Both women watched as the newlyweds made their way toward the door. Once they were out of view, Jennifer turned finrf, ikte headed toward them.
t, here comes my husband. Tate," she spoke when he Ibeside her, "this is Victoria Simmons. Victoria, this is """*. "Rite Pembenon." Hp meet you, Victoria."
23.
"Thank you. It"s nice to meet you also." Victoria couldn"t have been more sincere, but she was suddenly out of words as she stood before this tall, striking couple. Amoment of silence fell until another couple approached, and Victoria found herself just outside their circle. After watching a minute with some regret as the other four visited with careless ease, she turned and walked away. It was going to take more than two hours to get home on the stagecoach, and she knew she had best get going.
She was a block away from the church when she heard a man calling her name. She didn"t know anyone in this part of Kennebunk, so for a moment or two she ignored him. The voice was insistent, however, and Victoria finally turned Tate Pemberton was rushing up the street, a look of profound relief covering his face.
"Jennifer nearly panicked when she couldn"t find you. She thought we"d lost you for good We have our carriage. May we offer you a ride home?"
"Thank you, Tate," she told him sincerely, thinking this was the nicest gesture she"d experienced in a long time. "And please thank Jennifer for me, but I live on the other side of Kennebunk, nearly to Kennebunkport, and I"m sure that"s out of your way. I"m going to take the stage."
"We live in Kennebunkport, so your home must be right on the way," Tate told her with surprised pleasure as he took her arm and began to lead her back up the street. Tate asked her exactly where she lived, and when Victoria explained, Tate nodded decisively.
From down the street Victoria spotted Jennifer standing outside the church, looking anxiously in their direction. Even from a distance, Victoria could see her smile as they neared "I thought we"d lost you, and we had so little time to get acquainted,"
Jennifer told her sincerely, still wondering what it was about Victoria Simmons that attracted her.
"I appreciate your offer, but are you sure it"s not a bother? I came on the stage, and it"s really no trouble."
24.
"You"re right on our way," Tare supplied as the coach appeared. He ushered the ladies inside. Within moments they were headed down the road toward home, the women sharing one side of the coach and Tate across from them.
"I really appreciate this, Jennifer," Victoria began, but the other woman cut her off.
"Please call me Jen or Jenny. All my friends do. We"re glad to give you a lift. The stage can be so crowded and stuffy."
Victoria smiled at her, and Jenny was again amazed by the change in her. Jenny would have been surprised to learn that Victoria smiled because, compared to some of the cabins she had occupied in her life, the stage felt huge.
"Jen tells me you"re in shipping," Tate mentioned at that moment.
"Yes, I am. It"s not a large business, but we"re never without work."
"How many ships do you own, Victoria?"
"Just one," she told him.
"I might know your captain," Tate leaned forward slightly, frank interest covering his handsome face. "What"s his name?"
"Do you always go by your full name?" Jenny asked, choosing that moment to interrupt her husband "Or do your friends call you Vicky?"
"Actually," Victoria turned to Jenny, since Tate didn"t look at all upset over the interruption, "my nickname is Smokey."
"Smokey?" Jenny was surprised.
"It"s her smokey gray eyes, Jen," Tate said with satisfaction.
"That"s right," the smaller woman told him with a smile.
"That, along with the fact that when I was a baby, my father used to say I would get so angry he thought smoke might come from my ears."
The Pembertons enjoyed this, laughing at the vision. The conversation moved to many avenues in the next two hours, and with only one brief stop, Smokey was home a little ahead of the stage. She thanked the Pembertons for the ride and
25.
made her way into the house, a rambling, somewhat ramshackle two-story that had been home since her father died.
Smokey lived with her first mate, Da.r.s.ey, and his widowed sister, Willa, who were both still up and settled in the small parlor when she came in. Smokey took a chair by the open window, and they looked at her expectantly.
"How was the wedding?" Willa wanted to know.
"It was nice."
"It didn"t give you any ideas, did it?" Willa"s look was hopeful.
Smokey laughed. "What was I supposed to do, grab the first man I saw and make it a double ceremony?"
"That"s not what I meant, and you know it," Willa told her with a stern look that could not mask the fact that she wanted to laugh at Smokey"s words.
"Who brought you home?" Da.r.s.ey questioned her.
"The Pembertons. They live just beyond Little Fishing Rock, and when we met after the wedding, they offered me a ride."
