Or not. She could just retrieve her work basket and slip back to her wagon and leave in the morning. Just where she would go, she could work out later. There’s always plenty of time when one waits on sheep.
Beti hauled a deep breath into her lungs. Thus fortified, she stepped into the ordinary. Zeke stayed with Nellie. She didn’t trust her with anyone else at this point.
Aggie and Alice waited at the entrance to the room that quieted when she crested the doorway. Aggie came up to her right side.
Aggie placed a gentle hand on her arm. “Just tell them what ye told me, it will be all right.”
Beti rebelled. She didn’t owe these people an explanation about her life. She raised her chin and scanned the room. Reverend Edwards stood in front of a small group of hardened faces. Captain Taylor stood in the middle of the room with everyone else.
“Miss Sigridsdatter.” Captain Taylor bowed. “It appears that Reverend Edwards has heard some disturbing news and would like to have it clarified.”
She straightened her back and crossed the room to her work basket. “I am sorry to hear that the reverend is disturbed. I am unclear as to how I may help.” She picked up her basket adjusted her loom and crossed the room once more. Aggie raised an eyebrow with a half-smile.
“Are ye the daughter of the infamous pirate Red the Black?” Edwards shouted.
Beti turned to Captain Taylor. Behind him Moses and Gordon stood with arms crossed. These men who claimed to be her friends. The kindness in the captain’s eyes spurred her on. He was giving her the benefit of the doubt. That was a first. They may not like what she had to say, but at least she was permitted to have a say.
The twinkle from her father's eye as he pointed to the book and said “the treasure is here” further stiffened her resolve. She must not lie. Indeed, she was proud of her father. It had not occurred to her until that very moment that she would no more deny her own father than she would her Father in heaven. Whatever the outcome of this encounter, she had gotten a fair shake from her friends. What more could she ask for? She would be content with that.
“May I be permitted to speak?” Beti asked Captain Taylor.
The captain nodded his answer, casting his silent order around the room. Quiet settled through the room leaving a void waiting to be filled with her explanation. Beti’s nerves bounced up and down in the empty space.
She took a deep breath, wishing she held her father’s Bible rather than the handle of her worn work basket.
“First, I should thank you. Each one of you has allowed me to travel with you this far toward my dream of settling in Kentucky.” She glanced around the room. Irritation rustled through it. “Since I was a small girl, I wished to see the west. My mother told wonderful stories of traveling through the mountains of Virginia when she was a young bride. My father settled us near the sea after she died, and somehow her dream became my own.”
Beti look down at her hands and unclenched her fingers from the handle of her basket. “Yes. My father was Billy Boatman—"
Chatter erupted in the room. Captain Taylor swung around and let out an earsplitting whistle. He was greeted with wide eyed stunned silence. “Let the woman speak.”
“I have only two things to say. I should be leaving this wagon train in the morning. You will no longer need to worry about traveling with me. The second thing I wish to leave you with a thought. After my father repented and received his pardon from our eternal King, he applied to and was granted a pardon from our earthly King George.
Beti scanned the room one more time and saw that nothing had changed. She hadn't really expected it to, but she had hoped. “I offer you my sincere apology for not telling you my real name. I thought at the time it would be expedient. I understand now that I was wrong. I also offer you my apology should my father have done anything to harm any of you. He is no longer here to offer you his own remonstrance, but I know he would have offered it with a heart full of the love of God. I can do no more. I go in peace, and I pray that should our paths cross again we may meet in peace.”
Beti turned from the crowd and headed to the door.
Thomas Swift met her halfway there. “Miss Beti, I should like to offer you my escort back to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. There you shall find no animosity and people filled with the love of God.”
Alice arrived at her elbow before Thomas finished speaking. “Do you say you’ll join us.” She laid a hand on Beti's forearm, her knowing eyes soft and welcoming.
Aggie slipped a hand into the crook of Beti's arm. “That will shut them up.” Tears filled Beti’s eyes, and tilted her chin to keep them from falling. “Let's get you outside,” Aggie continued.
They were exiting the main chamber of the tavern when a tall distinguished man wearing a fine thick woolen cloak approached them. He wore his gray hair longer than the current fashion. He was a barrel of a man who if not careful would fill a doorway. He spoke to her in soft lilting tones. “Miss Behethlan Boatman.”
