An Undeniable Passion Ch. 15

They walked into the attic and looked down to the end where, according to the plans, the room would be.

"But where is the doorway? It's just a blank wall over there. I can't see how a door could even be hidden."

"Let's go look," he said, and began making his way through the scattered trunks and crates.

They spent the next hour scanning the wall, looking for the edges of the hidden door, pressing every part of the wall trying to find the catch that would open it. Frustrated, Virginia said, "Does it not show where the door is on the plans?"

"No, it just shows the room," he replied.

"Maybe there is no entrance. Perhaps it's just an empty space," she said sitting down on one of the trunks.

Stepping back from the wall, Billy reluctantly said, "I'm not sure. I can't see anything that could be a door, but why would there be just an empty space?" he wondered aloud.

"Are you going to keep looking?" she asked.

"Yes, for a little while," he said, stepping back up to the wall.

"I'm going back to my sewing room. Call me if you find anything," she said turning away.

Several hours later she had chosen the fabrics for her gown and had begun cutting them out when Billy walked in. He flopped into a chair in the corner and announced, "I give up. I can't find an entrance. I'm sure there is one, but beats me where it is," he said dejectedly.

A few days later, she invited Doris for tea and brought up her idea of hosting a Christmas ball.

"Why that would be wonderful!" Doris exclaimed.

"I'm so glad you think so. Do you think you would be able to help me? What I really could use your assistance with would be the guest list. I simply don't know enough people yet," she said.

"Oh, of course my dear. My, this is going to be such fun." Looking about she said, "It will look simply stunning once decorated. You've done wonders with it already, mind you, but for Christmas we must do something really special. And don't worry about whether people will come or not. Believe it or not, but you are quite the buzz about town," she said happily.

"Me? Whatever for?" Virginia asked with alarm.

"Everyone is simply dying of curiosity about you and about what you've done with this house. They all want to meet you and see the incredible transformation you've performed here. Oh yes, the party will be great success," Doris assured her, vigorously nodding her head.

Virginia breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment she had thought the worse and that news of her relationship with Drake had somehow leaked out and she was now the subject of scandalous rumors. But how would that be possible, she thought? Billy is the only one who knows and he certainly would never tell anyone. She shook her head at her foolishness and began discussing plans for the ball.

Liverpool

Drake stepped off his ship and looked about the busy harbor. He was back in Liverpool and all he could think about was leaving again. Normally he liked to wait at least three months, sometimes as many as six before sailing out again but this time he was eager to get back to Williamsburg. He just hoped they would still be there. He was fairly certain that Forrester would leave word as to where they were if they did leave, but you never know. The first thing he had to do was go home and get settled and then he would find Violet and deliver Virginia's letter.

His crew streamed off the ship glad to be home. He had given them their pay and those that had families had gone home to them. As for the others, they headed to the nearest tavern.

Drake hired a carriage and had himself and his things brought home. His housekeeper smiled as he entered the house. "Why Mr. Stratford, welcome back," she said merrily. "How was the crossing?" she asked helping him with his coat.

"Going was wonderful, Mrs. O'Connell, coming back was not so pleasant," he admitted.

"Was the weather bad on the return trip?" she asked with concern.

"No, it was calm sailing all the way," he said. "I just wish I could have stayed in Williamsburg for awhile." In response to her confused expression he said, "It's turning into quite a big town."

"Yes sir," she said still not quite understanding.

"Could you please arrange a bath for me? I would like to get cleaned up. And could you send a footman over to this address indicating that I would like to pay a visit as soon as possible to Miss Adams," he said, showing her the envelope addressed to Violet.

"Certainly sir, right away. I'll arrange to have your things put away," she said, turning to leave.

"Have these things sent to the laundry and then pack a new trunk for me please. I'll be leaving again almost immediately."

"Immediately?" she asked with surprise.

"Yes, immediately."

When he offered no explanation she replied, "Yes sir," before bustling off.

An hour later he was in his carriage on his way to see Violet. The footman had returned saying that Miss Adams would receive him as soon as he arrived. He chuckled to himself. From what he knew of her he wasn't at all surprised. She was most likely bursting with curiosity as to the purpose of his visit.

He was shown into a sitting room, where Violet was waiting for him. After kissing her hand and exchanging greetings, she said, "What brings you here Mr. Stratford? I haven't seen you anywhere about town for months." She was doing her best to be civil but she was dying to know why he was visiting her. She suspected it had something to do with Virginia but surely if he was looking for her he would have come by before now.

"I've been away on business," he said. He pulled the letter out of his coat pocket and handed it to her. "I have something for you. I would like to stay while you read it and then discuss it with you afterwards. That is, if you still wish for me to stay."

Perplexed by his statement she took the letter from him. She recognized Virginia's handwriting. Why did he have a letter for her from Virginia? She tore open the letter and began to read. He nervously watched her as she went through the pages. He saw her eyes widen and saw her gasp and assumed that Virginia had told her about the crossing. She looked from the page and stared at Drake for a moment and then continued to read, her eyes still wide. She even giggled at one point. She then began to frown and her brow furrowed. She quickly glanced at him with angry eyes, but continued on with the letter.

