“That,” said Maggie, when Sophia found the place and pointed to it, “is the strangest way to spell it.”
And they searched then for odd-looking names, and tried to think of ways that they might be pronounced.
They were enjoying this so much that Maggie nearly didn’t notice when the man in the green coat arrived.
He’d been sent from the African Company, and asked for Mrs. Graeme.
He took his hat off, an action that knocked his wig slightly askew. Maggie wanted to fix it, but she knew that doing so would be unspeakably rude, so she stayed where she was, but it bothered her having to look at that one detail out of alignment.
The man’s smile was thin. “It was difficult finding you,” he said to Lily. “The company kept a most improper record when you passed through Edinburgh. I’d not have known that you even existed if not for the clerk you did speak to, and even he barely recalled you. I say this,” he said, “not to chastise you, but to explain and, I hope, to excuse my delay.”
Lily answered with a tight smile of her own, and then they talked briefly of how he had managed to find her in Greenock, which seemingly hadn’t been easy, and Maggie lost interest, drifting back into the game with the maps, until she heard the man saying, “I’m sorry,” and Sophia’s mother exclaimed, “Oh, my dear!”
Maggie looked up, and Lily was standing, her hands slowly closing to fists.
The man said, “It has been confirmed, I’m afraid, by two colonists who have but lately returned. It did happen last year, on the twenty-fifth day of October, on the journey down to the colony.”
Lily said quietly, “So Jamie never did reach Caledonia.”
“No, it is very unfortunate. We do mourn every man lost in this venture. There were a good number who died of the flux or of fever at sea, like your husband. I’m so very sorry.”
It couldn’t be true, Maggie knew. The man must be mistaken. Her cousin James couldn’t be dead. She had heard him promise Lily that, “A Graeme would not leave ye.” And a Graeme never lied. Lily had told her so. Which meant her cousin James could not be dead.
She wanted to explain that to the man, to say, He is not dead. We’re going on the Rising Sun to join him, and he’s going to keep us safe. But no words came.
Lily had turned her back to all of them, and crossed to stand before the window.
“The body…” she began. “What did they…？”
With a cough, the man said, “When they are at sea, they have the ceremony there.”
She gave a single nod, and for a stretching moment she said nothing, looking out toward the shining water of the river Clyde, with all its anchored ships and windless sails.
“I’m glad he is not buried,” she said finally. “I am very glad to know he’s in the sea, because the sea is always moving, and I cannot think of Jamie keeping still.”
*
“Of course you’ll stay with me,” said Mrs. Reid, and there was no more argument.
It had been very hard the day the drummers had gone all along the shore, beating the call for everyone to board the ships because they were about to sail. And it was even harder two days after that when Maggie stood with Lily, hand in hand upon the pier, and watched the lovely Rising Sun glide off upon the ebb tide down the Clyde toward the open sea.
She said, “We were supposed to go to Caledonia.”
“I know,” said Lily, squeezing Maggie’s hand. “I know we were.”
“That was our ship.” Then, because she could not bear to watch that hopeful golden sunrise on the ship’s stern sailing ever farther from her, Maggie pressed her face hard against Lily’s heart and sobbed, and Lily stroked her hair and held her.
“There will be a ship for us one day,” said Lily, in a soothing voice, “I promise ye.”
“‘You,’” Maggie told her, muffled, and they both smiled.
“All right, then. I promise you, you’ll have another ship.”
“It will not be the Rising Sun.”
“It might be better. Nothing is impossible.”
It was the truth, while they still had each other. And while they had Mrs. Reid, who grew to be like family.
Mrs. Reid taught Maggie how to stitch a perfect seam, and how to set a sleeve, and how to make the smallest, finest tucks to give a garment its desired shape. After a year of learning, she was able to assist in small ways when there was a larger project Mrs. Reid was working on.
But best of all, whenever Mrs. Reid was called up to the Mansion House at Cartsburn, Maggie got to go along to help.