Destiny: A Bermuda Love Story Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Praise for Marilyn Baron…

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Thank you for purchasing this publication of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

  Destiny:

  A Bermuda Love Story

  by

  Marilyn Baron

  Prequel to Under the Moon Gate

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  Destiny: A Bermuda Love Story

  COPYRIGHT © 2013 by Marilyn Baron

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press, Inc., except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Contact Information: [email protected]

  Cover Art by Debbie Taylor

  The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

  PO Box 708

  Adams Basin, NY 14410-0708

  Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com

  Publishing History

  First English Tea Rose Edition, 2013

  Digital ISBN 978-1-61217-887-5

  Prequel to Under the Moon Gate

  Published in the United States of America

  Praise for Marilyn Baron…

  Winner of the Georgia Romance Writers

  Unpublished Maggie Award for Excellence in 2012

  in the Paranormal/Fantasy Romance category

  Winner of First Place in the Suspense Romance category of the 2010 Ignite the Flame Contest sponsored by the Central Ohio Fiction Writers chapter of Romance Writers of America

  Finalist in the Georgia Romance Writers

  Unpublished Maggie Award for Excellence in 2005

  in the Single Title category

  ~*~

  “Baron offers a bit of everything…There’s humor, infidelity, murder, mayhem, and a neatly drawn conclusion.”

  ~RT Book Reviews (4.5 Stars)

  ~~

  “Expertly handled relationship…a page-turning journey…a riveting read.”

  ~Anna K.

  ~~

  “Wonderfully witty writing…sharp characterisation and…brilliant dialogue…humorous asides and…the quite fantastic twist at the end…left me with a real lump in my throat…highly recommended. Worth more than 5 stars if that were possible.”

  ~Andrew Kirby

  ~~

  “Ms. Baron’s portrayal of her heroine’s thoughts, feelings and actions was spot-on. Five stars! Highly recommended!”

  ~Pam Asberry

  Dedication

  To my wonderful husband, Steve.

  We enjoyed many romantic trips to Bermuda.

  Like Elizabeth and Edward,

  we were destined to be together.

  Now where’s my locket?

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to my critique partners Nicki Salcedo and Jeanette Cogdell, who were with me at this book’s conception ten years ago when it was part of an earlier ambitious project I called The Bermuda Triangle: A Love Story. For a while, it seemed to be lost in The Bermuda Triangle. But somehow, the story survived to become Under the Moon Gate, a romantic thriller, set in contemporary and WWII Bermuda, and this prequel you’re reading right now.

  And many thanks to my newest critique partner, Anna Doll, who is very generous with her time and her talent. Like the lyrics to the traditional Girl Scout song, “Make New Friends (But Keep the Old), One is Silver and the Other’s Gold,” write new books but don’t discard the old ones if you really believe in them. These words have particular significance in both books. See if you can figure out why.

  Quo Fata Ferunt

  “Whither the Fates Carry [Us]”

  Bermuda’s motto

  Elizabeth Sutton and Edward Morgan’s relationship founders off the coast of Bermuda during the shipwreck of the Sea Venture in the early seventeenth century. When will the eternally searching souls of the two star-crossed lovers finally realize their destiny?

  Chapter One

  Plymouth in Devon, England, Summer 1609

  Edward Morgan placed the chain of the heart-shaped locket around Elizabeth’s neck and lowered his mouth to hers for a searing farewell kiss. He wanted to brand this moment in his memory. She was so young, so impossibly beautiful. She tasted sweet, so sweet. And she was his.

  “Now we are officially promised to each other,” he vowed.

  Elizabeth lifted the gleaming silver locket and smiled at the intertwined E’s newly engraved in script on the back of the pendant.

  “Oh, Edward! You had our initials engraved. It’s so fancy. But the only promise I need from you is that you’ll come back for me.”

  “I promise that wherever I am, no matter what happens, I will find you, Elizabeth Sutton.”