It was a statement and question at the same time. Beti stopped. His eyes were the palest blue she had ever seen. It reminded her of tales of the great ice flows in the north where her mother came from. He was tall and bear-chested. A graying beard hid the laugh lines she felt must be there around his mouth to match the squinting lines around his eyes, for a kindness and gentleness emanated from the man toward her the type of which she’d not felt in a long time. She would wager that his children called him “Papa” rather than the more formal “Father”, and she imagined he had a large family full of children clambering into his lap. Behind him stood the man who had tried to speak with her at the tavern the day she hired Toby.
Equally as tall, but he was not as trustworthy as his leader. He was too young to be comfortable. He had a hawklike face that lacked the kindness more gentle curves invoked.
“Who is asking?"
“I am Hagbard emissary to King Anders of Fjelloyricket.”
Beti remain glued to the floor. Were these people from her mother's kingdom?
“I should very much like to speak with ye, milady.” His voice was gruff but not threatening.
“Now is not a good time.” Aggie whispered into her ear. “Haven't you been through enough today?”
She couldn't disagree with that. She took another deep breath as her thoughts swirled around her. She handed her work basket to Aggie, and brought her rifle around to the front.
“What do you wish to speak with me about?”
“Let us find a table and sit down, or perhaps you would rather speak outside near your wagon?”
“Absolutely not.” Aggie stood up to her full height, her grip tightening on Beti's arm.
“I will hear what you have to say. But let us find a table in this chamber.” Beti scanned the room and approached an empty table near the bar. She took the chair that allowed her to face the room. No more surprises for this day. Aggie took the seat next to her. The big man, who said his name was Hagbard sat down across from her with the man from the yard next to him.
Toby crossed the room and headed out the front door. Immediately Zeke entered the room.
“Nellie?” She whispered as he neared.
“Toby,” he answered.
A calm rippled through the anxiety that troubled Beti's insides for the better part of an hour, and she turned to Hagbard.
“Now what did you wish to see me about?”
“Miss Boatman,” Hagbard began. “King Anders has sent me to speak with you about your intentions for the throne. He grows old and his son…”
“Ye need to come home with us milady.” The other stranger broke in in the lilting tones she associated with her mother, but from him they had a dangerous sound with an edge of threat.
“She is not going anywhere with you.” Zeke took up the space on the wall to Beti’s right.
Beti was pleased with his presence, but she did not need him to speak for her. She cast a glance over to quiet him. “And how am I to know that ye speak the truth? I have never seen ye before today.”
Hagbard put a hand up to silence his underling. It was a gentle movement for so large a paw.
“Explain your business here with this lady,” Zeke demanded.
“Please excuse Agmund. He is still very young and zealous for his position,” he said to Beti, barely tilting his head he addressed Zeke. “Our business with this lady does not concern ye. I will not speak of it with ye without her permission."
A whirlwind of ideas hurricaned around her mind. Certainly it could not hurt to hear what the man had to say. Then she remembered the two men from the outhouse just an hour ago. She was thankful for Zeke. She was also thankful for Toby, but this was her life and it was time once again to make a new decision. As long as she stayed here in this public chamber, she should be safe. She slipped her hand into Zeke’s “I will hear what he has to say.”
Frustration blustered through his countenance. “I will be right there.” He pointed to the doorway to the room where the rest of the wagon train still debated their way forward. Zeke moved to that doorway and stayed there. Before long, he was joined by Moses.
Hagbard nodded and waited until Zeke had left them. His eyes questioned the presence of Aggie. “She stays,” Beti said.
“Ye have the look of your mother.”
She couldn't help the smile that blossomed on her face. “Ye knew my mother?”
“Ya. There is much to tell you. Sigrid played with my daughter Astrid and her sisters.”
Hagbard painted pictures of her mother’s country. Of young girls playing in the woods and by the seashore. His chuckles brought her memories alive. And what she hadn’t seen, her heart filled in. Her mother in the meadow near a castle made of stone.
Her heart broke again, and she longed for her mother and her father. What would they do?
“Now I come to the reason of my visit. King Anders grows old. He has two sons, your mother’s cousins.”
“Neither of them is fit,” Agmond interjected.
Hagbard rolled his eyes and raised his hand for silence once again.
