The Lady and the Gunner
Chapter 5 – Reunion
Sir Edward Pellew took a breath. He stood before the door of the inn. He shook his head. He had followed the pair here, but then waited until morning to see to them. The maid had informed him that Elizabeth had just finished her breakfast. His heart swelled. His beloved niece who had been taken by pirates and rescued.
He lifted his hand and knocked on the door.
Z+Z
Hobbs and his wife were having breakfast. He was working on his reading as she dressed and came to him. He was sounding out a word when she came to him. He looked at her and then looked back. "I can't figure this one out." He said.
She was tying her hair back with one of his ribbons. She came and looked over. "Oh. It is captain." She said. She had combed his hair out when he had risen with her. He liked her fusing with his hair and the ponytail. Just as he loved to play with her hair.
"Captain." He said. "Captain Williams liked his ship." He said. He smiled proudly.
She smiled and kissed his cheek. "You are making great progress, my love."
"I have a wonderful teacher." He said back kissing her hand.
They ate and then were sharing a private joke after Maybelle had removed the dishes. The girl was laughing so hard tears were in her eyes and her reaction made him laugh all the more.
Then there was a knock.
Z+Z
Pellew heard the laugh of a man. The door opened revealing a gunner, by his waist coat and clothing. Pellew knew him. He was Gunner Hobbs of the Renown, the man who had testified or was supposed to testify against Hornblower pushing the captain into the hold.
His stock and cravat were undone and his hair was loosely pulled back. He was smiling until he saw who was there before him. He snapped to attention and looked at Pellew. "Commodore sir. It is an honor." He looked at Pellew.
"Is it?" Pellew said stepping passed him into the room. He heard Hobbs shut the door behind him and then saw his niece sitting at the table.
She had been laughing until she had noticed him as well. "Well, well. Good day uncle." She said wiping tears from her eyes. She turned fully to him.
"What in God's name are you doing here?" Pellew asked coming to her.
"Enjoying my stay in Jamaica." She said.
"You will be returning with me to England on the next boat after the trial, do you hear me, Bess?" Pellew said. "And you will marry Major Brand as you were promised. Your father, God rest his soul, would never take to you being here without some sort of escort. Why did you not come to me sooner?"
"I had to settle some things." She said looking down.
"Immaterial." Pellew waved his hand.
Hobbs had come and stood to the side, at ease, but watching. His eyes had widened when he listened to her refer to the man as uncle. She was a Pellew? It did explain her rather thick high born accent, but Pellew was English not Irish. He wondered. Who was this girl he wedded and bedded?
"I cannot go back to England to marry, uncle. I will return to you and Aunt Jane soon enough, however."
"There had better be some great circumstances as to why you cannot marry." Pellew seemed to notice Hobbs was there again. "And you. What are you doing here in an inn with my lady niece?"
"She was teaching me to read sir." Hobbs said honestly, standing with his hands behind him.
"You do know who she is, do you not, Gunner?"
"I am starting to wonder, sir." Hobbs' eyes flicked between the pair and then back forward.
Pellew looked to his niece. "You didn't tell him?"
"It makes no difference."
"It makes all the difference in the world. Should I tell you that if you make free or have made free with my niece and compromised her in any way, I will see you hang from the yard arm, do I make myself clear, sir!" Pellew said stepping to the man.
"Aye, sir." Hobbs said quietly as he stiffened.
"She is the daughter of the late Lord Andrew Wellesley, brother of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington and his lady wife, my late sister Lady Georgina." Pellew said. "So I will ask you once, have you touched her in any way that would make me summon the marines here this instant sir?"
"I…" Hobbs looked and saw his wife come to the side of them. His eyes were wide looking at her. Christ God he had married the niece of Wellington and Pellew. God help him. He was going to be hung for sure.
"Don't talk to him like that." Elizabeth was on her feet and nearby Pellew noticed. "He is not on a ship, uncle, and he certainly should not be treated as an inferior."
"He is not a peer, Bess." Pellew hissed. He then looked at her as he stood, hands on hips regarding her. "Why are you defending him?" He asked turning back to Hobbs who was trying his best not to even breathe with the Commodore staring him down so. Hobbs would have greatly liked to have melted into the floor at that point, but could not.
"He is my husband." She said lifting her chin and looking to Hobbs. The man seemed to pale under his tan.
Pellew rounded on her. "He is your…what?"
"My husband." She said lifting her chin. Oh there it was, Pellew though. My sister's defiance. It had been the same when her lady mother had set her eyes on a Irish milord and not the Englishman their father had chosen. Gretna Green had solved that issue and by the time she had been on her way home, she was carrying Elizabeth. Pellew sighed. At least his sister had had the good grace to marry higher than her station. Elizabeth had not even married a junior officer.