"Old Saul Pemberton? I thought he pa.s.sed away more than a year ago." Da.r.s.ey frowned in thought.
"It wasn"t Saul, but his son, Tate, and Tate"s wife, Jenny.
Jenny"s maiden name was Knight." Smokey fell silent for a moment.
"You should have seen her dress," she said almost dreamly.
"The bride"s?" Willa a.s.sumed, hoping the wedding had started Smokey thinking about having a family after all.
"No," Smokey"s voice was still soft. "Jen Pemberton"s. It was beautiful. Makes me wish I had taken your advice, Willa, and gotten myself some new clothes."
"Well," the older woman said almost indignantly. "There"s nothing stopping you from getting some now."
"Yes, there is," Smokey replied matter-of-factly. She stood and stretched, hiding an expansive yawn behind her hand.
"We sail for Wales in two days. What would I do with a fancy
28.
dress aboard ship? Goodnight, Willa." Smokey kissed the older woman"s cheek and then moved toward Da.r.s.ey.
"Goodnight, Dars," she said after she"d kissed him also.
"Sleep well, la.s.s," he told her and watched her lovingly as she left the room.
Willa waited only until she heard the floorboards creaking upstairs before she lit into her brother.
"Honestly, Da.r.s.ey, you"ve got more pull with that girl than anyone! You could have said something--put in a word or two!"
"About what?" the man asked in genuine confusion.
"Her clothes!"
"What *s wrong with her clothes?" Da.r.s.ey frowned in puzzlement.
"She"s always clean and well pressed"
Willa snorted in disgust. "I"m not talking about that*/wear clothes that are more stylish than hers. Most of her clothes look like widow"s weeds. It"s not as if she can"t afford something new." Willa"s emotions were high, but Da.r.s.ey was calmly logical.
"Be that as it may," he told her, "it"s just like Smokey said What would she do with a bunch of frills on board ship?"
"Well, she"s not going to sail forever," Willa said petulantly and rocked a little harder in her chair, all the while frowning in her brother"s direction.
Da.r.s.ey, who had entertained this thought on more than one occasion, suddenly had nothing more to say.
It was growing dark so Tate and Jenny had decided not to rry at Smokey"s small house in the country. Still, she was the ^^r^v1Cu ?nversation as they continued their ride home.
jgatshe the sweetest thing, Tate?"
^^d she is," he answered as he moved across thenext to his wife. "There"s something fascinating
27.
about her. She"s such a mixture of confidence and vulnerability."
"I was surprised at her age when she first told us, but then as I watched her, I saw that she certainly isn"t a child"
"Well, 25 isn"t what you"d call old."
"No, but when we were at the wedding, I"d have said she was closer to my 20. Then as we talked, I realized she has almost a worldly look about her. Not worldly really," Jenny immediately contradicted herself. "But her eyes seem older than the rest of her, if you know what I mean."
Tate silently digested this. "You know," he said finally, "we did an awful lot of talking, and other than finding out that she shares our faith in Christ, we really didn"t learn much about her."
"Do you suppose that was deliberate on her part?"
"No, I think she genuinely liked us, but I just get the impression that she hasn"t many friends." Oh, Tate!" Jenny was struck with what she considered a wonderful idea. "Go back in a few days and invite her to come for a visit. I know we would have such fun, and something tells me she would love staying in a house that was right on the sea.
It would be such a change for her after living inland"
Tate agreed wholeheartedly, and in three days" time the coach took him back to Smokey"s house. Smokey wasn"t there, however; the door was answered by a woman. Tate a.s.sumed her to be the woman named Willa, about whom Smokey had spoken.
Willa told Tate that Smokey was away and wasn"t expected back for quite some time. Jennifer, he knew, would be very disappointed
29.
morocco one month later "You don"t have to say it, YusuF. I can tell by the look on your face that Smoke has been here. Is the whole load gone?"
"I am sorry, Captain, yes," the old man"s grin belied his words. His smile was infectious, however, and Captain Dallas Knight grinned grudgingly in return.
"How does he do it?"
Yusuf"s grin widened to rival the size of his thick waist.
"The ship," he said, and Dallas" eyes narrowed in thought. "I am not saying Smoke is not good captain. But the ship is fast.
Maybe even fastest." The captain nodded, catching the other man"s meaning, even amid the broken English.