Northern Lights Trilogy (108 page)

“And expanding a ship a month,” Lucas added.

“It’s not fast enough,” Adrian said. “There are many in these parts who would pay a good bit for regular ice shipments. We were fortunate to get a new block last week.”

They chatted on for the next hour, about shipping news, the weather, politics, until Isabella suggested they go and check on the boys. Elsa agreed. As they entered the house together, Elsa asked, “Wouldn’t a dip be fun? Why don’t we join the boys? I know that Eve would love it.”

“Oh, let’s do. The cove is very private, and I have a bathing dress you could borrow.”

Elsa laughed. “I would never fit into your tiny clothes.” Isabella was petite whereas Elsa was quite tall. “If it’s private, I’m sure I’ll be fine in my bloomers, if Adrian has a shirt I could borrow.”

“Very well.” They turned into a tiny playroom filled with fine miniature toys. Eve sat at a small table, serving tea to a stuffed bear.

“Want to go with us, Evie?” Elsa asked.

She practically fell over her chair in hurrying over to her mother.

And Elsa picked her up with a smile. They followed Isabella out a side door to a long, covered, tiled patio. They stopped at a bathing house to change clothes, then went on down the hill.

Following a winding path, they walked down the hill to a small, secluded cove. Elsa sighed. It was idyllic, surrounded by a dense tropical forest. Palm branches waved along a white sand beach that formed the tiny harbor. The women could hear the boys before they could see them.

When Elsa caught sight of Kristian, her heart stopped. He seemed to hang in midair for seconds as the momentum of the rope counteracted gravity. Then he fell with a “whoop” to the water five feet
below. Still on the path above the boys, they could see down to the sandy bottom of the cove; there appeared to be no reef, just endless sand. In the deep shadows of the afternoon, it was cool, but once they were out on the point where the boys played, the warm sun caught them again.

“Want to go out on the rope?” Isabella dared.

“But it’s not deep enough.”

“Not where the boys let go. You have to ride it to the end. Then it’s six, seven feet.”

“If you will first,” Elsa returned.

“Come on, Mama!” Kristian called. “It’s fun!”

Elsa disrobed as Isabella marched up to the rope. She grabbed hold and swung outward without a second glance. Elsa’s breath caught as she let go, and Isabella fell to the water in a slim line, holding her nose. She came to the surface at once, her long, auburn hair floating about her in waves.

“Come, Elsa! It’s your turn!” She swam over to the bank and reached for Eve.

Elsa walked over to the rope still swinging toward the bank and grabbed hold. “Watch your mama!” she cried, picking up her feet and swinging outward. “Hoo-hoo!” she yelled, falling to the warm tropical waters. She stayed under for a moment, relishing the feeling of total immersion. When she came to the surface, the boys, Isabella, and Eve were all clapping. Kristian and Michael raced toward the bank to be next.

Eve cried, reaching for her.

“All right, Eve. I’m coming.” Elsa swam over to the bank. Directly underneath, the water was only a few feet deep. Elsa took her from Isabella and swung her around, getting her more and more wet as they circled. Eve giggled so much that Elsa giggled with her. Then Elsa waded out to Isabella, who floated on her back.

“Doesn’t it feel divine?” Isabella asked.

“Divine,” Elsa agreed.

Isabella turned her head to the other end of the cove. “Did you see the men followed suit?”

For the first time, Elsa noticed the two small figures at the other end of the intimate cove, swimming as if in a race. “Guess it sounded good to them, too.”

“Adrian takes a swim every day.” Isabella threw her a teasing glance. “Too bad that handsome Lucas Laning is so far away. You could get a better look at him.”

Elsa crossed her eyes at Isabella.

“Why would you want a better look at Mr. Laning?” Kristian asked, suddenly beside them and dog-paddling.

“Maybe Mrs. Taylor doesn’t think he’s a good swimmer,” Elsa evaded.

Isabella choked on a laugh and then dived underwater.

“Do you want to go back to shore?” Elsa asked her children.

“Yes, please. I would like to collect sand dollars and seashells!”

