Days of Gold (Edilean 2)

“What have they done?” Edilean asked, looking at the last woman to go down the ladder.

“Anything short of murder. Thievery mostly. They weren’t bad enough to hang, just to banish to America. They’ll never be allowed back into England.”

“And that’s punishment for them?” Edilean asked.

“The judges think so, but personally I like the new country, especially Virginia.”

Edilean’s eyes widened. “You’ll have to tell us every word about it,” she said as she looked up at Angus. “Won’t he, darling?” He was staring at where the women had gone down and frowning.

“Then I can look forward to seeing you this evening for dinner?”

“We would love to, wouldn’t we?” Again, Edilean glanced at Angus, but he was still frowning. She pulled sharply on his arm.

“Oh, aye,” he said, and seemed to come back to where he was.

“Captain Inges has asked us to dine with him. We would like that, wouldn’t we?”

“Oh, aye,” he said. “That would be—” He seemed to realize that he’d lapsed back into his accent so he corrected himself. “We would like that,” he said in the accent of James Harcourt.

“Then I’ll let Mr. Jones show you to your cabin.”

Edilean and Angus followed the young man down the ladder at one end of the ship to belowdecks. When he opened a door, Edilean smiled. The entire end of their room was window.

“How lovely,” she said to the young officer.

“This is usually the captain’s cabin, but he’s given it to you for this journey. You must have done something he liked.”

“I’ll need a hammock in here,” Angus said abruptly.

“A hammock?” the young officer asked.

“Aye... Yes. That is what the men sleep in, don’t they?” There was one narrow wooden bed at the end of the room. “That’s too short for me,” Angus said.

“But the captain had it made for him and he’s—” the young man began.

“My husband is being kind,” Edilean said. “It’s because of me. I am, well... with child, and he fears for my health so he needs his own bed.”

“Ah, I see,” the young man said, smiling. “I’ll see what I can do. And here is your breakfast. Enjoy the fruit, as it won’t last long.”

A sailor brought in a platter of bread and boiled eggs and cherries, plus big mugs of ale, and set it on the round table by the glassed-in window.

When they were alone, both Angus and Edilean went to the table and nearly attacked the food. “With child,” Angus said. “That was fast.”

“Not as fast as you and those women prisoners,” she said as she peeled an egg. “What possessed you to stare at them like that?”

“I was thinking how clo

se that was to being me. If things had turned out differently, I could have been in that hold.”

“But not with those women,” Edilean said.

“No, not with those women.” He was smiling at her. “So what will we do on this trip? It’ll take three weeks, maybe even six if the weather is bad. How will you occupy yourself?”

“Reading, I suppose. I wonder if the captain has any books he could lend us? Mayhap you could read to me.”

He arched an eyebrow as he took the peeled egg she handed him.

“And what is that look for?”