"Do you know what is in this letter, Cousin?" she asked him.

"I do," he said.

"And you agree with my husband's assessment of the situation? Has he not made the situation a bit worse than it actually is? I expect Kieran wants everything perfect for me when I arrive, but it doesn't have to be perfect, sir," Fortune said.

"Nay, my lady Fortune. He has not equivocated in the least. Mary's Land is a wilderness, and the western shore where its first settlement is, is a forested region. There is much work to be done to make it habitable for civilized folk. The few women who came aboard the Ark and the Dove are putting up with a great deal of hardship."

Fortune pressed her lips together, irritated. This was not what she wanted to hear.

"What is it?" Jasmine asked her daughter.

"Kieran doesn't want us to come until next summer," she said. "The land has not yet been divided, and he claims they are living in an Indian village with the savages. I knew I should have gone!"

Jasmine looked to Captain O'Flaherty.

"We only arrived in late March," he began. "The main expedition was delayed on the Isle of Wight for over a month. Governor Calvert sent word to the Cardiff Rose, which was waiting off Cape Clear, to go ahead and meet them in Barbados. We took the southern, and rather roundabout route because of the unreliability of late autumn weather."

"A wise precaution," Jasmine agreed.

"The Ark did not arrive until January. Then the Dove straggled in ten days later. By the time we had taken on fresh water and supplies, and sailed through the Caribbean, and up the coast past the Spanish colonies, it was already spring. We stopped in at the Virginias, remained for several days, and then went on to Mary's Land. It was on the twenty-fifth day of March the colony was founded."

"Aine's birthday!" Fortune said.

"Aine?" He looked puzzled.

"Aine Mary Devers, my daughter," was the reply. "The child I remained to bear," she explained. "I bore a lass on March twenty-fifth, and Rois, my serving woman, Kevin's wife, bore a son, Brendan, two days later on March twenty-seventh."

"Your husband will be delighted," Ualter O'Flaherty said. "He fretted a great deal about you, and the bairn. I can't wait to see the look on his face when I tell him."

"I shall tell him myself," Fortune said.

"Wait, poppet," her mother said. "I want to know more about the living conditions in Mary's Land right now. Cousin?"

"The colonists found a village of Wicocomoco Indians on a small river north of the Potomac. The governor liked the region, and asked permission of the local chief to settle there. The area is well-watered and has a suitable deep water anchorage for seagoing vessels. The Indians have been having difficulties with a larger tribe, the more war-like Susquehanocks. They had been planning to move their village to another location. They agreed to share the village with us in return for our protection until they could relocate. The settlers are living in Indian wigwams, which are made of grasses, mud, sticks, and animal skins. It's primitive, and it's rough. When the Indians have finally gone, the colonists must build a fortification first with a guardhouse, a palisade, and a storeroom for the food. Such work requires all the men working together. No one can begin to build themselves a house until the fort is raised.

"Even now the Cardiff Rose is onloading more supplies for the colony. The governor has given orders that no more women, and certainly no children, be brought over until next year when the colony is on a more stable footing. Your husband was going down to Virginia to purchase livestock and poultry for everyone when I left. His men are working hard. Mistress Jones and Taffy have been a godsend to the colony. That is the truth of what is happening, Cousin."

"If the governor has given orders that you cannot go, Fortune," Jasmine said, "then you cannot. It is just that simple. You can either come home with me to Glenkirk, or remain at Queen's Malvern. I know Charlie will not mind if we stay. I will remain with you, of course, until it is time for you to go, poppet."

"How can you bear to be so far for so long from Papa?" Fortune said. "Nay, Mama, you must return to Glenkirk."

"Your father will not mind an English summer as long as he is back in Scotland for the grouse hunting season," Jasmine chuckled. She had no intention of leaving Fortune. While this second daughter had never been as willful as her first, she would not put it past Fortune to dash to Liverpool and stow herself, Rois, and the babies aboard the Cardiff Rose. It was not going to happen. Her daughter would wait until Governor Calvert said it was time for the other women and children to come to Mary's Land. "You had best write to Rory Maguire so he may tell the women what is happening. Explain the primitive living conditions, and that they are to prepare to leave next summer," the duchess suggested.

"I still think Governor Calvert is being too damned cautious," Fortune complained.

Jasmine smiled blandly. " 'Twill be better for the bairns this way," she reasoned.

"But not for Rois and me," her daughter grumbled beneath her breath. "I miss my husband in my bed, and Rois misses Kevin, too."

Both Jasmine and Ualter O'Flaherty laughed at this frank comment.

"I'm happy to see the women in this family remain hot-blooded," the captain remarked, and then chuckled richly as Fortune blushed.


***

James Leslie came down from Glenkirk to join his wife and daughters. Holding his new granddaughter in his arms he approved of her fully, and said so. His youngest daughter hid her face behind her small hands each time she saw her sire in the first two weeks he was at Queen's Malvern. Then suddenly one day Autumn bestowed a sweet smile upon her father, and they were friends. He was very relieved for he had developed a very soft spot in his heart for this wee lass of his own blood. He had not known either India or Fortune when they were this small.

"I want you to come home with me in September," he said to his wife one evening as they sat together in the hall.

"I'm afraid to leave Fortune alone," Jasmine said. "I fear she will seek out the first ship sailing for the New World, and try to join Kieran. She misses him terribly."

