I held hishand and talked to him as if he were awake. Telling him all aboutmy journey back to the future, and retelling my adventures with TheDevil’s Heart through my eyes. How scared I was at first, and howhe was one of the first to show me kindness.
“I never didthank you for trying to save me from Maria,” I finally told him.“I’ll never forgive myself for what she did to you. I’m so sorry,Charlie.” I glanced down at my belly and lovingly rubbed my handover it. “I have a secret,” I told him in a low whisper. “I’mcarrying Henry’s baby. I know, crazy, right? I haven’t told anyone,but I know I can trust you.” I kept his small hand in mine andleaned forward to rest my head on the bed.
Before long, Ihad drifted off, and awoke to a dark room, Charlie sleepingsoundly. I noticed that his breathing had become less labored andtook a sigh of relief as I listened to the soft, relaxed inhale andexhale of air from his body. I reached up and felt his forehead,too. It was warm, but not burning hot like earlier. The antibioticswere working hard and fast.
I roamed TheSlippery Cod in search of my tiny crew and found Lottie in thekitchen, cleaning up from the supper rush. I noted a huge pile oflinens on the floor in the corner and more dishes piled on thecounters than usual. She was bent over the washtub, scrubbing pots so I walked over.
“Here, let medo that,” I told her.
She shook thesuds from her hands and stepped back. “Thanks, my hands werestarting to turn to prunes.”
“Is this allstuff from the ship?”
“Most of it,”she replied. “I’m still cleaning up from the supper rush.”
“Lottie, who’sgoing to watch over the tavern when you come with us?”
“I’ve alreadytalked to my cousin. She and herhusband are more than happy to run it in my absence,” she told meas she began sorting through the pile of linens.
“And youruncle won’t care?”
I caught herrolling her eyes. “My uncle has been in England for four years. Noone expects him to come back anytime soon. The tavern has been inthe family for years, and he’s got his own business to tend to overthere. He runs a farm that supplies most of the food for the Queenof England.”
I didn’t evenbother to hide my look of surprise. “Wow, yeah, why would someoneever leave that?”
“Exactly,” sheagreed. “The Slippery Cod is a town staple, everyone relies on it,travellers love it. As long assomeone is here to cook the food, serve the rum, and make the beds,no one will bat an eye.”
I focused myattention on the dishes as my friend worked the linens on a scrubboard. We spent the better part of an hour like that, silentlyperforming duties, enjoying one another’s easy company.
Finally, aftera while, I had to ask, “Lottie, I really am thankful for theship.”
“It’s noproblem,” she replied. “It needs a captain. It should be out thereon the sea.”
“I can’t helpbut wonder, though,” I said as I added the last of the dishes tothe soapy water, “why you wouldn’t captain it yourself.”
Lottie stoppedand stared at me, confusion with a hint of offense on her face. “Itold you, no one would sail with me.”
“But we would.I don’t have to captain it. The boys and I would be just as happycatching a ride.”
I watched asshe returned her attention to the scrub board, crushing the fabricagainst it with a bit too much force. “I don’t want to captain TheQueen.”
“But, really,it’s yours–”
“I said Idon’t want to captain it, Dianna!” Frustration exploded from her ina quick burst, but she soon cooled and tucked a few stray blondecurls behind her ears. “It’s too much responsibility. I thought… Ithought I could trust you to do it.”
I held myhands up in defeat. “You can. I will.”
Lottie sighedand seemed to relax, but then appeared to retreat deeper inthought.
“Is theresomething else on your mind?” I dared asked her as I dipped thefinal dirty pan into the water. “Did Gus give you any troubletoday?”
Her cheeksflushed, much like Gus’s had earlier, and she hid her face from me.“No, no, Gus was a perfect gentleman,” she assured me and beganwringing out a wet sheet through an ancient contraption with a turncrank.
I playeddevil’s advocate. “You know, I think he likes you.”
“Oh?” shereplied and mindlessly continued her task.
She scooped upa pile of wrung out sheets and headed out the back door, I assumedto hang them on the line to dry in the cool night air. I laughedand followed her out there to help.
For a womanwith a hard exterior, a part of Lottie was soft and accepting ofour friendship. For that, I wouldbe forever grateful.
***
The next day,Finn and Gus were gone when I awoke, probably eager to have apurpose and a goal of getting ourship sea ready. I found Lottie outside, tending to the never-endingclothesline. I tipped my head up to the warm morning sun andinhaled deeply the scent of fresh linens blowing in the breeze. Itwas odd, that three hundred years in the past, the scent was sofamiliar to me. There was nothing better than crawling into bedafter Mom had dried the sheets on the line.
“Morning,sleepyhead,” Lottie called over to me.
I squintedfrom the bright sun and smiled at her from under the cover of myhand across my brow. I walked over to my friend and helped herstraighten out a wet blanket she’d thrown over the line.“Sleepyhead?”
Lottie beganpinching wooden clothespins on the quilted blanket and peered at mefrom the other side. “Yeah, it’s nearly time to get ready for thelunch rush.”
My eyeswidened. “How did I sleep for so long?”
She keptpeering at me, glancing from the corners of her vision as shecontinued her laundry task. “I’m not sure,” she replied jokingly,“you’ve been sleeping like a pregnant woman if you ask me.” When I didn’t answer she stoppedfussing with the pins and threw her hands to her hips. “Why didn’tyou tell me?”
I shrugged. “Idunno. You didn’t want any trouble, and I wasn’t sure if I couldtrust you yet.”
She appearedoffended at the last part, but quickly
