Part 19 (1/2)
”I'm sorry, Greer,” Buck told her, his eyes filled with love ”I'm sure you would have made a wonderful mother.”
”Thank you, Buck, but I'm not sorry anymore,” Greer told 154.
him. ”I wouldn't have wanted to raise them on my own.” Greer smiled at a sudden thought, and Buck questioned her.
”I'm just laughing at myself really,” she admitted. ”I nearly asked you if learning about my pregnancies will change the way you feel about me, but I think I already know that answer.”
”As a matter of fact,” Buck told her seriously, ”I was just thinking that some of your reluctance to accept my proposal might stem from the fact that you think I would press you to have children.” Buck stopped for a moment to hold the lovely widow's eyes with his own.
”It's you I want, Greer, no one else. I had no desire to marry until I met you, and it's you alone that I'm going to want for the rest of my life.”
”Oh, Buck.” Greer's eyes flooded with tears. ”I'm trying, I really am.”
”Shhh,” Buck said softly. ”I didn't tell you that to distress you or scare you away. I just want you to know that nothing is going to change my feelings.”
Greer reached across the table and took Buck's hand She gave it a light squeeze before releasing it. Both of them were ready for a change in subjects, and the topic turned to Smokey.
”I so enjoyed the party. I was utterly amazed to learn that Smokey is the captain of her own s.h.i.+p, however.”
”She certainly didn't look the part that night, but Dallas tells me she's magnificent. He said if his heart wasn't set on building s.h.i.+ps, he would gladly sail around the Atlantic for the better part of every year with Smokey.”
”Do you suppose they'll see one another?”
”I doubt it, Greer. Smokey's plans were to be halfway to the Orient by now.”
”So there's been a change in plans?” Robby asked Da.r.s.ey the morning after they had left London.
155.
”I don't know. She was still sleeping when I woke in that chair. Until she wakes up and gives orders or seems able to function,” Da.r.s.ey shrugged, ”I just don't know.”
”Did she say anything?” Scully wanted to know.
”Not yet. There were no bruises that I could see once the dirt was off of her, but I realize that doesn't mean a thing.”
The men all exchanged looks. Faces darkened with anger.
It was all too easy to imagine what could have happened in the hours she was gone. The fact that she found her way to the s.h.i.+p, however, was nothing short of a miracle, and that gave the men cause to hope she would really be all right.
”So what is our present course?” Mic pressed Da.r.s.ey.
”Home,” the older man told him simply. ”I'm going to head below and see if she's stirred, but for now, set a course for Kennebunk.”
Smokey had been awake for some time, but had not moved from her bed Her entire body ached, especially her legs, but in a very real way she welcomed the pain. It meant she had fought hard and survived. Right now she was praying and thanking G.o.d for the strength He had given her.
She praised Him for His love and care and for sparing her from anything worse. She had been grabbed and frightened and forced to fight, but as upsetting as all of those things had been, Smokey was all too aware that the situation could have been much worse.
Praying and surrendering her hurt pride, her fear, and every known sin to her Lord, Smokey knew the peace that only He could give. By the time Da.r.s.ey appeared with a mug of tea, she was ready to talk.
”How are you, la.s.s?” he asked softly as he sat on the chair on which he had spent the night.
”I'm going to be all right. I hope I never have to repeat a night like the last, but I'm going to survive.”
156.
”Can you tell me about it?”
”Do you remember my going out?”
”Yes.”
”When I came out of Meg's private rooms, I noticed a man standing there. I was thinking about what Meg and I had been discussing and never gave him any thought. He grabbed me from behind I struggled, and because he was small, I nearly got away. But then he pressed a sweet-smelling cloth over my mouth. I woke up aboard a s.h.i.+p in a strange room.”
”Who did this?”
”HaamichWynn.”
”The pirate?”
”Yes.” Smokey's voice was soft.
”I've heard he's a huge man.”
”He is. I don't know who it was that grabbed me; obviously someone who works for him.”
At that point Smokey went on to give Da.r.s.ey the entire story, from the moment she woke up, fought with the pirate, escaped, and saw Dallas to where she found the Aramis.
”You actually kicked Dallas?” Da.r.s.ey asked her.
Smokey nodded regretfully. ”I panicked when he wouldn't let me go. All I could think about was Haamich Wynn finding him with me and killing him. I don't know if he'll ever forgive me.”
”I'm sure you just need to explain.”
”I hope you're right.”
The two fell silent for a moment, and then Smokey went on. ”Da.r.s.ey, how did the Aramis come to be docked in the south quarter?”
Still trying to deal with all she had shared, Da.r.s.ey took a ragged breath and began to tell of his nightmare in the last 36 hours.
”I didn't give you much time to return to the back room.
When you hadn't shown in five minutes, I got nervous. When two more went past, I hit the door running. There was no sign of you.
157.
”Someone in the tavern said that the table in the corner pad recently been occupied and was now empty. Hearing that, I
ran for the docks. As you well know, there was no trace of I you. I searched for a time--many of us did--but I didn't wait vvery long before going back into Clancy's and asking about the men who were missing.
”No one seemed to know a thing about them, and for Clancy's, that's not normal. Meg and Bart know everyone who walks through the door, or they do soon afterward. Evidently those two were not new, but neither were they regulars until some weeks ago. Any and all attempts to gain information from them were met with blank stares, and since they kept to themselves and always paid their bill, Bart let them alone.