“You may not remember, as our eyes were crossed with fatigue at that point,” I said in a teasing tone.
There was a fifty-fifty chance of that working. Honestly, my Edwin was one of the sharpest men I’d ever known, his memory a vault. I’d relied upon him then and now because he just didn’t forget things. But acting blasé and blaming fatigue might work in my favor and convince him.
Edwin shrugged, meaning he wasn’t interested in arguing the point. Whether he believed me or not, I couldn’t guess, but at least he was letting it go.
Me, we’ve got to be more careful. Maybe I should keep a list of what he’d told me in this lifetime. Yeah. Since my memory was clearly for shit.
Thankfully, we arrived at the docks. I’d set up a meeting beforehand with a construction company and the mayor of the city. I wanted both of their opinions when we walked through what should be done.
I must remember I didn’t know these men. Not yet, anyway. In actuality, I knew the mayor well, having worked with him often in my first life. Jethro Bates was the contractor I’d used to fix the seawalls in my previous life as well, and he’d done an amazing job.
And there they were, standing just inside the seawall and talking to each other. Bates was as swarthy as any pirate in looks, with his extremely sunned-golden skin, black hair buzzed short against his head, and bulbous nose. He’d dressed up nicer in neat pants, along with a shirt and vest, but his boots still looked like they should have been replaced ten years ago.
Mayor Overton looked sharp in a pin-striped suit, red tie, and white vest. His comb-over was in danger of being completely undone by the sea wind, but so far, his wax was holding. Heturned, spotted our arrival, and practically beamed, revealing aging teeth.
“Your Highnesses, I’m delighted you’ve come.”
“We’re delighted as well,” I said.
I opened the short door to the carriage before either Captain Rowan or Sir Osbourne could do so and hopped lithely to the ground before offering a hand to Helena. She accepted the courtesy with a dimpled smile, using my hand for balance as she maneuvered her skirts through the narrow opening.
I tried giving Edwin a hand down as well, but for some reason I was met with a Look.
“Your Highness, do stop teasing me.”
I reeled, hand to heart, and tried to play it off. The gesture had been genuine, though, and I was a little hurt. “Edwin. How dare.”
He made it to the ground without issue, even clutching his ever-present black portfolio, then gave me the Look again. “You may tease me later, Your Highness. Do focus for now.”
That was his warning: Don’t start none, won’t be none. He was right though. This was not the moment to tease. More’s the pity.
I let out a sad little huff of breath and focused, as he’d requested.
Giving Helena my arm, I escorted her to the two men. Edwin, Sir Osbourne, and Captain Rowan all followed on my heels. “I don’t think any of you have met. Helena, this is Mayor Patrick Overton and our lead foreman, Jethro Bates.”
We passed politehow do you dos all around.
“First, let me get clarification before we speak. Mayor, the blueprints you submitted initially to show what construction needs to be done on the walls, I assume they’re no longer accurate?”
“No.” Overton sighed, equal parts resigned and upset. “No, that level of work won’t fix the issue anymore. After five years of minor quakes, sun, wind, and tides, the walls are in much worse condition. Frankly, they’re past the point of fixing. We’re looking at a total replacement right now.”
Ouch. Well, they were due to fail in about four to five months, so that didn’t surprise me.
Bates dared to ask, “Your Highnesses are truly taking over this project from Prince Victor?”
Helena answered him bluntly. “He’s had five years to get his act together and get this done. I do not prize his ego over people’s lives. We’re taking over, and we’ll ride herd until it’s completely finished.”
The relief on both men’s faces was palpable. Then again, they knew how much danger the city was in.
“I’m very glad to hear it, Your Highness.” Bates gestured toward the seawall. “May I show you how bad it is, and my thoughts on how to go about correcting it?”
“Of course. It’s why I’m here. Lead on.”
A rather wide stone walkway lined the seawalls, so we had an easy route to take to look over the situation. The walls were indeed in poor condition, with obvious cracks in the foundation, the grout holding the stones together little better than powder, with whole sections of the walls sliding slowly off toward the sea. The problem was obvious, the solution equally so. The walls should also be built taller, to my mind, as they were barely thirty feet above sea level. When originally built, the sea level had been lower, but now the walls would only fend off waves and, if a windstorm swept in, not even that.
“Mr. Bates, do explain how you’d go about fixing this.” Helena pointed to the sea, not twelve feet from where she walked. “The water even now is so high, dismantling any part of this would flood the lower street.”
“That is part of the problem, Your Highness,” Bates said while pulling a face. “But I’ve a thought on how to go about it. First, we’d do this in sections, not demo it all at once. We’ll sandbag this strip, right where we’re walking, to prevent the water from rushing inward. Then we’ll have an already formed base made that we’ll hoist by crane and move into position. Can’t get mortar to set underwater, anyway. I’ve had a thought overnight about changing the design altogether.”
