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the big house my French had been quite good. The governess insisted that young ladies of good family should be fluent in French and we had conversation practice every day. I seemed to have a natural facility for language and was better at it than Miss Henrietta and Miss Vanessa. A lot had happened since I sat in the schoolroom at the Hartleys’ mansion. I wondered how much French I would remember. I’d have to get in some practice during the crossing.
    The steward let us in to my cabin. It was not the luxury I had experienced the last time I crossed the Atlantic from New York, but then that cabin had been first class. This one had a bunk bed on one wall, a built-in closet on the other with a small crib crammed in beside it. My trunk had been delivered and was taking up much of the remaining floor space.
    “Zee bathrooms are to your right,” the steward said. “I leave you now and bid you bon voyage.”
    Daniel shot me a worried glance. “It’s not exactly the Ritz, is it? Will you be all right?”
    “It’s only for a few days, isn’t it?” I tried to put on a brave face because there really was no alternative.
    Liam was wiggling to get down. I realized that I’d have my hands full watching over him on a ship in the ocean, with no Aggie to help me.
    “I really should be getting back,” Daniel said. I knew that he hated emotional scenes and a long drawn-out good-bye was to be avoided at all costs.
    I nodded. “Yes, I’d better unpack. Liam will want nursing soon.”
    “Don’t come and see me off,” he said. “Better that way.”
    I nodded again, not trusting myself to speak now. He took Liam from me, kissed him then held him out, looking at him. “Good-bye, son,” he said and put him into the crib. Then he took me into his arms. “Good-bye, my darling,” he whispered. “Take care of yourself.”
    “And you too,” I whispered back and kissed him. The kiss conveyed all the passion and longing we couldn’t express in words. Then Liam started to cry and we broke apart.
    “Watch out for those Frenchmen,” Daniel said, attempting to be jaunty now. “They can be very fresh, I hear.”
    “I’ll look forward to the challenge. And what you don’t know can’t hurt you,” I teased back.
    “I have to go,” he said again. As he opened the door I called after him. “Daniel. Take care. Don’t take any risks, please. I love you.”
    He blew me a kiss and hurried off down the hall and out of sight. Liam was bawling lustily now, holding out his arms to be picked up. I wanted to be on deck and watch as we sailed out of New York harbor, but I had to put my child’s needs first. I picked him up, sat on the bottom bunk, opened my blouse front and put him to the breast. I felt the tension leave his body, and some of the tension left my own.
    Suddenly the cabin door was flung open. I tried to jump up, bumping my head against the upper bunk, then tried to cover myself as an elderly woman came in. She stopped and stared when she saw me.
    “What in God’s name?” she demanded. “What are you doing in my cabin?”
    “I’m sorry but you’ve made a mistake. This is my cabin,” I said. “Cabin thirty-four, C deck. I have my ticket here.”
    “There must be some mistake,” she said in a haughty voice. “This is definitely the cabin I was given because my friends are just across the hall. We asked for rooms together, you see. We’re traveling as a group, but there are five of us and I was the odd man out.”
    “Maybe we’re supposed to be sharing,” I suggested, the thought not having occurred to me before. There were two bunks.
    She stared down at me and my still-nursing baby, only partially covered by his robes that I had hastily pulled over me with distaste. “But they promised me,” she said. “I know it was supposed to be a two-berth cabin, but they told me the other berth would be unoccupied.”
    “I’m afraid my decision to sail on this ship was made at the very last minute. The cabin would