Missing Scenes - "Madeira"

   When Carolyn awoke that one morning, it had been to find a folded note tucked into the lamp by her dresser... "Captain Daniel Gregg requests the pleasure of Mrs. Carolyn Muir's company in the wheelhouse at four for a leisurely glass of Madeira."  She had kept the note with her all day, occasionally touching it, or rereading it.  She had planned what to wear -- a long, flowing gown and her grandmother's earrings.  She thought of how to put up her hair.  And she wondered secretly if she could look enough like a woman from the 19th century to impress the Captain.  But then things had gone disastrously wrong with that meeting due to her tardiness.  She hadn't had time to dress up as she wished, and they had exchanged a few heated words about lateness.  Finally, when it looked as though they MIGHT be getting into a good conversation, Candy had interrupted by yelling up that the washing machine had broken down and water was all over the floor, and Carolyn was needed downstairs immediately.  Undaunted, the Captain had appeared after the mess had been cleaned up, and invited her for another tryst at four o'clock sharp the next week.  Again her anticipation had grown waiting for the day, again she had planned to the last detail her dress ... and again fate contrived to intervene in the form of a dead car battery making it impossible to keep the date at all!  In her frustration she had flung at him words she wanted to recall as soon as they left her lips.  How COULD she have accused him of having no understanding about everyday happenings such as broken washing machines or children to meet at school or car batteries, or not even caring enough to TRY to understand!  Much though it pained her to admit, she had liked hearing him say she had some qualities he could admire -- and then she had thrown back at him that sentence about speaking up, and how he had no awareness of anyone else's needs ... and how women could be FREE now!  THEN she had committed the unpardonable sin of slamming the door as she fled the room, only to have to sneak back in for her shoes.  Why did he have such power over her feelings so as to make her act like a blithering idiot when she didn't want to appear that way at all?  All her ranting had caused her a sleepless night and solved nothing with the Captain who had retreated quietly.
   Finding the second note, a few days later, she merely made a face at it, wadded up the paper and tapped it into the garbage.  She was not going to put herself through any of that again!  If the Captain preferred to live in the past instead of the present, in spite of his assuring her he much preferred the present!, he could just stay there!  She quashed the tiny feeling inside of hurt mingled with desire, and went about her shopping that day with determination to forget him.  She was pleased to find a nice housecoat for Candy who had outgrown her other, and another pair of jeans for Jonathon who was also shooting up. 
   Once home, Martha confronted her with accusations of having finished the children's chores for them and spoiling them.  Carolyn, taken aback, denied doing any such thing...but was interrupted by the children arriving home from school.  When Jonathon, too, made a comment about finishing his chores for him, Carolyn suddenly realized the Captain must have taken her words to heart.  A rush of warmth went through her.  He must have tried hard to show a greater understanding of her lifestyle ... and she had almost missed his efforts.  She checked her watch quickly ... ten minutes before she was due in the "wheelhouse". 
   Whirling into the kitchen, she informed the others she would see them later, throwing a casual "to a cotillion" in answer to Candy's question of where she was going.  Ignoring the puzzled looks between the other three, Carolyn ran up the stairs to her room, beginning to undress on the way because she was in such a hurry.  Thankful that she had already made up her mind what she wanted to wear and how she wanted to do her hair, she worked quickly.  Even so, she was a few minutes late as she went up the stairs to meet with the Captain.  She wanted to run, but didn't want to burst into the room out of breath.  That was definitely not elegant!  Hoping fervently he would not be cross at her unpunctuality again, she softly pushed open the door and entered ... moving a few steps in and stopping, searching out the Captain.  There he was... for a moment she caught her breath at the expression on his face.  But then she saw the impatience and faint disappointment fade away to be replaced by a thunderstruck look of awed admiration. 
   She smiled somewhat shyly, gliding towards him. 
   He found his voice.  "How enchanting you look." he said huskily.
   Carolyn blushed, feeling more than a little flustered, and touched her earrings.  "The earrings were my grandmother's."  Inwardly she winced.  Why couldn't she just have thanked him instead of making an inane statement like that?
   The Captain handed her a glass of Madeira, and raised his.  "Here's to your grandmother..."
   Carolyn grinned and raised her glass to touch his.
   "And to the legacy of beauty she left behind." the Captain continued smoothly, his eyes never leaving hers while expressing his attraction for the beautiful woman before him.
   Carolyn's smile wavered only slightly, and her blush intensified.  "Thank you." she murmured.  She took a sip as he did.
   "Come, sit down," he invited.  "I'm sure you had a busy day as usual."
   "Yes, I did, actually.  This is a very nice interlude ... thank you for inviting me again."  They sat together on the loveseat by the east window.  She took another sip of her drink for courage.
   Debonair as ever, he repeated his comment from the other night. "Nothing is as peaceful and soothing as a glass of wine at sunset -- a gracious farewell to the passing day."
   "Today it IS peaceful ... I've been so busy shopping all day that I've had little time to sit and relax ... and visit with a friend." she added daringly.
   "I'm so glad you consider me a friend again.  After your comment the other night about tyrannical sea captains, and especially thanking me for the bolt of silk from the Indies, I wondered..."
   Carolyn looked and felt decidedly uncomfortable.  "Captain, I..."
   "No, please, let's not get into this...I should never have brought the matter up again.  We shall let it drop."
   Wanting to find something to say to put them both at their ease, Carolyn asked suddenly, "When did you learn to play the piano?"
