The Ransom (50 page)
Authors: Marylu Tyndall
She couldn’t move.
More screams. More howls. More shaking. Then it all stopped.
Alex held her tight. Their breath coming in gasps. Their chests pounding together. “The children!” Juliana started for the hatch when something caught her eye—a wall of water rising from the south.
“They’re in hammocks. They’ll be fine. Hold on!” Alex grabbed the backstay and tightened his grip on Juliana.
She wanted to close her eyes but couldn’t. The wave swept over what was left of Port Royal, reaching for its center like beastly claws making one last attempt to annihilate its victim.
Then it struck the ship, shoving Alex and Juliana to the deck. They remained there in each other’s arms, Juliana trembling, Alex breathing hard—both too afraid to move. The ship rocked violently, and Alex grabbed a hatch grating for support. Not until the brig settled and the squawk of a gull sounded did they dare to rise and creep to the railing.
It was over.
Too stunned to speak, they merely stared at the destruction.
Two-thirds of Port Royal was no more. A new shore had formed where the roofs of houses entangled with the masts of sunken ships. Only a few buildings remained on a small spit of land that had instantly become an island, separated from the mainland by the sea that now covered where Fort Rupert had stood.
“My home!” Juliana pointed to the place where her house had stood, just off High Street. Both street and home now covered by turbulent water.
“Was anyone there?” Alex asked, fear in his voice.
“Nay.” She swallowed. “Abbot, Cook, Mr. Pell , and Miss Ellie went to the Braidwin’s …” Her gaze sped to the location of the Braidwin estate. Still there. She breathed a sigh. “Thank God.”
Alex took her hand in his, his eyes burning with concern. “What of your brother?”
“Gone.” Juliana tossed a hand to her throat where her pulse raged out of control. “Sailed away on the
Esther’s Dowry
a month ago. To become a pirate.”
Alex stared at her in shock, then ran a hand through his hair. “For once his foolishness saved his life.”
“Abilene!” Juliana tugged from Alex’s grip, her gaze running up and down the foamy water where the wharfs had once stood. “She was down by the docks.”
“Nay.” Alex drew her close. “She was at my home. Or Lord Munthrope’s.” He pointed to where his house still stood just past the Merchant’s Exchange. “I had Whipple bring her there last week.”
She eyed him, tears spilling down her face. “Just as you said you would. Even imprisoned, you kept your word.”
He gave a sad smile. “You thought me such a monster.”
“Nay. Not you. I didn’t trust anyone.” She scanned the city once again, still unable to believe what her eyes told her. The sea gurgled and sloshed over the spot where the orphanage had stood, along with Reverend Buchan’s church.
As if it had never existed.
A realization slammed over her. “We would have all been killed. If I had been home or at the orphanage, then I and all the children would have been killed.”
“As would I if I was still locked up in Marshallsea.” Alex’s stubbled jaw tightened as he glanced to where the prison had been.
Juliana broke away from him, her breath coming hard and fast as the truth stormed through her. “All the tragedies that came upon me the past three months.” Her voice raised higher and higher with the revelation. “My father’s illness, me trying to run the shipping business, Rowan’s inability to help—all brought
you
into my life to keep Nichols at bay.” Alex started to say something, but she silenced him with a raised hand. “Then Abilene’s beating introduced you to her, so you could save her. Dutton Shipping failed, my father died, the orphans became ill—all of which caused me to leave my home. Even your capture and Lucas’s silly pails of water and blankets were all part of the plan to save me and the children from the fire. Don’t you see?”
Her legs wobbled, and she gripped the railing. Alex held her elbow. “If you hadn’t met me,” Juliana continued, breathless, “you wouldn’t have been captured. And if you hadn’t been captured, you might have been down by the docks, sunk into the sea with the rest of the pirates.”
Alex stared at her aghast. Shock, confusion, and finally acceptance—sad, humbling acceptance—filled his eyes before he shifted them back to Port Royal.
“Everything that happened,” Juliana added, “every struggle and problem happened for a reason. Even Rowan losing the
Midnight Fortune
in a bet. Otherwise he would have been in town, down at the docks, gambling. Everything was perfectly orchestrated to bring us—you and me and the children and Jonas and Eunice and Isaac
—
to this brig. On this precise day at this precise time. To save our lives!”
Alex shook his head, swallowing hard. “I can’t believe God would go to such trouble for me. For you, mayhap. But for me?” His brow twisted.
“He loves you, Alex. And he loves me. All this time I thought he had abandoned me.” Emotion burned in Juliana’s throat, making it difficult to speak. “I thought he was unhappy with me, that I wasn’t doing enough for him. When all along, he was saving me.” Tears spilled down her cheeks and dripped from her jaw.
Alex caught them in his hand, then drew her close, wrapping his arms around her. “We can’t do anything to win God’s love. He just loves because … that’s the way he is. He can’t help it.”
