I'm Not Coming To Get You This Time
I’m not coming to get you this time. If you get into trouble, you can get yourself right back out again. I mean it, Nan!
The women were huddled at the table this morning. Something was wrong. It was easy to determine the severity of the upset by the volume in the room. The louder they were, the safer the occurrence. When the volume dropped…that’s when you knew that someone was in deep trouble…or pregnant. Which was the only other time I’d heard them this quiet.
“What did she do?” I asked as I walked in the dining room. This was about Nanette. Of course it was about Nanette.
They’d spoken of almost nothing else since her return. “Well?” I demanded when none of them answered. I looked to Helene. We’d always been honest with each other. I knew well what she thought of Nanette and my devotion to my wife. I knew well her grief and guilt over the role she played in the state of our relationship. We’d vowed to be honest with the other at all times. She’d told me when Nan had arrived and when the cannons boomed, her suspicions of where Nan was.
“Yvonne sent her contacts out,” Helene admitted. She looked furious with the younger woman. We’d held a counsel and agreed not to aid Nanette in this absurd sale. Helene had had the final word and now Yvonne had gone rogue. I loved Sofia with all my heart -- I repeated the mantra to myself as I renewed my constant vow not to Yvonne out of the house in irritation. It was mystifying to me why Yvonne and Nan didn’t get along better. They were so similar and could have been fast friends but nothing had ever grown between them. They were joined by their avarice only.
“Of course I did. We have an opportunity to finally get the western beach acres. Wallington will listen to gold. He’ll finally release the land. He’ll –”
“What happened?!” I strode over to the table and took my seat. Damn these early morning counsels. Angelica poured a mug of coffee from the carafe at the table. Yvonne sat back pouting and simmering that she wasn’t going to get her way with the trades.
“Yvonne sent out her contacts to all parties on this island, whether their coffers were able to handle the gold needed or not. Including sending word out to the southern lands.”
Puritans. The Puritans occupied the southern acres of the islands.
“Dammit, Yvonne.”
“They have the gold.”
“It’s Nanette,” I reminded her. We all winced. Whatever Nan was, she wouldn’t be acceptable to the Puritans. We’d discussed this many times. There was a part of her that didn’t belong to this natural world, that was clear enough, and it was clear as well that she suffered great pain lending her power to this land and this family. She loved us and it was killing her.
“The puritans met with her and now…there is a giant hole in the wall of The Sea Wind,” Helene informed the table.
“Of course.” I sighed. They sighed. We all drank our coffee. “Where is she?”
“Fort St. Catherine,” Helene answered.
We all sighed again.
I’m not coming to get you this time. If you get into trouble, you can get yourself right back out again. I mean it, Nan!
Of course I was going to get her.
“Looks like we are going into St. George's earlier than expected,” I announced and finished my coffee. “Can word be sent to Maynwaring asking if we can stay with him while in town?”
“Yes. I’ll ready a sloop and send James, David, and Nero,” Helene was already in planning mode. Good.
“I’ll pack trunks for both of you,” Angelica added. She meant one trunk for me and one for Nanette. “You’ll need to have clothing ready for the Wallington’s party.”
“How much gold do you think we’ll need to get her out?” I asked.
“Get her out? Or get her out unharmed?” Angelica asked.
We all did the calculations in our head.
“Tiny and Maverick can go along with you as guards. You’ll need it if you’re hauling that much wealth.” Helene made a note to send off for the guards. Nan had christened Tiny and Maverick with those monikers several years ago when the large and imposing men had joined our land and spent an evening drinking with her. She had laughed so long and loud that night. They’d been fiercely loyal and devoted to her ever since. All who spent time with her like that were. Even Yvonne, though she’d never admit it. I’d been captured from the minute I’d met her. Happily captured and happily lost to her.
“Yvonne, pack your trunk and get the wagon ready. I’d like to be on our way in less than an hour.”
Our counsel broke and everyone went to prepare. Here it was, just barely beyond sun up, and I was already dressing for a long ride back into civilization. I thought I’d had several more days before arming myself to meet the nobility for dinner. What could I have done to stop her? Tackled her to the ground? Tied her to the bed — yes, I should have done that. I looked over at our large bed where I’d had her just yesterday. I threw my boots across the room and sat down hard on the settee.
I’m not coming to get you this time. If you get into trouble, you can get yourself right back out again. I mean it, Nan!
Did she think I wasn’t going after her? Was she sitting in that God awful prison thinking I’d let her rot there? Two years away and those were my parting words to the woman I’d loved for twenty years?
Helene came in the room and sat down beside me. She rubbed my shoulders.
“We’ll get her back, Andrews. We’ll get her back and you’ll bring her home,” she encouraged. She wanted Nanette here too even if it was incredibly complicated between the two of them. I’d done that. I’d taken their friendship and twisted it till neither one knew up from down. But they’d made it work. Not the way it had been for them before my terrible choices, but they’d made this kingdom a success despite my interference.
