“I asked if you were ready to go.”
“Before that, you said you’d wear a blue velvet coat on our wedding day.”
“Well, you don’t think for one moment that I don’t intend to marry you, do you? Why, what sort of cad do you think I am?”
“Excuse me, but if that is a proposal, sir, my answer is…absolutely not.”
“I beg your pardon?” he asked, closing the door and planting his hands firmly on the hips of his borrowed breeches.
“I’ll admit I don’t know very much about such things, but aren’t you at least supposed to ask me?”
“You want to do this now, Ivory, really?” She stood with her arms defiantly folded at her chest. Maddox rolled his eyes back, walked towards her, and took her hand. “My love, my absolutely perfect and ideal woman, who…”
“You’re mocking me,” she growled, pulling her hand away.
Maddox snatched it back and fell to one knee before her and lowered his head. When he looked up at her, he pulled his sword from his belt and laid it at her feet. “When a knight pledges his loyalty and obedience to his queen, he lays his sword at her feet and declares his love only unto her. Let me be your knight. Allow me to seal that love and loyalty by accepting me, not only as your champion, but as your mate.”
“Pick up your sword. I have no use for a knight. It’s simpler than that.” Her voice softened. “All I want is what I’ve read in books. I want what I saw in my uncle’s eyes when he gazed upon my aunt as she sat quietly at her embroidery, or as she tended her flowers in the garden,” she said, as she took his hand and pulled him to his feet.
He leaned in over her and pressed his brow to hers and whispered, “Should you ever sit quietly at needlework or tend roses, I shall look upon you in such a way that you will feel the warmth in my soul upon your skin, and the love in my heart will burn like the brightest light within your bosom.”
Ivory was overcome by a gentle warmth so deep it rose up in her like the flame of a single candle held against the blackest night. Her cheeks flushed. “I suppose that will do.”
He lifted her chin and kissed her like a feather brushing against her lips. Then, he walked to the door. “Are we ready now?” She straightened her clothes and her head and walked out of the cabin ahead of him. Maddox smiled to himself as he followed her to the deck.
Master Green stood waiting at the ready to leave. The ships were lashed together, side by side. Tobias held the line with which Maddox and Green would make their short trip from ship to ship.
“We’ll be always in sight. As we approach the island, we’ll take the lead. Whatever you do, do not hoist your colors. Do you understand?” Maddox asked as he took Ivory by the shoulders.
“I understand.”
“I’d kiss you again, but of course, I wouldn’t want to violate your strict rules of fraternization.” He winked.
“We’ll see you in Ocracoke. In the meantime, I have a mystery to solve.”
“Indeed you do, m’lady. And, indeed you will.”
The first to cross was Sandy, with Miranda tied tightly in his arms. She was swamped by her cousins and swiftly whisked away for a joyful reunion. Ivory, however, stayed her post and waited until Maddox was safely aboard the Cat.
Ivory stood and watched as Maddox said something quietly to Tobias as he handed Maddox the line. He climbed onto the rail and squeezed the line tightly. He looked back and winked at her one last time and then pushed off, swinging out over the water and landing solidly on his feet upon the deck of the Cat. He tossed the line back across and Green followed. Seeing him go turned Ivory around and off out of sight of the eyes upon her that appeared to be waiting for some lovelorn expression. The crews scrambled to separate the two ships, and within but a few minutes, they were again at full canvas and several hundred yards to the port side of the Cat.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Upon sunrise of the next day, land was already in sight. James had followed the navigation of the Black Cat, and they’d maintained no less than six knots for the entire night. Ivory was pleased at how quickly they’d reached the waters off North Carolina. Cassandra had spent the night with her and relayed the stories Master Green had shared of the notorious Blackbeard, and they reminded her of the terrifying ghost stories they told each other as children. At breakfast, Ivory still threw off any notion of fear, but rather worked through her rekindled emotions by deciding how best to handle the man should they be forced to face him.