  “I will be waiting,” Elizabeth answered with a certainty that signaled nothing could ever come between them. “Forever, if I have to.”

  Elizabeth clung to Edward to keep from being jostled by the milling crowd as the last calls to board the ship went out.

  She could hardly concentrate, with all the surrounding activity from the raucous contingent involved in preparation for the long sea voyage ahead. A parade of men, equipment, cargo, trunks, and precious provisions passed by. Craftsmen hawked their wares on the docks. Sleek, starving cats streaked by. Musicians played. Beer and alcohol and delectable dishes of all kinds were available for sale in the circus atmosphere. This was Edward’s new world. And soon she would not be a part of it. Yet at the moment, a circle of calm enclosed the two of them.

  “Before you go, here’s a verse I wrote for you,” Elizabeth said shyly, lowering her long lashes over fabulous sea-green eyes as she handed him the tear-stained paper. He gazed at her for a long moment before reading the words silently as she mouthed the verse, which she obviously knew by heart.

  “Gentle Winds, Blow My Love Out to Sea

  Swift Winds, Take Him Where He Needs to Be;

  Cruel Winds, Don’t Take My Love from Me

  Fair Winds, Bring Him Home Safe to Me.”

  Edward placed the paper against his heart and then folded it before it disappeared into his pocket.

  “The verse is all the more appreciated because you wrote the words for me,” he said, crushing her to him, suddenly afraid he wouldn’t be able to summon up the strength to leave her. Last night, his shy English rose had transformed into a lusty tavern wench. He was amazed at how well she had taken to lovemaking.

  “And now, here are my parting words for you.” Edward spoke strongly, searing her with his stormy blue eyes. “My love for you has no boundaries. It will transcend time and space to survive even death.”

  Elizabeth tightened the shawl around her shoulders. It was summer, but nevertheless she shivered, and the shawl helped to ward off the chill in her bones and the feeling that she might never see her love on this earth again. She wished Edward hadn’t spoken of death in his farewell. That was a bad omen, especially before a dangerous sea voyage, but she couldn’t fault him for the sentiment. She knew his words had been spoken out of love.

  “Soon, my love.” Edward sighed. “We’ll be together soon. When I return from Virginia, we’ll be married, and I’ll take you back there with me.”

  He pulled her against him, desperately rubbing her arms and shoulders, w
arming her, then framed her heart-shaped face with his wide, strong hands.

  She knew he was committing her image to memory. She had done the same thing last night when she let him love her for the very first time. After, she couldn’t sleep. She’d spent the whole night in his arms, staring up at his beautiful face in the sliver of moonlight that illuminated their love nest, tracing it in her mind. She would paint it after he was gone.

  She remembered every magnificent inch of him, the fragrant smell of the sea and aftershave, the ripple of his muscles, the feel of his lips on her breasts and her stomach, the way he had touched her body in places she’d never before imagined a man’s mouth would be. She blushed as she remembered calling out his name when he entered her. After a brief moment of pain, they had shared a night of passion and pleasure. She had demanded more and more of him, parading around the tavern room with abandon, clad loosely in a sheet, a sheet he kept pulling off, exposing her nipples and, gradually, her whole body to him.

  “I fear I’ve corrupted you,” he’d teased.

  “I’ve enjoyed being corrupted,” was her answer. “I want to know every part of you.”

  Shouts on the dock shook her out of her daydream.

  “If you continue to look at me that way, I’ll never be able to get on the ship,” Edward warned with a twinkle in his eye.

  “Edward Morgan, let’s go! You’ll miss the sailing,” chided a saucy girl with dark corkscrew curls the size of fat sausages and a face the color of cream in a china dish waiting to be lapped up. She tugged at his arm, slithering up against him like a serpent, and he dismissed her with vague assurances that he would be along shortly.

  “Do you think she’s pretty?” Elizabeth asked warily.

