Charles and I dried each other, then I guided him as he bound my bosom before I donned my breeches and shirt. We bundled my possessions in the piece of burlap, and he took it and my hand and guided me out into the hallway. When we reached the top of the stairs, he stopped, set the bundle on the floor and wrapped me in his arms. "One more kiss before we are publick, Camille."

Our lips and tongues explored in a long and passionate manner, and when I felt my nethers warm, I pulled my mouth away and said, "We must stop, else I will wet."

"Wet?"

"My cunny. When my desire rises, it wets with slipperiness to better receive you, and I do not want to soil my clean breeches."

He chuckled as he adjusted his front. "And I must keep this from showing. It rises with that same desire."

I looked down at the huge bulge and sighed as he turned it from along his thigh to lie across his hip. "You must explain its workings to me when we are aboard; we have so much to learn about each other." As we descended the stairs, I added, "And that learning goes far beyond the physical. I want to know of your experiences since first you went to sea."

"And I, about your experiences being nurtured in ease and comfort. I need to know of this, that we may together raise a family in such manner."

I winced. "But not with the attitudes of Mother and Chris."

"You are far finer than what I have learnt about your mother, but Chris?"

"My older brother. He grew increasingly unpleasant as he came of age. Let us not now spoil my happiness; I shall tell you about him later."

The innkeeper greeted Charles when we reached the stair bottom and crossed toward the door. "I'm pleased ye have sorted the lad, Sir." Then he turned to me and wagged a finger. "Yer a lucky 'un to have a captain such as him. Barbados is no safe place to run away. Asides, tis ever better to talk yer problems than running from 'em."

I nodded, feeling my face warm as I looked him in the eyes and said a quiet, "Thank you."

Charles guided me out the door, and as we walked past the open windows of the common room, a cheer arose from those inside. He paused and turned to acknowledge. "See Boy, they all want you aboard."

The cheering and hubbub grew, and it continued while we crossed the road, and I asked, "Why had the previous boy been taunted? The crew all seem so kindly."

"Kindly to you because of your manner. But he was braggardly, and he strutted his importance that he was allowed in my cabin. The crew do not take kindly to that type, and they counselled him, hoping he would change. He did not, so they jeered and taunted him until he begged to be set ashore."

I nodded and pondered this as we boarded Zeelandia and headed aft. The great cabin was lit by only one sconce when we entered, so I took a taper from the holder and lit it from the flame. The entry area was soon bright and then the night cabin, where we stood in silence for a long while until I asked, "Will Steward come again this evening?"

"I expect not. He is relieved of his day's duties after cleaning from our supper here and seeing it done below in the gunrooms. He will not come until breakfast unless I call him."

"Then, may I release my binding?"

He examined my front and smiled. "Yes, I would be titillated if you did."

I chuckled as I lifted my shirt hem, untucked the binding end and pulled it down, the three turns falling away and down my sides and back. Then sighing at being freed, I pulled out and folded the long strip of cloth.

Charles stood gazing at my front for a long while before he spoke, "With your shirt large and loose in this manner, none would know. You might go without binding."

"Oh, but they would know." I shifted my shoulders and stepped from one foot to the other. "When I move, they show their form and their desire to wabble and jounce about."

A look of awe grew on his face as he watched, then after a long silence, he said, "There are two milliners along the high street with all manner of fancy goods, and each tries to win custom with broader selection and lower prices, so perhaps to-morrow, you might find a more comfortable manner of restraining them." He placed his hands on my shoulders and gently shook. "But for others only. These do excite me as they move."

I nodded toward his breeches and giggled. "I see growing evidence of that, and I am curious to know its workings." I paused and looked up at his smile. "But my stronger curiosity at this instant is about our new home. Will you show me its location on the map?"

"Come." He took my hand and led me out into the great cabin and across it, lighting a taper from a sconce along the way. After he had lit the two candle lanterns mounted above the chart table and adjusted their reflectors, he unfolded a huge sheet. Then tapping on it, he said, "We are here in Barbados."

Then he ran his finger to the top corner. "Here is New York, our new home."

I compared our distance from Cabo Verde to that remaining to New York. "So only a week or so until we arrive."

"No, far longer than that. First, we must offload here, then take on cargo for Jamaica and beyond. A week or so to Port Royal, and I had thought to give the crew a Christmas break there." He moved his finger down. "It will be hot here, but cold in the north, much like in England this time of the year, so there is no need to rush.

He opened a broad, shallow drawer beneath the tabletop and sorted through the many sheets of parchment, selected a folded bundle and pulled it out. After spreading one of the sheets, he pointed. "This island, well-protected by the surrounding lands, is home. The natives called it Manatus, and the Dutch made that into Manhattan."

Charles unfolded another sheet and laid it atop. "This shows it more clearly. An island in the mouth of a large river which gives access far inland to the north, and to the trade of all the riches from there."

He laid a fourth sheet atop the others. "And this is the plan of our land along the eastern river, less than half a mile from the centre of the city. Its description is written here, From the east end of the wall, about two and a half furlongs northward along the strand to a broad stream named Wolfherts. From its south bank, two chains southward along the highwater line of the strand to an iron pin. From the pin, six chains north-west to an iron pin, then six chains north-east to an iron pin, then south-east to an iron pin at the strand. The whole encompassing three and one-half acres, give or take, including the mouths of two streams and the strand extending to two rods seaward beyond lowest tide."

"So, both freshwater and salt. What lengths have a chain and a rod?"

"A chain measures four rods or twenty-two yards, so we have a hundred and thirty-two yards along the strand and the same distance across the meadow and into the forest."

"Large. We shall be busy filling it with family."

"Do you truly wish to do that?"

"I do. Do you?"

He took me into his arms and pulled me close, "I do. It has been my desire since Mother first told me stories of all the happy families for whom she cleaned."

"Happy families. You must tell me about those."

"But yours was happy."

"I increasingly realise it was not. I now see why Father went so frequently to sea. It was to escape Mother, and that I know this, I shall endeavour to not ever be like her."