Besieged

pony's back? Then you backed him from his stall, and rode out into the stableyard crowing with your accomplishment.'

'And you were furious that I had dared to ride your pony, and so the next day Grandfather Adam bought me a dappled-gray pony with dark spots on his rump. I called him Freckles.'

'How did you get up on my pony?' India asked her sister.

'Henry helped me,' came the mischievous reply.

'Henry?' India was astounded, and looked to her brother.

The marquess of Westleigh laughed, chagrined. 'I didn't expect Fortune to go out into the yard,' he said, 'and she was so eager to be on that pony's back. I was terrified that Mama would find out. So I slipped from the stables through the rear entrance, and pretended to be just as surprised as everyone else when she rode out. Fortune never told on me, for which, sister, I am to this day thankful.'

Surprisingly their mother laughed at the tale. 'How lucky you all were to have one another. My poor wee Autumn will grow up like an only child. The youngest of her Leslie brothers is twelve years older than she is. There is no one left at Glenkirk now but Patrick, and at sixteen he is more interested in lasses he can bed than in a baby sister.' She smiled at her four eldest.

The next day Henry Lindley returned to his home, Cadby, even as his sister, India, and her husband left for Oxton, and Charlie was off to join the court. By evening only Jasmine, her two daughters, and Kieran remained at Queen's Malvern. There was a melancholy about the wonderful old brick mansion. Fortune and Kieran were keeping to themselves, and Jasmine understood. Too soon they would be parted. Then came word that the Mary's Land expedition would be sailing from Gravesend in mid-October.

'It's ridiculous to go all the way to London when the Cardiff Rose is berthed in Liverpool. You will travel there, Kieran,' Fortune said, and her mother nodded in agreement. 'The ship will sail to Dundalk to pick up the colonists, and you can meet Leonard Calvert's ships off of…' She looked puzzled. 'Where, Mama?'

'Cape Clear, off Ireland,' Jasmine said quietly. 'The Mary's Land expedition will pass that way as they cross the Saint George's Channel going out to sea.'

'We'll have to send a messenger off in the morning to Lord Baltimore,' Fortune said, 'to confirm these arrangements. And one to Maguire's Ford so that our men will be in Dundalk at the proper time. And the messenger has to return from Lord Baltimore so that you will have time to ride to Liverpool. I will go with you.'

'Nay,' Jasmine said firmly to her daughter. 'I will go, but you must say your goodbyes to Kieran here. We cannot be bothered with a coach to convey you, and you should not make such a long journey a-horse. It is far too dangerous, Fortune, and you want a healthy child who will be able to make the long and dangerous trip to Mary's Land next summer.'

'I agree, madame,' Kieran Devers said quietly, and looked to his wife. 'Fortune?'

For once Fortune saw the wisdom of her mother's argument without disagreement. She nodded, reluctantly. 'I cannot argue with either of you, but oh, I wish I were going with you, Kieran.'

The following day all the messengers were dispatched, and for the next few weeks the couriers came and went. Rory Maguire sent word that he would have the Irish colonists in Dundalk at the appointed time. The time grew nearer for Kieran Devers to leave his wife, and Fortune began to feel a dread such as she had never known.

'Are we mad?' she asked him. 'It is such a long and dangerous journey across a vast ocean. What if the ship encounters a storm? What if it sinks? I will never see you again!' she wailed, and burst into tears, clinging to him, and soaking his nightshirt with her weeping.

'What other choice do we have?' he said quietly. 'We have been over this a hundred times, Fortune. The New World is our destiny. There is nothing for us in this old world, darling.' He stroked her disheveled red hair soothingly.

'I can become a Catholic,' Fortune said. 'I was baptized one. Then we can go to France, or Spain to live. We could live at Belle Fleurs, Mama's chateau. Grandfather Adam has family nearby at Archambault, Kieran. We could be happy there!' She looked up hopefully at him.

He sighed. 'Perhaps you could be happy, Fortune, but I could not. I have my pride, and it has been difficult enough for me to swallow it these past months. I know that there are those who think I wed you because you are a great heiress, and not because I love you. Aye, I have a small inheritance thanks to my father, but my small wealth is nowhere near yours. In the New World I will build us a life, and a great estate. Perhaps not as great as the one we gave up, but I will do it myself, and no one will look askance at me. I never before considered what anyone thought of me, but then I married you, my love. I will not be a husband who lives off his wife's wealth! Nor will I have anyone think it of me, or of you. We will make our way together, Fortune, and we can only make it in the New World. Not here. Not in England. Not in Ireland. Not in Spain, or France. In Mary's Land! Do you understand now, my love, why I must go?'

'I never knew you felt this way, Kieran,' Fortune answered him. 'What I have is yours, darling. Let no one say otherwise. If it will make you happy, I will sign it all over to you!'

He chuckled. 'Nay, sweetheart. I do not want your wealth. Your family is right to see that its women have their own. Besides, that is not the point, Fortune. As you have your pride, I have mine. A man must make his own way in the world.' He caressed her tenderly. 'What has happened to my practical little wife?'

'I don't want you to leave me!' she began to sob again. 'I would rather be with you to share your fate than left behind here in England to have our child all alone!'

'You will not be alone,' he said in reasonable tones. 'You will have your mother with you, my love.'

'I don't want Mama! Iwant you!'

Jasmine had warned him that Fortune's condition would cause her to act in an unreasonable manner at times. Here was his beautiful wife who had instructed him to go to Mary's Land to obtain the best land in the first wave of colonists now wailing at him. He didn't know what he could possibly say to her under the circumstances, and so he decided to take a tack he had never before taken with her.

'You cannot have me unless you wish to destroy all our chances to succeed, Fortune,' he told her sternly. 'You have said yourself our chances of success depend on obtaining the proper land for our horses. If I do not go now, how can I do that? You will survive without me to hold your hand. Didn't India have her firstborn in a mountain hunting lodge with only her two servants to help her? Having a baby is a most natural thing for a woman. Now, behave yourself, Fortune.'

She was astounded by his reprimand. 'How can you speak to me like that?' she demanded, suddenly angry.

'How can I not when you behave like a spoiled child?' he countered, thankful she was no longer weeping.

'I shall never forgive you for leaving me,' Fortune announced in regal tones. 'You are being horrible, Kieran.'

'When you arrive in Mary's Land next summer and find a fine house awaiting you, and crops planted, and meadows of lush grass for our horses, you will forgive me. I go for you, Fortune, and for our child. Can you really be angry at me for that?' He tipped her lovely face up so he could look into her eyes.

'Yes!'

'Really?' he wheedled her, brushing her lips softly with his own.

'Yes!' She glowered at him, but her lips were twitching.