At long last she finished and handed it to him to read. He quickly scanned the pages and saw that Virginia had indeed told her friend everything. When he returned the letter to her she folded it and returned it to its envelope. She then turned to him and said in a slow measured voice, "As much as I would like to throw you out of my house, you said you wished to discuss things."

"Yes. Yes, I would."

"Fine. What do you have to say for yourself?" she demanded.

"First of all, I would like to say that all the events she told of in the letter did happen, but she interpreted them wrong. I had no intention of hurting her and I most certainly was not using her," Seeing from Violet's expression that she didn't believe him, he said desperately, "I love her Miss Adams. I swear with all my heart I do. I need your help in convincing her of that. How can I do that?"

She wasn't sure if she should believe him or not. She was torn between the pain that Virginia had expressed in her letter and with what Drake was saying to her now. She looked into his eyes and decided to believe him. She would help him, if she could. Her stern expression thawed and she began to smile and then to laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked.

"You're the captain of the Aurora!" she gasped, still laughing. "You were one of the things she was trying to get away from. She knew she couldn't trust herself when you were around and she was sure that she was going to end up disgracing herself if she stayed near you and look what happened!" Wiping her eyes and attempting to compose herself, she said, "Mr. Stratford, the only reason I'm going to help you is because not only do I believe you when you say that you're in love with her, but because she's also in love with you. She has been all along. I think she finally realized it the day you showed up at her house to return her cloak."

He stared at her in surprise. "She loves me?" he asked incredulously.

"As much as she hated to admit it, it was undeniable," she replied with a smile.

Charles was in his stables, saddling a horse when he heard two maids outside talking. They were relaxing in the sun behind the small outbuilding and he moved closer to the window so that he could hear them. "...a beautiful red head is what I heard. She was a stow away on the ship called Aurora."

"Who told you that?" the other one asked.

"I ran into Suzy at the market. She's friendly with one of the crew and he told her all about it. Quite scandalous really. The girl ended up having a brazen affair with the captain!"

"Oh, that's nonsense. Why would a young woman stow away aboard a ship? If she wanted to leave she would have booked a passage properly."

"No, this one was running away. Things weren't going well for her here and she was desperate to leave is what Suzy says."

"Bah, I don't believe a word of it. Come on, we better get back to work, Thompson will have our hide if he catches us out here."

Charles sank against the wall as the two women went back to the house. Virginia's note had said she was going to France. Of course, if she wanted to be rid of him, why would she tell him where she really was? No wonder the men he had sent to look for her couldn't find anything. And what of this rumor about the stow away having an affair with the captain? Charles felt a jealous rage building in him. He forced himself to calm down and think this through properly. One of the crew, the maid had said. Well, he thought, I'm just going to have to get this story first hand myself, he thought. He flung the saddle onto the horse and strapped it on quickly.

Half an hour later he was down by the harbor looking for a tavern. He spied one and walked in. He sat down at the bar and said to the bartender. "Excuse me, I'm looking for anyone who was a sailor on the Aurora."

The bartender stared at him for a moment. He took in his fine clothes and cultured accent. He then jerked his head towards a group of men sitting at a table. "That lot came across on the last sailing."

"Thank you." Charles walked over to the group. "Excuse me, gentleman. I understand you're part of the crew of the Aurora."

The men looked at Charles in the same way as the bartender had. He was thinking perhaps he should have dressed differently, when one of the men said, "Yeah, what's it to yer?"

"Well, I've been hearing some stories about a stow away you had and I was wondering if you could tell me more about it." He motioned to the bartender for another round of drinks.

When the drinks were placed in front of the men, they invited him to join them. "There was a stow away, that's fer sure. A might pretty lass she was, once she got cleaned up. She was caught stealin' food from the kitchen one night an' she plumb fainted away when the Cap'in saw 'er. He took 'er back to 'is cabin and a few days later she comes back up on deck pretty as can be." The man stopped to take a long drink of his ale.

"What did she look like?" Charles asked.

One of the others piped up. "Oh, she was a comely lass, she was. Long fiery red hair and big green eyes, she had. Yep, she was mighty pretty. But she was wit' the Cap'in, no one was to touch 'er."

"What do you mean, with the Captain?"

"Well, a romance comes up between 'em. Wit' 'er stayin' in 'is cabin, it was bound to 'appen."

"She stayed with him in his cabin?" Charles asked incredulously.

"Yessir, she did," the man said.

"Do you know her name?" he asked.

"'er name...what was 'er name?" the men wondered staring into their empty glasses.

He signaled for another round and once they were placed in front of them, their memories improved. "Miss Templeton was 'er name," one of the men said wiping his mouth after a long drink.

"And what is your captain's name?"

"Drake Stratford, sir."

"And you're sure they had a romance?"

"Oh yeah, they 'ad a romance, all right," they confirmed before breaking into gales of laughter.

"An' they sure fought like a couple, they did!" one of them said, and they again roared with laughter.

