A Ring for the Pregnant Debutante

by Laura Martin

  ‘I may need to bind us to the bed,’ he shouted over the creaking ship.

  Panic blossomed in Rosa’s eyes.

  ‘No,’ she said vehemently. ‘I can’t be trapped.’

  ‘We can’t have you thrown across the room again.’ As he spoke the ship listed and gave an ear-splitting groan, as if the wood was protesting against the buffeting it was receiving.

  Just as Thomas reached down to grab the bed sheet the door to the cabin was thrown open and a worried-looking sailor burst in.

  ‘We’re taking on water,’ he shouted. ‘Captain orders everyone up on deck.’

  Thomas felt an icy chill travel down his back. There was only one reason the captain would order the passengers to the deck in a storm—the ship must have been seriously damaged.

  Grasping Rosa firmly, he pulled her upright, steadying her as she stumbled before finding her balance. The whole cabin was definitely listing to the left now, even when the ship rocked from the impact of the battering waves.

  Quickly he led her into the corridor, knowing their best chance was to get to the deck of the ship ahead of the other passengers so he could assess the situation before general panic endangered them all.

  He had to haul Rosa up the narrow stairway and felt her slip almost immediately as they got to the deck.

  ‘I can’t swim, Thomas,’ Rosa shouted, her eyes wide as they slid on the treacherous wood. Rain buffeted them from every direction and the wind was so strong it was a struggle to stand upright.

  ‘Everything will be fine,’ Thomas bellowed, keeping his voice as calm as possible, all the while cursing parents who didn’t throw their children in a lake or pond and teach them the very basics of swimming.

  They struggled over to the captain who was shouting orders to the crew.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Thomas asked.

  The captain’s face was pinched and worried, his normally cheerful manner replaced with an overwhelming despair. He glanced at Rosa and lowered his voice.

  ‘We’re going down. It’s only a matter of time. We’re launching the longboats now.’

  Thomas felt time slow as he digested the captain’s words. Normally he would be asking what he could do to help, but right now he had one single priority: ensuring Rosa and her child reached land safely and unharmed.

  ‘Captain,’ a sailor shouted, his face a picture of alarm.

  They all turned to see what he was pointing at. Approaching fast was a huge wall of blackness. A wave bigger than anything Thomas had ever seen. One glance at the captain’s face said it all. There was no way the ship was going to survive an impact that big. As the crew noticed the growing wave one by one they fell still. A couple dropped to their knees, clasping their hands together, others stood and gawped at the monstrosity speeding towards them.

  ‘Rosa, listen to me,’ Thomas shouted, grabbing her by the arms. ‘Hold your breath as we go in, kick for the surface and find something to grab hold of. I promise you I will come for you.’

  The pure fear flashed across her face and Thomas wondered if she might freeze in the face of such a danger, but then the courage he knew was inside her broke through and she nodded.

  ‘I promise I will come for you,’ he repeated.

  The wave was seconds away from them now, all other sound had been drowned out by the roaring of the wall of water. Thomas pulled Rosa to the rail of the ship, gripped her hand so tightly he wondered if he might crush her fingers and pulled her over.

  They fell into the darkness. The impact of the water stung even through his clothes and immediately Thomas felt Rosa’s hand wrenched out of his grip. For long seconds his body was tossed about in the water, limbs flailing this way and that. As he was buffeted Thomas felt the force of debris sailing through the water around him and knew the ship had been hit.

  After what seemed like an eternity he allowed himself to kick, trusting his body’s intuition to angle him towards the surface. He broke through, desperately gasping a breath of air, before immediately being thrust under by another wave. When he broke the surface again his eyes began searching for Rosa.

  Behind him the ship was at an unnatural angle, half-submerged beneath the water and sinking fast. Broken slats of wood dotted the surface of the sea and to his left a ripped and battered sail flapped impotently. None of that concerned Thomas, he just needed to find Rosa.

