Sail With Me (A Discovery Series Book)

by Christy Major

  “The Denham boys.” I took a couple of steps closer.

  “Yes, miss.” Riley raised one eyebrow as he studied me. “What can we do…” His voice fell away as his gaze shifted to Daniel then back to me.

  I put my hands on my hips, letting them look at me. Eric got to his feet as did Riley.

  “Charlotte?” Riley whispered.

  “It can’t…” Eric started but couldn’t finish.

  “You… how can… you’re here!” Riley stammered, an overjoyed smile growing by the mile on his lips as he rushed to me. I found myself twirling in the air with him as he caught me under my arms and spun us both. I couldn’t help laughing as we slowed down and he squeezed me close.

  “I want a turn at that,” Eric said. He wasn’t as sloppy about it as Riley was, but he squeezed a bit harder, a bit longer.

  “Charlotte,” Riley said. “We’ve been looking for you for months!”

  “What?” Had I heard him correctly?

  “We’re here in Florida because Benjamin finally told us you were with Captain Finley. I figured you would end up here because of my letter,” Riley said. “Father went a little nuts.”

  “A little?” Eric said. “He went crazy, Riley.”

  “All right,” Riley consented. “I reckon he lost his mind for a while.”

  “But I saw the Emily sail out of Southampton,” I said. “I watched as you left port.”

  “We went to Portsmouth for supplies then came back to Southampton. Father asked every sailor between the two cities if they knew where you had gone. He sent us to ask Benjamin again.”

  “Though we initially wanted to kill Benjamin,” Eric started, making me cringe at the thought of them hurting my friend, “we understood why he hadn’t told us while Captain Finley was still in Southampton.”

  “You would have stopped me from going,” I said.

  Eric and Riley both nodded, looking so much like identical twins.

  “We found out Finley was headed to the Americas, and Father set a course for Florida after I told him about the letter I sent you.” Riley pointed to the shell still hanging around my neck and winked. “We ran into some bad weather, got thrown off course, damaged the Emily, and had to stop for repairs. The sea had a mind of her own.”

  “As if she didn’t want us to get here before you did,” Eric added.

  “We’ve been here about two weeks, hoping we’d find you.” Riley gave my arm a light squeeze.

  “Looks as if you found us instead,” Eric said.

  “What have you been doing all this time?” Riley asked.

  Where to begin?

  ****

  “Married?” Eric said, looking between Daniel and me. Though both he and Riley had paled at the notion of me fighting Spaniards, Eric hadn’t said much as I recounted my adventure up until I ended with my plans to marry Daniel.

  “If that’s all right with you.” Daniel’s jaw clenched for a moment before Riley thrust out his left hand toward him.

  “Of course, it’s all right with us,” he said. “If you’ve put that smile on Charlotte’s face and helped keep her alive all this time, then you’ve earned our blessing.” Riley was always so easy to win over.

  “What is it that you do, Connor?” Eric’s gaze shifted to Daniel’s right side, and I was reminded of how, even though he didn’t want to sail, Eric still shared more in common with Father than his looks.

  “Well,” Daniel began. “Most recently, I held a position in my uncle’s crew aboard the Rose. Then I fought with the Sunal army where I did my best to not get us killed. I captained a ship that I built. I carried the Sunal to safety as Spaniards burned their great city to the ground.

  “Next, I’m looking to fill the post of husband to your sister. A post I will take more seriously than anything else I’ve done thus far, and one I’m hoping to hold for the rest of my life.” He lifted my hand to his lips and dropped a kiss on the back of it.

  “Finally, once Charlotte and I pick out a spot, I’m going to build her a house. Anything she wants. By the water. I could get other work in building or sailing afterwards.”

  “Or cooking,” I added which made Daniel smile.

  Eric’s stern face softened as he listened, and I noticed the upward tug at the corner of his mouth.

  “Excellent answer, Daniel.” The instant Eric had used Daniel’s first name I knew my husband-to-be had passed his test. Eric extended his hand as Riley had done, and Daniel accepted it. “Welcome.”

