Part 3 (1/2)
Mr. Conant recovered first, a look of amus.e.m.e.nt touching his eyes. ”This is what may be called the free and easy style of introductions, but if you have no objection, miss, perhaps I should a.s.sist you to your berth.”
Anna sprang from his arms. ”Water is pouring in belowdecks.”
”Stay here.” He disappeared, but she couldn't sit still and do nothing. From the sounds of it, the entire s.h.i.+pload of pa.s.sengers was seasick. Why she hadn't been afflicted with the same calamity, she didn't know. But she knew the crew would have their hands full with the storm. The least she could do was help with the women.
And help she did. The water that had doused her turned out to be no more than a porthole that hadn't been properly secured. And after the captain changed the s.h.i.+p's course, the rolling became easier, but the sea was by no means smooth.
They'd been out for three days, and the majority of pa.s.sengers still suffered ill effects. Even though it was only noon, Anna settled a pale young widow into her berth, then soundlessly closed the door behind her and headed to the upper deck for some air.
Walking along the portside, she took deep breaths. Gray clouds bunched and dipped, spraying the deck with mist. Surely the entire voyage wouldn't be this unpleasant.
A small, fragile-looking woman who had to be at least sixty staggered into Anna's path. Placing both hands across her stomach, the woman crouched over.
Anna seized her by the armpits and hurried her to the railing, holding her while she cast her bread upon the waters. After several forceful episodes, the woman finally straightened.
Pulling a handkerchief from her pocket, Anna handed it to her, only then realizing her bread wasn't the only thing the woman had cast overboard. For her teeth had completely disappeared.
Anna scanned the water several hundred yards below. It frothed and churned, slamming itself against the side of the s.h.i.+p. No false teeth in sight.
”Tank you,” the woman breathed, before slapping a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.
Anna swallowed. ”Don't be alarmed. I'm sure there are dentists in the Northwest.”
The woman searched the greedy water below. ”Wat am I to do? How will I eat?”
Slipping her arm about the woman, Anna helped her to a chair nearby. ”I will speak with the cook right away and make arrangements for you.”
”Oh no, no, no. How will I eber find a husband now?”
Anna choked back her surprise. A husband? Even with teeth, this woman would be hard-pressed to find a spouse at her age.
Tiny brown eyes the size of coffee beans looked at Anna from beneath heavily creased eyelids. ”Mr. Mercer promised me a husband.”
”Well,” Anna said, scrambling for an appropriate response, ”I cannot imagine why he would promise such a thing. Perhaps you misunderstood. The pa.s.sengers are guaranteed positions as teachers, domestics, or nannies. Not wives.”
The woman waved away Anna's words. ”How can we teach children when dere are none? Only men. Men who want wibes.” Having never considered that bit of logic, Anna didn't know quite what to say. Relief rushed through her, though, at the realization that her position as a cook was not dependent on children being present. No room for confusion there.
She patted the woman's hand. ”Well, no need to rush into anything. The time it takes for new teeth to be made will be just the time you need to consider your matrimonial possibilities.”
The old woman's eyes filled. ”You don't understand. My dear husband, Clement, neber came home from the war. I have nutting left. I need a husband right away.”
Anna squatted down in front of her. ”Oh, I'm so sorry. My brother and father both died in the war, too, and my mother died not long after.”
”You're all alone?”
Anna nodded. ”I will never forget the day their names appeared on the casualty list in the newspaper. But we aren't all alone, you and I. We have G.o.d, and now we have each other.”
Tears began to stream from the woman's eyes, branching off into numerous tributaries as they traversed her wrinkled face. ”Tank you, my dear.”
”There, there.”
She blew her nose into the handkerchief. ”What is your name?”
”Miss Anna Ivey of Granby, Ma.s.sachusetts.”
”It is so nice to meet you, Miss Ibey. I'm Mrs. Bert-a Wrenne of Lowell, Ma.s.sa-chewits.”
”A pleasure, Mrs. Wrenne, I'm sure.”
THE WALA WALA STATESMAN.
Mercer and his bevy of Ma.s.sachusetts damsels are now anch.o.r.ed off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. It won't be long before they, armed with green reticules, blank marriage certificates and photographs of Ben Butler-to hang on the andirons to keep their babies out of the fire-will be rounding the Horn and bounding over the watery reflections in search of a market for their kisses.
Seattle, Was.h.i.+ngton Territory March 1, 1866 ”They haven't even made it to the Straits of Magellan yet,” Joe said, tossing a newspaper on Judge Rountree's desk. ”It will take them two months at least to reach Seattle, maybe more. I need an extension.”
”Tillney's not going to be happy about this.”
”I couldn't care less what Tillney says. I paid Mercer for a bride almost a year ago. He said he'd be back in six months. It's not my fault he ran into such difficulties securing a vessel.”
”No, it's never your fault, is it, Denton?”
Joe narrowed his eyes. ”As a matter of fact, it isn't.”
Rountree handed him back the newspaper. ”Well, you'd better marry that gal the minute her slippered feet hit this sh.o.r.e. You understand?”
”I understand.”
THE ALTA CALIFORNIA.
The only thing Mr. Mercer has to fear, so far as I can see, is that in case the girls are young and pretty, they may be snapped up by some of your wifeless young men in the ports of call. . . .
Lota, Chile April 13, 1866 Anna tapped lightly on Mrs. Wrenne's door. ”Mr. Mercer has called a meeting for nine o'clock. We mustn't be late.”
The elderly woman stepped out, her eyes alive with excitement. ”Hab you been on deck yet?”
”I have. And you must come and see.” Anna took the lady's arm, a.s.sisting her up the steps. ”Lota is a lovely little valley situated between two high bluffs.”
”Oh, I can hardly wait to get off dis boat.”
”Me too. But we shall have to wait in line, I'm afraid. I've been made to understand that it is a great market day in Lota. So everyone is determined to go ash.o.r.e.”
Smiling faces and bursts of laughter greeted them on the hurricane deck. After so many long and weary days of unbroken sea, the sight of land was arousing and invigorating.
Mercer clapped his hands, signaling a start of their meeting. ”As you ladies know, I am deeply interested in your welfare. So much so, I cannot bear to have you out of my sight for even a single moment.”
Anna lifted a questioning brow. He'd claimed more than once that no man living was so near Mount Zion as he himself, but she'd had her doubts ever since he'd called the ladies into his stateroom one by one for the purpose of extracting more money.