Chapter Seventeen
Even though it was December, wintertime in the Caribbean was surprisingly warm. William had been gone from England for nearly six months and he felt every aching day of it. He’d written Kitty several letters but he’d never had his foot on land long enough to find someone to send them for him.
The Royal Rose had been following the East India Trading Company for a long while. Every time they made port they picked up more cargo and set off again, dragging the Royal Rose with it.
It had been a very long six months. The company of his crew was getting rather tiresome. Not only were they getting rowdy at the lack of female company, they were irksome at the fact that the ale aboard the East India Trading Company ship was completely off limits. William was getting bored also. Not once had they run into any trouble. After six months he didn’t see the point in one of His majesty’s hundred and twenty gunners being wasted like it was. But it wasn’t his decision to make.
He spent a lot of the nights just staring at the stars. Every time he caught a glimpse of Cassiopeia it reminded him of the little spitfire he’d met and fallen in love with.
As the sun rose on the twenty – first of December, William stood at the helm like he always did. There was something about the open sea that he liked. It was the smell and the sound, and the fact that one’s lips always tasted of salt. He liked the idea of being able to spin the wheel and point the ship whichever way he liked and he would end up on a different continent.
He was tempted though, to just spin the wheel around to the right and head up north back to England. The sea couldn’t hold a candle to the pull he felt toward Kitty. If he had to choose between them, then she would win.
The men weren’t awake yet, which gave him that luxury of some peace and quiet. They were heading back to the Caribbean to deliver their final load of goods before the ships finally were able to return to England for any repairs that needed doing. The repairs would take weeks which meant that he would have weeks to spend with his wife and his new family before the mission with the East India Trading Company was finished.
He pulled the letter that Kitty had given him from his pocket. He hadn’t let it out of his sight since he’d received it and he still hadn’t found the right moment to read it. He’d been lonely a lot of times, but he didn’t want to waste her words on a menial moment. He had to make it count.
Just as the sun rose a little higher, the sound of a cannon being fired filled the air. William’s head snapped around and he found the source of the sound – a black ship that flew a black flag. They would be demons if they were not pirates.
The cannon had collided with the side of the East India Trading Company ship, blowing a hole in her side that had no doubt destroyed the several guns they had aboard.
“All hands on deck!” William bellowed as he turned the wheel to the left to place the Royal Rose between the pirate ship and the East India Trading Company ship.
Adrenaline coursed through William’s veins as he raced down the stairs of the ship and opened the trap door between the lower and upper deck. His crew came streaming out as they readied the guns above and below deck. The sounds of cannons being loaded and lighted were not quick enough before the sounds of more cannons blasting through the air sounded.
The port side of the Royal Rose was immediately hit as she bowed down to the sea after the blow. William nearly lost his footing but kept himself upright by holding onto a rope and pulley.
“Captain,” barked a Lieutenant. “Ready at your command, sir.”
“Fire all!” William yelled to his men. “This is what you’ve been trained for. Do not let –” but before he could finish another waved of cannons began to hit the Royal Rose as the pirate ship edged closer and closer.
Wood splintered as more holes were created in the side of the Royal Rose. They retaliated with all sixty of the cannons on the port side of the ship being fired at once. The cannons that made the distance blew holes in the starboard side of the pirate ship.
William could hear the angry cries from the pirates as well as the pained ones from his men below deck that had been hit or caught in the debris. “Blast them!” he ordered. “I want their ship at the bottom of the sea!”
All William’s hopes were quashed as soon as he saw split shot balls heading for the masts.
“Get the sails down now!” he yelled. “Load the split shots, I want their masts down!” William could see it happening before his eyes. They were firing as fast as possible but their cannons did not have the distance or the trajectory that the pirate ship did.
The East India Trading Company ship had turned away from the battle. William didn’t know whether to curse the captain’s cowardice or commend his sense in getting away from the battle.
No sooner had the sails been lowered did a split shot cannon hit the main mast. In one swift motion the grand piece of wood began to collapse. It was then that he saw it. Commander Gates was shouting orders. The noises surrounding the ship were loud and he hadn’t heard the sound of the mast separating from the ships. The mast was falling; there was a death sentence on the Commander’s shoulders.
As if he were moving in slow motion, William ran to his friend. With all his strength he pushed him, sending him flying through the air. Instead William now took Commander’s Gates’ position beneath the mast.
He did not feel its collision. All he saw as his sight disappeared was the smoke left behind by gunpowder and the remains of the Royal Rose crumbling. With his last ounce of strength, he reached into his pocket and felt the letter there. Knowing that at one point his wife’s hand touched it brought comfort to him. With a small smile, he closed his eyes.
Christmas came and went and still Kitty had not heard anything from William. Spending time with her beloved grandmamma had helped distract her for a time but it still could not calm the little voice in her head that told her something had happened.
It was now late January and the Alcott’s were on their way home. She sat in the carriage with her sisters and Joseph. The three of them were chatting happily but Kitty found more amusement in absently rubbing her swollen stomach and staring out the window. It was snowing. The perfect white dust coated every surface. She wondered, wherever he was, be it the Caribbean or elsewhere, if it was snowing where William was. Even if it wasn’t snowing, she still looked at the stars like he liked to and hoped that he was doing so at the same time.
Being pregnant was not as glamorous as she had once thought. At least, the women she’d seen expecting made it look a lot easier. She’d spent the first few months being sick every morning and the next few wanting to eat the most obscure combinations of food. At the moment she absolutely devoured pickled eggs and jam. Then there was the fact that she looked incredibly thick around the face, hands and feet. She hated that most of all. But inside of her was a little person. And in three short months she would be a mama.
