The Royal Handmaid (7 page)

Travis felt every eye turn toward him, but he said calmly, “That’ll be fine, Miss Matthews. I’ll enjoy sleeping on deck.”

Captain Barkley stared at Rena and said something to her Travis couldn’t hear. After the group broke up, he came by and said, “That was pretty raw, Winslow.”

“I’m the low man on the totem pole, Captain, but that’s all right.”

“Well, I’ll find you a bed. Don’t worry about it. You won’t have to sleep on deck.”

****

Lanie MacKay was standing on the deck watching the stars. She saw Pete Alford, who started to pass her by, then hesitated. “Are you excited about leaving, Peter?” she asked.

“Yes, I am.” He stood beside her at the rail, and the two gazed out over the sea. The moon was rising, making a V-shaped pattern on the water, narrow on the horizon and widening as it approached the ship. It glittered brightly in the gently rolling waves. “The Vikings called that
the whale’s road,
” Pete said.

“Did they? I didn’t know that.”

“I think I read it in a book somewhere. I don’t know why I remember unimportant things. Can’t get the important things into my mind.”

Lanie turned and looked up at Peter. She was five foot eleven and had been embarrassed about her height as long as she could remember. “How tall are you, Pete?” she asked.

“Oh, about six-three.”

“It’s nice to have to look up at a man. I usually have to look down.”

“Being tall is all right . . . but you bang your head a lot,” Alford said, grinning. “You don’t have a problem with your height, do you?”

Lanie hesitated. She did not know this man very well, and it would not do to start the trip with complaining about things that couldn’t be changed. “Oh, I suppose not.” She
changed the subject. “I thought Rena was pretty mean with Travis earlier.”

“I guess she’s used to having her own way.”

“I suppose so.”

“Do you get seasick, Lanie?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never been on a ship.”

“No ship at all?”

“No, not any. Do
you
get sick? At sea, I mean?”

“You bet!” He laughed at his own confession and shrugged. “If you’re prone to getting seasick, there’s no way to avoid it on a ship at sea.”

The two stood there feeling the almost imperceptible motion of the
Mary Anne
beneath their feet, and finally Pete turned to her. “I’m worried about learning the language. I’m so slow. I never was much good at books.”

“Don’t put yourself down,” Lanie said quickly. “I do too much of that myself.”

“Don’t be silly! You don’t need to put yourself down. It’s not about being tall, is it?” he asked.

“I . . . I guess it is. The kids at school used to call me Too Tall MacKay.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what. You and I’ll form a club. We’ll call it the Poor Me Club. We’ll get together every day, and you can say, ‘Oh, poor me, I’m too tall.’ And then I’ll say, ‘Oh, poor me, I’m too dumb.’ We can cry on each other’s shoulders. You can hate short women, and I’ll hate all the smart people.”

Lanie smiled and looked up into Pete’s face. “We’d be the only members, I think.”

“I think that’s good. We won’t take anybody else into our club. The Poor Me Club, that’s what we’ll be.”

Lanie MacKay was slow to make friends, but somehow she already felt a companionship with this tall man. As they stood talking in the moonlight, she relaxed for the first time since agreeing to this trip, feeling better about herself and about what would happen in the days to come.

CHAPTER FIVE

Under Way

“I wish I felt better about this mission, but somehow I just can’t.” Loren Matthews turned from where he leaned on the rail of the
Mary Anne
to face Travis, who stood beside him. Both men had been gazing out past the harbor to the open sea, discussing the challenge that lay before The Twelve. The deep blue sky overhead seemed hard enough to scratch a match on. The water in the harbor was a bit choppy as boats plied their way in and out. The gulls circled, uttering their harsh cries, and as the cook, Oscar Blevins, threw the garbage over the side, they fell on it voraciously. Loren watched this gloomily and shook his salt-and-pepper hair. “I don’t know why I should feel so bad. It’s a good thing, mission work.”

“Yes, it is.” Travis was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a light blue short-sleeved shirt that exposed the tan of his upper arms. Turning to face the older man, he said, “It’ll be all right, Mr. Matthews. I believe God’s in it.”

“Do you?”

“Why, of course I do. You know that.”

