Chapter Forty-Nine
Once Again In The Spring…
"Oh, but she's just a girl?" Jonathan's mouth turned down at the corners as soon as Daniel told him the news of his baby sister's arrival. "How come? I mean, I said my prayers every night and everything, for her to be a him. It's not fair!"
It was now early morning and Dr Ferguson had long departed for his bed after partaking of the welcome late supper and mug of foaming ale Martha had thoughtfully provided. Claymore was still fast asleep in the guest room, passed out and snoring off his late night exertions and excess of Christmas cheer.
But the children couldn't wait, and they were up early to wait impatiently for any further news. Seeing the door to their parents' bedroom was shut, Candy had changed a restive Henry before all three had tiptoed downstairs to the warm kitchen to wait. Candy had set about stoking up the fire in the living room to banish the chill in the room.
She walked to the windows to look outside. The sun was barely up but the day looked as if it was going to be fine and clear. The Christmas night's snow was already beginning to melt.
She went back into the kitchen to feed Henry his breakfast as they all waited for any sight or sound of news. She and her brother finally exchanged glances when they heard the Captain's firm tread upon the stairs. Then Jonathan had greeted the welcome news of a safe delivery with his boyish complaint for which his sister shot him a quelling glare.
"I'm afraid that's just how nature works, lad…" Daniel ruffled the boy's hair in sympathy. "You can't choose. God help us if we could. You must be grateful that babe is hale and hearty, and your mother is as well as can be expected."
"Well, a girl is fine by me," Candy inserted, frowning at her brother as she pushed aside her empty breakfast plate. "I say that makes us all even around here."
Her brother scowled at her mulishly. "Don't see how. It don't add up."
"Well…" Candy raised one hand to tick off each of her fingers. "If you count me, Mum, Martha and our new sister, that's four ladies in this house." She nodded. "Next, count the Captain, you, Henry and Claymore, that's makes us even. That's fair."
"Those sums don't work," her brother complained. "Claymore doesn't live here."
"But he's still family," Candy responded happily. "He's here now and he's a Gregg. Right, Captain?"
"He most certainly is." Daniel grimaced, passing a weary hand over his bearded chin. He envied his cousin's ability to sleep so soundly. "To our benighted cost. We shall see how he goes on in the next few months. Time alone will tell us the true value of his word."
"And you said that our new sister was born last night at one minute to midnight," Jonathan asked, turning back to Daniel. "On Christmas Day."
He shook his head. "Wish I'd been born then. That would be spiffing! I'd get twice the presents!"
"A valid point," Daniel replied with an understanding smile.
"Maybe then, the next one will be a boy," Jonathan said hopefully. "I'll start praying for that instead."
"What are you going to call her, Sir?" Candy wanted to know.
"I have no idea." Daniel shrugged. "I'm still getting used to the idea of becoming a father."
"But you're our father too now," Jonathan added anxiously. "You were ours before you were hers."
"Aye, lad, that I was and I still am." Daniel smiled as he stood from his chair and stretched mightily, easing his tired muscles. "Now I'd better get back up to your mother. You two need to wash your dishes, then get dressed and come on up to meet your new sister." He left the kitchen.
"Still say a boy would have been better," Jonathan muttered as he did as he was bid. "What do dumb girls know about making sandcastles and climbing trees…" His face brightened. "Or going to sea as a cabin boy…" He grinned. "No girls allowed there!"
"But the Captain hasn't asked you yet," Candy reminded him as they collected their dishes and carried them to the sink. "You sailed with all of us last time as a family. You still need to know all your duties." She fussed with Henry, cleaning his face and hands with a damp cloth.
"I'll learn them! Malcolm's teaching me still." Jonathan replied stoutly as he filled the sink with hot water. "See if I don't! I'll be right as rain and ready come the spring! Then it'll be just us Gregg men going to sea." His face broke into a well-satisfied smile.
"Uh ha…" His sister's look of disbelief spoke volumes about her opinion of his chances of taking Malcolm's place.
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"Jonathan is none too pleased with our wonderful news," Daniel said quietly as he closed the door of the master bedroom behind him. "He said he prayed for a boy."
"Yes, I fear he feels outnumbered," Carolyn responded with a smile as Martha tucked the clean, fresh sheets in around her again.
