Tempest(57)

So they went up the stairs, past the landing that opened onto the terrace where their dinner would be served, continuing to a long, candlelit corridor that smelled faintly of mildew. Adam paused before a door, tapped once, and opened it. Inside, Cathy beheld a grand bedchamber lit by hurricane lamps, while moonlight spilled through full-length windows opening onto a balcony. In the center of the room, Paul rested in a massive mahogany four-poster bed.

Byron got up from a wing chair and put down his book while Alice struggled to her feet, tail wagging at the sight of Cathy. “I was just about to take this old girl outside. She’s been giving me rather urgent signals. Could I leave Paul with the two of you?”

When they were alone, Adam and Cathy went to look at Paul, who was sprawled across a pillow. He still wore the same clothing he’d had on at the Ocean Breeze Hotel, and his stubby fingers clutched Ooh-Ah, the stuffed monkey. Cathy felt a surge of emotion as she remembered the way he had snuggled against her that afternoon.

It was Adam who reached out with one lean hand and gently caressed his son’s dark curls. “His head is always like a furnace,” he remarked. “If I didn’t know better, I would think that he has a perpetual fever.”

“I don’t know much about children,” she murmured. “My mother kept me away from babies.”

“I must admit that, although I’ve known a few, I never paid much attention until now. It’s amazing the instincts that come to life when you’re responsible for a child who looks to you for love and protection.”

She leaned against him for an instant, touched by his words. “Yes.” Taking a deep breath, she added, “I felt that myself today.”

Adam regarded her with tender bemusement. “Did you indeed? I appreciate that you’ve shared that with me.”

Just then, Paul’s long lashes fluttered and he opened his eyes. “Papa? I firsty.”

Glancing around, he saw the glass of coconut water that Byron had left on the bedside table. “Here you go.” He picked him up with one strong arm and lifted the glass with the other.

Paul drank it down, then focused on Cathy. “Hi. Hi, Caffy.” He gave her a shy smile.

Pleased, she beamed back at him. “Hello, Paul. How are you feeling tonight? I’ve been worried about you.”

He looked at the place on his wrist where the centipede had bitten him. “All gone.” Then he extended his wrist toward her for proof.

“Indeed, sweetheart. I’m so glad. And you were such a brave boy; your papa must be very proud of you.” To her surprise he leaned toward her, arms outstretched, and she took him from his father and felt his warm little arms hold onto her as they had that afternoon. Heat emanated from his dark head, just as Adam had observed. “You’re a beauty, Paul.”

He had turned his cheek against the soft hollow next to her shoulder and whispered, “Caffy. Caffy.”

Adam gave a snort of mock jealousy. “Clearly the youngest Raveneau male is trying to steal your affections. Paul, I must insist that you release Cathy. Papa has other plans for her tonight.”

She held him closer. “It’s true; he does have the Raveneau charm.”

Just then, Byron and Alice came back into the room. “Not a moment too soon!” Adam exclaimed.

Byron couldn’t help smiling at the sight of what appeared to be a loving little family, and he knew that his friend was trying to hide his own pleasure at the growing bond between Cathy and Paul. “I was just about to tell Paul another story about that frog—”

“Paulywog,” Adam corrected.

“Right. Come on, Mr. Button. I’ve brought you a sliced mango as well.”

This was enough to lure Paul from Cathy’s arms. Before the couple could leave, however, Alice approached the tall set of bedsteps and began to bark. She nudged at the top step with her nose.

“Now what?” Adam demanded. “By the time I get Cathy alone for dinner, it will be midnight!” He bent to look at the step, and Alice nudged it again. When he pulled it upward, the top lifted on a hidden hinge. His heart beat harder.

“How exciting!” said Cathy, crouching beside him. “A hidden compartment! I wonder what it means?”

Adam exchanged glances with Byron. “As I understand it, this bedchamber belonged to Xavier Crowe, my grandfather’s arch enemy. He’s the one who owned that map Gran Adrienne hid in the dressing room.”

