Against All Odds

  Against All Odds

  Marian L. Jasper

  Austin Macauley Publishers

  Against All Odds

  About the Author

  About the Book

  Dedication

  Copyright information

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Marian L. Jasper was born in Hertfordshire and worked in the publishing industry within that area for many years. On the sale of her company, she moved to Jersey in the Channel Islands and eventually owned a small telecommunications company which served all the islands. She and her husband now live near family in Mandurah, near Perth in Western Australia.

  About the Book

  Liza’s journey in life continues through the eyes of the modern-day writer Ellie Fuller, and this second book of the series follows her return to America with her husband, Patrick, and children but no sooner are they on their way when disaster strikes and Liza’s life is threatened when she is considered a ‘Jonah’ by some members of the crew.

  Many adventures occur on her journey but finally she reaches her beloved town of Benson. There are still highs and lows in her life and when she experiences a powerful vision of the future, she risks her marriage, her family and her freedom by acting on what she has seen.

  Ellie Fuller also experiences that vision but she has yet to interpret its meaning, although she knows that what Liza saw and acted upon was so important that the risks that she took were justified.

  Ellie also realises that Lord Jamie Edgeworth had played an important part in Liza’s life but the current Lord Edgeworth was being particularly uncooperative, as he expressed that he had no desire to delve into the past of someone whom he did not wish to consider as ever having had anything to do with his family. Ellie and her brother, Eddy, knew that they would have to face the wrath of Lord Edgeworth in order to get to the truth.

  Dedication

  Dedicated to my husband, Paul, whose patience has been phenomenal and whose endless cups of coffee have kept me inspirational.

  Copyright information

  Copyright © Marian L. Jasper (2019)

  The right of Marian L. Jasper to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

  Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

  A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 9781528939669 (Paperback)

  ISBN 9781528939676 (Hardback)

  ISBN 9781528970020 (ePub e-book)

  www.austinmacauley.com

  First Published (2019)

  Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

  25 Canada Square

  Canary Wharf

  London

  E14 5LQ

  Also by Marian L. Jasper

  For All Time

  First in the Liza Marchant series

  Introduction

  “Are you still having your dreams?” Eddie Fuller asked his sister, Ellie. Whereas he had originally had the vivid dreams about Liza Marchant, she now only seemed to visit Ellie. She was constantly with her when Ellie was researching and writing Liza’s life story. In fact Ellie felt that Liza was writing it herself and whilst doing that, Ellie was experiencing the joys and sadness as if she was Liza.

  “Yes, I am Ed, but she seems to appreciate that I needed a break from writing for a while.” The emotions that she had experienced had drained her and she wondered how Liza Marchant had coped with such traumas.

  She had felt Liza’s nervousness during her wedding in 1837 to James Marchant when she was just seventeen-years-old and he was forty-seven; she had cried with her when he and his son from his first marriage died and when her own son, Jonathan, died soon after his birth. She had sensed Liza’s frustration with Lord Jamie Edgeworth’s constant amorous pursuit of her which led to her attempt to avoid him by travelling to America with her companion, Kate Templar, only to be followed by him and eventually captured by the Cherokees who believed that she would fulfil their legend that a green-eyed woman would bring prosperity to their tribe.

  Ellie’s stomach had shaken and quivered with fear when Liza had travelled to freedom, ending in finding sanctuary in the small town of Benson, where she gave birth to her son, Matthew, and there was also the love that she found with handsome Lieutenant Patrick Kelly and her happy marriage to him, followed by the unremitting sadness she felt when it was unsure that Patrick had really been able to marry her. She went back to Belfast and friends, but Patrick came to find her and assured her that they most certainly were married and after many ups and downs they made their way back to America having taken Patrick’s nephew, John, into their family.

  “Have you heard from the current Lord Edgeworth?” asked Eddie.

  “Just a brief note saying that it was part of the Edgeworth history that he did not wish to pursue. What he thinks happened I will have to find out, but I won’t let him get away with not saying what his idea of Liza is. I’m sure he has never been given correct information,” said Ellie, “or the family don’t want to admit that their ancestor’s pursuit of Liza caused many of her problems.”

  “Well, Ellie, you’ve seen her through two, if not three, marriages; a couple of births, and several deaths; where do you go from here?” asked Eddie.

  “It has to be their journey across to New York, she is telling me that it needs to be looked at but she is also telling me that Jamie Edgeworth is still not able to rest in peace until his life is also put in order,” replied Ellie.