“Two years,” I moaned.
“Get her. Bring her home. We’ll work it out. We always do.”
I turned around and hugged her. She embraced me back. We were scrupulous with our relationship, Helene even more so than myself. She drew a sharp line when it came to physicality between the two of us. That line had blurred a little since Kings Bay. Nan’s sudden return yesterday had drawn it back in sharp relief. I would be nothing without Nanette and Helene. They were a riddle I couldn’t untangle. The fact that they were both devoted to this family is what kept us all moving forward.
****
(1633)
Another party. Another fire. Another terrible terrible players play. Angelica passed me food. Helene passed me drink. My eyes stayed only on that damn empty dock. I’d sent her away. I’d sent her away and she’d gone. And for what? What the hell did a marriage even mean out here? We were far from the stuffy halls and confines of Europe. Hell, we didn’t even have a church out here. What was marriage? What was any of it? I’d left all of that behind me when Ansel and I had boarded that ship. So why was I holding onto the idea of marriage?
I’d invited Nanette into bed with me and she’d gone with me and kept returning night after night. Together we’d learned the joy of being with each other. And I’d sent her away! I took a long drink and let the alcohol carry me away too.
“Andrews,” Helene and Angelica came over with an old lady. “This is Grandmother. Not my grandmother,” Helene hiccuped and laughed then leaned in with her giant drunken smiles and loud whispers, “she’s just really old!” Helene laughed herself silly as she crashed next to me on the bench. “Grandmother has something for you.”
The old woman had come to the estate on the request of one of the sawmill workers. Nanette and I had gone to secure her transfer together. Nanette had worn a blue dress that day.
“Hmmmm,” the older woman placed some sort of oil over my wrists and brow. “Such sorrows. Everywhere sorrows. It will break this land. She has a powerful hold on you and you on her.” The old grandmother spoke as she wafted smoke around me. The smoke smelled good and I leaned into it. “Such power and such love and now…such sorrow.”
I nodded.
“Life is needed. Do you agree?” she asked me.
“I agree.” Inside I was nothing but heaviness and sorrow.
The grandmother ladled a drink from a pot nearby and handed it to me. They’d all been handing me drinks and food, but it was all tasteless and I didn’t want it. “Drink,” she ordered.
“Come now, Andrews. Have a drink,” Helene laughed and took the grandmother’s ladle. She was "trashed," as Nanette would say. Helene sipped from the ladle and shoved it at me. The aroma was pleasant, if bitter. I sipped.
“Hmmm,” the grandmother hummed. “Life.” She looked between me and Helene who was still giggling.
The hard edges of darkness began to blur around me and the volume of the party turned up until I couldn’t hear the darkness in my own thoughts. Helene looked beautiful in the firelight. She glowed. I stood up and went to see closer how the firelight managed to light her from the inside out.
Helene reached out for me and pulled me into her dance and I told her that she was full of light. “Here, I’ll let you borrow some of it.” Then she kissed me and laughed. The sound echoed in my bones and filled me.
I don’t know how we got there but we made it to her house. I kissed her laughing mouth. I’d never kissed anyone but Nanette. Helene’s lips were soft and welcoming. The world was swirling around us and we held onto each other to stay steady.
When I lay her back in her bed our laughter quieted. Helene pulled her dress off and I gasped as I saw her lit by candle and fire.
“What is it?” She asked as my eyes swept up and down her.
She moved to cover herself but I caught her hands. Her hands were beautiful and smooth. I ran my fingertips from her palms up to her shoulders, marveling. I touched down her neck to her chest. She was unmarked. She was soft. She was smooth. I touched over her breasts and down her stomach. Then, shaking, I moved to her legs. They stretched out long and gorgeous on her bed. They were beautiful. They were perfect. Helene hummed her pleasure at my touch. Tears pricked hot in my eyes as I rubbed up and down her legs. I couldn’t stop touching her. Nanette’s legs…
I bent down to kiss against her perfect skin and kissed higher and higher up to her thighs. My heart was sheared in two between the stunning sight laid out before me and the familiar legs that I’d sent from our home in anger. Nanette was terrified of her body and now I understood why. Helene moaned as I pressed fingers into her where I knew it would feel good. I kissed her how I knew it would feel good to her to be kissed. I touched her where I knew it would make her cry out and gasp. I made sure to ask Helene if she enjoyed my touch. She did. She said to touch her more.
When I pressed inside her my world shook on its axis. Helene held onto me and pressed all her light and warmth into my soul and I gave her everything I had back.
We lay together afterwards, my hands stroking everywhere I could reach along her smooth, unmarred skin. Soft. Everywhere soft, pliant, at ease. “Beautiful,” I told her over and over again, “so beautiful.” It only served to light her up more.