  “Thank you,” Daniel said.

  “God, you look so much like Mother.” Riley pulled on the end of my hair. “Doesn’t she, Eric?”

  “Exactly like her.”

  They both stared at me in silence for long moments. I twisted my boots around in the sand.

  “Where is he?” I talked to my feet instead of looking at my brothers.

  Another expanse of quiet hung between the four of us before Riley spoke.

  “Father won’t be back until morning. He’s boarding on the Emily. Prefers her to sleeping on the beach.”

  “He doesn’t want to keep his feet on land for too long,” Eric cut in. “Might realize he’s given up a great deal to be a successful merchant.”

  Riley gripped my hand. “Come back to our camp with us. The crew will be happy to see you. Besides, we’ve got so much to make up for, Charlotte. We left you.”

  “You went out to make lives for yourselves,” I said.

  “We could have made lives anywhere,” Eric said. “Cripes, I don’t even want to sail! You know that.”

  “It wasn’t fair to you,” Riley added, squeezing my hand. “You were still young. We should have been around more.”

  “Neither of you have any reason to feel responsible for me.” I straightened up and drew in a deep breath. “It’s Father who should have made the decision to stay behind. It’s Father who ignored me, couldn’t stand to look at me.” My voice had risen, and though I was aware of it, I also didn’t care.

  “If I hadn’t disguised myself as a boy and earned passage on a ship bound for the Americas, I don’t know what would have become of me back home in England,” I said. “I don’t regret any of what came before if it all was to lead me to this moment.”

  Daniel’s smile made me sure of my words. Sure of myself.

  “You’ll come back to our camp then?” Riley said. “And listen to a few tales Eric and I have to tell?”

  I couldn’t say no to him. Knowing I wouldn’t have to face my father yet put me at ease, and Daniel was more relaxed as well.

  “All right,” I said. “But we do need to make sure we get back to our own camp before too long. We have people there that would worry about us.”

  Riley proceeded to drag me along behind him. “We would like to meet them.”

  Eric and Daniel followed, and I was reminded of when I was a little girl before my mother had passed. Riley used to traipse me around everywhere. That light-heartedness was in my step for the moment.

  How long would it last?

  ****

  “Your brothers are good men,” Daniel said as we walked in ankle-deep water along the shore. We were headed back to our camp after catching up with Eric and Riley. We had swapped stories, laughed, shared dinner, and made plans for my brothers to show us around the area when morning came. We had to find a spot for the new Ezenoch and maybe for our new home if we decided to stay in Florida.

  “I feel good,” I said, giving Daniel’s hand a shake.

  He released my hand and slid his arm around my waist. He pulled me closer and kissed the tip of my nose.

  “You do feel pretty good.” He nuzzled his face into my hair. “You smell good, and look good, and…” He nibbled on my ear, then my neck. “You taste good.”

  I giggled and squeezed Daniel closer. As I held him and he blazed a line of kisses down across my shoulder, I caught sight of the Emily rotating around her anchor line right next to the Charlotte and the Swell. Clamping my eyes shut, I focused on the sensations Daniel cau
sed to dance around my skin. Something akin to a purr slid from my throat.

  “You sound good, too.” Gripping my hand again, Daniel led me out of the water toward our camp. “We’d better get some sleep. Morning will be here before we know it, and there is still so much to be done.”

  He jogged up the sandy hill. I looked once more toward the water—toward the Emily—then sprinted after Daniel. Morning would come. Nothing I could do to stop it. When the sun rose, my father would be on land, and I would have to face him.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  “The baby’s coming! It’s time!”

  A voice pierced into my subconscious as I dragged my body from its deep slumber. My eyes opened in time to see Yaretzi burst into our shelter.

  “It’s time,” she shouted again. “Come!” Her hand clamped down on mine, and she yanked me from the blanket I had slept on. Ghost let out a yowl as I stepped on his tail.

  “Sorry, Ghost. Yaretzi, wait a min—,” I started, but she had pulled me all the way outside. The awakening dawn cast streaks of pink sunlight across the white sand. I blinked against the glare rippling on the surface of the water. Yaretzi led me over to Xochitl and Acalon’s shelter as I shielded my eyes with one hand.