  Panic started to build and he had to force himself to suppress it. Panic was no use to him. He prized his clear head in a crisis and now was not the time to lose it.

  Twice more he was dunked under the water by huge waves, coming up spluttering each time and trying to avoid thinking of Rosa’s petrified expression as she’d told him she couldn’t swim.

  He couldn’t lose her. He just couldn’t.

  Kicking hard, he propelled himself through the water, covering only tiny distances before being thrust this way and that by the sea. Just as the panic was about to seize him Thomas spun in the water. He’d heard something, a faint shout.

  There, bobbing a few feet away, was Rosa.

  She looked exhausted as he kicked his way over to her. She was half out of the water, clinging on desperately to a bobbing piece of debris.

  As he reached her he gripped on to the wood and kissed her, tasting the salt on her lips and feeling an overwhelming relief that she was alive.

  ‘My baby!’ she shouted over the roaring of the wind.

  Thomas nodded. He needed to get her out of the water and to safety.

  ‘Can you stay afloat?’ he asked.

  Rosa looked as though she wanted to cling on to him and never let go, but bravely she nodded. Thomas knew she would do anything to save her child.

  As he’d been searching for her he’d noticed one of the longboats bobbing on the waves. It was upside down, but looked more or less intact. If he could get to it and clamber in, he could pull Rosa to safety.

  A fork of lightning lit up the sky, followed closely by a loud rumble of thunder. The storm was directly overhead now and for just a moment the wind seemed to drop a little. Thomas used the slight lull to thrash his way towards the longboat, wincing as another flash of lightning illuminated the crashing waves.

  He risked a glance behind him, reassured himself that Rosa was still afloat, and pressed on. It seemed to take an eternity to reach the longboat. By the time he was clinging on the side he had to pause to suck in great gasps of breath and to allow his muscles to recover.

  Quickly he ducked under the water, swimming just half a stroke and popping up underneath the upturned longboat. Without anything to brace against Thomas knew it was going to be near impossible to flip the boat over, but he had to try. He would not let Rosa drown, would not let her unborn child perish, he would use every reserve of strength to save them.

  With his hands pressed against the wood, he waited as the sea swelled around him. Just as a big wave lifted him and the longboat up he pushed with all his strength. There was movement, but not enough. Again he waited, felt the swell of a wave and pushed again. This time he thought he’d done it, thought the boat was going to teeter over, but suddenly it crashed back down on him.

  Gritting his teeth, Thomas braced himself again, waiting as some smaller waves buffeted him. As the sea started to draw away, a sure sign a large wave was coming, Thomas tensed and then pushed with every ounce of strength in his body. He roared as the boat lifted, caught the wave and flipped over, crashing into the water and sending a salty spray into his face.

  Quickly he glanced towards Rosa. She was still clinging on to the wood, but by now she must be tiring, nearing the point where her strength would leave her.

  Ignoring his own protesting muscles, Thomas gripped the side of the boat and hauled himself up, shouting in triumph as he saw the two oars still clipped in place. He gripped the two long poles, put them into position and began
to heave the longboat over towards Rosa.

  With the waves still crashing around them Thomas was certain the boat would capsize at any moment, but eventually he made it back to Rosa still afloat.

  ‘Give me your hand,’ he shouted.

  She looked at him warily. ‘You’ll never be able to lift me.’

  True Rosa was not as light as she once had been and Thomas’s arms were tired from all the exertion, but he knew nothing would let him fail Rosa now.

  ‘Do you trust me?’ he asked.

  He waited, realising he was holding his breath.

  ‘Then give me your hand.’

  Slowly, the fear etched on her face, Rosa let go of the wooden boards with one hand and reached for Thomas. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled, knowing he would bruise her delicate skin, but aware it was the price he had to pay to get her out of the water.

  Panting, they collapsed tangled together in the bottom of the boat. Immediately Rosa flung her arms around Thomas’s neck and he pulled her to him, squeezing her and feeling his heart pounding in his chest.

