To Follow Her Heart Read online

  “Wonderful service, do you not think?” he asked.

  “Why, yes, I do. I love this time of year.”

  He stopped and nodded toward the ladies across the hall. “Are you staying for the dinner?”

  Her eyes darted about the room once more, searching for Jeremy. She wanted his help. Where could he be? “Well, yes, I am, but I’m afraid I must hurry home and fetch the food I’ve prepared.” How she wished she’d brought at least some of it with her so she could manage the rest on this trip alone.

  “May I be of assistance?” His brown eyes had flecks of gold that gave her a feeling of warmth and sincerity whenever he addressed her.

  “I would like that. I’d hoped to find Jeremy, but I haven’t seen him this morning. Have you?” He helped her with her cloak, and they walked together down the lane.

  “No, I have not. But then, I’m not at Mrs. Bayley’s anymore. I’ve been staying with Reverend Youngs.”

  They entered her kitchen, and Mosh wagged his way to her. “Mosh, I shall give you something to eat, but you must stay. Be a good boy.” She tossed some meat into a bowl and set it down for him. He devoured it before she and the reverend had their arms loaded with her dishes. “No, no more. I shall be back, you silly dog.”

  She led the way out and stopped to shut the door before Mosh could run out. She set her armload down on the rocker and pulled the door shut.

  Joshua stepped close. “Would it be forward of me to ask if you and Jeremy are courting? At times I think I know the answer, but . . .”

  Her mouth gaped, and she hesitated to pick up her dishes. “Oh no, it’s not.” She giggled as she scooped everything up and started down the lane. “I think Jeremy struggles with that question, too. I would say yes, he is courting me . . . when I can find him.” She flashed a smile as Joshua matched her long strides. She thought to add “we are engaged,” but before she did he pushed the door to the meetinghouse open with his shoulder, and as they tumbled through, Jeremy ran straight into them.

  “Patience, I’ve been looking for you.” Jeremy held his arms out and took her bundles.

  “We went to get these for the dinner.” She searched behind him. “Where is Harry? Where have you been?”

  He glanced at the reverend. “Good day, Joshua. I was with Harry at the boardinghouse. He took ill last night. I had to find Doctor Smith this morning.”

  Her horror overcame her annoyance. “Oh no. Is he all right?”

  “Yes, he will be. He is still in bed, but Russell thinks he ate something tainted.”

  Joshua shook his head. “Well, that can make one deathly ill. Thank goodness he shall get well.”

  They carried the goods over to a table already laden with platters and dishes of food, most of it fresh from the harvest. Mary and Barnabas had their own table laid out with breads and sweets of all kinds. The Corchaug people had been invited to join in the feast, and many had come and provided roast venison, pheasant, and turkey.

  Reverend Youngs offered a blessing for the food and a prayer of thanksgiving not only for the harvest, but the safe return of the horse troop. The people of Southold made their way around the tables with bowls and plates to fill before finding a place to sit, eat, and visit.

  Patience and Jeremy sat with the Horton clan, celebrating Benjamin, Caleb, and Joshua’s homecoming. Patience couldn’t help but notice Johnny Youngs and Joshua Hobart sharing in their own celebration with Reverend Youngs and his wife, Joan. The two pretty Youngs girls, Rachel and Mary, sat with them. Of course. Rachel would be the perfect match for the eligible Reverend Hobart.

  Doctor Smith arrived at the dinner in time to get a plate of food and deliver an update on Harry. He would be able to travel in the morning, provided he didn’t relapse. Patience scolded herself for not welcoming that news. She’d have liked to have Jeremy stay a little longer, but in the end it was good for him to get back to work so they could keep moving forward on their plans.

  As she left after the evening service, she stared at the door where the banns would be posted. How she longed to see them hang there for all the world to see they were to marry.

  Jeremy knocked on Patience’s door and heard the woof of Mosh. The wolf-dog knew who was on the other side, that was obvious, and he chuckled at the mock ferociousness. He listened as Patience arrived at the door and shushed the dog before opening it.

