Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven- Day One at Sea, the Morning

Dianna felt a gurgling in her stomach and the saliva in her mouth thickened. She turned over in her small cot and vomited for the third time into a small bowl she had placed by her horrid excuse for a bed. All night she had barely been able to sleep because of the rolling of the ship as it sailed across the waves of the seas. Twice in the night, she had woken up to heave out whatever food she had in her stomach, and now it had woken her again.

Dianna noticed sunlight creeping in under the door to her cabin, and decided to get dressed and leave her cabin. She couldn't take anymore of her vomiting. Dianna slowly swung her legs off the cot, then sat up. She held herself steady for a second, and when she felt like the sailing was smooth enough, she stood up and began to rummage through her luggage.

First, she laid out her corset, petticoats, and dress on her bed. Next, she walked over to the barrel of water that took up half the space in her room and uncorked it so she could fill a cup with the clean water. When the cup was filled, she corked the barrel again and then used the cup of water to wash her face and arms and rinse out her mouth and clean her teeth with the toiletries her father sent for her. Then, she took her long, red-black hair out of the bun on top of her head and began to brush it until it was smooth and shiny. She braided the hair and left the braid to hang down her back. Finally, she took off her robe and nightdress and began to put on her clothes.

Gypsy women usually wore loose-fitting, airy dresses. It had been a year since Dianna had worn the proper petticoats and corset. The petticoats were easy to put on, since they were only layers of underdresses, but the corset was a different story. What used to be an easy task for her, now became a struggle as she tried to tie the knots behind her back. She pulled and twisted, until she managed to somehow tie it in a way so the corset almost fit right. It was a little looser than it was supposed to be, but it would have to do. Dianna finally threw her dress over her head and straightened it up bit. It was yellow silk with little red roses dotted all over it. The sleeves the tight along her arms until they reached her elbows. From there, the sleeves fanned out and hung loosely with a bit of white frill to decorate them. She put on her boots, the only shoes she had with her, and left her tiny cabin.

The men were already hard at work, pulling reins, manning the sails, mapping the seas. Dianna walked across the top deck. All the men would take turns calling out a good morning to her, and flashing their best smiles. She smiled back, and tried to walk in a straight line towards the steer, where she could see Josey and Mack arguing about something.

When she reached the steer, Mack turned to her and bowed his head, saying, "Good morning, ma'am. How was your slumber? Hope you didn't feel too sick of the sea?"

"No, it was quite alright, thank you." Dianna replied hesitantly, remembering the vomit-filled bowl she had to keep washing out in the night. Mack chuckled and continued.

"Would you like some breakfast? We have pickled cabbage, various pickled vegetables, pickled eggs, and pickles." Mack smiled. "Pickling things keeps them fresh throughout long journeys at sea."

"Er, no thank you." The thought of pickles made Dianna's stomach gurgle sickly again.

"We also have hard tack, it's like very a crunchy cracker. And I can get you some black coffee with that."

"Oh, that sounds fine, thank you very much." Dianna smiled, and Mack went off to get her hard tack and coffee.

Once it was just the two of them, Josey said, "You didn't tie your corset tight enough."

"I beg your pardon?" Dianna asked incredulously.

"Your corset. It's not tied very well is it?" He gave her a sideways smirk.

"Well, you try dressing like a woman! It's so much more complicated than what you're used to," Dianna replied, noting that Josey was only wearing his boots, trousers, and a bandana was tied around his head. Dianna looked away from his bare chest, annoyed and blushing.

Josey laughed. "I'm more used to corsets than you think. I've helped my share of women get in and out of their clothes." Dianna's blush deepened and she put her head down at his dirty remark. "If you want, I could help you with your corset in the mornings."

"Sir! I must say--"

"Calm yourself. I merely said I'd help tie your corset strings for you, nothing else. I'm not saying you have to be completely naked or anything." Josey interrupted coolly, not looking at Dianna.

"Why don't you like me?" Dianna asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Why don't you like me? You've been nothing but rude or snide with me since we got onto the ship. I understand you want to seem tough in front of your crew, but you don't have to be cruel to me to do that." Dianna looked up into Josey's eyes, challenging him. Josey said nothing, but stared levelly back at her, unperturbed.

"I brought your breakfast, ma'am!" Mack hopped up next to them and placed a napkin with two hard tacks wrapped in it and an old mug of hot, very black coffee on the table bolted to the floor behind the steer.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Gallagher." Dianna smiled sweetly at him.

"No trouble at all. Please call me Mack, ma'am." Mack blushed and smiled charmingly back.

"Then don't call me ma'am, but Dianna." She smile again, her dimples making dents in her cheeks.

"If you two are done flirting, we have work to do." Josey roughly shoved Mack toward the steer, where the two men looked at a map and continued routing the journey, while Dianna sat down and munched difficultly on the very hard crackers and drank down the extremely bitter coffee.

Josey barely listened as Mack explained the route to him. He was all too aware of Dianna sitting and eating behind him. He didn't know why he was so rude to her. He figured it had something to do with the fact that she was the only woman he had ever known to challenge and question him. Others would simply swoon and fall for him instantly, but Dianna was harder to win over. He figured this was probably why he felt the need to play tough and challenging as well.

"Is there anything I could help with?" Dianna asked when she had finished breaking her fast.

"There's nothing for a woman to do on a ship," Josey immediately responded.

"I assure you, Mr. Thatcher, I can do my share of work if you give me something to do." Dianna replied coolly.

"Um, perhaps you'd like to help me fish?" Mack quickly suggested before an argument ensued.

"Fish? But all our fasts are broken."

"Yes, but we need to catch some fish for tonight's dinner. I can show you how," Mack offered.

"Alright. Only if it won't bother you," Dianna said to him.

"Josey knows what he's doing," Mack replied, and led Dianna away from the steer to the side of the ship on the top deck. Josey watched as Mack showed Dianna how to cast the small nets into the water and then pull them up again. On her first try, Dianna let go of the net too early, and all the fish fell back into the water. Mack helped her and they managed to catch two netfuls of fish, enough to feed everyone a hearty dinner tonight.

As Josey watched Mack put his arms around Dianna to help her better steady the net, he felt jealousy burn in him. Never had there been a woman to fall for Mack, and to dislike Josey. Of course he wanted Mack to be happy, but not with Dianna. She was too different, too special.

As Dianna laughed at something Mack said, Josey felt something strange happen inside him. Almost as if his heart was being squeezed out of his chest.

It was the most painful thing Josey had ever felt.

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