The Bartered Bride (14 page)

Alerted by instinct, Alex whirled, her face lighting with joy. "Katie!"

"Mama!" Demureness vanished as the girl shrieked and raced across the aviary, startling birds into whirling clouds. As she ran, her veil and headdress fell away, revealing shining blond hair and an exquisite, miniature version of Alex's face.

They met in the middle of the aviary. Alex dropped to her knees to catch her daughter close, crying,

"Katie, Katie, my love," as tears streamed down her face.

Gavin's throat tightened as he watched the reunion. His daughter Anna would be of similar age and coloring, but the thought didn't sting as it used to. In his mind was an image of Helena and Anna laughing together in a heavenly meadow, the child grown to the size she wouio be if she had lived. Alex's words the night they left Maduri had given him that peaceful vision.

Speaking through her tears to the rajah, Alex said, "The lost has been found, Your, Majesty. I am penniless now, but if you will trust me, I shall send a ransom fit for a princess if you will let me take my daughter home to England."

"There is no need for that, Mrs. Warren. It is not right for mother to be separated from child. Go with my blessing."

As Gavin bowed and thanked the rajah, he thought with stunned disbelief that it couldn't be this easy. Granted, he'd sent a lavish present and the rajah had a reputation for fairness and decency, but could recovering Katie Warren really be so simple?

It was.

Alex accompanied her daughter and the veiled escort back to the women's quarters so Katie could collect her few possessions and say goodbye. She was bemused to hear Katie chattering in fluent Malay. From the hugs and flowing tears of the rajah's women, Katie had been a favorite, and clearly well treated. Gavin had been right that her daughter could have lived here happily. But, thank the Lord, that wasn't necessary.

As they left with their guide, Alex carried a bag of Katie's possessions in one hand while Katie clung to the other. Though Katie had chattered nonstop since their reunion, she fell silent after they left the women's quarters. Concerned, Alex said, "Are you all right, Katybird? It must be hard to leave the friends you made here."

Katie nodded. "I won't ever see them again, will I?"

Alex winced at the sadness in her daughter's voice. Less than a year ago she'd lost her Australian friends, too. "Probably not, sweetheart. Home is on the other side of the world."

"Can England be home when I've never been there?"

It was a good question. Alex thought before answering. "Home begins with family. When you meet your grandparents and cousins, England will begin to feel like home. You'll make new friends, and this time they can be friends for a lifetime."

"I'd like to have forever friends," Katie said wistfully.

Alex tightened their handclasp, vowing that her daughter would never have to suffer such drastic losses again. "It's hard to lose people you care about. I was terrified when the pirates took you away." Her daughter looked suddenly older. "I was frightened, too, Mama. I ... I thought I'd never see you again."

How long had Katie lived in terror before being put into friendly hands? Swallowing the lump in her throat, Alex said, "That might have happened, if not for Captain Elliott."

"The man who was with you in the bird garden?"

"Yes, he's a sea captain. He found me on the island of Maduri and obtained my freedom." Which was all Katie ever needed to know about her mother's enslavement. "He'll take us on his ship all the way to England."

When they reentered the aviary, Alex gave Gavin a nod to say that all was well. He turned to the rajah, who now had a scarlet parrot on his shoulder. After more bows and flowery thanks and farewells, the foreigners took their leave.

As they walked through the palace, Alex introduced Gavin to her daughter. Katie said gravely, "Are you a Dutch sea captain?"

"No, I'm American," he replied with equal gravity.

"Good. I don't like Dutch sea captains."

The comment was another mark of the fear Katie had experienced in the Pirate raid, because she had liked the Amstel captain well enough at the time. On the voyage home, Alex must draw her daughter into discussing what had happened. She was young; with luck she'd soon forget the worst parts. A pity adults didn't forget so easily.

Katie loved their cabin. Excited by the drama of the day, she bounced around the room, admiring the books and furnishings. "This is ever so much nicer than the Amstel."

"That's because Captain Elliott gave us his own cabin." Alex relaxed in a chair, her gaze following her daughter's movements around the cabin. She'd grown noticeably in the last months. She wasn't such a little girl anymore, but Alex was so happy that it was easy to swallow her regrets for the time together they'd lost.

