Instinctively, she reached for her shucking knife, but her hand brushed air where the handle should have been. She’d been so caught up in her daydreams of Evrard that she’d forgotten to buckle it on this morning.
Panic unfurled in her lungs as Kaspar stepped toward her, menace in every muscle. She fumbled behind her for the door handle, but it swung open behind her of its own accord. Her mother stepped out, brandishing the laundry stick with the kitten riding on her shoulder. When the kitten saw Kaspar, it hissed and growled, its tail as straight as a mast.
“Walk away, Kaspar,” her mother ordered. “No harm need come of this. The world doesn’t end when a woman tells you ‘no.’”
“Last chance, Maggie,” Kaspar said, ignoring her mother. “Marry me. If you decline, my offer won’t come again, no matter how much you regret your choice.”
Her answer came easily because she’d already said it. “No.”
“No?” he repeated. “So be it.” Nothing in him seem soothed, though. Even as he turned to go, there was a dangerous glitter in his eyes. Her answer had only provoked him.
Maggie didn’t exhale until he was out of sight.
“I don’t want you going into the village alone anymore,” her mother said, setting the end of her stick down on the stone steps with a dull thump. “Not until he’s settled down. You’ve humiliated the man. Give him a few days to drink it off before you rub it in his face.”
Maggie picked up the bedraggled bouquet and marched to the edge of the cliff. She flung it into the wind, watching the blue-gray stems scatter into the sea spray. She returned to her mother’s side, dusting her hands. “No one will know about it unless he tells them. I don’t see why I shouldn’t go about my business. I didn’t take anything from him. Didn’t insult him.”
“You took a bit of his pride.”
“He wanted to take my whole life!”
“I’m sure he thought he was giving you one. Most girls would jump at the chance to be his bride.”
“That’s what I mean. His whole life, he only had to crook a finger at a pretty lass, and he’d have her in his lap. The sole reason he wants me is for theWolfhunter. Once he got it, I’d be nothing to him. Less than nothing, because I’ll be a drain on his purse. An annoyance. It’d be me over the edge of the cliff like a bit of prickly sea-holly.”
Corine sighed, nodding. “Now that I’ve seen his temper, I’m not sure I’d wish him on anyone. A husband should be the dog that defends you, not the one that bites.”
“That’s why I’m going into the village today,” Maggie decided. “To hire all the prettiest girls as my crew. I’ll save them from Kaspar’s lap.”
Her mother laughed, shaking her head. “I wish you’d wait, but I know you won’t.”
Unburdened by her handcart for once, she practically skipped to Brinehelm. It was only once she reached the gate with its conspicuous absence of Evrard that she realized she’d been looking forward to seeing him there.
He’d taught her so much about her own capabilities in the few hours they spent together. She’d been convinced that the only way to have what she wanted was to put herself in a wife-shaped box. But it turned out, it had been within her grasp all along. Wherever he was, she owed him a debt.
With a purse full of her mussel money and her shucking knife at her hip, she visited Brinehelm’s docks, feeling as free and alive as she had above the clouds when she saw theWolfhuntermoored in the harbor, masts reaching for the sky. She could hardly believe it was hers.
Did she deserve to captain such a proud vessel? Could she even manage it on her own? It felt impossible.
The twinge of soreness in her core reminded her of Evrard’s rough encouragement in her ear: “You can.”
She’d done a few seemingly impossible things recently. She’dflown. She could do this.
Maggie checked their stores in the dockside warehouse, then walked along the streets that lined the harbor, visiting with women she knew. Within an hour, she’d hired a navigator, a quartermaster, a cook, and a carpenter, all willing to work for a share of the catch.
It was simple to find a seamstress who could make sails and repair nets as well. A little harder to find a boatswain with any experience, but a few strong women signed on as riggers and packers and promised to ask their friends if they’d be interested in the work.
Buoyed by her success at securing at least the beginnings of a crew, she ordered barrels and salt and rope and candles to be delivered to the warehouse. Her purse grew light, but it would all come back to her when she returned theWolfhunterwith a full catch in her hold.
She couldn’t help the secret smile that crossed her face then. She and her ship would both return with full bellies, if all went well.
After a long day in the markets and docks, she stopped in at the tavern for a meal before the long walk home. Walther slid her a bowl of stew down the bar. It was so full, some of the stew slopped over the lip onto the weathered wood.
Walther swiped up the spill with a flourish before flipping his rag back over his shoulder. “No cockles and mussels, eh? I expected you to come in with full casks given the ebb tide this morning.”
She tore off a piece of bread and dipped it in the bowl to soak up the stew. “Had other things to do.”
“Isee.” He gave her knowing wink, like she’d just shared something naughty.
