Brogan paused in the entry, scanning the faces of those gathered in the parlor. Such sadness. On the sofa, Temperance sobbed in her mother’s arms, while Drew sat by the corner windows in a mahogany lolling chair, staring out at the bay while he clutched Captain Briggs.
“There is no vessel available, or ready to sail after her, sir, save the one now at our fitting wharf.” Edward Hicks addressed Huntley and then redirected his focus to Brogan.
Whereupon every other eye in the room sought him with the same pitiful stare. Nay, it could not be. Were they thinking to send him after Lorena?
Huntley rose and approached slowly, his expression full of hopeful anticipation. “And no man more capable of seeing Lorena safely home, I’d say, than the one now before us. Will you do it, Captain?”
Brogan held the man’s gaze expressionless, then inclined his head toward the shipbuilder. “I beg your pardon, sir,” he said, one brow raised and lips twisted in a wry smile at the irony of the situation, “but you think to launch the Yankee Heart, an 880-ton merchantman, in pursuit of an impulsive girl who has chosen to run off with her sweetheart?”
Temperance pulled away from her mother to sit erect. “No, that is not the way of it. Lorena did not accept George. She told me so herself. She said, ‘I seek a better life for myself than marriage to a man I do not love.’ She assured me she would not leave us.” The girl swiped at her runny nose. “It is all quite unlike her. It must have been an accident, you see.”
A man she did not love. Louder. Something inside Brogan found satisfaction in the knowledge, but he quickly tempered any emotion rather than explore it. Instead, he stayed his course of skepticism. “An accident? How could such an accident occur? Lorena need only have disembarked if that were her wish. Besides, she left a note. With you, I’m told, Miss Temperance. Perhaps Lorena changed her mind.”
Nathaniel Huntley moved closer. “Even if Lorena did perchance change her mind—which if you knew her as we do, you would agree it inconceivable—she took no clothing or baggage with her. This was no accident. Something must have happened we are unaware of. I do not know what that something is, and that worries me. I fear she did not depart of her own accord. The letter was not written in her own hand, but by George Louder. I beseech you, Captain. Will you sail after my daughter and return her home to us?”
Brogan considered the roomful of tear-stained faces and pleading stares, but his attention was drawn to the small, forlorn Drew.
When their eyes met, Drew bounded off his seat to rush forward. He came to a skidding halt before Brogan, craning his neck to peer upward. “May I come also, Captain?” he asked, excited and hopeful, fully trusting in Brogan’s assent to the voyage.
It was the opportunity Brogan had been waiting for.
10
The thrill of success overwhelmed him. Brogan squatted before his son, thinking that at last he felt whole. A piece of his heart once torn from him was now restored—his son, his own flesh and blood. The love that welled up inside him was stronger than any emotion Brogan had ever experienced.
He’d regained the little lad’s trust and affection, and now with the Yankee Heart, he could give the boy a home. He had only to sail away with Drew and their future together would be secured. All he’d desired lay within his grasp.
He smiled tenderly. “I dare not leave without you, Drew. But we must first ask your papa Huntley.”
Brogan looked to the shipbuilder, throwing it all back to him. Huntley had requested something dear of Brogan. Now Brogan requested something dear in return.
Huntley paled.
Brogan explained that, as he had promised Drew a cruise, he should very much like permission to take the boy along. He hastened to add that Lorena, when rescued, would be comforted by the child’s presence.
The shipbuilder was hardly in any position to argue. He assured Brogan that as he trusted him with his daughter, likewise he trusted him with Drew. Just that easily, Brogan found the opportunity he’d been waiting for. The Yankee Heart could sail away with her prize.
But at what cost?
The uncertainty of Lorena’s fate vexed him. Brogan could not get her out of his thoughts.
Preparations for provisioning the ship began that evening. Jabez gathered the crew and returned to Duxboro the following day, but more had needed to be recruited. Huntley volunteered two of his own men for the duration of the voyage—Edward Hicks, ship’s carpenter, who had petitioned earnestly for the job as he felt, in part, responsible for Lorena’s misfortune, and Frederick Mott, cook, whose culinary skills came along with everything necessary to prepare not only palatable but delicious meals as opposed to dull, standard ship’s fare.
If Lorena had freely chosen to travel with George Louder to England, then his conscience needn’t be troubled. Just his pride.