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Chapter 3
“He’s what?” Honor asked, her eyes wide.
“Don’t you see?” Serenity asked Honor excitedly as the full implication hit her. “’Tis the only thing that makes sense. He was so angry this afternoon, so accusatory. He has to be the Sea Wolf and he thought I knew him! ThatIwould betray his identity.”
Honor scoffed. “Serenity, you’re jumping to conclusions again.”
“Nay,” she said, her mind positive. “Not this time. I know I’m right.”
“That’s what you said about the butcher being in league with a French spy to steal the secrets of our new government.”
“’Tis not the same.”
“What about thinking the Widow Pennington was the one who was pilfering the collection plate, or that the chandler, Mr. Phipps, was working with the British government to—”
“Very well, Honor,” she said, irritated at her sister. “You’ve made your point quite nicely.”
Honor put her arm around Serenity’s shoulders and gave a comforting squeeze. “I’m not trying to be harsh, sister. But God blessed you with an incredible imagination and I’m grateful for the wonderful stories you create. It’s just that you need to remember that life is never as incredible as your dreams. Fantastical things just don’t happen to everyday people like us.”
Too bad Serenity didn’t believe that. Incredible things could happen to people who were just minding their own business. After all, Moses had just been tending his flock when the Lord spoke to him. David had been a humble shepherd until he faced Goliath.
Extraordinary things could happen. Extraordinary thingsdidhappen!
And her pirate could be the Sea Wolf.
Nay,she corrected herself. Her piratewasthe Sea Wolf. She would prove it!
Hours went by slowly as Serenity waited for the house to quiet. She’d never noticed before how long it took her father and brother to find their beds.
Nervously she paced the floor of her darkened bedroom, her black kidskin riding boots whispering across the pine boards.
An hour ago she’d sneaked into her brother’s room to borrow some clothes while he sat below discussing his latest story with her father.
Jonathan’s large black breeches felt strange, and not very secure; she’d made a belt from one of her sashes, and Serenity prayed it wouldn’t break and send her pants falling into a pool around her feet.
She must blend in with the dock workers tonight. No one must ever suspect she was a woman alone, or there would be much more than Mrs. O’Grady’s gossip to fear!
She knelt by the fireplace and smeared soot across her face, neck, and hands, hoping to conceal herself in the darkness.
As she continued to wait, she debated the sanity of her mission.
How was she to ever find her mysterious hero? She didn’t even know the name of his ship.
Yet she was confident that she knew enough details to distinguish his ship from the others. Pulling out from her pocket the small book where she made notes for her stories, she reviewed what Jonathan had told her about the Sea Wolf’s ship. It was a hundred-gun frigate, painted black and trimmed in gold with a serpent masthead.
How hard couldthatbe to find? Out of the six ships that had come in today, only two had been black—one trimmed in red, the other in gold. And that one had also been a frigate.
She smiled.
Imagine, an interview with the Sea Wolf! She would be the talk of the Colonies.
For once she would be like her idol, Lady Mary. She would brave unknown dangers to uncover this story.
No matter what, she wouldn’t return home tonight until she had interviewed the Sea Wolf.
“Hold me tight, sweet courage.” She tucked her book back into her pocket.
Then she saw her opportunity—the flickering of a candle’s light beneath her door as her father made his way down the hall to his room. The door handle rattled, then she heard his door open and close.
