Chapter 17
Callie studied Richard where he leaned against the door frame, looking like a lounging lion. Too handsome to be real. Richard, both friend and stranger. “If you say that often enough, I might start to believe you and accept. Then you’d be stuck with me.”
He smiled. “I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t prepared to accept the consequences.”
Needing to know, she asked, “Why me, Richard? With your looks and birth and a comfortable fortune, you can easily find a wife if you want a family.”
“Yes, but that would be so much work,” he said promptly.
She grinned. “So I’m easiest? But I’m not an easy woman, and I won’t accept an easy answer. You can do better than that.”
His levity vanished. “I’m ready for a change, Callie. I’ve never met any other woman I’d want to marry, but I’ve seen marriages I envy. Couples who truly enjoy each other’s company and who are completely loyal to each other. I’d like that too.”
“And I’m here and you know my flaws, so you wouldn’t have to put much effort into getting acquainted?” she said dryly.
“Exactly. We were best friends once and I think we could rub along comfortably.”
“That is the least romantic proposal I’ve ever heard of,” she said with a half smile.
“There would be much to disappoint you in me,” he admitted. “As an adventurer, I’m boringly cautious and practical. As a husband, I’ll be incapable of poetic declarations of love. But I will always look out for you. And”—his voice dropped—“I rather like the idea of marrying my best friend.”
As she studied his face, she realized that under his strength and confidence was loneliness. Her life had not been easy, but his had been worse.
As a girl, she’d had the usual romantic dreams of falling madly in love with a worthy man who would love her equally. Perhaps only the young and idealistic could know that kind of love. Even if it didn’t last, they would have it for a while, at least.
But if a great romantic love wasn’t going to happen, friendship wasn’t a bad substitute. “You’re making marriage seem . . . possible. But not when a battle may fall on us in the next few days.”
“We could sail away with Hawkins and wait out the Battle of Baltimore in peaceful St. Michaels, but I doubt you’d agree to that. The marriage offer is open, dependent on events. For now, let’s go out and see if Hawkins is back on the Sally May.”
She stood and headed toward the front door. “Are you going to ask him to wait while my complicated affairs are sorted out and decisions are made? That will take time.”
Richard took the key to the outside door from a nail where Molly had hung it earlier, then opened the door for her. “Hawkins has more than fulfilled his part of our initial bargain. I suspect that he’ll be keen to get away before the Royal Navy knocks on Baltimore’s door. Any sane man would be.”
“So we’re not looking very sane, are we?” she said as she stepped onto the street.
He gave her an intimate smile that did strange things to her pulse. “Sanity was never a strongpoint with either of us, was it?”
He locked the door behind them, then escorted her the short distance to the Sally May, a light hand at the small of her back. She felt . . . claimed, and wasn’t sure if she liked the sensation or not.
Hawkins was sitting in the Sally May’s cockpit puffing absently on a pipe as he studied the activity in the harbor. He looked up when Richard hailed him from the pier. “Hello there.” Moving with the balance of a sailor, he rose and offered Callie a hand down into the sailboat. “Did you find your family safe and happy? Are you ready to leave now?”
She stepped carefully down into the cockpit and seated herself on one of the polished wooden bench seats. “Sorry, no. Naturally everything is more complicated than expected. We can’t leave now, so it’s probably time to say good-bye and Godspeed.”
Richard followed her down into the cockpit. “You’ve fulfilled your end of the bargain, Hawkins. You’re free to head for home.”
“Just how complicated has everything become?” Hawkins asked.
“My stepson joined the militia and flatly refuses to leave, his grandmother is recovering from a fever and too weak to travel, and no one in the family is sure about going to England.” She gave Richard a sidelong glance. “I’m not sure, either.”
Hawkins’s eyes showed sympathy for complicated situations. “What about you, Gordon? Seems to me you’ve done your duty also.”
Richard shrugged. “I’m not leaving Callie on the brink of a major battle. I can arrange transport home later.”
Hawkins frowned. “When I talked to the man I do business with here, he told me of a couple who desperately want to get to Norfolk, where their daughter and her family live. I said I’d take them there. It’s a good long sail down the Chesapeake in a small boat, so it will take several days to reach Norfolk, several more to return to St. Michaels.”
“By then, it might be clear what will happen here in Baltimore,” Richard said thoughtfully.
Hawkins nodded agreement. “I can’t wait indefinitely, but my ship is still undergoing repairs, so I can stay longer in St. Michaels while events unfold. After the battle, if there is one, I’ll sail back here if that’s possible to see if either of you want to return to Britain.”
“That’s more than fair,” Callie said warmly. “I’m sorry this mission has become so complicated for you.”
The captain chuckled. “It’s complications that make life interesting. I’ll be off on the early morning tide. You take care of yourselves.”
He extended a hand and Richard shook it. “The same to you. I’ll go below and collect my possessions.”
As he did that, Callie stood and brushed a kiss on Hawkins’s cheek. “Thank you. I appreciate all you’ve done.”
He said quietly, “I hope you find what you’re looking for, lass.”
