I stood straight, holding the pitcher of ale in both my trembling hands. I couldn’t lie. I had grown up swimming in the lakes near my home in Minneapolis and the Cooper River on Grandfather’s plantation. I loved to swim, but I had no wish to enter a diving bell and go to the bottom of the ocean. I wasn’t even sure what a diving bell was, though I could easily imagine.
And how could I hide the fact that I was a woman if I was forced to dive? Most men would swim without their shirts on—somethingI couldn’t do. If the others believed I was modest and I was allowed to dive in a shirt, it would become wet and could do little to hide the evidence of my femininity, even with binding.
I had no choice but to tell the truth, though I wondered what Anne Reed would have done in my place. Would she lie to protect herself at all costs? I didn’t want to be anything like her—not to mention that my father, Reverend Baldwin, had preached about standing before God with a clean conscience.
Marcus watched for my response.
“I can swim,” I finally said.
“Even if you couldn’t,” the captain said with a laugh, “I’d make you dive.”
“I won’t let him go,” Marcus said, steel in his voice.
Silence filled the cabin as the captain stared at Marcus, a hint of surprise in his gaze. In the several weeks I’d been on theOcean Curse, I’d rarely seen Marcus stand up to the captain.
“He’s my cabin boy,” Marcus said, taking ownership of me for the first time, “and I’ve found him to be indispensable.”
No one spoke or ate as they looked between the captain and Marcus.
The captain’s astonishment was soon replaced with anger. His jaw clenched as he narrowed his eyes. “I gave him to you, and I can take him away whenever I like. I’m in charge of the crew of theOcean Curse, and if you don’t like that, you can desert the ship. But I warn you—if you try, I’ll personally hunt you down and shoot you like a traitor. No cabin boy is worth that trouble.”
After another tense moment, the men returned to their meal, but Marcus left the cabin.
“Hawk will show you the diving bell and explain how it works,” Captain Zale said to me. “Be prepared to dive when we reach the site of the Queen’s Dowry.”
I didn’t know how long that might be, or how I would be prepared to face the bottom of the ocean.
But I would have no choice.
16
JULY 11, 1927
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
It had been two days since I visited Lewis in his home and three days since I’d called Thomas out of Nina Clifford’s brothel to ask him to help with Alice. But I had not heard from either one again. I also hadn’t heard anyone whispering rumors about me visiting either place, for which I was thankful.
I sat in the parlor with my parents and Alice on that sultry July night. The humidity was so high my skin felt slick, and my temper was short. Captain Zale’s threat to send me to the bottom of the ocean in a diving bell increased my angst. What would happen if I died in 1727? Would I die in 1927, as well? And what of Marcus? Now that he showed an interest in seeking out his mother—even if he was doing it for me—I didn’t want him to stop. Perhaps I could convince him to give up pirating, though I wasn’t certain he could ever be free. He’d said himself that he was a wanted man. Even if he took his old name, there were some, like Captain Zale, who might reveal his identity for revenge. And the king had no tolerance for pirates.
Alice sat on the sofa across from me, fanning herself with a copy ofPhotoplay, a popular magazine celebrating motion pictures andthe actors and actresses who starred in them. She’d picked it up last time we went to the grocers. Father had frowned when he saw it, but she had insisted the copy was for her Christian enlightenment, because there was an article about Cecil B. DeMille’s new film,King of Kings, about the life of Christ.
“It has to storm soon,” Mother said as she readjusted the electric fan closest to her. She wasn’t prone to complaining, but her voice held a hint of a whine. “This weather cannot hold out much longer.”
As if she’d summoned it, a flash of lightning lit up the dark sky beyond the parlor windows. I set asideRobinson Crusoeand left the sofa to inspect the oncoming storm.
Father was waiting for the nightly news. His petition to get Charles Lindbergh to visit Minneapolis had been successful—though Saint Paul would host the majority of Lindbergh’s visit—and tonight WCCO news would share details about the tent revival starting the same day.
I moved the curtain aside to look at the dark yard as another flash of lightning lit up the sky.
Alice kept her eyes on me. She’d been living with us for almost two weeks, and she acted just as leery of me as I was of her. I still wasn’t certain about her intentions and was left to wonder if she had truly come because of desperation and not to cause trouble, as I had assumed.
“Mrs. Baldwin and I would like to speak to you about your future, Alice,” Father said. “We have waited, hoping to find a position for you in the Twin Cities, but we’ve exhausted most of our resources.”
I let the curtain fall back into place as I waited for his decision. Mother and Father had been making inquiries about getting her a job, but there were few people willing to hire a single, pregnant woman.
Alice set aside her magazine and sat up a little straighter. “Yes?”
Father was calm as always as he clasped his hands in his lap. “Mrs. Baldwin has spoken to our sister-in-law in Des Moines, and she has located a home for unwed mothers in Sioux City, Iowa.We’ve decided this is the best course of action for you and will see that you have the train fare and all the proper funds to get there and then return to the Twin Cities once the child is born and placed with an adoptive family.”