The next morning found all laughter drained from Helene’s face. She was up and fretting and telling me that we shouldn’t have done what we did and how it was a terrible idea and that no matter how good it felt we were never to even think about touching each other again. And no matter how much she enjoyed it and – and how did I do the things I did – but no, we can’t – we shouldn’t – and – but God that feels good, you should stop, your hands — maybe one more. Just one more. Just a little…
And when we finished…
And then next…
And the next…
“No, Andrews. We must stop. This is unwise. Should Anne return…should there be a baby…”
“A baby? Why would there be a baby?” Of course I knew children were born but I’d never given it much thought. What was the connection between the way my hands wandered up her perfect legs and how she screamed out when I pressed inside her…and a baby? Such an odd thing to think about in this moment.
****
(1649)
Of course. I knew now where babies came from and was sure to inform Magnus from the moment he discovered the appendage between his legs.
Helene loaded Yvonne and I up in the wagon and we headed off. Tiny and Maverick rode in back with loaded muskets. I was furious with the woman for the part she had played in endangering Nanette.
I was just as furious with myself as I was with her. All I’d had to do was keep my temper in check. I could have agreed to help her through the danger. For once in my damned existence I could have chosen to share the danger with her. Instead I sent her off threatening that I wouldn’t come for her.
Yvonne refused to walk back her actions or acknowledge the danger she’d put Nan in and the rest of the estate along with her.
“That hurricane always returns season after season. She will return this time too.” The woman sat back and smoked.
Alcohol.
So so so much alcohol.
That’s how Sofia was conceived.
Beri was due to Angelica jumping into bed with Yvonne and myself (and all that rum we drank) that night. That was a wild night for all parties involved. I’d never witnessed such things since that night...though I’ve imagined it often enough over the years.
Yvonne dropped me at the fort and continued on to the Maynwarings. All I knew of the Lieutenant Commander came from the Wallington’s dinners (when the young man chose to attend). He seemed a better sort than Sutton, who’d been shipped back to England, but that wasn’t saying much. At least, he and I hadn’t traded blows between the rows of flowerbeds in Leticia Wallington’s garden as of yet. Hopefully England kept Sutton. I flexed my knuckles. I hated that man.
I strode into the fort and straight to where I knew the lieutenant commander’s offices were. I knew exactly where they were as this was not my first time coming here to collect my wife.
A lone soldier sat at a desk as others milled around talking in the yard. He was young, probably should be playing out in the fields with Magnus and his friends instead of here playing soldier. He looked up at me with wide eyes as I approached.
“I’m here to see the lieutenant commander. I have business,” I announced. The soldier looked at me, struck dumb.
A room to an inner chamber opened and another man, not the lieutenant commander, stepped out. Apparently he was just in the middle of his morning repast as he held a cup of wine and some sort of rich smelling meat pastry.
“The lieutenant commander is out.” This man was older at least. He spoke as if his words were the end of our conversation instead of the beginning. He was not in uniform as the young soldier behind the desk was.
Out, he'd said? Out where? This was where he should be. He had my wife imprisoned here…and not that I was one to criticize but if there ever was a time to stand guard and know beyond a doubt where your prisoner was, it was when you had Nanette within your domain. That woman could vanish like no one else I knew. Going “out” when she was supposed to be locked within and taking your eyes off her did not bode well.
“What do you mean ‘he is out’?” I asked. Was she even still here?
“The lieutenant commander is not here,” the man repeated, disdain evident in his voice and manner. He sneered up and down at me. I believe I recognized him now. He was an attendant of some sort to the lieutenant commander. I’d seen him seated with the other servants at the Wallingtons.
“Where is he?” I demanded.
“The jewelers. Vaismen’s, I believe.” The sour look on the man’s face only grew deeper and more pronounced as he provided the lieutenant commander’s location.
“Well fetch him back.” This was where the man should be. This was his office. Whatever he was doing at the jewelers was no concern of mine or his when he had my wife (hopefully) locked away here. She could be thirty feet below me right at this moment.
“One does not ‘fetch’ the lieutenant commander,” he spat.
As it would be unwise to compromise Nanette’s release by threatening to beat this underling bloody, I took a moment to check my temper and remember that I had no specific ill-will towards the current ranking officer of the fort and his direct reports.
“When do you expect his return?”
“He left no word regarding his schedule today.”
“Are you able to inform me, at least, of the status of the prisoners within your fort here?” I turned my attention back to the young soldier.
“They were flogged and released this morning, sir,” the young soldier answered.
Damn. I was too late. Now she was hurt and it was my fault. Again! And where had she gone? I should have gone to her ship first. Now I would have to scour the ports and waves to see if she’d left. And what would I tell the Wallingtons? As her ship was in port here, the entire circle of nobility would know she was here, expect her for dinner, and then know that she’d been imprisoned. Memories of her sailing that damn ship bloodied and wounded and in pain crashed over me. She couldn’t go on like this!
“That sea bitch remains. Only the Puritans were released.” The lieutenant commander’s servant continued sipping and eating his repast.