“Although I’d rather not have to be in the company of the barbarian, should this need arise, I’d prefer only Maddox and myself go ashore until we’re certain there is no imminent danger.”
Keara shoveled sliced boiled eggs and bread into her mouth as if she were starved. Unable to form words as she chewed, she nodded and listened to Ivory speak.
“Keara, are you well?”
Keara swallowed and spoke, “I suppose if I weren’t well, I wouldn’t be eating like this, now would I, Cass?”
Richard entered the room and placed a fresh pitcher of water and a hot pot of tea on the table before them. Keara snatched the tea and poured herself a cup. “We sure as hell don’t eat like this at sea all of the time. We might as well take advantage of it.”
“I got them eggs fresh from the chickens,” Richard said as he turned to leave.
“What chickens?” Ivory asked.
“Promise ye won’t get mad?”
“Don’t be ridiculous; just tell me.”
“Back in Charles Towne, I snatched a few from the market. I just snuck in there at night and took ‘em. I figured, if I just took the eggs, they’d spoil in this heat in no time, so I took the whole birds.”
“Good on you, Richard. Smartest thing you ever did, Ivory, was bring that lad with you when you jumped ship,” Keara said, and she gulped down her tea.
“Thank you, Richard, that will be all,” Ivory said as she threw a smirk at Keara.
When Richard left, Keara announced, “Since it’s just us girls now, I suppose we can speak freely…right?”
“I’m afraid to ask what you mean by that, Ke,” Cassandra said as she poured herself and Ivory a cup.
“I suppose we’ve all been doing our fair share of breaking the code in the past few days. So, are we all up for the sentence?” she laughed.
“Your humor is wasted, cousin. Soon, the only code we’ll have to adhere to is that of our husbands.” Cass smiled with a wink.
“Husbands?” Keara choked.
“Well, I only thought…”
“You thought wrong—at least in my case, dear cousin. James has neither proposed nor have I suggested such a thing. Besides, even if he did, he’d be the one abiding by a code, not me.”
All three women burst into laughter, until Ivory thought back to their recent battle in Charles Towne, and her smile fell to a solemn stare. Then, she gazed down at the eggshells on her plate and said, “Son of a bitch.”
“Ivory, what is it?” Cassandra asked, placing her hand over her cousin’s.
“Finish your breakfast. I have something that requires my attention.” Ivory sprang from her seat and raced out of the room in search of Willy. When she found him on deck, she snatched him by the front of his shirt and pulled the old man from his perch on a barrel.
“What is it, Cap’n? Have I wronged ye?”
“Why haven’t I received a report as to what happened to that blue diamond? What am I paying you for?”
“But, Cap’n, we done as ye ordered!” Willy whined. “We searched the ship top to bottom, and we didn’t find it. Nor did we find a single man aboard who knew a thing—or at least would tell if he did.”
“What about Richard?”
“What about the lad? Cap’n, ye don’t think…”
“Did you search him? Did you search his bunk or his things?”
“The boy has no things, and he bunks in with me.”
Ivory tore away from Willy so fast he barely saw her blond hair toss in the wind before she was gone from
his sight. She took the steps below two at a time until she came upon the door to Willy’s tiny cabin and thrust it open. She pulled the mattress from his bunk and turned it upside down. Then, she dumped the full contents of his footlocker onto the floor. Not yet content with her search, and seething with anger, she ran from the cabin to the galley and went straight for the chickens.
“Cap’n what are ye doin’?” she heard Richard cry out as she lifted the chickens from his makeshift coop one at a time and tossed them to the floor, squawking and flapping. She turned back and looked at him with the pain of disappointment in her eyes and then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, dragging him across the room and slamming him down hard on a stool.
“Where is it?”
“Where is what?”
“You know what I’m talking about, and you better tell me the truth! I save your little ass and take you in, feed you, give you a job, and this is how you repay me by stealing from me?”
“Cap’n, I swear it! I didn’t steal anything from ye,” he protested as he covered his head.