"He'll come around as soon as he claps eyes on this precious mite," the housekeeper said as she carried the tiny, swaddled bundle from her mother's arms to the bassinet and settled the replete mite down to sleep.
She came back to the bedside. "Spring'll come soon enough now that the weather's broken and that boy will fair be itching to get back to sea and have some new adventures. A baby sister will be the least of his concerns. He yearns to be your next cabin boy."
Daniel nodded. "When he earns the place, it will be his. I promised him that."
"I could wish that they all didn't grow up quite so fast. And that we were going with you in the spring, as well," Carolyn said, reaching to take her husband's hand as he sat on the side of the bed. "It's so lonely here without you."
"There will be time enough yet in the season," Daniel reassured her gently. "You must get strong again and you will have plenty to keep you busy while I sail for London town. I will also miss you like the very devil, but we must be patient. You will have your work and our babe to keep your mind away from any troubling thoughts."
"I know, but still…" Carolyn plucked restlessly at the sheets with her free hand. "I'm the wife of a sea captain."
"That you are, indeed." Daniel covered her hand with his. "I've told the children to get dressed and come on up to meet our new one."
His brow creased. "They asked me for her name, but I had no answer."
"I'm afraid my mother will half-expect our babe to be named for her." Carolyn sighed. "Candy was named for Robert's maternal grandmother. A very stiff and uncompromising old woman who always looked down her nose at me. I was given no choice in the matter."
She shrugged. "And Jonathan for some other, more obscure ancestor. The Muirs insisted." She turned her head restlessly on the bank of pillows.
"Now, don't you go worrying yourself," Martha counselled quietly, leaning in to plump up the pillows. "You'll find that your husband is more than a match for your mother. She will not be allowed to interfere here this time. Right, Captain?"
"Most certainly," Daniel responded confidently. "The decision of a name for our child will be ours alone. And it will be appropriate."
"Thank you…" Carolyn tightened her grip on his hand. "At least her surname will be Gregg."
There was a knock on the door and then Candy opened it to put her head around. "May we come in now?" She surrendered Henry to Martha's care as the toddler babbled his contentment.
"Of course," Carolyn replied with a happy smile as she sat up. "Come and say hello to your new sister…"
Jonathan pulled a face behind his sister's back but didn't comment as he followed Candy into the room and walked to the bassinet to look inside.
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"You shouldn't have allowed me to drink so much last night," Claymore complained as he pressed the fingers of one hand to his aching temple. "I have a whole herd of elephants dancing around inside my head."
"You were too full of Martha's good food and the bonhomie of the season," Daniel countered as he held his tiny daughter in his arms. "The fault was yours."
It was late afternoon and Carolyn was asleep. The two men went downstairs to the living room where the three older children were playing with their new toys.
Under Martha's direction, they'd helped to clean the room of the scatterings of refuse from the previous night. Now there was only the pine-fresh, decorated tree to mark it was the day after Christmas.
"Yes, well…" Claymore grouched. "I've always said your cellar is excellent. Even better than mine."
He moved close enough to peer worriedly at the sleeping infant in his cousin's strong arms. "A wee mite, that's for sure." He shook his head. "She sleeps now, but when she wakes…"
He shook his head. "I was of service to you last night," he reminded Daniel proudly. "I remember that I fetched the doctor to you in good time. But now I think it's time I took my departure. I fear I must take to my bed to recover from last night's revels."
He turned toward the doors. "But I do not forget my promise. I will make a mark in this town. See if I don't."
"Keeping your word about taking care of the orphans in your charge will be a good start," Daniel responded. "But once you find it will bleed your purse more than you expected…" He shook his head.
"Aye, well, I might yet surprise you…" Claymore asserted as he placed his hat very carefully on his head. "Good afternoon…"
He tipped two fingers to the brim as he walked slowly into the foyer, making a slightly unsteady turn toward the front door. It opened and then closed behind him.
"Well, he didn't Scrooge up our Christmas…" Jonathan got up to look out the window. "And he hasn't fallen over."
"There's still time yet," Daniel replied as his young daughter stirred in his arms and began to whimper. "The new Claymore has barely existed for a month over a lifetime of his miserly, purse-pinching ways."
