Chapter Sixteen
“She looks lonely and sad,” Judith said to Jacqueline as she gazed at Catherine Benedek, who had just appeared on deck, her brown hair so tightly wound up the wind hadn’t disturbed it yet.
“And why is that our business?” Jacqueline asked.
They were sitting on one of the steps between decks nibbling on pastries, far to the side so the sailors could navigate to and fro without having to ask them to move out of the way. Judith hadn’t yet quite recovered from lying to Jack when she’d asked where Judith had been. And her cheeks had gone up in flames because of it. But Jacqueline had already grabbed her hand to lead her to the steps, so she hadn’t noticed.
Oh, God, lying to Jack already. Before she’d gone topside, Judith had run to the galley for a couple of pastries. She’d needed an excuse for why Jack hadn’t found her on deck. She’d handed Jack a pastry and said, “I went to the galley for these.” Yet she was still agonizing. How was she going to be able to keep a secret from her dearest friend, when no one knew her better than Jack did?
But the mysterious Catherine Benedek was a useful distraction to get her mind off secrets and kisses and ex-ghosts, at least briefly. “Aren’t you curious about her?”
“After the way she spoke to you last night outside our cabins, no.”
“I am. Who yells like that for no reason?”
“Her.”
Judith rolled her eyes. “Let’s introduce ourselves.”
“Fine. But if she screeches again, I’m going to toss her over the rail.”
Jacqueline threw the rest of her pastry over the railing and dusted off her hands on her breeches as she stood up. She’d already donned her ship garb: baggy pants, a loose shirt, and a pink scarf over her head, which kept her long, blond hair securely bound up. And she didn’t bother with shoes or boots, preferring to go barefoot. She’d had three sets of work clothes tailored for the voyage and three sets made for Judith, too, even though Judith had told her she wouldn’t wear them. They both loved sailing, but Judith had no desire to help with the actual work of sailing, as Jack did.
“You barely touched that pastry,” Judith said as she dusted crumbs from her hands, too. “Are you feeling all right?”
“I probably should have resisted the fresh milk Nettie brought me last night. I got too much sleep because of it and now I feel a bit sluggish, is all.”
“Nettie brought me a glass as well, but it didn’t cause me to oversleep, so I doubt it was the milk. Are you sure you haven’t caught something? Are you feverish?”
Jacqueline swatted Judith’s hand away when she tried to feel her brow. “Stop fussing, Mother. I’m fine.”
Judith tsked. “Aunt George would send you back to bed. I only wanted to see if you have a fever.”
“I don’t. Now can we get our meeting with the harridan over with?”
They had nearly reached the elegantly clad woman, so Judith whispered, “Be nice,” before she made the introductions.
A warm smile revealed the woman was quite pretty, after all. “I’m Catherine Benedek. It’s a pleasure to meet you under better circumstances.”
“So you aren’t always so disagreeable?” Jacqueline asked baldly.
Taken aback, Catherine assured them, “No, only when I’m in pain, as I was yesterday. I had an excruciating headache. Caused by lack of sleep, I suppose. I was rushing to my cabin for some laudanum to help with it. I do apologize for being terse.”
“You still have an American accent,” Jacqueline noted. “You weren’t in Europe very long?”
“I was.” That sadness was back in Catherine’s light gray eyes. “But my mother was American, so—”
“Was?” Jacqueline cut in.
“Yes, she died in the recent fire that took Andrássy’s father, too.”
That would certainly account for Catherine’s sadness, Judith thought. “How awful. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“You are kind. But I suppose I have my mother’s accent. I’m surprised you would recognize it.”
“Jacqueline’s mother is American, and five of her uncles are, too,” Judith explained. “That’s why we’re sailing to America. We’re having a come-out in Connecticut to please the American side of her family. Then we’ll have another one in England to please the other side. I was only able to get permission to go with her at the last minute. I’m actually quite unprepared. My entire new wardrobe still needs some finishing work, mostly just the hems.”
Catherine’s expression lit up. “So Andrássy told you that I love to sew? I would be delighted to assist you.”
“It seems like an imposition.”
“On the contrary, you would be doing me a favor by relieving my boredom. Say you will at least consider it.”
Judith grinned. “Of course.”
The smile remained on Catherine’s lips, a little wider now. “How very accommodating of you to travel for such a reason. I, too, have family in America, though Andrássy doesn’t think my father can still be alive after all these years.”
“But you do?”