She turned and walked to the sideboard and lifted the wedding certificate. She brought it to the Commodore and stood hands on hips watching him. Pellew sighed. It was going to be a long day for him. He needed a stiff drink soon.
"By God Bess, what have you done?!" He looked at the paper. It was legitimate and he threw it to the table away from him as if it burned him. "Hobbs, leave, now!" He barked.
"Sir." Hobbs said out of reflex and turned to go, but Elizabeth stopped him.
"Belay that, Gunner Hobbs. He has no command here. This is not navy ground nor is it a ship. If you walk out that door, you shall never see me again."
He paused and looked at her and then nodded folding his arms. Pellew looked at her and then him and sighed. "She always was the stubborn one. Even worse than her mother. Hell she was even born stubborn. She was breach and nearly took her mother." He muttered. He went and dropped into a chair at the table and shook his head. "Bess…this will ruin you."
"How? I did nothing I would not do again." She said still defiant. She was standing looking like a fighter. Hobbs looked at her with adoration and clearly had the urge to have his way with her, but could not.
Hobbs walked to her. "Sweetheart," he said softly. His hands went to her arms and he pressed a kiss to her brow softly. "You must calm yourself. This is not good for you." He said. She nodded and sighed moving to the table. He walked behind her as she sat down across from her uncle. He stood back, watching the pair, unsure what to do about his wife being a Lady of breeding or the man who could legally find something to hang him and make it look like an accident in order to keep his niece's good name.
Pellew sighed. "Why did you marry a Gunner? He is not even an officer, Bess." He looked at her. "Not even a midshipman."
"God I would hope not. He is not fourteen." She said.
"Then why?" He asked. "To spite us, to spit on your family and where you come from?"
She leaned forward. "You all wanted me to marry Major Brand. He would have beaten the holy hell out of me and none of you would have helped me escape."
"Your uncle Wellington would have…"
"My uncle Wellington would have never found out. He was checking my letters and tried to force me." She looked at him. "So yes. I did in part for spite, but also love." She looked back at Hobbs who was standing watching, silent as a statue. "Jamison is a good and honest man, uncle. He married me. He could have bedded me and left, but he stayed. That should at least mean something."
Pellew looked up at Hobbs. "So you tupped her first, did you? By God if you were not in the presence of the lady I would see you flogged sir."
"Stop threatening him uncle."
"He will be flogged for insubordination anyway." Pellew said simply.
"No he will not…."
A hand dropped to her shoulder and she looked up at her large gunner husband. "If he must flog me to save face, let him, sweetheart. I would gladly go under the lash to keep you." He said.
"Spoken like a man of the service. You do yourself credit sir." Pellew said.
"No uncle. I won't let you…"
"This is a navy matter, Bess." Pellew said.
"Like hell." She hissed.
"Your travels have done little for your vocabulary, but you also have a gunner for a husband so I am sure that has lowered your standards a bit."
"I protest sir." Hobbs said. "Say what you will about me, but do not comment on my wife. We are married and I will not have you slander her, sir."
Pellew nodded. "Quite." He said. Even he had to admit he admired the man's protective nature despite the fact he was walking on thin ground speaking so to a superior officer. He looked to his niece. "I apologize. I did not mean to make you sound like a common strumpet."
"Better." She said. "And you should know, uncle. Gunner Hobbs will be a father so I would see him back before Christmas."
The fingers on her shoulder tightened and Pellew's look of horror made her smile grimly. "Yes. I carry his child, uncle, so if you thought to put aside my marriage that cannot happen now." She could not see Hobbs' look, but she knew it was one of affection and amazement. His other hand dropped to her shoulder, as if protectively. She reached up and touched one hand and sighed.
"Bess, I cannot elevate him. He is a gunner, an NCO. I cannot make him a rank that befits you without being suspicious." Pellew hissed.
"Why would you?" She asked.
"You are proud you married a gunner? So far below your breeding?"
"We cannot help whom we love." She said.
"Amen to that." He said softly. He knew he was beaten. He could see the love and affection in the eyes of the gunner for his hoyden niece. Sadly he knew the attitude very well. She was her mother's daughter through and through. "Very well. I accept this marriage. I will write to your uncle Wellington and tell him the news."
"Thank you uncle."
Pellew sighed and rose to his feet. "I leave for England in three weeks assuming this damn trial is over. He will be on a ship by then. You will be joining me, I hope."
"I am still welcome?" She asked softly.
