by Marie Hall
“Fetched her out of the sea?” Devin asked pulling his handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to her.
“When her father learned my father wouldn’t have her and that she was with child without prospects, he put her on a ship and set her towards America. He said he’d found her a husband there that would take her, but he hadn’t. He’d paid the ship’s crew to drop her in the ocean. They at least gave her a chance and put her in the dinghy before leaving her bobbing in the waves. When Papa’s crew spotted the boat and pulled it in, he planned to take her back to England and set her ashore, but she traded him this brooch for passage, giving him no destination. She sailed with him for two months before she couldn’t hide her condition and Papa took her ashore in Scotland and wed her then took her back aboard and took her to Cartagena. He bought her the house and set her in and then spent time sailing her around and encouraging her to sculpt. He was sailing her to fetch some marble when she went into labor and gave birth to me.”
“That is as sad as it is beautiful, Mia. The commodore must have been like me, in love at first sight.” Devin said with a smile that made her giggle. She reached out to slap him again only to be stopped by Grim who gave her a fierce look.
“Oh you weren’t Captain, not at all.”
“Oh but I was. In love, in lust and hoping your papa didn’t see that last part before we said I do.” Devin said stepping up close then bending down to kiss her softly. “It was hardly my fault you were so averse to marriage. Rowdy little pirate that you are.”
Mia gasped then burst out laughing. She didn’t see this side of Devin often. He wasn’t one to tease but when he did it made her heart race and her body heat the same as when he said something wicked. “Well, I’m a lady tonight, but if you don’t hurry and take me from here we may not make it to the vice admiral’s home for at least a week.”
“Oh, how you tempt me, Mia mine. How you tempt me,” Devin said as he let Grim help with his overcoat while Hong gathered her train that she could hold it up then put her wrap around her. “Shall we go, my lovely little pirate?”
“Lady, Devin,” Mia corrected taking his arm and stepping out with him.
“Ah yes, lady. But only for this dinner. You must be a pirate again when we return.”
Devin took a step back and turned his head slightly. Mia stood with a group of newly enrolled cadets and whatever she was telling them had them focused on her hard. At least he hoped it was what she was saying and not her stunning beauty. He’d always thought Mia a beautiful woman, even when dressed simply on ship. He should have realized should she dress more to her status as a wealthy woman she’d shine more than the stars. Luckily for him she didn’t seem to care for the formal attire any more than he, or looking around, any of his crew. Mia, like them, preferred the practical dress of a sailor.
“What’s the matter, Captain?” Lieutenant Commander Yates asked with a laugh. “Do you worry someone will steal her?”
The group around him laughed and Devin felt his face heat. Taking a sip from the frail crystal glass, he looked back at Mia as Lieutenant Coventon stepped up and ushered her away from the group. The relief on her face spoke volumes. “Not at all,” Devin said turning back to the group of men who, unlike him, were not ship officers but shore ones. They’d stepped foot on ships only for ceremonial things.
“I’d be worried, Captain,” Captain Parker said. “She is quite lovely, and she came well dressed out,” he finished. Again his eyes went to the large pearls woven throughout Mia’s tresses.
Devin took no offense. The older man was making an observation that everyone in this room was making. With the exception of his royal highness, Mia was maybe the richest person in the room. “Well dressed,” Devin remarked dryly. “Well dressed if you consider three ships as well as several other holdings.” He heard the group gasp. “My wife, however, is the business mind. I’m boggled by the prospect of shipping bills and such.”
“You plan to retire your commission then, Captain?” Another captain, this one Devin thought to be the son of a retired admiral. He was younger, full of himself and he’d had his eyes on Mia far more than Devin this night.
“It’s crossed my mind,” Devin said then turned as Coventon escorted Mia into the circle. A round of polite greetings and then Devin finished, “I’ve not decided yet.”
“Not decided what, Captain?” Mia asked smiling wickedly.
“To retire, Mrs. Winthrop,” Devin said handing her his glass and snagging a fresh one from the tray being held out for the group by a servant.
