“Can we? I mean do we have time?”
“We aren’t on any kind of schedule. It’s completely up to you.”
“I’ve never been here before.”
Dutch motioned toward the window. “It’s a beautiful day to take a walk along the battery, maybe head downtown to the market.”
“That sounds nice.”
—:—
“Good morning, y’all,” said the woman who had greeted them the night before. “Are you ready for some shrimp and grits?”
Malin’s eyes met Dutch’s. She didn’t want to be rude, but she really wasn’t hungry yet, and even if she was, shrimp and grits for breakfast didn’t appeal to her at all. Coffee sounded good, though.
“We’re going to take a walk and work up an appetite,” he told the woman and then winked at Malin.
“There’s a nice park right across the street called White Point Garden. It’s on the edge of the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers. If you look out into the harbor, you’ll see Pinckney Castle—it looks like a fort—and then farther out, there’s Fort Sumter.”
The woman poured them both a to-go cup of coffee from her French press even though neither had asked.
“Major General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney owned most of the land on White Point after the end of the Revolutionary War. You’ll see his name on streets and buildings throughout the historic downtown.” She also handed Dutch a map. “You can catch a carriage ride down by the market too,” she told him, opening the map and pointing to the intersection of two streets.
“Thank you, ma’am,” he said, turning again to wink at Malin. “Shall we go?” He led her outside to the porch. “I guess she gave us our marching orders.”
“She’s sweet.”
“I read on the website that she’s one of Pinckney’s descendants.”
“She’s proud of her heritage.”
The weather was warm for January as they strolled the streets of Charleston, marveling at the big old mansions, most of which were designated as historic landmarks.
“I had no idea th
at Charleston dated back to the sixteen hundreds,” Malin commented.
Dutch seemed distracted by something on his phone when she turned to see if he’d heard her.
“Everything okay?”
“Yes, fine. Just touching base with Onyx.”
“Do we need to leave?”
Dutch shook his head. “No, he and Sofia are going to meet us. If that’s okay with you.”
“I’d like that.” She’d enjoyed talking to Sofia.
They kept walking up Meeting Street until they came to the City Market. Onyx and Sofia were waiting at the entrance to the blocks-long historic building where merchants gathered daily to sell their wares.
“Good morning,” said Sofia. “How was the inn?”
“It was nice, thanks. Where did you stay?”
“I have a place over in Mount Pleasant. It’s across the bay.” Sofia pointed to a bridge that spanned the width of the harbor where container ships carried their freight up and down the river and a cruise ship was docked.
“It’s beautiful here,” said Malin.