As she reached for the barn door, Levi blocked her hand. “You’re not allowed in there when we’re sparring.”
“Sparring? I didn’t know. Father sent me to get Connor. Is Everett hurt?”
“He’s okay, Beth.” Connor’s muffled voice came from inside the barn.
Levi’s expression softened and he nodded. “He’ll be fine. What does Father need?”
Bethany drew a breath and tried to clear her mind of the image of Everett getting hit. She recalled her father’s panicked words. “He said there is a ship on the horizon. He wants Connor to get the—”
“A ship?” Levi interrupted.
“Yes, a ship. He wants Connor to get the telescope and meet him on the shore.”
The barn door popped open a few inches and Connor slid out. “Where on the shore does he want me to meet him?”
“At the cairn,” she answered.
Connor and Levi exchanged a look. Connor threw a pair of bulky leather gloves on the ground and marched toward the house. Levi kept a loose grip on Bethany’s arm and urged her forward as they followed Connor. She pulled her arm away from her brother. “Father told me to go get Justin too.”
Connor glanced over his shoulder at her. “No! Levi can get Mercer. You need to go in the house and stay there.”
Irritated by the plethora of men telling her what to do, Bethany stopped walking. Levi looked behind her and nodded once at someone, then he diverged from the path and jogged toward the road to go get Justin.
Everett came from behind her. “Come on, Beth. I’ll go inside with you.”
“I don’t need a chaperone,” she protested, though Everett was the one man she would listen to. She clamped her arms around her body and did not look at Everett as they followed Connor to the house. He had been hurt and he would not want her to look.
As they stepped into the kitchen, Lydia glanced up from the chicken she was preparing. “Would someone please tell me what is going on? Good heavens, Everett! What happened to your face?”
Connor moved quickly through the kitchen toward the parlor. “Your dad is at the shore. He wants me to meet him with the telescope. He says there is a ship on the horizon.”
“A ship?” Lydia dropped the chicken into the pan with a fleshy splat. “Connor?”
“Yes, a ship,” he said coolly as he came back into the kitchen carrying an old telescope. He kissed the top of Lydia’s head. “I’m sure it’s nothing, but we’re going to go look. Bethany is to stay here with you.”
“All right.” Lydia turned to Everett, who was bent over the sink washing his face. “So what happened to you?”
“We were sparring.” Connor answered for Everett as he walked past the sink to the door.
“I forgot how fast Connor moves,” Everett mumbled as he filled his cupped hands with water.
“I told you not to spar while you’re angry.” Connor patted Everett’s bent back then walked out the door. “Meet us at the shore when you’re done, Everett.”
Bethany stood between the sink and the table, lost in the flurry of glances and questions. She was half stunned and half offended. Her legs burned from running, and her arm ached where Levi had grabbed her to get her out of the barn. He had tried to protect her from seeing their brutal hobby, and she had only done what she’d been told to do. Still, she felt guilty.
Lydia glanced at her. “Do you want to help me with dinner?”
Bethany did not answer. The image of Everett getting hit was burned into her mind. She watched him wash his face and felt both horrified and thrilled by what she had witnessed. She stepped to the cupboard and drew out a tea towel. When Everett moved his foot off the sink pedal, the water stopped flowing from the faucet. As she handed him the towel, he looked her in the eye. He dried his face and winced when he wiped his red cheek.
Lydia wedged between them and washed her hands. “Let me have a look.”
Everett stepped back. “No, Lydia, it’s nothing.”
“It’s Doctor Bradshaw to you, and I’ll determine if it’s nothing,” she said as she reached a hand up to his face.
Bethany turned away and picked at her cuticles. Lydia mumbled something, and Everett sucked in a breath. Bethany leaned her back against the kitchen counter and stared at the polished wooden beam above the doorway that led into the parlor.
“You didn’t break any bones,” Lydia said to Everett. “Do you want me to put some gray leaf salve on the cut?”
“No, I’m fine. Really.”