“What?” She was still here?
“I said, that bitch captain remains below. That’s who you are inquiring after, correct?”
“She is my wife. You will not address her with that name.” I knew what she was called. And I knew what she could be called if only she’d say yes.
“You’ve provided no proof of your vows. We all know what she is…and what you are,” he scoffed and returned to the lieutenant commander’s office and shut the door. I fucking hated coming to St. George’s.
“She is unharmed. We are even delivering her meals,” the young solider offered. “I don’t believe she sustained much injury from the explosion either.”
“I will wait for the lieutenant commander here.” I pulled up a chair and sat down.
“Yes, sir.”
She was here. That was somewhat of a relief. I rubbed my eyes and settled in for a long wait. I was here a full day and a half before I’d planned to arrive for the Wallingtons’ dinner. I needed to speak with Leticia regarding the make up of her table and whether Nanette would be in attendance. I needed to check in on the Try Your Luck. I needed to see if Maynwarning would host me for my/our time here. That meant negotiating a bed for Yvonne as well, always a challenge. Most importantly, I needed to find a priest. I didn’t care when or how or why, but that woman was not spending another night without my name attached to her own. She would never be called a sea bitch, or bitch captain, or any of those terrible names by these terrible people again. She would be Mrs. Diane Andrews and no one would speak against her. I’d bring the priest right into her prison cell with me and get those vows out of her. This was madness that she was my wife but no one accorded her that position since we’d never stood before their Gods.
At long last, the lieutenant commander made his entrance. I’d never spent much formal time with the man one-on-one. He walked in with a sappy smile on his face and didn’t see me. He walked to the window and held an impressive diamond up to the light, his smile only growing.
“Lieutenant Commander?” I interrupted whatever daydream was coursing through his mind.
“Mr. Andrews? To what do I owe –” he stopped, all light and sappy-ness draining from his visage. “Of course. Let us go within.”
He led us through to his main office and gestured to the empty chair in front of his desk. I’d sat in this very seat two years ago as Sutton explained to me that my wife was scheduled to be hung for treason. The Lieutenant Commander placed his gem in a wooden box on his desk and sat opposite me where Sutton had sat, when he'd told me that I would never see my wife alive again even though she sat alive and breathing several floors beneath us. Just as she was today.
“Lieutenant Commander, we’ve been in this situation before. Surely you remember.” He was young but he must remember our previous time in this office the same as I did. “Captain Anne Silverspring is my wife and therefore she belongs at my side and in my house. I am well prepared to make reparations and payment for her release, as well as see that she does not trouble the good people of St. George’s again.” And, I added silently, keep her safe in my bed, well fed, and with me every morning.
The lieutenant commander rubbed his eyes as if he were getting a headache. That made two of us. “The…captain has already been spoken for and reparations made.”
“She – pardon?” Had she managed to pay for herself?
“Her patroness provided payment and conditions this morning in turn for negotiating a six month sentence in exchange for excusing her from a flogging.”
“Six months! That’s a death sentence, Lieutenant Commander!” I’ve seen those prison cells. I knew that Nanette was already injured before she was arrested. She would sicken and die. Six months was absurd! Inhumane! Starvation and sickness for six months until she caved to her wounds and died in the filth and muck down in that cell. Alone.
“Her patroness was insistent and I was not in a position to refuse,” the bastard added.
“What patroness?!”
“The Lady she arrived with not two days ago.”
“The Captain travels alone.” I knew this. All of Somers Isles knew this.
“Not anymore she doesn’t.”
“She is my wife–”
“Mr. Andrews, I appreciate that you are in distress, however, even now when you listed her names and titles you did not include your name with her own. She does not claim you and clearly you do not claim her unless she is behind these walls.”
“Six months in this prison and she will die.” I didn’t even know her condition now. I needed her home and safe and taken care of.
“Then it is merely carrying out the sentence she was due the last time she graced this fort with her presence. Her constitution may just be strong enough to survive. Meals have been arranged for her. She may well be back in your bed before the year is out.” He glared at me, clearly wanting me to dismiss myself.
“You must allow me to visit her.”
I’m not coming to get you this time. If you get into trouble, you can get yourself right back out again. I mean it, Nan!
My parting words to her would not be the final ones she heard from me. The lieutenant commander looked particularly aggravated by this request. He got up and attempted to compose his noble features.
“No. No, this is a prison, not a sitting room parlor! Why must this be explained over and over?” He was clearly irritated by my request. “See yourself out, Mr. Andrews.” He went to the door and held it open for me. “Ralph,” he spoke to the young soldier in the outer room, “I have messages for you to deliver. Good evening, Mr. Andrews.”
“I will be by in the morning to discuss this further. Harming a few Puritans is no reason to kill a woman.”
“Good evening, Mr. Andrews.” he dismissed me again.
