Blake nodded, enjoying this brief glimmer of approval from the lady.
Smiling, she plopped the mango into her skirt pocket and caressed Bandit’s cheek. “Thank you, little one.”
The monkey’s grin couldn’t have been wider.
Finally, back at the great house, Blake ushered her into the dining hall and ordered a light lunch of fresh bread, cheese, and plantains. Against all reason, he wanted to spend more time with the lady, found her company challenging and enjoyable like none other.
But ’twas obvious the lady did not return such sentiments. “I fear I am not hungry. May I retire to my chamber, Captain?” She stood before him, eyes and jaw like steel.
“Forgive my earlier outburst, Emeline.” He approached, enjoying her flinch at the sound of her Christian name on his lips. He quite enjoyed the sound of it as well.
“An apology?” A spark of playfulness flitted across her eyes. “Are you feeling well?”
He knew she meant it in jest, but he was not in the jesting mood. “Will you at least admit that I have accomplished more than most lads tossed from their homes at only sixteen?”
Her eyes met his, sorrow and sincerity burned within them. “You have done well, Captain. I merely wonder to what purpose?”
To what purpose? The woman muddled his brain. Any normal woman, anyone, in fact, regardless of their approval of his lifestyle, would be more than impressed with what he had accomplished in so short a time. Storming to the window, he stared out upon his island,hiskingdom. Why did he care what this feeble missionary woman thought?
b
Emeline stared at Blake. A man of intense conflict and deep sorrow. Much like the funnel she’d seen in her dream, confusion, pain, loss, and betrayal all spun around him in a desperate need for power and control that would eventually pull him under. Worse, he was volatile. She never knew what would set the man off like a matchstick to a cannon.
He snapped an angry gaze her way. “You baffle me, Emeline.”
Thankfully, before she could respond in kind, Pedro entered the room, a wide grin on his face.
“Cap’n, can I go t’ the stables an’ ride one o’ the horses?”
Blake gave a disgusted grunt. “If you want to be a pirate captain someday, you need to quit wasting your time in idle pursuits. Pish! You should be on board theSummonshelping Finn with repairs. But what do I expect from the likes of you? At your age I was working from dawn to dusk on my father’s plantation!”
Emeline’s body stiffened at the demeaning words pouring out like bilge water over the innocent lad. Pedro’s cheerful countenance sank to the floor. His shoulders slumped. All life and sparkle fled his eyes.
“I have work to do.” Blake marched to the door, the slam of his boots on the tile echoing his fury through the room. “Pedro, take Miss Hyde to her chambers and then report to Finn on theSummonsimmediately!” he shouted over his shoulder before he disappeared down the hall.
Forcing back her own fury, Emeline approached Pedro, who remained frozen in place, staring out the window like a pirate who’d just been keelhauled. Though he tried to contain himself, his bottom lip quivered.
“He didn’t mean what he said, Pedro. He’s angry with me, not you.” She tried to pull him close for a hug, but he jerked away.
“He’s righ’, Miss. I’m not much good for nothing.”
She gripped his shoulders and made him look at her. “That is not true. You are a smart, capable young man, and you will make something great out of yourself someday.”
His lips slanted, but he shook his head. “If my own father didn’t want me, Miss…” His voice trailed off into a sob.
Sorrow gripped her heart so tight, she slumped into a nearby chair. How does a child recover from such rejection?Why, Lord? Why do you allow so much pain in this forsaken world?“Come sit with me a moment.” She gestured to a chair beside hers.
“Nay, Miss, I best do what the cap’n ordered.” He ran a hand through his shock of red hair and smiled. Always a smile on this boy, no matter his pain.
“You must believe in yourself, in who God made you to be. And know that whatever task is set before you, He will equip you to do it well.” Even as she said the words, she realized she needed to hear them as much as this lad. Wasn’t she just as much an accident as this boy? She’d been only seven years old when she’d overheard her parents saying they’d not wanted another child after Caleb, how upset they’d been when her mother had found out she was with child again. How they wanted to spend their time and money helping orphan children, not having more of their own. It devasted her at the time. She was an accident, an unforeseen tragedy, a burden to her parents.
“Thank you for your kindness, Miss.” Pedro interrupted her thoughts. “You’re the only one ever been nice to me.”
Emeline smiled, then allowed the lad to escort her back to her chamber. Once there, she checked the bottom drawer of the dressing bureau and found the coins and pistol just where Charlie had put them. Astounding. She closed the drawer and spent the afternoon praying for Pedro, for Charlie, for the captain, and for all of them.
“I must be here for a reason, Lord. All these people desperately need to know You, to know they are loved and that You have a better plan for their lives. But am I doing any good at all?” For it seemed to her, she was wasting her time. “Perhaps You should have sent my sister… or better yet, my brother.” Surely, they would have the entire island bowing their knees to the Almighty by now.
Feeling every bit the failure that Pedro felt earlier, she paced her chamber throughout the afternoon, one minute glancing out the window onto the gardens below, the other resting upon her bed, the next counting the steps from wall to wall.