“Kitty,” Annie said worriedly, interrupting her thoughts. “Are you alright?”
Kitty looked away from the window and towards her sister. Annie too had just found out she was expecting, but she was only several weeks along. “Yes, I’m fine,” she said, plastering on a false smile. She was not fine at all. If she were alone she would cry.
“How is the baby? Is she kicking?” Little J asked softly. She slowly reached out to touch Kitty’s stomach.
“We do not know it is a girl,” Kitty rolled her eyes. “Grandmamma’s reasons are old wives tales.” Her Grandmamma had insisted that because she was carrying down low then she was birthing a girl. Kitty was not convinced, she was sure it was a boy. The way he kicked was the way a young boy with a hearty personality kicked.
“Kitty, are you really alright,” Annie pressed. “We know it has been a long while since you’ve heard from William but I’m sure he’s alright.”
“How could you know?” Kitty snapped at her little sister. “Your husband is right there!” she exclaimed gesturing to Joseph who looked a little embarrassed. “Mine is in the middle of the ocean somewhere protecting a bloody trade ship from pirates!” She didn’t care that she’d just used foul language, she was past caring.
“Kitty, you needn’t lash out at Annie,” Joseph said sadly. “She was only trying to be helpful.”
Kitty sighed. “I know, sorry Annie,” she apologised. “But none of you can understand.”
The rest of the journey was made in silence or the smallest amount of small talk between her sisters and her brother – in – law. Kitty had returned her eyes to the window until they dropped and she fell asleep.
Within a few days she felt the familiar jostle of the London cobble streets underneath the carriage wheels. It wasn’t snowing in London, but the air was gloomy and the rain was falling. She wrapped her travelling cloak around herself tighter instinctively.
Pulling up in front of Ethridge she felt a little relieved to be home. All she wanted to do was curl up in her own bed and go to sleep dreaming of William holding her like he had done on their wedding night.
“Home sweet home,” Little J breathed as the doors to the carriages were opened. Footmen carrying dark parasols helped the passengers one by one from the carriages, shielding them from the rain. Kitty was taken third before Joseph. She made her way as quickly as she could, however not moving as fast as she didn’t want to slip and hurt the baby.
Once inside, the butler, Mr Carter was taking the coats of the family members and hanging them up. When he arrived at her he smiled happily. “You’ll never guess what arrived for you today, Lady Kitty,” he said knowingly.
Kitty’s eyes widened. “A letter?” she asked hopefully.
Mr Carter nodded. “Yes, the mail is in your father’s study.”
“A letter!” her mother exclaimed. “Oh, come Kitty, quickly,” she hurried her. They both moved as quickly as they could to her father’s study where sure enough a small stack of letters lay on the desk. Kitty quickly sifted through the several envelopes before she found the letter that had her name on it.
“Mama, look – Port Royal, Jamaica!” she said as she read the post mark. She quickly broke the seal using her fingers and unfolded the letter.
Dear Mrs Aubrey,
It is with deep sorrow and my sincerest condolences that I inform you of your husband’s death on the morning of the 21st of December, 1832.
Our Captain perished saving my life and I would like you to know that his final act was heroic and his final thoughts were of you.
His body, as a Captain’s should, lies at the bottom of the ocean with his vessel so he may not be returned to you.
The attack could not have been foreseen, Mrs Aubrey, and he did his best he could to protect his men.
He would not have wanted you to enter mourning, he would want you to move on and find another husband to take care of you.
I wish you and yours the best of health, and again I offer you my deepest sympathies.
Sincerely,
Commander George Gates
The letter slipped from Kitty’s fingers and wafted to the floor. Emilia let out a cry of woe and screamed for Sebastian.
The feeling in her fingers and toes slowly started to disappear as she went into shock. Her legs gave way beneath her and she fell to her knees. Her mother cried out again and tried to lift her up but pregnant Kitty was too heavy.
A wave of nausea swept through Kitty as she vomited onto the floral carpet in her father’s study. She shook off her mother’s hands and fell to the floor lying on her side near the pool of sick. From where she was laying she could see the words ‘his body, as a Captain’s should, lies at the bottom of the ocean’. Reading that over and over just made her picture a cold and blue William. Nausea hit her again as she threw up once more.
“No,” she whispered. “It can’t be.”
They’d had one night together. They’d barely even started. How was that fair? He was a good man; he didn’t deserve to die at the hands of criminals. He was to be a father, and her baby was never to know him.
Slowly, as if someone was dragging a smouldering iron through her insides, she felt everything inside of her disappear. She felt as though she should have been at the bottom of the ocean as well.
“What the bloody hell happened?” she heard her father exclaim in an alarmed expression.
“Hush,” her mother hissed. From her voice Kitty could tell she was crying. “William has been killed.”
“Oh, my God,” Sebastian gasped.
All of a sudden the floor beneath Kitty disappeared and she was in her father’s arms. She felt her head fall to the side as she was carried out onto the landing. Her father carried her into her stateroom bedchamber and put her on the bed. Emilia put a dry towel in a bowl and poured the pitcher of water over it. She wringed the towel out and brought it over to Kitty and began to clean her mouth.
Kitty just lay on her side watching the rain from her window. She wondered how long it would take her to die if she lay completely still. She hoped not long.
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My last chapter before sometime over the weekend.
I know you must all hate me but I beg you not to give up on me, I will redeem myself, I promise!
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