“Her name is Carolina Jane.” She said stiffly. All of a sudden she did not feel she could tolerate his attitude.
He tipped his hat without a smile and grabbed her bag from the back. “This the one?”
She nodded and waited for him to show her the way.
“They should be down at dock bay number seventeen.”
Rose noted they were at dock three.
“I’ll take the lass while she is asleep.” He offered and without waiting lifted her from Rose’s shoulder.
Thankful, for she was tired, and the child was heavy now, she walked alongside him but said nothing.
“There will be time to eat on the ship, unless you are unable to wait.”
Obviously he was in a better mood now that they’d reached their destination…and she was in a worse mood.
“I can wait.”
“Suits me.” He kept walking.
And she burned. That was a lie she just told him. They’d traveled half the day and she knew she would be sick the entire journey. This was her only chance to eat anything that would stay down.
“Sir, would you mind if we stopped and picked up a meal. I’m afraid I’m not the seaworthy sort.”
Without a word he led them to a restaurant and ordered what she wanted. “We’ll take it along and you can eat before you board. I’d like to get out yet tonight.”
Rose nodded, too tired to care. She smelled the food in the box she carried and was grateful to have it. Once the ship was in sight, Captain Wyatt went into his duties. His men were ordered to go get the trunks, she was ordered to sit on a bench and eat. He engaged a lady he must have known well, for he ordered her to sit and hold the child while she ate.
His voice was strong and loud as he went about his work. If he had anything to say about it they would be off before the sun went down behind the water. She could only eat, savoring each bite hoping she would have help with CJ, for she would be useless.
Chapter 68
The trip back was worse than the one coming over, Rose decided once she’d heard “land ahoy”. She actually cried. Carolina Jane had been older and much more difficult to keep happy, not to mention that she hurled up once or twice and Rose could do nothing but watch miserably from her bunk. She made a new friend, however, in a young mother with a tiny infant. Her little one slept and this woman was not averse to the pitching of the ship.
Rose could not wait for Captain Wyatt, whom she’d not seen once, to come for her so they could be on land again. The passengers above board were talking and laughing glad to be going ashore. The young girl had left with her baby son. Rose sat on the bunk, her hand holding up her head while CJ played near her feet. The rocking had slowed so much since the ship was moored to the dock.
When she felt like she could stand, she picked up her child. She felt much heavier then remembered that she was weak. Even now she felt green around the gills, enough she thought she might hurl again. That’s when she heard his voice. He was coming below. She grabbed a wall nearby and forced her eyes to focus.
His hair windblown and loose made him seem like a madman. She realized her mind was working overtime.
“Where have you been? Thought you would have been off by now.” He said as he walked up, his boots clicking on the wood floor, echoing in her ears. Then his walk slowed and he caught sight of her.
“Whoa there.” He steadied her. “You weren’t joking when you said you aren’t seaworthy. Without asking, he took CJ off her hip and she felt instantly able to stand again. He grabbed her tight around her waist to steady her and brought her alongside his hip. “Hold on we’ll be on land soon enough.”
Soon enough wasn’t soon enough. Rose had to cover her eyes in the daylight. She’d been down below the entire time not even attempting to walk up and look at the sky and ocean twirling together.
She noted CJ wasn’t crying either. They were both past their limits.
“Where are we going?” She managed to say after a few breaths of fresh air.
“Straight to my place.”
“Wait…” she tried to talk but had to run behind a barrel. All she could manage was the dry heaves. She didn’t care a whit what he thought. She only wanted a bath and a bed.
“Take me to my house.”
“You don’t have a house. I heard you sold it.”
“I can stay there. Portia will take care of me.” She swallowed hard.
“Not this time. There’s an empty room where I stay. Mrs. McClure will see to you and the lass both.”
Rose didn’t have the heart to disagree.
Before she could think straight they were inside a large house. Rose took the first chair offered her and the woman lifted CJ away from Captain Wyatt. They had a few words Rose couldn’t hear.
“We’ve got a seasick gal here and this little lass needs a diaper change and a bath.” He told the woman who was already heading for a little tub to fill.
Rose held her head.
“I’ll take you up. There’s a room you and CJ can have. I’ll arrange a bath if you can manage it.”
“I can manage it.” Rose said and pushed on the chair arms. Once up, she felt herself being hauled up. She almost hurled at the quick movement.
She heard the clunk of his boots on each step and couldn’t wait to be put down and left alone. Rose also felt the beating of his strong heart against her ear and relaxed.
By the time they reached the room she was almost asleep. Rose remembered him laying her on something soft and she groaned and turned on her side, promising herself she would get up in a few minutes and look after CJ.
The next thing she knew it was morning. She woke, still in her awful smelling clothes and sat up, instantly causing her head to hammer. There were voices. The light from the window hurt her eyes and she turned on her side. Five more minutes and she would get up. The world was still tilting left and then right in her brain.
Miserable, she pulled herself upright and hung her legs over the side and sat for a few more minutes until she could get her bearing.
Then up on her feet, she shuffled and opened the door. The smell of meat frying sent her into a frenzy. She clapped her hand over her mouth and nose and shut the door. Mrs. McClure must have heard it for the next thing she knew someone was standing over her bed.
