Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
Meanwhile, aboard The Tempest
“ W hy are we not moving?” Joy asked.
“I’m not sure. ’Tis deuced odd, but the wind has just stopped,” Freddy remarked, seemingly as perplexed as she was. “Never seen that happen before.”
They sat on one of the wooden chests that covered the deck. Mostly they held ropes.
“I hope it starts again. It will be difficult to reach Grace if we cannot move.”
“I suppose they don’t have wind either,” he said reasonably as they stared up at the mast with the sails limp against it.
“This is rather tedious,” Joy remarked. “It’s not at all what I expected.”
“It will get better if the wind picks up again. It is always windy in England.”
Then Joy wondered what Patience and Ashley were doing—whatever the newly wedded did. They had not seen hide nor hair of them since they boarded, but to each their own. She’d much rather be on the deck, watching the world go by. If only it would start going by again.
“How do you think Carew reacted when he found Grace?” she asked.
“He was probably spitting fire.”
“Like a dragon?” Joy asked.
Freddy seemed to ponder that. “They blow fire rather. Still, I cannot think he would be pleased. Now he will be shackled to her.”
Grace might like that, but Joy wasn’t sure. They had teased her about the Irish Earl, but Joy knew Grace the best and she wasn’t certain that just because she found the man handsome that she would want to be married to him. They were very different. Joy was not sure someone like Carew could appreciate her quiet, bookish sister. Although she was only really quiet around strangers. Or if there were too many attention-seekers in the room. Then Grace didn’t bother to compete. Joy admired that about her. For herself, Joy tended to draw attention, but not because she wanted it. That was why she had no desire to be part of Society. She drew the wrong kind of attention on accident.
“What do you think he will do to her? Lock her up in the brig?”
“Like a pirate? Aye, he might do something like that.”
“Poor Grace. We have to start moving.”
“I was not serious. He might lock her in a cabin, though.”
“I realize that, but she must be very uncomfortable being unwanted on someone else’s ship. The crew is all men.”
“Not all men are dreadful.” Freddy took offence.
“To be fair, I have never met another male like you. The sailors I met earlier were a bit rough.”
“Carew will protect her even if he is displeased. Like a little sister,” he reasoned.
“What is the worst that could happen to Grace?” Joy asked.
“He could refuse to marry her and ruin her.”
“What a stupid, stupid thing ruination is. I truly hate that word,” she huffed.
Freddy shrugged. “I do not make the rules.”
“He would do that? Ruin her, I mean?”
“Westwood will not allow it,” her best friend said with absurd certainty. Carew did not strike her as the type of person who would let anyone else dictate what he did or did not do. Rotham was a bit like that, too, except with a better reputation.
“Best keep it a secret that she’s gone,” Freddy remarked.
“That will never happen.” Perhaps Joy spent too much time with the servants, but they knew everything that happened. “Unless Westwood bribes everyone, but with Rotham’s servants and the Montfords’, it’s not possible.”
Joy paced back and forth across the deck. “It should never have come to this,” she muttered, her voice thick with guilt. “I am the one who left her on that ship. I didn’t wake her, didn’t make sure she disembarked with us. What kind of sister does that?”
Freddy looked up sharply. “Joy, you’re being unfair to yourself,” he said firmly. “It wasn’t just you. There were several people who knew Grace had gone to rest. In the hustle and bustle of the wedding, no one remembered.”
“That does not excuse it,” Joy shot back, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I was the last person with her. I gave her Theodore to comfort her and left her there. She trusted me.”
“You cannot take this all on yourself. It wasn’t a deliberate neglect, Joy. It was an oversight—a mistake, yes—but not malicious. And it wasn’t solely yours. Everyone was caught up in the wedding and the chaos of the day. And do you honestly think Grace blames you for this? If anything, she is probably blaming herself for not waking up.”
Joy’s shoulders slumped, the weight of her emotions pressing heavily on her. “I cannot bear the thought of her being hurt because of something I failed to do.”
Freddy did not disagree with her. “That is why we are giving chase.”
Hopefully, it would be enough.
A kitten poked its head from the pouch, and Freddy held up his finger for it to sniff before it scrambled out onto his hand. This one was an orange tabby like its mama, and Joy had named it Evelina. The little kitten climbed up his arm and onto his shoulder.
One thing Joy liked about Freddy Cunningham most was his smile and the pleasure he seemed to take in the little things. He was not overly complicated, but he was sunny and happy, and he loved animals as much as she. But most of all, he was comfortable and did not judge her as wanting because Joy knew she was not what was expected of a lady.
He laughed when Evelina settled down in the nook of his neck as though that was where she belonged.
“At least we have the kitten for entertainment,” she said on a sigh as she reached for Evelina and scratched her chin.
“We are not very dashing rescuers, are we?” Freddy asked, though it warranted no answer.
Joy tended to be impulsive when impatient, and she very much liked the thought of being a dashing rescuer. What would one of her heroines do in a situation like this? “You are certain we cannot move without wind?” Joy asked Freddy.
“The boat is too large to row. The oars wouldn’t reach the water,” he explained very logically.
She huffed in frustration. “I do not like this at all.”
While Joy was not happy about what had happened to Grace, she felt responsible for not remembering to make sure she was awake and had departed the ship. However, Joy was delighted to delay going to London, where it meant she would have to go out in Society. She would be quite pleased if that never ever happened.
As if things couldn’t possibly get worse, a huge, fat raindrop landed on her head. She hated bonnets and took them off whenever she could get away with it. As it turned out, now was not a good time to be without one.
“I think it’s raining,” Freddy remarked as Joy was wiping water from her face.
He looked at the sky. “I suppose we should go to the cabin.”
“I suppose we should,” Joy agreed a bit sarcastically, though Freddy didn’t appreciate or realize when she used it.
The ship was not as big as Carew’s, and the Captain had relinquished his cabin to the newly wedded couple, which meant Joy had a tiny one to herself, and Freddy shared one with the Captain.
They squeezed into her tiny one because there was really nowhere else for them to go.
“Shall we play cards or read?” Freddy asked.
It was going to be a very long trip if they were stuck inside the small, smelly hole, Joy realized. Did they never clean? It smelled like a mixture of dirty sweat, urine, and sea-water.
They both had to sit on the berth because there was nowhere else to go. At that, Freddy had to hunch over because the ceiling was so low.
“I think a story. Did we bring any tales of pirates?”
“I do not think so but we can ask the Captain later. We do have Robinson Crusoe .”
“That will do,” Joy said as she leaned back and settled down to listen with the kitten curled in between them. Freddy did have a very soothing voice.