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Carolyn sighed as she leaned back against her banked pillows. She watched as Daniel lifted their baby from her arms to return her to the bassinet. The hour was late, and the flickered gas fire was the only illumination in the bedroom. It was a warm world full of happiness and gratitude.
Beyond the windows a light snow was falling as the chill wind rattled the glass panes, trying to find a way inside. Daniel returned quickly to bed to climb back in and draw his wife close against his side.
Carolyn settled into his embrace, placing her cheek against the solid wall of his chest. She stared into the flickering shadows on the far wall.
"What are you thinking about?" Daniel asked softly. "You're looking very pensive."
"I have spent the whole day considering and rejecting names for her…" his wife replied with a sigh.
"There are many forms of your name which would be suitable," Daniel offered.
"As there are of yours," Carolyn countered. "But our baby is her own person. She should have her own name and not someone else's."
"Fair enough…" Daniel nodded. "Did you come to any conclusions in your search?"
His wife pulled back to look up at him. She reached to trace the line of his bearded cheek with one fingertip.
"Mary is an obvious one, given our wee mite was born on Christmas Day," she said, with a slight frown. "My mother would like that."
She shrugged. "But I would like a name that is light and sweet. Something uniquely her."
"What about Lucy?" Daniel finally asked slowly. "It means light in Latin."
"Lucy…" Carolyn tested the flavour of it. "Lucy…" she said again.
"It feels right," Daniel said then. "But the choice is yours to make."
"Yes…" Carolyn settled back against him. "It is a lovely name. Lucy Gregg…"
"Lucy Carolyn Gregg," Daniel amended softly, kissing her hair. "She is her mother's daughter after all."
"Lucy Carolyn Gregg…" his wife replied drowsily before she yawned. "Yes, I think that is very right. Lucy Carolyn Gregg…"
She settled deeper against him, snuggling into his solid warmth. "Of course, I must now send an urgent telegram to my mother. She will be waiting to know about our baby's safe arrival. She will not approve of her name, but that cannot be helped."
She shook her head against her husband's chest. "You must go back to sea as soon as the ice breaks in the harbour and I must face my mother's opinions on how to raise our child. No doubt, she will wish to travel down from Philadelphia the moment the roads are passable again. But it will be good to see my father once more. Him, I do miss…" She sighed again as her eyes drifted shut.
"At least, we do have some time alone together. Until the roads become passable again…" Daniel felt her breathing begin to even out as she fell asleep.
He rested his cheek against the top of her head and listened to the wind outside trying to gain access to the room. "Sleep, my love…" he whispered as his own eyes finally drifted shut.
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Two months later:
The grizzled old harbourmaster of Schooner Bay stood at the edge of the sturdy wooden dock, looking out over the ice-bound waters of the bay. A watchful frown drew his beetling grey brows together. He turned his head from side to side as he studied the ice floes and the cracks that were starting to appear in the jagged sheets of frozen seawater.
A faint rumbling could be heard, as if sleeping giants were once more stirring awake beneath the blinding whiteness. The rumbling grew louder as the shifting currents running under the frozen ice world began to make themselves known once more.
"Ahhh…" The old man lifted his long nose toward the sky, sniffing and sensing the welcome changes.
Spring was unseasonably early this year. A good omen for the trading ships which relied on good weather to make the fastest crossing of the wide Atlantic. More voyages meant a deal more coin in the pockets and coffers of the town.
The air was warmer this morning, carrying the ripening scents of the wakening land behind the town. The long, grim days of chill winds and icy mists were beginning to abandon Schooner Bay and a watery sunshine now shone down, a welcome warmth to the old man's shoulders which had seen so many seasons like this.
He moved his old bones in gratitude as he glanced down at the young boys hovering beside him. They came to his office each morning now, assembling quietly as they waited tensely for their signal. Lean and hardy ship's boys from the very young and green to the older children, now well experienced in the ways of the ocean and their irascible masters who were waiting impatiently for the good news that the new sailing season had finally arrived.
"Aye, lads. It looks like it's finally time, at last…" The old harbourmaster clasped the slim shoulder of young Malcolm from the Carolyn.
