Windswept (46 page)

“No. Because you never mentioned it till now. And you’ve asked about my welfare at least…oh, five hundred times in the last three hours.”

Jacob laughed. “Caught again by a woman with both brains and beauty.”

She turned from his embrace and jumped to her knees. “Oh, Jacob, the bank notes! I’m not a bit sure I have any brains at all.” She began searching for the pocket of her dress among the damp folds. “They’ll be ruined by now.”

He stilled her hand with his own. “It’ll keep, my love.” He pointed to the people advancing down the dock. They included Nora’s mother, attended by the Seabrook servants, Portia and Lulu, Fanny Cosette and Dillard Hyde. And leading them all was the judge himself, a seldom seen smile altering the puffy contours of his face. “Right now I’d better cover you back up.” Jacob slid his thumb over the swell of breast only covered by Nora’s thin camisole. “I don’t want the judge to add another crime to my noteworthy list.”

Nora grinned at him as he replaced the blanket. “Sorry. I’m afraid he’s already added that one.”

Nora refused to leave Jacob’s side even as she was fussed over by her family. Her father enclosed her in a hasty, but genuine embrace and followed it with a stern admonishment for what was again a most foolhardy act. But he softened his scolding by mentioning his pride in her for sticking to her beliefs. Then he turned his attention to Jacob.

Drawing himself to the full height allowed by his portly build, the judge cleared his throat and stuck out his hand. “It seems we meet again on this dock after you’ve rescued my daughter from an unexpected bout with the sea,” he said.

Jacob grasped Thurston’s hand. “And again it has been my pleasure, Your Honor.”

Thurston looked from Jacob to his daughter, studied their faces and for once drew the appropriate conclusion. “I can see that it has. My wife and I will be eternally grateful to you.”

“And…?” Nora nudged him in his ribs.

He flashed her a look of exasperation. “Let me do this my own way,
Eleanor
!”

He’d used her full name, something he only did when his patience was diminishing or his embarrassment was growing. Nora sensed which it was this time and smiled at him.

“
And
,” Thurston continued to Jacob, “I owe you an apology, young man. I don’t often misjudge people, but in your case I did.” He glanced at Nora and grimaced. “A sin for which I will probably pay the rest of my life! My daughter tried to convince me with that intuition thing women seem to brag so about, but I’m a hard man, Proctor. I needed facts, evidence.”

“And you have evidence, now?” Jacob asked.

“Why, yes, indeed I do.”

Nora was completely baffled. What evidence did her father have? She hadn’t shown him the soggy bank notes in her pocket. The rest of the notes had sailed with the
Raven’s Wing
and were now either floating aimlessly in the sea with Moony Swain or had sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. “What are you talking about, Father?” she asked.

“The bank notes, of course.” He answered as if her question were ludicrous. “Supplied by young Obalu here.”

Felix stuck his head out from behind Thurston’s girth and grinned sheepishly at Nora.

“Felix, you didn’t!”

“I just filched a few,” he admitted. “I was going to put them to good use, believe me, Miss Nora, but I figured Cap’n J could use them more, so I gave them up to the judge.”

“You know, Felix,” she said, “we really are going to have to talk about this.”

“Enough talk for now, though,” Thurston interrupted. “Proctor, send one of your men to your cottage for a change of clothes. I’d like you to come to the house with us and have a decent meal and a rest.”

Nora bit back a squeal of delight at her father’s invitation and risked a look at her mother. Fanny stood behind Sidonia and emphatically poked a finger into the small of her cousin’s back. Then she flashed a smile of triumph at Nora.

“Oh, yes, Captain, do come,” Sidonia intoned as she massaged the base of her spine.

“Thank you, Mrs. Seabrook. I’d like that,” Jacob said.

Nora sidled close to her father and whispered. “Thank you, Father, but we still have the problem of Theo.”

“Don’t give him another thought, Nora,” Thurston said with a grin. “When I was told the
Dover Cloud
was coming into the harbor this morning, I woke our houseguest and suggested he take a room at the hotel until a ship sails for New Orleans.”

Nora hugged her father. “Did he go willingly?”

Thurston’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “Yes, he did, as a matter of fact. One reason might be that marigold petals were still falling from his hair as he stepped off our porch.”

Promising to tell Jacob later what had sent her into peals of laughter, Nora settled next to him as they walked with her family up Duval Street toward Southard. Jacob slipped his arm around Nora’s shoulders as neighbors came out on their porches to watch the procession. Nora suspected Key West verandas would soon crackle with the news that the judge’s daughter and Captain Proctor were spotted in a most compromising clinch.

