Page 37 of Unlikely Heroes
“No, Mam,” he said, in that voice she knew from her own husband, the one that indicated she had no real say in the matter because his mind was made up. “I’m coming, too. We don’t know who is at the door.”
They walked to the wide-open front door to see Master Ferrier, grinning from ear to ear. He took off his hat and held it out like an urchin petitioning coins.
“Please, Mum, I want to eat with ladies and avoid Thaddeus Croker’s evil butler,” he said, his eyes lively.
Meridee laughed and ushered him inside. “Grace and I understand your peculiar dilemma,” she assured him. “I’ll take care of him, Pegeen.”
“Did I do t’wrong thing, Miz?” the little one asked, her eyes anxious.
“Not at all,” Meridee replied. “I’ve already told you never to trust a navy man, haven’t I?” That earned a laugh from the quiet instructor.
“Aye, Miz,” the scullery maid said. She thought a moment. “But I see navy men all around here.”
“You did right to call for me. We can trust this one.” She patted the child’s cheek. “Now please help Mrs. Perry bring in the beef roast.”
“You have a way with children,” Master Ferrier said, as they adjourned to the dining room. “And with the rest of us old tars, I suspect, eh, Nick?”
Nick smiled, obviously happy to be lumped with old tars.Able was right to insist upon you,Meridee thought. “The evil butler is preying upon you?” she teased, to lighten the mood.
“Aye, Miz Six,” Master Ferrier teased back. “Bertram is a demon from hell.”
“Come now, sir,” she admonished.
He ushered Nick ahead, but the boy seemed inclined to remain, which touched Meridee’s heart. She knew she had a stalwart defender in Nick Bonfort.
“Very well, Nick, you listen, too,” the master said, drawing him into the conspiracy. “Your headmaster knows his sister Grace St. Anthony is lonely and needs cheerful company.” He nodded to Meridee. “Nick, would I be wrong in thinking that Master Six left you a careful message about championing Mrs. Six?”
Nick’s head went up. “Aye, Master Ferrier, he did. I will go where she goes, if I have any qualms.”
Meridee couldn’t help the sudden tears in her eyes. “I should have known he would do that, Nick,” she said, and kissed the top of his head.
“Aw, Mam!” Nick said. She saw how pleased he was, and yet how dignified. “Very well. I will return to the dining room if you need some mature conversation.”
Meridee had to hide her chuckle at such a statement from a young boy. “We won’t be long, I promise you.”
“Quite the lad,” Master Ferrier said, when the dining room door closed. “I have been getting my own education here.”
“We all have. Yes, Master Ferrier, we do need your steadfast leaven in our loaf.” She considered the quiet man. “Perhaps you need us, too.”
“P’raps I do.”
There was room and food enough for Master Ferrier, and he quickly became a regular at meals. Meridee and Grace both began to suspect a deeper game, one that caused no pain. “He keeps us company, answers any questions we might have about the fleet, and is happy to read Euclid’sElements– in English, mind you – to Ben,” Meridee said, following dinner one night when Nick labored over his homework and she and Grace adjourned to the sitting room, their now-regular dinner companion having returned to St. Brendan’s. “I think Thaddeus is determined we will not feel quite so lonely.”
“He would to that,” Grace agreed. “We know it wasn’t the evil butler’s idea.” They laughed together.
Meridee darned stockings while Grace calmly nursed Georgie. Grace’s eyes were closed, so Meridee had leisure to assess her friend. In mere days, she had begun to relax, her shoulders lower, the pinched look gone. Any fear that their home was too lively for a new widow dribbled away. Solitude would have been a monumental unkindness to a sociable lady like Grace St. Anthony. If regular visits from Sailing Master Harry Ferrier, RN (retired) was a plot to console two ladies, Meridee had no objection.
It was more, which only made him especially dear to her. Master Ferrier sought her out one evening after Grace had retired with Georgie, Ben was asleep and Nick studying in the dining room. She thought his return had something to do with her quiet-voiced comment to Mr. Ferrier earlier before dinner about Nick’s sadness not to be included in the voyage of theHMS Mercury.
“I need advice, Mrs. Six,” he said, when seated on the sofa. “In fact, if we could include Nick, that would be advantageous.”
Nick came quickly and sat close to Meridee. Only a woman made of stone would have been unmoved by his always keeping himself between her and anyone else. Nick was only thirteen now, but his protection was unmatched by men much older.
“Nick, I want to ask something of you, but I need Mrs. Six’s approval,” Master Ferrier began.
“Aye, sir, ask what you wish,” the boy said.
“You know what our seamanship class is like,” Mr. Ferrier began, with no preamble. “A little bit of this and that, probably as Master Six taught.”
