The boy scooted off the settee and rushed forward into his arms.
As he held his son, Brogan thought then that Jabez had been wise in his opinions. Five years old was too young for a life at sea. Drew needed more. Even his father needed more.
He met Lorena’s gaze over the boy’s pale blond head as she stepped forward in a gingham work dress with Warrick, her jumbled mass of tight ringlets loosed from their pins to overwhelm her slender face.
Brogan stared, entranced by her beauty, yearning to say all the things that remained unspoken between them.
She smiled sweetly, and he realized that with this voyage, his heart had expanded to include someone besides his son. Someone just as precious and just as loved, though in a different way.
He wanted to marry Lorena. He never expected he would feel this way, but Brogan wanted to settle down in quiet little Duxborotown with a wife and his son . . . if Lorena would have him, if she’d forgive him, once she learned the truth of his identity.
With a grin Brogan crooked a finger beneath Drew’s chin and gave it a nudge. “Have you missed me?”
The boy’s head bobbed in a vigorous nod.
“And I missed you,” Brogan said, rising. “Both of you.” He turned from Lorena to his steward Warrick and, reaching out, gave the young man’s shoulder an affectionate pat. “Go to your brother in the fo’c’sle and be with him. William has an amazing tale to share of God’s goodness.”
Drew peered up at Brogan, craning his neck. “I want to hear, too.”
“And you shall. At dinner. Fred Mott is starting up the galley fires, and soon I promise you something hot to eat. But first there is another story I need to tell.” His faith had been stirred with William’s sparing, and this time Brogan felt armed with courage for what he knew he must do. “I’m going to change from these wet clothes,” he said, lifting his gaze to Lorena, “and then I have a confession to make.”
17
Brogan’s sentimental mood had Lorena baffled. What happened out in the storm to open his eyes to God’s goodness? What amazing tale did William have to share? She felt as anxious as Drew for news, but was she prepared for Brogan’s confession? She’d encouraged him to open up, and now that she’d soon have her desire, Lorena fretted his revelation would alter the tender, developing relationship between them.
With the release of a latch, the mahogany door to the sleeping cabin opened and Brogan emerged in a fresh pair of buff trousers and the blue military cutaway coat of his privateer uniform. She found the formality odd until she remembered the coat was part of the puzzle. His damp, longish hair he’d neatly combed, and the stark look accentuated Brogan’s rugged features. She noted shadows beneath his eyes, and when he smiled it did little to ease the severity of his expression.
His attention went directly to the boy. “Drew, fetch Captain Briggs for me, would you, and bring him here?”
Drew dashed off as though in anticipation of some sort of game.
Lorena knew this was no game, and her heart raced because of it.
“I’ll open wide the draperies and let in some light, shall I?” Suddenly she remembered the deadlights protecting the rain-splattered panes of the stern windows. At her hesitation Brogan stepped up behind her to draw aside the curtains and unlatch the shutters. As he folded them out of the way, soft gray light filtered down from the cloudy skies into the cabin, as solemn as the expression on his face.
Lorena studied him. “I’ve not seen fear in your eyes before. Yet you wait here for Drew as though he were returning with some powerful adversary and not a cloth doll. Whatever you have to tell us, Brogan, I know it does not come easy for you.”
As he took her hands, she felt the ragged sores crossing his palms. “You’ve been injured.” She examined his hands, wincing at the torn, raw flesh. “I should dress those wounds and perhaps apply a salve—”
“Later,” he said impatiently, jerking out of her grasp.
He took a breath, then started again, staring her full in the face with a wry grin. “I know you are confused, but in a moment all shall be explained. Forgive me for not speaking up sooner. You have to understand, I have been waiting three years for this moment, hoping the opportunity would arrive, rehearsing what I should say over and over again. And still, I feel . . . unprepared.”
The robust, masculine timbre of his voice thickened with each word, and there, in the midst of that dear, beloved face, Lorena saw his intense blue eyes fill from beneath his lashes. She ran her gaze over his crisp lapels with their red facings and the column of shiny brass buttons. Identical to the coat Captain Briggs wore in miniature.
Drew returned, and Brogan bid them sit together on the settee while he stood before them holding Drew’s doll.