  Chapter 1

  Patrick and Liza were in the captain’s cabin, which was relatively large, but the bed seemed very small in comparison to what they had been used to. There was an adjoining room which would be used as a sitting and dining room, and the captain would also be using it for his maps and to dine in. There was another cabin on the bridge deck which was for the boys and Mary. The two boys’ beds were placed virtually together and there was a curtain which meant that their children’s nurse, Mary, could have a certain amount of privacy.

  Mary was hanging up the boys’ and her clothes that they would need over the next weeks, and when she had finished that, she was going to come and help Liza to sort out what she would require over the following weeks at sea. Patrick had already sorted out his uniforms; he was very easy to look after.

  The boys had their supper with Mary fairly early and were tired so they were in bed by the time Patrick and Liza went in for their dinner. Captain Forde was waiting for them and offered them a sherry. During their conversation over the meal, he told them that they had two families from Ireland travelling to America and that when they docked at Southampton on the following day, there were two more families joining them, one from France and one from Spain. He could not remember how many members were in each family, but he knew that there were children.

  He said that it was going to be a little crowded as they were carrying quite some goods for the Marchant & Fuller warehouses in New York. “Will they be living a
mongst the stores then?” asked Liza.

  “Don’t worry, there’s room enough for them to live and sleep and they can walk around the deck at allocated times if the sea is not too choppy,” said Captain Forde.

  “You don’t know how many of them there are then,” said Liza.

  “No, but my first mate does, he has it all in hand. There’s no need for you to worry about them, they won’t be packed like the slave or the ‘coffin’ ships; they will be quite comfortable. All we must do is pray for a calm voyage.”

  “I didn’t see them board today,” said Patrick.

  “No, they’ve been aboard for two days. They don’t have the money to stay at a hotel, so when they arrived they were allowed on board but told not to get in the way of the sailors loading our shipment.”

  “Was that how you travelled over the first time, Patrick?” asked Liza.

  “No, I was on a passenger ship and my stepfather gave me enough money to have a very small cabin to myself. It was cramped but private enough. There were many on the lower decks which appeared to be very uncomfortable and one or two did die on the trip, but I believe that they were already unwell when they boarded,” said Patrick.

  “How do they eat, do you provide their food as part of their passage?” asked Liza.

  “No, they bring their own food, although we would not see them go hungry. They have been instructed on what to bring and how to keep it edible. They can utilise our cooking facilities, but under supervision as we want no out of control fires aboard the ship,” said the captain.

  “Do you take many passengers on this type of trip?” asked Liza.

  “On each trip, we do pick up six or eight families. It’s been a while since we picked up foreigners at Southampton and I do hope that they have understood what is expected of them.”

  “If we have time before we leave Southampton, I can make sure that they understand what they should bring and what they should be doing. How long will we be docked there?” asked Liza.

  “We will be arriving soon after dawn, but not leaving until the evening tide. I take it that you speak French and Spanish then. It would be a great help if you wouldn’t mind doing that. It’s all very well agents telling us that everything is in order, but we haven’t been able to make sure that these passengers know what they are doing,” said the captain.

  Liza never ceased to amaze Patrick. He had known that she was conversant in languages and he had thought that it was mainly French and of course, Cherokee, but had no idea that Spanish was also in her repertoire. He then remembered the Italian and German families in Benson who visited her on a regular basis. For a short while he felt very inadequate, but then the happy smile on her face which was meant solely for him brought him back into the world that they both wanted to be in. He also remembered that he had to rescue her from one disaster or another on many occasions, so even a very clever person wasn’t immune from needing to be taken care of.

  She told Captain Forde that she would be up early the next morning to make sure that she saw the new passengers as they arrived on board, and if there was anything that they needed to acquire before they sailed, she would go with them to make sure that they weren’t taken advantage of.

  No my Liza, thought Patrick, I’ll be with you to make sure you’re not taken advantage of.

  When they were alone in their cabin, Patrick said, “You’re full of surprises.”

  “There are those who are good at sewing and those who are good at cooking, some at writing and some at soldiering. I’ve always found it easy to understand languages; it’s nothing clever as I don’t have to work at it,” said Liza.

  “Yes, well, I know you’re not good at cooking and your sewing leaves a great deal to be desired, but I love you despite your faults,” said Patrick with his tongue in his cheek.

  She asked him what he would be doing the next day whilst she was with the new passengers and he replied that if she thought that he was going to leave her to the tender mercies of either the French or the Spanish who England had been at war with on and off for centuries, then she had another think coming. “I shall be guarding you as a good soldier should.”