  “Where’s Daniel?” I managed before Yaretzi could stuff me into Xochitl’s shelter. Xochitl’s labored breathing reached my ears and suddenly I was very awake.

  “Daniel and Tizoc went fishing so we could all eat this morning, the first day of our new lives. The rest of the men have gone back to the Charlotte for additional supplies.” Yaretzi bustled with contagious energy. “Now, come on!”

  She pushed me into the shelter and slid in behind me. Inside, Xochitl was propped up on some of her family’s sacks with a blanket sprawled out beneath her. Sweat dotted her dark brow as her mother and sisters hovered around her. Citlali dabbed a wet cloth to her daughter’s forehead while Teiuc was stationed at Xochitl’s bent legs. Eréndira was up by Xochitl’s head, chanting something in their native language.

  “What’s she saying?” I asked Yaretzi who kneeled beside Xochitl and indicated I do the same.

  “My sister calls upon the gods to protect Xochitl and her child from the Hueato—the spirits of all those that have died in childbirth.”

  Xochitl let out a cry, her entire body convulsing. I wasn’t ready to actually see a child being born. Swallowing loudly, I shifted away from Xochitl. Yaretzi put her hand on my thigh to stop me. “We need you, Cihuapilli. You are our sister and—”

  Another howl from Xochitl cut off her words. Xochitl’s body tensed, and lines of pain creased her beautiful face.

  “Easy now.” Teiuc unfolded a blanket, getting ready to wrap the baby in it. “Try to stay relaxed.”

  Xochitl let out a ragged scoff as she used her fists to ball up parts of the blanket beneath her. Eréndira brushed Xochitl’s hair from her forehead and moved to cradle her sister’s head in her lap. Yaretzi took Xochitl’s hand while Citlali mopped her daughter’s face and uttered small encouragements in their native language.

  Though I felt part of this family, I was also out of place. The shelter was cramped with too many women. I was in the way. As I was making up my mind to leave, Teiuc sucked in a sharp breath.

  “What is it?” Citlali said.

  “Xochitl is ready to give birth, but the baby… the baby’s feet are coming first!” Teiuc replied.

  “It will have to be turned,” Citlali said. She shifted from her position and joined Teiuc at Xochitl’s legs. Rolling up her sleeves, Citlali maneuvered so she could attempt to reposition the baby inside Xochitl.

  “Something else is not right,” Citlali said after a moment. Her face was now pale and full of worry.

  Xochitl released a wail that had us all cringing, and she pressed her knees together, hands to her mounded stomach.

  “It hurts…” she rasped.

  Eréndira rubbed Xochitl’s shoulders, trying to keep her sister calm, but the look on her face matched the one on Citlali’s.

  “I can’t turn the baby!” Citlali finally cried. “It’s tangled!”

  Eréndira chanted louder now as she stroked Xochitl’s hair and rocked back and forth. Another shriek from Xochitl echoed in the small shelter.

  “We have to do something!” Yaretzi shouted. “We’ve lost so many already. We can lose no more.”

  “You won’t lose them,” a man’s voice said from the door of the shelter. “Clear out and let me handle it. I’ve delivered a child in this condition before and lost no one.”

  Citlali and her daughters did not move a muscle. They simply stared at the tall Englishman, with black-gray hair and beard. His piercing green eyes narrowed at them.

  “If you want her to die, I will go.” He turned to leave the shelter.

  “No! Wait!” I stood from my spot next to Yaretzi where the man hadn’t been able to see me. When he leveled his eyes on me, they widened. The man’s skin paled as if he had seen a ghost.

  I stepped toward him. “You have to save her and the baby,” I pleaded. “You must, Father.”

  I touched his arm, and he stumbled back, shocked that I was not an apparition. Xochitl cried out in agony again, and my father’s hand went to his belt where he extracted his dagger.

  “You all should leave,” he said.

