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Chapter Four
As Hyacinth, herparents, and Innes sat around the dining table enjoying a fish soup, Hyacinth decided she would once again allow herself to fall in love with Innes. Not that she had much of a choice since her heart was leading the way and seemed to have already arrived at this conclusion.
He looked devastatingly handsome in his uniform.
So did her father. Her mother still swooned over him after all these years, and he felt the same about her. It was embarrassing sometimes, walking in on them as they kissed each other with a passion Hyacinth did not realize older people could still feel.
Was it possible for her and Innes to grow old together like this?
She dismissed the notion.
Innes hadn’t kissed her yet, and she wasn’t certain he ever would.
He and her father were now talking of their years together on the frigate her father used to command, thePlover. Something about a particularly fierce pirate attack in the St. George’s Channel, just west of the port town of Pembroke in Wales.
“You were what?” her mother remarked, placing a hand over her heart.
“Attacked by pirates,” Innes replied. “It did not happen very often. Most of those scoundrels knew to keep clear of us. But every once in a while, some idiot with pretensions of grandeur felt the need to show off and would attempt to take us on. The closest our ship ever came to sinking was the time that Welsh pirate, Owain Gryffedd out of Aberystwyth, caught us by surprise one foggy night and tried to set our ship afire.”
“Romulus! You never told me.” Her mother reached out her hand to her father.
He took it and swallowed it in his. “No, love. We were never in any real danger.”
“Indeed,” Innes agreed. “Your husband has the finest instincts I’ve ever seen in a sea captain. In any man, for that matter. Hesensedthem approaching and had us in position to attack by the time they reached us. He steered thePloverstraight into them, ramming her bow into the heart of their vessel and sinking it before ours could catch fire. They still tried to burn us down but had aimed their flaming arrows too high and only managed to singe our mainsail. The air was too wet for their arrows to do much damage.”
He paused only a moment to stare at her father. “Captain Brayden, I never understood how you knew they were coming upon us.”
Her mother was now scowling at her father. “Yes, do tell us, Romulus. Why is this the first I’ve ever heard of your adventure?”
The table was small, and they were all seated close together. Her father still had hold of her mother’s hand with no intention of releasing it while she was so obviously overset. “It was nothing. I did not want to worry you, my love.”
Hyacinth was still curious as to the answer. “But how did you know they were coming at you, Papa?”
He shrugged. “Just a feeling prickling up my neck. Perhaps a sudden charge to the air. Also, a suddenchangeto the air. So many reasons that strike us without our knowing. It could have been the way the waves were suddenly hitting the hull. Different, somehow. It’s just an instinct one has for these things.”
Hyacinth was fascinated. “Is it the same instinct that told you Mama was the woman you would love forever and ever?”
His expression softened as he stared at her mother. “I suppose. Same prickle up my neck. Same charge to the air. But in a good way. My heart knew at once. But how does one possibly fall in love so quickly? We both were taken aback by the power of our feelings. The passing days ultimately confirmed what we felt for each other was real and everlasting.”
Hyacinth wished she could find the same enchanted love. “Did that book help?”
“What book?” Innes asked.
Her father groaned.
Her mother coughed delicately into her table linen.
“That is a story in itself, Innes,” Hyacinth said. “I sawThe Book of Loveonly once, just last week. It’s next door at Aunt Sophie’s house.”
Her mother gasped. “You saw it?”
“Yes. It was tucked away in Aunt Sophie’s writing desk. I was helping her write her Christmas party invitations, and my hand brushed against it as I drew out the card stock. Innes, it has a faded red binding, and it was written a very long time ago. Nobody knows who wrote it. The point is, this book is magical and will lead you to your true love.”
She turned to her mother. “I think Innes ought to borrow it.”
He’d just taken a sip of his wine and swallowed it the wrong way. “Hyacinth, don’t be daft,” he managed to sputter between coughing fits.
Hyacinth waited patiently for him to regain his composure. “Do all men respond this way to the mere mention of love? Did you, Papa?”