  “Hello, pretty lady. I’m here to see if you have any of those mashed yams left? The ones with the maple syrup?”

  Her laughter was good to hear, and she pulled him inside and led him to a chair in the kitchen. “Where is Harry?”

  “You care more about him than me, but I can tell you he is up and preparing for the ride back. He is not hungry, though, and tells me he might not eat again, so sick he was.”

  She put a bowl of yams on the table and handed him a spoon. “I’m sorry he got so sick, but ’tis good he’s recovered so quickly. I shan’t worry about him, but I do like that man.”

  “And he likes you. He gives his regards and looks forward to the next time you are out in Winter Harbor.” He dug into the yams. “Mmm. So good.”

  She tapped her fingers on the wood table. “Well, it seems to me I shall have to find my own way out there, so intent you are to bury yourself in work.”

  “Do you remember the year that Harry helped me rebuild The Swallow? The year the storm about destroyed the harbor? He gave up everything he was working on to help me. Everything. I want to help him build his ship, Patience. Like he helped me. And in the end, he is truly helping me once more. Because without The Swallow, I am lost. And yes, I have the means to buy a new ship, but that would not be fair to you. And I will never be content to be a man of leisure. Nor will I ever be a farmer like most of the Hortons. Harry is giving me the chance to do something with my life that I love. And in the end, it is all for us, because it keeps me home, close to you. ” He smiled at her, and she graced him with her own grin, her blue eyes sparkling.

  “Wow. I did wonder why you were so determined to get right to work.” She stood. “I want that for you, and Harry, too. And I want you here, safe and on dry land.” She wiped her hands on her apron. “I’m going to wrap up some food for you.”

  He put out a hand. “No, that’s too much trouble.”

  “No, it’s not, and I have so much from the dinner yesterday. Besides, you cannot eat Mrs. Sweeney’s fish day in and day out.”

  “True, though her fish is very good.”

  He watched her as she pulled venison and turkey from her larder and wrapped big chunks in sackcloth. She did the same with the rest of the yams and several meat pies.

  He perused the kitchen while she finished wrapping. There were open shelves at one end, filled with crocks and wooden bowls. Along the bottom shelf she kept black iron pots, some with legs and lids for cooking directly in the fire. A beeswax candle sat on the table, unlit, next to a stack of sieves. On the opposite wall, shelves held stacks of baskets with a number of different uses. “Did you make the baskets, Patience?”

  She looked up at the wall. “Oh, some of them. Winnie made quite a few of those, and Mary. Often we would get together and make baskets.” Her voice held a wistful lilt. “I guess I have enough now to last a lifetime. And I’m glad—I like knowing that something I’m using had a history, and someday I’ll pass it on to someone close to me and it will continue on.”

  “I’m going to like being married to you, Miss Patience Terry. I like your kitchen, I like watching you flutter around it, and I like how your connection to the past gives you a hope for the future.”

  “Why, Captain Horton, I believe I’m going to like being married to you. And I shall like fluttering around you in my kitchen. You are the one who gives hope to my future. It has always been you.”

  He stood and kissed her, and when he left her standing at the door, he was thankful she had waited for him. Thankful she looked to him for hope. Mayhap the years apart made their moments now all the richer. For did not even the stars need some
darkness to shine?

  26

  November 14, 1664

  Winter Harbor

  It was a snowy day as Jeremy and Harry started working on the plans for the largest vessel Harry had ever built. Most of his money had been made building small coastal schooners, but with his inheritance he planned what he called his “masterpiece.”

  “If ye learn on this one, ye can build anything,” Harry told him as they gathered their tools and sorted the lumber.

  Jeremy watched as Harry pinned a half model of the three-masted rig. When the design was perfected, he removed the pins, and after careful measurements, he drew the full-sized hull on the floor.

  After a dinner of cold turkey and yams, they started on the keel. Jeremy listened while Harry talked nonstop of how the keel was the backbone and the strength of the ship. These things Jeremy knew, but he listened anyway, and when the old shipwright began to speak of scarfing and bolting, he paid attention, for his memory was dim on some points.