Richard emerged from the cabin with his satchel of possessions, then vaulted onto the pier and offered Callie his hand.
“Do your attic quarters have space for me if I stay out of the way?”
“Of course.” She smiled. “You can rearrange the tobacco barrels to create a nice private space for yourself.”
“That’s not a bad idea, actually.” As they made their way back to the warehouse, he took her hand casually. She should have pulled away, but in a world where everything was shifting, Richard was solid. Reliable. A connection to a past that was simpler than the present.
The waterfront was busy even this late in the day. Some merchants had found wagons to carry their goods out of town. Other people were clutching their possessions and boarding small boats. Though Baltimore wasn’t emptying out as Washington had, some residents were evacuating. But most were going about their business or wearing uniforms.
Callie abruptly gasped and came to a stop, halting Richard because she held his hand. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Sorry.” Callie scanned the people ahead, then started walking again. “I caught a glimpse of a man who looked like my stepson, Henry. That happened a lot when I first came to the United States. Not as much lately, but all the uncertainty is making me jumpy.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t him?”
She nodded her head. “He lives in Jamaica and I can’t imagine him coming here in the middle of a war. I’m just on edge because of all that’s going on.”
They reached Newell’s and Richard unlocked the door. Callie asked, “What will you do with yourself while we wait for the war to come to us? I can’t imagine that you want to join one of the Maryland militia units.”
“I won’t fight my own people. Nor would I fire on Americans if I was with British troops.” He grinned at her. “But I can dig ditches.”
“So you’ll work on defense but not offense,” she said thoughtfully as she headed up the stairs. “Fair enough.”
“If the defenses are good enough, the British forces may choose not to try to invade the city. They haven’t a huge number of troops and Ross isn’t fool enough to throw lives away by attacking entrenched forces that won’t run this time.”
“A British retreat is possible?” she asked hopefully.
“Yes, but I don’t know how likely it is. We can ask Josh how the earthworks are coming.” They reached the top of the stairs and he held the door open for her.
When they entered the main living space, Richard announced, “I’m going to be staying here for the duration. I’ll try not to be too much trouble.”
Josh was setting a table with Trey’s assistance, but he cocked a quizzical brow at Richard. “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. Need something to do?”
“I told Callie I’d volunteer to dig trenches east of the city if idle hands are still needed,” Richard said.
Josh looked shocked that a man so obviously aristocratic would do such work, but recovered quickly. “You look like you have a strong back, so I expect you’ll be welcome. If you don’t want to ruin your London tailoring, I can lend you some clothes. We’re near the same size.”
“That would be welcome.” Richard indicated his satchel. “I’ve been traveling with very little.”
“Rather than digging ditches, you should join the militia.” Trey grinned. “It’s more fun and the uniform is better. Do you know how to shoot?”
“I’m a tolerable shot, but I don’t want to kill either British or American soldiers,” Richard explained. “Digging ditches should keep me out of trouble.”
Callie knew that he was a superb shot, so all the more reason to avoid active military duty. From the murmur of voices in Sarah’s room, she knew that Molly was tending her grandmother, but she was surprised to see a young, blond militiaman enter from the balcony. She smiled at him. “You must be a friend of Trey’s?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said shyly. “I’m Peter Carroll. Usually I read law, but this week I’m a soldier. Trey said I could come for supper and gawp at his sister.”
He was a nice-looking young man a couple of years older than Trey, and he blushed charmingly when Molly emerged from Sarah’s room. Interestingly, Molly seemed equally taken with him. “Hello, Peter! I’m so glad you could join us. The guest list is expanding so it’s lucky I bought a loaf of bread to go with the pork pie and salad!”
Molly looked tired, but she was taking on the duties of cook and lady of the house very well. Callie realized that she herself wasn’t really needed, not anymore. With a mental sigh, she tucked that knowledge away with all the other realizations that her life was changing.
They sat down to their supper a few minutes later. The meal was one of the most enjoyable Callie had ever experienced even though the food was plain and the people sitting around the table were very diverse. Perhaps imminent danger made such moments of shared pleasure special.
Trey and Peter returned to their regiment when the meal was over. It didn’t take long to sort out their new living arrangements. Josh and Sarah had slept together until she became ill, but then they’d split the two bedrooms into male and female quarters. Molly slept on a pallet by her grandmother to look after her while Josh and Trey had turned the other bedroom into a male dormitory. That way Molly was on call for nursing duty and Sarah wasn’t disturbed when her husband left early to work on the city’s fortifications.
Since it was summer, a blanket and an improvised pillow sufficed to make up a pallet for Callie on the other side of Sarah’s bed, with the same for Richard beside Josh. Josh tried to give him the bed, but Richard cheerfully pointed out that he wasn’t the one with the old bones. Trey would sleep in that room if he had an overnight visit home.
Despite her disquiet over the way things were changing, Callie slept well and happily. Except for Trey, all the people she loved best were under this rough-beamed roof. She prayed that a month from now, they’d all be equally hale and happy.