Page 82 of Cocky August Rake

“Once the damaged planking was removed, we found the timbers beneath were sound. The new canvas is aboard, and the rigging crew finished yesterday.” There was unmistakable pride in his voice now. “They will flood the dock at high water tomorrow and float her out.”

Rose’s steps faltered.

“You’re—” Her voice caught. “You’re leaving.”

And against all reason, it was the fear of losing him… that first gripped her.

Not that he would close The Domus. Not what would become of Nell or Marianne or Violet or any of the others.

He was leaving her.

“Not tomorrow,” he said.

But soon, no doubt. September was almost here.

Rose forced herself to keep walking. “You must be pleased.”

“I am.”

Of course he was. The ship was his real home. London had only ever been a place where he was forced to wait.

“If your ship will be in the water tomorrow, then why wait?” Rose asked.

“The Gale may be ready, but there are other matters to see to before we sail. We’ll need stores. The repairs must be tested. The crew given time to return.”

A day or two, then.

Her hand felt cold where it rested upon his arm.

He could still change his mind. Leave The Domus to operate as it had all summer. Nothing bound him to close it but his own stubborn resolve.

Reginald was staring across the water.

“And I must finalize matters with Sedgewick. The sale, of course, but also the stipends and arrangements for everyone who’ll be displaced. I won’t leave until I know those provisions are secure.”

The quiet certainty in his voice hollowed something inside her.

Was this why he’d wanted to meet with her? To tell her he wasn’t reconsidering at all? He was simply preparing to leave?

“There is a whole world out there, Rose. Away from England. On a ship, it’s quite literally waiting beyond each new horizon.”

She said nothing.

“You wake to one coast, and a fortnight later there is another. Sometimes you smell the land before you see it. Spices. Trees. Smoke from a city you have never heard of.” His expression changed as he spoke, the same way it always did when he talked about the sea. “There are places where the water is so clear you can see the bottom beneath the ship. Others where the sun does not seem to set at all.”

“It sounds very grand,” she said faintly.

“It’s not always grand.” His mouth curved faintly. “Sometimes it’s just wet, filthy, and miserable. But it is wide.”

He looked at her then.

“There is so much more than The Domus.”

Rose withdrew her hand from his arm. “The Domus is my home.”

“I know.”

“You don’t. If you did…” Rose blinked away the stinging in her eyes.