  The days turned into weeks, and Christmastide approached, evident by the green boughs Mrs. Sweeney draped from every ledge and the scent of her bayberry candles. No doubt Mary and Barn would be baking, and Patience decorating. But Harry had asked him to stay on through the season, and he had said yes. As a sea captain, he was used to being absent at Christmas, but more than that, he wanted to work on every aspect of this ship.

  The two worked on the ribs of the ship, and there was an art to choosing correctly shaped timbers, straight and curved, and then refining them with an adze.

  After a long day’s work, he and Harry would sit on the trunk, telling endless sea stories until they froze. Mrs. Sweeney saved a place for them by the fire, and they ended each evening with fried fish and more stories.

  When Jeremy climbed into his small bunk in the corner of the lofting building at night, he often wrote a message to Patience and sent it in the morning by way of a messenger. Mostly they were notes to tell her he thought of her each day, and sometimes to apologize for his absence. Occasionally he described the work they were doing or a funny thing that Harry had said that day.

  On the rare day when Harry quit early, Jeremy would ride Ink to the top of the hill and plot out the grounds for their new estate. He had not purchased it yet, and in fact he and Patience might decide the river lots were more to their liking. But he took satisfaction in the ride and the view.

  Finally, he and Harry hoisted the frame and began to lay the deck beams, and soon they were planking and caulking. He tapped oakum into seams with a mallet and did not hear Patience as she walked up behind him. He turned at her voice. She wore a deep green velvet gown, with layers of lace at the sleeves and neckline.

  He threw the mallet aside and stepped toward her. “You look like a Christmas present all wrapped up in finery.” His arms embraced her and he pulled her close.

  “I thought if I were to ever see you again I would have to come to find you.” Her voice had a tremble to it that almost broke his heart.

  “Hey, now. Do not weep.” He turned her to face the big skeleton of the ship. “What do you think? Are you amazed at what we have done here?” He tried to keep pride from his voice, but it was difficult.

  “She is beautiful.” She walked around to the other side. “Where’s Harry?”

  “He went to get food from Mrs. Sweeney. We didn’t want to both quit working, so he was going to bring me something back. But now that you are here, methinks we should walk over and eat with him.”

  “Jeremy, you should know that working on the Sabbath is not right.” She shook her head.

  “Well, I must confess that, as a sea captain, I’ve worked more Sabbaths than I have not. And Harry is committed to finishing his ship.” He leaned toward her. “Are you hungry?”

  “Yes. But mostly I want to see you, so if you want to keep working, I shall just find a box to sit on and stare.”

  Her grin teased, and he offered her his arm. “There will be ample time for you to stare at me while I work. Let’s get something to eat, and I wonder if you’ve given thought to your ride home in the dark?” There were no rooms to rent in this harbor town.

  “I have. Reverend Hobart drove me out after church services.”

  He cocked his head toward her. “Joshua?”

  She smiled and patted his arm before they stepped into Mrs. Sweeney’s. “He wanted to bring Rachel Youngs out and invited me to come with them. I’m a chaperone of sorts for them.”

  He hoped the relief that coursed through his body was not apparent to her. “Ah, very well. I’m glad you don’t need me to escort you home, although, by all means, I would like to. But Harry is depending on me to keep him on schedule.”

  Harry sat by the fire inside the fish house, and Jeremy took Patience’s elbow and guided her toward him. “Where are Joshua and Rachel?”

  “They took the cart up to the top of the hill.”

  He and Patience pulled out chairs next to Harry, and she bent to kiss the old captain’s cheek as she took her seat. “How are you, Harry? The ship looks beautiful.”

  Harry beamed. “’Tis because of Jeremy’s expert help. He tells me he is apprenticing, but his skill gives him away.”

  Patience put her hand over Jeremy’s. “While he’s slow in matters of the heart, I am not surprised that anything that has to do with the sea he’s quick to learn.”

  Jeremy feigned hurt but couldn’t keep the chortle out of his voice. “I suppose I’m forgiven? In matters of the heart, I mean?”

