Bertrice Small - Besieged

His mother laughed, and ruffled his dark hair. "Very well, Adam, you are freed. 'Tis better, I suspect, that you learn the business of life now that you have such a responsibility on your strong shoulders."

"Do I hae charge over Duncan?" the young man asked.

Jasmine thought a moment. Duncan Leslie was now twelve years old. Still a boy. Adam was yet young enough to be a bully. Jasmine did not see the Reverend Mr. Steen, a well-natured man, as having the final authority over Duncan. Mr. Steen could be easily led as he was, by nature, a peacemaker. "Cullen Butler will have charge over your brother," she told Adam. "And if he is not here, then Rory Maguire. You do not need any more responsibility than I have given you, Adam," Jasmine concluded, softening her decision.

"If there is trouble," Adam said, "there are some who will nae appreciate that you appointed two Catholics to hae charge over one of your sons, Mam. What are we to do then?"

"Then," Jasmine said, "the final authority will rest with your father, Adam, and as he will be over the sea in Scotland, no decision of any importance regarding Duncan can be made until Jemmie Leslie decides it, eh?"

Adam Leslie grinned. "Yer a clever slyboots, Mam."

Rory Maguire watched them as they spoke. Would he ever see her again? he wondered. Or their daughter? Itwas Fortune he feared for now. The New World was an ocean away, yet he would not brave the journey. His lass was a fine combination of her Celtic ancestors and her Mughal ancestors. And how she loved Kieran Devers! He smiled to himself. She had every bit the fire and passion her mother had. And she was so eager to begin this grand adventure with the man she loved.

I hardly know you, he pondered silently. And you know even less of me, my daughter. Mine is a secret that will go with me to my grave. Only on the day we meet in heaven will you know the truth, Fortune Mary, but I'll miss you, lass. This year has been the best in all my life because you were here for me to see, and to be with, but you cannot know that. Once, long ago, I bid your mam farewell, and then I wept all the while telling myself that men did not cry. I'll weep twice as much and as hard this time, lassie, but at least I know you are loved. Not just by your mother, and James Leslie, but by that wild Ulsterman you've gone and married yourself to, Fortune Mary Devers. And my love will go with you, my daughter. You will always have my heart, even as your mother has had it all these years.

The last loose end to be tied before they might leave Maguire's Ford was Rois's marriage to Kevin Hennessey. The ceremony was performed in the castle's wee chapel the morning of their departure. The young couple would be going with Fortune and Kieran as their personal servants, although once they were in the New World, Kevin would take over the responsibility of the horses that would be coming with them. Kevin's parents were long dead, which had played a part in his decision to come. Rois's parents and grandparents saw her wed to her childhood sweetheart. Michael Duffy wiped a tear from his eye to see his daughter married, but his mother, Bride, wept openly and noisily as her granddaughter spoke her vows. All knew that Bride's tears were because this would be the last time she was likely to see her youngest granddaughter, and Rois had always been a particular favorite of Bride's.

In the hall the bride and groom were toasted, and wished every good fortune. The time had come to depart Maguire's Ford. Jasmine bid her two sons a tender farewell, promising to return in a year or two to check on them. This knowledge cheered her many friends who had thought never to see the duchess of Glenkirk again once she left them.

"Nay," laughed Jasmine. "I must make certain these two scamps do what they ought. Then, too, one day I shall have to find wives for them, won't I? This one"-and she tousled Adam's hair-"is already sneaking about looking at the lasses. Didn't think I knew?" she teased Adam. "Even from Scotland I shall know what mischief you are up to, my darling laddies." Then she hugged her sons. Now she turned to Rory.

"Continue as you have in the past, old friend," she said. "I made no mistake the day I put my trust in you, Rory Maguire. I thank you for all you have done, and for all you will do. I shall be back, I promise you." Then Jasmine surprised him by leaning forward and kissing him on the cheek. "I think I may do that, mayn't I?" she queried the blushing man. Then she patted his hand. "Farewell, Rory, until we meet again."

"Why you're red as a beet, Rory Maguire," Fortune said with a chuckle as she put her arms about him, and hugged him, kissing his other cheek heartily. "Mama did surprise you, didn't she? But I haven't. You should know by now that I love and adore you, Godfather. I shall miss you, Rory. Are you certain you don't want to come to the New World with us? What fine horses we shall raise from the fine stock you will send us. Ulster is such a sad place, I fear, and growing sadder."

Rory held Fortune tightly in his arms, for a moment, savouring the sweetness of her, his daughter. Then he said, "I would not leave the people of Maguire's Ford when my family departed Ulster with the earls all those years ago, lassie. I will not leave it now, though I thank you for the offer." He kissed her cheek. "You're leaving with a fine husband, Fortune Mary, and that is, after all, what you came to Ulster for, didn't you?" He set her back from him, and smiled into her beautiful face. "Go with God, and go in peace and safety," he said. "If you were to send me a missive now and again, I should not mind, and I might even answer it." Then holding her by the shoulders he kissed her a final time upon her smooth forehead.

Fortune felt a terrible sadness suddenly overwhelm her, and her eyes filled with tears. Looking momentarily into his eyes she saw that they, too, were filled with moisture. "Ohh, Rory, I shall miss you! And I will write, I promise you!" she half-sobbed.

"Take your wife, Kieran Devers, for she is about to weep all over my good doublet," Rory said gruffly as he handed Fortune off to her husband.

Kieran Devers put a protecting arm about Fortune while holding out his other hand to the Maguire. "Farewell, Rory Maguire. You know what I would have of you, don't you?"

