The Gift of Happenstance #3
“You seafarers always complain about the dust! It is the salt that stings the eyes!” A newly arrived, retired army colonel settled in a chair. “What is it we shall argue over today?”
“You have already missed our discussion of beasts, those you land-farers would never have the nerve to face down!” the proprietor shared.
“When was the last time you faced the dragoons of Almack’s?” the colonel challenged his sea-faring brethren.
“I’ll take my chances with the tentacled beast!” the old admiral proclaimed.
“You did bring me down quite a stack. Good show, my boy!” the owner clapped his hands once in approval as he spied the stash under Captain Wentworth’s arm.
“Please ready two for Miss Anne. Separately, Captain. I would put a note in each, as one is destined for the home of a former lieutenant under my command. I would offer a word of comfort to the grieving mother. The other is destined for a baronet’s library.
Miss Anne has found the volume her father has to be outdated. ”
“And that is why he is considered a better captain than you ever were! A personal note to a grieving mother though he does not buy the list? It is everything she will admire, and shall take only a moment of his time!” The old admiral pointed at the retired captain sitting next to him.
As Wentworth moved behind the counter and settled into his task, he kept an eye on the staircase for Anne’s appearance.
“A baronet’s daughter! Well, now it is no wonder he did not just carry her off and be done with it,” the army colonel whistled low between his lips. “He would have had to answer to a peer, and that is always unpleasant.”
The assembled judges of all things spoke of tales and encounters with fair maidens and those guardians who were disapproving of said maidens’ attachments to men in uniform.
“Ah, Miss Anne. I was of a mind to send the good captain back for you in case you had fallen headlong into a book!” the proprietor teased his feminine patron.
“And so I did, sir. This is a wonderfully illustrated book full of swords and dragons. I shall read it to my nephews this Christmas holiday.”
“No finer gift is there than a book,” the proprietor agreed.
“You may tie them off, Captain. I am finished,” Wentworth said as he moved from behind the counter.
The Captains locked gazes for a brief moment, then the older man picked off the coin resting on one of Miss Anne’s copies, enough to cover its purchase, and moved the volumes to the counter in readiness for her.
“Shall I also wrap that book for you, Miss Anne?”
“Please,” Anne agreed, watching only Captain Wentworth as he moved around to speak to the other gentlemen individually.
Her heart lurched as he walked to the door, knowing that as soon as he passed through it he would be out of her life, likely forever. It took nearly every ounce of her self-possession not to rush into his arms and beg him to take her with him.
“Good day, Miss Anne,” Captain Wentworth lowered his head to her as he put on his hat.
“If you see the Crofts whist you are ashore, please give them my regards. It was a great pleasure to encounter you today. Fare thee well and Godspeed, Captain,” Anne said as she dipped a curtsy in a returned courtesy.
Captain Wentworth left the bookstore. Before the door closed, he looked back, a gift of a just one more single moment’s shared glance before all trace of him was gone.
Anne exhaled with all the happiness it was to know a far better goodbye than the one that had passed between them all those years before.
“Miss Anne? Do you wish me to send your books ahead somewhere so you need not carry them about?” the owner asked, his eyes shifting to the door and back at her.
“Thank you, Captain, but no. I will far prefer the excuse to not have to carry a bonnet box or ribbons.” Anne was startled when three books were set before her rather than the two she expected.
“I did not-” Anne stopped speaking when she saw a crisscrossed arch in the corner of the book above her initials.
“I do hope these purchases bring joy to all who receive them,” the proprietor said as he placed the third book she had chosen above the one meant for her.
“Thank you, sir. May I wish you all a happy Christmastide,” Anne said as she picked up her books.
“And to you, Miss Anne,” the Captain replied, barely hiding his grin.
“Anne! You are still here? We should have guessed that we would need to collect you, for it is a bookshop. But it is time to return to the inn so we might meet Captain Harville, if Charles has convinced him to dine with us,” Henrietta exclaimed from now the open doorway.
“If ever another loves books as much as you, Anne, I should be shocked,” Louisa declared.
“It would be a very quiet home, as they would both always have their noses in their dusty tomes,” Henrietta tittered.
“Come, Anne. We do not wish to be late,” Louisa encouraged Anne through the door. “It seems you were quite lost in the shelves, for you have three purchases!”
“Yet I wished to bring with me a dozen more, so I showed great restraint,” Anne assured her companions.
“I am glad to see one of you did! I thought to bring the carriage as it has begun to rain,” Charles Musgrove said, appearing next to them on the street.
“Thank you, Charles. You are as excellent a brother for which any unwed lady could ask,” Anne said when she saw the admiral had followed her to offer an umbrella and was scowling at her at the familiarity of Charles’ address.
In hearing that she had no husband, the admiral tipped his head then ducked back inside, his grin amusing and pleasing Anne. The next time he went into the shop, her Frederick again would hear she remained unmarried.
And so she would ever remain, for the one thing their encounter had made indelibly clear was that her heart yet belonged to Frederick Wentworth. And that it ever would.
***
As Anne prepared for bed that evening, she stared at the book he purchased for her. She had no doubt that it was a copy of the Navy List, her own copy. And in it would be listed the Asp or the Laconia, perhaps both. And, too, he had gifted her the means to connect with this part of his life.
Anne traced the trellis with her fingers.
That he had drawn it knowing its significance to her made her heart release some of the hurt and bitterness she had harbored these many years.
Resentment she held against her family who insisted she let him go.
Resentment against Lady Russell for pressing her to do so.
And the bitterness of despising herself for being persuaded into it.
She set the book down and picked it up again a dozen times. Each time she picked it up, she wondered if there might be a note on the inside paper which protected it. And each time she set it down after telling herself not to be foolish, that there would be nothing to find.
“If there is, it is best done whilst I’m alone,” Anne whispered.
She carefully unwrapped his gift, making certain not to wrinkle the small picture. Her fingers caressed the cover where his had certainly touched it, then she inspected it from all angles. Her breath caught when she found a small arch to indicate something kept the pages from lying flat.
Her heart started to race as she opened it to the location of the disturbance. Her fingers reflectively caught the small piece of paper that slid down the page, a page on which the Laconia was listed.
She then looked down at the slip of paper to see that it was folded in the shape of a boat that could fit in the palm of her hand.
Her fingers trembling, she carefully unfolded it to reveal his words to her.
May God bless and keep you safe
FW
In this, Anne received the greatest of gifts.
She may not have his understanding or his absolution, and he may yet harbor resentment, but she had his forgiveness.
Anne used his handkerchief to catch her tears as she offered up her nightly prayer for his safe journeys and that he always to return to their shores.
This night she added her thanks for the gift of a happenstance encounter that answered her greatest of wishes during this most joyous of seasons.