Chapter Seventeen

The Invention Of A Name

Carolyn rolled over, stretching her arms high above her head as she arched her back on a satiated groan. "That was… beyond everything wonderful…"

She sank back, turning her head on the pillow to smile at her husband. "You certainly do have some very interesting talents I'm only just discovering, my love…"

Daniel shook his head as he smiled with satisfaction, accepting the compliment without reply. He moved his arm where it lay beneath his wife, bringing her closer in to his side.

The shuttered bedroom was warm and sunny as the afternoon slowly lengthened. The house was quiet and still. Nothing stirred in the hush. It seemed as if all nature was holding its breath, trying not to intrude on such a private and intimate moment of two lovers rediscovering the incredible depths and heights of their love.

"I wish we could stay just like this, forever…" Carolyn sighed as she relaxed against the warm, solid wall of her husband's chest.

She waited for Daniel to comment, but he still remained silent. She nestled closer, pushing one naked leg between both of his, trying to shut out the world, but knowing it would soon become impossible.

She rubbed her cheek against him with real regret. "But the children will be home from school soon. We'll need to make a push to get up…"

When her husband still didn't reply, she slowly finger-walked her way from below his navel to his bottom lip, running the ball of her thumb from side to side across his generous mouth. "You're very quiet. You have nothing to say?"

Daniel heaved a long sigh. "There are no words. Nothing that can adequately express my thoughts and feelings at this moment…" he responded, capturing her hand in his. "The beauty of your love has struck me utterly dumb."

"You could try one…" Carolyn teased lightly. "You were quite the poet last night. What are you thinking right now?"

Daniel pulled back slightly to gaze down at her with solemn blue eyes. "I am thinking that every time we make love together, it is like the first time…"

He kissed her forehead. "And each time is never enough, nor will it ever be. Not even if we go through eternity together. I will still want more…"

"Not bad for a man with no words…" Carolyn whispered, sliding up his body to kiss him lingeringly, her hands free-roaming over his heated skin, finding all the right places to make him groan with renewed desire.

"Woman, you are insatiable…" Daniel growled as he rolled over, taking her with him deep into the tangle of sheets and blankets.

"It's because I love you with every fibre of my being and I'll never be able to get enough…" Carolyn whispered against the strong column of his throat as she willingly accepted his loving care once more and the world spun away.

She sighed happily. "My love for you runs deeper than the limitless ocean and is as certain as the sun rising each morn…"

※※※※※

"Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but thank God for Harriet and her big mouth." Martha nodded happily as the Gull Cottage family lingered over their dinner the following evening. "I'm just so glad she gave you a much-needed push in the right direction. I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't go for it and we would never get our sequel to Maiden Voyage."

"I'm glad, as well." Carolyn sighed. "I will admit to having cold feet about the whole idea of my publishing more stories like Maiden Voyage. But Harriet's patent disapproval of the very idea was the last straw. How dare she and Hazel raise their noses at what I must do to make a living?"

"Well, she's gone now and we can pick up our lives right where we left off…" Daniel took her hand, moving her wedding ring around her finger with the ball of his thumb. "My memoirs can wait for now. This is far more important. We are going to make you famous."

"Yeah, Cousin Harriet's a very silly lady," Jonathan complained. "I'm glad she's gone. She didn't like anything about living here. Not the beach, not the house, not anything. And she was so scared of everything."

He looked around. "Now she's left, I can have all my ghostly friends over to play with me any time I want."

"But if she comes back again, you're gonna have to remember your lines better than this time. She almost caught you out," his sister reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah…" Jonathan spooned a mouthful of dessert and swallowed it. "I get it. But I think if she comes back any time soon, the Captain'll get real mad and feed her to the sharks. Even if she does give them indigestion. Right, Dad?"

"You know me too well, lad." Daniel smiled at him, ruffling his hair. "I'll admit it's a tantalising option worthy of exploring if she ever sails into this house again without first receiving a gilt-edged invitation."

"Well, I don't think we'll be seeing her back here for a while." Carolyn crossed her fingers. "We've given the family enough to think about for now. They'll need to digest Captain Mathers' will for starters. I'll telephone my mother tonight and talk to her about respecting my privacy in the future. We don't need any repeat performance like the last few days."

"By the way, that was a masterstroke, if I do say so, Captain," Martha approved. "With the will and sending Harriet scurrying back to nurse Violet."

She grinned. "Remind me never to get on your bad side. It's not good for one's health."

"Needs must…" Daniel laughed as he inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"So, if we're going to pursue the idea of our writing historical romance novels together, then I must write away for their submission form," Carolyn told them. "We can fill it out and mail everything off as soon as we've finalised three chapters of our first manuscript."

"That is all they require for their approval?" Daniel raised his eyebrows.