Elsa laughed. “Where will you put them? The
Majestic
is about to sink under the weight of your collection.”

“Mama, you’re silly.”

Elsa accompanied him to the shallows and watched until the boy walked out of the water. Michael immediately joined him in the hunt. Then she returned to Isabella, who was floating in the water. “What was that all about?”

“Nothing,” Isabella said, raising an eyebrow. “I merely thought you might be ready to enjoy some male companionship again.”

Her frankness made Elsa blush. “That’s nonsense. I am surrounded by men every day.”

“Men you command. When was the last time you were around a man who simply commanded your attention? A man as handsome as Lucas Laning,” she added in a whisper.

Elsa snorted in disgust. “I am around men I do not command all the time.”

“When? Where?” Isabella’s entire countenance was one of complete assurance. “Men with whom you do business? When was the
last time you went on a stroll with a man who was your equal? When was the last time you went to a ball?”

“I have been to many society dinners in the last couple of years,” Elsa protested. It was as if Riley and Isabella were conspiring against her.

“But when was the last time you were with a man alone?”

“It isn’t proper to be alone with a man.”

“Oh, come now. You’re a grown woman. A widow.” Her tone softened. “Is your sorrow not…easing after all this time?”

Elsa searched the tropical shoreline and then the fluffy clouds that passed above them, thinking. “Not enough to consider anyone else. Sometimes I wonder if I shall ever be over Peder.”

“It’s been two years?”

“Yes. I’ve counted every day. In here“—she gestured toward her head—“I think I should be past it, over losing him. But in here,” she said, bringing her hand to her heart, “I cannot imagine letting go of the loss. It’s almost as if that’s the only thing I have left of him.”

Isabella sighed along with her, and they silently turned toward shore, pausing when it was waist deep. Elsa crinkled her toes, burying them in the fine granules.

Isabella studied her, obviously weighing her words. “Sometimes, my dear friend, the only way out of sorrow is to plunge into happiness. Peder would want you to be happy, not holding on to his memory like a shield.”

“I am happy. I have my ship, my children. It is a good life.” She pulled Eve closer.

“But not a full life. I know your heart. And it is big enough to love still another.”

Elsa swallowed. “It might be big enough. But I don’t know if I could withstand the pain of losing another love.”

Isabella nodded. “When we lost our baby daughter, I thought I would never recover. But I know now that if I was blessed enough to carry another, I’d embrace that new love. Despite the chance that she, too, might die.”

Elsa gave her a sorrowful smile and looked down toward where the men walked along the beach. “But Lucas Laning. I don’t feel the stirrings in my heart for him that I believe you should feel for a man.”

“Then he is not the right one.” Isabella took her hand and Elsa met her glance. “But, Elsa, darling, when you feel those stirrings again, promise me.”

“Promise you what?”

“Promise me that you will not ignore them. Consider them God’s thumbprint, a gentle push.”

Elsa’s heart raced at the thought. Could she dive into a relationship again? Could she risk losing another piece of her heart? For the first time, she thought about the pleasure of a man’s touch, the warmth of an intimate conversation between a couple bound by marriage. She yearned for that kind of love again. She missed it.

“Promise me,” Isabella repeated.

“I promise.”

Karl felt badly about not contacting the Kenneys when he reached San Francisco.
But I’d feel worse if I got in any deeper.
He still had not thought of a way to dissuade Mara from her apparent feelings for him or how to speak to Gerald. Every time he tried, Gerald misconstrued his meaning, reading into Karl’s comments that he was indeed pursuing his daughter, and acted very pleased at the thought. Karl felt flattered that the Kenneys apparently wanted him as a son-in-law, but that was the last thing Karl wanted. He decided it was better to stay away until he thought his way out of this mess.

He walked into the carpenter’s shop, his mind on Mara, but his task the steamship. The carpenters and woodcarvers in San Francisco were some of the finest in the world, and he was there to have his new ship outfitted in grand fashion. Especially the small ballroom—Karl wanted carved panels on the walls. He knew the Italian carver, Antonio Marzilli, would be perfect for the task.

