Chapter Eleven
“I hope you are no’ going tae prove as stubborn as your cousin,” Nettie MacDonald said as she entered Judith’s cabin to help her prepare for dinner.
Roslynn had insisted on sending her own maid on the trip to see to both girls’ needs. Nettie was more a member of the family than a servant, so Judith was delighted that she was accompanying them. Nettie was the only maid aboard. Since The Maiden George didn’t have an abundance of cabins Georgina and Katey, Judith’s older sister, had elected to just hire maids when they reached Bridgeport, but then they both had husbands who could help them dress on the ship if they needed assistance.
“Jack is always stubborn,” Judith replied with a grin. “But what’s she being stubborn about tonight?”
“Wouldna let me touch her hair. Wasna going tae concede on wearing a dress either till I put m’foot down. Told her I wouldna be washing those breeches she loves sae much if she didna at least dress proper for your dinners.”
Jacqueline had also had ship togs made for Judith, not that Judith planned to wear them if she didn’t need to. She’d rather deal with her skirts whipping about in the wind than feel self-conscious in sailor’s garb. But Judith had already braided her hair for tonight, quite in agreement with Jacqueline that putting her hair up in her usual coiffure on a ship was just asking for it to be blown apart by the wind. However, she moved straight to her little vanity and sat down, just to make Nettie happy, and the old girl did smile as she unbraided Judith’s hair and started arranging it more fashionably.
Although Judith’s cabin was a decent size, it was still rather cramped with a full-size bed, a wardrobe, and a comfortable reading chair, a little vanity, even a small, round table for two, and her trunks, which had been pushed up against one wall. But she didn’t plan to spend that much time in her cabin. Today had been an exception. With most of the family unpacking and recovering from the party last night as well as the early-morning departure, she’d spent most of the day reading and resting. And getting her sea legs, as Jack called the adjustment to the constant motion of the ship.
Judith didn’t mind that at all. In fact, she was exhilarated to be on a ship again. Possibly because she liked sailing even more than Jacqueline did. It was too bad Judith’s mother and sister didn’t, or she might have had more opportunities to sail with her uncle over the years.
She was looking forward to joining her family for dinner tonight in her uncle’s much larger cabin and seeing their new cousin again—well, she assumed Andrássy and his stepsister would be invited to dinner. And Nettie made sure Judith looked as if she were going to a formal dinner at home. Her gown, sheer white over blue silk and embroidered with lilacs, wasn’t new, but her new wardrobe for the Season hadn’t yet been finished because her mother hadn’t expected her to need it for another month. She’d still brought all of it along, which was why she had twice as many trunks as Jack did, clothes to wear on the ship and for the first few days in Bridgeport, and a full wardrobe that still needed a seamstress to put the finishing touches on it.
“There, you look lovely as always, lassie,” Nettie said when she had finished putting up Judith’s hair. “I’ll get a sailor in here tomorrow to dig out your jewelry box. I’m no’ sure why it’s packed wi’ the unfinished gowns.”
“Because I didn’t think I would need it until we get to America and I don’t, not just for family dinners, so there’s no need to unpack it.” Judith hurried out of her cabin before Nettie disagreed with her.
Closing her door, she jumped in surprise when a woman behind her said much too sharply, “Move out of my way!”
Judith immediately stiffened and turned to see stormy gray eyes pinned on her. The woman’s brown hair was bound up tightly, and the angry expression on her face prevented Judith from determining whether she was pretty or plain. The woman was angry because her way was blocked for mere moments? Judith couldn’t imagine who she was, and then she did. Andrássy’s stepsister, Catherine?
She opened her mouth to introduce herself, but Catherine was too impatient to let her get a word out. “Nearly knocked me over and now you just stand there gawking? I asked you to move!”
She was about to shove Judith aside when Jacqueline yanked her own door open behind them and snarled into the narrow corridor, “No screeching on the ship! Learn the bloody rules before you embark or get tossed overboard.” And Jacqueline promptly slammed her door shut again.
Trust Jack to say something outlandish when she was annoyed. The woman’s face turned red. Judith had to get out of there before she burst out laughing, which would only make the situation worse. But poor Andrássy! He hadn’t been joking last night when he said they didn’t want to meet his stepsister, and now she knew why.
She squeezed past Catherine and ran upstairs to the deck before she did in fact giggle. She waited there a few minutes for Jacqueline to join her.
“I suppose that was the stepsister?” Jack said as she came up the stairs.
“That red velvet she was wearing doesn’t bespeak a servant from the galley.”
Jack huffed, “If she was heading to her cabin, let’s hope she stays in it permanently. I heard every word. Rudeness like that—”
“Usually has a reason.” Judith put her arm through her cousin’s as they headed up to the quarterdeck. “Her face was pinched. It could have been from pain, rather than a horrible disposition.”
Jacqueline tsked. “You always see the good in people.”
Judith laughed and teased, “And you always try not to!”
“I do not! Besides, more often than not, first impressions are accurate. However, I’ll reserve judgment this once, but only because I know you want me to.”
A few minutes later they entered the captain’s cabin. Accessed from the quarterdeck with only a few steps in front of the door that led down to it, they didn’t knock. James and Georgina were on the sofa, his arm around her shoulders. Anthony and Katey were already present and sitting at the long dining table.