"Thank you gentleman, you've been very helpful," he said as he rose to leave. "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone that I was asking these questions."

One of the sailors looked up at him and said "Well sir, if we get drunk 'nuff, we won't 'member ye. If ye get my meanin'"

"Yes, of course," he said dryly. "I understand." He went over to the bartender and gave him enough money to keep the men in ale well into the night.

He made his way back to his horse and fumed the whole way back to the house. He could hardly believe it! Virginia not only disgraced him by running away but to then have a flagrant affair with the ship's captain! Of course he knew who Drake Stratford was. He was a wealthy man who chose not to involve himself with Liverpool society even though he would have been more than welcome. If he ever did appear at a party or ball, as he had at the Summer Ball, he had noticed how women reacted to him. They found him irresistible. Could Virginia have been caught in his spell? Alone and most likely frightened on his ship, she would have been easy prey for a man like him. Well, it didn't matter, he was going to get her and bring her back. Meredith had put their affair on hold until he found another fiancée but for some reason he was determined to get Virginia back. He would not tolerate being made a fool of. He would book passage as soon as possible. But first he had to get in touch with that ridiculous friend of hers to find out just where she was.

Drake made arrangements with the exporter for another shipment immediately. The man at the shipping office had found his adamant request that the destination be Williamsburg strange, but he had accommodated him. His crew wasn't very happy with the unusually short leave time, but they all came back. He was an unusually good and fair captain and none of them wanted to lose their positions with him. Three weeks after it arrived, the Aurora set sail back to Virginia. Drake had a letter from Violet in his pocket urging Virginia to give him another chance.

The day after Drake sailed, Charles arrived at Violet's home unannounced. He had been there several times before, but she had always refused to see him. She knew the purpose of his visit and was trying her best to give Drake a head start on him. Yesterday, one of the errand boys of the house had informed that the Aurora had set sail, so she decided to finally receive Charles. When the butler informed her that a Mr. Thompson was there to see her, she said she would meet him in the sitting room; the same sitting room where she had received Drake.

Charles rose as she entered the room. "Why Mr. Thompson, what a pleasant..."

"Where is she?" he demanded without letting her finish her greeting.

Frowning at his rudeness, she asked "She? Who are you referring to?"

"You know damn well who!"

Surprised by his language, Violet paused as she sat on the sofa. "Are you referring to Virginia?" she asked innocently.

Exasperated he almost shouted at her, "Yes! Virginia, where is she?"

Smiling sweetly at him she said, "Please, Mr. Thompson won't you sit down?"

Gritting his teeth he continued to stand and said slowly, "Just tell me where she is."

Still smiling, she said, "Oh I'm sorry, I can't do that. Would you care for some tea?"

"What? Why not? And don't tell me you don't know!"

"Why of course I know. I just don't want you to know," she said sweetly.

Walking towards her, he said menacingly, "Listen you little trollop, you tell me where she is or so help me..."

He was interrupted by a quiet cough from behind him. He turned and saw the butler standing in the doorway glaring at him. Stepping back from her he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. He decided to try another tack. "Please, Miss Adams. Tell me where she is."

"Why do you want to know?" she asked.

"So I can go get her and bring her back. So that we can be married."

"But she doesn't want to marry you," she said as if speaking to a child. "She doesn't love you."

"What difference does that make?" he asked get truly frustrated with her. "She made me a promise, she accepted my proposal, she accepted the ring, she must go through with it!"

"Well, as we both know, Mr. Thompson, Virginia doesn't do anything that she doesn't want to do and if that means not marrying you, well then, I'm afraid there's not much you can do about it."

"Why don't you let that decision be made between her and I. Tell me where she is."

Turning to her butler, she said, "Stuart, could you please show Mr. Thompson out, his visit is over." With that she rose and left the room.

Charles was furious as he drove away in his carriage. How dare that little piece of baggage treat him like that. Well, there was more than one way to find out where she was. He would find out where the Aurora had just come from. He directed his driver down to the waterfront.

He stood in the tavern and listened as the bartender told him that the Aurora had already set sail back to America. "Already?" Charles asked. "Isn't that unusual, to leave so quickly after arriving?"

"Yes, it is," the man replied wiping the counter.

"Do you know where I can find out where it had just come from?"

"The import/export office should know."

"Thank you." He left some coins on the counter to thank the man for the information and left the tavern.

After quite a few more coins changed hands he found out from the clerk at the importers that the Aurora had just come back from Virginia. Charles couldn't help but chuckle darkly. Of course, his Virginia was in Virginia. He immediately made his way to book passage on the first ship heading there.

Violet snuck into the library and with shaking hands poured herself a small brandy. She hadn't let it show but Charles' visit had terrified her. Especially when he had threatened her. Thank goodness Stuart was there. She swallowed the warm amber liquid and sat down on the couch as it burned down her throat. She knew that he would be able to somehow find out that she was in Virginia, she only hoped that Drake would get there first.

Drake stood at the helm of his ship leaving the English shore line far behind. He felt his spirits rise as it disappeared below the horizon. He was returning to Virginia and he was going to win her back.