Page 56 of Once Upon a Reckless Rogue

“Of course.” He kissed her and gathered her close. “Te amo, Elena.”

“Te amo, Tomas.”

*

Thomas understood why Elena was feeling down. It was a big thing to move to a whole other country, leaving everything behind, learning a new language and a new culture. Now that she was actually on the ship, it was suddenly real. She must be scared as well. He didn’t want this for her, but he genuinely believed that once she was settled in his home that he could give her a good life. She just had to trust him.

During the day he wrote his reports, explaining exactly what had happened from the time he stepped foot in Spain until he left, in code, as was expected. Frankston had also given him reports to deliver. Thomas found that drinking ginger tea kept the seasickness at bay and preferred it to the candied variety. They began to know the crew by name, and Elena practiced her English on them. They were amused by her mistakes.

Then one night the captain told him that they would be sailing into a storm and to get the cabin prepared. Thomas returned to the cabin and saw that Elena was looking out the porthole. “There is a storm coming,” she said.

“Yes, the captain told me to make sure that things are secure. This could get scary, and I want to reassure you that I will be here the whole time.”

Elena immediately looked around the cabin. “What can we stow? Where do we put everything? The trunks are heavy; will they move?”

“I have no idea,” he said, just as a flash of lightning split the sky.

Elena jumped, and Thomas wrapped his arms around her. “It will be all right. We will sing your mother’s song, or at least I will hum it. We will stay safe in the bed as there is a lee sheet so we don’t get tipped out.”

“We can be tipped out?” Her hand went over her mouth.

Thomas took hold of her hands as he explained, “The lee sheet creates a barrier so we can’t be tossed out. The ship may roll a bit; it is unavoidable. If we can just get through this storm we can get through anything. We are so close now to England. This will all be over soon.”

Her eyes were huge. “My father’s bag.”

“We can put it in the trunk. It will be safe there.” Thunder shook the ship, and Elena gave a short scream. “Let’s get into bed and try and sleep through it.”

“Sleep through it?” she cried.

“Not exactly what I meant.” Just then, the ship rolled steeply to the left, which took both of them to the floor. They scrambled back to the bed and climbed in, Thomas fighting to get the lee sheet in place.

“The light! It could catch fire!” Elena said.

Thomas fell out of the bed and scrambled on his hands and knees, extinguished the small lantern, and stumbled back to the bed, trying to wrestle with the lee sheet to put it back in place. Lightning hit some part of the ship, and the sound of splintering wood and the sound of the crew shouting made Elena put her hands over her ears. She started singing, her head glued to Thomas’s chest as he bracketed his legs against the frame of the bed to keep them from sliding. More lightning cracked open the sky, lighting the whole cabin, then immediately after, thunder rumbled and shook the whole ship as it fought its way through the waves. There were screams from above as more timber splintered and crashed. This continued as the ship rocked and thumped through the waves and then quieted. The storm was over.

“Are you all right?” Thomas asked her, but her hands were still over her ears, and her eyes were tightly closed. He pried her hands away from her ears and she opened her eyes. He saw such fear in her eyes. “It’s over, my love. You are safe.”

“Is it finished? Truly?” Elena looked out the porthole to see the clouds still lighting up, with the thunder rumbling like an empty stomach far away from the ship. The storm, as violent as it was, thankfully was over as quickly as it began.

“Yes, now I want you to rest while I go up and see if I can help with anything. I’ll come back soon.” She nodded and lay back down, exhausted by the events of just an hour past.

Thomas sidestepped and climbed over various objects as he made his way topside. He was not prepared for the chaos that was the top deck. A mast was down, and men were scurrying like mice to unrig the sails. He saw the captain on the bridge and climbed the stairs to join him.

“Is Mrs. Markham all right, Captain?”

“Yes, she is not good in storms on land and I’m afraid this one may have traumatized her for any further sailing trips.”

“It was fierce, I’ll say that, but thankfully short.” They both looked to the starboard side and where the lightning display still lit up the clouds on the horizon.

“How will we fix the mast?” Thomas asked.

“We won’t. We are close enough to the London port to limp in under two.”

“Can I help in any way?”

“You can help restowing our supplies and cargo.”

“Thank you, I will. Is anyone hurt?”