Frederick wasn’t sorry to hold her close. He had his sea legs back in a trice, but she tottered unsteadily as the ship shifted ever so slightly. “Not to worry, you will grow accustomed to the movement of the deck. But I apologize! I am reminiscing when we ought to get below. It is just this way—do hold that handrail and watch your step as you descend, for the ladder is slick. As it always will be.”
He was glad to see the dining room was of a decent size with good ventilation. He had feared the extra passenger accommodation had been taken from here, but the shipwrights had somehow squirreled two more doubles in without making a closet of the central space. The upper hatch would have to be battened down in rough weather, of course, but at least on fine days, fresh air and light would be available.
He could hardly believe that he was here with Anne, his wife. Six months ago he had returned home thinking to find some unexacting young woman to take to wife—and then he had been catapulted into Anne’s grievous affairs in Bath. He was devoutly thankful, for he feared that nothing less than dire peril would have shaken him out of his idiotic and stubborn prejudice against seeking her out again. It would have served him right if she had sent him on his way with a flea in his ear and a resentfuladieu. But Anne, as intelligent and kind as he remembered,had somehow harbored no bitterness. When he thought of how much resentmenthehad held against her, he could only thank Providence for a wife so far above himself.
“This is us—No. 4,” he said.
Anne entered their tiny cabin in something like a dream state. The ship moved uncertainly under her feet, but Anne felt sure she would grow accustomed. Every day that she spent with Frederick was something of a miracle.
“It is dreadfully small,” he said, looking around the cabin. “I hate to ask you to bear this.”
“Nonsense, you haven’t asked me to bear anything.” She removed her hat. “There is a bed, and a settee, and those drawers for storage—we shall be fine. Besides, if you knew how often I imagined sailing with you… It is quite the realization of a dream.”
She sidestepped to put her hat on the small built-in cabinet and to tidy her hair. Frederick shifted to stand just behind her, and she thought he merely moved with the slight roll of the ship, until his arms came around her from behind, and he dropped his lips to her ear. “You cannot just say beautiful things like that and expect me to walk away.”
His lips were suddenly warm against her neck and Anne inhaled sharply against the delicious feeling. She wasn’t quite accustomed to this yet, but she turned around. “If you’re going to kiss me at such a moment, you may at least do it properly?—”
He covered her mouth with his, silencing her (very) mild scold. They pressed into the tiny gap between the cabinet and the end of the bed, and he showed her how very glad he was that she had come.
“My dear,” Anne managed eventually. “We really must—the other passengers?—”
“Would that Iwerecaptain again and could consign them to the devil.”
She smacked his shoulder.
“I know.” He grinned unrepentantly. “Shall we go meet our fellow inmates? I almost hope they are uniformly awful, and I shall have reason enough to keep you in here.”
Anne blushed, adding to the color that must already be in her cheeks from his kisses. “We already know that Caroline and Colonel Fitzwilliam are not awful.”
“Hm. But you haven’t met Lady Marston. Gimlet-eyed and bracket-faced.”
“Shh, she might hear you!”
“The walls are not that thin.” He grinned again. “Thank heaven.”
“Frederick!”
“What?” he said innocently. “We want a sturdy ship.” There was so much boyish joy to him that sometimes she felt like no years had passed at all since their fateful broken engagement. There had been years, however, and she shuddered to think of the close calls—the small things that might have prevented her from ever having this moment.
“Now, what was that for?” he asked quizzically. “We can’t have you shuddering at this stage of the thing. Did I offend you?—”
“No, no. But how easily I could have missed all this! If you hadn’t seen me in Bath, or if I had married Mr. Elliot sooner, or if I had accepted Mr. Musgrove…”
“What’s this? Musgrove? Isn’t he the one who’s taken in your sister Mary—the family in Uppercross, near Kellynch?”
“That is his mother, Mrs. Musgrove, who took in Mary. They have always been friends of the family, and she has several daughters to keep Mary company.”
“I didn’t know Musgrove had dangled afteryou, however.”
“He didn’t dangle.” Anne shook her head. “And I didn’t mean to taunt you; he is now happily married to a lady from Meryton—Charlotte Lucas. I only meant to marvel at how dangerously close I came to losing you again.”
“Nonsense. I mean, yes, if you married one of those cads?—”
“Mr. Musgrove is not a cad!”
“—I should’ve left you alone, of course. But if you had not, we still should have found our way toward one another. I cannot imagine being in your vicinity and not finding you again.”
“Now who is saying beautiful things?” Anne wiped her eyes resolutely. “We must go before I become a watering pot.”
