Page 92 of Echo in the Wind

Exhausted from the night before, Joanna went back to her cabin and promptly fell asleep. By the time she awoke, it was late morning. After she’d washed, Gabrielle helped her to dress in the green day gown.

She enjoyed a late breakfast with Zoé, who had been up for hours. After breakfast, the two of them climbed the companionway to the main deck, bustling with activity. The air was cool and the sky blue and clear, making her glad for her straw hat, but she had no need for a cloak. Donet was huddled with his quartermaster in the prow. Not wishing to disturb him, she went to the rail and Zoé followed.

In the harbor, gulls shrieked, vying for scraps. Men shouted to each other as they loaded ships tied up at the quay.

He had said they would sail tonight for Le Havre. The first time he had kissed her it had been on the terrace of his home here in Lorient. She couldn’t help but wonder if she would ever return. After Paris, would he sail to England to keep his promise to take her home? It was what she had wanted, after all.

Chapter 22

Le Havre

The ship arrived at Le Havre the next afternoon. Joanna and Zoé were on deck to glimpse the harbor bustling with activity.

“Does it remind you of London?” said a familiar voice as Donet came up behind them. Joanna turned to see him in his familiar black coat, white shirt with lace at his throat and black breeches tucked into polished boots. On his head was a fancier tricorne than the one he’d worn that first night in Bognor.

Zoé grinned up at him. “Bonjour, mon oncle.”

He mussed her hair. “Where’s your hat, ma petite?”

“In my cabin,” she said and dashed away to where M’sieur Bequel stood near the helm.

Joanna met Donet’s gaze, her body thrumming with his nearness. She had slept alone in her cabin last night and missed him. He had not asked her to come.

She wanted to lean back against his chest and savor his familiar scent, but to do so would announce to all their intimate relationship. Even a wife might not do so. Instead, she grasped the rail with both hands and faced the harbor, letting the wood anchor her to the deck.

“No, it doesn’t remind me of London,” she said. “There are many ships, of course, but the buildings are much taller than the warehouses on the Thames. Some are five stories high. Many look like homes.”

“Le Havre has become a favored place for the aristocracy to build homes. When Louis XV’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour, wanted to visit the sea, he brought her here.”

“But that must have been long ago. Yet you remember her?”

“All of France remembers her, my lady. She was well educated, smart and gave the king wise advice, even in foreign affairs. She was only three and forty when she died, the year I left Saintonge. I still remember it. Even Voltaire mourned her death.”

Joanna didn’t know how she felt about Donet admiring a king’s mistress, but perhaps that contributed to his being content with her own status. The French would likely think little of a nobleman taking a mistress.

Zoé and M’sieur Bequel came to join them at the rail. The girl motioned to a distant point in the harbor and asked the quartermaster, “What is that round fortress over there with the building on top?”

Joanna remarked to Donet, “You’d never see that on London’s quay. It looks positively medieval.”

“Nearly so.” He stepped to the rail. His arm touched hers, lighting a fire in her breast. “That’s la citadelle du Havre de Grâce. It has guarded the harbor since the sixteenth century.”

“’Tis very old, little one,” M’sieur Bequel explained to Zoé.

“London’s port is on the Thames,” said Joanna, thinking of another difference, “while Le Havre is a seaport, open to the Channel.”

“I can see you are in fine form today,” said Donet. “’Tis true that London’s port has its differences, but Le Havre lies at the mouth of the Seine, the river that runs through Paris.”

“Paris!” piped up Zoé, who was petting the black cat that had slinked up to them. “When will we be there, Oncle Jean?”

“If we leave today, our carriage should get us there by tomorrow evening.”

Zoé beamed her happiness. “Will I get to see Versailles?”

“There aren’t many children at Versailles, ma petite, but you will see Notre Dame and all of Paris. My townhouse is well situated. Perhaps M’sieur Bequel can take you and Lady Joanna for a day’s trip around the city.”

“Oh, yes!” exclaimed Zoé.

“A day in Paris would be a welcome change,” said the quartermaster. “We might even see more of those air balloons floating over the Tuileries.”