"Yes." Carolyn nodded. "When I telephoned Hanover Books before dinner, they said all they ask for is a detailed synopsis of the novel and the first three chapters, along with a covering letter about any experience I've had. If they wish to read the rest of our story, then they'll ask us to mail them the entire manuscript. After that, all we can do is cross our fingers and wait for their letter of final approval."

She grimaced. "Or disapproval…"

"Then to speed things along in our favour, perhaps it would be better if I accompany our submission so I could scare them into their submission," Daniel smiled wryly.

"Nice try, Captain…" Carolyn smiled. "Tempting, but no. We need to do this on our own merits. We must find a suitable story that won't shock my potential readers too much. Not like last time."

"Very well…" Daniel sighed roughly. "I was simply looking to make the best use of our combined skills. Remember, you are going to be using the skills of a genuine ghost writer."

He grinned. "Well, several, in fact."

"Yes, but we need to keep such stories within certain boundaries," Carolyn warned. "You know what happened the last time you thought you were helping our cause."

"Well, it seems to me that the very first item on the agenda had better be choosing a suitable pen name," Martha commented. "You obviously can't use your own. Nothing would bring Harriet back here faster to register the family's disapproval, than seeing it written across the front of a romance novel when you get published."

"Yes…" Carolyn frowned. "I love your optimism, but it's a sticky one. Whatever name we choose needs to be something well removed from this house and any connections with it."

"Carolyn Gregg is out, then?" Daniel raised his brows.

"I'm sorry, but yes, well out…" His wife shook her head. "It would be just too obvious."

"A pity." Her husband shrugged. "I would rather like to see it in print."

"Well, I'm not against you using my last name," Martha offered. "Since the suggestion was mine in the first place. It's not known to many people around here. Most just call me Martha."

"Yes…" Carolyn frowned. "Thank you. Grant is a common enough name. I think it would pass close scrutiny."

"And your forename?" Daniel asked. "Did you have a favourite when you were young?"

"Well…" Carolyn gave it some thought before she raised her shoulders. "I once had a good friend named Annabelle. I've always liked the name…"

"Annabelle Grant…" Martha tested the flavour of it. "I like it. It sounds young and upbeat. Very suitable for a newly minted romance writer."

"I like it, Mom," Candy offered. "It's a really pretty name."

"Yeah, me too." Jonathan nodded. "And yes, I know I can't tell anybody, anything." He sighed. "I get it."

"Yes, I think it's good enough for our purposes," Daniel approved. "Now all we need is a rousing and romantic story of daring-do for this new author to submit for publishing. We set the bar high with Maiden Voyage."

"All the names and locations in any of the stories you collect will have to be fictionalised," Carolyn warned. "We can't leave anything to chance. Nothing can ever be traced back to this house or to you."

"Understood," Daniel acknowledged with a salute. "I'll draw up a list of likely candidates and then I will send out a few calls to some ghostly friends of my own."

※※※※※

Carolyn stood alone on the balcony looking out on the nightscape of the restless ocean. The full moon cast a wide path of burnished silver toward the shore, cutting through the polished gun-metal grey of the cold Atlantic surge.

Overhead the countless stars twinkled in the black velvet arc of the midnight sky. Beyond her conscious understanding, something about the scene tugged at her heightened senses. She felt inexorably drawn to the far horizon and the hidden promise it held of other places and new worlds to be seen.

She sighed. 'Is this how Daniel often must feel, standing here, looking out to the horizon with a sense of such longing…?'

The night was cool and she shivered in the sheer silk of her nightgown. She wrapped her arms around her body, not yet willing to abandon the magical scene to return to the warm security of their bed.

Suddenly, two strong arms were enfolded around her from behind and she was no longer alone. Daniel drew her back to rest against his solid warmth.

"I awoke and you were no longer beside me," he whispered against her hair. "I missed you…"

"I was thinking about you and how much you've lost." Carolyn extended one arm to encompass the vastness of the view. "Do you miss all this? Do you long to be able to navigate your course once more by the moon and the stars?"

"Every day," her husband admitted honestly. "I go up to the walk to look out at the view. But, in the last hundred years, I have resigned myself to the fact that I may never leave this house and go sailing again."

He leaned down to kiss the side of her neck. "But then, how could I ever sail away again, when everything I could ever want is right here in my arms? And I thank God for that every day. I believe it was William Blake who said, 'To see a world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wildflower…'"

He sighed. "I have seen many such heavens and uncounted grains of sand. They all fade away because you were not there, beside me. Everything always comes back to you, my love…"

"This is what heaven was always meant to be…" Carolyn turned slowly within his embrace. "To know another soul as well as you know your own…"

She raised one hand to cup his bearded cheek, tracing the line of his mouth with the ball of her thumb. "You once said to me that you were always here. Is it because you became tied to this house from the moment you died?"

