Raised By Wolves 2 - Matelots (56 page)

“He loses when you marry her,” Gaston said fiercely.

“This gambit, aye,” I said with wonder.

I went to sit with him and give him a quick kiss.

“I hate your father more than I hate her,” Gaston growled.

I knew it was his Horse talking. I took his face in my hands and his hard green eyes softened when they met mine.

“We will win this battle and take what we wish from the field,” I assured him.

This seemed to calm him somewhat, and his reason, or perhaps more accurately, his control, returned.

I carefully chose my words and whispered, “Who would you like to stay with during the wedding, and after, until I can return to you?”

He gave a quiet sniff of sad amusement. “Not Pete.”

I chuckled. “Oui, I do not see that as good choice either.”

He shrugged. “Cudro, or Liam and Otter, or Dickey and the Bard.”

“All right, then,” I said. “We will locate them and arrange things.

Others need to be told, as it is. And we should find Striker and Pete anyway, and see how they are.”

I looked to the girls. “We will go by the gunsmith’s, and then we must locate some of our companions.” I tried to think of what else needed to be accomplished before the wedding.

“Was someone sent for our uncle and Rucker?” I asked.

“Aye,” Sarah said. “We thought that we would also visit a milliner; we heard there was one in town. And perhaps you should visit your friends’ haberdashery and see to your attire. There is obviously no time to get a new suit made, but perhaps you can have the one you have cleaned and mended if necessary and buy new accessories.”

I swore quietly and she smiled.

“And you should probably bathe and shave,” she added.

“My dear sister, many are appalled at how much I enjoy bathing.”

“I do not care how often you do it,” she said, “I am merely noting it is customary before you marry.”

“Might I attend?” Agnes asked. “The ceremony,” she added quickly,

“not your bathing.”

I grinned. “Please do. I suppose Theodore will attend, and our uncle and Rucker if they return in time, but I feel we will invite none of our other friends, as this is not an event I wish to share with them, much less have them stand witness to.”

We ate the food they had brought, and shortly the four of us were at Massey’s, where we procured a pistol and shot for Sarah. As we were leaving, we had a stroke of luck and encountered Cudro.

He regarded Sarah with a perplexed frown.

“Sarah, allow me to introduce our dear companion… Cudro.” I did not know another name for him.

Then it was her turn to frown at me with confusion. I realized I had not been on good terms with Cudro when I had written her my letter.

“We have put any differences behind us,” I added. “Cudro, this is my sister, Miss Sarah Williams.”

He rumbled with amusement. “She the one you wrote the letter to?”

“Aye.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss.” He bowed politely.

She awarded him a gracious curtsy in return.

“I had heard another woman arrived,” Cudro said to me.

“Aye,” I sighed. “The bride my father sent has arrived. I am to marry her this afternoon.”

“Truly?” he asked with concern.

“Truly,” I said.

He glanced at Gaston.

“It is a thing I am in agreement on,” Gaston said.

“Are you engaged in anything this evening?” I asked Cudro.

“I don’t know if I want to attend a wedding, even yours,” he said.

I grinned. “Nay, I do not want any of you to attend, not because I would not have you witness a momentous occasion in my life, but because I do not want this occasion marked as being momentous.”

He rumbled with amusement. “What would you have of me?”

“Gaston would like to have some company this evening until I can return to him,” I said quietly.

Cudro sobered and nodded.

“I feel I will be well,” Gaston added, “but…”

“You need say no more,” Cudro said softly. “I will stand by you.”

“We were thinking if perhaps it was a small gathering: you and Liam, Otter, the Bard and Dickey perhaps.”

“Julio and Davey?” he asked.

“I adore Julio, but Davey can be…”

“Annoying, I know.” He waved me off and then frowned curiously.

“What of Pete and Striker?”

“Have you seen them?” I asked.

This only piqued his curiosity more. “Nay.”

I sighed. “I feel I cannot explain… but they might not help Gaston’s mood.”

Cudro frowned. “All right, I will take your word for it. What shall I say if they hear of it and invite themselves?”

I shook my head. “Oh Hell, I do not know.”

