ROMANCE: His Reluctant Heart (Historical Western Victorian Romance) (Historical Mail Order Bride Romance Fantasy Short Stories) (153 page)

              “Nothing of the sort,” Hargrove said dismissively. “Doing our duty, nothing more.”

              “None-the-less, I will mention your actions in my dispatches. When I’m back to England, your name and the name of your ship will be celebrated. You may well count on it!”

              Though his sailors cheered this news, Hargrove felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. Fame was the last thing he wanted, but it appeared that it would soon be unavoidable.

Chapter 6: The Hero’s Return

Wyecombe, England

December 1, 1816

The town of Wyecombe was swarming on this genuinely winter morning as Beth, Jane, Louisa, and Sarah took a coach into town.

              The carriage was a new purchase, provided by Sarah’s fiancé as a gift. Though she was grateful to Edgar, she had to admit she missed the long walks with her sisters. Still, in these hard times, it was far less safe to walk unaccompanied, and the carriage did keep out the chill.

              “I still can’t believe you met the man,” Jane gushed, staring out of the frosty glass and across the snow-crested fields. “How exciting it must have been! Was he very tall? I should imagine it so.”

              “You imagine too much, I think,” Sarah teased, drawing a frown from her sister. “Oh, don’t be cross. He was of ordinary build, perhaps more muscular than some, quite tan. A handsome face and dark features.”

              This description cheered Jane some. She’d been quite down since their neighbor Jon had perished from consumption along with two of his three siblings. They’d been carried off while recovering from malnutrition, creating deaths that were even more tragic.

              “Do you think he’s married? I suppose he is,” Louisa suggested quietly.

              “I didn’t see a wedding band upon his finger.” Sarah noted, and then added, “I should say I wasn’t looking. But I don’t recall seeing such a thing.”

“Oooh, I bet you want to kiss him, don’t you?” Beth cried before tickling Sarah. She’d been of a playful mood lately, and the tickling was her latest game. Sarah played along, tickling her littlest sister and making her break into peals of giggles. Pretending to be annoyed, Jane gave an exaggerated sigh and demanded the two stop.

Once they’d settled down, Sarah said, “Now Beth, that would be very bad form, wouldn’t it? I am engaged to sweet Edgar and well you know it.”

              Beth folded her arms. “I don’t like him. He’s boring.”

Sarah gasped in mock outrage. “Boring? Dear, he’s been nothing but kind to you.”

              “He’s boring. Commander Harrison William Hargrove is much more interesting to me. Maybe I’ll marry him!” Beth suggested. The idea of little Beth marrying broke the three girls up and she protested loudly, “I might! When I’m bigger, of course.”

              “Of course.” Sarah agreed. “If you’re very good and well-behaved, you may meet a very nice man when you’re older. But I fear you shall find the good Commander to be frightfully boring by then.”

              Jane looked even more irritated at these suggestions and rolled her eyes. “Oh, stop indulging her fantasies. It’s embarrassing.”

              Louisa folded her own hands and placed them primly in her lap. “Must we go to Aunt Mary’s first? I should rather we went to the docks on our own.”

              “It would be more proper,” Sarah reminded her. The town was coming into sight as the carriage rattled along. She knew there was only a small copse of trees before they were on the outskirts.

“You’ve been allowed to go by yourself, though. You said as much,” Louisa reminded her.             

“I suppose that’s so. However, I am much older than you all are, and as you’ll recall, I did have my own problems that day. It was quite fortunate that the Commander stepped in as he did most gallantly.”

              “I should like to have my own adventure, I think,” Louisa suggested. Jane quickly chimed in as well.

              “It’s not fair that you have all the fun, Sarah. Just because you’re older.”

              “Now that is quite enough. No more of this and don’t think to try dear old Aunt Mary.”

              The coach reached Aunt Mary’s door and the driver helped the girls step down and into the road. Their Aunt greeted them and, after they’d warmed up with a hot beverage, asked if they were all ready to go to the docks to greet the heroes of
The Duke of Norcastle
.

              “Yes! Finally!” Beth declared, popping off her sofa seat as though she were on a spring. When given a sharp look, she looked down and added, “That is, I believe we are quite ready to go.”

              “Very good. The entire town shall be waiting to see them. There are outsiders from Colchester and London crowding the docks, I’ve been warned, so don’t go getting separated. You’ll be so kind as to stay close to me and avoid being jostled and bustled about or doing the same to others. Is that quite clear?

              “Yes, Aunt,” the girls all said together, excluding Sarah. Her engagement had changed her relationship to her Aunt and, to some extent, to her sisters as well. It was as though she were already a married and grown, she felt, as though something profound had changed within her. It was the passing of childhood, or at least the wistful memory of such days.

              When they all had bundled so warmly that Beth insisted she looked more like a penguin than a little girl, they each stepped back out into the cold and began the walk toward the water’s edge. Were they not so close, they would have called for the carriage. However, Aunt Mary thought it was an unnecessary bother given that the horse and carriage had been stabled. “We are all fit and most of us young. We shall find our own way by foot,” she insisted. “There we will meet your young Edgar, dear.”

              The closer they came to the docks as they descended down the hill, the more crowded the street and sidewalk became. Such a small village was never meant to accommodate so many people. But it had been some time since England had enjoyed a naval hero. Hargrove was no Admiral Nelson, but the accounts of his bravery and seamanship by the newspapers had sparked the public imagination. Everyone seemed to want get a look for themselves.

