“You’ll never be asked to. I promise.” He reached into his trouser pocket and produced a ring. “This was my mother’s. I brought it back from Boston knowing that I wanted to ask you to marry me.” He gently unfastened Elise’s glove and pulled it from her hand. “Elise, will you marry me?” He slipped the ring on her finger and stepped back to watch her. “I pledge before God always to be there for you and your father ... and never to ask you to leave him.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you, Nick.” She held her hand up to the light. “Yes, I will marry you.”
His lips had barely touched hers when someone began yelling.
“Fire! Fire!”
“Thankfully it wasn’t a bad blaze,” Nick told Elise’s father as they stood at the rail of theMary Elise, looking down on the portion of the dock building that had been burning only an hour earlier. The fire department had done an excellent job of getting the fire under control before it could burn the entire area. “Someone was thoughtless with their smoking, or perhaps a bum tried to make a fire.”
“It’s certainly possible. Fire’s a terrible threat—one of the biggest fears for sailing men,” Captain Wright declared.
“God was definitely good to us.” It was Nick’s watch, and he knew the captain would soon head off to bed.
“He is. Despite all that we’ve endured these last few days, God has offered great protection.” Elise’s father looked at himand smiled. “I see my daughter is sporting a new ring. I presume you asked her to marry you.”
“Yes. Just as I asked you permission to do.” Nick’s smile faded. “She was very concerned, however, about you.”
“I told you she would be. She’s all caught up in that promise she made her mother.”
Nick nodded. “So she said. But I assured her I was content to act as first mate for as long as you needed me. God is teaching me valuable things here, and I will not take them lightly.”
“And as I’ve already told you, I intend to retire from theMary Elise. It isn’t the same without my Mary, and now that Caroline will need me, I want to be there for her. I could never leave her to fend for herself in Duluth, so at least for a time, I’ll quit the lakes. But I have a feeling it will be permanent.”
“I can’t imagine you sailing for most of your life and then just giving it up.”
Wright rubbed his beard. “I never thought that day would come, but isn’t it funny how a man can, after yielding all to God, find himself moving in directions he never thought possible?”
The question tugged at something deep in Nick’s heart. “God always manages to have His way.”
“And aren’t we grateful for that?” Wright said, laughing.
“This is going to be a shock for Elise.”
Still chuckling, Wright nodded. “I’m thinking she’ll get over it, since you’ll be there to draw her focus.”
“No matter what, I’ll be there for her. I give you my pledge.”
“And I will hold you to it.” Wright slapped Nick on the back. “For now, however, I am still the captain, and I need to prepare for our departure.”
Nick watched him go. He was a good man, better than most,and yet from their talks, Nick knew he had once been godless and difficult. In his case, the accidental meeting of a young woman had begun his transformation, and God had completed the rest. Nick felt he could claim the same story for himself.
Booker Duran stretched out as best he could and opened the bottle of whiskey. He would have revenge on theMary Eliseif it was the last thing he did. He smiled and thought of all the times others had crossed him or gotten in the way of his plans. He never let one of them get off without some form of punishment.
“They’ll learn,” he muttered to himself. “Never cross Robert Wayfair, no matter what name he goes by.”
He took a long drink and then another, hoping the whiskey would warm him against the chill of the night. He closed his eyes and eased back against his pack.
They’d pay. They’d all pay.
Chapter 24
Nick didn’t like the looks of the deteriorating weather, and neither did the captain. The snow had started after they’d cleared the Soo Locks earlier in the day. It had fallen lightly for hours, but as the day progressed toward evening, the snow increased. Both men knew that November storms on the lakes could be some of the worst. Both also knew the odds were great that the ship would take on damage if they couldn’t get to safety.
“The wind has been gusting up to twenty knots with this front movin’ in,” Captain Wright declared to Nick as he came to check in. The captain was going over the charts, and Nick joined him at the table. Elise was busy in the galley, making supper.
The entire trip had seemed cursed. One thing after another had gone wrong, and strange things had been happening. Food had gone missing, ropes had been cut. Tom had fallen and nearly gone overboard when breaking up ice at the bow. He’d been alone and the snow had gotten heavy. He’d lost his footing on the icy deck and fallen back against the windlass. As he struggled to stand, the ship dipped low and threw him forward. He saidit felt as if someone or something was actually trying to push him over the rail. In his position, all he could do was hang fast to the rail, and when he was finally able to get upright with the help of Sam, no one else was there. Sam hadn’t seen a soul.
Just today, while everyone had been at lunch, something had brought down one of the sails. Everyone was spooked.
