The Schooner Bay Home for Invalid and Indigent Seamen:

Fortuna Figg Grover

Chapter 3:

That evening Carolyn made ready to go to sleep. Captain Gregg had been absent the entire day after Mrs. Grover left Gull Cottage, and she was more than curious about the relationship between them. Because there was obviously something.

"Captain…" she called, lengthening the word in the early stages of anger, "you've been avoiding me all day. There is something we very definitely need to talk about."

There was a peal of thunder.

"Blast it! Women always want to talk about 'things' instead of just accepting them as they are!" said the ghost of the house as he appeared before her. "There is nothing to talk about. Fortuna and I grew up together. She was as silly as a girl as she is now as a woman."

"Well, she did come to speak to me about a 'family issue' and we never got to talk about it because of your appearance. I'm sure you didn't speak with her about her impending grandchild."

"Of course not! Why would I?" the Gull Cottage spirit asked. "That's a woman's thing. And wanting to put their noses where they are not needed or wanted. Like you want to do right now." He actually banged his fist on her desk, making the inkwell jump and spill a bit of ink, causing Carolyn to rush over to wipe up the small puddle.

She sighed testily at him. "I didn't approach her, and I most certainly didn't have the time to put my nose into her family business. You, however, seemed to be happy enough to make time stand still for a little reunion with her!"

Since that was the truth of it, Captain Gregg was momentarily without a response. During his lifetime, either he was away from Schooner Bay, or only saw Fortuna at a distance when he was in town. He didn't recall them ever having a conversation together after he went to sea. If they did pass each other in the street, at best they would exchange polite greetings, (usually accompanied by mutual grimaces) and not even slow down, much less stop for any further words. But he had never stopped noticing her, and despite being very aware of her haughty nature and her disdain for his life on the sea as a commercial sea captain, he admittedly never stopped admiring her-only physically, of course!

But Carolyn was different. She was his soul mate, and she deserved his respect and concern.

"Alright! As children, Fortuna and I had a little crush on each other. A very little crush, I might add. It hardly lasted more than a few weeks." It was hard to discuss this, and Daniel did his best to make it seem as trivial as could be. "She was a good-looking girl, when she was 14, and I very naturally noticed. I was quite precocious about such things, as with many other items, my dear. And of course, she noticed me. I was a handsome, well-made boy, and I never went through that unfortunate period when children are all hands and feet, tripping all over themselves with voices breaking and pimples appearing. Why it would have been impossible not to develop a little flirtation with one another!"

"You make it sound like you were born fully formed, brought from the sea on a seashell, like Venus herself!" commented Carolyn dryly.

"When you have suave, you have it from the cradle, my dear." She was sure that he was being completely serious.

"But if this was a short, childish and inconsequential 'crush', why make time to speak to her now? You certainly could have done that when you were alive."

For once, the Captain's bluster deserted him.

"When I returned home as an adult, she would never pay me the least attention, I'm afraid." Carolyn turned white and put her hand up to her mouth as she gasped at Daniel's revelation. Realizing what she thought, he spoke in gentle tones with a melting look on his face. "Yes, I admit now that I never completely got over her. It seemed that the more she pushed me into the gutter, the more I wanted her, but I could only respond by denying it all and abusing her character. I turned to Vanessa Albright who was a sweet, innocent girl. The sort of girl who would have made a capital wife…for someone other than a seaman. And although it decidedly hurt at the time, she was right; she never would have been able to withstand the long months apart and the constant worry. Despite what you've heard from the townspeople, I reiterate that I was not suicidal because she broke our engagement. I knew that she had done the right thing. I missed her companionship, admittedly, but it would have been a grave mistake to marry. I went to my death more or less resigned to never knowing what it was to give my heart wholly and unconditionally, or to receive another's. But then you came into my afterlife, and I finally learned what love truly is. Fortuna is a mistake that hurt me immensely. I won't allow my mistake to hurt you."