"In part, yes…" Daniel seized her thumb briefly between his teeth before kissing its softness. "No harm can come to me. I told you once I am a super spirit. I may go where and when I please. My singular failing was to die without leaving a will. Claymore's grandfather inherited everything. You know I always meant for this house to be a home for retired seamen."

He shrugged. "Therefore, I made it my choice to stay here, not only because I died in this house. I also needed to remain in spirit to prevent anyone from changing it from the home I'd built for myself and my legacy. And, in the last few years, I made it my mission to prevent Claymore from razing it to the ground out of spite and greed."

"I see…" Carolyn frowned. "I have often wondered how and why you allowed the addition of electric lights and the plumbing upgrades to be made at some point in that time."

She smiled. "I'm not saying they weren't welcome, but you said you really detest all such modern innovations."

"Ah, yes. It happened because I was given very little choice in the matter." Her husband shook his head ruefully. "Claymore's late, unlamented father was a very stubborn man. He insisted the house had to pay its way as a summer rental and for that to happen, he demanded I allow him to make the required improvements or suffer the consequences."

His lips twisted wryly. "After several attempts on my part to scupper his designs and terrorise his workmen into fleeing, Charles appeared early one morning with a boxful of pitch torches and a book of matches. He stood in front of the house and shouted at me that if I didn't comply with his plans he would burn me out, say it was a faulty gas line explosion and claim the insurance. And he would have done it if I hadn't relented and allowed him to complete the work."

"How awful. Then we must be grateful Claymore doesn't take after his father." Carolyn slid her arms around him, reaching up to kiss him lingeringly. "If the house didn't exist, then I would not have come here and we would never have met. I cannot bear to even think about how tragically close that almost was…" A shiver passed through her that was not caused by the cool night air.

"Thankfully, Claymore is easy to terrorise and control." Daniel drew back to look down at her. "But to answer your original question, no, I am not tied to this house. I never have been. I may go anywhere I wish. But, as its ghostly guardian, I needed to remain here. For over a hundred years the house had no one to defend it but me."

"But now it's safe because it belongs to me," Carolyn mused. "Claymore wouldn't dare touch it for fear of what you might do to him. You know only too well what he values more than his life."

"Yes, my house now belongs to you." Daniel watched her expression closely. "Just what are you dreaming up in that beautiful head of yours?"

"I'm not sure, yet…" His wife shook her head. "I will let you know when I know."

"Cryptic, indeed." Daniel frowned. "Well, for now, you need to come back to bed. You're cold and I know just the way to warm you." He ran his hands up and down her bare arms before putting an arm around her shoulders and guiding his love back inside.

He glanced back over his shoulder at the nightscape of the restless ocean, stars and full moon. As always they called to him with a seductive siren's song he'd tried to ignore over the last one hundred years. But now, for the first time, that song has lessened its grip on his heart.

"Heaven is to be found within the soul of the one you love beyond price or measure…" He sighed as he reached to close the curtained windows behind them and shut out the world once more.

※※※※※

Three days later, Captain Lucius Beaumont eased his long length down into the wheelhouse's rump-sprung armchair. He'd answered Daniel's summons out of a deep sense of curiosity.

"It's good to see you again." He eyed his good friend with cynical speculation as he crossed his booted legs at the ankle and leaned back, linking his fingers over his abdomen.

"Your summons sounded urgent. Unfortunately, I was away seeing to some matters of mine own." He had the look of a spirit about to enjoy himself hugely at Daniel's expense and he was going to savour the moment.

"Yes, you certainly took your time in answering me," Daniel replied a little too sharply.

Seated behind his desk with freshly-sharpened feather quill pens and sheets of paper at the ready, he was well aware of the advancing lateness of the hour. And the fact that his wife was waiting for him to come to bed. But ghostly time did not have the same meaning as human time and he had to accept Lucius's tardiness in appearing.

"Ah, there speaks the impatience of a newly-married man." Lucius raised one dark brow. "Do I detect a shade of testiness in your tone, my friend?"

"No…" Daniel sighed brusquely. "I'm sorry. I am pleased to see you."

"As I am happy to see you again so soon." Lucius bowed his head.

He settled further back into his chair. "Now, let me see if I heard you right, my friend," he continued. "After a hundred years of fobbing me off, or telling me you're too busy to listen, you're finally willing to sit down and lend an ear to some of my stories. You even wish to write them down. Pray tell, why now?"

"Because we need your help," Daniel replied. "I've drawn up a list and your name is at the top. I had thought you would be flattered by the telling."

"Ah, I see…" Lucius nodded slowly. "And is there to be some monetary gain, anywhere in this venture, for me?"

Daniel shook his head. "What use have you of money, my friend?"

"Oh, I don't know…" Lucius murmured thoughtfully. "My Rebecca has always did look rather fetching in a new necklace of sapphires or emeralds."