“Lydia?” Isabella’s gravelly voice called from the back bedroom.
“I’ll go,” Bethany said.
“No, Bethany. I’ll take care of her.” As Lydia walked toward Isabella’s room, she pointed at the chicken. “Put that in the oven for me, please.”
Bethany moved to the oven and reached for a potholder to turn the handle. She sensed Everett was watching her as she picked up the pan and slid it into the hot oven. The iron stove clanged as she closed the oven door. She dropped the potholder onto the countertop. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” Everett turned his face away. “Are you?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry you saw that.”
“I’m not.”
Everett snorted. “Great, well, I’m going to go crawl in a hole and die now.”
Dark pieces of damp hair were stuck to his forehead. His red swollen cheek made the green of his eyes look fierce. “After years of wondering what men look like while they are fighting, I finally know.”
“I’m glad you got something out of it,” he said sarcastically. “I don’t want you to see me get hurt.”
She understood humiliation—it was what she had felt moments before when several men were telling her what to do and where to look and where not to look all at the same time. Considering her conversation with Justin, she should probably be angry with them—maybe her life was controlled by men. But then she looked at Everett and his cut cheek and the drips of blood on his cuffed sleeve. He was the man she loved and he was trying to protect her. He did not want to control her any more than she wanted to control him. She stepped closer to him. “Do you enjoy sparring?”
“I love it.”
“Then it is part of you and I will have to get used to you getting hurt once in a while.” She reached her hand to his arm. “But if you try to hide your hurt from me, you’re only robbing me of the chance to love you through it.”
Everett covered her hand with his. “Your father told me your mother used to say that to him.”
“Really?” Bethany wondered why she never knew. Everett glanced out the window. He wanted to get to the shore. She wanted to go too. “Let me come with you.”
“No, Beth. You have to stay here.”
“Please. If there is a ship, I want to see it.”
“It’s not safe.” Everett patted her hand then stepped to the door. “You’re not coming. I love you, but you’re not coming.”
Chapter Eleven
As he trekked the sandy path to the cairn on the shore, Everett focused on the dark blemish that scarred the horizon. Connor was pointing a telescope at the object on the sea. John was leaning against a tall stack of stones that marked the place where the founders first came ashore in eighteen sixty-one. Both men glanced back at Everett as he stepped behind them.
The blur on the ocean appeared too flat and inelegant to be a ship, but its menacing bulk made Everett nervous. His toes curled inside his boots. “It doesn’t look like a ship.”
John’s graying hair blew across his forehead as he turned to Everett. “That is what I first thought. It certainly does not resemble any of the illustrations in our founders’ writings, but Connor says it is most definitely a ship.”
“Is it Mercer’s?” Everett asked Connor.
“No, it’s not. I have no idea where the icebreaker is. He drifted here on a dinghy in the middle of the night when he came to the Land. His ship could be miles from here.” Connor pulled his face away from the telescope and rubbed one eye with the back
of his hand. Then he pointed at the ship on the ocean. “That is an aircraft carrier.”
“Is it American?”
“It’s definitely a Unified States platform, but I can’t tell how close it is to the coast.”
Everett looked out at the blurry ship. “It looks like it’s on the horizon. On a clear day on land, that would be about three miles away. Why can’t you tell how far away it is?”
Connor stepped back from the telescope. “The visual is skewed looking out to sea from here because of the atmosphere around the Land. That ship could be one mile from us, it could be ten.” He pointed to the telescope. “Have a look.”
Everett moved to the telescope and bent to look through the brass eyepiece. He squeezed the other eye shut as he focused on the hazy V-shape that rose out of the sea. The ship’s flat upper portion spread wide over the water, and dark lines blurred above the deck on one side. “What’s that sticking up on the left?”
“That’s called the island. It houses flight deck control, the navigation bridge, the chartroom—or did you mean the mast on top of the island?”
“I don’t know what I’m looking at.” Everett stepped back and John took a turn at the telescope. Everett glanced at Connor. “Do you think the people on that ship can see us?”
