MANIFEST DESTINY Chapter 13.1

Chapter 13

         A ship followed them out of the West Indies.  It stayed on the horizon as they made their way home.

         “What do you make of it?”  Gareth called up to the lookout on the third week north.

         “I cannot make out any of her lines.  We are too far to see her colors.”

         “Let me know the moment it comes closer.”  Gareth did not want another battle this close to home.  The holds were full, and he had a full purse to turn over for the price of the other ship and both crews.  He did not want to lose it all.  Nor did he want to lose his wife.

         They planned to announce her pregnancy to the crew before they docked, but with her moodiness, he wondered if it was in reality a fact and not a contrivance on their part to fool Mr. Greenfield when they got into port.

         He looked to where she stood near the rail.  Her gaze was on the ship that had followed them since the West Indies.  She looked up at him and he could see her fear.

         She turned away from him and left the rail for their cabin Jedidiah at her back, as he was her close attendant when Gareth was on duty.

         “Do ye want anything Mistress?” asked Jedidiah.

         “Can you make that ship disappear?”

         “Now, have ye no fear Mistress.  The captain will take proper care of ye and that ship.”

         “I hope you are right.  I want this voyage over with as soon as possible.  No, I do not need anything.  I am just going to be a dutiful wife and work on a sampler, and not try to think about that ship trailing us.”

         “Then I will leave ye.”  Jedidiah closed the door behind him and left her alone.

         She went to the window seat where a sampler lay.  She was worried.  The ship was not the only cause of her thoughts and fears of late.  Despite all precautions and cautions on the part of her father, their intimacy weighed heavily on her.  She worried she would need to hide again in the window seat if it came to a battle.

         Tears slid down her face as she plied her needle on the cloth.  Her eyes blurred, and she stabbed the needle into her finger.  She stared at the blood as it bubbled up and smudged the fabric before she could lay it aside.

         Gareth entered the cabin to see her in tears and went to her.  He noticed the blood on her finger and the sampler beside her and gathered her in his arms.  “Can you tell me about it?”

         “It’s everything.  That ship and I’m worried I am pregnant again.  I do not want to risk another pregnancy so soon.  I know it would mean that you would be able to claim the shipyard and merchant business, but at what cost?”

         “At least if you are pregnant it would not be a lie when we enter port and confront Mr. Greenfield with the definite possibility.”

         “I do not want to die.  If what father says is true, which your friend also confirmed, I could be in the grave at this time next year.  I want to live.”

         “You will live.  Look how worried you are.”

         “But?”  She looked up at him a hopeful look on her face.

         “I have no answers for you.  The only thing we can do is pray.”

         “Yes pray.”  She left his embrace and went to sit on the window seat.  She could not see the ship, which she felt was a plus.  She would be more scared if she could see it and it proved to be yet another pirate vessel.  “I do not want to go back into the window seat again.”

         “I will do everything in my power to see that does not happen.”

         “Would not the trunk be large enough?”

         “It would be the first place they would look for anything of any value.  Besides, you would be all cramped in there.”

         “I could dress like one of your crew.”

         “You look too much like a woman.”

         “I could hide in the crew’s quarters.”

         “The crew’s quarter’s is an open deck.  They sleep between the guns.”

         “Is there no other safe place on this ship besides this window seat?”

         “None that I can think of offhand.  Are you hungry?  I asked Jedidiah to bring us dinner.”

         “No.  I am too worried to eat.”

         “You need to eat.”  Jedidiah knocked on the door and Gareth bid him enter.  He laid the table with their meal.  “What news of the ship?”

         “It’s no closer.  It seems like it’s keeping her distance, waiting for just the right moment.”

         Ainsley looked between the two men.  “I will be glad when we get safely to port.  I am beginning to believe I should have stayed home as you requested.”

         “It is too late for those thoughts.  Now let’s eat.”  He seated her at the table while Jedidiah left them.

         She looked down at the food after he said the blessing and could not bring herself to eat it.  “I am sorry.  I am just not hungry.  I just want to go to bed.”

         “Would you like me to take this to the mess and join the crew in their dinner?”

         “That will not be necessary.  I am just tired.  You go ahead and eat without me.”  She got up from the table and went into the bathing chamber to change.  When she emerged, she found the table cleared, and he sat at his desk, his head bent over the ledgers.

         He closed it, doused the lamp, and shed his clothes to join her.  With her in his arms he she relaxed and went to sleep.

         They awoke to a pounding on their door.  “Captain!”  Jedidiah called from without.

         Gareth looked down into worried green eyes.  “Enter.”

