Sail With Me (A Discovery Series Book) Read Online Free

parcel.
    “What’s that?” Benjamin asked.
    “I don’t know.”
    Holding the package under my arm, I got up from the floor and fumbled
around in the dark, making my way to the east sitting room. Using touch alone,
I located a candle and lit it. Flickering light danced off Benjamin as he stood
beside me.
    I eased into one of the wide chairs in front of the long windows, which
in the daylight offered a breathtaking view of the sea. Setting the candle on a
small wooden table, I held the package toward the light. Riley’s sloppy
handwriting covered the front of it, and despite my current mood, I had to smile.
He wrote in tight scribbles as if he were in a hurry. Always had.
    I tore open the parcel, and a brown leather cord spilled into my lap. A
bright white seashell had been threaded onto the cord. Turning it over in my
hand caused iridescent colors to swirl inside the shell in the candlelight. A
fresh, salty scent clung to it.
    While Benjamin inspected the shell necklace, I picked up the folded sheet
of parchment in my lap. Riley’s unkempt script covered the page.
    Dearest Charlotte,
    I hope all is well with you in Southampton. Life aboard the Emily is
hard work, but she sails with the grace of a swan and the power of a bull under
father’s direction. He has allowed Eric and me chances at the helm and I look
forward to more of them. Eric didn’t like it as much, but you know how he is.
    We have made landfall in a place called Florida. It is much hotter
than Southampton, and its coast is sandier. Tall trees with thin trunks and
wide plumes of leaves are everywhere. We have set up a small camp, and a few
scouting parties have canvassed the immediate area. Father is set to trade with
the friendly natives, assuming there are some. We hope to avoid the savage
ones.
    While charged with cleaning detail, Eric and I found ourselves at the
shore gathering buckets of water. With the sea lapping at my ankles, I bent
down to fill a bucket and noticed an exquisite shell at my feet. As soon as I
saw it, I thought of you.
    Eric threaded it on the leather cording, and we both agreed it had to
be sent to you at once. We hope you like it and think of us when you wear it.
We miss you, especially when one of us doesn’t feel well or gets hurt. You
always know how to attend to those situations… just like Mother did.           
    Forever your favorite
brother,
                                                                                        Riley    
    The word “favorite” Riley had snuck into his closing made me chuckle. He
and Eric always pretended to be my favorite, tried to outdo one another for the
title. I fingered the shell Benjamin had dropped back into my lap and was
delighted that even in an exciting new land, my brothers thought of me.
    How I wished to be with them. Scrubbing a deck, raising a sail, watching
for land. I would be with them… if I were a boy.
    “Benjamin,” I said, “I need your help with something.”

Chapter
Four
     
    “I’ll help you with anything, Charlotte.” Benjamin followed me upstairs
to Eric’s room, the dim candlelight offering nothing but dancing shadows.
    “I know.” I took a moment in the doorway of Eric’s room to look at
Benjamin. How did I tell him I was leaving? How did I make him understand I had
to go?
    He grabbed my hands. “You’re scaring me.”
    An uneasy look washed across his face. A good face. One I’d seen practically
every day. Benjamin’s face was a perfect combination of his parents, as if he
had gotten the best each of them had to offer. His father had given him dark,
unruly brown hair and a long slender nose. Deep green eyes and full lips from
his mother. Hours of hauling crates around his father’s shop—a shop destined to
be his—had given him defined muscles in his arms and chest. He was kind and
generous and would make a wonderful husband.
    For somebody