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Chapter Thirty-Three

A Mother's Love

"I just asked you, what in God's name is the meaning of all of this?" Bradford Williams demanded of Claymore. "I'll have an answer, Sirrah!"

He pushed rudely past the crowd of wedding guests, making a beeline for Claymore as he backed up toward the house, both hands raised in front of him in mute appeal.

"Provincials…" the bride's father huffed grimly as he helped his daughter up into her coach. "We shall take our business elsewhere in future. There are no gentlemen in this benighted, one-horse town."

The door slammed shut decisively behind them and the coaches set off, rumbling down the road. The coachman on the rear coach set his nervous horses into jerky motion as they followed the others.

The demon chuckled as he rose on his box to look back over the coach roof with a wide grin of grim satisfaction. His carefully laid plans to create mayhem in the life of one of his mortal enemies may have gone awry but he was not dissatisfied with the day's final outcome.

"I never considered any human punishment to be more fitting than mine own," George Turner commented sneeringly as he watched the tableau of retribution beginning to unfold in the Gull Cottage front garden before it was all lost from view in the dust cloud, and the road, rising behind them.

The coach lumbered on, the horses settling into their work. They patiently followed the other vehicles ahead of them by instinct. But their coachman had vanished, leaving nothing behind but the faint scent of sulphur which hung in the air long after the coach had passed on its way.

※※※※※

"You two'd better go see what's happened to that fool, Applegate," Nathaniel Grimes instructed Malcolm brusquely. "The only thing he values more than his hide is his grub. And he ain't showed up to eat it. He better not have fallen asleep somewhere out of sight. The Captain will skin 'im if he has."

"I'll go and see to him right now…" Malcolm jumped up from the remains of his meal.

He knuckled his forehead with one hand as he nudged Jonathan's shoulder with the other. "Come on, let's go see where he's got to."

The two boys hurried along the sunny deck toward the last place they'd seen Elroy, diligently swabbing the deck as they'd instructed. They soon saw the swab, lying forgotten, with its handle rolling around the deck. But there was no sign of the missing seaman.

"Hey, you don't think he's gone and…" Jonathan frowned as he used his hand to describe a dive over the rail. "Or slipped over…"

"Got no clue…" Malcolm shook his head as he went forward to the rail, seeking answers. "But it don't look good. If he has gone over the side…" He shook his head on a low whistle. "If he ain't dead, he'll soon wish he was."

He leaned forward to look down at the foaming water rolling past the side of the ship, then back toward the stern. But he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

As he did so, his calloused young hand fell on a patch of dampness and he pulled back to stare down at the drops of blood he'd just smeared along the top of the rail. A single, fluttering gull feather was stuck in the mess.

"What is it?" Jonathan moved closer, watching his friend anxiously. "Can you see him?"

"No, but I can see something else," Malcolm replied quickly, touching on the blood again and pushing at the feather. "I think I know what's happened."

Making a decision he turned on his heel and ran for the steps up to the bridge. "Man overboard!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Man overboard!"

He ran up the steps to arrive breathlessly beside the wheel, waving his arms and pointing back toward the stern and the long trail of foaming water that showed where they'd been.

※※※※※

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself, man?" Carolyn's father stopped in front of Claymore, glaring at him as Emily got out of the coach to follow her husband through the front gate.

"Ah, good afternoon," Claymore mumbled. "What a surprise to see you two." He tried a weak smile.

"Not as surprised as we are! And I asked you a question," Bradford Williams repeated. "What's been happening here? Is our daughter home again?"

"I… no, she's not. But there's nothing happening here…" Claymore turned his eyes to the dusty line of coaches disappearing into the distance. "I… always take care of my cousin's property whenever he's away at sea. I was just conducting a small matter of business."

Bradford crossed his arms. "And does that oversight also give you permission to rent out his house in his absence? Somehow I doubt that."

He leaned closer. "I saw that man pay you in coin as he left. He said your business was done. What business, exactly, have you been contracting with him and why?"

Claymore laid a protective hand over the large bag of coins in his pocket. "Nothing important. Nothing for you to worry about." He tried his smile again, desperate to look unconcerned.

"Who were those people?" Emily asked, walking up beside the two men. "Why were they here? And why did that man pay you?"

Bradford shook his head. "It seems our son-in-law's cousin has been renting out our daughter's house in her absence and without her permission."

"I never said that," Claymore protested. Then he cringed, seeing he was disbelieved.

He tried another tack. "Besides, it was only for three days. I'll make everything shipshape again in a trice." He glared at their intrusion with dissatisfaction. "What did it hurt?"