"She is a grown woman," the duke said. "I will gain her word of honor that she will wait for the Cardiff Rose to take her next year, darling Jasmine. I want you back at Glenkirk. If you and Autumn remain here, my wee lass will forget me again. I cannot stay, and leave Patrick alone so much. He needs our guidance if he is to one day take my place. You must come home."

"Nay, my Jemmie, I must stay. Once Fortune is gone from me, when shall I see her ever again? Autumn is just going to be two. Go back to Glenkirk in September, and come back to us before Christmastide. Patrick is a man now, and can manage alone without you. Can you go back to Scotland at summer's end knowing you will never again see Fortune? We need you with us, my love. 'Tis only a few months."

He acquiesced as she had known he would. The summer came, and in late August the duke of Glenkirk returned to Scotland, promising to come back in December. Charlie had joined them over the summer. Now he returned to court to support the king in his never-ending battle with the Puritans. They were growing stronger every year, and openly disapproved of everything about the king, and his French Catholic queen, despite the fact she had already borne her husband and the kingdom four children, of which three were living, two being boys, and was again expecting a child. Even the baptism of each prince and princess in England's church did not satisfy them. Parliament had been dissolved several years prior, but the Puritans still grew more difficult and condemning of the king.

In October a gentleman came riding up to the front entry of Queen's Malvern. He introduced himself as Sir Christian Denby, and told them he had just inherited a small estate nearby.

"I did not know that Sir Morton Denby had a son," the duchess remarked, taking in the measure of the young man before her. He was dressed quite simply and severely in black with a starched white collar.

"He did not, madame. I am his brother's younger son. Uncle was generous enough to leave Oakley to me, as my elder brother will inherit our father's holdings one day. Having come to inspect my estate, I thought I would call upon my neighbors."

"I am sorry my son, the duke of Lundy, is not here to meet you, Sir Christian," Jasmine said. "His uncle, the king, requires him at court much of the year. I am the duchess of Glenkirk, and this is my daughter, Lady Lindley."

Sir Christian bowed, then accepted a small goblet of wine offered him by Adali. "You live here, madame?" The query was bold, but Jasmine chose to be amused rather than offended. Obviously this young man was attempting to get the lay of the land. He could only do so directly as he was not familiar with the surrounding area.

"Only in the summer months, sir. My home is in Scotland, but my daughter has been here while her husband is in the New World. Since she cannot join him until next year I have decided to remain with her and her infant. I have brought my youngest child with me for she is too young to be separated from her mam. And your wife, sir? She is with you?"

"I have not yet had the pleasure of connubial bliss, madame," he told her, and Fortune swallowed back a giggle. "Finding a wife in this day and age is not an easy task. I wish a lady who will be content to remain in the country. She must be godly in her devotions, modest in her dress and speech, obedient to my will, able to run my household properly, give me well-mannered sons and daughters, and have a respectable dowry. I find many of today's young women irreverent, flighty, and far too bold."

"You are a Puritan then," Jasmine said pleasantly.

"I am," he replied half-defiantly, as if he expected her to render some sort of criticism.

"We are Anglican," Jasmine noted.

"Your husband is in the Virginias?" Sir Christian turned to Fortune, who had Aine in her lap at that moment.

"Mary's Land, sir," Fortune said.

"The Catholic colony? The king should have never allowed such a thing, and would not have but for the wicked intrigues of his queen and her friends! Your husband is a Catholic then."

"My husband is a Catholic," Fortune replied, "but Mary's Land is a place where all men and women of good will may live in peace. Most of its colonists are Protestants, sir."

"So they would have you believe, madame, but we know the truth. Lord Baltimore hopes to invade the Virginias, and gain them for the Spanish who are his allies," Sir Christian said venomously.

Fortune laughed aloud. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, sir. You are a fool to listen to such rumors, and it is wrong to repeat such false gossip."

"Then why, madame, if I may be so bold, are you not with your husband?" Her antagonist's black eyes were brazenly questioning.

"Because, sir, there is currently no decent housing for us. I go in the spring, by which time that situation will be remedied."

Sir Christian looked at Aine. Reaching out he tipped her tiny chin up. "Your babe will be raised a Catholic?"

Aine took one look at the man and burst into tears.

"Take your hand off my daughter, sir," Fortune said quietly, and then she comforted the baby softly.

"We are pleased to have met you, sir," the duchess said, dismissing Sir Christian as politely as she could.

He arose. "How can you allow your own grandchild to be raised a Catholic?" he said low.

"You are, sir, far too brazen with your queries, and out of your depth, I fear," the duchess of Glenkirk said.

With a sketchy bow Sir Christian Denby left the hall.

Aine had at last stopped crying. "What an unpleasant man," Fortune remarked. "I hope we do not have to see him again."


***

Autumn Leslie celebrated her second birthday at the end of October. Jasmine and Fortune then journeyed two days overland to Cadby to meet the young woman Henry Lindley was considering as a wife. He would not tell his mother her name, teasing her in their correspondence that it was to be a surprise. And indeed it was. Henry Lindley had chosen for his bride Cecily Burke, daughter of Lord Burke of Clearfields, his mother's uncle. Cecily was three years younger than Henry; a beautiful young woman with her father's dark hair, and the family's blue-green eyes. She was Padraic's and Valentina's youngest daughter.