  “There is nothing to forgive. Except the two of you completely forgot this is Christmas.” She turned. “Does she have a name, Harry? Your ship?”

  “Didn’t Jeremy tell you? She’s to be The Annabelle.”

  She caught her breath. “That’s a beautiful name. Does it have a meaning?” She looked from Harry to Jeremy.

  “Aye, it does. It means ‘God has favored me,’ and He has.” Harry’s blue eyes were soft.

  Mrs. Sweeney put down bowls of fish stew and plates of meat pie. “They might have forgotten, but I have not. There will be plum pudding on the house tonight.” She winked at Patience.

  Jeremy grinned. “Thank you.” Following the splendid meal and a tip left for Mrs. Sweeney, the trio walked back to the dry dock, and Patience did as she’d promised and found a box to perch on.

  He caulked and smoothed and worked on the ship like she was his own. He glanced from time to time at Patience, expecting to find her asleep sitting up, but each time he peeked at her, she watched him attentively and even had questions now and then.

  As the sun settled behind clouds in its descent, Joshua and Rachel came to find Patience. They spent some time admiring Jeremy and Harry’s craft and then climbed into the wagon for the ride home.

  Jeremy watched until the cart rounded the bend, and for a moment he wished he were with them. But he turned his attention to the work before him and soon was lost in pounding oakum and sealing with tar. Choosing to do one’s duty was not without its downfalls, but hadn’t he promised God after the shipwreck that he would follow wherever He led?

  Patience sighed when Revered Hobart brought the horse and cart to a stop outside of the livery. She was glad she’d spent Christmas with Jeremy rather than at Mary’s once again, wondering what he might be doing.

  After Joshua tended to the horses, he offered her and Rachel each an arm and walked Rachel home first. Since he was staying with the Youngs, Patience assured him she could walk the rest of the way home alone, but he insisted she be accompanied. At her door, he bowed. “Thank you for the use of your cart and the opportunity to bring Rachel out to see Winter Harbor. She tells me that she’s been wanting to see that area, as her brother has owned property there for quite some time.”

  “I should thank you for taking me with you—I wanted to see Jeremy very badly, and this was quite possibly the only way to do it.” She smiled, and he took her hand. She fretted he might kiss it, but a friendly pat was all she received. “Goodbye, Joshua.”

  “Good
night.” And he was gone.

  Mosh was beside himself with wiggles. “I am so sorry I didn’t take you. Next time, all right?” She brought him to the kitchen to give him his Christmas dinner and pulled a big bone she’d been saving out of the larder for his special treat.

  She went to the parlor and put a split log on top of the embers. She curled into a chair and watched the flames leap to life. Mosh padded out with his bone and settled for a good chew on the rug in front of the hearth. Contentment wrapped her like a thick shawl, and she went over each minute she’d spent with Jeremy today. It was the right thing to do, to go and visit him. He seemed happy she had.

  On the morrow, she would go visit with Mary. Her friend had been disappointed when she’d told her she’d not be coming today for the festivities. But Mary wanted her and Jeremy together as much as Patience wanted it, so she’d understood. Under one condition. That Patience would come over and tell her every last thing that happened. And that she would do.

  27

  December 26, 1664

  Southold

  Patience sat with Mary, Lizzie, Abbey, and Anna and watched the younger Horton children exchange gifts. Muffkin played with the ribbons while Mosh watched from beside the hearth. It was the second day of Christmas, and the children exchanged either small handmade gifts or a kindness of some sort. Misha had helped the children make the presents, and they surprised Patience with one, as well.

  Mercy put the small package on her lap. “For me? Why, thank you.”

  “Be careful.” Mercy’s eyes danced.

  Mosh looked up from his post as if he expected one too. Patience pulled the ribbon and pushed back the cloth that wrapped it. Inside was a tiny pot with a little unidentifiable sprout.

  She held it up. “I love it. I shall water it and tend it. And what shall it be?” She looked from one sister to the next.

  Sarah smiled. “It is a little apple tree from Mama’s orchard. She said it came over from Mowsley.”