Chapter 2: A Map and A Visitor

Sunday Midday

As she exited the motorway, Louisa followed the car's GPS, made her way into the village, and carefully manoeuvred through the narrow streets until she found a parking space close to the harbour. She lifted the still sleepy baby into his pushchair, grabbed his nappy bag, and started out. They strolled along the high street and up to the little lane where a row of white cottages overlooked the harbour. She found the right one, Chough Cottage, and knocked.

"Lou Lou!" Tom was delighted to see her. "How's my baby sister? You haven't changed a bit, well except for having this little one tagging along with you now."

Tom hadn't changed much either in the eight years since she had last seen him. Just a bit taller than Louisa, his dark hair was more streaked with grey now. The Mediterranean sun had deepened the ruddy complexion he had inherited from their mother. His hazel eyes were marked by crow's feet and a tendency to squint, typical of a man in his early 40s who spent much of his life on boats.

James Henry was more awake by now and he allowed his uncle to pick him up and usher them inside. It was a pleasant enough little home, sunny and with a view of the water. Louisa noted it was similar in layout to the one back home she had leased from Mr. Routledge when she was pregnant. They sat down and had a chance to catch up on things.

"So it didn't work out with Selini from Santorini?" Louisa asked.

"It was good for a while. She would take the tourists around the island and tell them about Atlantis. I would take them out on fishing excursions. Then she started wanting more, the usual, marriage and kids. I'm just not suited for that kind of responsibility. She's better off without me."

"Hmmm." Louisa frowned, thinking his words were all too reminiscent of what their mother had said in the note she left when she took off for Spain, abandoning her husband and young children so many years ago. It's just as well Tom left Santorini before starting a family, she thought, but he looked so down talking about his former girlfriend she didn't say anything.

"So tell me all about this doctor bloke," Tom changed the subject. "Mum said he's a bit of a… well a bit brusque at times."

"Well he and Mum clashed yeah, but let's face it, Mum isn't exactly the easiest person to deal with herself. So you've seen her then?"

Tom explained that he had gone to Málaga to spend Christmas with Eleanor. "That's what gave me the idea to come back to Cornwall. Of course, I wanted to see you and my new nephew, but I had another plan in mind too. Sort of two birds with one stone. I'll, er, explain about that later. Let's go out and get some sunshine and some lunch."

They walked to the car park to get the other bags and the portable baby cot from the car boot. Tom admired the Lexus. "LS 460, brilliant! So this doctor is good to you, eh?"

Louisa was embarrassed about the posh car. "It's his really, he just put me on his insurance. I had sold my old car when I went to London for a while, Martin insisted on getting me another one to use now I've settled back in Portwenn. It's in the shop now and the baby seat was already in this one so it made sense for me to take it."

"So what sort of sensible mum vehicle did he get you?"

"Um, a white Lexus," she mumbled, eager to change the subject. "So what are you doing now? On the phone you said something about working on a boat?"

"Yeah, my mate Harvey, he lost his lobster boat in a squall last autumn and then a week later his great-uncle in Plymouth died and left him a boatload of cash. Sort of a bad news-good news situation. So he used the money to buy a bigger boat, second hand 25-foot Treeve boat, and we've been remodelling it, new engine and all new fittings, he calls it his Dream Boat now. Harvey'll be here at dinner and I've got another mate stopping by later. Right now, I thought we'd get some sandwiches for now, sit outside, and this young man" - James was starting to grizzle - "can have his bottle."

Like their mother, Tom was quite a good cook. He got to work on some Greek specialties, while Louisa settled in James upstairs for the night. She brought the baby monitor down to the kitchen so she could set the table and chat with him and his friend, who introduced himself as Harvey Steel.

"Any relation to, uh, Danny Steel, from Portwenn?" Louisa had noticed a definite resemblance. Harvey was about the same height, with the same curly dark hair and good looks as Danny, but perhaps more rugged and outdoorsy, wearing a cowry shell on a leather necklace, and speaking with a slight Cornish accent.

"Danny's my cousin. I think I remember something about you and him being an item at one time?"