“No, I don’t. If it were possible to see the Land from out there, the crew would have a perfect visual of us. Believe me, they have better technology than an antique mariner’s telescope. And if they could detect the Land, they would have already determined the resources here and the lack of defense. This place would be buzzing with activity that we don’t want. They have no idea this land is—” Connor stopped talking and looked back at the path.
Everett followed Connor’s line of sight. Levi and Mercer were approaching the shore. “Great,” Everett mumbled when he saw Mercer. John pulled his eye away from the telescope and sent Everett a parental look.
Levi was scowling at the ship as he walked toward the cairn, but Mercer’s face was stretched with the stupidest looking smile Everett had ever seen. Levi stopped beside Everett while Mercer walked straight to the telescope and looked at the ship.
“Oh yeah! Look at that beauty!” Mercer sang out like an excited schoolgirl. “I’ve never been so happy to see a platform in my life. Ford class, I’d say. What do you think, Bradshaw?”
“Probably,” Connor replied.
“The flight deck’s empty.”
“I noticed.” Connor sounded concerned. “Completely empty.”
“Has it moved?”
“No, I think it’s anchored.”
Mercer twisted the brass rings as if the telescope needed adjusting. Then he stuck his face to the eyepiece again. “You were right: there’s something wrong with the atmosphere around here. It’s still a beautiful sight. Hooyah!”
Everett and Levi glanced at each other. Levi shrugged. Mercer prattled on about how wonderful it was to see the ship. John stepped toward Mercer and put a hand on his back. Everett thought that was more friendliness than Mercer deserved, and looked away. As far as he was concerned Mercer had brought them infection, insolence, and now possible invasion.
“Justin,” John said to Mercer, “do you believe the crew on that ship can see the Land?”
“No. They would be all over this place if they knew it was here.” Then Mercer looked at Connor. “Let’s fire off a few flares. The dinghy is still in your shed, right? It’s got a kit—”
John raised a palm. “Please do not send any signals.”
“Don’t worry, John. We won’t.” Connor’s first use of an authoritative tone over Mercer pleased Everett. Connor looked at Mercer. “We don’t want the Land to be detected.”
Mercer stepped back and furrowed his brow. “You’ve got to be kidding me! Can you honestly say that if there is a chance for you to get on that platform, you won’t take it?”
“Absolutely not. I have a family here.”
“A lot of people on that ship have a family somewhere, Bradshaw. Kiss your wife and baby goodbye like a good sailor and get back on that ship.”
“Sailor?” Levi chuckled. “I thought you were a pilot.”
“I thought you both were pilots,” John’s gaze shifted between Connor and Mercer.
Connor shook his head. “I’m a naval aviator—was a naval aviator. Mercer was a naval flight officer.”
John scratched his beard. “What is the difference?”
“I can land aircraft on a platform for starters,” Connor smirked.
Mercer threw up his hands. “Hey, I can land aircraft too.”
“Yeah, on a ten thousand foot immobile runway—not on a platform and forget a pitching deck.” Connor seemed to be enjoying his banter with Mercer, but it made Everett wonder if Connor would remain loyal to the Land.
“So what?” Mercer laughed. “You couldn’t do it anymore. Those are perishable skills.”
Connor glanced at John, Levi, and Everett, then his grin disappeared and he crossed his arms. He looked back at Mercer. “You may be eager to get your old life back, but this is my life now. I’m dead to the outside world. I worked through that three years ago. I have to protect my family and my village. Besides, I’ve seen what the currents around the Land can do, and it may not be possible to make it out to that ship.”
* * *
Everett paced the wooden planks of the chapel’s entryway while the village elders gathered in the front pews. He stopped at one of the doors and peered out its sliver of a window. Though late afternoon, the autumn daylight was already waning. A few villagers milled around outside the chapel, curious as to the cause of the emergency elder meeting. Everett scanned the cobblestone street. Connor and Mercer were nowhere in sight. Surely Connor could still be trusted. Surely he would not let Mercer turn on the radio transmitter and contact the ship.
