Chapter Sixteen

Needing time alone to sort things out, Jasmine retired to her room for solitude. She felt detached as if watching a play…surely these events were happening to someone else! She sat down on her bed and slowly began tracing his initials on the cloak with her finger. How foolish she felt not to have put the two men together! Over the years, ML morphed into someone mythical, hardly human at all. If there had not been a cloak, her imagination would have supplied an angel as her rescuer. The whole experience even up to the present moment hardly seemed real.

She put the cloak next to her cheek thinking of the early days right after it had happened. She had slept with it as if it were a baby’s favorite blanket. She remembered it had a certain fragrance she could not place. There was no longer a scent but it had been there during the first few months or so. All of a sudden it hit her…Laurence’s jacket had the same fragrance!

She heard a knock at her door as her mother and sisters came in. She put the cloak down for them to see. “Captain Laurence’s coat has the same scent this cape once had. All day long, I had been trying to place it. It would come to the edge of my memory and disappear. I only remembered the connection a few moments before you came in.”

Mrs. Bertram held her daughter in her arms.

“Mother,” she whispered, “I’m going to marry the man who saved my life. I still cannot believe it was Laurence. I feel too sober for joy--it is more like awe.”

They all trembled in a state of shock. It produced a holy fear: God was in control. Mrs. Bertram no longer worried about whether her daughters’ future husbands would die in battle. War was an insane time to fall in love, but when did love ever follow a plan? She saw God’s design and knew He would protect the men her daughters loved. Her struggle had given birth to peace.

Laurence received his own knock at the door as his friends made their way into the small inn room.

“What are you doing here? Are you going to initiate me into some ancient rite of passage? Remember, whatever you do to me, I’ll repay when it comes your turn to wed.”

“He looks a little nervous to me,” commented Miles to the others.

They grinned at him and sat around in lazy fashion.

“There is no hidden ceremony. We are here to inquire about something,” Andrews drawled.

“What do you want to know?”

No one spoke right away. They wanted Laurence to lose his composure. It was time to even the score.

“I’m waiting…how can I answer if you won’t ask?”

“It’s about Jasmine,” Miles hinted.

Laurence grew red in frustration.

“I think he’s going to blow at any moment,” said Andrews to the other two.

“TELL ME!”

They grinned at each other in satisfaction.

“We are supremely curious about something that happened aboard ship,” supplied Miles.

“Splendid--two pieces--Jasmine and the ship! Care to finish the puzzle?” he said sarcastically.

“How did you subdue her? How did you frighten her without saying a word? You are no magician. How did you do it?” asked Bennett no longer able to keep the suspense going.

Laurence chuckled. So, that was what they wanted to know! Now he could play the game. “Well, let me see…” he said slowly.

They glanced at each other fugitively, now it was Laurence’s turn taking aim.

“She told me about her parents. What did she say her father did to her mother?” He paused looking at the ceiling.

They waited anxiously. The clock ticked away its moments while Laurence was lost in thought. Miles sighed in frustration.

“Oh yes…I remember now! Every time her mother argued with her father, he would kiss her. Yes, that was it!”

“You’ve kissed Jasmine?” asked Andrews incredulous.

“Not yet, but I’ve come very close,” he said, using his thumb and index finger to illustrate the distance.

“But you didn’t kiss her on board. How did you put so much fear into her that she backed into her father?” asked Bennett mystified.

“I threatened to do it. I kept looking at her mouth as I did the time before. She knew exactly what I was thinking.”

“I see it! That’s why she said, you wouldn’t dare,” said Miles as the light came on.

“I would have dared and she knew it. Actually, her days are numbered. I feel the urge to kiss her coming on very strongly. Now that we are engaged, there’s no taboo to break.”

“Engagement does change everything,” said Bennett thoughtfully.

The men were satisfied; the puzzle was complete and they turned to leave the room.

“Where are you going? It is still early,” said Laurence, not wanting to part with their company.

“We’re going to tell the admiral--he was equally mystified,” said Miles.

“It is more important that he should know, since he can put it into practice immediately,” said Andrews dryly as he shut the bedroom door behind him.