              Beth mentioned as much. “I mean, why would people come from so far away? It’s just a ship.”

              “And he’s just a hero, dear,” Aunt Mary reminded her. “By being there when the ship arrives, they’ll feel as if they too were part of the excitement. It’s something to write in one’s diary. You will do so when we returned.” She nearly slipped on the snow and Louisa and Sarah caught her before she could fall. “Oh my. Thank you dears. That reminds me; you, Jane, and Louisa will note this in your own diaries this evening. Is that understood?”

              “Oh, must we?” Beth objected. “Writing is hard.”

“You must. No argument.”

              “I see. What must I write, then?”

              Her aunt sighed with exasperation. “So many questions, girl! I should think you would note what you saw, how you felt, what you experienced. It will be of great interest to your older self I shouldn’t wonder. Ah! Now that’s a sight Wyecombe isn’t used to seeing every day.”

              Aunt Mary’s observation was an understatement. A swarm of humanity had gathered at the modest dockside, overflowing into the neighboring streets. The Duke had just arrived, it appeared, and the sailors were busily going about their tasks.

              Soon enough, though, the gangplank went down and the captain and his officers began to descend to the wild cheers of the crowd. A band began to play and confetti was thrown into the air.

              “Can you see him? Can you see him, Sarah? Oh, I can’t see anything at all!” Jane complained. Beth also tugged on her dress.

              Jane was too big for her to help, so Sarah lifted Beth up so she could see a little. “I can’t hold you for long, Beth.” Aunt Mary looked on disapprovingly but Sarah ignored her.

              “Ooh, there he is. Oh look, one of the officers has a thing on his arm. He must have been wounded.”

              Sarah spotted him in the same moment. “Yes, I recall him.”

              “Recall?” Aunt Mary sounded surprised. Of course, she’d never told Aunt Mary of her adventure that day. She thought quickly and had an answer at the ready.

              “Yes, I think they mentioned an officer being wounded by the pirates. That must be him, Aunt.”

“Of course.” Mollified, her aunt glanced around the crowd. “Your Edgar must be here somewhere. I fear I don’t see him.”

              “It’s quite a crowd. I shouldn’t wonder. If you wish to return with the girls, I can wait and look for him myself.”

              Aunt Mary raised an eyebrow at his suggestion, so she amended her thoughts. “That is, perhaps Jane or Louisa could wait with me.”

              “Yes, that’s reasonable. Louisa will wait. But if you don’t spy him shortly, you must both return to the house.”

              They waited for a time as the mayor gave a speech and the captain and his crew received brief accolades. She could see even from her distant position that Commander Hargrove was uncomfortable with the attention. Perhaps he would prefer to be back in his ship, far at sea. She could understand that sentiment. All she’d ever wanted to do was travel, and to have a life in which that was all one did would be a dream. His eyes seemed from time to time to scan the crowd, looking for someone. Was it family? A young beauty? She wouldn’t be surprised if it were the latter. There was something undeniably appealing about him, about his cool manner when he was around his men. That was to be expected, she supposed. He was a captain, so it stood to reason he’d have developed such a presence over time.

              When she realized she was staring, she turned away. No one would have noted it, but she felt immodestly embarrassed all the same. Her first loyalty was to Edgar, after all. Staring at any man but he was quite rude.

              Yet, as her mind turned to Edgar once more, she found there was a tightness in her stomach as she did so. It wasn’t nervousness. It was something else altogether, something unnerving. There was fear.

It wasn’t that he’d ever hurt her, or so she was reasonably sure. He gave no indication of that sort of hostility. It was that he’d cooled even further around her after their lovemaking. What she had hoped would bring them closer together seemed to him to be no more than was owed him. He hadn’t grown entirely cold; he was still flattering of her and generous, as the coach demonstrated. They still shared quiet walks and talks. Although she noticed that when she gave voice to concerns or solicited advice, oftentimes it seemed his suggestions were less recommendations and more instructions. He had taken to telling her more and more what to do, as though it were no more natural than commanding a worker on his mill floor. It sat poorly with her; yet she wasn’t at all sure she was within her rights to say anything.

              She came out of her reverie as she saw that the crowd was dispersing. Aunt Mary gathered up her charges and trudged back up the hill, Beth leading the way. “Remember, don’t be long dears.”

              “We shan’t, I promise,” Sarah agreed.

              As the people around them left for their homes, inns, and other gathering places, she tried to scan faces for Edgar’s. No matter where she looked, she didn’t see him.

              “Louisa, keep a sharp eye out,” she said.

              Her sister raised her hand over her glasses, shading her vision. “I don’t spy him.”

              Sarah grew more worried as she stared out and as the people thinned. To her surprise though, she realized that Commander Hargrove was still at the raised platform where he and the other officers had been celebrated. While his officers were speaking with officials and locals, Hargrove remained distracted. He was still looking around for something or someone.

              “What?” Louisa caught her glance. “Do you see him? Oh.”

              Sarah blushed. “It’s nothing. I-”

              “Oh never mind. I found myself a bit distracted as well. Look, I see Ginger Tatum. She may have seen him. I’ll be right back.”

              “Very well.” Left alone, she sighed. The exercise of searching for her fiancé was growing boring. What’s more, she was becoming more and more certain he’d simply not shown up as promised.

              She tried to shrug off the notion and felt bad for even thinking it. Yet, undeniably, he wasn’t there. Sarah rubbed her eyes, feeling a headache coming on.