Katie ran her fingertips over the leather bindings of a shelf of books. "The captain likes you." Alex felt a flutter of nerves, as if Gavin had made an advance. The thought was both alarming and ... gratifying. Reminding herself not to read too much into a child's casual comment, she said, "I'm very fond of him, too. He has been all that is kind." Wanting to forestall more comments about Gavin, she continued, "We'll start your lessons again tomorrow morning. I hope you've not forgotten everything you ever knew about French and numbers and globes."

Katie stared at her, appalled. "Lessons again so soon?"

Alex almost laughed at her daughter's dismay. "Well-perhaps we'll take a day or two of holiday. Don't look ill-used-you've always enjoyed your schooling."

"One can't admit that," Katie said, voice prim but eyes dancing.

"Did you have lessons in the palace?"

"Yes, but not numbers or French or books. Yasmeen, who looked after me, taught me Malay. All of us girls had lessons in dancing and singing and how to behave like Island ladies." Gracefully Katie began the precise, delicate movements of a Sukaun dance. "I liked the dancing. They said I was good."

"I'm sure you were." Alex watched, impressed and a little uneasy at more proof of how adaptable children were. How many years would it have taken Katie to become a Sukaun girl, her English heritage almost forgotten? Hugging her daughter, she said, "I've missed you so much, Katybird. So terribly, terribly much."

"I missed you too, Mama," Katie whispered. "I told myself I must be brave and not cry, but sometimes I couldn't help it."

"Neither could I." Alex found tears in her eyes again, and didn't even bother to feel guilty over her lack of control.

Despite her joy, that night Alex was jerked from sleep by nightmares, as she was most nights. She awakened sweaty and gasping and nauseated. Though her mind knew she was free, that didn't stop panic from flooding every particle of her being. Fear of captivity. Fear of losing the world she knew. Fear of rape.

Careful not to wake her sleeping daughter, she slid from the bed and went to one of the windows that overlooked the wake of the ship. Opening it brought her fresh air, and she'd found that watching the horizon helped control seasickness.

The night air and the horizon that divided the ocean from sky helped settle her churning stomach, while repeating fiercely that she was safe and free gradually slowed her hammering heart. Wearily she wondered how long the nightmares would last. She was only a week out of slavery. Surely time would diminish the night terrors.

Quietly she returned to the bed. Katie, at least, suffered no nightmares. The innocent curve of her cheek and the soft rhythm of her breath soothed Alex as nothing else on earth could have. She was so lucky. So incredibly lucky. So full of love she had no words to describe it. She brushed a kiss on Katie's forehead. "Rest well, my darling."

Then she lay back on her pillow and forced herself to relax until she drifted once more into restless sleep.

Despite nightmares, the next days were the happiest time Alex had known since she'd married and left her parents' home. As Gavin had promised, the crew enjoyed having a child on board, and Katie was the ship's pet. She and Gavin became particularly good friends, for he always listened to her with the attention he gave adults.

At first, Alex worried that Gavin would find it painful to be around a child the age of his lost daughter. Instead, she sensed that he found it healing. He and Katie had an easy relationship very different from the one Katie had had with her father. Though Edmund had loved his daughter, he'd never known quite what to do with a lively little girl.

After two days of holiday, Alex fulfilled her threat to resume teaching. Gavin's books and maps were good sources for reading and arithmetic and geography, and Katie ate her lessons up like a hungry puppy. She'd always been a good student, and her sojourn in another culture had increased her appetite for learning.

One daily assignment was for Katie to start a journal of her Indies experiences. Besides offering writing practice, the entries gave Alex the details of her daughter's life in captivity. ("Sukau has many ways of cooking rice. I like peanut sauce and nasi goreng.")

It was a relief to read confirmation that after the first wrenching shocks, Katie had settled down comfortably in her new world. There should be no future nightmares, other than the fear of losing her mother, which kept Katie close now. Alex didn't mind-they both needed that closeness. By the time they reached England, they should be capable of a more normal existence.