“Your mother’s cousins are young. They have not taken to their training as was hoped, and I promised your grandfather that should I deem it necessary, I would come for you and see if you would do what your mother would not.”
“What would my mother not do?”
“She would not come home. She would not be queen.”
“And why would she not come when her father called her?”
Hagbard hailed the innkeeper. “A tankard for me.” He raised an eyebrow in question.
“Coffee for us,” Beti told the innkeeper.
Hagbard fell silent while he waited for his punch to arrive. Beti rested back in her chair, the butt of her rifle on the floor next to her. Aggie fairly vibrated in the chair next to her. Zeke remained within sight.
“’Tis a long story. And one that must be told, but it is not an easy tale to tell.” Hagbard nodded to Zeke. “Yer young man is diligent. I find that commendable."
Beti saw no need to correct Hagbard and his assessment of her relationship with Zeke. He was not her young man, but she was still comforted by his presence.
Once Hagbard had taken a deep draft from his tankard, he wiped his mouth and began again. “Your grandfather was a hard man. I admired him. I stood with him until the day he died. But he had no use for daughters, only strong sons. Your mother felt his neglect, and nothing I could do could make it up to her. I included her with my daughters whenever I could, but when your father came along, she went with him, and she never came back.”
“So why do you come to me?”
“Your mother’s cousins are not suited for the responsibilities that are coming their way. Your grandfather’s brother is not the man your grandfather was. He could not bear for his sons to do without anything. They are soft as eiderdown. All decisions increase their comfort. They care nothing for their people. Your people.”
“We need you to come home my lady,” Agmond once again interjected. This time Hagbard did nothing but rest back in his chair with his hand still on his tankard. “The country will fall if we do not have a reliable monarch. You are the granddaughter of the great king. You must come home Lady, you must.”
A seed of obligation took root in her thoughts. What was so terribly wrong with her cousins?
Aggie gripped her hand and gave her a look as though all the world has just been handed in her lap and what in the world was she waiting for? Grab it her eyes seem to say. But Beti didn't know what to do. She hadn’t been raised to be a monarch. What in the world did a queen do? How she wished her mother was there or her dear papa. She looked over at Zeke standing against the wall. She needed time to think.
It was one thing for her mama to give up the throne for she had papa then and her child. Beti didn't have anything but her sheep and Nelly. She took another look at Zeke. She needed time to think. And she had to talk to Toby. And how was she going to sleep in her wagon tonight? After the two men accosted her, she was concerned to even step off the porch let alone make her way in the dark to her wagon. But Toby would be there.
“Well gentlemen, ye have given me a great deal to think about. At this point I don't even know what questions to ask. We leave it here for tonight. I presume ye will still be here in the morning?”
Hagbard lifted his tankard and drained it to the bottom. “Aye. We will see you in the morning and answer any of yer questions then. And fear not, the men who accosted you tonight will not come near you as long as we are here.”
A small smidgen of anxiety was relieved by their declaration. She was more comforted by the fact that Zeke and Moses Woodbridge and Gordon Sharp and Captain Isaac Taylor were nearby. Hagbard did make her dream of papas, but he was not her father and she was sure he had his own reasons to come this far.
Hagbard and his counterpart left after Beti rose from the table. She and Aggie made their way to Zeke.
“What was that all about?” Mose nearly shouted into the room.
“Keep ye voice down.” Aggie ordered. “She has been offered a kingdom."
Mose grinned widely. “What kind of kingdom?"
“I haven't been offered a kingdom,” Beti countered. “They are emissaries from my mother’s country. It seems that my great uncle is growing old and it’s time to pick a successor and I am next in line.”
* * *
Zeke stilled against the wall. Daughter of a pirate. A princess. Heir to a throne. Here in Virginia.
“Are ye gonna take it?” Mose’s lack of filter did come in handy sometimes. “Cause I do not think I would. I mean stuck in a castle all day, ordering people about. Intrigues. Murders. Uncertain food. Poisonings.”
“Hush.” Aggie gave Mose a little push.
Beti smoothed escaping tendrils from her face. “I think I will retire for the evening. It has been a long day.” Beti retrieved her basket once again and turned and headed toward the door. Zeke pushed away from the wall and followed her outside.
“Did they bring any documentation to prove who they are?”
Beti looked up into his face. “I did not ask them. Honestly, I was so surprised I have not asked them anything yet. Out of the blue, two men have told me that they came all this way to see if I am willing to go home with them to my mother's kingdom. I hardly know what to think.”