John’s gentle baritone reverberated through the cavernous sanctuary as he stood at the front of the chapel. He was explaining the ship on the horizon, Connor’s belief that the ship’s crew could not see the Land, and Mercer’s desire to try to row out to the ship. Though the elders knew about Mercer’s situation, their comments reflected their surprise with his dissatisfaction of life in the Land.
Everett turned away from the window and walked along the outside aisle to the front pews where the elders were discussing the situation. As soon as he sat beside Levi in the pew behind the elders, Connor and Mercer walked in the chapel. Silence shrouded the meeting as the elders turned and watched the two former warriors strut down the center aisle of the village church.
John motioned to the front pew. “Have a seat up here please, gentlemen.”
As Connor sat on the front row, he looked back at Levi and Everett and gave one short nod. Levi returned the nod. Though Everett knew it was Connor’s way of reassuring them, he did not return the gesture. Connor creased his brow as he looked at Everett for a moment, then he turned his attention to John.
John laid his pencil on the podium and stepped to the front pew. “Justin, the elders are unclear on why you would risk your life to leave the Land.”
Mercer rested his arm along the back of the pew and glanced at the other men. “I don’t belong here.”
John gave Mercer a moment to elaborate, but Mercer remained silent.
Connor shifted sideways. “After we monitored the ship this afternoon, Mercer and I discussed at length what we believe is happening out there. After years of war, the outside world is plagued with a tuberculosis epidemic and there isn’t enough medicine. We noticed an unusual lack of aircraft and activity on the ship’s flight deck. We wonder if anyone is still alive on that ship, and if they are—due to Mercer’s experience trying to locate the Land—we doubt they know the Land is here. Mercer wants to return to the outside world and is certain he should attempt to reach the carrier.”
Everett watched Connor speak for Mercer. The distrust he felt toward Connor churned his stomach. After all he had been through with Connor, Everett wanted to trust him, but he could not shak
e the feeling that Mercer was influencing Connor away from them. Everett could not hold his tongue another moment. “And what about you, Connor? Do you want to leave also?”
Connor looked back at Everett, as did several elders. His dark eyes held an intensity that reflected the sting of Everett’s doubt. “No. I am certain my place is here in the Land.” He held Everett’s gaze even as John began speaking again. Finally, Everett looked away.
“Thank you, Connor,” John said. Then he turned to Mercer. “What is your plan?”
“If the carrier is still there in the morning, I want to row out. The outboard motor on the dinghy still has fuel in it. My friend got communications back up as I was leaving our ship. He was going to send a message to the navy to come and help me. Even though he is probably dead by now, he did that for me, so if the carrier is here because it received that message, I owe it to him to—” Mercer’s voice broke. He pulled his arm off the pew and cleared his throat. “After I saw Connor drift toward this land, I spent three years trying to get back here. I didn’t have a chance to go to America after the crash—they reassigned me to Antarctica. Then communications went down and I didn’t think I’d ever make it home, so I just focused on finding this land. You people have a good thing going here. I feel like I’ve gone back in time. But if there is a chance to return to my country, I want to do it. The day my friend got the communications back up I was crazy with fever and left the ship. Now there is an American carrier within reach and I have to try to make it out there. I don’t belong here; I belong out there.”
John nodded. “Thank you, Justin. I appreciate your honesty. I know this has been frustrating for you.” He looked around at the elders. “I will assent to Justin’s request to leave. Does anyone object?”
Mr. McIntosh, seated on the second row, lifted his hand. “It sounds like he will be rowing to his death, like Frank Roberts and the boys did a few years ago. Does he have any idea about the deadly currents surrounding our shore?”
Mercer straightened his spine. “I’m fully trained for water survival. I know how to respect the sea.”
Uncharted Inheritance (The Uncharted Series Book 3) Page 15