His friends had caused a momentary diversion in his thoughts, he returned to Jasmine like a homing pigeon. He felt overwhelmed by it all--she loved him! He was part of God’s plan and had been moving in His will without any knowledge of it. She was to be his wife! Was he inside a dream? It felt surreal. He had been so deeply alone. What he suffered as a boy affected his whole life.

He began to see things clearly: unconsciously he hardened his heart after his father’s death. He determined never to love anyone as much as he did his father, because lurking within was a deep fear that if he did, the person would die. He could not live through the pain again. As a result, he shielded his heart from relationships with women. He used the excuse of his life at sea, but that was not at the core of his self-defense: it was not fear of loving, but fear of losing the one he loved. It was better not to feel or care--so he closed up the garden of his heart as a twelve-year-old boy, permitting no one into the deepest part of his being. What had been natural for most people became unnatural to him: other people met, fell in love, and married. Not him, he was fine alone.

Witnessing the Bertram’s relationship changed everything. Until he saw a healthy marriage he had no concept of how sick he was. Being part of a loving family revealed his emptiness and need. God used Jasmine and her family as tools in his transformation.

What he had done as a young boy for protection affected his life as a man. He had no power to tear down the battlements built quietly over the years--only love from the outside could demolish them. It had to be stronger than his fear. He found such a love in Jasmine. But where did it come from in the first place? Why did they love each other? Was it just normal attraction? Could he know this happiness with any woman? He did not think so. She possessed the key unlocking what lie hidden from everyone else. It had taken seventeen years--he was a late-bloomer.

Jasmine was springtime, the power of resurrection, raising from the dead all the emotions he thought he had buried with his father. God knew exactly the kind of woman who could get through his wall. She did not have to scale a fortress. She came in through the doorway of his curiosity using a key--a simple piece of paper, to open his heart. Her soul, through written word, touched him. Even if she had been a plain woman, he would have loved her. If she were the same person in every respect but her looks, she would still have captivated him. From the first moment--the intrigue, fascination, and curiosity broke through--it was something he could not fight.

He drifted to sleep a few hours before dawn and dreamt of the rescue again. When he laid the young girl down, she was Jasmine as she now appeared. She opened her eyes and smiled at him. He took her hand and they flew over the ocean close enough to feel the spray. The water was so translucent that they could see to the bottom of the ocean floor. They came upon an exotic isle. When they arrived on shore, he saw his father and mother walking toward them. His mother appeared as she had when he was a little boy. He remembered her perfectly--she was beautiful. He saw his father full of joy, the sadness no longer in his eyes. He was laughing and running toward him. The dream ended before everyone embraced and he woke up wishing he could have it again. He never remembered dreaming of his mother before.

He got out of bed reluctantly. As he started to shave, his mother’s loveliness came back vividly to mind. He mourned that he had no painting of her. He never asked his father what she looked like, fearing to bring him further pain. It stopped him from inquiring about many things when he was a boy.

He pulled out a locket from underneath his nightshirt that he had worn since he was twelve. One side had his father’s portrait in tiny miniature; the other was blank. Now he had a sweet memory to take its place.

He swore he would capture the people he loved in painting: Jasmine’s portrait would be the first. He had a long hallway that would do well as a gallery. He would transfer the paintings of his ancestors from his mansions in London and Scarborough to his estate in Lyme. There were portraits of his grandparents and his father and uncle as boys. There was also a large portrait of his father done while he was a student at Oxford, but none after his marriage. He would change that--his children would never go through life wondering what their loved ones looked like.

He was the last one down to breakfast and found that everyone had waited for him. Admiral Stowe pulled him aside with a grin. “Thank you for the tip. It was an illumination. I now look forward to disagreements with my wife. Need I say anything more?”

Laurence laughed heartedly and glanced at Mrs. Stowe, who looked up from the table blushing scarlet.

“It’s a wonderful thing to have a wife who can still blush after thirty years of marriage,” said the admiral looking at her with admiration.

“I envy, sir, your happiness,” whispered Laurence to him.