I stormed out of his offices and out of the fort. Who the hell was this patroness? Everyone knew Nanette and everyone knew she was beholden to no one, not to me and not to any patroness. I stalked to the port to get some answers from her ship. First, I needed to confirm it was here (and therefore she was here) and second I needed to get answers about who the hell might have been sailing on her ship with her.
My heart calmed when I saw her familiar masts in their familiar dock here in town. She was still here. The small matter of getting her out from behind bars was at least one that I could tackle. If her ship was gone, there’d be no chance of getting her back.
Young Lady Sutton and her handmaiden were just walking from the dock by the Try Your Luck when they saw me. Young Lady Sutton quickly handed a baby over to her handmaiden. There was no question in my mind that Sutton had gotten that child off of this young handmaiden.
I’d worked with Helene and Yvonne and Angelica to bring the young woman over to the Hundred Acres. The child would be safer there and able to grow up with children similar to himself and have a future of his own choosing. Young Lady Sutton had refused all offers for the young woman and her baby.
If it was within my power to bring the young wife to my land as well I would do that. However, hers was a position I could not negotiate, buy, or otherwise ferry her away from. She would die Lady Sutton and it was lucky that she hadn’t gotten with child from Sutton yet. Though I assume the depraved man had certainly had his way with her often. It was a shame she insisted on making her handmaiden share in her death sentence as well as herself.
“Lady Catherine,” I greeted her. Perhaps as she grew older, that streak of cruelty that kept her binding her handmaiden to herself would ease. “How are you this morning?”
“I am well, Mr. Andrews,” she whispered.
“If you are on your way to the Captain, she is not within,” the handmaiden spoke up, shifting the baby from one hip to the other. He was a cute kid and reminded me of my own when they were cute squishy babies and not these half grown adults pestering me to let them go to town and meet people here and allow them to be escorted to dinners and dancing like other young ladies.
“I know. Will I see you at the Wallingtons tomorrow evening?”
“Yes, Mr. Andrews. I’ll be there,” she whispered again. My God, I marveled. She could hardly be older than my girls. To think she’d been wed to Sutton for years already. Just yesterday I’d forbid Beri from going walking along the shore with the crofter’s boy. Angelica was in a state fit to burst when she’d learned they’d been found kissing during our last barbeque.
“Consider coming out to visit the Hundred Acres. Both of you are welcome,” I told the young girls. And if they ever took me up on my invitation, the young handmaiden would not be leaving. I’d make sure of it myself.
“Good day, Mr. Andrews.” They bid me goodbye and kept walking, glancing back at me and the ship.
I sighed and continued on towards my wife’s ship. Mary stood at the top of the gangplank, her brood behind her.
“Evening, Mary,” I greeted her.
“She’s in the fort, isn’t she?” she sighed, already knowing the answer. “Is she alright?”
“I wasn’t allowed in to see her.”
“I heard the explosion. Bettie went to check on the captain but got there too late. Since I haven’t seen her, I assumed the worst.”
“The lieutenant commander won’t allow me in. Something about a patroness? He spoke of someone arriving here on her ship with her?”
“I was surprised as well. Yes, she arrived with a wealthy woman on board. I did not see much of the lady, only she was upset with the captain.”
“Upset enough to have her sentenced to six months in the fort?”
“Six months! She’ll die.”
“The lieutenant commander is unconcerned about this.”
“It’s possible the lady was indeed that upset. Stands to reason she could hire any other captain, not sentence ours to death. She came through with the lieutenant commander only just this morning. I did not see exactly what she took, and she did not let the man board, but she walked away happy and smiling.”
“Could they be conspiring together? Working to keep Nanette out of business? Or in revenge for Kings Bay? There’s much on this ship that would be lucrative to two such people.”
“I would say that’s a possibility.”
“Damn. Any of those guards owe you any favors?”
“One or two knew Edmund. They may let me through. I’ll need incentive.”
“I brought plenty. I’ll send Tiny and Maverick over with enough to bribe an underpaid soldier.”
“I’ll see what I can find out…if I can find out.”
“My thanks, Mary. I’ll be staying at the Maynwarings and be back over in the morning. Do you need anything?”
“We’re fine as we are. I thank you.”
I bid the woman a good evening and carried on my way. As no other explosions were heard in town I assumed Yvonne was exercising some self control. Since Kings Bay, I’d done my best to check in on Mary and her brood. Her husband was a stumbling block I couldn’t get past. I knew her son Edmund and Nanette had been devastated over his loss and what that would mean for Mary. So even though Nanette had left, I’d tried to provide Mary the essentials as I knew Nanette had done through the years. She was another woman I’d gladly house on my land if only life were as easily solvable as all that.
The Maynwaring manor was closer to port than many of the other noble households. Richard Maynwaring and I were good friends and I always enjoyed spending time with him while in town. His sons were good company as well. It helped that he had a soft spot for Nanette and we’d never had to earn the pleasure of his company.
