Page 38 of Loved to Death

“I’m going to bandage your wrist,” he insisted. His natural authoritative tone came out without him meaning it to, but it had the desired effect as she meekly nodded. He fixed his clothes and pulled a wrap of gauze out of his pocket.

Once her wrist was bandaged, he said, “I appreciate your willingness to help me get what I need.”

After scrutinizing him for a second, she nodded. “And I appreciate your honesty.”

He gave her a smile and offered his arm. “Shall we rejoin your friends?”

She took his arm, and he walked her back to the front of the pub.

“Ladies,” he said, with a small bow to the trio before he walked away to seek out the crew.

When Thomas arrived at the Big Dog Tavern, the majority of the ship’s crew were already drunk. Smiling, he went to sit beside Robert.

“Everything good?” Robert asked.

“I’m full,” Thomas confirmed.

Robert waived down one of the serving girls. “A pint for my friend.”

Thomas noticed a folded-up newspaper on her serving tray when she set his beer in front of him.

“Does the paper belong to anyone?”

She shook her head. “It’s from yesterday. I was going to throw it out.”

“May I?” He held out his hand, and she gave it to him.

Once the serving girl turned her head, Thomas put his full pint in front of Robert, and took the man’s mostly empty cup to set in front of himself in a well-practiced routine to keep up appearances.

It was easy to ignore the noise around him and forget his troubles while he read about what was going on in the world. But then, when he turned to page three, there was a drawing of his father’s lumber mill on fire with smoke billowing out of it.

The headline read:Twenty-eight Killed in Mill Fire

He scanned the article and quickly spotted his father’s name.

Mill owner, William Clarke, perished along with twenty-seven of his men while trying to douse the mill’s flames. Thanks to their valiant efforts, the majority of the mill is still intact and authorities say it should be operable within the month.

Thomas scanned down to see if his father was mentioned again.

William is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, his son, Samuel, and his three grandchildren, Thomas Jr., Jacob, and Mabel.

Blinking several times, Thomas read the line again. Thomas Jr.? He read through the entire article twice, but no more answers about the mysterious grandchild with his name were forthcoming. He folded the paper, stuck it under his arm, and headed back to the ship to speak with Captain Martinez.

***

Thomas knocked urgently on the captain’s door.

Captain Martinez opened the door with a frown. “Yes, what is it?”

Thomas held out the newspaper and pointed to the article about the fire. “I need to go home.”

The captain took the paper, opened the door wider, and waved Thomas in. He motioned to a chair in front of his desk while scanning the article.

Thomas sat in the indicated chair and waited.

“William was your father?” the captain asked.

“Aye.”

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