“I’m glad you’re going,” Matthews said. “The rest of the team seem like a bunch of helpless babies to me.”

“They’re better than they look, I think.”

“I hope so. I’ve done all I can in the way of getting them ready.” Loren Matthews grimaced and shook his head. “It seems like I put enough stores on here to supply the
Queen Mary.
”

“We’re not going to go hungry, that’s for sure. I doubt if
many missionary groups go out as well supplied. You’ve done a wonderful job, sir.”

“It’s only money.”

“Of course it is, but it’ll make things easier when we start the work there.”

Both men turned to look where several of the passengers had gathered in the bow, talking and laughing as if they hadn’t a care in the world. Abby and Jimmy Townsend, as usual, were standing side by side, their arms around each other. “I like to see devotion like that. That couple is going to do fine,” Loren remarked. He turned his attention to Dalton and his daughter, standing in the point of the bow across from the Townsends. Rena was laughing up at Dalton, and for a moment the scene brought tears to Loren’s eyes. “She’s all I’ve got, Travis.” Stifling his emotions, he turned to Travis and said, “I wish you’d keep an eye on my girl.”

Travis was surprised at the remark. Loren Matthews was one of the most capable men he had ever met. Starting with a single truck, he had built one of the largest trucking firms in the United States. His lifelong fight against his competitors and the endless government regulations had left its mark on him. But even so, the weariness and apprehension that were apparent just now seemed unusual to Travis. The younger man sought for words to bring some comfort, and finally he said, “She’s a strong young lady, Mr. Matthews. She’ll be all right. We’ll all be all right.”

“I’m afraid Rena hasn’t been too kind toward you, Travis. I hate to say it, but I believe she’s a bit of a snob. I’m glad you’re willing to go despite her attitude.”

“I’m glad just to be allowed to go,” Travis remarked. He smiled then, and his teeth shone white against the bronze of his face. “But I promise you I’ll keep an eye out for her.”

“Good. I’d appreciate that.”

As the two stood talking Rena left the group in the bow and came toward them with determination. “Travis,” she
snapped, “go down and help the professor shift his things around. Some of the boxes are pretty heavy.”

“Sure, Miss Rena.”

Loren watched the lanky young man as he left. “You shouldn’t be so curt with him, Rena.”

Surprise raised her eyebrows. “Curt? Why, Dad, I was just telling him what to do.”

“I don’t think you realize how harsh you are sometimes. It’s a bad time to be bringing it up, but I wish I’d see a little more gentleness in you, especially toward those who are under your authority now.”

Rena stared at her father. “Daddy, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’ve always had everything you’ve wanted, Rena. Maybe I made a mistake doing that. You’ve got too much pride.” He smiled ruefully. “Too late to get into that now when it’s time to say good-bye.”

Rena was taken aback by her father’s declaration. She had always been highly sensitive to anything he said. Since she had lost her mother, she had clung to her father, and now her hurt was apparent as she came closer and rested her hand on his arm. “You think I’m mean and cruel?”

“Of course not! Just—well, a little thoughtless. I guess it comes from having too much money and too much beauty. Maybe you couldn’t have been any different with all of that. I couldn’t do anything about your beauty, of course, but I suppose I didn’t have to give you everything you wanted.”

The smile had left Rena’s face completely now. She pulled her hand back and tried to speak. Seeing her obvious distress, Loren put his arms around her and drew her close. “Don’t pay any attention to me. I’m just an old grouch. You’re going to do fine, Rena.”

She leaned her head against him and rested there. “I don’t know what I would have done without you, Daddy,” she said. “You’re all I have in the world.”

“I haven’t been the best father.”

“You have too! Don’t say such things!”

With no other children, Loren had poured himself into this young woman, and now as she clung to him, he leaned down and kissed the top of her head and could think of nothing to say. She was headed into a world he knew nothing about, and he felt as if a cord were being cut. It brought him intense sadness—but he knew he could not show it.

“Here, now, this is no way to say good-bye.” He grinned at her. “Come along. I’ve got to tell Caleb to make you mind while you’re out of my sight.”

“You go see him, Daddy. I want to check that everything is stowed away properly.”

Captain Barkley emerged as Rena left. “A good day for sailing,” the captain greeted. “I wish you were going.”