Lulu walked to her other side, fingered a section of Nora’s dress and wrinkled her nose. “Every time you come back from that water, you smell like a fish, Miss Nora,” the girl scolded. “You’re goin’ in that cedar barrel the minute we get you home.”

Nora agreed at once and giggled, not at the thought of being washed down by Lulu again, but because Jacob had just pulled her a little closer and whispered in her ear, “Do you suppose there’s room for two in that barrel, my love?”

Epilogue

Nora leaned on the railing of the cupola and waited for her husband. She watched the first lantern lights come on in the houses of Key West. A pink-tinged dusk dissolved to a peaceful charcoal over the rooftops of the small city - the city Nora loved because it was here that she’d met the man who filled her heart and completed her life. She breathed a sigh of contentment that comes from knowing that for its own extraordinary, mysterious reasons, fate had shined upon her and led her to Jacob.

She never dreamed life could be so wonderful. Her family accepted Jacob. Her students in the Island School for Reading were flourishing. In fact, Nora wouldn’t be surprised if a few years from now, Felix Obalu was mayor of Key West. The thought pleased her greatly. Her star pupil loved the city as much as she did. His reign would certainly be an interesting addition to future books she intended to write about her adventures in America’s wealthiest little city.

Not all the Seabrooks had come to love the island, however. Only this morning, before the wedding, Sidonia had complained of the heat. “It’s only May, Eleanor,” she’d griped while fanning her flushed cheeks at a furious pace. “And already I’m melting. June, which is really the proper time for young ladies to wed, will be ghastly.”

Nora had only smiled. She didn’t mind the warm, moist climate because there was always a breeze. Sometimes, however, the gentle winds turned furious, blowing as if they had will and determination. But it didn’t last long. Besides, wasn’t the wind symbolic of life itself? Strong gales to make the heart beat faster, and gentle breezes to feed the soul? Nora looked forward to riding the crests of every one of them with Jacob by her side.

She would be frightened for him each time he rode an angry sea to a stranded vessel, but she understood that shipwrecking was his life. It defined him, satisfied him as no other occupation could. She would wait for him to return and pull him close at night and thank God he’d come home safely.

Not like the three bodies that had washed up on Matecumbe a week after the storm. One of them might have been Moony Swain, but it was impossible to say for sure. All the bodies bore scars of the ravages of the ocean and the creatures who live there. At any rate, none of the crew of the
Raven’s Wing
had returned to Key West. And neither had the strong box with the bank notes from New Bedford. Another grim reminder of the authority of the sea.

Footsteps on the stairs to the cupola drew Nora’s attention from her somber thoughts. Jacob dropped a bundle of cloth onto the floor of the cupola and came to stand beside her. “All’s well,” he said to his bride. “I locked all the doors to the warehouse, so we are, for the first time today, utterly alone.”

His arm slipped around her, and his hand settled on her hip. She rested her head on his shoulder. The breeze lifted her hair from her forehead, exposing her skin to his kiss.

“Someday, my love, we will have a real honeymoon,” he promised. “We can go to Charleston or Savannah, or any of the beautiful islands of the Caribbean. Not Belle Isle, of course,” he added as an afterthought.

“This is honeymoon enough for me right now,” she said. “Anywhere with you is the most romantic place I can think of. Besides, Mama had to plan this wedding so quickly, we didn’t have time for many of the details. She’s been so concerned about the possibility of a baby.” Nora covered her tummy with her hand and imitated Sidonia’s frantic speech. “‘We must marry you quickly, Eleanor, just in case. A judicious use of time is most important now.’”

“Poor Mama,” Nora said. “Perhaps she can talk Fanny into accepting Dillard’s proposal, and then she can plan a wedding with all the fuss.”

Jacob laughed. “Hyde is as trapped as any fox with a pack of hounds on its tail. I never knew the old boy could be so besotted.”

Nora thought of her cousin and smiled.

Jacob picked up his bundle and unwrapped it. “Speaking of babies,” he said, “I’ve come prepared to deal with that situation tonight.” He spread a down-filled coverlet over the floor of the cupola. “Since this is the spot where I first lost my heart to you, I think it’s only fitting that we discuss the idea of babies right here.”

Nora’s heart rejoiced. Jacob wanted children. This man who only weeks before had been certain his offspring would unleash sadness upon the world was now anxious to be a father. He took her hand and gently lowered her to the pallet until they were both on their knees.

Their hands worked on the fastenings of their clothes while their lips blended in a sublime celebration of their union. Since making babies was the most deliciously satisfying activity Nora could think of, she decided to wait until the morning to tell him their mission had already been accomplished.