Remember Me - Lesley Pearse [48]
Tench thought for a moment. ‘I’d lay my cards on the table. Point out the advantages for him having a wife. Especially one like you.’
Mary half smiled. ‘Back home I would’ve been thought of as the worst possible choice for a man. I’m not good at cooking and sewing or womanly things.’
‘There won’t be much call for domestic talents in Botany Bay,’ Tench said with a wry smile. ‘It will be the toughest, the most adaptable that do well there. You’ve got backbone, Mary, and plenty of determination. Will knows that, he admires you. I don’t think he’ll take much persuading.’
‘How would you feel if a woman asked you to marry her?’ she asked him, smiling as she asked, as if it was only banter.
‘Now, that would depend who asked me,’ he laughed. ‘If she was rich and beautiful I’d be flattered.’
‘So a poor, plain convict girl would have no chance?’ she said, trying to sound as if she was joking, but she could hear a plaintive note in her own voice.
He didn’t answer and Mary was shamed.
‘I’m sorry, I’ve embarrassed you,’ she said.
To her surprise he turned to face her and laid the palm of his hand gently against her cheek. ‘I said I’d be flattered by someone rich and beautiful asking me. I’d also be just as flattered if it was a convict girl I really liked. But I wouldn’t agree to either,’ he said, looking right into her eyes. ‘Not because I didn’t care enough for her, or thought she was too lowly for me, but because I’m not the marrying kind, Mary. There’s too many places I want to see to settle down with anyone.’
‘You might end up a lonely old man,’ Mary said, swallowing down a lump in her throat and fighting back tears.
‘Yes, that’s true, but at least I wouldn’t have left a wife lonely without me while I explored the world,’ he said, and smiled. ‘Or children without a real father.’
Charlotte’s baptism took place after they had been anchored at Cape Town for three days. The Reverend Richard Johnson came aboard on Sunday morning during a service for the entire ship’s company and the prisoners.
Mary was the only prisoner not in chains. Hers had been removed for the duration of the service, but would be put back on immediately afterwards. She had made an effort with her appearance, washing her hair till it shone, and wearing the grey cotton dress given to her by Graham on the Dunkirk. She wished it wasn’t so crumpled as she’d had to conceal it in the hold when given a ‘slop’, the shapeless, rough dresses doled out to the women prisoners.
The Reverend Johnson directed his sermon to the prisoners, saying that Botany Bay was a golden opportunity for them all, if they turned away from the wickedness which had caused them to be sent there. He urged the men to choose a wife, for only in matrimony would they find true happiness and contentment.
Mary became aware of Will’s eyes on her as she stepped forward holding Charlotte in her arms for the christening ceremony. As the Reverend Johnson poured some water on the baby’s head and she began to howl lustily, drowning his words, Mary offered up a silent prayer, not just for Charlotte’s safety, but that Will would want her for his wife.
It was a week before Mary had any opportunity to speak to Will as they had run into some rough weather and had had to stay below deck. It was still a little precarious climbing up the companionway with a baby in her arms as the steps were slippery, but she was desperate to get out into the fresh air.
Will was on deck fishing again. Hearing footsteps behind him, he looked round and grinned. ‘Good to be out of there, eh!’
‘I couldn’t stand another minute of it down there,’ Mary said with a laugh. ‘It’s like breathing week-old soup.’
‘You and I are made of the same stuff,’ Will said, looking at her in approval. ‘How’s the little ’un?’
‘Doing fine,’ Mary said, looking down at the sleeping baby she had tied across her in a shawl for safety. ‘I wonder if there’s any babies on the other ships?’
‘Several, I heard,’ Will said. ‘So at least Charlotte will have some playmates when she’s bigger.’
‘And if folk get married like