“You sit right there, and we’ll see who’s telling the truth.” Ivory went back to the coop and continued digging through straw and chicken waste as Richard sat trembling. Upon finding nothing, she turned back to him and told him to stand and empty his pockets. He dug into them and pulled out nothing more than a folded piece of paper and a thimble.
“Where did you get this?” Ivory asked, holding the thimble out to him.
“It belonged ta’ me Ma. It’s all I have of her,” he said with a sniffle.
Ivory unfolded the piece of paper to find the letters of the alphabet.
“Willy’s been teachin’ me ta’ read. I carries that with me so’s I can study on it when I have a little time.”
Ivory handed the paper and thimble back to Richard and sat down on the floor, defeated. “Richard, does anyone else aboard tend these chickens?”
“Just me, Cap’n, but it ain’t as if they’s locked up. Anyone could come in here at any time, just like ye did,” he said as he climbed back onto the stool.
“So, anyone on this ship could just walk in here and steal an egg?”
“Is that what yer goin’ on about?”
“Why did you think I was digging through chicken shit, Richard, because I enjoy it?”
“Tobias took an egg, Cap’n. I took the chickens the night we landed in Charles Towne. They’d done laid some eggs when I took ‘em, so I stuck the eggs in me pockets, and the chickens I carried in a fifty pound sack. That weren’t no easy trip back, lemme tell ye…”
“Did you say Tobias?”
“He come in here yesterday afternoon. Said he was hungry, and he gave me a shove and snatched an egg. I told him I’d boil it up for him, but he just walked out with it.”
“Forgive me, Richard,” Ivory said soft and low as she climbed to her feet. She lifted him from the stool and straightened his clothes.
“Are ye gonna whip him, Cap’n?”
“What?” Ivory’s thoughts were already far from where she stood.
“I never knew stealin’ an egg were a crime,” Richard said as he stood before her shaking his head.
“Stealing anything is a crime—well, stealing from your own that is.”
Richard jogged along behind Ivory as she walked off to consult with Keara and Cass about the Tobias situation. “Are ye getting’ that cat outta the bag?” Ivory stopped and turned fast. She grabbed him by his shoulders and said, “You are not to mention a word of this to anyone. Do you understand me?”
“But ye said…”
“Don’t concern yourself with what I said. You just listen to what I’m saying to you now. Do not say anything to anyone. Just go on about your business as if none of this ever happened.”
Richard nodded, and she patted him reassuringly on his flushed cheek. “Now get back to whatever you were doing.”
Ivory collected her cousins and, once again, they were back in her quarters with the door locked. “Tobias—tell me what you know about him.”
“He was one of Jackson’s crew. I swapped him for Tommy. Damn!” Keara cursed.
“You did what had to be done at the time. I just can’t piece together how he could have switched out the diamond. Obviously he had to have found an opportunity, but when?”
“Cass, the bag was locked in the chest, right?”
“Yes, I locked it myself the night you returned. We were, however, gone all day before you went back to Carrington’s.”
“So the chest was unattended during that time.” Ivory paced back and forth, “But you carried the key on your person, right, Ke?”
“Yes, yes, of course. Let’s get Willy in here. He was in charge all day while we were gone. Maybe he saw something.” Keara rushed out the door and returned a few minutes later with Willy in tow.
Ivory sat back in her chair and asked the questions. “Willy, while the three of us were out the other day, where was Tobias?”
“Hmmm, now lemme think a bit…” Keara moved a chair behind him and pushed him down by the shoulders onto it. He rubbed his brow and then looked up. “I can’t say the time, a’ course, but he requested permission to go ashore.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
“Not that I remember, and I didn’t think ta’ ask him. Him bein’ a grown man and all, I figured it weren’t me place.”
“How long was he away?” Ivory asked “An hour? A few minutes?”
“Wait, it’s comin’ ta’ me now. He said he was goin’ ta’ visit an old friend in town—said he’d be back in time for yer business and not ta’ worry.”
“Was there anything suspicious about him?”
