Our Little Life (Silence And Shadows Book 2) - Dodie Bishop

Our Little Life (Silence And Shadows Book 2) by Dodie Bishop

Book excerpt

Our sail to fetch Penny home from Hampshire was rather more comfortable than our earlier one returning from Southampton, after leaving her safely at Chewton Court with Susannah’s grandmother when threats were made to her life. This time our passage was arranged by Susannah’s father, though the King must have had a hand in it too or someone had on his behalf, for we were given the captain’s spacious cabin on a Royal Navy Man-o’-War first rate ship of the line, taking up the whole width of the aftcastle beneath expansive windows. After a dawn sailing, and with the speed expected of this ship, the captain would reclaim his space overnight so no one would be ousted to a hammock with the crew as had been expected of me on that first voyage.

We boarded HMS Persephone at the Deptford victualling yard where she was being made ready for a voyage to the Americas and would land us at Southampton before heading out to the Atlantic. That this passage took only three days to arrange proved the level of influence behind it. We learnt from Sir Richard that the King would grant us a marriage ceremony in the Chapel Royal at Whitehall on our return. Not something I had ever foreseen in any notion of my future … just like my spell in the Tower. And this time my father would be overjoyed. Though he would not learn of it from me. Cristo. I began to understand just how different my life would be now as Susannah’s husband. Eighty guns and a six-hundred-man crew would do that.

Lady Sylvia’s coach waited for us on the dockside when we were delivered there by one of the ship’s tenders in mid-afternoon after making excellent time with a favourable wind, and we were soon on our way back to Chewton Court and Penny. ‘She’ll be overjoyed to see you. You’ve been apart for rather longer than we’d expected, I think.’

‘And I shall be overjoyed to see her.’

She did indeed look very happy at the prospect and the contrast her appearance made now with the last time we had travelled together in this coach – on our way back to London with Sam Carter still imprisoned in the Tower – was remarkable. ‘You look quite breathtaking, cara mia.’

She closed her eyes. ‘I think we both look a little more relaxed now.’ Yet she chewed her lip, still. ‘So, I must tell Penny I’m her mother? It feels rather daunting now I truly have to face it.’

I put my arm around her. ‘I’m sure she’ll accept it without question. Children do at this age.’ I shrugged. ‘So much knowledge comes from what they’re told.’

She smiled. ‘I don’t think I can tell her Sam is her father yet. How could she understand? It’s probably best to make one revelation at a time. Though–’

I moved in to kiss her. ‘Don’t try to plan it too much.’ I kissed her again, which turned out to be a very pleasant, if frustrating, way of passing quite a considerable amount of time. After a while we were forced to stop, for consummating our desire in a moving coach in broad daylight seemed neither feasible nor entirely proper. I rested my head back against the soft squabs, whilst Susannah stared out of the window. We were driving through what appeared to be an extensive tract of woodland. We both panted a little. ‘That was probably somewhat foolish of us.’

‘Never start what you cannot finish.’

This made us laugh like silly children which took up further time.

Susannah fanned herself. ‘Glazed windows are all very well but not without means to open them.’

‘Perhaps our activities haven’t been especially helpful?’

She gave me a look suggesting my words were superfluous before putting her hand inside my shirt again, still untucked from our earlier goings on. ‘It’s fine for you. You’ve shed your coat and waistcoat while I have nothing I can decently remove.’

She moved her hand down towards my breeches. ‘Stop, I beg you–’ She did not.

‘I think I’ll make you a little hotter. See how you enjoy it.’ She did halt then and flew to the window. ‘Jesu. We’re very nearly there.’

She laughed, watching me try desperately to tuck-in my shirt, and struggle into my waistcoat and coat. My cravat had gone missing somewhere on the floor as had the tie for my hair. In truth, Susannah’s hair looked somewhat dishevelled too, and her pale green gown decidedly creased. ‘Merda.’ We would arrive looking like we had just been … well, doing what we had been.

‘Er, Raphael?’

I looked at her and saw she held my cravat and ribbon. ‘And when I said nearly there, I didn’t actually mean all that close. Forgive me.’ Her lips twitched.

I frowned. ‘How close is not all that close, exactly?’ I began to feel decidedly suspicious.

Her eyes widened. ‘Perhaps, half an hour or so.’

I grinned and moved to her, taking her face in my hands. ‘Perfect. Shall I now remove all your clothing so you might arrive at your grandmother’s naked?’ I kept my face entirely serious, shifting to pin her so she could not move at all, one hand already reaching behind her to find the laces to her skirts.

Her eyes widened and she took a sharp breath. ‘For God’s sake, Raphael. I beg you, don’t.’

I saw something cross her face so fleetingly I barely had time to register it. ‘Cara?’ I pulled her to me and spoke softly into her ear. ‘Very well. Not now but I give you my word I shall do so later.’ I shifted to search her face. And became even more alarmed. ‘You didn’t really think I’d do it here?’

She moved away, appearing vexed and uncertain. ‘How would I know what you might do. You’re Italian.’

Said with the same sense of suspicious disdain her grandmother had once used to me. I laughed. Though, in truth, I was not amused at all. I was dismayed. ‘Si. I’m found out. Undressing ladies in moving coaches is indeed a common pastime for my countrymen.’ Thinking of it though, I had probably spoken more truth than I meant.

She gave me a hard stare. ‘Hmm.’

I smiled and watched her, holding her gaze. Hoping. Waiting for her to come back to me. When she sighed and returned into my arms, I closed my eyes. Thank God. ‘Forgive me, cara. I frightened you, I think.’ I must be more careful with her. Perhaps we did not know each other quite as well as we thought we did. But we would. I crossed myself.

‘What?’

I shrugged. ‘Habit.’

She kissed me for some minutes and then was quite herself again. ‘Well, you can make it up to me later.’

‘I intend to. Believe me.’

‘Come here.’ She lifted my cravat and fastened it for me. ‘Turn.’ She smoothed my hair with her fingers and tied it back.

Now it was my turn to tidy hers, pinning up the loose strands. ‘There. We’re respectable again.’

‘And just in time for now we are truly arrived.’

When the coach clattered in under the gate arch and on up the gravel drive towards the house and the sea beyond, I felt her press against me. ‘Don’t be afraid.’

She laughed, shakily. ‘I think I am, a little. Penny is about to discover not only am I able to speak, but also I’m her mother.’

‘She’ll be delighted by both.’