“Ye are right to be skeptical.”
“Sure I am. Right now I just need to be quiet. So many things…” Trembling, she sank down onto the same half log bench where they had sat not an hour before. Toby and Nellie arrived. The dog settled on Beti’s feet.
Toby pulled the hat off his head crunching it in his hands. “Miss Beti, I thought ye should know that I care not a wit who ye father was, as if ye had a choice. I will be staying with ye as long as ye have need.”
Zeke felt a little spark of thankfulness for the man. He suspected the same emotion was responsible for the little hitch in her voice when she responded. “I thank ye, Toby.”
“Will we be leaving in the morning with the wagon train?”
“I will let you know shortly.”
"I will see to the sheep." He disappeared into the gloaming. He’d misjudged the man. Well things like that could be fixed. He’d see to it directly. After he was done taking care of Beti.
The night air was refreshingly cool. Clouds moved across the sky taking the rain east. Beti said nothing as she sat peering at the night. Zeke tucked his coat around her shoulders to give a little warmth to calm the deep shivers that rattled her frame.
“I think I'm just going to sit here for a few minutes before I climb into the wagon.”
“Take all the time you need.”
They sat there as clouds blew across the sky. Laughter and boisterous voices leaked out of the tavern. Rhythmic stomping accompanied the twin fiddles which started up again. The shaking in his coat eased.
“I believe I owe you an apology,” she said.
Zeke waited. She needed to talk. He would listen.
“All the time I was growing up I sort of knew my father was a pirate, but I didn't really know what that meant. After my mother died. He moved us to the sea. I don't think he ever stopped longing for the sea.” She looked up to the clouds that were scuttling across the sky. “Men would come looking for treasure. We called them looters.” She glanced at him then. Vulnerability lit by the soft candlelight just beginning to glow through the windows shown from her. Her need to unburden herself chained his arms to his sides.
“Red would laugh when they asked him where the treasure was. It’s here.” She pointed to her flat palm. “It was his Bible. He would tell them about Jesus. I was always surprised at the number of people who’d never heard.”
He pointed with his thumb toward the outhouse.
“Yep,” She continued. “More of the same. I think they are the ones who dug up his grave the day we buried him.”
He broke the chains and put his arm around her shoulders. Beti shrugged a bit to sit up straight. He brought his hand to rest between her shoulders. “I thought I had grown accustomed to being a bit of an outcast.” A sigh escaped. She studied her fingers. “I should have accepted that and not attempted to be friends with people who would not in good conscience befriend me. For that I am sorry.”
The door slapped closed behind Aggie. “I thought I might find ye here.”
Beti glanced at her and went back to gazing at the sky.
“I came to see how ye faired.”
“I am well.”
Aggie gave him a look that he supposed meant he should leave. Zeke folded his arms and leaned back against the wall. The women could talk if they would, but he would not leave Beti Boatman’s side. Beti Boatman. Daughter of a pirate. A family had much to do with the forming of a man, but Toby was right. She had no more say in who her father was than he had. No longer could he wonder at her courage. He would have loved to see the old pirate’s face as he told looters the treasure was in the scriptures.
He still hadn’t worked out what he was going to do with her yet, but there was time, and no matter the outcome, tonight he would not leave Beti Boatman until he knew her rudder was righted.
“Ye started a split in the train.” Aggie leaned against a pillar,
“Aye.” Thomas Swift added as he came through the door followed by his sister. “Just about down the middle. The Captain says ye can stay, and Edwards says ye should not.”
Beti paled, and a little shiver returned. Zeke refrained from hauling her up close to share his warmth. She didn’t need anyone giving credence to a bad reputation.
“Ye have a place with us should ye wish it.” Alice’s soft voice was laced with concern. Zeke was grateful to the two for the offer, but he hoped Beti would continue west to her dream. The hardships she’d endured so far on this trip were nothing to what her upbringing had been like. Surely she would choose her western dream. Her becoming queen of a faraway country was unthinkable wasn’t it? Of course it was because he wasn’t ready to separate from her yet. While it must be inevitable since he was in no condition to have a wife, it did not mean he was ready to give her up. No sir. He was going to stay right by her side until she decided what to do. Then he would try to honor her wishes.