"That was ages ago." Louisa went with a little white lie, grateful that Harvey seemed unaware of her more recent relationship with Danny. "We're still friends but he's off in London pursuing his career. No, I'm very much involved with Martin, that's this young man's Dad," she said, happily pointing to the image of the sleeping James Henry on the baby monitor.

"I thought we'd start with a nice psarosoupa and some retsina," said Tom, bringing out a steaming tureen of Greek-style fish soup and a wine bottle.

Later, as the summer sun fell low across the harbour, they finished up with some baklava and ouzo served over ice in little cups. Louisa greatly enjoyed the evening. It was times like this she was happy that James was completely weaned now so she was free to indulge in a drink or two, although she still sometimes missed the intimacy of breastfeeding him.

They cleared the table and Tom brought out a leather map tube. "So, uh, we've got something to show you. This was what sparked my interest in coming back to Cornwall, as well as seeing you and the baby of course."

He took out a rolled parchment and carefully spread it out on the tablecloth. It was a map, a very old one from the look of it. "I got it from an antiquities dealer in Málaga when I was visiting Mum," he said. "I don't know if he had any idea of what it is, but being an old sailor myself, I recognized it immediately."

Louisa studied the lines on the map. It looked familiar, but it took her a moment to recognize it as a very rough sketch of the north coast of Cornwall. There were all the natural harbours and little rocky islets, and the sandbars that posed a hazard to unwary sailors. Beside one of the sandbars there was a small, intricate painting, worthy of an illuminated manuscript, depicting a green mermaid holding up some sort of orb, with some words written around it that Tom translated from archaic Spanish as "here lies the Esmeralda."

"It's gorgeous," Louisa said. "But what does it mean?"

"You have to promise not to tell anyone," Tom said. "Promise," she replied, very curious now.

"We've done some digging - books, historical records, local folklore, that sort of thing, and we've put together an intriguing tale…" Harvey began.

Their theory was that the Esmeralda was likely a small galleon that had gone ahead of the Spanish Armada in 1588 on a secret mission from King Philip II of Spain to secure an alliance with Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, to stage a rebellion against Tudor rule in Ireland. This would distract Queen Elizabeth I enough for the Armada to gain the element of surprise for Philip's planned invasion of England. The Esmeralda carried a treasure on board, a gift from Philip to O'Neill, the most powerful chieftain in Ireland. However, the ship was delayed in its mission, got caught up in the Armada's disastrous battles with the English fleet in the Channel, fled north with its sister ships up and around Ireland intending to go south again in the relative safety of the open Atlantic. The Gulf Stream and strong winds pushed many of the Spanish ships to wreck on the rocky coast of western Ireland.

"But Esmeralda, you see, must have escaped becoming a wreck off Ireland, only to be driven off course as she tried to escape back to sunny Spain. Problem was they had no way of reckoning longitude back then, and they didn't reckon on our fierce North Atlantic storms, which are on record as having been unusually strong that year, so she got pushed east-southeast, got hit with a rogue wave, and went down with all hands lost…" Tom finished the tale with a triumphant jab at a spot on the map, "…off North Cornwall."

"Far enough out not to be seen from shore. Someone on a surviving ship must have drawn this to show the approximate location," Harvey added.

Louisa thought the two of them looked like boys ready to dig for treasure in the back garden. "So you think you can find it?"

They both grinned. "That's what the Dream Boat is for," Harvey said. "We've got it just about finished. I've been telling folks we plan to offer commercial diving trips for tourists, no one around here need know what we're up to. There's plenty that would love to sneak in and poach that treasure for themselves if they got word of it. Now if you'll excuse me a moment…" He headed off for the loo upstairs.

"So Tom, Harvey's inheritance covers the whole cost of this project?" Louisa asked.

"Well mostly," her brother said. "He's hardly rich. I came up with the map and the idea, his money pays for the boat, and we have a silent partner too. Just one local chap we let in on the secret. He isn't much good on a boat I'm afraid, but he's up for an adventure and has a bit of money he can invest in it."

There was a knock at the door. "Bet that's him now. Can you get that and I'll get us another bottle."

Louisa opened the front door and was stunned to see a very familiar face. "Martin!"

To be continued...