“Not for long, my lad, not for long.”

They spent the afternoon in a small park. The young couples walked to different areas, eager to be alone. Violet’s laughter was prominent because Andrews’s mission in life was to make her happy.

“I see the hunt is on,” said the admiral with a grin on his face.

The vicar and his wife turned their gaze in his direction and smiled as they saw their daughter running toward some trees with Laurence in pursuit.

Jasmine kept a tree between them. She never thought running from a man could be this much fun! She did not run like a delicate woman, but swift like a gazelle. Naturally, she was barefooted.

“Jasmine, it’s no crime if you let me catch you!” He smiled a little breathless.

She was not making it easy for him. Maybe she did not know how to play the game.

“Is that what is supposed to happen? How much experience do you have chasing other women? Besides, I distinctly remember you saying that if you caught me, you would kiss me harder,” she teased.

“We are engaged! I would be breaking no rule if I kissed you!”

“Is that all you can think of…kissing me? Behold the beautiful world around you! Remove the spyglass from your eye, Captain! I am not the only show in town.”

Laurence laughed in spite of his frustration. She had been the only show in his town. “Jasmine, truly you must play the game by letting me catch you,” he said trying one more time.

“Letting you catch me? How can you be a true pirate and say such a thing? I shall never let you catch me. I’m not like other women.”

That is the truth! He thought. Aloud he said something else. “Dum spiro, spero!”

“While you breathe, you hope? How is your breathing at the moment, Laurence?” she teased looking at him from the side of a tree.

He did not answer; he was saving his breath. He ran around the tree but Jasmine fled to another, each time getting closer to her parents. Laurence stubbed his foot on a root while running, and kicked the tree in frustration.

“Remember, trees are our friends!” Jasmine said sweetly, kissing the bark of a birch.

Laurence mumbled something Jasmine couldn’t understand, but it sounded like ‘blast’ was in it.

“Do not start talking about a blasted tree like someone else we know. Trees have feelings,” she teased some more. “Remember you were going to rename me? I don’t like Triple A. Have you thought of another?”

Laurence’s brain wasn’t working now, his temper was. “How about Aggravating, Annoying, Agitating, Ah…”

He could not think of anything else.

“Laurence, that’s not fair! You cannot use adjectives as proper names. How about Angel?”

She was not acting like an angel and he definitely was not feeling like one.

“Fine! You are an angel. Why can’t you be nice, considerate, and slow down?”

Laurence ran to the tree and almost caught her, but the next minute he lay sprawled on the grass. The tree root was his nemesis, maybe Jasmine was a dryad after all.

“Did it find your Achilles’ heel?” she giggled.

Laurence looked up from his prone position and frowned at her. She was enjoying this too much. “Are you getting hotter, Laurence?” she asked from the safety of another tree.

“Yes, I’m almost boiling now,” he said in his frustration as he got up.

“Then I shall run to my parents so that you may cool down.” Jasmine laughed breathlessly as she reached them.

Laurence caught up a few seconds later. If this were to become a pattern in their married life, he would be an old man in a few years. Jasmine wet her handkerchief and passed it to him.

“Do not get discouraged, Captain Laurence,” said Rev. Bertram. “My daughter has chosen the mode of running since she was a little girl and sometimes instinct takes over. I assure you that after your wedding, you will have no difficulty catching her.”

Laurence chuckled but asked seriously, “Sir, when might that be?”

“That is something you both should decide. I lay neither limits nor restrictions: I only ask the pleasure of pronouncing the bands.”

Jasmine hugged him. “Nothing would give me greater joy, father.”

Laurence turned to Jasmine. “I call a truce, O fleet-footed one!”

She grinned.

“Daughter, my advice to you is…let the man win sometimes,” he said in a weary voice as he looked at Laurence with pity.

“Father, Laurence used the same expression twice. He said I should let him catch me. I am surprised at both of you for using it. I would have thought the male ego could not take such humiliating punishment. I thought in order for a man’s pride to be satisfied, he had to give his best effort in the pursuit.”