Emily sniffed her disdain. "Three days or three weeks, it makes no difference. This is beyond everything permissible. How dare you?"

Claymore squirmed. "I was… caught without a suitable venue." He shrugged as if that explained everything. "What was I to do? Business is business."

"You should have made arrangements other than this one," Emily instructed. "I knew you are into underhanded dealings, but really. Do you not have a conscience? I'm only sorry you are even related to us."

Her eyes narrowed. "By marriage in both circumstances. Not by blood."

Claymore flushed beneath her infuriated stare. "I have things I need to be getting back to in town…" he mumbled.

He turned toward the open front door. "I'll just lock up and be on my way." He pulled the key from his waistcoat pocket.

"Give me that!" Emily snatched it from his hand before he could protest. "You are not a fit person to be having charge of it. I will see to it you do not come to this house ever again!"

"I…" Claymore blinked at her vehemence. "Oh, very well."

In that moment he fervently wished he had shaken hands with the coachman and made the deal with the devil. He was sure that was who it was. Some demon henchman come to make a play for his eternal soul.

He would have been spared all this confusion and embarrassment. He glanced after the coaches with a deeply regretful sigh. He would now have gladly traded eternity for getting back the last half an hour.

Bradford held out his hand. "You'll also give me that money before you leave. Every penny of it."

Claymore paled. "But I earned that money, fair and square! I have slaved for it!"

"There was nothing fair or square about your deal…" Bradford waggled his fingers impatiently. "Now, if you please, Sirrah!"

Claymore sighed as he dragged the bag of coins from his pocket with a show of deep reluctance. He placed it into the other man's hand with an even deeper show of unwillingness.

"Thank you…" Bradford pocketed the bag. "Now be on your way. You have not heard the last of this matter."

"I'll leave you to it, then," Claymore replied, lamely, hurrying down the front path toward his own carriage. He climbed up into the vehicle and set off for town without even saying goodbye.

"You know, I never trusted that man," Bradford told his wife, looking after the disappearing vehicle. "None of my first wife's family ever said a straight word that could be relied on."

"I do not like or trust the whole Gregg family," Emily told him roundly. "You should never have agreed to our dear daughter being sent to this awful backwater. Now see how things stand." She pressed her handkerchief to her lips and gave a small sob.

"Me?" Bradford raised his brows at her in dumbfounded amazement.

He shook his head before he said more he knew he would regret. He turned back to the house. "We might as well go inside and see what damage has been done."

"Very well…" Emily picked up her skirts as she walked up the front steps. "But do not think I will be leaving this matter as it stands. I fully intend to say my piece when our daughter finally returns from this mad idea of sailing away to sea against my wishes. This is beyond everything decent."

She flounced into the house with her head held high. Her husband looked after her with weary resignation. "When did you ever hold your tongue?"

※※※※※

Daniel spun around as Malcolm clattered up the steps, shouting his warning. He took the boy by the arm, pulling him up short.

"Who and where?" Daniel demanded harshly.

Mr Jarvis leaned on the rail and began shouting orders into the waist of the ship. Right or wrong, things would be made ready just in case.

All around them, the crew shouted and began jumping to their stations or scrambling to peer over the ship's rails in all directions. Coils of halyards were brought out and the ship's dinghy was uncovered, ready to be launched if anything or anyone was spotted.

"Elroy…" Malcolm gulped lungfuls of air to steady himself. "Starboard rail. We last saw him just before the forenoon watch. He was swabbing, then."

"His swab's still there," Jonathan added, pointing backwards over his shoulder. "And there's some blood on the rail, besides. But no Elroy."

"Confounded Applegate! I knew he couldn't be relied upon," Daniel muttered as he straightened to assess the ship's present course and position. "Prepare to come about as soon as you're able, Mr Jarvis!" he bellowed.

※※※※※

"It is not to be borne," Emily complained to her husband as they stood together in the foyer of the house. "That man needs to be taken to task."

Bradford shook his head. "Leave it until Carolyn comes home again," he advised quickly. "Best they sort it out. None of our business."

"Well, I am making it our business," Emily replied with decision. "We will stay here until they return. I will not hear another word on that. If our daughter and her children need to move back to Philadelphia with us when she finds out what kind of family she has married into, then so be it. We will make it easy for her."

Her lips set firmly. "I will send a telegram to our lawyers immediately. We will set things in motion and be ready for their return. They never need to set foot in this house ever again."

"Are you sure that's even wise?" her husband asked worriedly. "I mean, they seem happy enough as a couple. How can we interfere? Daniel told us not to."

"That's as may be…" Emily sniffed. "But all these Greggs seem to think only of themselves. You will see. It will be better for everyone in the long run. Carolyn will thank us in the end."