Maguire nodded. "Aye, laddie, I'll watch over the graves, I swear it," he said, shaking the younger man's hand.

Now James Leslie came, and bid Rory Maguire good-bye. "Watch over my lads," he said. "I know you'll teach Adam well, Maguire."

"I will, my lord," came the expected answer.

Bride Duffy, still weepy, bid them all a farewell. Fergus Duffy would be driving the coach to the coast where their ship was waiting.

Jasmine had a final word with her cousin, Cullen Butler. "Tread lightly, Cullen. I want no martyrs on my conscience," she cautioned him. " 'Tis a very delicate part of me, and I'll not have the ghost of Mam rising up to chide me."

"Have I not done well all these years, little cousin?" he said.

"Times have changed even in the year we have been here, Cullen," Jasmine reminded him. "The militant Protestants become more vociferous with each passing day. England rules Ireland, and in England the king himself is struggling with the Puritans to maintain order. He must be very careful lest his French Catholic queen be accused of influencing him. It is not an easy time, and it does not appear things will be getting any easier soon. Foresight, even in a priest, is not a bad trait."

"God will watch over me," he said quietly.

"God helps those who help themselves," she said with a small smile. "Watch over my lads, but if anyone would force your hand, remember, the duke of Glenkirk is the final authority in any matter concerning his sons, Cullen."

The priest kissed her hand. "God bless you, Cousin," he said. "Now, depart, else you meet yourself returning."

The Leslies and the Deverses departed for the coast. The great baggage train they had brought with Fortune the year before had now increased in size, and gone ahead of them the day before. There was a single travel coach, but for now it held only their necessary luggage, Rohana, and Adali. The two other servants, like their masters, preferred to ride rather than be confined to the coach. They avoided the Appleton estate on their return journey, traveling a bit longer distance so they might stay at Mistress Tully's Golden Lion Inn overnight.

Reaching the coast they found their baggage carts already upon the docks, and being loaded upon the ship that would return them back, to Scotland. Slowly the carts were emptied, the trunks and the boxes being carried up the gangway to be stowed in the ship's hole.

" 'Tis fortunate you warned us to come empty, my lady," the ship's captain said with a grin, "but at least the young mistress got what she came to Ulster for, eh?" He chuckled.

The duchess of Glenkirk smiled. "Aye," she said in reply. "Fortune has probably gotten more than she bargained for, captain."

The voyage was a short one. Seeing the coastline of his native land disappearing Kieran Devers had a mild pang, but he felt no regrets. They were doing the right thing in leaving, and he relished the adventure ahead. He had never in all his life been out of Ireland, unlike his young wife for whom travel was a commonplace thing. He wondered what awaited them. He wondered what they would do if Lord Baltimore would not have them. He hoped his father-in-law's small influence would aid them, and if it did, what would this New World be like?

Kieran Devers looked to the coast of Scotland that was now in his view after two days at sea. His arm rested lightly about Fortune's slender shoulders. She smiled up at him.

" 'Twill be all right, Kieran, my love. I feel it in my heart. The New World is where we belong, you and I. There is where we will carve out a grand life, and a wonderful future for ourselves, and for our children. Lord Baltimore will have us. How can he refuse?"

"I have never before in my life felt such responsibility as I do now, Fortune," Kieran admitted to her. "All my life I was answerable for no one but myself. I lived in my father's house, safe and secure. Now it is all different. I have you to love, but we have no place that we may call our own, where we may live together. I am not afraid, yet I am concerned, my love."

"You needn't be, Kieran. I told you that in my heart I know what we are doing is the right thing. The world is ours!" And her confident smile convinced him that all would truly be well.

George Calvert had been born to Leonard Calvert, a well-to-do country gentleman, and his wife, Alicia, in Yorkshire in the year 1580. While his father was a Protestant, and he had been raised as one, his mother was a Catholic who quietly practiced her faith. Calvert had been educated at Trinity College, Oxford. Concluding his studies he embarked upon a tour of the Continent as did most young gentlemen of his station. At the English embassy in Paris he had the good fortune to meet with Sir Robert Cecil, the queen's Secretary of State. Cecil liked the circumspect young man, and offered him a position on his staff.

Elizabeth Tudor died, and James Stuart became king. Cecil remained in his position, and made George Calvert his private secretary. By this time Calvert had contracted a marriage with Anne Mynne, a young woman of good family from Hertfordshire. The Calverts named their first child, a son, Cecil, in honor of George's patron. Other children followed. Three more sons and two daughters.

Sir Robert became the Earl of Salisbury which but increased George Calvert's stature and visibility. When the king and queen made a visit to Oxford in 1605, Calvert was one of five men to be awarded a master's degree from the university. The other four gentlemen were all nobles of high rank. Now the king began to send Sir Robert's secretary on his own official business to Ireland, for he liked him personally, trusted him, and knew him to be very competent.

When Cecil died in 1612 the king kept George Calvert on, and five years later knighted him. Shortly thereafter Sir George Calvert was made the king's Secretary of State, and a member of the Privy Council. The country gentleman's son had come far indeed.

A hard worker, and genuinely modest, Calvert was very well liked by the men with whom he came in daily contact. Unlike many at court he had no enemies. As his fortunes rose he and his wife planned a large house at Kiplin in Yorkshire where he had grown up. But then Anne died in childbirth with their sixth child, and devastated, George Calvert turned to the Catholic religion of his mother for solace and comfort. He kept his new faith a secret, obeying the strict laws imposed upon England's citizens in the matter of religion.