Over the Horizon ~ Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Dani was woken the next morning by the soft, early morning sunlight shining in through the one, small window in the wall. She felt a little lost as she looked about her tiny cabin. Wasn’t she supposed to be in the dank, damp hull of the ship? But then memories of yesterday came swooping back. She quickly jumped out of bed and pulled on her clothes and quickly ran a comb through her hair. Then she raced off to the kitchen to have breakfast and get started on her work for the day.

When she reached the kitchen, she found Cook working over a large pot of porridge. Cook was a large, round man with grey hair, that had a few speckles of black through it and a double chin that wobbled when he talked. He was quite a friendly fellow; if you never complained about his cooking that is.

“Good morning.” Dani called to him.

“Ah, yes, a fine morning it is.” He replied cheerily, as he continued to stir the porridge.

Dani walked over to the table in the middle of the room and took a seat. The table was made of solid oak timber. It was especially for the passengers’ personal servants and some of the less important crew members.

Looking across the table, Dani noticed that there were three other people sitting there besides herself. They were an older house maid, a family butler and a cabin boy. Each of them already had a bowl of steaming hot porridge. Just then Cook placed a bowl of her own in front her. It smelt simply delicious.

“Thank you.” Dani murmured as she took a spoonful of the creamy looking goo. She felt sure that it was the best porridge ever made. Spoonful after spoonful, she scooped it into her mouth.

At the same time as Dani was spooning the last mouthful of porridge into her mouth, Nate walked through the door. He greeted Cook, then walked up the table and took the seat across from Dani. Most of the other people who had been there before had already finished and left; only the cabin boy was still there.

Dani was surprised to see that Nate was coming to the kitchen eat. Somehow she had gotten the impression that he was more important than that. And that he would eat with the passengers, marines and more imported crew members.

“Good morning.” He said with a smile, which she returned it politely.

That goading feeling that she knew him was still there. She searched through her memory, again, for someone called Nate. But no one with his face came up. It was really starting to bug her.

Glancing over at him again, she noticed a white scar that ran along his chin. It was about an inch long. There was something very familiar about it. Suddenly it struck her.

“Nutty!” She gasped, staring at him.

Looking up at the sound of his old nickname, he grinned at her with that old sparkle in his eyes.

“So you finely remembered. It took you long enough.” He teased, “I would have thought you’d remember a childhood friend when you saw them.”

Dani wrinkle her nose, then grinned. It felt wonderful to have an old friend there (especially now that she had remembered he was one).

“What are you doing here?” She asked. “And how did you come to be a sailor on the Charlotte?”

“Actually,” he answered between mouthfuls of porridge, “I’m not really part of the crew. Although I do sleep in the sail room along with all of them and I help them out when they need it. Officer Williams is my guardian. I am simply here because he came.”

“Guardian? Why, what happened to your parents?” Dani asked, shocked.

“They died of scarlet fever not long after you left for school.” He replied sadly.

“Oh. I’m so sorry, Nate. No one ever told me. When you weren’t there when I got home, they said that you had simply moved away. Nobody ever said anything about your parents dying.” Dani turned away, trying to hide the tears that were filling her eyes. She had always liked Nate’s parents. They had always been kind, loving people.

“My parents are dead too.” She added quietly.

Looking back over at Nate, pride came to her rescue. She instantly sat a little taller and shoved back the tears. She would not cry in public. Not even in front of Nate. Taking a slow, deep breath, she forced herself to relax and calm down.

Silence followed and Dani could feel awkwardness starting to creep in. So she picked up her empty bowl and carried it over to the kitchen bench to be washed later. Another young crew member strolled in. He sat down on Dani’s seat, across from Nate. He and Nate quickly struck up a conversation on the wonderful weather they had been having.

Then she found a tray and started filling another clean bowl with porridge for Mrs. Williams. All the while Dani could feel someone watching her, but every time she turned around to see who they looked away.

Adding a cup of tea to her tray, she politely nodded goodbye to Nate and his friend, left the kitchen and made her way up to Mrs. Williams’s cabin to bring breakfast to her.

~

Nate watch Dani leave with her tray of food and wondered if she was alright. He had seen the tears she had tried to hide. He had not meant to upset her.

“Who was that?” His workmate, Jack, asked. Something in his tone made Nate look up. Jack’s lips were turned up in a mysterious half smile.

“An old friend.” Nate answered, still watching Jack carefully.

“She’s quite a looker.” Jack added, leaning back in his chair.

So, that’s what the smile was about. Nate thought, irritably. He did not like the idea of Jack being interested in Dani. Nate did not fully trust him. He never had.