“Ah, Mrs. Lovell, you are still unwell. Are you carrying again?” The woman looked concerned.
“Carrying?” Rose couldn’t understand her meaning.
“Are you with child again?”
“Oh no.” she felt her face flush.
“Then you are not seaworthy?”
“I am not.” Rose agreed and groaned.
“Stay where you are. Little Carolina Jane is doing well. The men are taking turns feeding her off their plates while I attend to you. I’ll bring the tub in and fill it for you.”
“Oh that does sound good.” Rose tried to smile.
“Do not move. It will take a few minutes but from the looks of you, you won’t mind waiting.”
An hour later she woke again to a flurry of activity. Mrs. McClure was running up and down the stairs with large tin pots of hot water. Finally she leaned over and told her there was soap and a drying towel and she should lock the door. This was a house full of shipmen.
Rose was about to get up and go down and get her daughter, but sensed Captain Wyatt would not bring them to a bad place. Instead she trusted him and peeled off her clothes and slid into the water, dunking completely under the clean water and washing her hair first and then the rest of her. The water had cooled by the time she lifted herself out, refreshed and clean.
That’s when she realized she didn’t have a change of clothes. She wrapped herself in the towel and for good measure one of the sheets from the bed and called down to Mrs. McClure.
“Captain Wyatt has not returned with your trunk. I will bring you a dress. We’ll have to sew it around you.” She laughed, for Mrs. McClure was a large woman.
Rose wondered what in the world they were doing
for diapers and clothes for CJ, but she could hardly step outside her door, although there were no more voices of men. They must have all gone.
She waited sitting on the bed and jumped when the woman came bustling in. “Here ya go. Needle and thread will help you a bit. If you double up and just quick-stitch you’ll be decent. The men are gone down to the last one and I’ve locked the front door against visitors. That little lass of yours is asleep on a pallet in the library. It’s darkest in there.”
“Thank you so much Mrs. McClure. I am grateful for your hospitality.”
“Bother. “ She laughed. “I’m used to it. Been running this house since me husband died. And we Irish take care o’our own.” She winked. “Captain Wyatt told me you come from here and I knew it by the little bit o’ brogue you still have on your tongue. He mentioned, too, that I was to take special care of you.” She winked again.
Rose looked away. What must the woman think? Her a widow with a small child traveling with an unmarried man. Rose could only shake her head. She had other things to worry about this morning. One of them getting decent so she could be with her daughter. Time seemed to be working against her.
She sewed herself into the dress and looked like one of the ragamuffins running the streets but was decent. She descended the stairs very slowly, keeping her eye out for anyone who might be about. She heard CJ and found her rocking on her hands and knees on the pallet whimpering.
“Oh little one.” She ran and dropped to her knees. “Mama’s here. Mama’s here.” Rose cried and held her close. “Oh how are we going to do this Carolina Jane? How are we going to do this?”
Mrs. McClure came in through the back door with clothes hanging over her arm. “I do the washing for the men, too.” She explained and tossed the pile onto the dining table and began to fold.
“I’ve got food left from breakfast in the warmer oven. Help yourself. The men won’t be home until lunchtime.”
“They come for lunch?” Rose’s eyes grew large. She would have to hide upstairs.
“Oh never you mind, Captain Wyatt said he would leave your trunks on the front verandah and you’ll be dressed proper by then no doubt. That man always keeps his word.” She added.
Rose found her way to the kitchen carrying her child. She fed both of them at the dining table while the older woman finished folding and stacking.
Rose just stood to carry her dishes to the kitchen when she heard that familiar knock. “Oh dear it’s him.” She said. “Don’t let him in. I’m not decent for company.” She ran to hide.
“I’ll answer.” The woman hustled away.
Rose could hear their conversation. He insisted on seeing her. He had news he wanted to deliver.
“She’s in the kitchen.”
Rose’s hopes fell. She was sewed into a dress twice her size. At least she was clean. She stayed in the shadows away from the windows and appeared.
He took his hat off. “You look better today.”
Rose saw him look at her dress then bring his eyes back up to hers. “We’re both fine.” She said. “What is your news?”
“Ava is ill. The doctor is worried it could be something the child should not be around. So you may want to stay at your house on the Battery for a few days.”
“Really? Rose couldn’t help but smile and stepped out. “That means I’ll have a few days with my daughter before . . . ?”
“Yes, it seems that is the case.”
Rose thought she saw a glint in those dark eyes.
“Are you sewed into that dress?” He leaned closer to look.
“What does it matter to you, sir. Did you bring our trunks?”
“I did.”
She gave him a look when it seem he was amused.
He plopped his hat on and turned on his heel. Rose heard the door slam hard.
She handed CJ to the older woman and looking both ways, she stepped out and fished through the trunks and found clean underthings and all she needed, ran upstairs and dressed her daughter and herself in their own clothes.
She made herself useful about the house while CJ played nearby. That evening, while the fire was crackling and she was helping with Mrs. McClure’s mending, she heard the men in the other room talking, laughing and eating. Among them Captain Wyatt. She shut herself and her daughter in the parlor after they’d eaten their fill before the men came.
