The Captain's Christmas Family

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Authors: Deborah Hale
Tags: Fiction, General, Romance, Historical
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gratitude for this unexpected encounter with Captain Radcliffe. Talking to him about Cissy and Dolly was a perfect means to stir his sympathy for the girls without forcing him to spend time with them—something he was clearly reluctant to do.
    “It has been difficult to witness them suffer such sad losses at so young an age. I have tried my best to fill some small part of the void left by the passing of their parents. I want them to feel secure and loved.”
    “It is obvious how much you care for them.”
    “Thank you, Captain. They are very easy children to love. There is little I would not do for them.” Her greatest fear for the girls and for herself was that they might be removed from her care. Though Marian was satisfied she loved Cissy and Dolly Radcliffe more than anyone, she had no legal right to decide their future or make certain they stayed with her.
    Tempted as she was to confide her worries in the captain, Marian sensed it was far too soon to raise the matter. If he suspected her hope that he might become the girls’ guardian, she feared he would retreat into his earlier solitude. She needed him to learn to care for his young cousins as she did. Then he, too, might be willing to take any action necessary to protect them.
    “Very commendable,” he replied, though Marian sensed a slight chill of formality in his manner. Had her talk of love made him uncomfortable?
    Perhaps so, for he hastened to change the subject. Gesturing toward the tall shelves crowded with books, he observed, “You must be far more familiar with thiscollection than I, Miss Murray. Are there any books you would recommend?”
    Though part of her wished they might continue discussing the girls, Marian could not resist the chance to talk about books with someone above the age of ten or who did not live many miles away and must communicate exclusively by letter.
    She swept an appreciative glance around the library, grateful to Captain Radcliffe that she would not have to give it up, as she’d feared. “I have derived many hours of entertainment and instruction from your family’s books, sir. But I would hesitate to recommend any one in particular without first discovering what subjects interest you. Are you partial to poetry, biography…gothic novels?”
    What had made her offer such an absurd suggestion? Could it be the hope of coaxing that twinkle back into the captain’s eyes? Indeed it must have been, Marian realized when her effort succeeded, and her heart gave a sweet little flutter of triumph.
    “I must confess, Miss Murray, I am not well acquainted with gothic novels. Though the two I have read proved exceedingly amusing.”
    She could not help but laugh. “Poor Mrs. Radcliffe read little else, rest her dear soul, and constantly urged them upon me. I must confess I found their dark melodrama and sensational subject matter all rather silly. I prefer heroic adventures or stories with intentional comedy.”
    The captain nodded. “Life can be quite dark and sensational enough at times without carrying those over into our reading.”
    Marian wondered if he could be thinking of his own situation—unjustly accused of dark deeds that would not be out of place in the pages of a gothic novel.
    “What do you enjoy reading, Captain? What is your favorite of all the books you’ve read?” She did not tease him with facetious suggestions this time for she was sincerely interested in hearing his answer. His reading tastes might reveal aspects of this very private man that she might not discover any other way.
    But why was she suddenly so eager to be well acquainted with Gideon Radcliffe? For the girls’ sake, of course, Marian insisted to herself. The better she came to understand the captain, the better she would know how to appeal to him on Cissy and Dolly’s behalf.
    Captain Radcliffe stared toward the shelves with a look of intense concentration. “I like history. Gibbon’s The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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