"Somehow I doubt that," Bradford muttered, as he watched his wife bustle away toward the kitchen, striping off her hat, gloves and coat as she went.

He grimaced and sighed. "I guess I'll go and fetch our bags then and pay off the driver. Since we're staying here and not at the Inn in town…"

Nothing but the clattering of dishes replied to him. He was well aware Emily was on a crusade and nothing short of a hurricane was going to stop her now.

Bradford shook his head ruefully as he left the house. He did not relish being here when his daughter and her husband arrived home to find them there.

※※※※※

Elroy bobbed slowly along the surface of the ocean, buffeted by the currents. He was doing his best to keep his head above water, even as he watched the masts and spars of the Carolyn sail out of reach and vanish over the horizon. The vastness of his predicament made his gut shrink with fear.

"But I saved that gull…" He knew he was done for.

He knew he wouldn't be missed until it was too late. He was aware that every hard-learned lesson his Captain had tried to teach him had been wasted. His Captain's pretty lady's kindnesses and the two boys who had tried so hard to make him into a better seaman.

"What have I done?" He'd let them all down.

He figured he wouldn't be missed because of that. His failure to learn even the simplest of lessons.

"Failure…" he managed to gasp over the slop and slap of the waves that would soon drown him. "Could've done better…"

He fought his way to the surface through the next wave that washed over him. "Would've done better…"

He was grateful his late father had taught him how to float, if not actually swim. He thought of his widowed mother, waiting for him to come home. Tears of contrition added to the water streaming over his face. He sniffed dolefully, wishing he could go back and change things. If only…

"Too late now…" He sighed, fighting toward the surface one last time.

It was becoming easier to give up rather than go on fighting. The ocean would finally take him and at least he could feed the fishes for a while. He liked the idea of that. For once in his life he would be useful and not a burden on those who cared about him.

"Best idea…" he murmured as he lay back in the water, allowing the waves to wash over his head as he slowly sank toward the bottom and welcome oblivion from all pain…

※※※※※

Carolyn rose onto her toes as she strained to search the wind-tossed waves. "Can anyone see anything?" she asked anxiously, scanning the horizon for any signs.

"Not a thing," Martha replied, with a hand over her eyes to cut out the afternoon glare of the sun on the water.

The ship had come about, sailing back the way they'd come as quickly as time, wind and tide allowed. Those not in charge of the actual sailing of the vessel were crowded along both rails, all eyes on the choppy water.

"Poor Elroy…" Carolyn sighed, knowing his death was a very real possibility and she felt responsible. "He wasn't suited to being a seaman."

"He wasn't for anything much either, if the truth be told," Martha commented, with sympathy. "He was too much of a dreamer. Lord knows what he was doing, dawdling with his swab, when he should have been working."

"I know…" Carolyn sighed, shaking her head as she leaned further out over the rail.

Martha took her arm, restraining her gently. "Have a care that you don't join him. Then it would be my neck on the block."

"I thought I saw something out there…" Carolyn waved a hand at the dark waters. "Something white…"

"Probably a fish…" Martha looked in the same direction. "If Elroy's still afloat out there it'll be a miracle…"

"There!" Carolyn pointed excitedly. "I see something! Look!"

In the distance, a gull was circling something floating in the water. The bird's plaintive cries could be heard above the waves.

"Well, blow me down…" Nathaniel Grimes hurried to her side, straining to see what she was pointing at. "I swear, if it's him, that muddlin' fool has more lives than a blasted cat and no mistake!"

As he spoke, he turned, pulling off his cap and waving it at the bridge to attract Daniel's frowning attention. "Put the helm over to port, Captain! Somethin' big is floatin' out there in the water!"

"Thank you, Mr Grimes!" Daniel shouted back.

Commands were bellowed and men scrambled to their stations. Coils of halyards were lashed to the ship's rails and made ready to toss overboard to their missing crewman.

Despite everything, Elroy was still one of their crew. And it would be a triumph for all if he was saved from the certainty of Davey Jones' locker.

"I sure hope we're in time," Jonathan whispered as he joined his mother at the rail. "If only we hadn't left Elroy alone…"

Carolyn gathered her son close, kissing the top of his head. "None of this is your fault or Malcolm's. Elroy dreams too much. I should have known better than to insist he came on this voyage. He was not ready and I pushed it."

"It's not your fault, either, Mother…" Her son took her hand. "Elroy is just Elroy…" He shrugged, unable to articulate his thoughts any better.

"Still…" Carolyn returned her gaze to the ocean, hoping against hope that what she'd seen floating on the top of the waters wasn't a fish, after all…

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