“Oh bother, Captain,” Mia said. “You can’t retire. You’d be ever so lost if you were not able to fire your cannon at pirates and such.”
Devin choked on the sip he took. And as his face heated, he glared at Mia who in no manner looked as innocent as her words sounded to everyone else.
“Yes, yes,” Chief Petty Officer Briant called. Like Mr. Quiggly, this man was another old sea dog. He earned his sails at the Battle of Trafalgar with Lord Nelson. He’d seen piracy when it ran rampant. “Do tell how you came upon those blackhearts. We’d been getting reports for months of their activities. Couldn’t figure out how they were so quick and capable.”
“I assure you it was chance,” Devin said and felt Mia’s hand settle on his arm. “We’d sailed past them or they behind us. Either way we had to come around to get to them.”
“It was an exciting night,” Coventon said and Devin saw him wink at Mia who actually colored a bit.
“Night?” the old man said, sounding startled. “You came upon them at night?”
“Aye,” Devin said realizing again how fortuitous the event was.
“However did you do that?” the younger captain asked, clearly not ready to be impressed.
But Devin did not care to impress him, nor to make boast on himself. He may have been the man who fired the cannons and forced the surrender but it was… “Mrs. Winthrop did it.” He heard her gasp as all eyes turned towards her.
“Mrs. Winthrop thought she’d heard something and came on deck,” Coventon rescued her when she couldn’t seem to find her voice. “It was very likely the explosion of the smaller craft the pirates used as bait.”
“But no one else heard it?” Again, the younger captain seemed to be trying to dismiss the accomplishment.
“I’m quite accustomed to listening beyond the sounds of the ship,” Mia said as she must have realized this man was waiting to insult her. “As I was trying to tell those young men there.” She pointed to the group she’d left, all of whom were watching her intently. “It’s well enough to know what your ship and crew sound like all the time, but you must learn to listen to everything around you. To look past what is just before you.”
“We’ve all learned that lesson,” Coventon said, tapping his leg with his cane.
“Oh aye,” Mia said sadly as she set a hand on the lieutenant. “If I’d listened better that day.”
“Mrs. Winthrop, as I’ve repeatedly said, I’m simply glad you were there listening at all.”
“Sharks,” Mr. Quiggly said when the faces in the group registered confusion. “The crew was in the water when they came in.”
“And Mrs. Winthrop heard them calling out?” the commander in the group asked.
“No. She heard the sharks coming in and was able to toss lines out before the group of swimmers and group of sharks collided,” Mr. Quiggly told them, and Devin saw the man puff out his chest. What man in his crew wasn’t proud and thankful Mia came aboard? Not one of them.
The group burst out laughing and the commander slapped Devin on the shoulder. But the group started to sober when they noticed all four from the Iron Rose weren’t laughing. “How does one hear sharks coming,” the young captain said, a bite in his tone.
“One listens,” Mia said. “Your name, Captain?”
“Kenrick Mallory, ma’am,” the man answered with a snap of his heels and a bow.
“Well, Captain Mallory, as it was, I was on deck and I heard a f
lock of seabirds squawk in panic and saw them fly off. It isn’t at all unusual to hear and see such. Silly birds, they upset easily. But they usually settle right back, yet these didn’t.” Mia took a sip of the wine then went on. “I thought it odd, so I went to the rail to see what might have caused their departure. At first, I saw nothing at all, but then I looked a little farther out and a large school of fish was coming in very fast and very erratic.”
“The fish startled the birds,” Yates deduced. “But what startled the fish?”
“Yes exactly. You’ve sailed, sir?”
“I’ve fished,” Yates said and everyone laughed.
“When I looked past the fish I saw the fins breaking the water. So you see Captain Mallory, when it comes to it I heard the sharks coming in. As it was, they were on one side of the ship the swimmers on the other so we had almost enough time.” Again, she set her hand on Coventon’s arm.
