Chapter Three

"Really?" Emma asked excitedly.

Horatio had spent three years at sea, faced dangers that would make other men keel over with heart failure and here he was, reduced to a blushing school boy by a mere sixteen year old girl. He honestly had to get control of himself. Think logically, man!

"Yes. Our physician was shot dead." he blurted, grasping for his sanity again.

"Oh." she said, her smile wavering into a nervous grimace. Then she did something that made him fall in love for the first time in his twenty years. Emma squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, locked her exquisite blue eyes with his and said, "Well. It's certainly unfortunate that your doctor met such a horrible end but I'm not going to let fear stop me from doing what I must. This is a perfect opportunity and I don't mean to let it pass. You need a doctor, I'm the closest thing you've got right now. I'm not afraid." she insisted. Horatio stared down at her, dumbstruck. He was saved by the most illogical impulse to grab his wife-to-be and kiss her six ways to Sunday, by James Stuart coming out of the house to greet them.

"Come along you two. Emma, if you'd like to go up and change it will give Horatio and I a chance to talk about you behind your back." James teased. She threw her father a playful smile and climbed up the stairs to her bedroom, knowing that both pairs of eyes were watching her. She again felt the strange short of shiver knowing that one set of eyes belonged to a man that would soon be hers.

When Emma disappeared at the top of the staircase, Horatio let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. James didn't miss the significance of that gesture and smiled at the young man.

"Everything I said she was, isn't she?" James asked proudly.

"And more." Horatio admitted honestly. James ushered Horatio into the living room and poured him a brandy. "I know you warned me about her willful nature, Sir but there's something I feel that you really should discourage. Seeing as Emma and I are, for all intents and purposes, still strangers to each other, I'm sure that coming from you the order would be more effective." Horatio began.

"She's insisting on staying on the Indefatigable with you, isn't she?" James said with a resigned sigh.

"Aye, sir." Horatio nodded.

"I thought she might. It's her mother, you understand? Ever since her mother left, Emma has a dreadful fear of being abandoned. That's why I allow her as much independence as I can. I want her to be able to rely on herself. She is perfectly capable of doing so now, I'm proud to say. But it's the fear of it that paralyzes her. I'd ask you, in this matter, to give into to her. I wanted to make sure she had someone when I knew i had to leave her."

"I'm honored that you thought of me. Truly, Sir. It's only that you've asked me to keep her safe. That'll be a bit difficult if war comes and we're doing battle in the middle of the ocean." Horatio reminded him.

"I thought of that." James said, his shoulders slumped. "Believe me, if I thought I could leave her here to run the household, I would. She'd follow me though. I know my daughter." James said with a rueful smile. Horatio nodded with one of his own.

"She threatened to follow me across the Atlantic in a dingy." Horatio said. James gave a snort of amusement. "I will do what I can for her, Sir." he added, sitting back and placing his hands on his thighs. "You have my word. I will protect her with my life."

"I know you will, son. I ask also that perhaps you try to love her as well." Horatio averted the older man's eyes and lowered his head, feeling the warm blush creep into his face. "It's not a difficult task at all, my boy. Emma's very easy to love. There's a light in her. Very much like her mother." James' voice softened at the memory.

"Have you heard anything?" Horatio asked sympathetically.

"The last I heard, Katherine was taken prisoner in Spain. Charged with killing two Spanish officers and condemned to hang. That was last month. I don't know if she's alive now." James closed his eyes, willing the painful thoughts aside.

"Does Emma know?" Horatio asked.

"No. She still believes the woman who abandoned her was her mother. I never told her about Katherine."

"Don't you think it would ease Emma's heart? To know that the woman who left you both wasn't her real mother?" Horatio pressed. He felt a sharp twinge of guilt, not relishing that he would have to keep something of this magnitude from his wife.

"I didn't think so at first. She might see Katherine's absence from her life in the same light as she sees Rowena's abandonment. I doubt it would matter to Emma that Katherine gave Emma to me so that she could continue to fight the French. That's another thing I should warn you about, I suppose. Emma can be quite illogical when she gets emotional."

"It has been my experience that most women are." Horatio said with a smile.

"Quite right." James said laughing. Then he grew serious. "I suppose now that Katherine is probably dead Emma should know. Could you wait a while before you tell her, Horatio? Perhaps until she knows you love her so that she could at least lay her pain and heartbreak with you?"

"I promise." Horatio nodded, knowing full well that he was already in love with the man's daughter.

They were cut off from any further conversation by a piercing scream coming from upstairs.