“The map you had no interest in when I showed it to you?”

“Yes, that one,” he replied ironically. Reaching into the deep stairstep-box, Adam brought out first one handsome three-barreled flintlock pistol, and then another with one barrel.

“Clearly Xavier Crowe was prepared to be attacked in his bed!”

“Is there anything else?”

Adam felt around in the dark box. “No, that’s all, and while these pistols are very interesting—” He was interrupted in the midst of closing the step by more barking from Alice. “For God’s sake, what now?”

She pushed her nose into the opening and came back with something white and crumpled in her mouth. Triumphantly, she dropped it into Adam’s hand. It was a soiled white cockade with a blood-red ruby center.



“How ever did you manage this?” Cathy asked as they sat facing each other across the table on the stone terrace, enjoying their first course of carrot and ginger soup. “You couldn’t just walk in and have your way with Crowe’s Nest, could you? Doesn’t someone own it?”

He gave her an enigmatic smile, remembering the connections that he’d unraveled through Asa Forester. “I found the new owner and rented it for this evening.”

“And Basil? Have you found any signs of him here?”

“Not one. Nothing’s been done for years; in fact, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought I was the first person to come through the door since 1818, when Crowe was arrested and hanged, and his family went to England.”

“How curious. I wonder why the new owner hasn’t done something with it.”

“He is a ship’s captain from North Carolina. One day he hopes to retire from the sea and refurbish the place, but for now he was happy to have us clear out the cobwebs and use it..”

“It’s eerie being here.” Lifting her head, she looked past the tops of the palm trees to the moonlit beach below. “Isn’t that the spot where his slaves hung lights so that approaching ships would think they had reached Bridgetown?”

“Yes. And when the ships struck Cobbler’s Reef, his crew would attack.” He watched her troubled face and took a breath. “But that was long ago, and you and I have too much to talk about to dwell upon the distant past.”

Slowly, Cathy turned back, feeling the pull of his gaze. “Did you have a particular subject in mind?”

“I have a long list,” he replied with a rueful smile. “The truth is, I have longed, every day since you left Tempest Hall, to talk to you, if only to tell you about my day and to hear about yours. Now that you are here, I don’t know where to begin.”

“That doesn’t sound like you. You are usually so forthright!”

“Indeed, I’m not used to feeling this way.” He leaned forward, his darkly handsome face set off by a snowy starched collar. “Nor am I used to talking about such feelings, but I’ve realized that I must.”

His words touched her, but she also remembered that when she had lived at Tempest Hall, he’d shared very little with her unless he was tearing back the veil on her hidden passions. “You’ll understand if I am wary, won’t you?”

In the flickering glow of the hurricane lamps, a shadow passed his eyes. “Of course I understand. Tell me then, Cath, about you. Are you enjoying your new role as a teacher?”

Instantly, her face was alight. “Oh, yes!” Stories of the lessons she had taught and her plans for the new books spilled out. She related anecdotes about the girls, lingering over the moments when she had seen them feel excited about something they had learned. “I really can’t explain the wonderful feeling I have at day’s end. It’s an immense, deep satisfaction.”

“I’m not surprised that you are a gifted teacher. You must continue. Perhaps we could build a school?”

She blinked. “I don’t want to rush into that. We’re doing just fine for now.”

Adam waited as their soup bowls were cleared and a course of baked flying fish with breadfruit cou cou was served. There were side dishes of curried green bananas, beet salad, and spinach soufflé. Raising his glass, he made a toast. “Here’s to the pleasure of honest work.” Watching her over the rim as they both sampled the cold wine, he added, “I’ve been discovering that satisfaction myself.”

“You have?”

“I’ve opened a law office in Bridgetown.”

“What? I— I am shocked! How is that possible?”

He raised a hand and rubbed his eyes with long fingers. “I made it possible. I found a building that was inexpensive, I worked to make it presentable, I opened my office, and now I have clients and a growing income.”

Suddenly, Cathy found it hard to breathe. “That’s amazing. What brought about this ambitious undertaking?”