24 days at sea
From his vantage on the poop deck, Will should have been supervising the sailors as he finished his watch, but he’d been distracted for the last half hour by a particular passenger down on the waist deck. Ann Fowles, to be precise, and a certain gentleman with whom she’d been conversing in an animated fashion. If only he were free to speak with her and clear up the miscommunication between them.
He’d talked to the man she was speaking with before. If he remembered right, his name was Whitley or Wellsby, or something similar. It perturbed him to see how he flirted with Ann, so to appease his mind, Will decided Mr. Weakling was an appropriate sobriquet. To make matters worse, Will watched the confident dandy pull out his violin and hand it to Ann.
When she raised the violin to her chin, something magical happened. Her graceful fingers drew the bow effortlessly over the strings, and one of the prettiest melodies he could ever recall floated up to his ears. The instrument became an extension of her soul. The music felt like a siren call, and he wished he could leave his post and come nearer.
It took everything in him to remain where he was. A brief distraction came in the form of young Scotty Rollins emerging from the hatch nearest the passengers. It was obvious he’d been deep below decks because he was wielding a still-lit lantern. Taking interest in the song, Scotty paused, placing his lantern on the deck.
Will sighed inwardly. Even Scotty had become enthralled with the scene he was trying to ignore. He’d have to remind the boy of the correct lantern extinguishing protocol next time they spoke.
Will watched as Ann swayed and moved, filling the air with beauty and happiness. When her song finally finished, the group applauded, and against Will’s unspoken wish, the Weakling fellow reclaimed the violin from Annbefore she could begin another tune. If it had been his instrument, Will would have asked her to keep going.
After Mr. Weakling stowed the violin in its case, he clapped his hands and called, “Gather round!” as he gestured toward the group. “We’ve all played kiss in the ring before, but should we have a go of it now?”
Will wanted to groan. Such a silly game occasionally made its way onto these voyages when people were cooped up. But this time, he found himself searching the faces of the participants, wondering if a certain young lady was pleased to be among them.
Many of the men and women nodded and agreed.
Mr. Weakling continued. “Now as people from our different areas and church conferences may have played by different rules, I’ll set the standard before we begin.”
“You’ll set it up to your advantage, no doubt,” another man called out, a laugh in his voice.
“That’s ’nuff from you, Claridge.” Mr. Weakling winked at the man, who must have been his friend, and withdrew a handkerchief and waved it. “One fellow or lass will walk around the outside of the circle and drape the cloth on each shoulder as they go around. As soon as the handkerchief is dropped, the chosen person will pick up the fabric and try to catch him or her before that person returns to the circle. If caught, that person will bestow a kiss on the other’s cheek.”
“Hear, hear!” cried a few of the gentlemen. The ladies seemed a bit shier, but a decent amount of excitable chatter crackled among them as well. One gentleman stepped out of the circle in preparation to start, and Will noticed Miss Fowles stood next to Miss Cherry. The latter turned her head with a wide smile, and Miss Fowles returned a smile so dazzling it sparkled in the sun.
A first mate never played games with the passengers, especially under Captain Fairfield’s orders. Perhaps the crew might join in a dance, but nothing beyond that.
Despite all his usual disdain for passengers’ romantic antics, for just one moment he wished he could be one of the men to chase a lady around the ring, and he knew which he would choose.
Trying to distract himself, he scanned the rest of the deck, checking that each sailor did as he should. He was assisting Jack, making sure every crew member stayed focused as they changed sail direction. It was especially important to ensure safety in the rigging. Will followed the ropes and thecanvas with his eyes but checked over his shoulder once. Even from far across the deck, he could see that Scotty still hadn’t extinguished his light. He called one of the sailors over to him.
“Go tell Rollins to extinguish his light immediately.”
The crew member nodded, and as he strode away, Will studied the sails again and corrected the seaman next to him. “No, too far.”
When Will looked back to the waist, the messenger had been delayed by another sailor and hadn’t yet made his way to Scotty. Will also noticed Mr. Weakling taking out his handkerchief and making his way around the circle. As soon as he got to Miss Fowles he dropped the handkerchief. She appeared completely surprised and hesitated before grabbing the fabric. She made a valiant effort to run. The man was near his original spot when he stopped abruptly, and Miss Fowles unknowingly ran into his back.
A few of the people in the circle laughed, and one or two of them clapped. Mr. Weakling made a great show of surprise and then bowed ceremoniously before kissing Miss Fowles on the cheek. Her becoming skin flushed pink, as though she enjoyed it. Mr. Weakling causing the heightened color on her cheeks put Will into a foul mood.
Finally the messenger came to Scotty’s side. Scotty nodded, but his hands were full of rope, and it looked like he was untangling it. Once the messenger delivered his message, he started back to the poop deck.
Scotty continued to work with the rope. Will liked the boy, but he couldn’t be so careless. Why didn’t the messenger extinguish it?
Frustrated, Will yelled to Jack. “I’ll be back in a moment!”
Sometimes to get the job done right, you had to do it yourself.
Brother Naylor circled the group after Brother Wheatley kissed Ann. She wondered how red her cheeks flared at present. They felt positively afire. Not wanting to draw attention to them by touching them, she kept her hands down. She hadn’t wanted to seem forward in any way and was sure Brother Wheatley would make it back to his spot before she could catch him, but that hadn’t been the case. He had been rather kind to her over the past several days, and she was nearly certain he was developing feelings for her.
He’d even let her borrow his violin, and that had been her favorite moment aboard the ship thus far. Her fingers longed for the strings, and her heart had soared when she’d played the slightly unpolished but beautifulmelody. Maybe it was his generosity, but she did think highly of the man. The question she couldn’t quite answer yet was did she have romantic feelings for him? She glanced across the circle. His eyes easily met hers, and he smiled.
He wasn’t bad looking and was always kind and courteous. He seemed quite faithful and sure of himself, and she was certain she could do much worse when finding a husband. She knew many of the Saints on this voyage had met and decided to marry before leaving port, but surely more people throughout the voyage would decide to start their lives together and be married once they made it to land. Perhaps she should pursue his interest.
A part of her though, just a small part, remembered one other face, and she seemed to remember it more often. A handsome, capable one that belonged to a man who’d made it clear he didn’t wish to interact with her.
The handkerchief dropped in front of Elizabeth, and she started to run. Ann knew her friend liked the game and was not as discriminating when it came to young men. Based on a few conversations they’d had, she was nigh sure her friend would be engaged before they reached Zion.
