Like Chaff in the Wind by Anna Belfrage

becalmed; Captain Miles had never experienced anything like it, he told Alex, all the while straining his eyes in all directions for any sign that this weather would break. He looked exhausted, a greyish tinge to his skin that made Alex worry he might be developing a heart condition.
    “So, do you know where we are?” Alex said.
    “Aye, ma’am, I do. Much too far to the south.”
    Well, that didn’t impress her – she could have told him that, given the heat. He studied the sky to the north, shielded his eyes with his hand, and looked for a long time at something he saw on the horizon.
    “But we won’t stay becalmed for long, it’ll rain before the evening.”
    Alex gave him an incredulous look and made a great show of scanning the bright blue skies.
    Captain Miles smiled and bowed, muttering something about needing to talk to the cook.
    In the event Captain Miles was right, too right, and yet again the Regina Anne bucked in a transformed sea, sails trimmed as much as they could. Alex spent three miserable days in her berth and when she made it out on deck, it was to a speeding ship as the captain attempted to make up for lost time. Very many weeks of lost time as Alex pointed out, acerbically dropping a comment that tomorrow, the twenty-fourth of August, was her birthday, and she had hoped to spend the day reunited with her husband, not stuck in the middle of the sea.
    “ Dios manda, querida ,” Don Benito said, patting Alex’s hand. “At least now we won’t thirst to death.” No, but perhaps starve. Alex spent more time picking weevils out of the dry biscuits than actually eating anything. Not that she wanted to, shivering all over at the thought of swallowing one of those disgusting little bugs by mistake.
    “There are definite advantages to modern life at time,” Alex said. “Like now, a plane wouldn’t come amiss.” Don Benito listened with interest as Alex described a plane, insisting that she draw one for him as well.
    “Seven hours to cross the ocean?” Don Benito stared down at the birdlike shape she had drawn on the deck.
    “They’re pretty fast.” She studied the priest and laughed. “Should you really be believing everything I tell you?”
    Don Benito gave her a confused look. “Are you lying?”
    “No, but I would have thought the normal reaction to my story would be to make the sign against evil and tie me to a stake.” She glanced at him nervously. Maybe that’s what he intended to do once they made landfall; have her dragged off to stand in front of a tribunal as a witch.
    “Are you a witch?” Don Benito asked, his lips twitching.
    “Of course not!”
    “Well then,” Don Benito shrugged. He frowned down at the water. “Why shouldn’t I believe you? Do you think your tale is that extraordinary?”
    Alex made a derisive noise. “Why would I think that? I keep on falling over time travellers all the time.”
    “There are probably more than you think. And to a man that accepts the miracle of God’s creation, of Immaculate Conception and the birth of God’s son as a mere human, your story is just another example of God’s amazing…His amazing…”
    “…sense of humour?” Alex suggested.
    Don Benito laughed. “God most certainly has a sense of humour, but I was looking for another word…complexity! Yes, that’s it.”
    “Hmm,” Alex replied.
    *
    “I’ve decided to make for Barbados,” Captain Miles informed them over supper.
    “Barbados?” Alex said. “But that’s miles from Virginia!”
    “I have to get the ship repaired, and we lack victuals to make it all the way to Virginia.”
    “And how long will that take?” Two weeks? A month? Surely not more than that, right?
    “I make it that we will be in Barbados in four weeks at best, and then some months for repairs…I am sorry Mrs Graham, but you won’t make it to Virginia this year. The seas are restless in the final months of the year – only a fool would attempt a crossing.” He threw out his hands