  Mary was taking the boys for a short trip around the town the next morning while Liza and Patrick waited for the new passengers to arrive. Patrick looked extremely official in his uniform with his sword at his side and his firearm tucked into his belt. Liza had acquired from the first mate a list of items that the passengers were expected to provide for themselves and she and Patrick were directed towards one of the warehouses where the two families were meant to assemble.

  The warehouse was very dark and intimidating and Liza was pleased that Patrick was with her. In the corner, huddled together, were six people, no, seven, one was a very small child. From what Liza could see, they were in a very poor condition and she looked at Patrick with concern and said, “I don’t think these people are in a condition to travel.”

  “Buenos Dias, como estas,” she said guessing that they were the Spanish contingent and she was right. She moved towards them and welcomed them to England and the ship that they would be travelling on. She asked them if they had received the list of items that they needed before they could travel with the company. No, they hadn’t. She questioned whether the agent they had paid to get them here had told them anything about what would be needed. Just bedding and clothes, food would be provided. The first mate arrived at the warehouse and Liza translated this unhappy information for him.

  “Well, I hope they have money to get the provisions that they need for this trip. The agent has taken their money and left them high and dry, but they’re not our responsibility.”

  “But they are as we have been paid for their passage. I’ll see what money they have and what we can do for them. I see that the French contingent has arrived. I hope they have not been misinformed also.”

  “Bonjour Mesdames et monsieur,” said Liza. She welcomed them to England and to the shipping company and told them that she would be with them shortly.

  She went on to ask the Spaniards what funds they had to cover their provisions as they had been misinformed regarding what was required on their voyage. There was a great deal of chatter and shouting, mostly in panic, but once again Liza was pleased that Patrick was there. The only money that they had was for their future in America and that was very little. What were they to do? She asked them how much the agent had charged them and then asked the first mate how much the passage had cost. The difference was staggering.

  “Have we any recourse against the agent,” asked Liza of the first mate.

  “I’m sure the company will have,” smiled the first mate, “especially when you have finished with them.”

  “Right, we’ll take the difference between what should have been a fair price for an agent, plus the passage money and what they have paid and give them the balance. We’ll deduct it from what that agent charges us for his services. He certainly gets it both ways. When we have recouped our funds from him, we’ll stop using him,” said Liza and she conveyed this to the Spanish passengers, much to their delight. She told them that when she had spoken to the other passengers she would go with them to the suppliers to ensure that they had everything that they needed.

  She then asked the French passengers the same question, but their agent had been honest with them and they knew what they had needed so she left them in the capable hands of the first mate to settle them in and told them that she would see them later to make sure they were comfortable.

  Liza looked at Patrick and said that they had some shopping to do at the Marchant & Fuller store. It was not too far to walk and the whole family trooped behind them. Liza had the list of items which were necessary for the voyage and she called the shopkeeper over and told him what was needed for this family.

  “And how are they going to pay for it?” he asked and Liza told him that it was to be placed on an account which would shortly be settled in full.

  “Who are you to tell me this?” he asked and
Liza gave him a look that told him to do it and not to query anything she said. “You’re Mrs Marchant, aren’t you?” he said suddenly realising who she was. He had heard that she was travelling on that particular ship and he apologised to her. She explained to him how this family had been duped by the agent, but the company was going to recoup the money.

  It looked as though this family would be having their first decent meal in weeks, and possibly their quarters in the ship’s hold would also be luxury to them. They also managed to get a few extra items that were not on the list, so they became very excited about their trip; they felt that their luck had already changed.

  On the way back to the ship, Liza said that she was sorry that the storekeeper had called her by her previous name. “You know,” she said, “I’m very proud to have your name Patrick, but here the name Marchant obviously carries a lot of weight.”

  He bent down to her and said, “It doesn’t hurt me, Liza; you’ve done a great deal of good this morning and part of it is because you are known as the Marchant part of Marchant & Fuller. Well done, you’ve just gained a few more admirers.”

  “They are going to have to learn English and very quickly. They are so very open to unscrupulous people. If they are willing I’ll teach them the basics whilst on the voyage,” said Liza.

  “It will give you something to do on a long voyage. I know you like to be busy. And what are you going to teach me, my Liza. Something special, I hope,” said Patrick.

  “I’ll have to think about that as I know we’ve tried just about everything there is to try,” laughed Liza.

  The family asked Liza who the handsome American soldier was and she proudly told them that he was her husband and they smiled and nodded at Patrick. They were all helping to carry the goods, and as they approached the ship, some of the sailors rushed to take the supplies from Liza and Patrick and they then guided the family to their places in the hold. Liza told them that she would see them later to make sure they were settled and they thanked her profusely.