“Ludlow?” The captain’s eyes widened with recognition. “Who is your father?”
“James Ludlow,” Timothy said.
“Slim Jim Ludlow?” The captain peered at Timothy. “Aye, you look like him. I spent many an evening with Jim over a pint of ale. Are you telling me that Jim knew where the treasure was and never told me?”
Timothy swallowed and nodded. “Aye. That’s what he claimed, anyway.”
“And where is your father now?”
“In Boston, sir. On Treamount Street. He accepted the King’s Pardon and went home to take care of his family.”
Captain Zale began to pace again as the three of us waited.
My heart was in my throat. The captain might agree, and we’d set sail for Boston, or he’d call it all rubbish and want to return to Florida—or he might want to stay in Charleston and look for Nadine, though his earlier behavior suggested that he had accepted her decision to leave him.
If he didn’t want to go to Boston, I would be desperate enough to jump ship and find another way, though it would be close to impossible.
“I think ’tis time to pay a visit to my old friend Slim Jim Ludlow,” the captain said. “Mayhap Jim will agree to tell me where the Queen’s Dowry is, if I agree to give him a share of my profits.” He put his hand on Timothy’s shoulder and said, “And a share for his son, too.”
Timothy’s grin relieved me of my guilt about telling the captain his tale.
But it was nothing like the relief I felt knowing we would head toward Boston.
Marcus smiled at me, but I saw the concern in his eyes.
Neither of us knew what we’d find when we got to Salem.
Ifwe got there in time.
After serving the captain and his men supper—this time Timothy had been invited to join them—I took my meal to Marcus’s cabin as I used to do before becoming ill with diving sickness. It had been strange not having Nadine at my side as I served the meal. My thoughts and prayers were with her, wherever she had gone. Part of me was happy that the captain was letting her go without a fight. She deserved something better than life on theOcean Curse.
Perhaps now the rumors of a Jonah on board would fade away.
I was just finishing my boiled pork and stewed peas when the door opened, and Marcus appeared.
The ship had left Charleston Harbor and was out to sea again. The familiar creaking of the wood and the rhythmic rolling of the ocean were like old friends now. Darkness had fallen, and the single lamp hung on the wall, illuminating the cabin with scant light.
My pulse increased at his arrival as it always did, but this time was different. Everything had changed in Charleston.
He closed the door as I stood, our gazes on each other. Was he just as uncertain about how things would proceed? We hadn’t been alone since leaving the inn earlier. The cabin felt too intimateand private. His bed and my cot reminded me that we would be sharing the same space again.
I felt like a moth to a flame whenever he was near, and when he opened his arms to me, I entered his embrace freely, inhaling the scent of the soap he’d used at the inn.
He was warmth and strength, an anchor in an uncertain storm.
“Things are different now, aren’t they, lass?” he asked as his chin rested on the top of my head.
“Aye.” It was all I could say with the butterflies filling my stomach.
When I pulled back, he smiled down at me, but there was a sadness in his countenance, as well. “There is much we need to discuss.”
His hand rubbed the small of my back, sending heat and pleasure up my spine. I wasn’t sure how I would focus on anything we had to say to each other.
“I don’t know how I’ll stay in the cabin with you this week and honor you, Caroline.”
It was a bold, direct statement, causing me to pull away in surprise.
Yet if he was feeling what I was feeling, I understood.
