Page 22 | Chapter 1 | The Ghost Ship | A Free Serialized Novel by Scott Telek

“Should we go watch?” He turned with a smile of mischief to his wife. “Doesn’t seem as though much will happen here. And it is,” his voice rose in excited playfulness, “a vessel named after the woman we are on our way to live with!”

She quickly nodded in agreement, pealing laugh echoing hollow in the cold wooden space, in a way that forced him to pleasantly laugh at her eagerness. He enjoyed indulging romantic side, unbounded as it was, as it gave him an opportunity to explore his own, heretofore untrodden. John found in himself a failure to know what sorts of things one might do to please a woman. The very now seemed an appropriate time to deliver his wife an intimate gesture, a kiss, or compliment—and surely she expected it—though he was at a loss for what he might say to her. She grasped his hand in hers and, leading him, was making for the door, but he held her back. When she stopped, looked back toward him, he encircled her waist with his arm and drew her to him. He kissed her.

“Missus Merchant,” he said simply.

“Mister Merchant,” she responded, “my love.”

They exchanged a chaste kiss in the empty tavern, then pressed their cheeks together. John’s gaze wandered absently over the wooden ceiling.

Breaking it off, he boxed at her shoulder as one does a boyhood pal. “Come then, now,” he said, imitating the women he had heard. “Imagine not being there when they arrive!”