“Best effort applies to most women. Yours requires a Herculean task,” replied her father with a wink at Laurence. “I saw you fall, my son. Have you recovered?”

“Alas, the trees do not love me as they do your daughter. They aid her quest while hindering mine.”

“She has long used them as a means of escape. The affection is deeply-rooted, I fear.”

Admiral Stowe spilled his wine in his laughter as Laurence held out his hand to Jasmine. “Excuse us, please,” he bowed to everyone.

They walked hand in hand to the little stream. Jasmine began to laugh and fell back on the grass. In jubilation, Laurence joined her. He propped himself on his elbow as he gazed at her. He wanted to kiss her but knew he would have trouble stopping. He wisely decided another time would be better.

Jasmine looked at him with an arched brow. “We are only a hundred feet from my parents. This is not the moment to kiss me nor to tumble down the grass,” she assessed.

It was frightening how well she could read his thoughts already.

“Laurence, you still look flushed. Are you hot? Do you think I’m hot? Do I make your blood boil?” she teased.

His temperature was definitely rising. Jasmine sat up, cupped her hands in the brook and splashed water all over him. “Let me cool you down!”

Laurence was on her in a moment. She had crossed the line; he no longer cared if her parents were watching. He pushed her into the water and rolled in the brook after her. He was balancing the scales for his gender.

“We have rolled through grass, mud, and now…water. I definitely like the last one most, since I am clean already!” she grinned.

Laurence fell on his back in the stream, chuckling. Jasmine got up quickly, and though he grabbed for her ankle, he missed.

“Come back, my wild water sprite!” he yelled after her.

Jasmine ran to her parents and her mother wrapped her in a blanket. Laurence would have to find another time to talk seriously with her. It would be better to do so inside; the trees and water proved too tempting for her wild nature.

A few hours later, Laurence found Jasmine in the parlor reading a book. Ribbons intertwined her hair and her light blue gown was flawless. She looked picture perfect; an hour of grooming had a marvelous affect. Engrossed in reading, she had not lifted her head once from the book. It was on astronomy. “Laurence, this is so fascinating! I love Galileo. Promise, when we are married, that you will teach me about the stars.”

“I give you my word,” he said as he took the book from her hands and led her to the sofa.

“We have a lot of things to discuss. First of all, I must ask if you want a long engagement,” he said, as he drew a deep breath.

She paused only a moment before answering. “I suppose the proper thing to do is play a coquette, satisfying my feminine delicacy by making you wait. I’ve heard of many women doing such a thing.”

Laurence began to sweat. He had witnessed the same games himself.

“But I have never been one for that kind of tomfoolery.”

He smiled in relief.

“Besides, we are at war. I know you can be called up at any moment, so I will not make you wait,” she said practically.

Joy was evident on his features and Jasmine looked down in shyness. “I ask for one month more with my family. Do you agree?”

Laurence was wholly unprepared for her response and had no inkling that she would choose to wed so soon. “Yes, of course,” he fumbled not knowing what else to say.

She nestled close in his arms and he sighed in contentment. “Isn’t it a wonder? You saved my life. Are you sure you’re not my guardian angel?”

He kissed her brow. “You need never worry about another suitor again. Are you relieved? Does that comfort you?”

The reference to a suitor was a poor move on his part; she pulled away and looked at his face. “You said yesterday that you fell in love with me from the first moment, is that not so?”

“Yes, little one,” he smiled down at her.

“That means you were a suitor from the very beginning! You had no intention of only being a friend, did you?”

“That is true. I was probably your most dangerous suitor. I was serious about you. Nothing was going to deter me--not all the dogs in the world, nor arrows strategically aimed could keep me away.”

“You…you…” she said at a loss for words.

“How about sly, unprincipled rake?” he supplied.

“From the beginning you fooled me! I would not have agreed to be your friend, if I had known,” she said with exasperation.

“That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

“You never wanted to be my friend? You said I could absolutely trust you! You assured me no woman could win your heart. Could it be possible I read you so wrong?” she asked bewildered.

“Of course I wanted your friendship, but I was always hoping for something more to develop.”