   He smiled.  "My mother played ... as I was growing up, music filled our house constantly.  I had no choice but to learn.  The greater part of my practicing, however, has been in the last eighty or so years ... most ships do not come equipped with pianos."
   "I thought they all had them in the lounges."
   "Lounges?  My dear lady, I did not captain modern-day passenger ships.  As has been said, ‘If you must go aboard something so vast and elegant that you don't even know you're at sea, why bother at all?'" 
   Carolyn laughed, and his eyes glowed as her face seemed to light up the dusky room.  "You said something similar to me when I planted the monkey puzzle tree ... I still say that if you're a man of the sea, you should be able to tell land from water!"
   He smiled.  "Ah, madam, would that I could take you with me aboard my ship, I would show you a whole world that you have seen only in your dreams!  The places, the people ... you would never again have to depend on someone else's adventures to write your books!"
   "Well, it's one thing depending on your adventures to get some stories written, and quite another to have YOU write them for me!"
   "I still say that as long as you got your plumbing fixed, you should be happy, madam!" he spoke somewhat haughtily.
   "That is true.  And let us not forget how you defended my honour so gallantly!" the wine seemed to be going to her head as she clinked glasses with him again and sipped.  A provocative smile spread over her face as she reminded him of the publisher who had been quite pushy with her a few weeks ago.
   "I merely attempted to save the situation ... much the same as you tried to do months ago when that blasted couple landed on our doorstep late at night.  After I finally managed to get that blasted sea-barnacle to get here and perform the marriage ceremony, YOU had the gall to announce to them that we had a player piano!  What could I do then but to deliberately make a mistake, to give lie to your words?"
   "Oh, Captain!" Carolyn protested, laughing.  She loved the way he spoke about the house as being "theirs" ... for so long, it had been HIS house.  She sipped again, looking at him, half-turned on the seat towards her, his eyes bright with admiration. 
   There was another pause, then he said, "I remember when I was a small lad, we used to visit my Uncle Elias and Aunt Edythe in their home ... that was a beautiful place.  They called it the Mansion House.  They had rooms full of books.  It was from them I learned my love of literature.  The music and the books kept me sane during many a long, lonely watch at sea.  They also had many parties that I tried to emulate the few times I hosted such functions here at Gull Cottage."
   "And you never hosted any theatricals?" Carolyn asked slyly, remembering his reaction to the play Schooner Bay had put on a couple of months ago.
   "NEVER!" he roared.  Carolyn laughed again.
   "I'm sorry, Captain," she said, "I really shouldn't tease you when you have been so gracious as to host THIS lovely afternoon."  She wondered briefly whether or not it would be terribly gauche to ask if he had been in the habit of doing this sort of thing with other women in his day, but decided not to press the issue.  Having met with the great-great- granddaughter of one lady he had been engaged to, she had no desire to bring up the matter again ... especially since that had never been fully explained to her complete satisfaction.  And why should it?  She had never passed on any information about her former personal life either.  The  right time just never seemed to come.  Now, if Richard had been interested in even SOME of the same things, she might have mentioned him, but...
   "Believe me, it is my entirely my pleasure, my dear." he leaned forward after draining his glass, his incredible blue eyes fixed on hers.  "I may not NEED food or drink to survive, but I can taste, and this Madeira is just at the right age.  Would you care for a refill?"
  "I...shouldn't, but yes, please.  It is very nice." she held out her glass and he topped it up.  She noticed from the small western window that the sun was almost gone, the twilight in the room making it harder to see.  The Captain pointed at some candles and the soft glow filled the room.  "You know, Captain, you're quite right about electric lights and candles." she murmured.  "I remember Jonathan saying the first night that you hated electric lights."
   "Yes ... one of the modern advances I'm not delighted to see!"
   "Candlelight is so romantic, I always thought.  Things aren't so sharply defined ... the rough edges are smoothed over .... More comes out when sharing with a friend in the dark or by candlelight... and somehow in daylight or in bright electric lights, it's harder to even think, let alone speak, about some things.  " Carolyn mused, speaking her thoughts aloud. 
   "Quite right ..." the Captain nodded in agreement.  He then regaled her with a few more stories of his youth, and she was heart-glad to hear some things of the boy that shaped the man she was coming to know so well.  It was obvious to her now that these times set aside meant something special to him.  He seemed to feel that by her enjoying his company alone for a time, she acknowledged a relationship that was valuable to her -- he meant enough to her to take time out of her busy life for him.  Because he had done his best to understand HER times and accommodate HER life into this, she wanted to let him know how much he was coming to mean to her.  But she wasn't sure how to go about this.  They really hadn't known each other that long ... although much had happened between them in that short time!
   Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "We have a lot of memories to share, don't we, even knowing each other for only six months?"
   "Aye, Madam, we do indeed.  I have so many years of memories ... but I must confess that it is the last few months that mean the most to me now."
He spoke low and significantly. 
   Carolyn glanced away for a moment, a rush of feeling flooding her being so strongly she couldn't bear it for a moment.
   "More Madeira, m'dear?" he grinned at the play on words.
   "I'm sorry, Captain...I would love to, but I really must go.  Martha will have dinner ready shortly ... and I can't appear like this or there would be too many questions..."  She drained her glass too, then handed it back to him.  "Thank you once again."
   "Next Tuesday at four?" he queried.
   Again her smile lit up the room.  "Thank you, I'd love to come."  She hesitated briefly, then turned and left without another word.