"I swear you always were something of a pirate at heart," Daniel complained, good-naturedly. "Belay that. I am calling in a favour or two."

"Ah, forgive me, my friend." Lucius laughed. "I merely wished to see you squirm, just a little. You deserved that."

He studied Daniel closely. "Married life suits you. You look happier than I have ever seen you. Your lovely lady certainly won the approval of everyone who attended your wedding. It was a fine night for a spiritual gathering. A pity there are not more of them."

"Carolyn suits me very well and that is all that truly matters." Daniel nodded his acknowledgement. "There is no other woman like her."

"Yes, that is all that truly matters," Lucius agreed slowly. "Having a true beloved companion at your side to go through eternity with…"

He sat up. "Very well, then let us discuss this new venture of yours. You wish to hear me recite some of my rousing tales of high-seas drama and daring-do. You will need suitable stories full of blood and gore."

He eased his sitting position against the pain of the cannon shot wound in his back. "I do have several of those which are particularly blood-thirsty and involve the fortunate demise of any number of dastardly pirates and a goodly moral ending. They have always been excellent sellers."

He frowned. "From memory, the penny weekly novel readers couldn't get enough of such swashbuckling tales. I had often thought to publish mine own before fate intervened and I was killed." He shrugged.

"No, not those…" Daniel smoothed the length of a feather quill through his fingers. "I do not have a need for such stories. We require tales about the rescuing of damsels-in-distress. A romance will ensue between the said lady and the ship's captain. It will need to end in a happy outcome for them both."

"A romance?" Lucius's dark eyebrows rose sharply toward his hairline. "God's teeth, man, what have you gotten yourself tangled up in? Adventures are what you need to pen to be well-read. Leave the romance to the ladies. They have the sensibilities for them. We men are made for sterner stuff."

"Perhaps in our century, it was so." Daniel nodded. "But Carolyn has the opportunity to broaden her skills as an author into novel writing. It seems the thing of the moment in this century is women's romantic fiction and they pay well enough for—"

"Please, spare me the feminine details." Lucius held up a denying hand. "It seems married life has mellowed you more than I thought. Where has your sense of adventure gone, man? Our times together at sea were often filled with blood-curdling escapades and hair-raising escapes in the nick of time."

He pointed his right thumb at his friend. "You must remember the time off Madagascar when I saved you from that female witch doctor who'd taken a rather keen interest in acquiring certain male parts of your anatomy for her spells. And she was also fascinated by your nice blue eyes. Now that was a great story you could write about. We barely made it out of that village, alive."

He chuckled richly as he shook his head. "And I'm sure the only damsel you ever had on board any ship under your command was the one you told me back in fifty-six. That woman who stowed herself away aboard the Mary Anne when you were leaving Boston Harbour bound for Bristol. From memory, you said she was a very fetching little piece trying to make her way to Dover to meet with her betrothed."

He grinned. "You certainly knew how to rescue a damsel-in-distress that day. You said your motley crew of brigands and cut-throats would have ravished her if you hadn't stepped in to protect her virtue. If you're set on penning a romance, you could use that tale. Though you didn't get to marry the heroine."

"I'm afraid that ship has sailed." Daniel shrugged. "Carolyn has already published it as a magazine article."

"Ah, so you are stymied for more?" Lucius shrugged. "That rule of yours about no women aboard has scuppered you well and truly."

"But you were never averse to allowing the fairer sex aboard any of your ships," Daniel pointed out. "I seem to remember you often had a tale or two to tell about their deep and abiding gratitude for their safe passage."

He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "I certainly remember one rather enticing, raven-haired beauty you were escorting around Tangiers when I docked. Even after she met me, she still only had eyes for you. I believe her name was Maria…"

"That was well back in my salad days!" Lucius sat upright with alarm, ignoring the sharp twinge of pain in his back. "Those tales are not to be spread around for all in sundry to read! If any of them came to the ears of my Rebecca I would be cold-shouldered for a goodly month or more!" He held up both hands before him in surrender.

"Carolyn says we must fictionalise all the names and locations." Daniel attempted to soothe his good friend's sudden alarm. "Nothing will ever be tracked back to you or your memory. Your wife will never know the true teller of such stories."

"I wish I could be certain sure of that…" Lucius wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. "And I had thought to take such stories with me to my grave…"

He laughed mirthlessly. "Who knew that I was not to find my eternal rest there."

"None of us expected to find ourselves existing on the ghostly plane," Daniel agreed as he pulled a sheet of paper forward.

He dipped the nib of his quill into the ink well before holding it poised to write. "Do you remember enough of one of your tales to relay it to me?"

"More than one…" Lucius turned his hunted gaze toward the tray at Daniel's elbow that held the decanter of Madeira. "But first things first. Make it worth my while. I believe my throat is too parched right now to relate anything and I do remember that wine of yours being of a rather excellent vintage…"

※※※※※