“And the sea will not be bad,” I added. “We have often felt the road is level there.”
He nodded. “But Negril is better. There, the road slopes down, and the cart rolls forward of its own accord, and we need not haul it. We can play in the fields.”
I closed my eyes and prayed we would be able to come to such a place again. I did not tell the Gods I wished for it: I begged.
I felt him brush my tears away, and I opened my eyes to find him gazing down at me in the golden afternoon light, as if he were an angel come to grant my prayers.
“All will be well, Will,” he said kindly, as if he were indeed inspired by the Gods and filled with Their wisdom. “We are dangerous men. None can take us if we are prepared. We will kill them first.”
I grinned at the incongruity of his words with my thoughts. “I love you. You are my angel of the flaming sword – and hair.” I pulled at his red tufts that always glowed like fire in the evening light.
He smiled. “Do you feel the others will accept this course?”
There was a hopeful tone to his question, and I was minded of Sarah saying we had grinned like ghouls when Pete presented his plan. Did we relish war? Perhaps we did, because my matelot was correct: we were dangerous men, and we knew how to solve problems with blades and pieces. It was the rest that was confusing.
I thought of how the others had reacted. “Sarah is angry,” I noted. “I should not have spoken to her as I did.”
He shook his head, and his words were not so very childlike. “Non, you saved Striker the trouble of saying it, and Pete’s words also angered her. It is better she is angry with you.”
“Oui, I suppose so. Vivian was quite distraught.” I realized Gaston had left the table before I spoke with her. “But Rachel has offered for her to live with them.”
He sighed with evident relief. “That would be very good. That is one puppy I will not have to worry about, then.”
I smiled. “Oui, if my silly wife does begin to drink again, they can toss her on the street and still the child will be well cared for.” I sobered. “I think it will truly be better for Vivian, too. She cannot live in a house with Sarah and Christine. They will all fight like cats, and she would be back on the rum in no time.”
He sighed and sagged down to rest his head on my shoulder again.
“What?” I asked.
“I suppose Christine will live here,” he said.
“If you marry her,” I said, “and… Well, I suppose even if you do not. We could send her to France with your father, but not if she is to bear you children.” I snorted. “I keep thinking we should do that, anyway, and you can find her later and have children.”
“If I do not marry her we could send her to France?” he asked hopefully.
“Will you marry her?” I asked with true curiosity; and not merely as a prompt to know his thoughts.
“I do not know. I must decide. I know I must decide soon.” He sighed. “I would bed Agnes again. Soon.”
“Tonight?” I asked.
He rose so he could peer at my face again. “If you can bear it.”
I did not rush to reassure him: I considered my heart. “I stand at the center of a storm of howling winds. I feel they will close in on me at any time, but I am safe for now.”
He nodded sagely. “It is a fearful place. I always envision you there with me, anchoring me against the winds.”
I imagined we were two centaurs lying together upon the road again, in the center of a storm howling all about us. I smiled. “You have not been resting. We have been regarding the road ahead a great deal, but not resting. I will watch for a time.”
He looked to the open doorway beside us: the Child hovered at the edges of his face and nearly slipped away. “It is getting late, and I need…”
I put fingers to his lips and shook my head. “We will not sail tomorrow. We have no ship until the Queen returns. And even if she did arrive tomorrow, we would not sail until Sarah births. You need do nothing this night but rest. Unless your Horse has other desires you feel you must sate.”
He shook his head quickly and emphatically, a child’s gesture, and lay beside me again. “I only need do that to… show me what decision I must make.”
“Let it go for now,” I whispered, and rubbed his back.
My Horse was now very calm, and I wondered at that, until I realized a decision had been made: several of them, and they all sat well with the animal. I thought they might cause trouble with others, but I did not care. We would escape to a place where the road was level and we could battle that which opposed us, and for a time lighten the cart of several women in spirit if not in actuality.
When Sam came to tell us dinner was served, Gaston did as I bade, and chose to remain curled up with the puppies in a state of innocent bliss while I went to fetch our meal. I was not yet ready to face most of our housemates, either, and so I was relieved to see the dining room empty. Sam and Henrietta were dismayed, but I told them to keep the food warm and people would surely trickle in as they hungered.
As I filled a plate with corn biscuits and pork, Henrietta approached me with her hands wringing her apron.
“Might I have a word, my... Mister Williams?” she asked. She smiled wanly and continued at my nod. “Mistress Williams has moved off to the Theodores’.”
I was surprised. “Already? Well, I suppose that is good. We must visit in the morning.”
“She told me to tell you to get your arse out o’ bed and over there afore noon,” she said diffidently.
“This was Mistress Williams and not Mistress Theodore?” I asked with a chuckle.
“Aye, sir,” she said with a perplexed nod. “Would Mistress Theodore speak that way to ya’, sir?”
“On occasion.”
She seemed to have to think on that. “So, sir, I been wonderin’,” she said with her lip in her teeth. “Who do I work for now? Should I be goin’ ta the Theodores’ or stayin’ ’ere, or are me services needed at all?”
“Do you think you are needed here?” I asked.
“Aye, sir.” She nodded emphatically.
