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Despite herself, she joined in with a smile of her own.
He offered his arm to her, and she took it with pleasure.
“Told ye she’d want to come back,” Mr. Bosanko said as they approached. “Glad to see ye again, Miss ’Ollow.”
“I’m glad to see ye, too.”
The four of them moved forward to where Captain Kendricks’s wagon awaited them. Out of habit, Morvoren glanced anxiously over her shoulder. Then she faced forward again with a smile. She needn’t worry about Uncle or anyone else following her or finding her ever again.
For with Trevik beside her, she knew she was finally safe.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Trevik had never before experienced a longer ride home in his entire life. He knew he’d had to bring the other men along in order to succeed in his plan to help Morvoren home, but at this point, he was counting down the minutes until they arrived in Tristwick. As much as he liked Gryffyn and Captain Kendricks, he’d prefer proposing without an audience.
Throughout their journey, he and Morvoren sat in the back of the wagon, informing one another about all that had occurred to the both of them since they’d parted.
Trevik shared the news of the Cardys working for the seiners, though they remained in Tristwick. “We’ve managed to hire a few men in their absence, some miners from Wheal Favour,” he explained.
“Will the Cardys be so greatly upset that they’ve been replaced?” She looked away. “Or with my returnin’?”
Trevik shook his head. “It ’ardly matters. Edern saw ye bein’ carted away by your uncle. That be more ’an enough evidence for ’im to know ye ain’t no sea-maid, what with ye havin’ family on land. I ’spect ’e and Jowan’ll come ’round eventually. If not, they can leave Tristwick if they wish to.”
Trevik then went on to explain the good fortune that had come to them while making the repairs to the lugger. “Me father had a friend in the lumber business who ’elped ’im out years before,” he said. “We made the same arrangement. ’E fixed the deck in exchange for oil from the fish throughout the winter. A fair trade.”
“And the masts?” she asked.
“Captain Kendricks and Lieutenant ’Arris used their connections in the navy to bring about a swift mendin’ to those, as well,” Trevik explained.
The two men had ridden to Penzance themselves, being shuffled from place to place before finding the parts and the men to fix it. They’d worked tirelessly for days until the masts had been mended—something Trevik would be indebted to them for forever.
“But how could ye afford the repairs to both masts?”
Trevik swallowed his pride, as he’d done when Captain Kendricks had first offered his solution. Lowering his voice, he explained. “The masts had to be purchased outright, so the captain agreed to fund them personally. I’ll be payin’ ’im back in increments as me wages come in from fishin’.”
Morvoren shook her head in awe—the same Trevik had done when the repairs had been finished only the day before. They’d lost a week of fishing—thousands upon thousands of fish—but the future did not look so bleak after all.
“So I assume the lieutenant has already set sail?” Morvoren asked in a soft voice, averting her gaze.
He looked away in shame. He couldn’t believe the last time they’d spoken had been in an argument. How he regretted his behavior that Sunday.
“Yes,” he said, seated across from her in the wagon, their legs occasionally bouncing against each other as the wheels hit the divots in the road. “’E left a few days ago.”
“And how be Poppy?”
“Better.” After Morvoren left, he’d apologized profusely to his sister for her heartache, explaining how he only wished to protect her. She’d forgiven him, as she always did. But Trevik still needed to apologize to Morvoren for the accusations. “I…I know we argued ’bout this ’fore ye left. And I can’t tell ye ’ow much I’ve come to regret…”
His words trailed off as she shook her head. “There’s no need to apologize. We both were speakin’ out o’ love for Poppy. And out o’ fear for the future.”
He nodded. “Still, I be sorry for blamin’ ’er pain on ye.”
She gave a little nod, forgiveness filling her eyes as she smiled at him.
The wagon rolled on, and Trevik listened next as Morvoren detailed the last week of her life. It had taken everything within him not to return straight to St. Ives and remove the living from Mr. Truscott for what he’d done to his family and Morvoren, but never again would he risk not being with this woman for the rest of his life.
They arrived in Tristwick just as the sun began to pull its light toward the sea. Morvoren and Trevik thanked the captain profusely as he dropped them off, then did the same to Gryffyn before he walked toward his home.
When the two were finally alone, they entered the Honeysetts’ house, but Trevik remained in the doorway. Morvoren glanced back to him with a curious look. “Where be the others?”
