Dangerous Dreams: A Novel (63 page)

Elyoner tugged at her sleeve. “Are you ill, young lady?” She took Emily’s hand, led her toward the cottage. “Let us be along. I hear hungry voices.”

Emily glanced over her shoulder, watched Isna as Elyoner tugged her along.

“Emily. Watch where you’re going . . . Emily! Pay attention! Are you asleep, lass?”

Emily stopped, looked at her with a dazed, bewildered look. “Ellie, what’s wrong with me? I’ve never felt like this before.”

Emily walked back from the Chesapeake village with Thomas Prat and Christopher Cooper. While the men were discussing what they’d learned that morning, Emily wondered why she hadn’t seen Isna in the village. Strange, but I’ve thought of little else since seeing him. Perhaps he’s hunting. How odd that he should haunt my mind like this. Foolish lass. What’s wrong with you? He’s a Savage, and—

Johnny Gibbes hurriedly approached the three, glanced behind him every few steps. “Emily, may we talk for a moment?”

“Of course.” Emily stopped. “Until tomorrow, good sirs.”

Prat said, “Aye, Emily. Thank you for your help. You’ve been indispensable.”

“Indeed you have, Mistress,” Cooper said.

Emily nodded, faced Gibbes. “What is it, Johnny? You look as if you’ve seen King Henry’s ghost.”

“Tayler’s had his eyes on me most every moment, but he’s off with the wood cutters for a while. Your father, as well. Emily, I must finish telling
you what I know of Hugh Tayler if ’tis your wish.” He looked at her with eager anticipation, like a puppy at feeding time.

Emily nodded. “Yes.”

“Back on the banks when we last spoke, I was telling you about the army . . . when our unit was in Holland . . . our first battle.” He hesitated.

Thomas Colman and Hugh Tayler had just finished chopping branches from a downed tree, now sat on the log for a rest. Tayler said, “Thomas, I’d like to finish our discussion of Emily’s and my betrothal . . . if you’re willing. The happenings of these last several days have precluded such talk, and your response weighs heavy on my mind.”

Colman nodded slightly, held his silence for a moment while he organized his thoughts. “Hugh, when we last talked, our future looked completely bleak, without hope.” He abruptly turned away, coughed for a moment. “Excuse me. This dammed cough won’t leave me.” He cleared his throat. “To continue, when the Savages came upon us, I was in the process of granting my approval of Emily’s betrothal to you. In all honesty, Hugh, I think you’d make Emily a splendid husband, and I’m
for
such a match.” He coughed again. “On the other hand, our situation is now more stable, perhaps more secure, and . . .”

“The battle was horrendous, and we were being overrun by the enemy. Lieutenant Tayler was riding beside our commander when the commander was shot from his horse; he lay on the ground bleeding to death, shouting at Tayler through the roar of the battle to help him. But Tayler sat on his mount, watched the approaching enemy, did nothing. The commander yelled at him again, told him he was dying and to take command of the troops, lead an immediate counterattack.”

“hopefully less urgent. But danger still stalks us, and all of us are at risk. Forsooth, I’ve no greater care in this world than Emily’s safety and wellbeing. So I now . . .”

“Lieutenant Tayler stared at the dying man for a moment then at the enemy, spun his horse about, and galloped to the rear.”

Emily’s eyes narrowed, softened with disappointment; her lips parted. “Johnny, he told me he saved the commander’s life and was commended for bravery.”

“grant my permission for you and Emily to marry.”

“Sir, you honor me. My lips are incapable of telling you how deeply I love her and how relentlessly I shall care for her. I—”

“Hugh, we must first overcome an obstacle.”

Tayler frowned.

“On the contrary, Mistress, he was tried and found guilty of cowardice; but some high-ranking, influential person close to the Queen arranged for the finding to be discarded on some point of order, which I do not know the facts of, and Tayler was allowed to retain his commission. He
was
, however, strongly
encouraged
by his superiors to resign . . . but he refused.”

“Hugh, if I tell Emily I’ve betrothed her without first obtaining her consent, a fury such as God himself has never seen will descend upon me, regardless of the degree of esteem in which she holds you. So while I enthusiastically agree to your betrothal, and indeed pray for it, our best—our
only—chance for
realizing
it will be for me to approach her in a subtle, gentle manner that ensures her willing concurrence.” But how shall I ever do so? I know not how to influence my daughter with any grace or chance of success whatsoever . . . but I must . . . her life depends on it. Only Hugh will love her and protect her if I should die.

Emily said, “And what of his wound, his limp?”

Gibbes snickered. “That, dear mistress, came from his
next
commander, a major, in a pistol and sword duel several months before we sailed from England . . . after the major found out that—forgive me for discussing such matters with a lady—that Tayler had been having a lengthy lovers’ affair with his wife and that she’d become pregnant by him. When Tayler and the major faced each other, Tayler tried to back away and run; but as he turned, the major fired his pistol, hit him in the back of his leg, and laid him on the ground. The major had too much honor to kill a fallen man, so he told him, with sword in hand, to be gone from England as soon as he recovered and that he’d kill him if ever he saw him again. Tayler then resigned his commission, hid out for several months as he looked for a means of escape. He eventually heard of Governor White’s search for colonists and secretly arranged passage.”