  ‘You’re safe now,’ he said, knowing it wasn’t quite true, but saying it all the same. ‘I’ve got you. You’re safe.’

  Chapter Eighteen

  Rosa shivered and huddled in closer to Thomas. She could feel the chill from the water right down to her bones and her sodden dress clung to her body, emphasising the cold, but she was alive. The moments after they had jumped from the boat, hand in hand, Rosa had felt a blind panic take over her. There was no feeling like being plunged into the murky, roiling depths of the freezing sea when you couldn’t swim more than a stroke or two. She’d been separated from Thomas immediately, but had followed his instructions, kicking for the surface, and luckily had broken through right next to the broken boards. There she had hung, clinging on with raw fingers, until Thomas had come for her, just as he promised he would.

  ‘We need to get to the shore,’ Thomas said, raising his voice over the wind and crashing of the waves.

  Rosa wasn’t sure if the storm was moving on, or if they were just a little more sheltered, huddled in the longboat, but it felt as though the worst was passing over.

  ‘Where is the shore?’ she asked.

  They both looked around them, searching the darkness for some clue to the direction of land. Rosa knew they had been mere hours away from the port when the storm had struck, but who knew how far they’d been blown off course in that time.

  ‘This way,’ Thomas said decisively. ‘Keep alert for any signs of life—we may chance upon one of the sailors or other passengers.’

  Rosa looked out to sea, her head twisting this way and that, looking for the slightest movement. She desperately wanted to catch sight of a bobbing head or a waving hand, anything that might tell them they weren’t the only ones to survive this terrible storm, but the swell of the waves made it so difficult to see more than a few feet on either side of their small boat.

  ‘We have to get you to dry land. Stay low in the boat, try not to move too much,’ Thomas said as he picked up the oars again and started to propel them through the water. Rosa was suddenly very thankful for all the hours Thomas had spent building his physical strength. Although he was wet and dishevelled, he still seemed to have a reserve of energy.

  They moved through the water, slowly at first, the small boat rocking violently from side to side as it was battered by the elements. Little by little the storm started to settle, the wind dropped, the sea calmed and the rain that had been pelting down became a fine drizzle until that, too, was gone.

  Rosa kept still as the minutes ticked by, all the time letting her eyes roam across the surface of the water, ready to direct Thomas if she saw any signs of life. As they drew further away from the site of the shipwreck Rosa knew it was less likely that they would come across anyone, but still she looked, sometimes twisting to check behind her in the hope that she might detect some movement.

  ‘Thomas, look,’ she shouted after a few minutes.

  She pointed in front of them to their left. It wasn’t another survivor she had seen, but in the distance was a small, flickering light. Most likely from a lantern or a candle left in a window, but whatever it was it meant only one thing: they were heading the right way.

  Rosa allowed herself to feel the first tentative stirrings of hope. Maybe they would get out of this, maybe they would survive. One day she might be sitting by the fire telling her child the story of how they had been shipwrecked off the coast of England.

  ‘I see it,’ Thomas said, and Rosa detected a new-found enthusiasm in his voice. He pulled at the oars just a little harder, propelled them through the water just a little faster.

  It seemed to take for ever to get closer to the light, but as it began to burn brighter Rosa almost shouted in relief as another light joined it and then another. Closer to them she thought they were probably lanterns and where there were lanterns there had to be people.

  ‘Hello, there!’ a voice shouted from the shore.

  ‘Hello!’ Thomas bellowed back.

  Three more pulls of the oars and the boat crunched into the stones of the beach and immediately two men waded into the water and grabbed hold of the side of the longboat to pull it further in. Thomas jumped to his feet, hopped out of the boat and without missing a step swept Rosa into his arms. He sloshed through the water, holding Rosa tight to his chest, and strode up on to the beach. Even when they were on dry land he didn’t put her down and Rosa was glad. She rather thought her legs might give way if she tried to stand.

