Windswept (10 page)

Thurston returned a blank stare at his wife. “Of course I heard her, Sidonia. What do you mean?”

She picked up the napkin again and fanned her face vigorously. She was getting a case of the vapors, and that was not a good sign. “Eleanor just confessed that, behind our backs, she has arranged to spend a good part of every day with a motley bunch of Negro children in what will probably turn out to be a fruitless attempt to get them to read!”

The judge narrowed his eyes in an obvious effort to comprehend his wife’s point. “Yes, Sidonia, I heard her say all that, all but the fruitless and motley part anyway.”

“Well, don’t you see? How will that look? We’ve only just moved here. I’m finally becoming acquainted with the small but admittedly finer elements of this society. There happens to be some gentlefolk of good lineage here after all…the Wardens from Charleston, the MacDougals from Newport News. And now I’ll have to live down the distressing fact that my own daughter prefers the company of blacks to her own kind!”

Thurston lowered his forehead to his hand. “Oh, Sid…”

“And Thurston, those children probably don’t even want to read. Why, I’ve seen them. They’re perfectly happy running around the island bare-footed and nut-browned. They’re
free
, for Heaven’s sake. What else could they want?”

It was difficult, but Nora suppressed her anger at her mother. After all, Sidonia was steeped in the traditions of southern living in America. Even though she’d come from France many years before, she had adapted to her husband’s way of life easily, and she was exactly like the other ladies of Richmond society. The issues she brought up could have been voiced by any one of her female friends at home.

Nora feared an argument was about to erupt between her parents, and she would have been the cause. She took her mother’s hand and stopped her from fanning the napkin. “Mama, I know that what I’ve decided to do has upset you. And I know that this project might not be appropriate in Richmond, but you have to realize that this is not Virginia. In the short time we’ve been here, I’ve learned that some behaviors which would seem out of place at home are perfectly accepted here. Why, look at Fanny.”

Sidonia’s eyebrows arched with interest. “What about Fanny?”

“Before we left Virginia you were worried that your friends would take exception to some of Fanny’s, well… eccentric habits. Isn’t that right?”

“Yes, but…”

“And here, you’ve barely given it a thought. In fact, you have to admit that everyone on the island likes Fanny. They are amused and enthralled by her. Why just today you got an invitation to tea from Mrs. Arthur Whiting, and the invitation includes all the Seabrook ladies, even Fanny. It just proves that things are different here. The extraordinary is accepted and even sought after.”

“I suppose so…”

“And I only want to teach the children to read because I’ve discovered that there is no opportunity for them to learn otherwise. And if they want to learn, then that isn’t right. These children have no masters forbidding their education. Only circumstance prevents it.”

Nora poured more wine into her mother’s glass and handed it to her. “You may be right about one thing, Mama. Maybe they won’t want to come to my school, but at least I want to try. And besides, I have nothing else to occupy my days.”

Sidonia took a sip of wine and leaned back against her chair. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe you’re my flesh and blood, Eleanor.” She looked at her husband. “You did see her when she was born, didn’t you, Thurston? You’re quite certain this is our child?”

He smiled at her, his patience restored. “As sure as I am of my next heartbeat, lovey. Anyone sitting across the table from the two most elegant women in Key West would see the resemblance and know it’s true.”

Sidonia blushed, and Nora knew everything was all right again.

“Very well, then, Eleanor,” her mother said. “Do your teaching and reading and such. You have my blessing… reluctantly.”

Nora basked in her father’s admiring gaze. “Thank you, Mama.” She stood up and gifted Sidonia with a kiss on her cheek. “And now I’m off to the milliner’s shop to see what I can do about setting up for my first class.”
Since I doubt very much that I can count on Captain Proctor’s generosity now
. “I’ll be back soon.”

“See that you are, dear,” Sidonia said. “Oh, and when you go out on the veranda, rescue poor Mr. Hadley from Fanny’s clutches, won’t you?”

