Page 76 of Unlikely Heroes
“Aye. He’s my surgeon aboard theMercury. In a few years, he will be sixteen. He should attend a good medical school, which I know is found at the University of Edinburgh. He could be a surgeon, I have no doubt, or even a physician, should he choose.”
“The university is certainly well-known for medicine,” Mrs. Munro said. “Would you like me to sponsor him and pay his tuition?”
“I would, most emphatically,” Able said, and tested his luck further. “There will be other lads like Davey. One of mi…ours is already learning the engineering of machinery from his adoptive father.”
Meri tugged on his sleeve. “Able, I forgot to tell you. John Mark told me before you returned last from sea that he will soon be apprenticed to Henry Maudsley himself.”
“Thatisgood news,” he said. “You see, Grandmama, we at St. Brendan’s have discovered that our workhouse brats have talent enough for other ventures.”
“I can help your Rats, too,” his grandmama said quietly. “I will.”
“And that is that,” Meri said, after they waved goodbye to Mrs. Munro. “I hope Smitty will let himself in quietly when he returns, because I want to be in bed with you.”
Smitty did; she was. When Meri finally slept beside him, content, Able lay awake a little longer, doing nothing more than breathing in and out and savoring the bliss of total relaxation. Nothing raced through his brain except his vast love for Meridee Bonfort Six.
On a whim, he placed his hand on her bare belly. He had noticed a thickening of her waist, and she had complained about never getting back to her original shape. He loved her this way, all mutterings aside. He knew it was too soon to feel movement, but as he kept his hand on her belly, he could have sworn… He pushed lightly with his index finger and waited.
There it was, the tiniest answering, finger to finger, his own Sistine Chapel. He knew the acknowledgement was between him and his daughter alone. A daughter was it?Why yes, Able Six, a daughter. He wasn’t sure which of his mentors spoke, but he did not question. He knew he would never mention the matter to Meri before they sailed. She knew it was too early, and so did he. This was his secret.
Chapter Thirty-four
Wind and tide took them smartly away from Portsmouth. Able faced the shore as long as he could, enjoying the last glimpse of his wife and son as Smitty took them into the Channel with a sure hand on the wheel, plus Witticombe’s able handling of the sail. Davey had gone aft to quietly vomit in peace, Avon was already below plotting the first meal at sea, and Tots was lifting the sextant from its velvet-lined case. It was business as usual aboard theMercury. He hunched his neck down against October’s chill.
The day before, he had spent a quiet hour by the stone basin with Mr. Ferrier, discussing his students and Grace’s, too. Able’s former sailing master had nothing but praise for Sir B’s widow and her intensity in the classroom. “I dare any lad in her orbit to not excel. She takes such time with each pupil.”
“Her brother has told me on more than one occasion that his sister would be a better headmaster than he,” Able said. “I didn’t argue with him. In a perfect world, she would be headmaster.”
Mr. Ferrier stopped walking. He hesitated and Able waited, almost certain what was coming next. After another try, Able stepped in. “I think I know what you want to tell me, sir,” was all it took.
“Able, Thaddeus has offered me the position of headmaster when he is gone,” Mr. Ferrier said, his face troubled. “He says he does not have long to live and is hoping to survive this term. What can be wrong with him?”
“I have noticed a yellow cast to his skin,” Able said. “Perhaps you have, as well, sir?”
Mr. Ferrier shook his head, then managed a quiet chuckle. “You always were the more observant among the crew on theDefence.Tell me now what you think.”
Master Ferrier was never a man to dance around. “I believe our Thaddeus has cancer of the liver, sir. It is simply a matter of time. I know you will make an excellent headmaster.”
“Sad news, indeed, but thank you for your endorsement,” Master Ferrier said. “You relieve my mind. I was afraid you might think I was usurping a promotion that you would feel was yours by your own leadership abilities.” He looked at St. Brendan’s. “The Rats would follow you into the jaws of hell.”
“I want nothing more than to return to my classroom, sir.”
“And I have discovered that retirement is a galloping bore,” Mr. Ferrier said.
But Mr. Ferrier was miles away now, teaching and ready to assume additional duties Thaddeus allotted to him. Able glanced at Smitty, steering a true course on theMercury, and at Tots taking his morning reading with his sextant. Able knew he belonged in the classroom, as soon as this issue of Frogs and Spaniards playing too close to England was resolved.Very well, Admiral Nelson, it’s time to tease out the Combined Fleet from Cádiz. I have other work to do, he thought,and a wife who waits.You are keeping me from both of them, sir.
The first night out he had gone below for the letter Meri had handed to him, after another of her incendiary kisses in the privacy of their bedroom. “Ben and I wrote you letters,” she said as she slipped it in his uniform pocket. “Read them when you have a quiet moment.”
He found that quiet moment in the middle watch as everyone else slept and he manned the helm. He read the one from Ben first. “Pretty good handwriting, lad,” he said out loud. Ben had drawn him a picture of theMercury.Mama says you are to tack this in a convenient place, he read. Able’s eyes misted.And more specifically, you are to be very careful because I need you at home.Your loving son, Benjamin.
He saved Meri’s letter for another hour, for that time when he knew he would be growing tired and getting ready for Smitty to relieve him. She had drawn herself in profile, with the smallest bump outlined under her dress. The bump had a question mark inside, which made him smile.It’s a girl, Meri, he thought.Trust me though: I will look wonderfully surprised.
He read on as his wife professed her deep love for him, her anxiety when he was at sea, and her confidence that there wasn’t anything that could possibly prevent his return to her in due time. He turned over the page and found himself reading reality, this time.But you are only human, my love, and anything can happen, he read.Waiting at home is onerous. Putting on a smile every day is difficult. Patting your pillow at night makes me long for you. I miss your lap as much as Ben does. I feel better, safer, wiser, and happier when you are in my sight.
“So do I Meri,” he whispered.
He smiled through the mist when she told him she was wearing his scandalous locket, and that she had tucked one of his unlaundered shirts under her pillow. She finished, Meri-style, with a flourish.I love you and long to see you soon. Damn Napoleon, anyway. Yours, completely yours through it all, Meridee Six and a third.
Able read her letter every night. He wondered how he, a man skilled beyond normal facility in navigation, had ever managed to plot his earlier solitary course through life.Here we are, Meri, trying to be man and wife at such a time when nations war against each other and I must do my duty, and no one cares about us except us, he thought.