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Fortuna had grabbed her fine hat and stomped out of Gull Cottage after her re-introduction to Daniel Gregg. He had been royal pain to her during his life, with his smug sureness and lack of humility. Now he haunted the town and could cause even more trouble. She hadn't even had the opportunity to discuss her problems with Mrs. Muir, and now she never would. The whole town was probably gossiping about her anyway. She would not allow herself to be ridiculed. She would just hold her head up and go about her life. Eventually, things would work themselves out. They always did. Afterall, she was a Figg, a leading member of the town and married to the richest man in town. What could a ghost do to her?

That evening, Thaddeus noticed that his wife was even more in a snit than usual. He had arrived in town long after the days of Fortuna and Daniel's innocent infatuation and she had never mentioned it. He had noticed, of course, that she did not like the sea captain. Her explanation that the sight of him reminded her constantly about the death of her beloved uncle. She could not reconcile how a lowly midshipman could survive the Battle of Vera Cruz, while its hero did not, and that explanation had made sense to him. He never questioned her further and therefore that evening had no clue of what had transpired in the morning, nor would he have believed it if someone had told him.

Fortuna sat at her dresser that night, brushing her long hair before braiding it for bed. The act reminded her of the many times that it had been dipped in blue-black ink by that impudent boy with the bluest eyes. She remembered the times that he put ice chips down her back on warm spring days or the day that he had crawled under her school desk to tie a rope around her ankles so that she would fall right into his waiting arms when the class was dismissed. She wanted to be angry with the foolish boy he had been and the arrogant, know-it-all man he had become, and apparently still was, even as a specter. But she couldn't help smiling at some of his childish tricks, or close her eyes remembering their innocent kisses. He was, she had to admit, the handsomest man she had ever met, and even in death, his eyes could take the breath out of woman if he so chose.

And like Uncle Horatio, he was a seaman; a fine figure in a uniform, she supposed, and a leader of men. Of course, he was too sure of himself and his worth, even abrasive. However, she couldn't fault him for that. Wasn't she herself known to be somewhat off-putting? Thaddeus was a step up socially for her and her marriage was considered to be "brilliant", of course. However, her husband was a banker. A dry, boring, number-loving banker. She had an expensive home, fine wardrobe, and everything that money could buy. But it couldn't buy the excitement, passion, or vitality that Daniel Gregg had in abundance, even now. Oh, why couldn't she have met a man that combined the best of both? Was that the reason her life had seemed unsatisfying through most of her marriage?

In typical Fortuna fashion, she immediately decided that she had finally found the cause of her dissatisfaction.

There was no way that she could make Thaddeus Grover more passionate. He became stodgier year by year. He had never been exciting; he had even been described as phlegmatic by the time he was in his thirties. If he slowed down anymore, she thought, he would grind to a halt altogether.

But Daniel Gregg was dead. It was much too late to throw her life to the wind, run to the shelter of his arms and declare how wrong she had been and how unfair her treatment of him was. Besides, she hated to admit that she had been the one who had caused their rift. Too many years at the top of the social pile of Schooner Bay had made that admission too painful to contemplate.

She had not forgotten her original mission to Gull Cottage. She was no closer to a resolution about Phyllida than she had been the day before. And that brought to her mind the pre-wedding discussion that she had had with her daughter about marital duty. What, she wondered, would her honeymoon night have been like if Daniel had been her groom? The possibilities brought color to her cheeks and heat to the deepest part of her. She knew enough of his juvenile kisses to intuitively know that he would have been an extraordinary lover with strength and desire mixed with lovingness. No grimly lying in bed allowing Thaddeus to exhaust himself into a snoring sleep had Daniel have been her groom! Where had she gone so wrong?

She didn't know how to extricate herself from this dilemma, but she did know that all her other problems likely stemmed from it. If she wanted to find happiness, if she wanted to have a happy family and real friends, something had to be done, but what?

The only idea that seemed likely to bear fruit was to talk to the ghost of Daniel Gregg again.