My gut is telling me Lucky is a good man, one who deserves the choice Sterling took from him.“Unless you have any objections?”
The tight line of his shoulders softens as he steps close, raising my hand to his lips for a gentle kiss.Thank you,it says as loudly as if he’d spoken the words.
His palms are rough from sailing, but warm.Tender goose bumps rise along my arms as he trails his thumb across my skin.
“Not a single one,” he says.“I gave you my word to be a good husband, and I’ll give it again, now and tomorrow.I only wish for your happiness, and I will do everything I can to ensure your life is as comfortable as possible.”
I nod.There’s only one way I can see that occurring, and I’m going to do everything inmypower to make it happen.
* * *
The wedding is a simple affair.We hold it in the courtyard, now clear of dust and debris, a local officiant presiding and my family in attendance.We swap vows of commitment, sign the paperwork, and it’s done.
No feast, no kiss, no issues.It’s all very polite, as long as you ignore the hulking mass of dismay in the corner.
Sterling has said very little since last night.He and Lucky appear to have reached a mutual agreement to accept each other’s presence, but do no more than that.I barely restrain myself from rolling my eyes during the ceremony.
We travel three days by road and seven by sea.It takes two sunrises to gain my sea legs—a fact that amuses the rest of the ship’s small crew.By the third morning, I’m glad I no longer need to greet the water with the contents of the previous night’s dinner, and I can finally start pulling my weight, shadowing whichever crew will let me and following their lead.
The horizon stretches unfathomably far.
The ocean greets us like an old friend and holds us calmly as we sail, which I’m reminded—many, many times—is a good sign.Salt stings my eyes and nose, but it’s worth it to witness Lucky in his element.He leads well, and the crew trusts him.
But it’s the view that steals my breath.All that’s before us is sea, on and on.More water than I could have imagined.It must be endless.I’ve never seen anything like it, even in my dreams.
“Terrifyingly beautiful, isn’t it?”Lucky asks on one of the occasions he catches me staring.
It is.
At night, the stars track our progress and serve as a reminder of forces beyond our reach.
I’ve long known my purpose would be to leave Ferntree, to stand as consult to the assembly with the knowledge and honor of our province.I believed myself prepared to leave behind the flat farmland and familiar faces of my home, but as our destination approaches, awareness rushes in.Nothing will be familiar anymore.I must conduct myself in respect of that which I do not know and learn all I can.
The task alone does not daunt me, although I must admit to a growing loneliness that’s taken root beside my heart.The crew is friendly, if brash, and Lucky is exceedingly welcoming, answering every question I have and even teaching me to steer and navigate.I took him to be improper, uncaring of courtesy, but I see now he’s a man of rules when it suits him.Gone is the stifling propriety that he adopted in front of my family, shed as soon as his boots touched the worn tread of the deck.
Where he once came across cavalier, he’s now relaxed and generous.
“You’ve taken to this well,” he says, smiling.
The sun is finally relenting after a day of bearing its full weight upon us.Not a person among the crew, including myself, is without a thick sheen of sweat.I long for a bath.Lucky wears exertion well, his shirt plastered to his firm chest and slender waist.
“Dare I say, you have begun to enjoy it?”
“It has its merits,” I admit and delight when he laughs.
“Indeed, it does.”
Tomorrow, we’ll reach the cove, and as such, morale is high among the crew.Someone hands Lucky an instrument I’ve never seen, and he leads the rest in a bawdry shanty that makes the tips of Sterling’s ears pink.I can’t wait to tell Louis about it in a letter.
Sterling is starboard, brooding.Since we left Ferntree, he has draped himself in a blanket of solitude, even though he never lets me out of his sight.Admittedly, I don’t want him out of mine either.He is already watching me when our eyes meet.I offer him a smile he doesn’t return, but he does not turn away, exuding the same intensity he always has.There’s something there I can’t decipher, hidden in the darkness, writ large in his expression.
I miss him dearly.
Oh, how I long to know what he is thinking.
Lucky tears himself from the group and finds me at the bow.He leans his weight on the railing beside me.Once, my future appeared as vast and endless as the horizon.Now, the shape of it has coalesced into that of two men, both of whom are as bound to each other as they are to me.
I only wish the prospect brought all of us more joy.