Gaston shrugged. “I doubt they will, but if they do, I will accept them.”

“When?” Cudro asked.

“I will need to leave for the ceremony at three,” I told him.

“I will be at your house then,” he said and bowed.

We left him at Massey’s and stepped into the street. Sarah was regarding me curiously. I had, of course, omitted mention of Gaston’s madness from the letter. I did not know what I should tell her now.

Gaston solved the problem for me in his fashion.

“I am mad,” he stated flatly.

She frowned, looking from one of us to the other.

“Truly,” he added. “I am prone to bouts of madness in which I lose my reason.”

“Oh,” she said, and it was apparent from her expression she did not truly understand.

“Tonight will be very trying for him,” I said.

“I would imagine it would be upsetting for anyone under your circumstances,” she said carefully.

“Aye,” Gaston said bitterly, “but whereas most men would become drunk and weep, I might attempt to kill someone.”

He turned away and began to lead us down the street.

Sarah looked to me with alarm.

I nodded and shrugged. “I will explain some other time.”

We did not know where the haberdashery was, but thankfully we quickly spotted a sign for “Belfry and Benton: Fine Men’s Goods” next to the apothecary. I applauded the location they had obtained. The inside was bright and airy, with whitewashed walls. There were shelves of hats, wigs, gloves, and everything else a gentleman of means needs to look presentable.

Belfry did not look to be the buccaneer with whom I had sailed last summer, or the merchantman officer with whom I had arrived on Jamaica last spring: he appeared as a prosperous merchant should, in a fine coat, vest, breeches and a full complement of needed accessories from his own establishment, sans wig and hat. I was pleased to see he had chosen sensible cotton and not wool for his attire. Dressing as a buccaneer for several months had obviously taught him it was in his best interests to remain cooler in the tropics.

He was delighted to see us, and quickly ran up to embrace Gaston and me. He next gave Agnes a polite bow, but then seemed confused by my sister. I made the introduction and then he was in his realm once again, bowing quite nicely and giving compliments. Once this was completed, he looked as if he had forgotten something, and then ran off to the back room with great enthusiasm. A moment later, he emerged with a portly but pleasant-appearing little woman in tow.

“This, this, my good friends is my dear bride, Mistress Millicent Belfry. And this, my dear, is Lord Marsdale.”

Then it was our turn to bow and curtsy. She was initially surprised at my appearance, but she quickly warmed once my title was introduced.

“I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Mistress Belfry,” I said.

“Your husband often regaled us with tales of you while…”

A panicked look had descended upon Belfry, and he was waving me off. “…awaiting your arrival,” I amended, hoping that what he wished for me not to say was that we had roved together and not that he had spoken of her. This did indeed appear to relieve him.

“Oh, my Lord, I cannot imagine what he would say that would be of any interest to a nobleman such as yourself,” she said with reddened cheeks.

I considered attempting to quash her reference to my title and then thought better of it. I would not win that battle, and it would merely cause hardship and confusion to wage it.

She was also delighted to meet Miss Williams, as she had not had a chance to meet many ladies of my sister’s status before, and gushed about that a little too. My sister bore it well, but seemed as pained as I, which pleased me.

However, when Belfry next introduced Agnes as our bondswoman, and horrifically, Gaston as my friend, I knew I must set matters right.

I endeavored to do so without causing him to lose dignity in the face of his wife.

“While our dear Miss…” I started to say.

“Agnes Chelsea,” my sister said quickly.

As Agnes was staring at the floor in mortified embarrassment, I thought it good my sister supplied a surname for me, as I had just realized I did not remember the girl’s; and perhaps I had never heard it. I had a friend named Chelsea once, in Paris, and I was sure I would have recalled that name.

I attempted to finish smoothly. “Aye, while Miss Chelsea did begin our acquaintance as a bondswoman due to unfortunate circumstances in her life, she is from a fine family and is a free woman and my sister’s good friend.”

This of course amended Mistress Belfry’s earlier polite nod into a small curtsy and a “Delighted to make your acquaintance.”

Agnes seemed pleased with this turn of events, though she did cast a curious glance at me. I supposed that was because she still was our bondswoman.