“Indeed. He was only assumed dead after his ship went down off the coast of Florida. But there were survivors of the shipwreck who returned to Savannah, which was where we lived. My father could have survived, too. Maybe he was injured and was recovering somewhere. That could have accounted for his not returning home. He might have come home much later and found us gone and had no idea where to look for us.”
“Then you don’t think your mother’s marriage to Andrássy’s father was even legal?” Jacqueline asked.
“No, I don’t. God rest her soul, it was stupid and shameful of her to remarry so quickly. I hated her for many years for doing that.”
“Really? Your own mother?”
Judith intervened before Jack turned the woman unpleasant again. “Anger can sometimes be mistaken for hate. It’s understandable, though, that you would be angry at your mother for giving up on your father when you thought he could still be alive.”
“Thank you for that.” Catherine smiled at Judith. “Barely a month had passed before my mother packed our bags and took us to Europe. She told me that we were only going to visit an old friend of her mother’s in Austria. But within three months of arriving there, she met the count, who was in the city on business, and married him. Three months! And then I was forced to live in that archaic country of his where English is barely spoken.”
“I’m sorry—we’re sorry,” Judith said.
But Jack ruined it by adding, “Sounds exciting to me. A new life in a country that is so different from your own. Have you no sense of adventure a’tall?”
“Adventure? Are you joking?”
“I guess so,” Jacqueline said drily.
Catherine didn’t seem to notice Jacqueline’s tone and changed the subject. “You two look nothing like Gypsies, as Andrássy does.”
“You expected us to as far back in our ancestry as Anna Stephanoff was?” Jacqueline asked.
“You do have his eyes though, even the exotic shape.”
“Only a few of us have the black hair and eyes you’re referring to,” Judith said.
“What about the gifts?”
Judith frowned. “What exactly are you—”
Jack interrupted with a laugh. “I think she means fortune-telling and other things Gypsies are renowned for.”
Catherine suddenly looked quite excited. “Yes, indeed. Do you have any special abilities? Or does anyone in your family? I begged Andrássy to ask, but he doesn’t believe in such things.”
“Neither do we,” Jacqueline said firmly.
The woman looked so disappointed, Judith took pity on her. “Our family does have more than its fair share of luck, but no one would call it a Gypsy gift.”
“Yet perhaps it is,” Catherine said quickly. “Can you explain?”
Jack was glaring at her, but Judith continued, “Well, for instance, our uncle Edward is incredibly good with investments, but only some people call him lucky. Others view him as being very knowledgeable about financial matters. Our cousin Regina is rather good at matchmaking. The men and women she pairs up usually end up quite happy together. My father and Jack’s brother, Jeremy, who take after the Gypsy side in looks, were always lucky with women, and now they’re lucky with their wives, but again, that’s hardly considered a gift. And—”
“—that’s the extent of it,” Jacqueline cut in to finish for Judith. “Now, it’s your turn to tell us what you expected to hear and why?”
“Is it not obvious? I hoped for some help in finding my father. I plan to start my search in Savannah, but as I and my mother were his only ties to that city, it is unlikely he is still there. His trade routes were between there and the Caribbean, where he lived before he met my mother. It’s daunting to think we might have to visit every port in the Caribbean to find him! I at least hoped for assurance that he’s alive somewhere.”
Jacqueline raised a brow.
Judith saw that Catherine was becoming distraught and quickly said, “I’d trust your instincts and start your search in Savannah. It really does seem the most logical place to start. No doubt you will find some new information about your father there. If you’ll excuse us, we have some unpacking to do.”
Jack dragged Judy away, mumbling under her breath, “Did we have to listen to her life’s story?”
“We were being polite, and why did you interrupt me back there?”
“Because you were about to tell her about Amy, which is none of her bloody business.”
Judith tsked. “We were just discussing luck, and Amy’s is phenomenal, you’ll have to admit.”
“Yes, but that’s all it is. Don’t think for a minute that Catherine can be trusted, Judy. I don’t fully trust Andrássy either, for that matter.”
“Really?”
“You don’t think it was a bit too convenient, him showing up the night before we leave and ending up on this ship with us? Just because he’s got eyes like yours doesn’t mean he is a relative.”
Judith laughed. “You’re forgetting he knows all about the Stephanoffs.”
“From a journal that he could simply have found somewhere and decided to use the information in it for some nefarious end.”
Judith laughed again. “You don’t really believe that.”
“All right, maybe not nefarious. And maybe he is related by blood. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t up to no good. So just watch what you say, to both of them. We don’t need to spill family secrets just because he seems genuine.”
Did Jacqueline have to mention secrets when Judith had such a big one of her own now?