         “Begging your pardon, Captain.”  Jedidiah entered and saw his Captain and mistress still in bed.  “But the lookout told me to tell you that the ship has come closer and bears the skull and crossbones.”

         “Tell Mr. Thorngate that I will be on deck directly.”  Gareth watched as Jedidiah left the cabin to carry out his orders.

         “Two weeks more and we would have been home safe.”

         “I know.  This is very well planned.”  Gareth rose from the bunk and headed into the bathing chamber.

         “What makes you say that?”

         “The fact that our holds are full and we are almost home.”

         “I will not go into that window seat again.”

         Gareth reappeared in his uniform, a dark scowl on his face at the decision he did not want to make.  “We went over every suggestion you had last night, and none of them work.”

         “I would be dry and warm.”  Ainsley’s stubbornness showed as she saw the determination on his face.

         “And the first places they would look for any hidden treasures.  Besides everyone knows I have my wife with me, and they will be looking for you especially.”

         “Who knows besides the crew and the village back in Delaware Colony?”

         “Word will have spread that I have a wife, and you have been openly with me in every port.”

         “But pirates do not come close to your home.  How would they know?”

         “They do spend a lot of time in the West Indies.  That is where they sell all their booty.”

         “Maybe Captain Alexander will come to our rescue again and help put that ship at the bottom of the ocean.”

         “It is doubtful.  David is not anywhere in the vicinity.”

         “You know where he is?”

         “Not at this precise moment, but he is somewhere between England and home.”

         “You know his itinerary?”

         “It is necessary.  Otherwise there would be no profit for any of us.”

         “Then we are alone out here.”  Ainsley cast her eyes towards the windows to the ocean beyond, and saw the ship.  Her eyes grew large with fear.

         Gareth saw her fear as she gazed at the ship, and took immediate action.  Against her will, Ainsley found herself entombed in the window seat.

         She could not get the sight of the ship out of her mind, and prayed that God would deliver them yet again as He had done the last time.  She was scared.  She wanted to be anywhere but where she was, but she had to agree that it was the only safe place on board the ship.  “Oh God keep Gareth safe from all evil this day, and let me out of here before I die in this awful tomb.  Keep me safe.  Surround me with your love, and if I am carrying another child, keep it safe as well.  Do not let anything happen to any of the crew either, and particularly keep my father safe.  In Jesus name, I pray, amen.”

         Peace enveloped her and she slept.

         Gareth rejoiced in yet another victory as he watched the pirate vessel slowly sink to the bottom of the ocean.  He had been worried a couple times, but all was well, and he thanked God as he made his way to his cabin.  He lifted Ainsley from the window seat and called for a bath to warm her cold body.

         She opened her eyes as she felt the warm water around her, and looked into the worried ones of her husband.  “The battle’s over.”

         “Two days now.”

         “Well it was not as long as the last time, at least.”  She started to shiver despite the warm water.

         “Let’s get you into bed.”  Gareth lifted her from the tub and toweled her dry.  He soon had a warm nightgown on her, and wrapped in blankets in the bunk.

         “If the water was so warm, why am I so cold?"

         “Your body is beginning to warm up.”  Gareth climbed into bed beside her, and gave her his warmth as he had done for the past two days.

         “I told you I never wanted to be in there again.”  She shivered, as she clung to his warmth.

         “I will design a much safer hiding place on my next vessel.”  Gareth claimed her lips as she fell asleep in his arms.

         When she awoke, Gareth was at the desk.  “What does a person have to do to get something to eat?”  Ainsley saw him leave the desk and come to her.

         “You’re hungry then?”  Gareth placed a hand to her brow, and found it cool to his touch.          “Starving.”  Ainsley made to get up, but Gareth restrained her actions with a hand on her shoulder.

         “You have been sick these three days since you woke in the tub,” Gareth said.

         “No wonder I feel so sore all over.”

         “I’ll tell Jedidiah to bring us some food, broth for you.  But mind you I told the crew before the battle that I wanted nothing to happen to this ship because you were once again carrying my child.”

         “Do not worry I know how to be pregnant.”

         Gareth kissed her for reassurance, and went to the door and told Jedidiah she wanted food.  A cheer went up throughout the ship as news spread that she was all right once again.

         A week later Destiny’s Promise sailed up the Delaware River.  The weather was icy cold compared to the warmer climates they had come from.  Snow lay all about as she secured a heavy cloak over her gown, and pulled the hood close over her head, as Gareth handed her a muff to keep her hands warm.

         “Are you feeling all right?”  Her pale features concerned Gareth.  It had been a week since she had risen from the bunk.

