Page 89 of The Sea Witch
“Miss Abigail Williams,” she sang, “a pleasure to meet you. I wish to be married to my darling Thaddeus.” She fluttered her lashes at Ben. “Been courting me forever, but Thaddeus finally asked my father. And he gave us his blessing,” she added with a very atypical squeal.
Ben made himself look down as if abashed.
“Felicitations,” Reverend Gardiner said, beaming. “We’ll need to read the banns, of course.”
“Of course,” Ben agreed.
Breathlessly, Alys said, “Before we do that, we need to ensure that there’s no chance... that is... our families are veryclose...and we’d hate to think that there could be anyproblems...being soclose...”
“Yes, I see, my daughter,” the reverend intoned. “We cannot have any besmirching from consanguinity.”
Ben nodded eagerly. “You understand, Reverend.”
“Can’t be kissing cousins, can we?” Alys giggled.
It was all Ben could do to keep from gaping at her. Never had he heard her actuallygiggle.
“The parish register will have the answers you seek.” Reverend Gardiner waved them toward the back of the church. “I keep it in the sacristy. This way.”
The reverend ambled up the aisle, leading them to a plain door beside the altar.
“Thaddeus?” Ben whispered when he was certain the old man couldn’t hear him.
“It was either that or Zebediah,” she whispered back.
Reverend Gardiner unlocked a door and then gestured for them to enter. It was a small chamber containing sacristy credens, with wide shallow drawers that held vestments. There was also a piscina for washing, and a taller heavier cabinet. The reverend used another key to unlock it. From a drawer, he pulled out a thick leather-bound book, tooled with gold adornments, which he set upon a table.
“The answers you seek are in there,” he said, smiling.
“I’ll look, Thad,” Alys twittered.
She stepped to the register and flipped through the pages. She read for a long while, with Ben and the reverend occasionally exchanging polite smiles.
“Oh, here’s my cousin Hecuba,” she said, “and here’s your great uncle Boaz.”
Ben watched her expectantly. The answer to Little George’s clue had to be in this book. What would they do if it wasn’t? The Caribbean was vast, abundant with tiny islands, hidden coves, secret locations. All the things that made it so appealing to the lawless. But the fail-safehadto be out there, somewhere.
Alys continued to read, making her way through three years of records. And then she glanced up at Reverend Gardiner. “I’m not seeing any shared kin, but just to be sure, might I look at the older register?”
“This is all we have,” the old man answered quickly. “There was a fire, you see, three years ago. A candle tipped over, and alas, the register was lost. We were all quite despondent.”
“Thatisa shame,” Ben said. “Is it enough, dearest Abby?”
“I’m certain it will be fine,” Reverend Gardiner interjected. “I see no reason why you two should not be married.”
Alys ran to Ben and threw her arms around his neck. “We can be wed, dearest, dearest Thaddy.”
As his hands came around her waist, she lifted up on her toes. Their lips met.
Her mouth was soft and nimble against his. One brief peck turned into a longer deeper kiss. He pulled her closer, his palms warming as he held her. She pressed snug against him.
He hadn’t expected she’d be so sweet. Or how right it felt to have her in his arms.
“Well,” Reverend Gardiner boomed with strained joviality, “we know this will be a mostfruitfulunion.”
Ben and Alys broke apart. Her eyes were dazed, her disguised lips slightly swollen from their kiss, as surely his were.
“We’ll come back to discuss the banns,” Ben managed when she appeared unable to talk. “Thank you, Reverend.”