Antonio greeted him warmly, and looked over the blueprinted plans.

After a quick assessment, he said, “It will take two months.”

“Two months? I cannot wait here that long!”

Antonio threw him a puzzled glance. “Why not? You have friends here, no? It is a fine city in which to wait.”

Karl sighed. There was no possible way for him to avoid the Kenneys for two months. Word would reach them that he was in the city, and they would be terribly hurt.

“Do your best, Antonio, to get it done sooner. I’ll pay more for the rush. I’ll plan on the glassmaker coming to install the chandelier next month, as well as the hallway and cabin lamps.” The steamship was wired for electricity, one of the first to be outfitted in America. All they were missing was the glassware and bulbs.

“Very good, very good,” Antonio said in his heavily accented English. “I will send word to you when it is ready. You will be at the Saint Ignatius Hotel?”

“Yes. But I will come and check on your progress every week.”

“Very good, Captain Martensen. I will set five men at work on it by next week when we finish our current project. And I will have a design drawing and cost estimate to you by Thursday.”

“Good,” Karl said, shaking the man’s hand. He walked out of the shop and resignedly hailed a cab to see the Kenneys. There was no sense putting off the inevitable, and he couldn’t bear the thought of offending them.

It took thirty minutes for the stout horses to climb the steep hills from the wharf to the Kenneys’ home. As they approached, Karl saw Mara strolling down the street with a gentleman in a top hat. His heart leaped with surprised pleasure. Could it be that she fancied another? He took care not to make unnecessary noise as he paid the cabby and climbed the stairs, still looking after the couple who grew smaller and smaller as they strolled down the street.

He knocked and Nina answered the door, covering her mouth in guilty surprise at the sight of him. “Captain Martensen! What are you—Mara’s not here!” she confessed in a hurry.

He smiled gently. “That’s fine, Nina. Are your parents at home?”

“Yes, yes.” She opened the door to let him in and showed him to the parlor. It seemed she could not escape fast enough. In short order, Gerald arrived, welcoming him with a friendly embrace.

“Karl, Karl. I thought you were not due home for another few months.”

“I decided to have my new ship outfitted here in San Francisco. She’s getting a ballroom complete with paneled walls, parquet floors, and a chandelier. And she has electricity.”

“Electricity!”

“Yes. I didn’t dare put in the glassware until she was’round the Horn.”

Gerald laughed. “No, you wouldn’t want to pay for that twice.”

Karl laughed too and shook his head. “Not that it matters much after paying for the
ship.
”

Gerald’s laughter grew louder. “No, no, sir. She’s a beauty?”

“Pretty enough,” he said modestly. “Nothing compares to the sailers, I’m afraid.”

“Give the shipbuilders time, man. The steamships will rival the sailers someday.” He gestured toward two chairs. “I’m glad you came by, Karl. I wanted to talk with you, man to man.”

“Yes,” Karl led. Finally they would get things out in the open.

“Please, as my friend…as someone who could be more to our family. I’d like to know about your intentions for my daughter.”

Karl leaned from the edge of his chair, resting his forearms on his legs and twisting his hat in his hands. “I’m so glad you asked, Gerald. I’ve been meaning to—”

“Why, Karl Martensen!” Mrs. Kenney cried from the parlor doorway. She rushed in to embrace him. “Nina told me you were here, and I couldn’t believe it. I know Mara wasn’t expecting you back for some time.” She shifted, as if a bit uncomfortable at the mere mention of Mara’s name.

“I saw her out for a stroll,” Karl said. “I take it she’s seeing someone?”

“Oh, no one like you,” Mrs. Kenney said, taking his arm. “He’s harmless. Don’t you worry.”

Karl coughed to cover his unease. Just then, the front door opened and Mara came in, pretty as a schooner on a brisk spring day. He smiled softly as she rushed to him and took his hands, chattering immediately. Behind her, a young man took off his hat and looked Karl over from head to toe.
He’s thinking Im the competition
, Karl assessed.
If he only knew…