The instant Nora stepped onto the veranda, Theodore Hadley bounded up from the wicker settee upon which he and Fanny were sitting. “Ah, Miss Seabrook. I hope that little situation in the dining room has been resolved without too much unpleasantness.”

He was obviously dying to know what the altercation was about, and if Nora truly had been involved in a tryst with Captain Proctor, but to Hadley’s credit, he didn’t ask. “Yes, of course, Mr. Hadley, everything is fine now,” she said, heading for the steps leading to the sidewalk. “I’m just off on a little errand.”

She was half way to the fence bordering the front lawn when she heard him behind her on the walk. “Miss Seabrook, I was wondering. It’s such a lovely afternoon, with a delightful breeze. I…I haven’t had much exercise lately. I’d like to walk with you.”

She turned slowly to face him. It would be inconceivable to pretend she hadn’t heard him. He appeared so earnest in his request, his pale hazel eyes begging her not to turn him down, his free hand ruffling the strands of reddish hair that threatened to fall in his eyes. In fact, he was more puppy-like than Armand or Hubert had ever been, and this made it impossible to deny him. “I would be happy for the company, Mr. Hadley, if you’re sure you’re up to it.”

He hastened to catch up with her and offered the bended elbow of his good arm for her to slide her hand through. “I’m very much up to it, I assure you, and please call me by my first name.”

She let the tips of her fingers rest on his arm. “All right, then, Theodore…”

“Theo, please. It’s less formal.”

Noticing the glimmer of interest in Theo’s eyes, Nora decided that “less formal” was precisely what she didn’t want in her relationship with the attorney. Keeping her gaze focused on the scenery, she veered off to Duval Street, more or less pulling Theo along beside her.

Using the key she remembered to get from Mr. McTaggart the day before when she dropped off reading supplies, Nora opened the lock to the milliner’s shop. She’d been able to procure several elementary books from the library, and she’d made some simple drawings herself with her artist’s sketch pad, but she couldn’t imagine how she’d improvise the other things she needed.

She expected her students, however many of them actually showed up, would have to sit on crates and barrels, and once her sketch pad paper ran out, she’d have to try and beg writing materials from Key West shopkeepers. Her students would have to share the two bottles of ink she brought from home and the half dozen pens she’d found in Samuel Rutherford’s desk.

As Nora strode through the hat shop to her little room in back, she couldn’t fight off a wave of depression. Oh, if only I hadn’t angered Jacob Proctor, she thought. I’d at least have benches and slates and proper writing utensils, and…

She halted at the entrance to her classroom and stared in disbelief at the very items she had been mentally listing. Drawing in a quick, sharp breath of utter delight, Nora feasted her eyes on six rows of perfectly aligned benches. Every other bench had been outfitted with wooden foot pads to raise it above the one behind, creating elevated writing surfaces. And placed neatly in intervals across each higher bench there were four slates, each with chalk, and four pads of paper with inkwells and quills. Supplies for twelve pupils in all.

In front of all the benches there sat a small, but proper desk with a leather top and three drawers down each side. An oak chair with wheels had been pushed underneath, and a large wooden easel sat to the side. A small bookcase against the wall held a dozen books, some of them classics that Nora had read when she was a girl. She clasped her hands to her chest. “Oh, thank you, thank you,” she breathed. “It’s wonderful.”

“What’s all this?” Theo asked, walking among the benches and inspecting the items. “Has someone called a meeting in the hat shop?”

“So it would appear,” came a forceful voice from the doorway. “At least the three of us appear to have met here.”

“Captain Proctor!” Nora whirled around to face him. The captain, his hands on the door frame, filled the entrance with his presence. His loose white shirt, open at the neck, gleamed in the late afternoon sunlight. His eyes shone darkly in contrast.

Nora’s inspection of her little classroom had produced a multitude of surprising emotions. There was the unanticipated joy of seeing it furnished so practically, and the exquisite torture of finding herself face to face with the man who’d been in her thoughts for the last forty-eight hours.