The large room resembled a parlor. A long sofa and stuffed chairs with two card tables were on one side, and a desk long enough to hold the charts was on the other side by the dining area. An intricately carved partition in one of the back corners closed off the bed from the rest of the room. The long bank of windows in the back had the drapes open, revealing the ocean behind the ship and the moon shining down on it.
That was Judith’s favorite place on the ship. She loved to stand and gaze out of those windows. During the day the windows offered a wonderful windless view of the ocean, and at night, if the moon wasn’t hidden behind clouds, the view was almost breathtaking.
After giving her father and sister quick kisses in greeting, she moved to the windows. She couldn’t actually see the moon with the wind currently taking them on a southwesterly path, but its light was reflected on the waves.
Jacqueline had joined her parents on the sofa, and Georgina, glancing at the pale green gown Jack was wearing, teased her daughter, “I’m surprised you’re not in breeches yet.”
“The Scot wouldn’t let me,” Jack grumbled. “I’ve a mind to bar my door.”
“Nettie means well, so why don’t you try a reasonable approach instead.”
“Reason with a Scot?” Jack said, looking directly at Anthony as she did.
Anthony burst out laughing. “Ros would box your ears for that slander if she were here.”
“Only if she could catch me.” Jacqueline grinned.
“I really wish Roslynn and Jaime were better sailors so they could have joined us.” Anthony sighed, but his spirits were too high to dwell on it. “But with the Yank indisposed for a few days, I intend to make the most of this rare situation. After all, how often do I have my two eldest daughters to myself?” He raised his glass of brandy high. “Here’s to seasickness!”
“That’s not funny, Father,” Katey said, quick to come to her husband Boyd’s defense.
“I thought it was,” James remarked.
Andrássy arrived a few minutes later. He knocked. James merely called out for him to come in. Their new cousin was formally dressed in black with a short cape with a pearl clasp and snowy cravat under it, and he was still wearing his sword. Even his greeting to everyone sounded a little too formal, or perhaps he was merely nervous.
With a smile, Georgina got up to lead him to one of the chairs, inquiring, “Is your sister coming?”
“No, she feels uncomfortable joining the family for dinner because she is not one of ‘us’ and doesn’t want to interfere or be a burden. In fact, she insists on repaying you for your generosity in allowing her to travel with you by working for her passage. Perhaps in the galley or—”
“That’s highly irregular and certainly not necessary,” Georgina said.
“Actually, it is. Catherine can be quite mercurial”—Judith and Jacqueline looked at each other and rolled their eyes—“and she will be calmer if she keeps busy.”
Was that really Catherine’s idea, Judith wondered, or was it Andrássy’s? If it was his, that might be why his stepsister was so angry tonight. Put her to work like a scullery maid?
Georgina must have had the same thought because she sounded a little annoyed when she replied, “She’s not a servant and won’t be treated as one.”
“I tried to tell her exactly that,” Andrássy said. “I just worry if she is too idle—I wish we had thought to bring material she could work with on the ship. She’s highly skilled with a needle, even makes all her own clothes, she loves sewing so much. So if any of you ladies need any clothes repaired, Catherine would be delighted to help in that regard at least.”
“I could rip a few seams, I suppose,” Georgina replied with a grin.
A few people laughed. Judith held her tongue and shook her head at Jack to keep her from mentioning that Judith could use a seamstress. She wasn’t about to saddle herself with Catherine’s company before she had a chance to form a better opinion of the young woman—if a better one could be had.
But the subject changed with the arrival of Artie and Henry announcing dinner. They got stuck in the doorway, both trying to enter at the same time. Which didn’t surprise anyone other than Andrássy. Those two old sea dogs might be the best of friends, but a stranger wouldn’t figure that out with all their bickering. Part of James’s old crew from his ten years on the high seas, they had retired when James did to become his butlers, sharing that job and this one, too, both acting as his first mates for the voyage.
They all moved to the dining table as the many platters were brought in. Andrássy was quick to pull a chair out for Jack and then sit in the one next to her. A little too quick? Judith wondered if she was going to have something to tease Jack about later.
Judith wasn’t hungry because she’d already had samples of tonight’s fare when she’d visited the galley late that afternoon. She noticed that Katey, seated beside her, was also picking at her food, but for a different reason.
“Worried about Boyd?” Judith guessed.
Katey nodded. “I hate seeing him so miserable. You’d think after so many years at sea he would have conquered his seasickness by now.”
“I don’t think it can be conquered.”
“I know.” Katey sighed. “I just wish—you know he used to have his ship’s surgeon make him sleeping drafts so he could just sleep through it. I offered to do the same for him, but he refuses because he wants to stay awake and talk to me. Yet he’s usually too sick to say a word! So I end up sleeping too much, like I did today. I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight now, while that is the only time he does manage to sleep.”
“At least his seasickness only lasts three to four days. But didn’t you bring any books to read while you keep him company?”
“I didn’t think to, no.”
“I did and I just finished a very good one. I’ll go fetch it for you in case you do have a sleepless night.”
“Eat first,” Katey insisted.
Judith grinned. “I did this afternoon.”
Telling her father she’d be right back, Judith slipped out of the captain’s cabin. A few lanterns were lit, but they weren’t needed with the deck currently bathed in moonlight. She caught sight of the moon in the eastern sky and paused. She wished it were a full moon, but it was still lovely. After she got the book, she decided to go to the rail for an unobstructed view of the moon before returning to her family. But as she hurried back upstairs, she dropped her book when she slammed smack into a ghost. And not just any ghost, but the Ghost.