Besieged

Chapter 16

'Mama! Mama! The captain of the Cardiff Rose is here!' Fortune called excitedly. 'Oh, sir, we thought you should never come! Tell me how my husband is, please! When are we to leave for Mary's Land?' She whirled about. 'Rois! We must start packing!'

'Captain O'Flaherty? I am Jasmine Leslie,' the duchess of Glenkirk said as she came forward, her hand outstretched.

Ualter O'Flaherty took the elegant hand, and kissed it. 'We are cousins, madame, having the glorious Skye O'Malley in common for a grandmother. As we have never met, I wanted to come personally to deliver Kieran's messages to his wife, and to you. I hope you will forgive my unannounced arrival.' He bowed smartly, and smiled at the two women, thinking that his cousin, Jasmine's, beauty had not been exaggerated. The garnet red gown she wore certainly complemented her dark hair and exotic turquoise blue eyes. And Kieran's wife was equally beautiful with her red hair, and blue-green eyes so like his own, so like Skye O'Malley's.

'You are more than welcome, Cousin. You must be one of my hardly- ever-seen Uncle Ewan's sons, are you not?' Jasmine asked.

'His youngest son, and next to last child,' the captain said.

'Tell us of Mary's Land,' Fortune said.

'I think we should offer our cousin some refreshment first, and ask him to sit by the fire,' the duchess told her daughter. 'June is such a fussy month. Warm one minute, and cold the next. It has been raining for three days now. It must have been a chilly ride.'

'Being at sea teaches one to get used to all weather, especially the inclement, madame,' he replied with a smile, taking a goblet of wine as it was offered to him.

They sat down by the blazing fire in the hall, and the captain handed Fortune a large packet.

'What is it?' she wondered aloud, taking it from him.

'Your husband kept a daily record of his experiences, and he has sent it to you along with a letter, my lady Fortune,' Ualter O'Flaherty said. He sipped the wine appreciatively.

'Is he well?' Fortune asked softly.

'He was in the best of health and spirits when I left him, my lady. The crossing was the best, I am told by the other captains more familiar with an Atlantic crossing, that any of them had ever had. The Virginians welcomed us, and the land that has become Mary's Land is beautiful beyond measure, but your husband's diary will tell you everything you need to know, my dear lady. We have brought back a cargo of salt fish from the Plymouth colony, which we called in on during our return journey, as well as beaver and fox furs. It will make the round trip a profitable one for you, my lady.'

'You will remain with us for a few days, Cousin,' Jasmine extended the invitation.

'I would be honored, madame,' he answered her.

Fortune tore open the packet as they talked. It was a great temptation to read Kieran's letter first, but instead she began to read the journal of his travels, knowing he had written it in order to make her a part of the voyage she could not take, but soon would. She read the afternoon through, and the servants were setting the high board for the evening meal when she finally opened her husband's letter. She read it through, swearing softly under her breath as she did. Then she turned to Captain O'Flaherty.

'Do you know what is in this letter, Cousin?' she asked him.

'I do,' he said.

'And you agree with my husband's assessment of the situation? Has he not made the situation a bit worse than it actually is? I expect Kieran wants everything perfect for me when I arrive, but it doesn't have to be perfect, sir,' Fortune said.

'Nay, my lady Fortune. He has not equivocated in the least. Mary's Land is a wilderness, and the western shore where its first settlement is, is a forested region. There is much work to be done to make it habitable for civilized folk. The few women who came aboard the Ark and the Dove are putting up with a great deal of hardship.'

Fortune pressed her lips together, irritated. This was not what she wanted to hear.

'What is it?' Jasmine asked her daughter.

'Kieran doesn't want us to come until next summer,' she said. 'The land has not yet been divided, and he claims they are living in an Indian village with the savages. I knew I should have gone!'

Jasmine looked to Captain O'Flaherty.

'We only arrived in late March,' he began. 'The main expedition was delayed on the Isle of Wight for over a month. Governor Calvert sent word to the Cardiff Rose, which was waiting off Cape Clear, to go ahead and meet them in Barbados. We took the southern, and rather roundabout route because of the unreliability of late autumn weather.'

'A wise precaution,' Jasmine agreed.

'The Ark did not arrive until January. Then the Dove straggled in ten days later. By the time we had taken on fresh water and supplies, and sailed through the Caribbean, and up the coast past the Spanish colonies, it was already spring. We stopped in at the Virginias, remained for several days, and then went on to Mary's Land. It was on the twenty-fifth day of March the colony was founded.'

'Aine's birthday!' Fortune said.

'Aine?' He looked puzzled.

'Aine Mary Devers, my daughter,' was the reply. 'The child I remained to bear,' she explained. 'I bore a lass on March twenty-fifth, and Rois, my serving woman, Kevin's wife, bore a son, Brendan, two days later on March twenty-seventh.'

'Your husband will be delighted,' Ualter O'Flaherty said. 'He fretted a great deal about you, and the bairn. I can't wait to see the look on his face when I tell him.'

'I shall tell him myself,' Fortune said.

'Wait, poppet,' her mother said. 'I want to know more about the living conditions in Mary's Land right now. Cousin?'

'The colonists found a village of Wicocomoco Indians on a small river north of the Potomac. The governor liked the region, and asked permission of the local chief to settle there. The area is well-watered and has a suitable deep water anchorage for seagoing vessels. The Indians have been having difficulties with a larger tribe, the more war-like Susquehanocks. They had been planning to move their village to another location. They agreed to share the village with us in return for our protection until they could relocate. The settlers are living in Indian wigwams, which are made of grasses, mud, sticks, and animal skins. It's primitive, and it's rough. When the Indians have finally gone, the colonists must build a fortification first with a guardhouse, a palisade, and a storeroom for the food. Such work requires all the men working together. No one can begin to build themselves a house until the fort is raised.

'Even now the Cardiff Rose is onloading more supplies for the colony. The governor has given orders that no more women, and certainly no children, be brought over until next year when the colony is on a more stable footing. Your husband was going down to Virginia to purchase livestock and poultry for everyone when I left. His men are working hard. Mistress Jones and Taffy have been a godsend to the colony. That is the truth of what is happening, Cousin.'