TheResolutejerked to a stop, nearly sending Gabrielle onto the floor.Omphile moaned from the far end of the tiny cot, and Gabrielle glanced at the woman who had become a much-needed friend.
Matthew began to fuss, and Gabrielle quickly unbuttoned her gown and started to feed him, thankful Omphile had taught her to keep her milk flowing when they’d been separated.She was also grateful that Omphile had stuffed an old gown in a drawer from their previous time in the cabin, or Gabrielle would still be wearing men’s canvas breeches and shirt.
Crawling past her, Omphile stood and stretched.Then dragging the chair over to the porthole, she stood atop and peered out.“Land.An island is my guess.”
The treasure.Cadan had told Smity he’d lead him to it.All to save her.“It does not bode well for us, Omphile,” she said.“As soon as Smity gets what he wants, he’ll have no further need of us.Or Cadan.”
“Oh, you do fret so, Child.”The woman waved a hand at her and smiled, stepping down from the chair.
“When I have no reason to hope, aye, I do.”Gabrielle returned more sharply than she intended.
Omphile sat on a chair, grabbed a brush from the table, and began brushing her long black hair.“But we do have hope.Our Father owns de cattle on a thousand hills, an’ He loves you.The Good Book says all things work together for good for dem who love God.”
Gabrielle sighed, shifting Matthew to her other side.Didshelove God?Did she even know Him?
“Hasn’t He saved us dis far?”Omphile continued.“Isn’t your babe back in your arms as He told me?”
Matthew gazed up at Gabrielle as he suckled, eyes full of life, love, and innocence.True.God had answered her prayers…or….“’Twas your prayers He answered.”
“Mebbe ’cause you didn’t ask Him yourself.”One brow raised.
Gabrielle stared at the woman, that ever-present peaceful smile on her face.
Nay, Gabrielle had not asked, had not prayed, notreallyprayed in a long time.“Do you truly hear from God, Omphile?”
Her smile couldn’t be brighter.“Most every day, Miss.Inside here.”She pressed a hand over her heart.“An’ in His Word.”
Frowning, Gabrielle stared down at her precious son.“I guess if I admit it, I’ve never honestly heard from Him, though my parents are like you, speaking to Him all the time.Or so they say.”
Omphile inched to the edge of her seat.“Mebbe, Miss, you have not known Him.Like I said, you jist believed ’cause your parents did.But you never had dat relationship wit’ Him yourself.”
Matthew stopped sucking.His little eyes shut as he drifted off to sleep.Wiping his mouth with his blanket, she cuddled him close, pondering Omphile’s words.“You may be right, Omphile.I guess I believed because my parents did.I mean, I believe in God.I believe Jesus is His Son.Isn’t that enough?I grew up hearing tales of God’s miracles and deliverances—all things that happened to my family.But never to me.”
“’Cause you needs to have your own walk wit’ Him, Child.It is not ’bout believing in here”—she pointed at her head—“but about knowing Him in here.”She laid a hand over her heart again.
“Knowing God?Talking to Him as if He were here?And hearing Him answer?”Gabrielle could not fathom such a thing.“Why would the Creator of all things want to have that kind of intimacy with each of His children….with her?”
Omphile’s face lit.“That’s why He died for us so’s we can know Him now an’ live wit’ Him forever in eternity.”
Gabrielle couldn’t help but smile at the woman’s exuberance, the same passion she’d often seen in her parents’ eyes.Still, she began to wonder whether she knew God at all or if she’d just been going through the motions to please her parents.
The sound of the lock clinking jarred her from her thoughts.Shooting to her feet, Gabrielle spun around for modesty’s sake just as the door blasted open and a gust of wind blew in from the companionway.
“Shame on you, Kipp.”Omphile moved to stand between her and the pirate whose footsteps she heard entering.“Barging in on a lady unannounced!”
The man chuckled.“Ain’t no ladies ’ere.Cap’n wants the wench an’ ’er brat up on deck.”
“What for?”
“To go treasure hunting.”
Chapter 30
If ye don’t lead me t’ the treasure, if ye make one mistake, if ye try anythin’,” Smity said to Cadan as they waited for Gabrielle to come above deck.“I’ll gut ’er an’ the babe as quickly as I can look their way.”
Swallowing his fury, Cadan nodded, yanking against the ropes that bound his hands before him.He knew the man’s threat was real.He only regretted that Smity was smart enough to bring the lady along to ensure he behaved.Or as surely as Cadan had an ounce of breath in his lungs, he would havetried something—as in killed Smity with his bare hands.No matter the consequences.
His hatred of this insolent, mutineering dog was only surpassed by his hatred for Allard.And his need to see both of them in hell only grew by the minute.