“I was out some distance. I made it back but not all the way out of the water when one of the devils cut up against me,” Coventon finished.
“And where did you learn this amazing ability to listen, Mrs. Winthrop?” Yates asked
“It comes rather naturally onboard ships, sir,” Mia said, “though I practice it everywhere. I’m not certain it can be taught. It must be experienced. Which is why I can’t see the benefit of taking men half grown already and schooling them in buildings then expecting them to serve a ship at sea. A man whose feet have been on deck since youth is better able to know the ship he sails and the sea upon which he sails it than any man trained on land.”
“Here, here,” the older men in the group cheered. Like Devin the idea of bringing aboard men who’d never sailed, especially in an officer’s position, didn’t appeal. Coventon worked out well, but he’d taken the place a good midshipman might have all the same. The younger in the group, though, were a different sort. They preferred the formal schooling or at least the notoriety of telling all they were academy graduates.
“You’ve spent a good deal of time on the sea, Mrs. Winthrop?” Briant asked.
“With the exception of the time I was away at school, yes, very nearly every day of my life.” Mia said as several other wives joined their circle. A moment was given to introductions, slightly less formal between the ladies.
“Mia,” Lady Mallory said as she took her brother’s arm. Devin felt her eyes roam over him and Mia saw it for her own eyes flashed bright. “Do tell. Your family—are they settled near?”
It was a polite enough question, and one expected from women. Especially women assessing someone they perceived as a threat or competition or even a means to better themselves through association.
“My family calls the sea home, but I’ve a house in port at Hermosa Alma,” Mia said and stepped closer to Devin.
“Where’s that dear,” Mrs. Parker asked as she hobbled up to her husband. The two aged people looked very content together and Devin was struck with the thought he and Mia would someday look like that.
“It’s on the southeast shore of Cartagena, along the Caribbean Sea.”
“Oh sounds lovely,” Lady Mallory cooed in a rather insincere manner. “You were born there then? In the islands?”
Right away Devin knew the woman was putting Mia down. Her blood line and birthright were tainted at best and ruined at worst, by British society standards.
“Cartagena isn’t an island, and no, I was born in the Mediterranean Sea aboard the Merry Lyn,” Mia said her hand lifting to touch the brooch at her shoulder.
“Oh my,” Mrs. Parker gasped. “Your poor mother, what hardship. She is a strong, brave woman to sail while with child.”
Mia smiled softly at the woman. “She was a committed artist. A sculptor. And when she got the chance to purchase a beautiful section of marble, she wouldn’t let it go. Papa sailed her to south Italy to collect it. I think I came too soon,” Mia laughed. “And during a storm, no less, so they couldn’t get back to port. But men of the sea are a capable lot. All fared fine. And we were right there so I was baptized in Rome no less.”
“Well how marvelous, such a grand tale,” the old woman twittered and flapped her fan.
“Not by the pope?” Devin asked never having heard this story.
“You should ask Papa, I don’t know. I only know the ship’s log said we stopped in Rome to have me baptized.” Mia laughed and smiled up at him.
“Your parents then? They’re English?” Lady Mallory pushed, and Devin felt Mia lean into him. She wasn’t completely comfortable with the subject and Devin was about to suggest they dance when Mia took a breath, squared her shoulders and answered.
“My mother was born in Cornwall, to missionaries. But Papa is a Scott and will tell you not water or soil will make him British,” Mia said and the group laughed. The old rivalry always made for good jesting. “My father though,” Mia said again, lifting her hand to the brooch, as the group went quiet, “other than that he is from England I know nothing of him. He, like my mother’s family, have never been part of my life and I have no real care to have it any other way.”
“You’re a bastard child?” Lady Mallory gasped and pulling back stepped behind her brother, like the status was a contagion.
“Madam,” Devin snapped. That was rude and insulting and as a lady the woman should have known such.
“Captain, it is fine, and it is the truth,” Mia said softly.