“You cheated!”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

“Are you truly a woman-hater? I’m beginning to doubt that.”

“If you won’t believe me, you have only to ask the admiral or my friends to find the answer to your question.”

“You did not play fair!”

He leaned closer and smiled wickedly. “Checkmate!” he whispered.

“You trapped me! You intended to do it.”

“’All’s fair in love and war,’” he quoted sagely.

“Why?” she asked dumbfounded. “Why was it necessary?”

“Because I was so desperately in love with you I would have done anything short of committing a crime.”

She softened. “Still, it was not gentlemanly of you to treat me so.”

“You are right. I was a scoundrel…a pirate. I have no defense to offer for my behavior.”

“Was? Are you now reformed? Why do I have difficulty believing that?”

“Saucy Miss!” he said affectionately.

“I am still shocked by your dubious nature,” she said truthfully.

“Has my shining armor become tarnished?”

She sighed. How could she hold a grudge against the man she owed her life? He was a pirate after all--breaking the rules were part of his trade. She put her arms around his neck.

“Are you certain you want to marry me? I may be more than saucy, at times. Are you prepared? Consider my father’s weariness! Do not be deceived. He was not weeping last night for happiness’ sake. He’s relieved to have someone take me off his hands. Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?”

“Are you trying to be merciful now? Are you giving me a way out? Do you think I am a coward?”

“Yes, yes and no,” she said with charm. She paused as his last question sank in. “Would it take courage marrying me? Am I such a challenge?”

He grinned boyishly. “How much time will you give me to reconsider?” he asked.

“What if I count to ten?”

He chuckled and was about to kiss her, when a parlor maid came into the room unexpectedly. Jasmine was so embarrassed that she escaped to her room.

There she goes again, thought Laurence to himself. She is always running away. Go ahead and flee for your life! You will be mine in a month’s time. Are you sure you know what you are getting into?

He smiled at his thoughts as Miles poked his head in the door. “Time to eat!” he said.

Laurence sat immovable like a statue.

“Don’t tell me you are so lovesick you aren’t even hungry! Daisy hasn’t affected my appetite yet.”

Laurence got up from the sofa with a sigh. “What did you say?” he asked absently.

As they walked toward the dining hall, Miles whispered, “Have you kissed her yet?”

“That’s none of your concern,” he replied.

“That means you haven’t done it. Are you fearful of her daunting bow arm?”

“Enough, puppy! Keep your nose out of this.”

Miles entered the room with laughter as Laurence took his place next to Jasmine and announced their wedding date. Congratulations echoed from all sides.

Rev. and Mrs. Bertram looked at the happy faces of their daughters realizing that Jasmine may not be the only one leaving home soon. They were happy and sad at the same time. They knew this day would come. God’s hand was in everything that had happened. They would not selfishly hang on to their daughters.

Laurence and Jasmine excused themselves after the meal. As they walked to the spot where he had saved her life, it seemed as if they were going back in time to 1801. That young girl would no longer be a stranger in his memory…she would become his beloved wife.

Laurence took her face in his hands and slowly traced her lips with his finger. His touch was as light as a butterfly on a flower. Everything was new. He did not rush in his desire for her. What was priceless was worth waiting for.

He kissed her shyly for he was kissing his best friend. It was new, like a first kiss between a boy and girl. There was sweetness in it and some tears. For all its innocence, there was fire too. Laurence felt her heart pounding as his own was doing; it beat out a cadence of passion.

Jasmine had not expected the gentleness nor the sweetness. Laurence was so tender, her tears began to fall. She was amazed someone so strong could be so gentle. He touched her with an awe she could feel, and he excited in her the same kind of wonder. She would always remember this first kiss. The comfort of his arms became her harbor--she was home now.

He bent his head and kissed her more urgently. A new bond was forming, the old one was severing. Laurence would always love the sea, but he no longer needed it as his life’s blood. Every seduction the sea had on him was fading away; the love affair was over and he had no regrets. The ocean of passion sweeping over him now…only one sweet woman could excite. He had made his choice. He would never leave her now.