“Suspicious? Not that I remember. Funny thing though—now that ye mention it, when he returned, he rushed past me and asked if ye ladies had come back yet. I told him no, and off he flew. I figured he was just worried he was late.”
“Was he carrying anything? Or did he bring anything aboard with him?”
“Not a thing, just hisself.”
“Well, if you think of anything else, report it to me immediately, understand?”
“Is he in some sort of trouble?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, ye may not have noticed, but he’s no longer on the ship. When we hooked up with the Cat, he volunteered ta’ go aboard.”
“He what? And who approved this?”
“He said it were Cap’n Shepard. Said ye suggested it. I take it by the look on yer face, ye did no such thing.”
“We’ll be at Ocracoke by nightfall. Keep this to yourself. I’m sure he’s going to jump ship the minute we arrive. Although he was counting on us returning to Port Royal, I know he found this detour more to his liking.”
“I know ye know what ye mean, but I’m lost. Either way, I’ll not mention a word a’ this ta’ anyone.”
“I know you won’t. You’re free to go.”
Ivory closed the door behind Willy, went straight to her desk, and pulled the crew log. “What are you looking for?” Cassandra asked.
Ivory flipped the pages until she reached Tobias Hale’s entry in the log book. She ran her index finger along the words written next to his name. “Tobias Hale. Born 1695. Blacksmith.”
“Blacksmith? What the hell?”
“I suppose he’d have no trouble at all picking a lock since he most likely knows how to make them,” Cassandra said with a sigh.
“As well as making it unnoticeable.” Ivory slammed the book closed and sat back.
“Well, seems pretty plain who has the blue diamond. What do we do now?” Keara asked as she, too, sat back with a scowl.
“May I ask a question?”
“Of course, Cass.”
“How badly do you want it back?”
“What?” Keara exclaimed.
“One word to Maddox, and I’ll have it back,” Ivory mumbled as she nibbled at her fingernails.
“But do you want it, is what I’m asking.”
“If it
’s worth even more than what we thought, Cass, of course I want it back.”
“With justice I’m assuming?”
“If I’m being honest, I really don’t care about justice, although he deserves it. However, in the brief time he’s been with us, he knows far too much. He obviously met up with Jackson in Charles Towne. Jackson was never interested in the other stones.”
“But…” Keara said as she rose to her feet and sat on the corner of the desk, “if he was snatching that stone for Jackson, what was the point? He must have known Jackson was going to intercept our exchange with Carrington. Why should Jackson pretend to care that the stone wasn’t in the bag, and more or less tell you to keep it?”
“Unless…for some reason, Jackson just didn’t want Carrington to get his hands on it. Maybe he knew Carrington would never come up with that kind of money. Ivory, I think that stone is worth much more than you know—much more than any of us know.”
“Cass, as usual, you’re fucking brilliant.”
“What did she say?” Keara asked, appearing confused.
“Ke, Jackson knew something that we obviously don’t. He had to have confided in, or made a deal with, Tobias to get that blue egg. And Tobias figured it must be worth a hell of a lot to someone. Instead of turning on us at the exchange, he kept it once Jackson was gone. He probably reveled in the fact that you disposed of Jackson and figured he could trade it himself!”
“We need to find out what’s so special about that blue egg,” Keara said. “You have me thinking now that the fifty thousand in bounty may have more to do with that stone than it ever did with your head. We need answers. As of this moment, Tobias has no idea that we know he took it. I say we keep playing his little game until we reach Ocracoke, and then we start digging.”
“Aren’t you afraid he’ll make off with it as soon as we go ashore?” Cass asked.
“If we need answers, I know where we can get them, and we won’t have to look far. First, we get the diamond back. Then, we find the answers we need.” Ivory stood and walked to the door.
“It appears the end of the line wasn’t so near after all,” Cass said softly.
“Don’t worry; we knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but if anyone can find out what’s so special about that stone, it’s Maddox. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m starting to think he already knows.”
The Blue Diamond (The Razor's Edge Book 1) Page 29