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“I didn’t earn it. She refused to marry me.”
“But I said you could have it either way.”
“And if I took it…what else does she have in the way of a dowry?”
He conceded with a nod. “That’s true, but I was wrong in trying to trap you into marrying Evelina. You won the boat fair and square.”
“Tempting as that may be, I can’t consciously take it. It would only remind me—” he broke off as an image of Evelina came to mind. Her beauty and delicate ways would forever haunt his memory if he kept the boat. No, it wouldn’t do to be reminded of her daily. It would be pure torture.
“How’s that?” Clive inquired.
Ryan met her father’s gaze, snapping him out of his thoughts. “That I wasn’t able to help Evelina. I failed her.”
Though he hated imagining her with any other man the truth was, he had serious misgivings she would be able to secure a decent husband without the Lady Evelina. And she needed to. He didn’t want Evelina spending the rest of her life alone. She needed someone to look after her and help her face her phobias or at the least keep them at bay. Her father couldn’t live forever.
Clive watched him for a moment and said, “I’m not sure about that. She recently started seeing a psychiatrist.”
He nodded. “Yes, she told me. But that had nothing to do with me. She sought help when I wasn’t even around.”
“So what will you do now?”
“I’m riding south to Toledo to join the crew of the Spartan. It’s a clipper headed for Boston.”
“Boston, eh?”
“Ya, they had stopped at Placid looking for extra crew hands after they had taken on some wet railroad ties up in the Soo.”
“That will make for a heavy load.”
“I’ve always wanted to sail the ocean. This could be the opportunity I’ve been waiting for.”
“I see.” He paused. “I suppose you’ve got to follow your heart.”
“I do.”
“You will be gone long then?”
“Yes, but I don’t have any intention of ever coming back here, Clive.”
“So this is goodbye?”
“Yes, that is if we don’t meet up on some voyage again.”
“Not likely. I’m getting too old and have asked to be assigned shipyard duty. I want to spend more time with my family. Retirement for me is spending less time out on the water.”
“Then I suppose this is goodbye.” He held out his hand.
Clive hesitated before reluctantly shaking Ryan’s hand. “I can’t deny I wish this had a different ending but I wish you well Mr. Colby.”
“You’ll say goodbye to Evelina properly for me, won’t you? We didn’t part on good terms.”
“Of course.”
With a nod and a dispirited heart, Ryan left the man standing in the shipyard watching him leave. Though he had admitted they might never see each other again, he had no idea how nearly true that could be. If he had, Ryan most likely would have reconsidered his departure.
* * *
It had been nearly nine days since he joined the clipper, Spartan, in Toledo. He had managed to join the crew just as it had pulled out of port. It sailed for the Welland Canal where it connected Lake Erie to Lake Ontario and allowed ships to bypass the Niagara Falls safely from one lake to the other. From there, they sailed north to the mouth of the St. Lawrence and beyond where they navigated several more canals and locks along the St. Lawrence Seaway until ultimately reaching the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They had just left the calm waters of the gulf behind and were approaching the mouth of the Atlantic Ocean when a storm brewing on the horizon greeted them.
