would make it up to her as soon as he returned home. He began to think of all the fun things they could do, of the places they could go. Why, he thought, I can introduce her to all of my friends, and if Aunt Charlotte and Cat are successful in polishing Jake's rough edges, she might be able to find a good husband and have a good future.

He began to think back on their meeting and the many confrontations between them. The memories made him smile, and he was surprised to find that he already missed her vivid temper, her poignant little girl's innocence. To him she was a child, a sweet child that needed a helping hand.

What he had done brought on a feeling of pride, but it also brought the realization that he had rarely done anything for anyone else in his entire life.

Now he would make up for that by turning the proverbial sow's ear into an enticing silk purse. Jake would be grateful, so would Ben.