Page 84 of Unlikely Heroes
She thought of her friend Grace, who always began each day’s class asking her little Rats what they had learned the day before. She smiled to remember a recent answer that Grace had shared with her. “It was my Jacob,” Grace said. “He told me he learned yesterday that if you eat many dried apricots and drink water, your belly will turn on you.” She made a face. “And here I was expecting some wisdom about borrowing and carrying numbers!”
“What have I learned?” she asked softly. “I have learned that I am constant in love, courageous as I wait, and more patient today that I was yesterday. Generally, if I am honest.” She thought of Grace. “I know that my widowed friend depends upon me, but that I depend on her equally. We need each other, because we are navy wives.”
As she watched the water, the parish church bells of nearby St. Andrew begin to peal. Startled, she clutched her belly, always her reaction to a surprise because she was a protective mother to the unborn as well as to Ben. As she held her breath, she heard other bells, including bells from ships anchored in the Solent. The clamor grew into a chorus.
Big bells, little bells, and soon the resonating bong bong of St. Thomas, Portsmouth’s cathedral.Please, please, God, was as far as her prayer extended, a plea that covered the good, the bad, and the horrifying.
What had happened? Meridee started for home, when someone gave her a squeeze. She gasped and turned to see Captain Ogilvie holding her firmly. “Mrs. Six, the news is good.”
She stopped and took his hands. “What news? Tell me everything you know.”
“Such a grip, Mrs. Six! It’s short, because the message came by semaphore relay, but this we know: There was a massive battle. The Royal Navy was victorious over the combined fleets of France and Spain.”
Angus planted a loud, smacking kiss on her cheek and she didn’t mind a bit. He held her off and she saw something else on his usually impassive, reveal-nothing face.
“No, please no,” she whispered.
“Not Able, no, not Able.” He released her. “Admiral Nelson was killed by a sharpshooter dangling from some damned French rigging.”
She absorbed that sad news, remembering the little admiral with the eyepatch, one arm and look of calm imperturbability. Yes, it was sad, but what about the man who mattered more to her? “Able should have been here a week ago, I think. Do you knowanythingmore?”
He shook his head. He put his arm around her shoulder and guided her into motion toward her home. “From what I know of major fleet actions, there is a period of repair and resuscitation before anything more can happen. We don’t even know if theMercurywas involved, do we? Hopefully, your man was able to return his father to Spain. That was his mission.”
Meridee relaxed. “You are telling me I should be patient and not fret?”
“If you can.”
She glanced at the captain’s face, and saw something else that didn’t frighten her. In fact, it was probably the reason he was in Portsmouth right now. “Did Grace write to you?” she asked.
“Aye, she did. Hasn’t that fine lady had enough sorrow for one year? Why this, too?”
There were nearly home, but Meridee slowed her steps, telling her impromptu escort how Headmaster Croker had gradually faded in the last week. “He isn’t eating, and drifts in and out of consciousness. When her classes have adjourned for the day, Grace sits by his bed, holding his hand.” She faltered then, and felt familiar tears gather. “Just like with Sir B. Angus, why must life be so hard, at times?”
“The question for the ages, little lady,” he said. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. “None of us are strangers to sorrow.”
She knew of his own pain: the death of a wife and child at birth, not long after the loss of his sister, Gladys Croker.Who held your hands, she thought, and knew the answer was no one.
“Where is Grace now?” he asked.
“With her brother.”
“I’ll see you to your door, then go to her.”
“She will be pleased to see you.”
“Do you think so?” Captain Ogilvie asked, sounding nothing like a sea captain, an assassin, and a spy catcher. He sounded like a man in love.
“I am certain of it,” she said firmly.
He surprised her. “This time, I have come to ask forgiveness from Thaddeus. I planned to hate him forever, after my sister’s death, but I cannot. He must know my altered opinion before he dies. Here you are. Come to Grace when you have a moment, please.”
“I’ve been spending evenings across the street, once Ben is asleep,” she assured him.
“I should have known.”
“It’s a small thing,” she said, shy around this man who exuded power and strength.
Meridee said goodbye and watched him cross the street, a confident, strong man, above all a healthy one. As she watched his swinging walk – sailors never seemed to entirely lose the swagger that bordered on oddly intimate – it occurred to Meridee Six that Grace St. Anthony had never known the love of a man in all his powers.