Then I was on to the more serious offense. “And though I am sure Mister Belfry’s intent was to save having to explain some of the more curious customs of the buccaneers, I must insist that Mister Gaston Sable here is not my friend, but he should be properly known as my matelot.”

Belfry winced, but he awarded us a sincere nod of apology from behind his wife’s shoulder.

“Mate-lo?” Mistress Belfry said with confusion, and turned to regard her husband.

“It is a buccaneer term for a man’s partner,” I said.

“Oh,” she nodded. “So you’re partners in owning the ship Mister Belfrey mentioned.”

“Nay, Mistress,” I said carefully. “Among the Brethren of the Coast as the… older buccaneers refer to themselves, a matelot is a man’s…

husband, for lack of a better term.”

“Oh,” she breathed. She blanched and then flushed and her gaze darted from one to the other of us. “Oh,” she said with more force. At which point she took a step back and I decided she was not so very pleasant after all.

“Sable?” Belfry asked in the awkward silence that followed. “I am sorry I did not know your surname,” he told Gaston.

Gaston, who had been admirably stoic throughout, responded quietly. “It is my family name, but its use is a recent thing for me in the West Indies. Will has arranged for me to become an English citizen.”

“Oh that is wonderful, what with…” Belfry trailed off quickly.

“Perhaps you can visit us some eve once we return from roving, and we can tell you all the tales,” I said.

“I would like that,” Belfry said. His eyes said he would like that very much. “Dickey said you would all be sailing very soon to raid with Morgan.”

“Aye, we sail to the meeting in two days,” I said.

“Well, I am pleased you stopped by to see the shop,” he said.

“Actually, I came to make purchases. I am to be married this afternoon to a bride my father sent for me.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful,” Mistress Belfry said, and then cast an angry glance at Gaston.

I was compelled to say, “I will not cease my wayward habits, I will merely be married in order to produce an heir. It is the way of the nobility. If fortune smiles upon me, I shall only see the woman for perhaps a month each year.”

She was, of course, further appalled by my attitude about the matter, and quickly excused herself to the back of the shop; and we soon heard heavy steps above us, where I assumed their living quarters to be.

“She comes from a devout family,” Belfry said apologetically in her wake.

“I guessed that,” I said kindly. “Your happiness with her is all that matters.”

“I am happy,” he sighed, “but I feel I shall miss the sea. I envy Dickey.”

“If you do… and this endeavor does not meet your liking in the long term, I believe there might be a plan afoot to enter into a shipping enterprise. My sister, who learned much of business from my father, was discussing that very thing last night with Theodore and Striker.”

I turned to Sarah. “Mister Belfry was an officer on the ship on which I sailed here. I believe he has worked upon merchantmen for most of his life.”“I have indeed,” he said quickly, and regarded my sister speculatively.

“Then perhaps I will consult with you as our plans develop,” she said.“I would be delighted, Miss Williams, to offer any assistance I can,”

he said happily.

I was amused, and thought it likely he would be at sea again within a year. Especially as, though he was quite good at complimenting and encouraging a client on the behalf of his shop, he had little aptitude for matters such as choosing the cravats or hats they would require. That had been Dickey’s purview; and Dickey had, of course, deserted him for the sea.

Sarah was of much more use in the matter, as she had witnessed what fashionable young men in London were wearing this last year.

However, she became exasperated when I could not describe the color of the coat I was to wear. Agnes could have, but she did not know which coat I spoke of. I was finally sent back to our house to fetch it.

When I returned, I found the shop filled with our cabal.

Liam caught me as I came in the door. He spoke quietly. “We be pleased to watch after yur matelot, since ya got ta go an’ abandon ’im to do…” He trailed off with a disapproving frown.

I thought he would have been well paired in his judgmental nature with Mistress Belfry. The irony amused me, though his words did not.

“What I must do,” I said firmly. “Liam, remember, he is in favor of my doing this thing.”

“Then why we all be worried ’bout ’im goin’ mad o’er it?” he asked.

I sighed. “Because, though he wants the outcome, mainly my inheriting and children, the actuality of what I must do, as in lying with the bitch, is irksome to him.”