"There is nothing you could do that I would not claim you as my niece, Bess. I love you greatly. Your mother was a treasure and fought for what she believed in. You are so much like her." He sighed. "Your child will be born with the family and you will be looked after well. That I promise you both." He added that, making a point that he would not turn her out for her choice and neither would be turn out the gunner.
Hobbs stepped to him. "Sir." Pellew turned to him. The Commodore regarded the gunner as the man tried to find the words. "If I may. I would ask sir, that she not be martyred for my sins. She is well above my station, but I love her greatly and I would not see our marriage harm her."
"Perhaps she made a better choice than we realized." Pellew said looking at him. "You are a good man, sir. I have heard you are an excellent gunner and you have made a good choice in wife. We will look after her well while you serve His Majesty."
"That is all I ask. Thank you, sir." Hobbs said. He saluted the Commodore.
"Oh one more thing, there Mr. Hobbs."
"Yes, sir?"
"There is the matter of the reward."
"Reward sir?"
"For the safe return of the Lady Wellesley. She is a Viscountess, you know." Pellew watched the man. "A great deal of money for her."
"I would not take your money since I will not be returning her to you."
"Indeed, but you shall have the reward regardless. You need some sort of thing for her rescue, good man."
"Thank you sir." Hobbs said.
"You can find us whenever you wish, uncle."
"Indeed." Pellew nodded. He dipped his head to them. "Good day to you both." He turned and left them.
Hobbs stepped toward his wife as the door closed and Elizabeth stiffened as he exhaled. "All right, husband. Let's have it then." She said.
"You are not just a merchant daughter. You are the bloody niece of a Commodore to the Royal Navy and the field marshal for our forces in Spain." He said looking at her. "When were you planning to tell me?" His voice was calm, but his eyes were flashing. "Before or after your uncles have me dancing at the end of a rope."
"That will never happen." She said.
"A viscountess. Hell, my love, you have really made a mess for yourself."
"I made my bed and I will lie in it." She said calmly.
"How can you be so damned calm about it?" He asked taking her by her arms. "They will throw you to the wolves, love."
"Why are you so damned angry?"
"You didn't say a word." He said. He sighed. "I deserved that much."
"Would you have listened?"
He sighed and his shoulders sagged. "No". He admitted. He would have thought her making it up as he would even now had he not heard it from Pellew's lips, a man, like Captain Sawyer whom he greatly admired. He walked to the window and looked out. "Are you pregnant?" He asked stiffly looking out the window.
"I could be." She admitted.
"Then it is not mine?" He asked stiffly. He knew that she could have been raped aboard the pirate ship. It was a high likelihood in fact, but they had never discussed it, not that he expected a lady to. However, even at that it would be early to know if she were breeding.
"It certainly will be yours if I am breeding." She looked at him almost sadly. "I told him that so he would allow us to be together. A child would help that along." She sighed. "Who knows? I could be." She looked down at her stomach.
"Indeed." He said looking out.
She rose and wrapped her arms about him and sighed against his shoulder. "I love you Jami."
"I know." He turned to her, his blue eyes bright. "Why didn't you tell me you were an aristo?" He asked calmer.
"You would not have married me otherwise."
"I would have not bedded you either." He said. He winced. "I have no idea how to be around people of breeding." He looked at her. "I am a simple gunner." He said.
"Never mind that." She said. "Do what you are good at. You are a damn fine gunner." She said.
"You uncle is right. We need to do something about your cursing." He said amused.
"Oh?"
"Yes."
"Fuck no." She said smiling as she kissed him.
"Oh there is a punishment for that, milady." He said.
"Oh?"
"Hummm…a severe tongue lashing."
She looked at him. "But sir, I have been very good."
"Oh?"
"Yes."
"How so?"
"I know things."
"Such as…"
"Such as you are going to take me to bed and fuck me as hard as you want."
"That word on your pretty little mouth." He murmured. He came to her and pressed her cheeks together, eyes narrowing.
"You have said it often enough."
"Certainly. I am a gunner, not a lady." He said pulling her against him as he began to walk.
"Perhaps I should learn more about the guns."
"Perhaps, but away from the men, you have learned enough rough language."
"Why are you so worried about it?"
"Because you are not a whore." He said laying her down. "So don't talk like one."
"Make me, Mr. Hobbs." She said as she lifted her foot to his groin and touched his hardening manhood. He grunted and lifted the offending food away.
"Do you accept your punishment, my lady?"
"What is it?" She shifted. "I am sure there is nothing in the articles of war about swearing like a sailor."
"Perhaps, but you are a lady."
She snorted. "I was born a lady. Perhaps I was meant to be low born."