Chapter 69
The next morning Rose and CJ came down after the men left. Mrs. McClure had word from Captain Wyatt that he would send a couple of his crewmen to carry her and the trunks to her home. She took a deep breath, thankful that she could visit Portia and her family. It would be a complete surprise because she had not had time to write.
She thanked Mrs. McClure for her kindnesses, especially that first night. Two young men had come to convey her and her things across town.
Rose’s heart beat faster as they neared the Battery. She remembered the city she left. This was a brand new one. None of the bricks lay in piles. There was hardly a trace of the devastated city she left behind. Her eyes fell on her house. The chimney was new brick. The porch had been painted a soft cream color and new spindles had been added. Emmanuel’s work. She didn’t have money to pay the young boys and apologized.
“Captain Wyatt said we’re not to take money.” One said on his way down the stairs after they had transferred her trunks to the front verandah.
Rose knocked at the front door and waited. While she did she looked about. New flowers were growing up a trellis, the old swing had survived. She would rock CJ soon. Lily came and opened the door wide and Rose could not believe her eyes. There stood a young woman, not a gangly shy child.
“Miz Rose, that you?” Lily invited her in. “That be little Carolina Jane.” Lily took the child in her arms.
“Lily it is so good to see you.” She hugged the two together. “You’ve grown into a young lady.” Rose smiled.
Lily headed for the kitchen calling out, “Granmama come out. See who’s here. It be Miz Rose and Caroline Jane.”
Rose heard Portia’s outcry and saw her coming from the kitchen, pulling off her apron. “As I live and breathe, it’s my babies.”
She pulled them into her embrace and cried which set Rose to crying which set Carolina Jane to crying.
“Oh dear, look what I’ve done. Jus look at dat pretty baby. She done growed up.”
Rose couldn’t stop the tears.
“Aw, you done come home to us.” Portia said. “Come on I’ll get some lemonade. You hungry?” She looked at Rose and stopped.
“What’s de matter chile?”
“Oh Portia…I’ve come…”
“Come on now. Dis house is yours. You sit right down and tell me about it. I’ll get tea and some orange cake. Lily take that chile up and rock her.”
Lily smiled and carried the little one up the stairs humming a spiritual to her.
At tea Rose told her all that happened. “Chile we knows that Mr. McGuire wasn’t no nice man. But we was sad to hear he was kilt like that.”
“Like what?” Rose asked.
“Shot in the back he was. Everbody know that ain’t fair, but somebody done hated him ‘dat much. Mighta been one o’those girls he kept.”
Rose nodded, having no idea how Portia would know these things. And Ava was her friend. She felt sad for her.
“You just stay here and be safe until Miz McGuire get well again. You don’t want dat baby sick. And we had some fever here, all them folks coming from all over the world here to Charleston.” Portia shook her head.
For the next two weeks Rose had her family again. Just the way it was before she left. She saw all the repairs that Emmanuel and Thomas had finished. The debris was gone from the front and the new gable replaced at the top of the house. She was so proud. Seems banker Dalton had tipped his hat once or twice to Emmanuel when no one was looking.
Rose’s favorite addition to the house was two new girls from the orphanage. Girls who would use their time to
study and learn music. A brand new piano sat in her husband’s old office. Rose smiled and ran her hand over the piano keys. Mrs. Shevington’s gift.
Rose was so proud.
Then Captain Wyatt showed up with that loud knock of his, breaking into her reverie.
Portia answered and came for her, brown eyes sad. “He here.”
“Thank you Portia.”
Rose went. It was nearly dark. Just like the first time she met him. He joined her in the front parlor and she invited him to sit. “Ava is released from the doctor. She did not have the fever. Doctor Case says she is well.
“I’m glad to hear she is better.”
“Look, Mrs. Lovell, she would have come with me, but she understands what you have done for her. I’m here to tell you she would like to meet Carolina Jane.”
She nodded and stood. “I’m ready.”
“Not today. Keep her tonight and then we’ll come two days hence, if that is all right with you. I’ll bring my sister then.”
Captain Wyatt was standing now.
“Thank you…” she started for the door.
“Are you well?” He looked into her eyes.”
“Yes, I am well. Thank you for bringing me safely over.”
“You’re welcome. You look much better than when you first came off.” His slight smile made her heart feel lighter. Life was so hard at times, that any little flutter of light lifted one’s soul.
“I was a sight wasn’t I?”
“I’d have to agree. And you didn’t smell as good as you do today.”
Rose laughed lightly. “I don’t imagine I was very happy either.”
“You could say that.” He agreed. “Well, I won’t take up your time.”
Rose saw him to the door. He took his hat off the knob and hesitated then she heard his heavy bootsteps going down only this time the new steps made the sounds different.
Chapter 70
The next two days passed so quickly Rose could not believe it when she heard the sound of Ava’s carriage. CJ was napping. Captain Wyatt came to the door with Ava on his arm. This was the first time she had seen them together. They looked so much alike.
“Ava.” Rose invited her in and saw instantly the pain in her handsome dark eyes. “I’m so sorry for everything.”
Ava nodded, but did not speak.