Beneath the old man's gnarled hand, the lad was quivering like a greyhound, eager to run home to his waiting captain with the welcome news. Moving restlessly from foot to foot, his new boots clattering on the stout timbers, the boy rubbed his chilled fingers together as he blew on them.
"I was as young as you once…" The old master shook his head as he stared at the group of well-dressed boys. "And as eager…"
The town still marvelled at the incredible changes that had been wrought in Claymore Gregg over the last couple of months. It did seem to be a genuine Christmas miracle.
Not only had the town's irascible president commissioned a whole new orphanage to be built on own his land from many of the trees he owned, but he'd also furnished the current crop of boys with warm winter clothing. This unlooked-for largess had been extended to any former orphans still living and working in the town.
"Wonder of wonders…" the old harbourmaster muttered as he shook his grey head. "What possessed the man to part with his money is a complete mystery to many of the good folks in these parts."
"We're to run now, Sir?" Malcolm asked eagerly, his thin face full of expectation.
Beside the Carolyn's senior cabin boy, Jonathan Gregg hovered with the same eagerness to be gone about his new duties. The harbourmaster liked the young boy's keenness to learn.
He was very pleased that Captain Gregg had seen fit to make the young lad his latest cabin boy. Spending too much time tied to a mother's apron strings weakened a boy.
The old man spat his disgust into the icy waters. That Elroy Applegate was a prime example of a man who'd lived too long under the wing of his mother. But he was Old Alfred's problem now and welcome he was to him.
"Run, it is then…" The old man grinned suddenly. "Aye, my fine lads. Run like the wind to your masters and tell them the good news. Mother Nature has turned her favour on us at last! Schooner Bay is again open for business!"
The eager boys needed no further urging. To a child, they were up onto their toes and gone in an instant, leaving the old man to look after them with a sigh. Once he'd been one of them, eager to be back at sea with a thirst for new adventures beyond the far horizon.
"Blast it all…" His old bones creaked as he eased his stance, frowning out at the fleet of ships that lined the harbour.
They too seemed to sense the new mood of the tides. They began to rise and fall with the incoming season of change, their timbers creaking with the anticipation of release from their icy confinement and the call of the open ocean.
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"Alexandria? I had no thought of going there this early in the season. It means a longer voyage." Daniel sat forward in his chair before Claymore's desk. "What are you about now, Cousin? Why the sudden change of port when we'd already agreed I would sail to London town again as usual?"
"A last-minute commission from a very important client who desired a reliable captain and crew," Claymore replied evasively. "There are fine profits to be made from a good shipload or two of African blackwood. They would be very handsome indeed. And our shipments of grain and fine cloth will find a ready market on the dark continent. Everybody wins."
"But you accepted this new commission without first consulting me," Daniel complained, sitting back to fold his arms across his chest. "I could sail to the Pool of London and be well returned in the time it would take me to reach the mouth of the Nile. And there, they work on African time. We could be delayed by weeks while the harbour men haggle over trifles and imagined slights."
"But I gave my client my solemn word…" Claymore grouched. "Your profit would be twice the normal rate. Two London sailings in one trip. I had thought to see you pleased, Cousin."
Daniel shrugged. "I will have to see what Lucius thinks of such a change in destination."
"Oh, I have already telegrammed the good captain and obtained his agreement," Claymore said quickly. "He arrives today on the Rebecca. He said if you also agree then he is amenable to the change. He likes a good profit."
"I thought you said you had changed," Daniel charged darkly, stabbing one finger at his cousin. "I see the old Claymore peeking from behind your urbane nature."
"Not at all…" Claymore waved a dismissive hand. "I'm merely presenting you with an excellent deal that benefits us all. Surely you cannot complain about such generous terms. My business is very much your business. And if your lady is staying behind with your new babe for this voyage…"
He shrugged. "You will be paying the Admiral off for his investment in your company all the faster. Surely that is a right and just aim."
"You do make a valid point…" Daniel conceded heavily, shaking his head.
Claymore sighed his relief. "It's not as if you haven't sailed for the Pillars of Hercules before now, and returned with your hold full of treasure. If you find yourself once more awash with ivory and pearls, then those profits will all be yours." His blue eyes gleamed with regretful avarice as he advanced the documents of agreement for the voyage for Daniel to sign with the pen Claymore held out invitingly.
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