Noah watched Raphael gaze back towards Port Royal as they sailed out of the harbour into the open sea. He understood how reluctant he was to leave Susannah. And he would do everything in his power to get him back to her as soon as possible. Yet how little would rest in his hands. The wind. The tide. How long it took to find the child. Hal came to stand beside him, looking up at the men running sure-footed along the yardarm and high in the rigging, as though on solid ground, hastily unfurling the remaining sails to speed the ship forward.
Hal followed his father’s gaze. ‘Should he have come?’
Noah turned to him. ‘Not for me to say.’ Perhaps he had been reckless and not for the first time. ‘I can understand why he feels it’s his duty to fetch the girl home and also to be there for his wife
