Kate
looked a hundred times better, pink in her cheeks. She clung to the
deck rail, however, tightly enough to turn her knuckles white. Sophia
was at her side, though Terrance couldn't make out much more of
either in the fading light. There were lamps secured to each mast,
but the glow of each didn't reach the rails. He couldn't see Lynn or
Nicholas, and only spied a few dark spots that were likely sailors in
the rigging.
“Better?”
Terrance asked Kate.
“Yes,
much. Still...bad, but not horrible.” She took one hand from the
rail to hold her stomach.
“Lynn
and Nicholas?” Terrance asked Sophia.
“They've
found a secluded corner. If you take Kate below, I'll join them.”
Kate
shook her head. “Not yet.”
“I'll
stay with her,” Terrance promised, stepping closer.
Sophia
sighed gratefully. “Thank you. It has been a long and somewhat
painful day. I'm going to take some pleasure in what is left of it.”
“Painful?”
he asked Kate.
“The
sun,” she answered. “Even with hats and parasols, it burns them.
Not unbearably, but definitely uncomfortable.”
“Oh.”
Terrance felt shame for pushing them out of the house.
