Though the water was brown and had a coppery smell to it, and the tub itself was nothing but a sawed off ship’s barrel, and the maids had dropped towels of questionable cleanliness on the dirty floor, Magnolia didn’t care. She relished in the caress of warm water on her skin, washing away the grime and grit and filth of the past five days. If only she could wash away her fears for her future as well. Now, as she stood at the open window in her chemise, gazing at the ships teetering in the bay, and battling the hopeless tangles in her hair, those fears rose again like tenacious flood waters, threatening to drown her.It was one thing to tromp through the jungle with Hayden protecting her, and quite another to face a journey on one of those ships with no one to stand up for her, no one to defend her should a sailor get the wrong idea about her traveling alone. And then, once in the States, she would have to find her way, unescorted, to her aunt and uncle’s. Would they even take her in?