The Maynwaring servants met me at the door and escorted me out to Richard’s gardens, gardens that could rival Leticia Wallington’s if he ever cared to open his doors to her.
“Evening, Andrews. Have a seat. Martha? Bring the man a plate would you?” He asked the woman who’d brought me over. She nodded and departed for the kitchens. I sat on a wide and comfortable settee near him. “Yvonne was set up in quarters this afternoon. Haven’t seen her since.”
“She’ll do whatever she does. I thank you for your unexpected hospitality.”
He laughed good naturedly, “After the weeks and weeks you had us on your land last season, I’m happy to be able to return the favor even somewhat. Robert is still smitten, you know. You and I might start some preliminary discussions towards that end.”
“Are you looking to unseat Leticia in the race to make me a grandfather?” Martha returned with a plate and drink. I thanked her and turned back to Maynwaring. “Amelia is still young.”
“Robert too. I do wish we could keep them children for longer. I still remember him holding onto my breeches as he took his first steps.”
“Amelia used to let me tie bows in her hair.”
“They are determined to grow up despite our best efforts.”
“Cheers.” We clinked glasses. Both his sons had taken a liking to my girls. Sofia and Amelia had ended up with fresh flowers in their hair at all hours of the day. Even before departing today, Amelia had asked if I was coming to stay here and to give her regards to Robert.
“Well, if it isn’t the man himself!” Talbot shouted as he and Lavigne entered the gardens escorted by Martha. Richard passed cigars around and Talbot helped himself to a whiskey. “Haven’t seen you since you kicked us all out of your house a month ago.”
“Evening, gentlemen,” I greeted them and happily took a cigar.
“Yvonne was last seen ascending the stairs to Davies’ apartments. Likely he’ll be along in a moment,” Lavigne laughed. I joined him. Davies must be a magician to charm the savage beast that was my brutal and unyielding business czar. “I’d ask what brings you to town so early but the answer is written all over the Sea Wind.”
“Indeed. Aaoka and I tried to get there in time to intervene but the lieutenant commander is a good deal more sprightly than the commander. Were we dealing with our old chum Sutton, he’d just be rolling out of his quarters now to inspect the damage.”
“I will say this for Coventry, he’s made excellent work of the militias. Most stay in hiding out west these days.”
“Out west by me. We’ve had trouble and raids aplenty the past few years. I’ve lost good people. Had to establish a border patrol to keep the fiends confined to petty thievery and away from causing serious damage. Just last week a woman was taken off the fields. We fear the worst.”
“McFaddon?”
“That would be my guess.”
We all sipped and smoked for a moment.
“So how is our captain?” Talbot asked.
“I couldn’t get in to see her. Any of you know a good priest? One who wouldn’t mind doing a quick service in the depths of Fort St. Catherine?” They all burst out laughing.
“What did I miss? Don’t shut me out of the fun!” Davies strolled in, shaking Martha’s hand and nearly giving her a hug in his exuberance. He was always extra effusive after an afternoon with Yvonne.
“Andrews here was just discussing his lavish wedding plans,” Richard laughed.
“Seems we are all going to crowd in the fort’s dungeons and celebrate their union among the rats!” Maynwaring cackled and toasted me.
“I daresay, I hope the lieutenant commander will provide crusts of bread for all of us to feast on!” Talbot joined in.
“You all laugh. If she’ll say her vows down there then we will indeed be making an altar of those iron bars.”
We drank and smoked the night away as my wife sat in cold filth beneath the fort.
I’m not coming to get you this time. If you get into trouble, you can get yourself right back out again. I mean it, Nan!
How could I have said such cruel words? Did she believe them? She was all too quick to believe the worst of me at all times, never quite believing or trusting the good.
“Mr. Andrews!” Robert Maynwaring, followed closely by his brother, entered the gardens. “How wonderful to see you, sir.” All the gentlemen chuckled knowingly. They’d all been present to see Robert and Henry fawn over my daughters.
“And you. Amelia sends her greetings to you.”
“She does? Thank you! And tell her I – I would love to – I will write her a letter. Pray, excuse me.” The young man ran off.
“Does…Sofia send me any greetings by chance? I’d love to express to her how much I’d like to see her again. Perhaps at the next Wallington affair we might –”
“Her mother is in town with me. I will let her know you wish to speak with her and ask after her daughter’s well being.”
We were perhaps a little cruel in how long and loud we laughed at the poor young man’s terror as he considered sitting face to face with Yvonne and exchanging any words whatsoever.
****
Father O’Malley and I waited and waited in the lieutenant commander’s office the next morning. And through midday. And into the evening.
“No visitors,” he announced as he strode in and saw us waiting. “This is a prison! Henry, you would do well to remember that as well!” he shouted to a soldier in the anteroom who scuttled away. He must have been Edmund’s friend and gotten caught. Mary had told me this morning that she’d gotten in, that Nanette was alive, and that she’d told Mary not to find me for help. She believed that I wouldn’t come for her.
