Read Online Roanoke (The Keepers of the Ring) by Angela Hunt, Angela Elwell Hunt - Free Book Online Page B

dispensed pleasantries, advice, and promises to pray for the passengers ’ various needs. With Jocelyn’s uncle he was pleasant and attentive; he moved with disarming grace among the married women and upper class gentlemen. To the outward eye he seemed polished and perfect, but once or twice a day Jocelyn caught his face in an unguarded moment. Once she caught him staring out to sea with an expression of infinite sorrow on his face—had she found the vein of softness in his granite strength? Did he think of the son he had left behind?
    The tedious boredom of the ship dissipated as she watched the disturbingly attractive Thomas Colman, and almost she hoped he would speak to her again. But on their eighth day in port, Simon Fernandes gave the order to make sail and the three ships left Cowes to cross the Solent for Portsmouth.
    On the journey home, Jocelyn stood at the upper deck and felt the northward wind tug at her veil as resolutely as her interest in Thomas Colman tugged at her heart. But her destiny could not lie in Virginia, for it lay in England with her father. Thomas Colman would have to venture to the Indians alone, although she knew she would forever keep him in her thoughts and prayers.
    The ocean breeze blew the ships back to Portsmouth in a matter of hours, and the seamen and passengers aboard all three ships crowded on the upper decks to catch a glimpse of the docks they had left only a week earlier. The seamen working on the docks recognized the standards on the ships and greeted them with snide catcalls: “Some long journey, fellows! Did our lady the sea prove too much for ye?”
    As the Lion eased into her berth to take on fresh stores of food and water, Jocelyn jostled her way through the crowd on the deck, her hand firmly clasped around Audrey’s wrist. Simon Fernandes stood near the gangplank, ready to command the seamen who waited on the docks, and John White stood behind him. Jocelyn wasn’t about to let her uncle forget his promise.
    “Our trunks!” Audrey squealed as Jocelyn drew her through the press of people. “Can ye be planning to leave without our things?”
    “We’ll have them taken off soon enough,” Jocelyn promised. “But first we’re going to get off. I’ll not give my uncle an excuse to conveniently overlook us.”
    A sailor positioned the gangplank between the dock and the ship ’s rail, then a uniformed soldier strutted across and briefly saluted Simon Fernandes. “I have letters for Master John White,” the soldier said, pulling sealed parchments from a leather pouch at his waist. “And I am to wait for a reply.”
    Jocelyn waited, impatiently, while her uncle received his letters, broke open the seal of the first, and read it. “It seems our Sir Walter Raleigh writes to assure us of his and the Queen ’s prayers,” he said, his mouth curving into a wry smile as he looked at the men crowded around him. They burst into cheers as White bowed to the courier. “You may tell Sir Walter and Her Gracious Majesty that we are most appreciative and grateful.”
    The second letter was smaller and not as heavily embossed, but Jocelyn saw her uncle ’s eyes mist as he read it. Instinctively, his eyes came to rest upon hers when he had finished the page, and she knew immediately what news the letter had brought.
    She closed her eyes and heard the crowd part as he made his way to her. “I ’m sorry, Jocelyn,” he said, his voice breaking as he placed the letter into her hand. “Your father—my brother—died three days ago.” He embraced her briefly, and she opened her eyes to see that the other passengers stood in silent respect for their grief.
    John White cleared his throat as he released her. “May God grant Robert the peace he deserves.”
    “Make way!” The impertinent cries of the Lion’s seamen disturbed the silent crowd at the gangplank. Through the heavy, sodden dullness that surrounded her, Jocelyn felt herself being pushed out of the way as barrels of water