  “Mary Wellington?” he asked indifferently, glancing over at her as she bounced away along the docks like a whirling dervish. “She’s the captain’s daughter. Beyond that, I can’t think of anyone but you. And when I’m this close to you, I can barely manage to think at all.”

  “Don’t let her turn your head,” Elizabeth warned. “I wish I were going with you now.” If she were sailing today, then she could keep an eye on that crafty Wellington woman who had obviously set her sights on Edward. Edward didn’t know it yet, but the witch was casting her spell on him.

  Prissy and over-perfumed, Mary Wellington strutted around the dock like a peacock, flouncing about in her low-cut gown, advertising her ample wares to any man she passed. But Edward hadn’t paid her much attention. Elizabeth trusted Edward, but she didn’t trust Mary, and there was the prospect of a long voyage ahead. A long voyage in close quarters with Mary Wellington flattering Edward, fawning over him. The temptress would use their close proximity and Elizabeth’s absence to her advantage.

  “Other women are going, even the pregnant ones,” Elizabeth objected. “John Rolfe is taking his wife.” But she was thinking only of Mary and the havoc she might wreak on her unsuspecting lover. He was true to her, but he was a man, after all, and a woman like Mary could make a man forget his promises.

  “Great Thunder, you want to come along?” He laughed, tossing his hand through the blonde mop of curls on her head. “You don’t have your sea legs yet. You’re a little land creature. Your stomach churns on a ferry crossing. You can’t even swim. We’ll make you seaworthy first and then turn you into a proper colonist.”

  “I’m strong,” she protested. Secretly, the thought of a sea voyage terrified her—the deep dark depths of the ocean and the sea monsters waiting in the water to swallow her whole. But the thought of being without her lifelong friend, newly become her lover, lay like a piece of spoiled meat in the pit of her stomach.

  “I’m almost eighteen!” she added, realizing that their precious time together was running out. She grabbed his hand and twined it with hers.

  “And that’s much too young for a perilous sea journey,” he replied. “Your parents would never allow it, and neither will I. We don’t know what we’ll run into in Virginia—torturing savages, violent storms, cruel winters, or worse. There are too many unknowns. Don’t you think I’d take you if I could? I won’t risk your safety for my own satisfaction. That would be selfish. I will make my mark in the new land and then come back when I’ve built a solid foundation for our future.”

  “I don’t need anything but you,” she said, to counter his practical argument, twisting the material in her skirt in a nervous gesture.

  He pulled her hand away from her skirt, pressed it to his lips and, covering it, brought it up to caress his cheek.

  “I think I first fell in love with you when we were children playing and I saw you wreaking havoc on your clothes during a brawl.”

  “A brawl that you started,” she pointed out. “I thought the other boy was going to kill you.”

  “I would have gladly died for you. He pulled your pigtails. That was a prank—and a pleasure—reserved only for me.”

  Edward raised his eyebrows and flashed his deep blue eyes, cutting a dashing picture, and Elizabeth blushed, thinking that he looked rather like a pirate. He had acted more like a dangerous brigand last evening, she reminded herself, recalling the tender and passionate moments they had shared then, cocooned in the warmth of their love, and again just before dawn.

  “Does it show?” he murmured, caressing her face again.

  “What?” she wondered.

  “How much I love you. I can’t stop touching you. I don’t want to stop.”

  “It is the same for me,” Elizabeth admitted.

  Edward lowered his voice, caught her up in his arms, and whispered huskily against her cheek. “If I die tomorrow, I could go a happy man after the gift you gave me last night. My love, my own sweet love. I love you more than life itself.”

  “And I love you, more than you’ll ever know. Now go off to your Great Adventure. Don’t fret over me.” She meant it, too. Because she loved him, she wanted that dream for him.

  “Imagine it! I’ll be a part of history, sailing under the stars, writing a chapter in a new story of The New World colony, our great American Empire. Unless the Sea Venture sails without me. Darling Elizabeth, I’d better go or I’ll miss my destiny.”