She was ready for that. Lord, was she readyl

When they anchored in the harbor of a small island to provision before crossing the wide expanse of the Indian Ocean, Gavin saw Alex and Katie hanging on the railing, watching raptly as praus skimmed around the Helena with islanders offering food and other wares. He smiled at the sight. Alex was like a girl herself these days. Though still too thin from captivity and not yet in full possession of her sea legs, there was a radiance about her that was irresistible. Katie had some of that same glowing quality. When she grew up, she'd be a stunner.

As he approached Alex and her daughter, a boatman held up a simple cloth doll dressed in scraps of fabric. While Katie stared longingly, Alex bit her lip in frustration. Realizing that Katie had no toys and Alex had no money, Gavin leaned over the railing and bargained with the boatman. They reached a price and Gavin tossed down a coin. The doll soared upward in return. Katie squealed at the prospect of it falling into the water, but Gavin leaned over the rail and snagged it in midair. "Here you are, Katie," he said as he presented it with a flourish. "A remembrance of the Islands."

" Oh, thank you, thank you, Captain Elliott!" She cradled the doll in her arms, her eyes shining.

"Thanks indeed, Captain," Alex said warmly. While she never asked anything for herself, she welcomed attempts to please her daughter. Wanting more of that warmth, Gavin said, "We'll be here for a good part of the day while we top up the water supply and load fresh provisions. How about if I take you two ladies to a pretty little beach just north of here? We can take a luncheon basket and enjoy one last day on land before we set off across the ocean." And maybe Alex would be able to keep food down better on solid land.

His invitation was accepted with alacrity. While Alex took her daughter below to prepare, Gavin arranged for food and hired a prau from the island head man.

Because of the day's heat, Gavin went below to put on island clothing. It was odd to be living in a small mate's cabin after years of being a captain. He could stand in the middle and touch anything in the room, and his head just missed the ceiling when he stood straight. No matter; Alex and Katie needed the space and comfort of the captain's cabin more than he did. Meals in the cramped cuddy and charts and logs jammed in with his shirts were a minor inconvenience.

As practical as Gavin, Alex also dressed herself and her daughter in island clothing, with feet bare and straw hats to protect pale northern complexions. They left the ship in a holiday mood. The prau was small enough that Gavin could easily handle the sails by himself, and he enjoyed its swallow-like maneuverability as they rounded one of the horns of the harbor to reach the cove. Protected on the land side by cliffs, it was a Northemer's dream of an island paradise, with transparent aquamarine waters lapped against a crescent of white sand. They had a lazy luncheon sprawled in the shade of rustling palm trees, chatting idly on topics of no importance.

In danger of falling asleep, Gavin said, "I feel like stretching my legs. Does anyone care to join me for a walk?"

"We'd love to." Alex and Katie got to their feet and the three of them began to walk along the water's edge, feet and ankles being splashed by incoming waves. Katie dashed ahead of the adults, playing with the waves and shrieking with laughter when the water caught her unexpectedly.

"Thank you for bringing us here," Alex said. "Today will provide a warm and lovely memory in cold English winters."

"I suspect that the English became such great explorers because they're always searching for a better climate. And finding it almost everywhere."

She laughed. "I expect you're right, but I, for one, will be delighted to spend the rest of my days in Britain. I look forward to being an eccentric little old lady with cats, who will bore my grandchildren with tales of my travels."

He studied her elegant profile. "I have trouble imagining you as old." Her laughter faded. "Sometimes I feel ancient. But you were right that eventually Maduri would be only a half-forgotten dream. Already it seems a little unreal. As if everything happened to someone else." She shivered despite the warmth of the day.

Thinking of the shadows under her eyes even when she was laughing, he asked, "Are you having nightmares?"

"Sometimes," she admitted, "but they're not important. Most of the time I couldn't be happier. Grateful to be free, and to have my daughter back." She slanted him a glance. "What about you? Do nightmares haunt your sleep? "

"Sometimes. Nothing like you must experience." He glanced away from her, afraid that the hot rush of memories of their intimacy might show in his eyes. Most of the time he was able to keep desire locked tightly away, but it still flared up awkwardly at unexpected moments, leaving him frustrated and yearning. Wanting to change the subject, he continued, "I'm glad to have today to say goodbye to the Indies. Though England is beautiful in its own way, it's not like this."