         “It is the chill in the air.  I will be fine.”

         “Jedidiah told me you barely touched your food at breakfast.”  He was very worried about her, her eyes were hollow, and fever bright.

         “I want to be on deck as we come into port.  I want to see the look on Mr. Greenfield’s face as we come into the harbor.”

         She was on deck as the ship tied to the dock and moments later she descended the gangplank with her husband to claim all that had been promised him.

         Mr. Greenfield came from the shipping office, eager to see the accounts of the past three months.  He looked closely at Ainsley’s pale features.  “You made it back in good time.”

         “Yes and the holds are full for the trip to England and Europe in the spring.”  Gareth took the logs from Jedidiah and gave them over to Mr. Greenfield.

         Jedidiah followed close behind to witness the procedures.

         “Splendid.  Let’s go into the office where we can go over these much better.”  Mr. Greenfield noticed the way Ainsley clung to Gareth for support.  “You are looking a bit pale my dear.”

         “I have good reason to look pale, sir.”  Ainsley looked into Gareth’s face; she did not want to look at Mr. Greenfield just then.

         “You do?  Well that is just splendid!  We shall toast the happy occasion.  When will the happy event take place?”

         “We are not exactly certain of the exact time, but sometime either in September or October,” Gareth said.

         Ainsley stumbled by his side and Gareth had to hold her so that she did not fall.  “I am sorry.  Can we skip the formalities?  I just want to go home.  I do not think I could possibly drink a toast of any kind.  The mere sight of food makes me nauseous.  I only want to rest after such a journey.”

         “It was a hard journey then?” said Mr. Greenfield.

         “It was a very good journey, for the most part, but we did run into trouble after we left the West Indies.”  Jedidiah opened the door to the office and held it for them to enter ahead of him.

         “Not another pirate ship!”

         “It lies at the bottom of the ocean; a two-week’s sailing from here.”  Gareth noted that Jedidiah stationed himself near the door behind Ainsley.

         “Well at least you did not lose your cargo.”

         Gareth looked at Ainsley who was pale beside him.  “Or our child.”

         “Yes, quite.”

         “Now to the matter at hand.”  Gareth took out the contract that would secure him both ships.  “You have the accounts before you.  As you can see we have done quite well over the past three months.”

         Mr. Greenfield studied the manifest and looked up, satisfied with what he saw.  “Yes of course, well done.”  He took the contract from the safe at his back and took up his quill and wrote upon it, ‘Fulfilled’, and handed it over to him.

         “Now the other.”  Gareth waited for him to validate the other contract as well.

         Horace looked at both of them.  “I have no real proof that your wife is indeed pregnant as you claim.”

         Gareth took the contract from his pocket, and read out loud.  “I, Horace Greenfield, do promise to give to one Gareth Taliesin at the end of seven years the shipyard and merchant business under the condition that he will be married and will have produced a child in set time.”

         Horace had a gleam in his eyes as he looked at them.  “There you see.  There is no child yet.  Your wife could lose this one as she did the last.  And it is not yet the end of the seven years.”

         Gareth kept his temper in check.  “This is a contract signed and witnessed.”

         “A contract that I can see has been defaulted on.”

         “Extend it then until my wife produces the child.”

         Horace watched them.  “Why should I extend it?  I have given you seven years to complete the contract.  You failed to do so.”

         “Please excuse me.”  Ainsley left the office.  Jedidiah close behind her, as she found a nearby copse where she emptied the contents of her stomach, just as Gareth came from the office along with Horace to witness the act.

         Gareth rushed to her side.  “Are you all right?”

         “Please, I just want to go home.”  Ainsley pleaded loud enough so Horace could hear.

         Gareth was concerned as she leaned against him for support.  “Yes of course.  Jedidiah would you please find us a wagon and we’ll be on our way.”

         “Aye Captain.”  Jedidiah hurried away.

         Ainsley left his embrace and further emptied her stomach, as Gareth leaned over her to steady her, a worried look on his face.

         She looked up at Gareth very weak.  “Please take me home.”

         Jedidiah pulled up in front of them, their trunks in the back ready to go to the homestead, her father in the seat beside Jedidiah.  He started to hand Ainsley up to the wagon seat.

         “Not up there, I want to lie down.”  Gareth led her around to the back of the wagon and lifted her up, then jumped up beside her.

         “I will be back to conclude this business tomorrow.”

         “Yes, of course.  I hope your wife is well by then.”

         Ainsley leaned over the side of the wagon again after they left the port behind.

         “I did not think you looked well this morning,” Gareth said.