"Hush." He hissed and nipped her small ankle. "Now let me see. What to do?"
"You better hurry before I pounce on you." She said looking up at him wicked. "Show you how much of a hoyden I can be."
"Two dozen lashings I should say." He said pulling her skirts over his head and pressing her underwear down to her knees as he buried his face against her.
She looked down as his tongue flicked against her expertly.
"One." He said from below and she gasped.
"That is not fair."
"Two."
"Jami…"
"Three…"
"Jami!"
"Four."
"You bastard."
"Five…"
"God I love you."
"Six…."
Z+Z
Several men stood before the vertical rack. Gunner Hobbs stood there. The men had come for him early in the morning. He had walked his head up as he sheltered his young wife with his body. She had insisted on coming. Against his better judgment he had let her.
He noted his wife was nearby. Sir Edward Pellew stood near her and looked at her.
"Why are you here, Bess?"
"If you are going to flog my husband, I want you to look at me, the mother of his child and wife, and tell me why you are doing it." She said firmly.
He looked at her and then turned to the men. "This man has been found guilty of insubordination to a superior officer. The articles of war demand punishment for such an act." Pellew said. "How plead you, Mr. Hobbs?"
"I will gladly take the punishments as a man of the navy for my offences, sir." Hobbs said.
"Strap him up." Pellew nodded. He would have to commend this man on his bravery and his insistence to keep his bride his own, but Pellew could not stand someone speaking to him as an equal, who clearly was not. Hobbs as a man of the navy understood that.
"Hats off." A lieutenant barked to the crowd.
Hobbs looked up at his wife and shook his head at her as she moved to protest. He removed his waistcoat and his shirt and stepped to the rack. He slipped his hands through the ropes and they were tightened to hold him. His back already had the crisscross scars from the folly of his youth. He had not been whipped for nearly fifteen years, but still remembered it.
"Mr. James. Two dozen if you please." Pellew said.
"Uncle, No!" The girl protested.
"Your husband submitted to the laws of the navy, my dear. It is how it is done." Pellew said.
She made a face and walked away and then gasped as she heard the first strike hit. "One!" The Boatswain barked. She heard her husband grunt. Another fell. "Two"
Another. "Three."
It was taking minutes, but it seemed like days. Hobbs grunted with each kiss of the cat, and held the ropes hard.
"No!" She cried and ran through the crowd.
"Fifteen." She pulled her dress so it barely hung on her breasts and threw herself before her husband her back to the Boatswain. The strike fell cutting the soft skin of her shoulders and arching across. She yelped in pain and pressed against her husband's bleeding flesh. He felt her arch against him. This was not the embrace of a lover, however, he could hear her outcry of pain and felt her tears. They stung his wounds, but he didn't care. Her small hands wrapped around him, clinging to him for support.
"Sixteen!" The Boatswain continued. Another fell against the honey shoulders, stripping more skin. "Seventeen." She had winced again, biting her lip. Hobbs had winced with her feeling her body jerk against him.
"Hold fast." Hobbs hissed to the girl. He knew the pain she was in.
"STOP!" Pellew cried in shock as the Boatswain looked up and then to the girl and back. The strikes had cut from her right shoulder down and had ripped her tender flesh down to her left side. She was sobbing in pain as she held herself to her husband, her face pressed against his shoulder. "You fool, you were not to strike others."
"I have to continue until commanded to stop." The man said. True enough Pellew thought as his shock wore off. Seeing blood on his niece flared his temper, but the man was right else he would suffer the same.
"You flogged a woman and not just any woman, but my lady niece." Pellew burst.
"It was my fault uncle." Came a weak voice. "He was only doing as ordered."
"Indeed." Pellew said.
He looked over his shoulder. "Lizzy?! Have you gone mad?!" He gasped seeing red hair, a bonnet, and felt the small body against his. Her scent of cinnamon and honey made him shut his eyes. He also could smell blood. Christ God, what had she done?!
Pellew looked at her. She held her dress up as she turned to him, her face covered in the blood of her husband, as she looked up at her uncle. Quivering, tears running down her cheeks she stood there holding her dress as her back oozed against the white muslin of her dress.
"What in heaven's name are you doing?" Pellew asked.
"I am going to take my husband's punishment with him. It is my fault he was insubordinate. I will take the punishment as well." She turned and looked at the Boatswain. "Your count is at two for me sir." She said shaking a little.
"Lizzy!" Hobbs barked. "Go to your uncle and let him finish. I will take the punishment. You can tend me after."
Pellew swallowed. "I will not allow a woman to be flogged, let alone one who carries a child." He looked to Hobbs. "Take him down." He said.