  But don’t you see? she wanted to shout. Your destiny is standing right before you, and you don’t even know it.

  Perhaps he’d have to sail around the world before he realized how empty his life would be without her in it. She bit her lip, trying hard to keep the tears from flowing again and her heart from breaking into a thousand jagged pieces.

  She reached for him, flinging her hands around his neck for a final, hungry kiss before he boarded the vessel. She shocked herself with how needy she had become, how greedy she was for him, now that they had shared their secret intimacy. She didn’t know how she would last another day or night without him. Although theirs was not a legal union, yet, they had sworn vows. He was hers and she was his, forever.

  “Godspeed, my love,” she whispered in his ear. And then she quickly ran away because she couldn’t bear the agony of watching the 300-ton flagship and the other eight ships in Admiral Sir George Somers’ Relief Fleet, bound with passengers and supplies to rescue the struggling British colony of sixty starving settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, disappear slowly on the horizon.

  Chapter Two

  London, England, September 1609

  “Word just came,” shouted Elizabeth’s mother, hurrying out to the garden where her daughter was planting flower beds, deadheading roses, and weeding. She waved a sheaf of letters as she ran.

  “Elizabeth, child, you shouldn’t be bending over like that. Take a break. Rest. Put your feet up.”

  “Letters? From Edward?” Elizabeth demanded. The weeding could wait. She could rest later. If there was news of Edward, she needed to hear it immediately.

  “A fierce three-day storm sank one ship, and the Sea Venture got separated from the rest of the fleet in the storm. It was blown off course and foundered on a reef in Bermuda on July 28.”

  Elizabeth’s heart sto
pped.

  “And Edward?” Elizabeth asked. “Was there any word of Edward?”

  “Everyone was saved,” her mother reported to her anxious daughter. “They’re rebuilding the boat from the wreckage. They won’t sail again until next May. The other seven vessels arrived at Jamestown in August.”

  “Next May?” Elizabeth frowned. “But I’ve already waited—”

  “And you’ll continue to wait, until it’s safe.” Her mother hesitated, then added, “John Rolfe and his wife had a baby daughter. They christened her Bermuda after the chain of islands they were stranded on. Mrs. Rolfe and her infant daughter died on the island.”

  Elizabeth hung her head. “How awful for him. Then I must go to Edward. He needs me. Did he go on to Jamestown, or is he still in Bermuda?”

  “He’s still in Bermuda with Sir Thomas Gates, Admiral Sir George Somers, William Strachey, and the rest of the settlers. He wouldn’t want you to go. It’s too dangerous. He would want to know you’re protected and out of harm’s way. Bermuda is still a wild place. He’ll come for you when the time is ready.”

  “I can’t wait that long,” Elizabeth said, patting her stomach.

  Mrs. Sutton held out two letters.

  “These two are from Edward,” she said, and, from the disapproving scowl on her face, Elizabeth knew she was silently cursing the man who’d left her daughter lonely and with child.

  Elizabeth wiped her brow, lowered herself to the garden bench, and read anxiously.

  My Darling Elizabeth,

  By now you’ve heard about the wreck of the Sea Venture. Though we were given quite a scare, we all somehow managed to survive the sinking, taking skiffs to safety. They launched the dinghies, and all 150 passengers and crew, even a dog, and what supplies we had left, were rescued after the ship was destroyed by reefs. We’re rebuilding the ship to continue our voyage to Jamestown. The Deliverance is being built from the remains of the Sea Venture, and a new ship, the Patience, is being built entirely of Bermuda cedar.

  Hogs run wild here, turtles are abundant, and the sea birds screech and sizzle when cooked. The fish are so plentiful, they’re fairly jumping into our laps. Hard to believe it, after that monstrous storm, but the climate is mild and agreeable, and I think this island has possibilities for settlement.