Chapter Three
His look of relief could have been seen for miles out at sea, or so Anna imagined.
‘Bless your heart, Miss Fontaine,’ he said. The words were quietly spoken, but she felt his sincerity in her soul. ‘I do not know how long this will last. I must leave tomorrow. I will have a better idea when I return.’
‘No matter,’ she said. ‘You and your son may have my brother’s room, though I will warn you that the bed is not a large one.’
‘I am used to small spaces.’ She thought he smiled then, but it was hard to say, because he was looking down and not at her. ‘If you can assure me that the bed will not pitch or yaw, we will manage tolerably.’
Itwasa smile, albeit a small one. She took heart and smiled back, wiping away any grief she felt at the prospect of opening the door to Will’s room for someone else. Will had told her in letters that the Old Man—that nickname given to all captains—was firm but kind. In Will’s memory, she knew she must repay that kindness.
‘I’ll show you to his room.’
‘Thank you,’ he said simply, then seemed to reconsider. ‘First, may I see my child in your kitchen?’
‘Certainly.’ She sniffed the air. ‘I think Mrs Moore has been augmenting our leftover loaves and fishes.’
She rose and he followed. As she walked into the kitchen, Anna reckoned it was her first good moment in a sad day.
‘That smells good,’ the captain said as Mrs Moore looked at him from the Rumford, where she was turning over sausages.
‘Sit down, sir,’ Anna’s housekeeper said. ‘These two are full. This is for you.’
The captain sat, his lap immediately occupied by his son. Captain Beattie bowed his head over Allan and held him close.
Anna turned towards Pru. Efficient, capable and probably a spinster in the making since birth, Anna sat and opened her arms. Without any hesitation, Pru landed in her lap.
‘I tried, ma’am,’ she whispered. ‘T’old witch told me she’d be watching the house and if I left for anything, the constable would nab me and haul me away.’ She shivered, and not from cold. ‘I’ve been hauled away before.’
‘No one will haul you away,’ she declared, even as she knew she was stepping into a great unknown. ‘Allan is alive and so are you. How did you manage, Pru, when those odious women left?’
It was Pru’s turn for silence. Anna knew the captain waited for an answer, too, some explanation of what had gone so horribly wrong. Anna wondered if anyone had ever listened to the scullery maid before. What to say? She knew. ‘Pru, you kept both you and Allan safe for…for…two months? I think you are amazingly brave and creative.’
‘I know how to get by on nearly nothing,’ Pru replied, her hesitation replaced by something close to pride. She turned towards Allan on his father’s lap. ‘We managed, didn’t we?’
Allan nodded.
‘I wish I knew why they abandoned you two,’ Captain Beattie said. ‘I trusted them.’
‘I think I know,’ Pru said in a small voice. ‘Sir, maybe I was nosy.’
‘Hardly matters,’ the captain replied. He surprised Anna by winking at the child.You do have an instinct for children, she thought. ‘I’ve been known to snoop around when I thought something was amiss. Did you think that, too?’
Pru nodded. ‘When you’re raised in a workhouse, you get…cautious.’
‘I hear that from some of my crew,’ he said gently. ‘What was amiss?’
His question, asked with nothing except interest, nothing overt, seemed to open the floodgates. ‘They whispered together a lot, and I heard about someone named Faro. Do you know him?’
Anna gave the captain oceans of credit. He didn’t laugh.
‘I have, indeed. It’s a card game, Pru, and I’ve lost a few coins at the table, too. They gambled, then?’
‘Only Miss Driscoll, I think. She said she had some money from you.’
‘That money was to keep you fed and comfortable until I returned.’ His voice hardened as he gave Anna a side glance. ‘Two hundred pounds. Some of that was supposed to be your wages, Pru. Did you even see a penny?’
She shook her head. ‘No, sir. Miss Driscoll went out at night and when she came back…well, I heard her crying a few times.’ She shrugged. ‘Maybe she wasn’t too good with Faro.’
