"And you don't need cheering when you get left behind?"
"It's actually the first time Warren has sailed without me since we married. When I was expecting, he stayed home with me for the duration."
"So you're as miffed as I am not to be included?" Jack asked.
"No, but if you are, then maybe you need cheering up more'n your mother."
"So everyone keeps telling me," Jack mumbled.
"Then let's start with you telling me who he is?" Amy said with a grin. "I'm dying to know."
"Don't be so cryptic, Cousin." Jack rolled her eyes. "I'm not a mind reader."
"You've met your true love."
Jack's eyes flared. "Bite your tongue, I did no such thing. Take it back, Amy, right this minute."
Amy frowned before admonishing, "Well, don't get upset about it. I know you didn't want to meet him during your first Season and maybe you didn't actually meet him. Maybe you only encountered him in passing so he didn't make an impression on you. You didn't even see him? Maybe he only saw you and hasn't started the pursuit yet?"
"That's enough maybes, thank you very much. If you've just cursed me by saying I've found the man of my dreams, I'll never forgive you."
Amy tsked. "I didn't. There's been no wager, I assure you, and I've learned my lessons about not pushing things along by betting that they will happen. I just had one of my feelings, and you know they aren't always spot on the mark. It might not even have been about you. The family assumes you'll be next to the altar, so I was only guessing. It could be Jaime."
Jacqueline didn't believe a word of that, but as long as her cousin didn't make one of her infamous wagers that she never lost, then Jack wasn't going to worry about it. Especially since Amy's premonitions weren't always time-sensitive. If Amy was predicting that Jack would find true love, it could happen next year or the one after, which would be on Jack's timetable and suit her just fine.
But Amy could be a font of information of the mysterious sort, too, which prompted Jacqueline to suddenly ask, "Have you had any feelings about my father or your husband and what's going to happen when they reach the Caribbean?"
"Nothing like that powerful feeling that something bad was going to happen when you all set sail for Bridgeport, Jack, which is why I'm not worried about their trip."
Well, that wasn't satisfying. It could mean they wouldn't come to harm, but it could also mean they weren't going to succeed in finding the culprits. If she had just told her father immediately about that damned original note from Bastard's boss while they'd all still been in the Caribbean . . . No, her father would have walked straight into a trap and would still have left her behind somewhere. But she should have told him as soon as they got back to London; then he would have been gone for a full month by now instead of a few hours, and she would only have to wait one more month to find out what had happened or was going to happen, rather than two or more. She growled to herself because there was no winning for her in any of those scenarios.
///
But thinking of the secret she'd kept longer than she should have, she suddenly asked her cousin, "Can you keep a secret?"
Amy chuckled. "I'm not sure!"
Which changed Jack's mind about mentioning the note and asking if Amy had any feelings about what might have happened if Jack had handed it over sooner. So she said instead, "I met someone at the masked ball last night that I can't place."
"You have such a legion of beaus, surely he-"
"No, he was quick to say he wasn't one of them."
"And the secret is?"
"I was interested," Jack admitted, abashed.
"But that's wonderful news! And shame on you for trying to convince me my feeling wasn't about you."
Jack tsked. "But this isn't wonderful a'tall when he could be anyone, even someone quite inappropriate. Besides, I was merely intrigued."
"Clever fellow. Perhaps that was his strategy. He wanted to pique your curiosity so he would stand out from the pack, and he succeeded. It is going to take someone quite out of the ordinary to win you, m'dear, and that's not just my opinion. All of our aunts have said the same thing, including your mother. But I'm not sure I like that reference to ‘inappropriate.' You've really no idea who he might be?"
"No, and he didn't stay for the unmasking at midnight, so I don't even know what his face looks like. It's annoying that I could pass him on the street and not know it."