  ‘Lord Hunter?’ a man asked, his voice tinged with disbelief.

  Thomas turned and looked at one of the men who had pulled the boat up on to the beach.

  ‘Todd Williams, what a sight for sore eyes you are.’

  The other men standing round gawped at Thomas as they all recognised who he was. Rosa wondered if this was a surreal dream, some sort of hallucination. Surely Thomas didn’t know everyone in England.

  ‘Our ship sank,’ Thomas said. ‘It was hit by the storm. I would be most obliged if you could gather a rescue party and row out to the wreckage and search for survivors.’

  The men on the beach nodded as if they had just been given a direct order.

  ‘Yes, my lord,’ Todd Williams said. ‘We saw the storm hit, saw the ship listing, but couldn’t risk launching our boats until the winds died down.’

  ‘I also must ask for your assistance in getting my wife to safety.’

  Rosa smiled weakly as all eyes turned to her. She felt as though she might fall asleep on her feet and her shivers had turned into full body shakes some minutes ago.

  ‘I brought my horse down here, my lord. It would probably be quickest if you rode that home.’

  ‘I’m much obliged,’ Thomas said. ‘I will see your horse is returned tomorrow.’

  Giving a nod of thanks and wishing the men good luck with their rescue mission, Thomas clutched Rosa closer to him and began to stride up the beach. Rosa felt her body being lifted on to the horse and complied with Thomas’s instructions to hold on tight. Immediately he was up behind her, cradling her between his arms and urging the horse on in the same breath.

  Rosa thought she must have slept while they rode, despite the coldness and the wind that still whipped at her wet clothes, but it seemed only moments later that Thomas was pulling on the reins and stopping outside a grand doorway.

  ‘Where are we?’ Rosa asked. She’d only followed parts of the conversation on the beach, but realised they must be near Thomas’s family home for him to know all of the men mounting a rescue party.

  ‘Home, my dear.’

  ‘Surely that’s not possible.’

  ‘The ship must have been blown west of Portsmouth,’ Thomas said with a shrug. ‘We’re only ten miles outside the city.’

  He he
lped her down and steadied her as she staggered forward, raising a hand to bang on the huge wooden door in front of them.

  ‘Open up, for the love of God,’ he shouted when thirty seconds had passed without an answer. Rosa saw him raise a hand to hammer again, but just as his fist hit the wood the door opened a crack. ‘Took you long enough, Timkins,’ Thomas said as a surprised butler in a dressing gown opened the door.

  ‘My lord, we weren’t expecting you for another few days.’

  ‘Which room is the warmest?’ Thomas asked.

  ‘Thomas? Is that you?’

  Rosa used the last of her strength to raise her head to look at the figure in white descending the staircase.

  ‘I need to get Rosa warm, Mother. Now.’ Rosa heard the panic in his voice, realised this was the most concerned she’d ever seen him and knew she should be worried, too, but everything seemed too surreal, too other-worldly, and as she felt Thomas slip an arm around her waist she felt her grip on consciousness loosen.

  As she felt her body being swept upwards she caught a few odd words—storm...shipwreck...longboat...chill—before she slipped into darkness.

  * * *

  Thomas lifted his sodden clothes off his body and moved closer to the fire. He was tempted to throw on a nightshirt and dash back to Rosa, but he knew she was in capable hands, more capable than his own right now. He needed to get properly warm and dry so he could be there for her whatever the next few days would bring.

  He thought about the baby inside her, thought about the stress and the cold it had been subjected to, and wondered if Rosa’s body had been enough protection. He did know if anything happened to the baby Rosa would be devastated. She’d risked so much to protect her unborn child, it was cruel that fate had thrown so many obstacles in her way.

  Rubbing his body dry, he slipped into one of his old nightshirts and wrapped his dressing gown around him. He took another mouthful of the whisky he’d found in his room and relished the burn as he swallowed, feeling the warmth inside his stomach seconds later.