Amy and Rebecca and even Clarissa, too, are all crowded around my own little bed. It's in a nice room, too—an old one that Amy's grandmamma used to use, well, before she went off to her Great Reward, that Amy fixed up for me to use when I spend the weekends at Dovecote.
"Amy, this is splendid!" shrieks Rebecca, her head turning wildly about the room. It is pretty ornate…
"Yes, well, Grandmamma just loved the part of the Puritan ditty, 'Sin at Home.' 'Pray in the Church' she didn't like too much, but…" Amy shows the palms of her hands to the ceiling, as if to say, she's dead now, so it doesn't matter much.
"Who is the painting of?" Clarissa asks, trying to be casual, but I know deep down she is just as excited as Rebecca, who's nearly bouncing off of the walls. Amy sighs.
"Grandmamma, dear Grandmamma never told either me or Randall. I assume it is some lover of hers, but…" Again her hands go up to the ceiling. Shame on you, Amy, for dismissing your dear ol' Grandma like that, I think wickedly, but I know that Amy has a bit of her icy heart melted for everybody.
We all hear footsteps coming from down the hall, and I think to myself that it is probably a servant or a maid, but as they come closer, they sound distinctly of swaggering and…and…
"Oh my gosh."
I can't hear who is saying that and I could honestly care less, because there, standing in the doorway, is Randall and…and Jaimy.
Dimly, as if she were very, very far away, I sense Clarissa saying hello and I realize that Amy and Rebecca bob down in a curtsy, but I am too stunned to do anything. Jaimy, you were supposed to be in China! You were supposed to go to England! What…
He suddenly rushes up into my arms and embraces me and oh…all my thoughts melt away and I can't feel or hear or see anything but Jaimy. "How…"
"Shhh, now, I'll tell you when we have some privacy," he tells me, then presses my head in the little nook of his shoulder. I suddenly realize that we are in the middle of a gaping crowd, but then I realize that I don't give a damn—hey, I've hugged and kissed him in public before, might as well do it again.
We finally pull away sheepishly from each other, though, when we hear Amy achem loudly. Jaimy clears his throat demurely and I murmur a quiet sorry. I glance over at Randall—his face is pure red and is about to burst. I suddenly remember that the medal I received from laying all on the line at Trafalgar is pinned proudly on my chest, 'cause Rebecca was too excited about it for me to take it off. Jaimy just twirling me around and kissing me full-on might have been something to do with Randall's jealous look, too.
"Randall Trevelyne, may I introduce my dear and glorious friend James Emerson Fletcher," I say, dropping down into a full curtsy just for effect. Rebecca's head is swiveling back and forth and it is all she can do to keep from giggling.
Randall suddenly does the strangest thing—he comes up and claps Jaimy on the back as if they were old bosom friends from London…or America…or whatever. "Good to see you again. You've got a good girl, there," he says, nodding in my direction. Oh, Randall, thank you, I smile, my chest nearly bursting with glee. Pure and utter glee, brought on by being at Dovecote with all of my dearest friends (yes, Clarissa, even you), Jaimy standing in front of me, and Randall not trying to dismember that same Jaimy with the saber that hangs so gallantly at his side.
"We met long before, when you were off…wherever you were," Jaimy explains, not unkindly at all. He encircles my waist. Amy suddenly introduces Becky and Clarissa, who flutters her eyelashes, the Look displayed perfectly on her creamy-white face.
"Charmed, I'm sure," she whispers. Maybe I was too soon to put her on the Dearest Friends list… Jaimy nods and drops into a bow. Rebecca giggles again, and I realize that she is still a very young girl of fourteen.
"Is it all true?" she asks suddenly, her face a huge grin. Both Jaimy and my eyebrows shoot up—is what true? "The…the stuff in the book and the stuff that Jacky told us about. Is it true?"
Jaimy takes a quick look at me, and we both know what Rebecca means—the jolly boat on the Dolphin, the quick date in Kingston, the long kiss in front of all me mates when I was first dumped off at Boston, to the stuff in the letters to Jaimy's berth right before Trafalgar, to our long, sweet embrace just before he left again for China. Well.
"Becky, yes, it is true, but was that embrace not enough proof?" I smile. She shrugs good-naturedly and gives Jaimy the once-over. She smiles again and plops down on my bed in a very ladylike way.