“Mrs. Winthrop,” Devin started, then noticed the rest of his crew stepped up out of nowhere to hold Mia’s back. If insults were going to fly, fists might too, and these men were going to defend their heart. “I’ll not stand here and allow slander.”
“It has to be false to be slander, Winthrop,” Captain Mallory said and this time when his eyes rolled over Mia, Devin saw exactly what he knew he’d shown when he first took Mia as his wife. That she was tainted, a woman of low breeding and morals. Corrupted because of the sins of her parents.
“Mia’s parents were wed before she was born,” Devin said. “Her mama and papa wed months before. There is no stigma, no disgrace in such. The disgrace belongs to the man who failed in his duty and responsibility to a woman he professed to love but only used. My wife’s papa was more honorable a man than he, and moreover, his love and devotion to Mia are unmatched. Woe that not every child is so cared for, blood or not.”
“Of course, child,” Mrs. Parker said stepping over to Mia and giving her a hug. “Any number of these well born whelps might do well to look back at their blood and see not all were conceived between the sheets of a marriage bed and I’m sure,” she said turning to glare at the Mallory siblings, “breeding doesn’t promise good manners.”
“Mrs. Winthrop?” Devin offered his arm, but Mia wasn’t someone to run. She took it only to be closer to him as she stared down the woman across from her.
“It’s well enough, Captain,” she said. “After all, I was raised by a good and wealthy man and am now his sole heir. What matter if my money isn’t old gold passed through blood, new gold spends just as well. And I have more than enough to ensure our children need only join the ranks of navy if it pleases them, not because they’ll need to shore up family connections.”
Devin was rather shocked at her words, but he didn’t miss how both Mallorys jerked back. She knew where to aim her cannon. And it was a direct hit if their expressions were telling it all.
“What a lovely brooch, Mia,” Mrs. Parker said clearly doing her duty as a navy wife to smooth the waters and change the subject.
“Thank you. It was my mother’s. Papa gave it to me as a wedding gift. He gave Devin those lovely cufflinks,” Mia said, turning Devin’s wrist to show the woman who gasped and took his hand. Mia’s eyes never once dropped from where they held Lady Mallory’s.
“Such fine craftsmanship,” the old woman said as everyone stepped closer to look. Everyone but the Mallorys.
A slight commotion at the far side of the room finally made Lady Mallory look away. “Look Kenny, Cousin Alice is here. Oh and so is P
hilip.”
“Wonder what brought them out?” Captain Mallory said, turning as if preparing to meet the pair being escorted in their direction by none other than Lord High Admiral His Royal Highness Prince William Henry.
Everyone became stiff in preparation of the proper formal greeting of a royal, but even before the men could bow, the woman pushed through the group, ignoring the attempted greeting of Lady Mallory, and embraced Mia.
“Oh,” Mia cried out, startled, as she looked to Devin and wrapped her arms around the woman she didn’t know from Eve. “There, now, are you all right? Do not cry, madam. This party is not so bad as that to cry,” Mia said, causing some nervous chuckles.
“This is her?” His Royal Highness asked, turning to Devin who bowed before straightening and answering.
“Her who, your majesty?” Devin made a quick survey of the room and exits. Perhaps her pirate father had been caught and—
“Your wife, Captain Winthrop? This is your wife?” Vice Admiral Saumarez asked, joining the group that was a moment ago all mostly equals. “We never did get those formal introductions,” the man said, slapping him on the shoulder.
“Yes, sir,” Devin said, stepping closer to Mia who was trying to comfort the woman weeping on her shoulder. “That is my wife.”
“Good showing, Captain, good showing,” His Highness said, stepping to take Devin’s hand and shake it.
“Oh my,” Mia said again as she tried to lift the woman back.
“Alice,” Phillip Lovelace said, stepping in to pull his sister back. “Our pardon, Mrs. Winthrop. My sister is still a bit wrought by today’s events and—”
“Oh, you’re the little boy’s mother?” Mia said and when the woman started crying more she stepped up and embraced her. “But he is well, is he not? I was told—”