  I helped Citali to her feet. I led her out of the shelter, and Xochitl’s sisters followed, each with a look of great alarm on their faces. While we waited in the sand outside the tent, Xochtitl’s screams grew louder and more frequent. We had difficulty listening to it, and I had to stop Citlali from going back into the shelter at least three times.

  “We have to trust he knows what he’s doing,” I said more for my sake than for the women around me.

  ****

  When my father emerged from Xochitl’s shelter, blood all over his white tunic and hands, I almost didn’t notice the small bundle he hugged to his chest.

  “A girl,” he said evenly. “It’s a girl.”

  Citlali let out a cry as she rushed forward and accepted the baby from my father’s arms.

  “Oh, she’s beautiful. Absolutely beautiful!” she sang.

  Teiuc, Yaretzi, and Eréndira gathered around their mother, each of them taking turns cooing and babbling to the baby.

  Though I wanted to have a look myself, my feet refused to move any closer to my father. His feet appeared to have the same affliction for he stayed exactly where he was, his eyes looking down into the sand.

  Citlali passed the baby to Teiuc. “My daughter?” she asked my father.

  “She lives as well.”

  The sisters headed into the shelter to check on Xochitl. Citlali took a couple of steps toward my father and rested her hand on his forearm. He turned his gaze to her and managed a smile.

  “Thank you, Captain Denham,” Citlali said, shooting a quick glance toward me. “I would have surely lost my daughter and grandchild without your involvement. Children are our most precious gifts, don’t you agree?”

  My father nodded as Citlali went into the shelter. Now the two of us stood alone, the wide palm leaves rustling in the breeze, the ocean lapping at the sandy shoreline. After what felt like an agonizing eternity, my father drew in a deep breath and looked at me.

  “Either the hot sun is playing tricks with my eyes,” he began, “or my daughter, who I have been looking for since September, is standing before me.”

  Cripes. His voice didn’t sound particularly friendly, as if he were doing his best to contain a more powerful, less pleasant emotion.

  “Charlotte.” In two wide steps, he was directly in front of me. “You disobeyed me.” His voice was firm, but a faint quaver of hurt was woven between his words.

  “I did,” I said, my own voice surprisingly confident.

  My father walked toward the water, and I followed beside him. When we reached the sea, he crouched down and washed the blood off his hands. The crimson stains were carried away with the current like the memories of a battle from long ago. As
the water ran clear around his fingers and palms, I was reminded of waiting for him with my mother on the Southampton docks when I was a little girl. Everything had seemed so simple then.

  Splashing some water on his face and raking his thick hair back, my father stood and turned toward me. “I should have known you would succeed in your dream to come to the Americas.”

  “I had to come,” I said.

  “Yes.” My father squinted over the water. “I somehow thought I could stop you, you know, me being your father and all.”

  “Are you angry with me?”

  “For going against me, yes.”

  “But I—”

  My father held up a hand to silence me. “Your mother died and I unloaded you like cargo to Lady Elizabeth. No wonder you wanted out of Southampton. I understand that.”

  When I didn’t say anything, my father turned to face me.

  “Perhaps it was wrong for me to decide your fate, Charlotte, but I wanted better for you. The life of a sailor is a hard and lonely one.”

  “My experience sailing with Captain Finley was hard work, but far from lonely. I was much lonelier waiting for you to return to Southampton. If I didn’t have Lady Elizabeth or Benjamin, I’d have gone crazy.”

  “Mmm… Benjamin.” My father’s eyebrows creased as his lips turned down.

  “You blame him?”

  “Yes,” my father said. “I thought that boy had more sense than to let you—”

  “Benjamin was not in charge of me,” I shot back.

  “I told him he was.”

  “You what?”

  “Charlotte, I didn’t leave you in Southampton uncared for. I placed you in Lady Elizabeth’s care and made arrangements with Benjamin and his father.”

  “What arrangements? What are you talking about?” Was this why Benjamin had been suddenly interested in being more than friends before I left?

  “I wanted to make sure you learned what you needed to know—things your mother would have taught you—so you could be a good wife.”