She certainly hadn’t expected the former, and she was definitely confused by the latter. She had decided to avoid the captain at all costs, an easy task since she was fairly certain he would do his best to avoid her. He had made his disinterest abundantly clear in the cupola when he told her to leave.

Her boldness in violating his private space had obviously displeased him. Or perhaps it had been the kiss. While he’d seemed eager at the start of it, he must have been put off by her lack of expertise in that area. How many times since then had she longed for Fanny’s worldliness and daring. Then she’d have been a match for this captain! She’d come to terms with the events in the cupola by refusing to regret her boldness and pushing the entire kissing incident to the back of her mind where it belonged…and stubbornly refused to stay.

Jacob dropped his hands to his sides and entered the classroom. “Hello, Nora.”

Uncertain as to how he expected her to act at this meeting, she backed away as he came closer, finally retreating around the desk. Seeking the first opportunity to remove her gaze from him, she scanned the interior of the room. “You did this, Captain?”

“Some of it. And some was done by Willy and others.”

She looked down at the desk. “I’m surprised. I didn’t think…”

“I gave you my word, Nora. Does the classroom please you?”

He tapped into that vein of delight she’d experienced when she first came in the room, and she couldn’t resist looking at him then. “Indeed it does, Captain. Very much. Thank you.”

He cleared his throat and slid his gaze to a corner of the room where a rustling noise caught Nora’s attention. Hadley stared at first one then the other while he fidgeted with his sling.

“Oh, Theo, I’m sorry,” Nora said. “Let me introduce you.”

Her escort struggled to hide his obvious contempt while he remained on the far side of the room. “I know who the captain is,” he said coolly.

Jacob crossed his arms over his chest and regarded Hadley thoughtfully. “And you…you’re the lawyer who broke his arm on the
Morning Dove
, is that correct?”

“It is.”

“And you’re currently residing with the Seabrooks.”

He raised his face, straightened his shoulders, and glared at Jacob over the bridge of his nose. “I am.”

Why did he make it sound as if staying with her family were some sort of badge of honor? As if it implied advantages the rest of the population was denied.

Testing his new-found confidence, Theo approached the desk and stood beside Nora. “I really must suggest that we leave, Miss Seabrook…Nora. I’m quite certain your father will be wondering where our stroll has taken us after so long a time.”

It hadn’t even been a half hour, but Nora refrained from embarrassing Hadley with the facts. Instead she politely informed him that she wanted to stay and become better acquainted with the room.

“Very well then,” he said, leaning against one of the benches as if he were a marble statue meant to rest in that particular spot for all eternity. “I’ll stay with you for as long as you like.”

Nora looked at Jacob and recognized the familiar flicker of amusement in his eyes. “If you wish, Theo,” she said on a sigh.

Jacob nodded at Theo before allowing a lingering gaze to bathe Nora in tingling warmth. “Then I’ll bid good day to you both,” he said and left the room.

Theo stood straight and affected a shiver in his spine. “I can understand why your father doesn’t trust him, Nora. He has that look about him. It’s hard to explain.”

Nora stared at the doorway long after Jacob had left. “Yes, he does, Theo, I know exactly what you mean.”

That night Nora wrote in her journal:

I am utterly enchanted with my classroom -- its rustic, sturdy pine benches, fine new slates and chalk, interesting books and, of course, all the glorious sunshine which is so often lacking in Virginia.

One man is responsible for donating all of the items except the last, and at times I wonder if he even persuaded the clouds to part and fill my windows with light. Despite his generosity, the man, a sea captain by trade, is as enigmatic as are the creatures that dwell at the bottom of the ocean. And I know as little about him…

Nora put her pen down on the delicate mahogany desk that sat near the open French doors of her bedroom and sighed into the night. And oh, how I long to know more, she thought, accepting the undeniable truth.