“Well, then, we must discuss the matter with my sister.”
“Do ya think she might be willin’ ta pay me the same salary?” she asked with an anxious grimace.
I vaguely recalled I had agreed to pay the woman a sum my sister deemed foolhardy. I smiled. “That will have to be discussed.”
“I thought as much,” Henrietta said with a resigned nod.
“My sister was raised and trained to manage a manor house; I was not,” I said by way of apology. “She has feelings about what is proper and…”
“Ya need not explain, sir,” Henrietta said. “It were just that with the money ya would ’ave been payin’ me, I were thinkin’ I could save it all and maybe marry an’ ’ave me own house someday.”
I sighed. “Henrietta, this is Jamaica; men outnumber women here. If you wish to marry and have your own household, you can find men who earn more money than I was willing to pay you, or own property, or both, who would be delighted to court you.”
“Truly, sir? And you would be well with that?”
I sat the plate down and took her by the shoulders. “Henrietta, I will never endeavor to stand in the way of any person’s happiness, and you are a free woman.”
“Well… I just never looked on it that way afore. I thought me bein’ as I am, I would need ta ’ave a bit o’ money ta offer a man.”
I shook my head. “My dear woman, some men prefer plump, and here, they are not choosy to begin with. And you have a pleasant demeanor and you can cook. Men will duel for you in the street. Announce that you are available and let them court you. Or tell Mister Theodore and have him tell you if he knows of any eligible and acceptable men.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.” I nodded emphatically.
She smiled and curtsied. “Thank ya, sir. Ya ’ave made me a happy woman this day. The future looks bright as dawn now.”
; “I am pleased to hear it.”
She hurried out, and I sighed. I thought my sister would likely shoot me for losing a perfectly good housekeeper.
As I tried to leave the dining room, Agnes arrived.
She glanced around before sidling up to me. “Are things well? Since… yesterday?”
“Aye, aye,” I quickly assured her. “And if you are willing, we wish to continue our adventures in that matter, but not tonight. It has been a very tiring and confusing day, and… we are too tired to… play.”
She nodded with seeming relief. “I was afraid you had experienced regret.”
“Nay. Have you?”
She shook her head. “I have been thinking on it a great deal, and I feel I wish to try the part I did not like so much again.” She frowned. “Would that mean I am wrong in thinking I favor women?”
“I…” I truly did not wish to engage in this discussion. “Nay. Perhaps. But… Well, you will likely have to experiment with the other as well, before you can decide that.”
She nodded agreeably. “Do you feel Mistress Garret might entertain women? She is old, but…”
“I do not know,” I said with some surprise at her even thinking of such a thing. “Do you have coin with which to make such an inquiry?”
She opened her purse and showed me what she had.
“That should be more than sufficient,” I assured her. “Haggle. Whores can be flexible in the matter of price. Tell her what you wish, allow her to name a price, and then counter if you find it beyond your ability or interest.”
“I will,” she said with enthusiasm and turned away.
“And damn it, girl, do not go over there at night.”
She appeared crestfallen.
“Truly,” I added. “It would not be safe in that section of town for a young lady. And she might have other clients and there could be confusion, which I am sure you wish to avoid.”
“Aye, there would be trouble if I had to shoot someone,” she sighed. “I will go in the morning.”
“And eat something,” I admonished.
She acquiesced glumly and went to the table.
I hurriedly retreated to the stable, pondering whether the puppies were the only truly innocent beings in the whole damn house.
I mentioned nothing of my encounters to Gaston. He had built a nest in the straw and was now burrowing in it. He greeted me with a warm and happy smile, and was quite content to lay his head upon my lap and allow me to feed him. He was very much as he had been when we sailed to Cow Island with a chain between us to keep him from wandering off. I was not worried, though: I had faith that, if the need arose, he would be on his feet beside me and not frolicking in the meadows leaving me to hold the cart. This was what he had meant by needing rest, and I was glad I could provide him this solace.
The only thing that concerned me was that he felt he needed it so badly. It made me acutely aware of how very strained our lives had been these last weeks. But in viewing it from that perspective, I realized we were doing miraculously well: better than I ever would have dreamed possible the day we read his father’s letter, just over a fortnight ago. And we had not known then even half of what would face us.
“I am very proud of you,” I whispered, when at last we cuddled in our hammock.
He took a deep breath and I felt the Child slip away as he spoke. “So am I. It is all due to you.”
“Then I am very proud of me,” I teased.
“You are loved,” he whispered, and kissed me lightly. “Thank you.”
I pulled him closer and drifted to sleep, safe in his arms from the world.
His Horse apparently rose with the dawn – in all His glory – as I was brought to rising by warm lips and a hard cock. As we were piss hard, we did not make short work of it; and as he was quite feral, it was not a languorous affair. I felt I had run five leagues when he at last found his pleasure and brought me to mine.
When I made mention of this as he hopped out of the hammock, he frowned thoughtfully and said, “We have not been attending to our morning regimen.”
“Oui,” I sighed, as I recalled my thoughts of last night. We were doing well, but we truly needed to do more to mitigate our reaction to the turmoil we faced. His Horse was much calmer when he exercised to the point of exhaustion every day – trysting aside.
