Page 99 of Dark Tides
“No,” Alinor smiled. “No, I’m well. But I’ve something to say to you.”
“Shall we go into the parlor?” Alys scattered a shaker of sand to dry the careful figures in the ledger, put a bookmark in her place, closed the ledger, and led the way across the hall. She settled her mother in a seat near the fireplace. “Shall I light the fire?”
“No, I’ll go back upstairs again in a moment.”
Neither woman would have lit a fire to burn in an empty room. It was one of the many grinding economies they had practiced all their lives.
“Balancing the books?” Alinor asked. “Are they right now? With Livia’s payments?”
“Yes! Finally paying our debts,” Alys said. “She paid us in the very nick of time, it was close.” She closed the parlor door as if to shut out the threat of failure. “I’ve settled with Tabs and given her a little extra for her patience, and I’ll be able to pay Captain Shore when he returns with the load. But we’ve got nothing to spare. It’s close—too close,” she confessed.
“And where’s Livia now?” Alinor asked.
“At… with the statues,” Alys replied. She never named Sir James to her mother.
“Again?” Alinor asked curiously. “I thought they were sold?”
“Now she’s supervising their packing up and sending them off to the buyers.”
“Will she pay us a share of the profits?” Alinor asked curiously.
Alys flushed slightly. “She’s paid what she owed for shipping on the first voyage, she still owes for commissioning the second,” she said. “I didn’t ask for a share of her profits. After all, it’s her widow’s dower from her first marriage, we’ve no claim on it. And anyway, she plans to buy a house for us all to live in, she’s saving up the money. We will be partners.”
“Don’t we have to buy the warehouse?” Alinor asked. “A new warehouse, for her to show her treasures?”
Alinor flushed. “As a partner, yes. I know she’s ambitious, Ma, but this could take us to a better house and a better living than we’ve ever dreamed of.”
There was a cold draft from the unshuttered windows. Alinor drew her shawl closer around her shoulders.
“You’re cold. I’ll light the fire for you.” Alys rose to go to the kitchen for some embers.
“No, no, I’m not staying downstairs. I came down to tell you something.
Alys sat on a stool at her mother’s feet and looked up into the worn and beautiful face. “Yes, Ma?”
“Sarah didn’t go to see a friend. I sent her on an errand.”
“You did?”
“A long errand, I’m afraid. I sent her to Venice, my dear. To find Rob.”
For a moment Alys was silent as she could not believe what she had heard. “What?”
“I knew you wouldn’t like it, so I told her to keep it secret. She was eager to go, I sent her with a little money—” She broke off and smiled. “And the old red purse of tokens. She sailed with Captain Shore, and she’ll come home with him in the New Year.”
Alys rose to her feet. “You sent Sarah to Venice? My daughter? Without telling me?”
“Aye, I’m sorry.”
“Ma… I can’t believe it… you sent Sarah?”
“Yes.”
“But what for?”
Alinor folded her thin hands in her lap. “Because I don’t think Rob is dead,” she said very quietly. “I don’t believe it. So I sent Sarah to see what she could find out. And if there’s nothing, and he’s dead, then I asked her to bring something back of his, that I might take in my coffin when I’m dead too.”
Alys jumped to her feet, took two steps to the window, and then came back to her mother. “I can’t begin to… Ma, what have you done?”