         She did not say anything, as she lay under the blankets in the back of the wagon too weak to do anything.  He remembered when he had first come to that country.  His mother had been as sick as she now was.

         “Am I going to die?”  Ainsley’s voice was very weak almost a whisper.

         “No.  I will not let you.”

         “I told you two it was too soon to be getting with child,” Ian said.

         “It is not just the baby.  I never felt like this last time.”

         Ian was worried.  “God help us.”

         Gareth cradled Ainsley as she slept the rest of the way home.  “She is not going to die.”

         Two days later, they heard a wagon come to a halt outside the cabin.  Gareth opened the door to see David on his doorstep.  “David this is an unexpected surprise.  Come in.  What can I do for you?”

         “It’s not what you can do for me, but what I can do for you.  I brought you something for your wife.”  David handed him a packet of herbs.  “Give her that in a cup of very hot water.  Only a pinch or so will be enough.”

         Gareth fixed the water and placed the herbs in the cup, mixed it well, and took it in to his wife who lay asleep.  He woke her, and gave her the contents of the cup.

         David had followed him to their room, and watched as Gareth administered the drink to her.

         “My mother was very sick when she was pregnant with my younger brother, Timothy.  Father feared she would die.  It was a very hard time for him.  Me too.  I did not want to lose my mother.  Anyway, Chief Lone Wolf came to our homestead at the time.  Father said it was an answer to his prayers.  When Chief Lone Wolf saw my mother he left immediately and went into the surrounding woods and soon came back with some plants which he made into a fine powder, and put them into a hot drink and told my father to give that to her.  Amazingly, mother recovered that same day.  They will do the same for your wife.  Soon she will get rid of the contents of her stomach, but she will be much better.”

         “I pray God you are right.”  Gareth watched his wife, a worried expression on his face.  “Do you know what this is?”

         “From what I heard in the harbor when I arrived, I would say influenza.  Did you have any other men sick onboard?”

         “A couple after the pirate attack.”

         Ainsley sat up in bed, and hurried from the room and retched for several moments.

         Weak with the violence of the onslaught, Ainsley leaned against Gareth, who helped her back to bed.  “What did you give me?”

         “Some herbs Captain Alexander brought with him for you.”  Gareth already saw a change in her complexion.  He turned to David.  “When did you get in?”

         They left Ainsley to sleep, as they went into the great room.  “Just today.  When I entered the office, Mr. Greenfield had told me how sick your wife was.  I hurried here as fast as I could.  He also said your wife was pregnant.”

         “Please sit down.  It’s what we fear.  Now tell me about your sailing.  Have you had time to think about what I offered you?”

         “I have thought of little else.  I learned when I arrived that I am your captain, even though the cargo still goes to Mr. Greenfield minus your percentage.”

         “Which is not much, and this time it was nothing.  What I made paid for the ship and both crews.”

         “That’s quite a bit.  You mentioned the pirate attack.  I also heard about it when I arrived.  What happened?"

         “The ship followed us when we left the West Indies, waited until we were two weeks from port before he attacked.  He’s at the bottom of the ocean.  Would you please stay for dinner?"

         “I would be happy to.  As I said, I have been thinking over what you said, and I have done some snooping of my own.  Tell me, did you get the shipyard and merchant business?”

         “No, Mr. Greenfield claimed I defaulted because I had a full seven years and I did not come through.”

         “In a way you have.  I looked into some reports I heard, and things I witnessed.  I also took my actions to the House of Lords in England.  I have not named any names yet, but if I can present the evidence of my claims then Mr. Greenfield will lose the shipyard and his business to you automatically, simply because you are his partner.  That is in your favor.”

         Gareth saw Ainsley come from the bedroom.  She looked much better than she had in the past two days.  He went to her and led her to a couch.  “How are you feeling?”

         Gareth put a blanket over her.  “Surprisingly much better.  I want to thank you for your timely arrival.  For a while there I thought I was going to die, I felt so awful.”

         “You are looking better than when I arrived,” David said.

         “Did Gareth invite you to stay for dinner?  I would hate to think you came all this way and was not invited.”

         “Yes I have been invited.  Thank you.”

         “What have you learned?” said Gareth.

         “I must get the proof of it first, before I can bring it all into the open.  That is going to take some time.  But let me warn you, now that you own two of the finest ships the shipyard has to offer, you may be in danger of losing them.”

         “Oh?” said Gareth.

         “The first pirate attack may have been by chance, but not the second.  It is too much of a coincidence.  I would also listen to what your wife says about your partner’s character.  After I left your ship, I heard a lot of talk about your reaction to something that happened before you set sail.  I am sure it has been greatly exaggerated.”