"Sir?" The Boatswain said.
"You heard me." Pellew barked. "Do as you are ordered."
He walked to Hobbs and released him. Hobbs rubbed his wrists and then looked at his wife. His shoulders stung, but for someone who had never experienced the cat before or had any sort of punishment, he could tell it hurt terribly. She was literally shaking.
He went to her. "My little fool." He whispered looking at her. He pulled her into a hug and as his hands went to her back she arched against him and cried out. It was not the cry of a lover, but a cry of pain. He jumped back from her and turned her around as she whimpered. He looked up at Pellew. "She did not deserve this."
"She ran into it, sir." Pellew said. "Dismiss." He barked.
Hobbs stood looking at his wife and then back up at the Commodore. Pellew came to him. "It is quite clear that I cannot separate you two." He said. "Go take care of her. I will call on you later."
Hobbs nodded and reached for his shirt. He nodded and reached for her, but as she did she swooned. Pellew had seen and moved back, but Hobbs caught her to him. "It is all right sir. I will see her wounds healed."
Pellew nodded and touched the pale brow. "I never meant this for you, sweet niece."
"She knew the risk sir. You are not to blame." Hobbs said cradling her to him.
"I wish I could forgive myself as easily as you can, Mr. Hobbs."
Hobbs walked to the hotel and up to their room ignoring the looks he was getting as he walked upstairs of the proper hotel with the lady in his arms, her breasts nearly falling from her dress, and unconscious, and the man carrying her, bleeding from being flogged.
Hobbs carried her into the room and laid her on her stomach on the bed. He pulled her dress down to reveal her bare back and the cruel marks on her tender flesh. His breath caught. His poor wife. Maybelle had heard the commotion and came into the room.
Hobbs was gently wiping the blood from her side when she came in and gasped. He looked up. "Some vinegar and brown paper please, Maybelle." He said. "And some water."
"Yes, sir."
He moved and hissed as his own flesh caught. She paused. "Should I fetch you a doctor?"
"No." He said.
She nodded.
Hobbs watched his wife stir and gently touched her cheek. "My brave little wife." He whispered.
"How can you endure it? It hurts so much." She whispered.
"You have never been whipped before. It hurts more on unscarred skin, my love." He pressed a kiss to her shoulder above the whip marks. He had cleaned the blood, but it still oozed, but he could see the damage now. The strikes had bruised and flayed her flesh from the bone of her shoulder blades and back.
"Do yours hurt?"
"Yes, but not as much while I am concentrating on you." He said honestly. The blood was clotting. He would rinse it off as soon as she was attended to.
Maybelle returned with a basin, brown paper, and vinegar.
Hobbs nodded and took the basin. He filled it with the vinegar and pressed the brown paper into it. He sighed and looked at his wife then Maybelle. "I will hold her, if you can apply those."
Maybelle nodded and swallowed. "Is it so terrible?" She asked.
"Stings." He said simply. He gently kissed his wife's shoulder. "I am not going to lie. This will hurt my love, but it will help the wounds knit clean."
She took a breath and nodded. He shifted her to lay across the bed and he took her hands in his. "Good girl." He told her. "Look at me." He said.
Maybelle looked at him as he nodded as he sat on the floor. She sighed and took one of the papers and then closed her eyes a moment before lying the sheet down on her broken skin. The girl cried out and arched panting as she squeezed her husband's hands.
"Lizzy…Lizzy. Look at me." He told her. "Look at me!"
She opened her eyes, tears pouring down her cheeks. The pain lessened. She relaxed a little.
"Two more." He told her.
She sobbed a little and nodded.
Maybelle laid them on her and she tried desperately not to move, but she bit her lip so hard that she made it bleed. Hobbs pressed a cloth to her mouth and sighed. "Thank you Maybelle."
"What of you sir?"
"I am going to bathe as soon as I let my wife relax."
The maid handed him a small bottle. "Sir Edward said this may be of some benefit."
He nodded and walked to the sideboard. He put water in a teacup and put in two drops. He returned to his wife who and shifted so she had a pillow under her head. He pressed the cup to her lips. The girl drank it down and he watched the laudanum take effect.
Soon she slept and he nodded to the maid. "I will need water." He said.
She nodded and soon heated water and cold was brought. He poured in a little vinegar and then dismissed the maid.
He climbed in and sighed as the diluted vinegar hit his wounds. He gasped somewhat in pain, but covered it with a cough. He made sure his wife had not woken before settling back into the bath. He closed his eyes and sighed.
Marriage to this girl was interesting to say the least.