The wharf was practically deserted, a far cry from what it had been just a decade ago. Where once schooners lined the docks, with a buzz of activity around them, now only derelicts sat in their place. Near the end stood two people, next to one schooner in particular. At first glance the vessel looked no different than any of the others tied up. She was just as shabby looking, her topmasts put away giving her a rather squat appearance.
A man stood close to her bow, resting a gentle hand on the smooth black surface. He appeared in good shape for a man in his early 60s. He had a thick shock of white hair, covered by a captain's cap. He was dressed simply, they both were. In keeping with so many others throughout the village. The woman was younger and considerably more beautiful. She had long flowing blue hair that was just beginning to silver around the temples. Broad shouldered, with muscular arms that suggested a life of hard labor. She stood close in height to the man she was with. The man she loved with all her heart. The man who was now forced to sell her.
Angus Walters was a man who spoke with his hands. Especially when he was agitated or stressed. His voice would become shrill but he made a conscious effort to keep it down. He was one of the few who could see her after all. For her part, Bluenose was trying to keep focused on what he was saying. But those hands. They could be so soft, so gentle when they caressed her, just the feel of them on her... she stopped herself. Focus, right. She was a schooner damnit! She didn't do focus but for Angus she would try. For Angus she would do anything!
"...I have no right to ask for your forgiveness. But I can't keep you here and the Yanks made a good offer. But it's not fair! Maybe if I pushed a little more. I saved you once, I could do it again. Maybe, I don't know. I know this must seem like a betrayal, selling you out to those Yanks. Their offer isn't worth you. I'm betraying you and..."
His hands were stilled when she brought her own up to cover them. She clasped them gently, holding them at half an arms length, not bringing them closer, yet.
"That's enough Angus." She said gently.
"But I wasn't finished!" He protested.
"Ah, when you start repeating yourself I know you are. You just want to delay my response. You're afraid I will hate you. I will reject you when you already know my answer."
He met her soft blue gaze. "How?" He rasped in a voice choked with emotion. "How can you not?"
She didn't answer for a moment, chosing instead to bring one of their hands up. The backs of her knuckles brushed his cheek and he tilted his head into it.
After a minute, she spoke. "You are my Captain. The only captain I have ever known and will know. The others who come now..." she took a breath. "What You did, have done, hurts. I won't deny that. But it hurts more that it forces me from you. Do not think you betrayed me. Not for one second! You did what you had to. For you and your family. These are hard times for all and will only get harder. I'm just a ship who's too much of a prima dona to maintain."
"But you are my ship." He half sobbed.
"So I am." She smiled. "And so I shall remain."
Then looking around to make sure they were alone she closed the small distance between them. Letting go of his hands, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed their lips together.
They held one another there for several minutes. There was no roughness about it, no fierce passion on display. This was a bittersweet goodbye between a couple that had known all the joys and sorrows of life and had lived through them together.
Bluenose detected her new owners' approach first. Gently untangling her hands from Angus' hair she pulled back to look him in the eye. They were both crying now. Tears staining their faces. Bluenose but back a sob, her heart aching as she saw her captain's agony. And there was nothing she could do to help.
"Remember what I said. Remember me and don't close yourself off. People will want to know someday and you'll be there to tell the stories." She said.
"When this War is over, I will find you." He promised. Neither mentioned the other possibilities that could occur in the meantime.
She gave him one last kiss. "Goodbye, my captain."
Her fingers slipped from his as surely as the hull of the Bluenose slipped her chains and set her bow to the open sea. Never to return.
Angus watched her go until she vanished out of sight, a part of his soul going with her.