"Lily, come over here please!" Sam called out to her daughter, placing another folded shirt into the laundry basket. .
The squealing little girl skipped over to her mother, grabbing at the hem of her skirt. Lily's eyes gleamed up at her mother as she smiled, her dark black hair blowing in the wind. Lily was now six years old, and had grown to be quite the little beauty. She still held eyes just like her mothers, but whenever she smiled, Sam could see that little part of Eduardo in her. That and at the fiery age of six, she'd already developed her own sense of sarcasm that Sam couldn't have fathomed when she was her age. A trait she only could've gotten from her father. More and more she started to remind Sam of Eduardo, and it always brought a smile to Sam's face.
"Mommy! When is daddy coming back?" Lily asked.
Sam smiled and rubbed the top of the little girl's head. "He and the other boys just went into town. They won't be back until later this afternoon." Lily pouted her lip out and went over to the doll she'd dropped on the floor, picking it back up and resuming her play closer to her mother.
Thomas climbed down from his post and landed next to Lily. "What, you don't like having just me around anymore? You used to like me." He complained teasingly, puckering out his lower lip.
Lily giggled. "I still do Uncle Thomas!"
Thomas poked the little girl gently in her tummy. "Then how about you help me keep watch up top? Give your mom a little break."
Lily's grin spread across her face and she spun around, beaming up at Sam. "Can I mommy? Please?"
Sam smiled, nodding her head as she folded some more clothes. "Just be careful you two." Thomas nodded at Sam, then gathered the little girl in his arms, and climbed up to the eagle's nest, which was the highest point on the ship. Sam trusted Thomas, and as many times as he'd taken her up there, she didn't need to worry about it. Eduardo wouldn't be as thrilled having her up there, but Sam determined what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Thomas liked having company up there as much as Lily liked being up there, so Sam didn't see the harm in it.
Eduardo and the rest of the crew had gone into town earlier that morning to gather some supplies and to collect some reward money they were due from a recent treasure hunt they'd been on. As the island they had stopped in had such a small population, they'd had to anchor the ship out away from the port, as the Sirius was much too large. The boys had climbed into their rafts and had gone ashore on their own. Sam, Thomas, and Lily had stayed behind. Sam had wanted to finish doing some chores around the ship before everyone returned, and Thomas volunteered to stay with her and Lily.
Sam glanced up at Thomas talking to Lily as they sat up in Thomas's little nest up top and smiled. All of the boys on board had taken to her quite quickly, and it was easy to tell how much she loved each of them. Although not related by blood, she referred to all of them as her 'uncle', and refused to call them by any other name. As she'd grown, the boys seemed to love her more and more, almost as much as Eduardo and Sam did. Sam often felt sorry for Lily, not having anyone her age around to play with her. But whenever she did, she'd see her with one of the boys, and her mind went at ease. They loved indulging her. They'd even taken her out on a few missions with them, with the watchful eye of Eduardo nearby that is. She loved going on missions with them, and her sense of adventure never seemed sated, as she was always asking them when their next one would be.
The past few years had been a breeze for them. They'd spent most of their entire time out at sea, where all of them felt most at home. They would stop every now and again to port somewhere, for Lily to experience town life, but she too seemed to share her parents love for the sea. Something that came to no surprise to any of them. Sam would often find Lily sitting at the bow of the ship, enjoying the cool breeze as her mother often did. Sam and Eduardo took to parenthood quite easily. It had surprisingly come almost second nature to both of them. Eduardo had expressed concern to Sam, in the first few years of Lily's life, that he was afraid that he wouldn't be a good father, and that Lily would grow to dislike him, as he had grown to dislike his own father. But by all accounts, Lily showed no distaste for her father. She certainly was daddy's little girl, and basked in all of the love and attention her father would give her. Eduardo hadn't changed much around the crew, still stern and sarcastic with them, but around Lily and Sam he was just as kind and loving as Sam had always known him to be. She often tried to tease him about it, but he would typically just roll his eyes or change the subject. But she as she had predicted on the day Lily was born, he was wrapped firmly around that little girl's finger. And Sam was pretty sure that Lily already knew that.
Sam tucked the laundry basket underneath her arm and made her way downstairs. Going to each room, she sorted through the laundry and began placing everyone's things neatly on their beds. She made her way to the old supply room, which the crew had turned into a bedroom for Lily. She stepped over the strew of things scattering the floor, making her way towards her daughter's bed, making a mental note to have a talk with Lily later about cleaning her room. She placed the few garments of her daughter's on her bed, then trekked her way back through the havoc that Lily called her room. Shaking her head, she placed the laundry basket in its proper place, and then headed over to the crew's new supply closet. She'd already taken an inventory of the ship's supplies before the crew had left earlier that morning, but she'd been wanting to organize it for some time.
Rolling up her sleeves, she set out in her task, unloading shelves to clean off the surfaces before reorganizing everything. As she cleaned, her mind drifted to other things. She thought back on her conversation with Eduardo earlier that week, about them considering living on dry land for a while, for Lily's sake. She'd agreed with him that Lily needed a normal life, a normal upbringing. Somewhere where she could be around children her age, and go to school. Not that Sam had done a poor job of educating their daughter. Quite the contrary, Eduardo had stated several times how good of a job Sam had done in trying to educate their daughter. Sam knew that living on a pirate ship her whole life probably wouldn't be a good idea for Lily in the long run. But Lily loved living on the Sirius. Eduardo had even asked her on several occasions if she'd like to live somewhere else for a while. But each time she was asked, she'd been adamant about remaining on the Sirius. She loved it as much as they all did, and Sam knew that this was, and would always be, her home. But she couldn't deny Eduardo's logic in the situation. Even if it were just for a little while, it would probably be a good idea for them to stay on shore for more than just a week or two at a time.
Sam came out of her daze as she heard Thomas calling her name from above deck. The urgency in his voice caused her to drop the items she'd had in her hand, and run towards the stairs. Taking the stairs two at a time, she shielded her eyes from the sudden onslaught of light as she emerged on deck. She looked up at Thomas and Lily, who were still sitting up in their spot, but Thomas was pointing out in the distance. Sam followed where his hand pointed to, and saw a ship coming towards them. The ship looked awfully familiar, but Sam couldn't quite put her finger on it. But it was starting to get uncomfortably close to the Sirius. Sam looked back up at Thomas.
"Can you tell whose ship it is?" Sam called up to him.
"Not from here. I left my eyeglass down there on the deck, must've fallen out of my pocket. Use it to see if you can tell who it is. It's on the deck near Lily's dolls." Thomas shouted back down at her.
Sam walked quickly over to her daughter's dolls, lying on the floor, and easily spotted Thomas's eyeglass. Picking it up, she made her way to the side of the ship and brought it up to her eye. She adjusted the lens and focused in on the ship. She knew she'd seen the ship someplace before, but she couldn't place exactly where. She'd seen so many ships over the years, it could be anyone's ship. She narrowed in on some of the crew as they hustled about on the deck. Sam lowered the eyeglass to her side, having spotted the ship's captain ambling about the ship.
"It… It's the Rika…" She stammered.