She nestled against him, feeling loved, truly loved, for the first time in her life. Not just by Alex but by God Almighty, her Father in heaven. Who promised to never abandon her. Somewhere along the way, she had forgotten that. She had forgotten that no matter what happened, God was with her and had a plan, and that all things would work out for good in the end.
“But what about all those who died?” She pushed from Alex and stared at what was left of Port Royal. “Didn’t God love them?”
“Of course,” Alex said, his voice tightening in pain. “He may have tried to get them to safety. Mayhap they didn’t listen. Mayhap, it was their time. I don’t know.”
A morbid scream echoed across the bay. Juliana made out the figure of a woman and child climbing onto the roof of a home. “We must go to the survivors, help those we can.”
Alex nodded. “Aye, I’m of the same mind.”
Footsteps and a horrified gasp brought both their gazes to Jonas, bursting up the hatch and rushing toward them. “What’s happening?” His eyes shot to the coast and his mouth went slack. He started to stumble.
“Earthquake,” Alex replied, leaving Juliana’s side to grab his friend’s arm.
“Are the children all right?” Juliana asked.
“Everyone is still asleep,” Jonas stuttered as he stared at Port Royal. “Nothing would wake them after last night.”
“Go get Isaac,” Alex said. “We’ll take the boat into town and search for survivors. Bring your medical supplies.”
Jonas nodded but remained in place. “God in heaven help us,” he mumbled as he approached the railing. “God have mercy. Sweet Jesus.”
“I’m coming with you.” Juliana clutched her skirts and started across the deck.
“Nay.” Alex stayed her. “Remain with the children. They will need you.”
She frowned, and he brushed a thumb over her cheek and kissed her, disarming her protest instantly. “We’ll bring back those in need.”
“A brig,” Jonas announced. “Coming around the point. Lowering sails.”
Alex squinted into the sun. A flicker of excitement—or was it joy—crossed his eyes.
“You know the ship?” Juliana asked.
Alex grinned. “’Tis my father’s brig, the
Redemption
.”
Author’s Historical Note
On June 7
th
, 1692, at around 11:40 a.m., a jolt struck the town that one preacher had deemed the
wickedest city in the world
, Port Royal, Jamaica. Anglican rector, Dr. Emmanuel Heath was having a glass of wormwood wine at a local tavern with his friend John White when the ground began to shake. White assured Dr. Heath that it was only another earthquake and there was nothing to fear, but then another shock struck and then another, until entire buildings began to crash down around them. The wharves and rows of homes behind them slid into the deep water of the harbor as Dr. Heath fled for his life. An eyewitness describes the scene:
The sand in the street rose like the waves of the sea, lifting up all persons that stood upon it, and immediately dropping down into pits; and at the same instant a flood of water rushed in, throwing down all who were in its way; some were seen catching hold of beams and rafters of houses, others were found in the sand that appeared when the water was drained away, with their legs and arms out.
More quakes struck as Dr. Heath made his way toward Morgan’s Fort, but the building crumbled before his eyes, along with his church, the tower of which toppled to the ground. In a panic, he made his way toward his home as a wall of seawater came crashing in from the south, flooding the fort and the houses in its path and drowning those trapped in the falling debris. Finding his home still standing, he knelt on the street and, along with many neighbors, began to pray.
The earthquake lasted two minutes and during that time two-thirds of the town sank into the sea. Ships docked at the wharves capsized. HMS
Swan
broke its moorings and plowed through the city. The ground opened up and swallowed people and houses whole. A young Mrs. Akers was swallowed up in a gap on land and then was somehow ejected into the harbor where she was later rescued. A French Huguenot named Lewis Galdy was sucked out to sea by the first seismic wave and then miraculously returned to land by the second. In an instant, the peninsula on which Port Royal stood became an island.
Over 2,000 of the 6,500 inhabitants died in the earthquake itself and another 2,000 in the looting, violence, disease, and starvation that followed. Though many tried to rebuild Port Royal, it never returned to its former glory, and most of the merchant business that had made it great transferred to Kingston. History lovers and treasure hunters diving at Port Royal for years have found many fascinating artifacts. One item of particular interest was a watch that had stopped at seventeen minutes before twelve: the time of the third and greatest shock.
Natural calamity or act of God? Only the Almighty knows.
♥♥♥
Other books in the Legacy of the King’s Pirates Series!
The Redemption, The Reliance, The Restitution
Best-selling author MaryLu Tyndall dreamed of pirates and sea-faring adventures during her childhood days on Florida's Coast. With more than fourteen books published, she makes no excuses for the deep spiritual themes embedded within her romantic adventures. Her hope is that readers will not only be entertained but will be brought closer to the Creator who loves them beyond measure. In a culture that accepts the occult, wizards, zombies, and vampires without batting an eye, MaryLu hopes to show the awesome present and powerful acts of God in a dying world. A Christy award nominee, MaryLu makes her home with her husband, six children, and several stray cats on the California coast.
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Other books by MaryLu Tyndall
Abandoned Memories
– coming summer 2014!
Pearls from the Sea
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