Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Your ship is ready, Rais. Prepare your men to evacuate…”
Another loud wail from the back room of the uncle’s house distracted Richard. Only Andrew’s hand firm on his arm kept him in place.
Concentrate, Richard. This negotiation is life or death.
“You believe that captain will let us go? What of the village?” Hamidou demanded.
“My orders are to leave the village alone and to allow your ship out of the cove. The captain will follow those orders. Once you are under sail, I can’t promise.”
Hamidou nodded. “When the gold comes, we will see,” he said.
“The earl will return with your gold, Rais,” Andrew put in. “You may count on it. My presence here is surety.”
Richard heard Hamidou reply, but Lily’s cries distracted him. Can those women be trusted? What if they harm Lily? What if they harm my son?
“Your wife will be well, English. The grandmother has assisted hundreds into this world,” Hamidou told him.
Am I that transparent?
Every fiber of his being pulled him toward the back room of the uncle’s house, the room to which Hamidou led them when Richard carried Lily up the hill. She had labored for an hour already. How long do these things take?
“Are we agreed then?” Andrew asked. “When the gold comes, the Boreas will pull out to allow your crew to leave. You will have one hour to do so. They will remain off shore until you are gone and they see that we are safe. Then they will come in to evacuate the marquess and his family. That will allow you time to make your escape. Agreed?”
Hamidou gave a sharp nod. “If the earl returns with the agreed upon gold, we will do it.”
When the Rais left to inform his men to prepare, Richard sagged in relief.
“Almost there,” Andrew said, sinking back onto a divan.
“We’re in danger until they are gone. Don’t let the lack of a guard fool you,” Richard told him. “And those women… I need to stay with Lily.” He turned toward the back room.
“A moment, first, while we’re alone.”
Richard turned back, puzzled. Concern covered his brother-in-law’s expression.
“They won’t welcome you, you know. The women, I mean.”
“They won’t have a choice. What do you need to tell me?”
“Castlereagh gave orders to your agents around the Mediterranean. His Majesty’s government will not pay ransom for captives.”
“He said as much some months ago: let a few suffer to kill the practice. It looks different when you’re facing slavery. How did you convince him otherwise? And how, come to that, did you do it so quickly?”
Andrew smiled a crooked smile, his scarred visage tilting upward. “We’d have been here sooner, but we had to piece the gold together. Will and I were in Gibraltar when your request came.”
“Why on earth?”
“Looking for you, of course. You went haring off on your own with little thought and no preparation. We thought you needed help. When we discovered you’d left Gibraltar alone on a fishing boat, we became convinced you lost your mind.”
Richard sat down, distracted by the tale. “I was a damned fool, and look where it got me. I could have reached Lily eventually without all this.”
“Yes, Lily. I take it she agreed to your romantic proposal at last?” Andrew smirked.
“No romance, little choice.”
“I doubt that sat well with her,” Andrew said. “I can imagine Georgiana given no choice.”
“It’s why she ran,” Richard admitted. “I didn’t handle it well.”
You bungled it, you looby.
“This marriage of yours is legal?”
“It would be in some parts of the world.”
“Not ours?”
Richard shrugged. “An Anglican priest willing to back date marriage lines would be convenient,” he admitted.
“Particularly if it’s a son.”
“I hadn’t thought of that, but yes. I would not want my firstborn excluded from the succession.”
“And Lily has decided to go along with it?”
Richard bit his lip. Had she? She intended to in Constantinople. She said she didn’t think she could be a duchess, which is nonsense. “I’m not sure, but yes. I think so. I will ask her again as soon as I can.”
Dear God! Lily! He rose to go to her but paused. One part of the story teased his brain.
“How did you gather the money so fast?”
“Will convinced the governor in Gibraltar that the foreign secretary would make an exception for his protégé. He knew you, of course, and cobbled together about a third of the cost from his reserves and sent the messages on to London.”
“And the rest?”
“We became convinced there wasn’t enough time to wait. Will took a bank draft to Lisbon. That’s what took so long. His Majesty’s government will owe the earl a pretty penny.”
“I’ll cover it—or rather His Grace will. I’ll see to it.”
“It wasn’t enough. You agreed to a staggering sum.”
“It was a bit over half what he asked. I had to guess how much would be more than the Lily’s slave price and mine. Where did you get the rest?”
“That’s the interesting part. A ship arrived from Constantinople.
We got the final third from them. Sahin Pasha’s people had been scouring the Mediterranean for you.
They were authorized to contribute. I saw the notice.
Their ship is close by, just out of sight, by the way.
Something about making sure all debts are paid.
He seems to think he owes you something. ”
“Damn well does, the old reprobate.”
Richard jumped when a loud scream broke into their conversation. He bolted for the bedroom door.
“God go with you, Richard,” Andrew said softly. He wondered where Hamidou kept strong drink. He knew from experience it would be a long wait. He leaned back and began to recite The Aeneid in his head in Latin.
Lily clung to Richard’s hand for dear life. Neither the grandmother’s scowl nor Izza’s outright disapproval moved her to let go.
“He will stay,” she said over and over. The feel of him holding her hand got her through one wave of pain and then another. She had no idea how much time passed since he came to her. An hour? Two?
“Lily, can you trust these women?” he whispered.
“I have to,” she replied. “Oh God. Here it comes again.” She gripped him tightly and breathed as the old woman had shown her.
Richard took a damp towel, wiped her face, and smoothed her hair back. The sight of the mighty marquess, his tattered robe askew, his face marred with worry, tending to her needs tore at Lily’s heart.
I wish I could banish your fear, she thought, but we both know better. Women died in childbirth every day even when not surrounded by Barbary pirates.
A particularly violent pain tore through her. The grandmother pushed back the sheet that covered her and raised her knees to check her progress.
“Grandmother say you have good fortune, Lady. This birthing going fast,” Izza chirped.
“How much longer?” Richard asked.
The girl shrugged. “Hour. Maybe two. Maybe more.”
“That is not fast,” Richard ground out through clenched teeth.
Lily moved beyond speech. The contractions came, hard and long, much faster now. When she began to thrash about, Richard attempted to put his arms around her, but she struck out at him.
“Best leave alone, English. Grandmother says end part is too—” The girl waved a hand in the air and bit her lip, searching for a word. “Busy,” she concluded.
Lily thought perhaps she had become delirious. She could hear Richard’s voice whispering that he loved her over and over. Once she thought he said, “I’ll never do this to you again.”
Waves came one right after the other.
A commotion at the door caught Lily’s attention, reminding her of her reality. Are the pirates gone? Are they back?
“What of the English ship?” she managed to rasp during a lull.
“Andrew says Will has returned with the ransom. He wants me to come. I won’t leave you.”
“Hamidou insists that you finalize the handoff, Richard!” Andrew’s voice sounded far away and muffled as if his head was turned away.
“No!” Richard said, holding her hand through yet another one.
“Go,” she whispered.
“I won’t leave you.”
“You have to get us out of here. Finish it. Go!” It took all Lily’s remaining strength to send him away. She held herself together while he searched her face. “Go,” she repeated in a whisper. “Make us safe.”