Dawn on a Distant Shore
Page 114

In my Grandmother's cornfield the bean plants will be winding up the young stalks toward the sun. I think of this time a year ago when we came upon bears eating in the strawberry fields under a fat moon, do you recall? And they chased us away, and we ran until we fell and then we laughed.
Elizabeth bids me give you her best greetings and to say she hopes you are keeping up with your schoolwork. My father says he knows you will be strong, and patient. Curiosity asks you to visit with Galileo when you might. She fears he must be melancholy. She says too she hopes you never get it in your head to go to sea.
We never meant to be so long away, but I will bring many stories with me, and you will tell me your stories, too.
Your true friend Hannah Bonner,
also called Squirrel by the
Kahnyen'kehâka of the Wolf Longhouse, her mother's people
Elizabeth shredded her handkerchief into strips as she watched the packet Marianne slip out of the Solway Firth on the first leg of her journey to New-York.
Now there was nothing to do but wait. They waited for high tide, which would bring the excisemen. They would come in the morning to examine the captain's papers and cargo and collect their duties, and while the tide was high and the broad sand flats covered, barges would move between ship and shore with agonizing slowness. When the last bale of tobacco and last keg of spice were discharged, it would be their turn to go to shore. And once on shore they would find quarters and wait until Hawkeye and Robbie arrived on the Jackdaw.
If the Jackdaw arrived at all.
She paced to the other side of the room, where the babies sat propped up in their baskets. Lily looked up from mouthing her fist and smiled broadly. A little of the unhappiness went out of Elizabeth as she sat down on the floor next to her children and pulled Lily into her lap. The baby grabbed at her hair, and Daniel waved his hands in the air wildly, shouting for his share of the diversion.
"Those children will pull every hair out of your head before they weaned," Curiosity said at the door.
"Hair will grow back." But Elizabeth untangled Lily's fingers and blew a bubble against her palm to distract her.
Curiosity sat down heavily on the window seat to stare out the transom. The vague light and deep shadows made her face seem almost unreal, carved from some dark and unyielding stone. Her shoulders looked thin even under the heavy shawl she had wrapped around herself.
"It don't look like much."
Elizabeth got up and put Lily on her hip. For a moment she was silent as she studied the vague shape of Southerness lighthouse, a smudge of light in the slanting rain. "It is rather bleak. But Scotland has its own charm, when the weather is fair."
Curiosity's expression was so faraway that Elizabeth wondered if she had even heard. Concerned, she crossed to the settee and sat down. Lily leaned toward Curiosity and put out her arms.
"We got to keep our spirits up, for the children." Curiosity took Lily and settled her on her lap. And then: "I cain't get that poor MacKay woman out of my head."
Daniel squawked loudly, and Elizabeth was glad of the excuse to get up again. She did not like to think of Margreit MacKay, who had gone into the sea so quietly that no one--not even her husband, who had been on watch--had noticed.
"She must have been very distraught," she said finally.
"Maybe if we wasn't all so worried about Mungo--" Curiosity cleared her throat. "It's sorry times when a woman got no safe place to go but the other side."
Elizabeth buried her face in Daniel's neck. When she could speak again she said, "You have told me to keep faith so often," she said. "Now I will say the same to you. I know in my heart that we will get home."
Curiosity gave her a vacant smile, but before she could answer, Nathaniel had come through the door.
There were shadows beneath his eyes, but there was something bright and alive in his expression.
He looked from Elizabeth to Curiosity and back again.
"What is it?" Elizabeth's voice wavered.
"There's a ship you should know about," he said, and closed the door behind himself.
They sat around the table and listened to Nathaniel's story. The whole coast was alive with smugglers, it seemed, and there was one in particular that a talkative sailor had spoken of, called the Black Prince. If they could slip away once on shore and keep themselves hidden for even a day, it might be possible to make contact with its captain. He looked Elizabeth directly in the eye.
"It's a long shot," he said. "We may not get very far."
Curiosity grunted, an impatient sound. "Ain't nothin' gained if we don't try. If they catch us--"
She broke off, her brow creased as she studied Lily. Her mouth settled hard. "I say we should try."
Elizabeth heard herself sigh. Nathaniel reached over and took Daniel from her to settle the baby on his own lap. "Tell me what's on your mind, Boots."
But she could not. Looking into his face, alive now with hope, she could not ask all the questions that came to mind, or lay out for him the fears that would not rest, no matter what kind of logic she brought to bear on them.
Curiosity rose suddenly. "Give me that boy. I believe these children could use a little fresh air. We'll just go and see how your big sister is gettin' on with that Hakim fellow."
"There is no need," said Elizabeth, but Curiosity gave her a hard look.
"You turnin' down a little privacy when it's offered to you? Seem to me you two got some talkin' to do."