“So do I, but this voyage is for young people.”

“That Professor Dekker is only a few years younger than you are, and he’s going.”

“He may come to regret his decision. I can’t do the things I could do when I was thirty.”

“Neither can I,” Captain Barkley said, shrugging. “We let go of things, don’t we, as time goes on? There’s always the last of something—the last time we play ball, the last time we see someone. Life is pretty much a series of endings.” He looked up at the sky and said, “The weather’s good. We ought to make Hawaii with no trouble.”

“How long will you stay there, Caleb?”

“Just long enough to take on water and any supplies we might have forgotten.”

The men stood discussing the supplies they would be needing by that point in the voyage, and finally Caleb said, “Well, time to set sail.”

“Good-bye, Caleb. May God give you a good voyage.”

“I’ll be careful to get your girl to the islands.”

Loren Matthews moved to the gangplank and watched as the men began to run the sails up. They were good sailors
and he trusted them. He longed to stay on board the
Mary Anne
and forget everything else, but that could not be.

Finally Rena came running to him and threw herself into his arms. “Good-bye, Daddy. Thank you for all you’ve done. We’ll make you proud of us.”

“I already am,” he said. “God go with you, daughter.”

Matthews stepped off the gangplank, and Novak nodded as he undid the mooring lines. “Good-bye, sir.”

“Good-bye, Novak. Look out for these people. They’ll need your help.”

Novak grinned back. “I’ll do my best, Mr. Matthews.”

Matthews stood on the dock and watched as the
Mary Anne
began to move out slowly at first, almost imperceptibly. The passengers lined the deck to wave good-bye while the crew scampered over the sails and loosed all the mooring lines. The
Mary Anne
turned slowly into the channel, and the breeze caught the sails, puffing them out. Almost like a living thing, the
Mary Anne
surged toward the open sea. Loren looked at Rena, who was in the stern waving. He waved back and cried out, “Good-bye, daughter!”

Her voice came to him clearly, “Good-bye, Daddy—I love you!”

Matthews watched as the
Mary Anne
left the harbor and began to bob gently up and down on the waves. He waited until she was nothing but a dot on the horizon, and then he turned slowly and walked with a heavy step back toward his car.

****

Rena grasped the rail as the
Mary Anne
lifted and plunged on the open sea. She had only been on her father’s yacht once before, and that was only for a short jaunt down the coast. She had felt so queasy on that day trip that she had not wanted to take any longer trips, preferring to take ocean liners, where the floor was almost as steady as at home. As the wind picked up and the motion of the
Mary Anne
increased, Rena suddenly
remembered her earlier experience with seasickness. She had forgotten that in all the excitement of planning for the mission. Now the salt water sprinkled her face, and she felt the first pangs of nausea.
Oh no, I’m going to be sick!

Even as she thought this, she regretted the heavy breakfast she had eaten. Dalton came up to stand beside her, looking aristocratic as always, and untroubled by the movement of the ship. “Well, we’re on our way,” he said.

“Yes, we are.”

“Are you glad? But of course you are.” He reached out and took her hand as he gazed at the horizon. “It’s a long way in a big ocean.” When she did not speak, he turned back and his eyes widened. “You’re pale! Are you getting sick?”

“I’m afraid I am, Dalton.”

“Well, you’d better go to your cabin and lie down. I hear seasickness is a terrible thing.”

Rena licked her lips and then pressed them together. “I got a bit queasy the other time I was on this ship. The motion doesn’t bother me on the big steam ships, but this pitching—” Without another word, she left his side and made her way belowdecks. Going to her cabin, she sat down abruptly as the ship began to roll from side to side. The nausea increased, and she rose to get a basin. She did not make it, though, for suddenly she felt sicker than she ever had in her life. She lost her breakfast on the floor, then moaned and fell back on her bunk.

****

Charlie Day grinned at Novak. “Well, I hear Her Majesty is seasick.”

“Yeah, her and that professor both. And the newlyweds too. The wife at least.” Novak guffawed loudly. “Ain’t they a perty sight? Goin’ out to convert the heathen and can’t even keep their breakfast down.”

Meredith Wynne shared a cabin with Rena. Now she came
out and found Travis talking with Shep Riggs, the small, wiry sailor.