“I have a priest with me. I will get her to say the vows with you as a witness. I must be allowed to see her. You do understand that regardless of your beliefs, she and I have a long standing relationship. One that is likely older than you yourself have been alive. I must be allowed in.”
“She has been sentenced. She will see that sentence out. If she’s released…no. No, she will not be released.” There was something in his countenance that felt like he was lying or holding something back.
“There is no reason for this!” I argued.
“The reason is right there for you to see in the now absent wall of the Sea Wind and in the burned and ruined faces of the Puritans. Go take a look if you have yet to witness it.”
“I will not leave here without seeing my wife.”
“She is not your wife. You may have deceived Commander Sutton with that line in the past but here you stand with a priest at your side. I am not so easily swayed or bribed into being careless with the law and order of this colony.”
“Call the governor. I would take this matter up with him.” I sat and refused to budge. After a moment of hesitation so did the priest. I was paying him well to take my side here.
“As you wish,” he growled and sent the young soldier out front for the governor.
Wallington showed up half an hour later looking grim.
“Leticia will have my head if the two of you upset her table further. If she has my head, I assure you that neither one of you will enjoy your days following this dinner. Now, why am I being called away from the evening’s preparations and dressing mere hours till the island’s nobility gathers?”
“Mr. Andrews is upset with the Captain’s prison sentence and is seeking leniency where none should be accorded.”
“I am asking to see my wife and assure her well being. This is not an extraordinary request.”
“It is an extraordinary request when she is a violent offender who has been imprisoned here more than once. And again, not your wife.”
“Those men attacked her. She defended herself!”
“She had no business being anywhere near that tavern!”
“Enough. I’ve heard enough. I’ve heard enough from you, from Leticia, and from all of St. George’s. Andrews, she blew up a wall. We will work to commute her sentence but there will be consequences. Her example may not be followed. Yes, we are far from England but we will maintain some semblance of civilization. Lieutenant Commander Coventry, allow him to visit the Captain. It will do no harm.”
“I cannot –”
“He must have some word of her well being. Regardless of what you consider their status. Bend your rules as you have requested we do only this morning.” He gave the lieutenant commander a serious look.
Coventry took a moment to consider. Finally he swallowed back whatever pride and bile currently filled him and turned to me. “You may send someone to her, not yourself, and that will be all. You will see she is in fine health and then you will leave my offices and leave me to carry out my duties as appointed by the crown. The commonwealth – Commander Sutton.”
“Very good. Now get yourselves dressed. Leticia is the only power on the island that matters this night.”
Both men left and it was only me and Father O’Malley in the room.
“Shall I leave or…” He looked supremely uncomfortable.
“Come with me.”
****
I managed to find Yvonne at the Tide Trader and coerce her into visiting Nan. She gave me and the priest a long suffering look but finally relented. She was to enter the prison, assess Nanette’s physical health, and ask if she would consent to marrying me with this priest so that I could get her the fuck out of prison already. Once we had those vows out of the way the lieutenant commander would have to release her and let me take the punishment.
Wallington would side with me regarding her protected status as a wife. All would be well. Dammit! It would all be well!
I waited outside while Yvonne went into the fort. I was dressed and ready for either my wedding or the Wallingtons’ dinner. I was massively late for both events. My wedding should have been held decades beforehand and the pre dinner festivities had already begun an hour ago.
At last she emerged with a look of savage delight on her face. This did not bode well.
“Well?” I asked.
“Andrews, of all the gifts you have ever blessed me with – and that includes Sofia – this was the absolute best.”
“How is she, Yvonne?”
“Awful. She looks absolutely horrendous. It was divine.”
“Did you give her my message?”
“She will not say any vows.” Yvonne looked at the priest. I made a gesture and the priest skittered away after his long day shackled to my side.
“Is she better or worse than how she looked after the cannons?”
It looked like it pained her to do so, but she finally said, “Better.” Then climbed up in the wagon. “We need to get to the Wallingtons before the dinner proceeds too far for you to get in any useful negotiation. You wasted last night when you had Richard to yourself where you could discuss his fallow land. Helene is right, we can harvest the forest there better than he can.”
We rode in silence (not unusual for the two of us) for a few blocks. Then she started talking.
“All’s not lost, Andrews. I think we could finally have a yes from that woman but she will not agree from behind bars. I suggest changing tactics.”
“How so?”
“That lieutenant commander appears to have some sort of infatuation with a new arrival on the island. He’s blue blood and she’s apparently wealth incarnate. Even going so far as buying out the stalls in St. George’s square and wasting the food on street urchins. Should they choose to marry, they’ll be after our estate as a wedding venue. Angelica will be fucking thrilled. A high nobility wedding at the Hundred Acres? She’ll die of excitement.”
“How does that help get Nanette out of that fort?”
