A 19th century London courtesan agrees to a phony courtship with a navy captain and finds herself negotiating uncharted territory outside the boudoir.
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The year is eighteen-t...
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~ Saturday Feb 20, 1813 ~
I didn't have the heart to tell my staff about the uncertainty that awaited them, only to expect a staff meeting before breakfast. After spending Friday afternoon with the Thompsons, I shared a carriage with Admiral Pattinson, which delivered us to the purser's office so my name could be added to the passenger list of the HMHS Surety. All I wanted to do when I returned home was climb into bed and forget that my life was being torn apart like a sail in a hurricane.
Looking much too chipper, everyone greeted me in the kitchen with kindly smiles. Jasper placed a cup of tea in my hand and pulled out a stool for me as we gathered around the prep table. I didn't know quite where to begin, so I got right to the point.
"So, it turns out, I'm in love with Captain Thompson."
I let my announcement fall like a disenchanted lover from a bell tower. Funnily enough, their reactions did not portray the shock I'd expected.
"It's bloody well time you figured that out." Jasper's crass manner had always offered a refreshing divergence from the usual formality of my staff, but I wasn't sure how well I appreciated it now. I had never been fond of being the last to know something, especially when I should have known it myself first.
"Yes, well... It appears everyone knows my feelings better than I do. Alice and her father were convinced of the same."
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Mistress," Clara said kindly. "I didn't know I was in love with Douglas until he started seeing that Charlotte Needleman. I thought my poor heart would fail me and I wouldn't live to see seventeen."
Douglas smiled and pulled Clara in for a hug.
"Thank you all for your understanding. I'm sure you were wondering why the captain and I spent so much time together without making a binding commitment. I assure you, there was nothing untoward taking place."
"There's no need to explain yerself," Jasper said. "The captain seems like a decent fellow. I knew he wouldn't try any funny business until after he proposed."
My head snapped to him, and I nearly spilled my tea. "Did you know he was going to propose?"
Jasper wore a sheepish smile as he glanced at the faces waiting for him to share his secret. By the looks of it, they all knew the secret too. "You remember that night he showed up here in a drunken stupor?"
"I don't think any of us could forget that."
"Well, while you were preparing his bath and I was helping him up the stairs, he told me he was going to marry you someday. He just needed to figure out how to win you away from all the other fellows. I thought he might have been delirious due to the alcohol, but when he kept showing up here and there, I figured he was speakin' his truth."
I wanted to ask why none of them bothered to mention their suspicions to me before, but I knew what their answer would be. If nothing else, my staff had always been discrete. It was a necessary quality of a courtesan's servant. "I suppose none of you will be surprised, then, that I have decided to take a naval sailing vessel into the Atlantic in an attempt to locate Captain Thompson's ship and tell him... Tell him how I feel."
