Free The Vanishing Point by Mary Sharratt

whores?
Mr. Banham was certainly pleasing to look at. May would think so, too. Unwelcome thoughts crowded her head. No, surely May would have renounced her loose ways by now. She was a married woman, a mother. Surely she would not ply her charms on Mr. Banham.
    Hannah clutched the ship rail. The man in Anne Arundel Town had said
one
of Banham's whores. Did he have a reputation as a libertine, then? He had not struck her that way. His gaze had been frank and open, befitting an upright man.
Enough.
She couldn't afford to tear herself apart over every scrap of gossip. Soon she would see May and be able to speak to her about everything. May would laugh at her worries.
    "Why is he traveling at this time?" she asked Cassie. "Why is he not at his own plantation to oversee the loading of the harvest barrels?"
    "A true gentleman never works," Cassie said slyly. "For that he has servants and slaves. I heard he has just returned from Virginia. He bought land there." She raised her eyebrows. "Two thousand acres."
    Hannah could not fathom one man owning so much land.
    "So you see," said Cassie, "he is far too busy to oversee his own harvest." At that she drained her cup of ale.
    ***
    Hannah waited for a chance to ask Mr. Banham about her sister, but it was hard to approach him. He ate with the captain and slept in prime quarters with the ship's officers. She did not succeed in catching his eye. Before she could question Cassie further, the ship anchored at the Turlington Plantation, where Cassie and Lucy said their goodbyes to her.
    "If you are ever in need of a midwife, send for us." Lucy winked, then shouldered her small trunk and trundled down the gangplank.
    ***
    The journey up the Bay continued. The ship emptied of passengers and goods from England, but filled with hogsheads, which weighed down the hold. Their passage was so sluggish, Hannah wondered whether she would ever reach her destination. When at last they arrived at the Gardiner Plantation at the mouth of the Sequose River, word came that storms had knocked down trees, blocking the waterway. Even the sandbars had shifted. The ship would not be able to navigate the river.
    Hannah stood on the pier in the midst of the men struggling to load tobacco and unload cargo before darkness fell. Judging from the way Mr. Banham leaned against a crate and smoked his pipe, the ship's blocked passage appeared to cause him no anxiety. His men had loaded the harvest barrels onto smaller boats and sailed them down to Gardiner's Landing. She could only hope that the Washbrooks had done the same.
    "Any news of the Washbrooks?" Hannah shouted at two men rolling a barrel.
    One of them laughed. The other shook his head in annoyance. "The Washbrooks? How should we know their business?"
    When she approached Banham, one of his servants was addressing him. "There is no damage to your house or any of your buildings, sir, although some fences were knocked down. Mrs. Banham took a fright, she did, sir, but she is better now."
    Before Hannah could hope to get a word in, a man in an embroidered waistcoat swept up and embraced Banham. "Never fear that you must make the journey home by darkness, my friend. You are welcome, as always, to bide with us. Mrs. Gardiner would never forgive me if I didn't invite you to stay the night."
    The ship captain approached. "Evening, Mr. Gardiner, Mr. Banham." He bowed. "There is another matter to discuss. A girl named Hannah Powers is also bound for Banham's Landing, sir."
    Although she stood a few feet away, the captain referred to
her as if she were a child. Summoning her courage, she spoke up. "Mr. Banham." She dropped in a curtsy. "I am Hannah Powers, sir."
    Banham smiled. "Ah, yes. The physician's daughter."
    "Sir, I am bound for the Washbrook Plantation."
    Something flickered across his face, but he said nothing. Inclining his head, he signaled her to go on.
    "My sister is May Washbrook, wife of Gabriel Washbrook."
    "Gabriel, you say?" He frowned. "I have only heard