He pulled me to the edge of the hammock, and held the pot for me so that I could piss without moving further. Then he jumped atop me again to cover me with kisses like a happy dog. I laughed for the joy of it. He was surely in a fine mood, and I hushed the little voice in my head that said it was because he was still teetering on the edge of madness. Of course he was. So was I, and I needed to frolic for a time as much as he.
“We should go to the Palisadoes and spar,” he said gleefully.
I grinned. “Oui, I will enjoy that very much, but we have also been instructed to go and visit Vivian before noon.”
“Does one preclude the other?” he asked as he left the hammock again.
“Non, but one should perhaps be done before the other, as I do not wish to feel I must hurry to return from our frolicking in the waves.”
“Just so,” he said with a thoughtful nod. “Will they be awake now?”
“Do babies sleep?” I asked, as I assessed the morning light blazing through the doorway to illuminate Bella and her pups. Due to our trysting, we were now well past the cock’s crow; and I could smell bacon.
We dressed in our usual attire and strapped on our in-town weapons, before snatching handfuls of bacon and a bottle of water and hurrying to the Theodores’.
Hannah met us at the back door with some amusement. “You gentlemen are early this morning.”
The baby and her caretakers were indeed awake. We entered to find Vivian feeding one child and Rachel the other, both with small blankets draped decorously over their shoulders so we did not see their exposed breasts. My wife was smirking, apparently at something Rachel had said, and they eyed us with as much amusement as Hannah had.
“Some buccaneers do rise with the sun,” I chided with good humor as we took seats at the small back room table.
Rachel snorted and gave me a mischievous smile. “Buccaneers or not, you’re men, and it’s been my experience that men who rise with the dawn do not leave a warm bed.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Lady, it has been my experience that when a man does rise with the dawn… in a warm bed… that warmth and exposure to Heaven’s beneficent light can put him in such a mood that he walks lightly and smiles the whole day through.”
She smirked. “Usually they roll over and go back to sleep.”
“Not this one,” I said, and pointed a piece of bacon at Gaston. He flushed and smacked me upon my thigh beneath the table, such that I knew it would bruise.
Rachel and Hannah laughed, but Vivian’s mouth was slightly ajar with surprise, and her face was as crimson as my matelot’s.
I grinned at her. “And how are we this fine morning?”
She looked away quickly and closed her mouth into a bemused smile. “Well enough… without all that.”
I recalled our conversation of the day before regarding her loneliness, and I sighed with guilt. “I am sorry.”
“Nay, nay,” she said quickly and quietly. “It is good to see people happy.” She gave a thoughtful nod.
“I want you to know how pleased we are that you decided to accept the Theodores’ gracious offer,” I said with a nod to Rachel, who nodded soberly in return.
Vivian smiled at Rachel. “I think we will be happy here until you return. I will learn to cook and sew,” she told me with surprising enthusiasm.
“Aye,” Rachel said. “Idle hands lead to idle thoughts, and idle thoughts lead to drink. We will make an honest woman of her.”
I frowned askance at her, amazed at how very Protestant she sounded. I supposed it was her Jewish upbringing: they ever seemed to be pious and industrious people.
“Though I think in this case that is very true,
” I told Vivian, “I have known many wealthy women who did not drink, though they had people about to do all that they required.”
Vivian frowned in thought, and then smiled at me with wisdom far beyond her years. “I am not to be one of those women.”
“Nay, you are not,” I said kindly. “The Fates have conspired against you at every turn.”
She shrugged. “I was not happy before. So now I will try something new.”
“I am so very proud of you,” I said.
Vivian nodded, and then for a moment fear haunted her eyes, and they flicked to Rachel, who was busy with Elizabeth.
“It will not be easy, but I shall try,” she whispered.
I leaned close and whispered. “Good girl. People who care for us and want what is best for us are not always easy, but there are times when we need the guidance that others can provide when we have lost our way.”
“I know,” she whispered sincerely. “And I am grateful for it. I just do not wish to repay her kindness with disappointment.”
I felt compelled to remind her she was a lord’s daughter; and I wondered at it and kept the words safely behind my teeth. Instead, I said, “All will be as it needs to be, have faith in that and in the leanings of your heart. Trust yourself.” I grinned. “You burned your house for a reason.”
She gave a cute and rueful grimace. “So I did.”
“You see, even in your darkest hour… the G… Someone… was watching over you.”
She nodded soberly, and frowned with a question that she opened her mouth to voice; but Jamaica did something which gained her mother’s attention, and when Vivian finished adjusting the babe and spoke, I did not think it was the words she had been about to say.
“I hope Someone is watching over this one,” she said quietly.
I felt Gaston’s hand upon my thigh and knew he had been listening. I ran a finger down Jamaica’s little arm, which protruded from beneath the blanket. “This one will be well cared for. All her parents were surely raised by wolves, but she shall be raised by centaurs and a…” I glanced at my matelot with a raised eyebrow.
He gave a thoughtful frown as he regarded Vivian. “What do you English call the little animals that burrow under hedges?” he asked in French. “The ones that roll into balls and have spines on their backs?”
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