Free Cross the Ocean by Holly Bush Page B

not the kind of man I envisioned in my dreams either.” Gert bowed her head and continued. “They were sweet and mild and even-tempered ... pirates.”
    Elizabeth dropped her shoulders. She smiled sympathetically. “Those men would not be the right ones for you. You’re strong and need strength in return.”
    Gert shook her head. “It’s a childish fantasy anyway. More suited to Melinda than me. Speaking of Melinda, shouldn’t we be helping her dress? We leave in less than an hour.”
    Elizabeth’s hands flew to her cheeks. “Oh, dear.”

    * * * *
“What takes women so long to get dressed, Father?” William asked.
    “A mystery that would compare to the pyramids, and as unanswerable as well,” Anthony said.
    “I don’t have the foggiest notion, William. I was ready in ten minutes.” Blake looked at himself in the mirror of the drawing room where he, Anthony and William waited for the women. Blake was determined to put the American out of his mind. “I wonder if Lady Elaine will be in attendance tonight?”
    he said.
    “The Bentmore widow?” Anthony asked. “She’s a simpering fool. Why would you care?”
    Blake smiled over his shoulder to Anthony.
    “Who is Lady Elaine?” William asked.
    “Just an acquaintance,” Blake replied.
    “What about Miss Finch?” the boy asked.
    “What about her?” Blake said. He could not look at his son’s face and chose rather to pick non-existent lint from his sleeve.
    Anthony watched the exchange with interest.
    William blustered with the curiosity of a boy becoming a man. “It’s alright then, to kiss lots of different women.” He stared away. “I wonder how many men my bride will have kissed. I don’t like to think about that.”
    “It’s different for men and women, William. You will be the first man to kiss your bride and the last,”
    Blake said.
    “Wasn’t for you and mother, you know,” William said in a quiet voice.
    Blake gestured for William to sit down. “Your mother and my circumstances are unusual. It won’t happen to you.”
    William’s face grew red. “If I have a mistress it might. Does that mean I shouldn’t? All my friend’s fathers do. Just like you.”
    Blake had never in his wildest dreams imagined a conversation like this. His son was trying to figure out the why’s and how’s of growing up and Blake felt sorely lacking to be giving advice. Never more than at this moment did he regret having taken a mistress. His dearth of judgment hit him square in the face.
    What was accepted by English society was not always right, Blake imagined. But it was also all he knew.
    He glanced at Tony. No help from that quarter.
    “I’m not proud of the fact I kept a mistress, son. Maybe, your mother and I would still be together if I hadn’t. I don’t know,” Blake said.
    William’s eyes brimmed with questions. “Then why did you do it?”
    The stark reality of the matter hit him like a dive in a lake. Was it the sex? He couldn’t explain Helena’s abandon to William. Or did he care so little for Ann that he refused to question his own actions. Glibly going along, heedless of the consequences. “I don’t know,” Blake replied.
    “Terribly complicated,” William murmured.
    Anthony smiled. “Don’t worry, William. When the right woman comes along, you’ll not have the time or sense to think about it.”
    William smiled. “Like when you kiss Aunt Elizabeth all the time.”
    Anthony nodded and smiled back, apparently willing to lighten the mood at his own expense. “I look like a besotted fool when I’m around her, especially when I kiss her, I suppose.”
    “You surely do, Uncle Anthony. All moony eyed or drunk.” William laughed at his own joke. “Like father did when he kissed Miss Finch.” William sobered and looked at his father. “I’ll see what’s keeping Melinda.” He hurried from the room.
    “Out of the mouths of babes,” Anthony said wryly.
    “You could have jumped in earlier, Burroughs. I was having some