“How the hell did you ever make any money before Anne scraped you off the street? Think, man. Tit for tat. Make nice to that blue eye’d fuck monkey and allow him to bed his bride on our land. He’ll accept the trade. If nothing else we can use his time in bed to get her out.”
“That could be months down the line. She’ll die before then.”
Yvonne didn’t argue that point. “True. However, Roisin told me herself that Coventry broke off their accord. She was even taking new men upstairs, a thing I haven’t seen her do in several years. This man is angling to move fast.”
“Make nice to him?”
“Be more charming than the time you had to convince Davies to take on our shipping contracts.”
“That’s a lot of charm.”
“Do it.”
“If I must.”
“You want your bride not to die in that fort – and let me tell you she’s not far from it – you must. Now get in there. You’re late.” We pulled up to the Wallingtons and I hopped down. She leaned back and lit up a cigar.
“Have a good time with Davies today?”
“Man may not know when to shut up but he’s plenty good at everything else. That tongue of his is gifted at wagging.” She grinned. She’d never make an honest man of him but they seemed to have fun.
I straightened my clothing and bemoaned the fact that I’d enter the dining room smelling of horses and wagons and desperation but Yvonne was right, charm was the name of the game this evening. They all knew Conventry had my wife and they were all likely betting on whether I’d come in, fists swinging. Talbot always bet against me, that fucker.
“Mr. Graham Andrews!” the footman called.
Leticia was already scowling so I made my way straight to her and kissed her hand, full of apologies. “Your flowers are almost as beautiful as you, my darling Leticia.” Charm. Charm was the name of the game tonight. She fluttered and flustered and tried to look upset and failed to look upset and finally beamed and blushed at me. If she were ten years younger she would have been the one dragging a priest around all day after me.
I turned to my seat, ready to face the empty one that was intended for Nanette, the one that would be next to mine. Only it wasn’t empty. A young woman, not much more than a girl really, sat there staring at me with a curious expression. Most of the women up and down the table were offended at my late entrance but she held no such judgment in her features. Still, she was sitting in my wife’s chair and that bastard Coventry was seated next to her. Was this the woman he was infatuated with? Rules were such that they shouldn’t be seated together unless they were already engaged. She was sporting a mighty large necklace that rested above her cleavage, must be the lieutenant commander's warning signal to the other eligible idiots here to back away, she was taken. Or perhaps, this was what Wallington meant when he said Coventry asked him to bend the rules. They were not engaged but it was a formality at this point only. After all, he’d fired his whore. A wedding was likely imminent.
I took my seat and prepared for another dinner full of insipid conversation when who I wanted and who I should have beside me was my wonderful Nanette. These were the evenings where we’d joke and dance and enjoy a night away from the family. Last time I’d been sat next to one of these delicate noble beauties, who’d never sailed back to me after withstanding cannons, she’d complained of stomach cramps and gas from the fourth course to the twentieth.
Leticia was a power-hungry-mad-woman bent on revenge. I was sure of it. She turned to her left so I was saddled with speaking with this fucking woman till I was paroled to speak with Alice Lavigne on my other side. At least then I’d be able to sow seeds of selling me their fallow lands as Yvonne had instructed. But no, I was to speak with this…woman first.
“A word of advice, limit your portions, my good lady,” I advised. I was not interested in spending another evening hearing about the gaseous maladies of the feminine intestine.
“And why might that be, Mr. Andrews?” she said, a measure of well deserved spite in her words.
I was shocked. She spoke with the same accent as Nanette. I’d never heard words pronounced quite the same way and yet this woman spoke with the same accent, cadence, and everything. She must be the patroness, the one who’d sailed in with my wife on my wife’s ship. I had to hear more.
I managed to coax more words out of her as she ate. I couldn’t get enough. I’d never managed to get any information out of Nanette and here this woman was, dropped from the sky, and saying things like “okay” and “fuck” and all these other phrases Nanette had taught the entire family.
It was after dinner that I was able to finally get her by herself. I shooed away some pesky younger lords and what-have-yous. If this was the patroness who was ensuring Nanette stayed in prison for six months, if I could get her to see reason, I might have a chance of persuading Coventry to release Nan early.
“I’m from California. In the Americas,” she told me. She told me like it was nothing. She told me the information like I hadn’t been trying to get an answer about Nan’s homeland from her for twenty years. Americas? My wife was from the Americas. The information felt both exciting and full of grief. Why withhold such knowledge from me?
“Do you dance, my lady?” I finally asked. She’d made no mention of Nanette nor made any indication that we both knew the same person intimately. If I could get her to talk, if I could get her to realize that Nan didn’t deserve such cruel treatment and sentencing, perhaps I could get her to use her influence to persuade Coventry. They must dance in the Americas. I swirled the young woman through the swing dance steps Nanette had taught me long ago, begging for this young woman to realize our connection.
She didn’t.
Coventry stepped in and took her away.