CHAINS TO FREEDOM.✔

Chapter Seventy-Nine

"Get the wench up on her feet!"

They grabbed her, one on each arm and made her stand. "Fuck Mr. Riches, she stinks to 'igh 'eaven."

Jessica was too weak to put up any resistance. Bile trailed from her mouth, leached over her chin to catch in the neckline of her dress.

"Take her on deck, strip her down and throw a bucket of water on the filthy whore before the surgeon sees her."

Jessica was ill for almost a week with seasickness. The ship was carrying two other passengers. As yet, Jessica had only met one.

Emily Wilson was a fair, well-built woman. She and her husband had immigrated to Van Diemen's Land as free settlers. Finding conditions, not what they expected, had decided to return to their motherland. She helped Jessica dress, and then ran a brush through her hair. "I'm so glad you're feeling much better."

"I don't know how to thank you for your kindness." Jessica clutched Emily's hand. "I should not have survived without your care."

Emily gripped Jessica's hand in return. "Yes you would have. For some reason I think you have survived much worse than this."

"What makes you say that?" Jessica gave Emily a curious look.

"In your delirium you spoke of many things. Some I didn't understand but those I did touched me deeply." She swept her hand down the side of Jessica's head and smiled. "I only hope my kindness, eased some of your pain."

"Oh...without you I would have surely died."

"Let us thank God you didn't." Emily smiled again and said, "Shall we go up on deck. I think some fresh air would do you good."

"Yes. Thank you." Jessica stood, a little unsteady, but felt much better. "I would love some fresh air."

For Jessica the days on board the ship passed like the waves, some pleasant and carefree, others full of torment and feelings of impending doom. Each day she told herself she had made the right decision. She tried to be positive about her future. She had no idea how Adam would receive her. She knew he was mad and vowed not risk her safety by being left alone with him. Jessica decided she would first seek the advice of her father's bankers, and acquire some cash with which she could employ the services of a barrister so she could take her case to the courts.

Two months into the journey Jessica became ill once more. She vomited violently early one morning and took herself up on deck to get some fresh air. This was where Emily found her, lying huddled against a longboat that was tied to the deck.

"Whatever is the matter, Jessica? You look terrible."

"I'm not sure, Emily." Jessica clutched her hands to her chest. "I woke early this morning and vomited. I'm wondering if it was something I ate. I still feel very nauseous."

"You don't have a fever." Emily touched Jessica's forehead. "Perhaps it was something you ate, though we all ate the same thing last night. Jake and I have not been ill." She patted the back of Jessica's hand. "Come back to your cabin, you look very tired, perhaps after a rest you will feel better."

Jessica came back on deck just after noon. Jake and Emily were sitting reading. They were resting against a sail that was not in use, but was tied to the deck. Shadows from the sails that were billowing in the wind protected them from the sun.

"Jessica, come and join us!" Emily called. "How are you feeling?"

"I am so much better. I have no idea what was wrong. Perhaps it was a little seasickness, though I would have thought I was very much over it." She smiled and sat beside them.

"How about a game of cards?" Jake suggested. Both women rolled their eyes and laughed. Jake was a very keen card player and every day he was playing someone or other.

*****

For five mornings in a row Jessica felt ill. Sometimes vomiting. At other times just ill enough to not want to eat. On the sixth morning Emily knocked quietly on Jessica's door.

"Who is it?" Jessica called as she sat up on her bunk.

Emily opened the door a crack. "Can I come in?"

"Oh yes of course, Emily though I will not be the best of company. I don't understand what's wrong with me. One moment I feel well, another not quite right and at other times I'm vomiting." Jessica wiped her face with the damp cloth she had in her hand.

"This is what I came to speak to you about," Emily said timidly.

Jessica gave her a curious look, her mouth agape. "Have you discovered I am carrying some mysterious disease and that I have infected everyone on board?"

"No." Emily grinned. "Nothing as awful as that. What I've come to ask is just a theory of my own." She paused, not quite knowing how to continue. "Please don't be offended when I ask this of you, but do you think it's possible that you may be with child?"

Jessica gasped in a breath and covered her mouth with the cloth. She stared blankly at Emily.

"If you are with child, it would explain everything. Pregnancy does all sorts of weird and wonderful..." She paused and then added, "And not so wonderful things to women." Emily waited for Jessica to speak and when she said nothing she smiled and said, "It's called morning sickness." Emily tilted her head to one side and shrugged. "Though it doesn't always occur just in the morning."

"I am with child, Miss Jessica. His Lordship's child. I am afraid!"

When Jessica hung her head without saying a word, Emily suspected she was correct. She crouched in front of Jessica and touched her face. Feeling tears there she asked her question once more, "Jessica is it possible that you may be with child?"

"Yes." Jessica lifted her head and peered at Emily. Wiping her tears away with the back of her hand she nodded and said, "Yes. It's possible."

After the initial shock Jessica had sat by herself and worked out when her last monthly bleeding had been. She felt sure Emily was right. She worked out that she could be at the least nine weeks pregnant and at the most possibly three or four months. Her bleeding had always been erratic. Jessica had thought the delay was due to the seasickness and change of living conditions she had endured at the beginning of the journey. She lay on her bunk staring at the ceiling. She was both happy and sad. Louis. She rolled on her side and closed her eyes as she thought about the man she loved. He'd probably be married to Rachel by now and would never know he had a second child. Jessica put her palm to her stomach and cried. Her child would never know its father.

"I am going to make love to you."

"And then will you cast me aside, sir? Is that not what masters do once they have had enough of their servant or she carries his child?"

"I have no intention of casting you aside. I want you to be mine, not just for today, but for always."

The memory of his words, his lips, and the feel of his firm strong body against her much softer one came to her. Though there were tears in her eyes, Jessica smiled. She would now always have a part of Louis close to her.

Copyright © 2019 Donna Fieldhouse. All rights reserved.

Who suspected this was going to happen?

What will Jessica do?

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