“Evidently, Old Tom didn’t have any of the diaries with him, so they agreed that Red Eye Crimson would come to Ocracoke to put his diary together with Old Tom’s two diaries. Old Tom really was convinced that if they put the diaries together they’d find the treasure. That same night Old Tom’s friend Red Eye Crimson came to my father’s house in Ocracoke and tried to kidnap me because he must have seen me leave Old Tom’s shack near the beach. He must have known I killed Old Tom. He must have realized as well that I’d buried the diaries. He had to kidnap me so I’d give them to him. My dog saved me, but I struck my head and knocked myself out. When I woke up three days later, my parents told me I’d had this awful fever and nearly died. I didn’t remember any of this.”
“You don’t think Maggie was right? One knock on the head made you forget and the other brought it back?” Badger said.
“No, it was our lovemaking. I don’t want this to continue. Soon Jessie won’t want to come to bed with me.”
Anthony was tenacious. He was jumping around from foot to foot waiting for the adults to be quiet. “I’m glad you killed that awful man, Jessie, but that’s not important. What’s important is Blackbeard’s treasure. I wasn’t born yet when Papa and Mama found the other treasure, the Wyndham Legacy.”
“It would be your first treasure hunt, Anthony. I believe it exists, probably buried near Teach’s Hole. We just have to go back and dig up Blackbeard’s diaries to find out where all the booty is buried. Even then, it’s possible we won’t have enough clues because we don’t have the third diary. My papa told me that the man who tried to kidnap me—Red Eye Crimson—would be in jail until he was ninety. So I guess we’ll just have to make due with Blackbeard’s two diaries.”
Spears rose. “I did a bit of reading about this Blackbeard fellow after Dr. Raven gave us the name. I discovered that in 1811 a Boston theater presented The Nautical Spectacle, Blackbeard the Pirate. It was all nonsense, of course. I couldn’t discover many believable accounts of him, other than that the English believed he was a Scot and everyone else believed he was an Englishman. We all agree with Jessie. This fellow, Old Tom, he was a bounder and a wicked sinner, but he did have the diaries. Jessie saw them.
“Now we know exactly what to do. We have all discussed it and decided that since the Duchess has wanted to travel for a very long time now, this is the perfect opportunity. We will journey to this Ocracoke place and find Blackbeard’s treasure.”
Maggie said, “That’s right. We haven’t found a treasure in over seven years. It’s time to stretch our brains and find another one. I believe I would like a ruby necklace this time. What do you think, Mr. Sampson?”
“You would look delicious, dearest.”
“I could prepare native recipes,” Badger said. “I understand, Jessie, that your cooks who live near water prepare what’s called a conch chowder that is cooked with potatoes and carrots. A simple dish but one that could possibly tease the palate if prepared properly. I will prepare it when we reach Ocracoke.”
“Oh, Marcus,” the Duchess said, sitting forward in her chair, Charles’s shirt momentarily forgotten on her lap, “ another treasure hunt and Badger’s conch chowder. Is that some sort of fish, Badger?”
“It is a spiral shell, Duchess, and the sea-mollusk meat inside is what one cuts up and cooks in a chowder.”
“I have several conch shells,” Jessie said to Anthony. “You can use them like a horn for calling.”
The Duchess said, “We would travel to America. We would visit James’s Marathon. We would meet Jessie’s parents. Oh dear, we would see James’s mother.”
“Sorry, Duchess, but she is unavoidable.”
“Rather like the plague,” Marcus said. He rose and began to pace. He said finally to his wife, “This isn’t something that happens in the course of three days, Duchess. We would be gone for three months, at the very least. It could be dangerous. Ocean travel is always uncertain. What would we do with the boys?”
“We will ensure that the boys are always safe,” Spears said. “The boys must accompany us.”
Anthony whooped and ran around the drawing room shouting with glee.
“Master Anthony,” Spears said very quietly, “adult ears are too sensitive to be thus abused.”
Anthony quickly walked to where his father stood beside the fireplace and planted himself beside him, not moving just as his father wasn’t moving either. Marcus began to pace. Anthony fell into place behind him, matching his steps as well as he could to his father’s.
The Duchess said, “You saw Alec Carrick just last week, Marcus. We could travel to Baltimore on one of his ships.” She added briefly to Jessie, “He’s Baron Carrick. He married a shipbuilder’s daughter from Baltimore just three years ago. Alec had a daughter by his first marriage, Hallie, and now he and Genny have a son, Dev James. Perhaps you knew the Paxtons?”
“Certainly. I remember hearing that Genny Paxton was trying to run her father’s shipyard. Now that I think back, there was an Englishman in the picture as well.”
“That was Alec. They spend more time in England than in America, but they visit at least twice a year. Genny is a very capable woman. Rather than writing vulgar ditties like my wife and abusing my adult ears, Genny knows how to build ships.”
The Duchess just smiled sweetly at him. “A treasure hunt, Marcus.”
“I haven’t seen such a sweet smile since I gave you that very special birthday present last year. Do you remember?”
The Duchess neve
r changed expressions, though perhaps her smile softened a bit. “I remember everything, Marcus. Don’t ever doubt it.”
The earl looked around at all the expectant faces. He looked down at his son’s upturned face. He recognized the excitement in everyone’s eyes. He felt it twitching and quivering inside him.
He said slowly, picking Anthony up in his arms, “ Perhaps we should think about this for another year or so. What do you think, Anthony?”
“Papa! No, please, you wouldn’t!”