         “For instance?” said Gareth.

         “For instance I heard everything from you finding your wife in a passionate embrace with your partner to having come on them in a lover’s tryst.”

         “It is a lie!”  Ainsley jumped to her feet, eyes ablaze, as she forgot how weak she was, and almost collapsed on the floor, as she grabbed the arm of the couch and sat down again.

         “Calm down, we will face this together.”  Gareth looked up as he heard the sound of bagpipes from the upper level.

         Ainsley had to smile as she recognized the melody her father played.  “It is what was always played before the Scots went to war.”

         “Aye.”  Ian came down to see that Ainsley was much better.  “And it’ll be war if’n I hear them same words comin’ oot of whatever mouth they issued from.”

         “We will take care of it together,” Gareth said.

         “Back to what we were discussing.  I put your proposal to my family, along with some of the things I just mentioned, asking them to pray about it, and get back to me.  I told them that we would be sailing again in the spring, which is only a month away.”

         “What are your inclinations?”

         “My inclinations are to join hands with you.  You have virtually lost everything except the two ships and crews.  You have your personal wealth to sustain you for a short time, just long enough to get you started in Rhode Island Colony, but I have learned from experience never to do anything without praying about it first.  I had a lot of time to do that on this past voyage, which went without hazard, by the way.”

         “You were fortunate.  If I did not know better I would say someone was out to kill us and sink our ship and fortunes,” Ainsley said.

         “My thoughts exactly, that’s why I looked into what has been happening lately.  If anyone knows what is going on, on the water, another ship’s captain will,” David said.

         “You are right there,” Gareth said.

         “By the way, to change the subject to a lighter tone, I might be getting married soon myself.  I am hoping that the woman will say yes.  I am going to ask her hand before we sail again in the spring.”

         “Congratulations.  Is it someone I know?” said Gareth.

         David’s face held a look of fond expectations.  “Her name is Lucinda Walker.”

         “I wish you all the best.  I know the young lady.  Very nice, quiet kind of girl.”

         “We’re not talking about the same girl then.  Lucy is not quiet.  Somewhere in her heritage, she inherited a temper.  But I have had to put up with tempers all my life; it will not be anything new for me.”

         “I take it she knows that life as a captain’s wife can be a lonely one if you do not take her with you.”

         “She knows.  She’s been waiting for me to come home now for two years.  I am of the mind that if a woman can put up with a man’s absence for that long, then she’s got what it takes to be a captain’s wife.”

         “Let me warn you that if you do take her along and you come under attack hide her in a nice safe, warm, dry place,” Ainsley said.

         “I’m working on a new design now, and plan to implement it in the next ship I build,” said Gareth.

         David looked between the two.  “Tell me you did not hide her where I think you did.”

         “Yes, and I almost lost her the first time, I did the baby, the second time was not as bad but she was still quite ill from the experience.

         “I can imagine.  It must be the coldest and dampest place on the ship,” said David.

         “Also the safest, at least until I get the new design worked out,” said Gareth.

         Ian looked between the two captains.  “Just where is this safe place?”

         “The window seat in the captain’s cabin,” Ainsley said.

         “I be thinking you need to be staying home from now on,” Ian said.

         “Gareth promised to take me home this next trip.”  Ainsley’s voice held a note of homesickness.

         Ian was very angry.  “Aye, and if ye make it that far, ye’ll most likely be buried next to yer poor mother.”

         “I’ll be fine Papa.  I’m going to give you many fine grandchildren.”

         Ian looked at his son-in-law.  “Aye, fine they’ll be if they have a chance to make it into the world.”

         “I want my wife’s safety as much as you do sir.  I also want to see our children come safely into this world, that’s why I am redesigning the ship, so that what I hold most valuable will not be lost, unless the ship is lost, and everyone else on board as well.”

         “I hope you get this new ship built real soon.”  Ian left the room and went back upstairs, and played his bagpipes as he went.  His fury heard in the music.

         Ainsley heard the war song again.  “Papa’s angry.”

         “He has a right to be.  He just learned how close he came to losing you twice, and you did say he buried your mother a year ago.  I think I would feel the same way if it was my daughter,” said Gareth.

         “Can you show me what you have in mind?  As a shipbuilder myself, I am quite interested in what you have come up with,” said David.

         “Certainly.”  Gareth went to collect the designs he had worked on.  Together they studied them until Mr. Bryant announced dinner.

         David was in favor of the new design with workable additions of his own added.

         “I knew we could be a good team.”  Gareth put the designs away, and escorted his wife to the table.