“No one must know about the miscarriage,” Nadine said through chattering teeth. “The captain can’t find out I told you.”
“I won’t tell anyone,” I promised. “But when we get to Charleston, I will take you to a midwife. I know of one who has been helping women for decades. She can be trusted.”
Her wide-eyed gaze shifted to Marcus, as if noticing him for the first time.
“You have nothing to fear,” Marcus said, his voice low and soothing. “I won’t tell anyone, either.”
She looked back at me, her pale face filled with pain and sorrow. “There’s someone in Charleston who can help me?”
“Yes. But until we get there, you need to stay in bed and rest. I will see to all your chores. We should be in Charleston in four or five days, and we’ll get you help.”
Nadine looked too weak to fight, so she simply nodded and closed her eyes.
The day was long and arduous. I was still recovering from diving sickness, so Marcus encouraged me to take naps between meals, but there was too much to do. The captain hadn’t seemed concerned about Ned being sick again, and Dr. Hartville hadn’t even glanced in her direction as he passed by. She’d been sick on and off the past few weeks, and they must have assumed it was the same illness that had kept her in bed before. I now knew it was morning sickness that had been plaguing her.
I checked on her often, making sure she hadn’t started to bleed again or run a fever. I brought her something to eat and drink, though she refused both. She was pale and weak—and so very tired.
After supper, I returned to Marcus’s cabin, ready to go to bed early.
I’d been so preoccupied with Nadine’s trouble that I hadn’t thought much about my own resolve from earlier that morning.
When I returned to Charleston, I had decided to stay.
The sun was low on the horizon when Marcus entered the cabin.I had contemplated going to bed before he came in for the night but had decided it would be best to tell him my plans.
I was sitting on my old cot, wanting him to have his bed again. But the look in his eyes when he saw me sitting there told me he wasn’t happy with my decision.
“Why are you not in the other bed?” he asked.
“’Tis yours.”
“I gave it to you.”
“Until I felt better.”
“Nay. ’Tis your bed now.”
I didn’t want to argue with him, but there was tension between us. It had been building for days, since I had asked him what he planned to do once he delivered me to his mother in Massachusetts. He hadn’t responded, telling me all I needed to know. I remained on the cot as he stood by the closed door.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” I said.
His brown eyes were dark tonight, darker than usual. Whether he was angry about Ned, or about me speaking to Timothy yesterday, or about something else, I wasn’t sure. But he carried the weight of whatever was bothering him with stiff shoulders and a slight scowl.
“Will I like what you have to say?” he asked.
“Nay.”
He sighed and pulled a chair out from the table.
I rose from the cot and sat across from him, laying my hands in my lap. “I’ve made a decision.”
He watched me without speaking.
My heart begged me to stop, but my mind urged me to continue. “I’ve decided ’tis best if I return to Middleburg Plantation when we arrive in South Carolina.”
Marcus was expressionless as he sat across from me.
I wanted him to protest, to tell me thathehad changed his mind. That he was ready to give up pirating and run away to a far-off land where he could change his name and we could live in privacy for the rest of our lives. Together.
