Fortune burst into tears, and clung to her husband.
Jasmine's eyes were moist. Her hands went to her belly, and she said, "How terrible. Thank God Fortune did not marry that man. He is obviously mad."
Night had fallen outside the Great Hall's windows. Rory Maguire joined them, and he was obviously concerned. "There are hotheads among some of the Protestants here," he said. "The good Reverend and I have had all we could do to keep the peace this day. I think some of the younger men from Lisnaskea have infiltrated Maguire's Ford with their poison, and are trying to stir up our people against one another."
"Surely the Protestants cannot be so foolish as their brethren in Lisnaskea," Jasmine said. "We allowed them a refuge in this village when they were homeless, and the English were insisting they return to Holland after their ship, the Speedwell, sprang a leak in the Irish Sea. They are far more comfortable here than they would have been in the Plymouth Colony. We must keep the peace in Maguire's Ford! I will not allow intolerance to destroy my sons' inheritance!"
Rory looked at her, and at the daughter he could not acknowledge. This same prejudice that had caused the massacre and misery in Lisnaskea was responsible for sending Fortune and Kieran from Ulster. His old age would be as lonely as much of his life had been. He would never have the pleasure of watching his grandchildren grow up, even if they did not know who he really was to them. "The Catholics are just as bad, but I swear to you that I will keep the peace here, my lady Jasmine," he promised her fiercely.
"We will keep it together, Rory," she told him. "We won't allow anyone to destroy what we've done, what you've done all these years. Cullen, you'll speak to your people again?"
"Aye, Cousin, I will," the priest said.
For the next few days an almost eerie calm surrounded them. The duchess of Glenkirk had proclaimed her will personally in each church at Maguire's Ford. "If you cannot live in peace with your neighbors as you always have," she told the people, "then you must leave here. I will not have happen here what happened in Lisnaskea. Good people, both Protestant and Catholic died, and for what? We all worship the same God, my friends. Do you truly believe our God condones violence and murder of those who are different than we are? Does not the Bible preach love, and peace? Is not the fifth commandment, Thou shalt not kill? That commandment does not say thou shalt not kill except for…"
Sir Shane was buried without incident, Colleen Kelly and her husband standing like a buffer between Lady Jane, William, and Emily Anne; and Kieran, Fortune, and the Leslies. She had told her half-brother quite frankly that she would never forgive him for what he had done to their father, or to the Fitzgeralds. "You were always more one of them," Sir William sneered at her. "You are no longer welcome at Mallow Court, or your family either."
"You are beyond hope, William," she replied quietly.
The peace in Maguire's Ford held despite the rumors that were passed about daily, and despite the infiltrators from both faiths who sought to stir up trouble. Several survivors from Lisnaskea with family at Maguire's Ford had come to beg refuge of their kin, and were taken in which frightened some of the Protestants worried they might seek revenge upon any non-Catholic.
Kieran Devers spoke to Father Cullen, for he had the germ of an idea that he thought might solve part of the problem. "The duke tells me," he said, "that I will have an easier time of being accepted in Lord Calvert's expedition if I have my own vessel, and colonists who can help in building the colony when they settle upon a place. Since this is to be a colony for Catholics first and foremost, why should I not bring a shipload of good Irishmen and women with me?"
Fortune heard her husband's suggestion, and was in full agreement with him. "I have two ships of my own that ply the trade route," she told him. "There's a wonderful old, but quite sturdy vessel called the Cardiff Rose that brought Mama from India long ago. It should soon be returning from the East Indies run. Then I have a newer ship, the Highlander, in the Mediterranean. It will be returning to England come spring." She turned to her stepfather. "Could we not outfit both of these vessels, Papa, and sail them to the New World?"
"I should purchase my own ship," Kieran protested.
"Don't be foolish," his wife chided him. "We'll need the monies you have to outfit our ships. If it would make you feel better you may pay me a fee for leasing my ships."
"It's quite practical," the duke told his son-in-law, "and I know both the Cardiff Rose and the Highlander are well-maintained both above and below the water line. You cannot be certain of that if you buy a strange vessel, unless, of course, you have the ship dry docked for inspection before you purchase it, and it is doubtful its owner would allow you to do so because of the expense involved."
"And the Cardiff Rose has the most wonderful master cabin for us to travel in," she murmured at him, her eyes bright with her love.
James Leslie chuckled at his stepdaughter. How like her mother she was although she could not know it, he thought. "I am sorry to spoil your romantic dream, poppet," he said, "but it is unlikely many women will be allowed to go with Lord Calvert's expedition until it is decided where he will settle the colony, and housing is built."
"That's ridiculous!" Fortune said.
"Nonetheless that is the way it will probably be," the duke told her. "You have no choice, I fear."
"Then we shall not go," Fortune replied firmly.
"And where will you live then?" he asked her.
"We shall buy a house near Cadby, or Queen's Malvern," she said with what she thought was perfect logic, "or perhaps near Oxton so I may be near my sister, India."
"With your Irish Catholic husband?" the duke posed.
Fortune's face fell. "Oh dear," she said, suddenly realizing how foolish she must have sounded. "The Puritans in England are every bit as bad as the Protestants in Ulster where the Catholics are concerned, aren't they?" she reasoned aloud, not needing an answer to her own question. "We could go to France, or Spain," she suggested.
"Where you, my darling wife, would be every bit as discriminated against as I am in Protestant lands," he told her. "There is no help for it, Fortune. If we are to live together in peace we must go to the New World; and if Lord Calvert will have me, I may have to go alone until the colony is safe for women."
Before Fortune might protest further Adali came into the hall. "Father Cullen just sent word there is a large party of horsemen coming down upon the village from the direction of Lisnaskea, my lord. I thought, perhaps, that you would want to know. Your preparations are all in effect."
"What preparations?" Jasmine asked her husband.
"For the defense of both the village and the castle," her husband told her. "We canna allow that rabble from Lisnaskea to destroy Maguire's Ford as they did their own nest." He arose from his seat. "I must go and join the others."
"What others?" Jasmine demanded struggling to her own swollen feet. "I am coming with you, Jemmie. These lands are, after all, still mine, and I think it important that I am seen."