The Reverend's Daughter (Book 2 after The Duke's Daughter)

Chapter Eight Part One

The little girls were no longer frightened, they sat calmly in Betsy's lap, as Luke pretended to pull gold doubloons out of their ears. He had even managed to coax a small laugh out of each of them. Betsy smiled, as they put their fingers into their ears, looking for more gold coins.

Luke had deemed the children healthy, a few good meals and a bath, some clean clothing and peaceful rest, would go a long way to righting all that ailed their physical bodies. Hopefully, love, care, and time, would heal the rest.

Timothy had gone with Davey. He was now sitting around the fire on shore, getting to know the other boys, and Ol' Chauncey. Pete, Sam, and Bart were supervising, telling stories, and pulling laundry out of the kettle, adding more to boil clean.

Betsy looked up as Josh came to stand in the doorway. He looked to her and smiled, happy to see the two little girls were content in her lap, no longer shaking with fear.

Josh was a father, with his own little ones at home, and Violet's missions always tore his heart out. It caused him when he went home, to hold his own a little tighter, to not squander an opportunity to love on them, and just to appreciate how very precious and innocent they were. The two babes on Betsy's lap made him homesick. He had to remember, however, that if they had been at home, these sweet innocents would not be safe now.

"Violet asked that you bring the girls, and come along to your cabin when Luke is finished, Miss." Josh wondered why the little girls were poking their fingers in their ears.

Luke turned to Betsy, "Go on now, I will be taking this one to the infirmary for tonight, he is weak and I want to keep my eye on him." He then turned to the boy, who had said he was eight years, and that the little girls were his sisters. "You do not mind if I take care of you, Johnny, do ye? We want to get you healthy, so you can take care of your sisters, right?"

Johnny nodded his agreement, as over the last half hour he had come to like, and trust, Luke and Betsy. "You will take care of them, Mum?" He asked of Betsy.

"You know I will, Johnny." She smiled at the boy, glad that Luke had diagnosed him with only a bad case of sea sickness. He was weak, however, and it was a good thing they were anchored in the calm bay, as he would hopefully recover enough, to eat and grow strong again.

"I think I shall go and see about Violet, Luke, since my two little beauties are right as rain." She tickled them lightly on their sides, as they squirmed, and laughingly begged her to stop. She did immediately, and they turned their sweet little faces up to look at her, adoration in their eyes. She returned the look, "I have a very funny fellow I should like you to meet. And Jonah is there, do you like Jonah?" She asked of them. They bobbed their little heads up and down, and climbed down from Betsy's lap. Betsy stood and took their hands in her own, as she led them down the long hallway to the Captain's cabin.

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"Then what did you do?" Timothy asked Sam.

"Well, then I ate him." Sam grinned.

Timothy laughed, "You did not!"

"Surely I did! No bear is gonna eat my vittles an live ta tell about it!" Sam laughed, and the boys did also.

"That is nothing, listen to this one, 'T'was a dark and stormy night....'" Pete always had to try to top Sam's stories, little did he realise, he did not have to, as Timothy already thought Pete walked on water.

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Betsy grinned as she approached their cabin door, she could hear Violet inside singing a nursery rhyme, and his voice, had not improved in the least.