“Why should it? Oi’m strong enough. I’m goin’ ta mike it.”
“We’ll see.” Pauley shrugged. He led Alexis to the captain’s cabin and had her sign the papers. She managed to write Alex well enough but Danty was a struggle. Pauley studied the signature and remained silent. He sensed the fierce pride in the young man and did not want to do anything to spoil it. He thought if there were time on the voyage he would even teach him to read and write a little. And do something about that accent. He was beginning to like the boy; he hoped he fared better under the captain’s orders than the last one.
“One more thing,” Pauley added as he gathered the papers, “don’t get any ideas about leaving this ship when we reach Charleston. You’re in this for the duration, and that means the return trip to London.”
Alexis almost lost her composure when he guessed her plan but she recovered quickly. “I know wot’s expected.”
“We’ll see,” was all he would say.
Alexis heard a lot of “We’ll see” in the weeks that followed. Pauley continued to tease her with those words whenever she firmly stated she knew something. But Alexis also knew he was pleased with her answers. She was not often wrong.
Captain Whitehead had been angry with Pauley in the beginning for hiring Alexis. When the last cabin boy had been buried at sea he’d specifically stated he wanted someone older. But Alexis proved Pauley’s wisdom countless times by her unwavering service.
Alexis often wondered how Pauley would react if he discovered she was a girl. She was pleased she had been able to hide the fact for so long. It helped having her own quarters while the rest of the crew slept in hammocks on deck. She was careful to bolt the door at night as Pauley suggested and she stayed away from the men who named her Pretty Boy, understanding the danger these men were to her.
She thought if there was anyone she would want on her side in a bad moment it had to be Pauley. His brusque manner softened shortly after she came to know him better and his bulk was no longer a threat. She estimated he was at least six feet tall; yet he carried every ounce of muscle on his body as if it were no burden at all. He had thick black hair and his beard was equally dark with the exception of a few thin strands of gray. The outdoors had tanned his face, but he seemed ageless when he smiled and talked wistfully to Alexis of his home and family in the north of England. She was glad he had chosen to become her friend. The other men respected Pauley, so those who still thought of her as Pretty Boy stayed away in deference to her giant protector. Pauley had adopted her as a substitute son for the voyage, and nothing could have made Alexis more proud.
Under Pauley’s direction she learned to use a pistol and handle a sword as well as her young hands could. Alexis did not mind that she was slowly developing the muscles in her arms and legs. It felt good to be strong and healthy. The food aboard the ship, usually salt pork or beef and biscuits, while far from good, was more plentiful than any she had had before, so her stomach had long since ceased reminding her of its emptiness at odd times. She proved adept at climbing the rigging and soon she could reach the flattened cap before any of the others. She called it her crow’s nest—so it had been named on ships long ago—and there was nothing to intrude on the contentment she experienced there. Far above the captain, the sailors who called her Pretty Boy, and the rolling deck, she found a place where no one could touch her.
It was while she was up in the nest that theConstellationconfronted a squall and she was struck by the curse. She did not know which was worse, the storm or the curse. At first she thought she had hit something when she noticed blood on her trousers between her thighs. In her panic to get out of the nest and safely to her cabin she slipped on the slick ropes and was barely able to break her fall by clutching at the mast.
Pauley saw Alexis’s trouble and he hastened to a position below her. He watched as Alexis grasped one of the loose ropes and slid down perilously to the pitching deck. Pauley broke her fall and looked at her in disgust when he saw the burn marks from the ropes.
“You’re supposed to climb down, not slide!” he yelled over the rising wind. “Get down to your cabin! You can’t help us here with those hands.”
Alexis smiled weakly, trying to ignore the painful tightening in her abdomen. Pauley’s anxiety was the source of his rudeness. Aware of that, Alexis felt strangely comforted. She turned and headed for her cabin, careful of each step because the wind and salt spray were threatening to lift her away. She gasped when she felt Pauley’s strong grip on her arm. It was anything but friendly.
She looked up in puzzlement but could not fathom the reason for his very real, very sudden anger. She tried to break his hold, but he gripped her more tightly and half pulled, half pushed her toward her cabin. He practically threw her inside and Alexis had to grab at the bunk to keep from sliding to the floor.
“Wot’s wrong wi’ you, Pauley?” she yelled.
He shut the door violently. “I should ask what’s wrong with you, missy? I don’t have time to find out what’s going on now. I’m needed topside. You get yourself cleaned up, and don’t you dare move from this room! I’ll tell everyone you were injured. In the meantime, you’d better have some good answers for me when I get back.” His blue eyes flashed dangerously as Alexis dropped her gaze to the blood on her trousers. He had found her out. Now she knew why they called it the curse.
When Alex was alone she proceeded to tear strips of sheet and take care of her predicament as best she could. Becoming a woman was not part of her plan and she could not decide whether she was angrier with her body for turning traitor, or her mind for not having taken the possibility into consideration.
Pauley did not return until the storm was over. He shut the door quickly and drew the bolt. Alexis saw that he was soaked to the skin, but her concern faded as he turned to face her. She met the fury in his blue eyes directly. She did not back away or cower as he approached and snatched the cap from her head. She allowed him to grasp her chin tightly in his hand and raise her head to study her face more closely.
Finally, he dropped his hand and shook his head slowly. “I’ll be damned. I’ll just be goddamned.” He was silent for a while as if he were thinking of what to say next. “How long did you think you could get away with it?” he asked slowly.
“Until I reached Charleston.”
“Didn’t you count on your monthly?”
“No.”
“Aren’t you afraid of what is going to happen to you now?”
“No.”
Pauley sighed. “I’ll be damned,” he said again. He had been prepared to beat her when he’d come walking through that door. It was bad enough he had taken on a child, but to discover the child was a girl was too much even for him. She wouldn’t be able to hide the fact much longer and the thought of what would happen to her when the others found out frightened him even if it didn’t her. “What am I supposed to do with you?”
“Why should Oi be yer concern? Oi’m the one in trouble.”
“You can say that again, Alex. Damn! What is your name?”
“Alexis. The last name’s still Danty though.”
Pauley smiled, remembering the bakery. “And how old are you really?”
