Lady Captain by Jo Ann Ferguson

Author:Jo Ann Ferguson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504009003
Publisher: Open Road Distribution

Eleven

Afternoon shadows stretched across the improvised wharf of boards nailed to pilings stuck into the shifting sandbar. Eden had not drawn The Boll Weevil too close. As she watched men load wood onto the deck, she calculated how much extra she must pay for carrying the logs the few additional feet. She noted how several glanced at the smoke stains on the saloon, but did not satisfy their curiosity. Her own had been when Jubal admitted to leaving fish cooking while she went to catch a few more. She warned her sister to be more careful, knowing that Jubal would forget all about it in a few days.

Eden gazed at the small town clinging to the shore. If it had a name, she had forgotten it, although she could name every merchant who sold wood along the Cumberland. The town showed the wear of the summer heat, which had chased everyone from the streets. Fanning herself with the page where she was keeping track of the cords brought aboard, she wished for a break in the humid weather.

“Newspaper, lady?” called a young voice near her elbow.

“From where?”

“It’s the Daily Union,” the bright-eyed lad replied. “Only two days old out of Nashville.”

When she held out her hand, he reluctantly gave it her. The date told her the youngster was being honest. Ignoring the headline that announced Vicksburg’s fall to the Union, she paid him and folded it under her arm.

“All aboard, Cap’n Roberts.”

At the voice that sounded like a rusty hinge, Eden smiled at the man who had supervised loading wood onto The Boll Weevil. “Good.” She reached for the small bag where she kept her money. “Here’s a bit extra for lugging it out here.”

“Thanks, Cap’n.”

Hurrying up the gangplank, she shouted to Alvin, “Let’s get some of this wood into the boiler. I want to put a few more miles behind us before sunset.”

As she climbed the stairs, she heard the clank of the gangplank being lifted. She paused on the Texas deck only long enough to toss the newspaper onto the table in her quarters. Rushing up the stairs, she leapt across the planks to the pilothouse.

“All set to go?” asked Fletcher as she entered.

“What are you doing up here? How did you get in here?”

He smiled. “You left it unlocked while the wood was being loaded.” His smile wavered. “I hate to hurt people’s feelings, so I try to avoid confrontations.” When she snorted in unladylike disbelief, he laughed. “With other folks.”

She walked past him to check the dials near the wheel. It was habit. Few of them worked, and she trusted none of them. Only when Alvin or Hudson sent her a signal from the engine room would she give the order to start the paddlewheel. “At least Jubal is talking to you.”

“Talk wasn’t what she has on her mind.”

She sighed as she tapped the tube. “She listens only to what she wants to hear and forgets the rest.”

“Purposely?”

“Don’t be like that, Fletcher!”

He put his hands on her shoulders.

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