She watched her brother, wondering if that was what her father looked like. Her brother was, after all, a boy, and probably closest to resembling him. But she knew that her father and her brother were different. She watched her brother sitting there, in a rocking chair too big for him, writing his lessons in his book. She couldn't picture her father writing lessons. He was too busy with swords.
She just sat there, though. She often daydreamed about her and her father, side by side, fighting evil. Just like the stories her mother would tell her when she couldn't sleep. Stories of her father cutting open his hand to free cursed pirates. Or when he fought with a man name Jack for a key. Or, more recently, the story of her father being saved by being killed. It was all rather confusing. Especially for a nine year old.
Soon to be ten year old, she reminded herself giddily. So giddily, it caused her to giggle. Her brother looked up from his studies.
"What are you smirking about?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Our birthday's coming up, Trace. Our tenth birthday! I'm excited, is that so wrong?" she hoped he would reply with a smile, or a nod. But he was different than her, twin or not.
He rolled his eyes and went back to writing, not looking at her as he spoke. "You're not excited about the birthday itself so much as the happening on that day." She watched him poke his tongue out as he finished a sentence.
Then, she got defensive. "I am excited about meeting Father. I'm ashamed that you're not." She crossed her arms and stared down at her unwritten in lessons book.
She touched a nerve within Trace. "Lucia!" he hissed under his breath, glancing around hoping that Mother wouldn't come in. "How dare you? You know I'm excited. It's just I'm not going to drop everything, like my studies, in anticipation for his return. You should consider it as well." He nodded towards the empty book in her lap and sat back.
She stuck her head in the air matter-of-factly. "I'm going to be a pirate with father one day. You'll see." She stood up, leaving her studies book behind. And leaving Trace to shake his head at her as she walked on.
That night, Trace slept still and soundly as he always did, but Lucia was awake in her bed. She stared at the ceiling, but she was watching something else: her father teaching her to handle a sword. These thoughts were always so vivid. She had details that she made sure were there every time she thought of him. Always, he would take her small hand in his. Always, he would sneak her some trousers and they would laugh at her rebellion. Always, he would kiss her good night and call her Lucy.
She wondered if Trace ever thought of such things.
Her wondering was cut short, though, when she heard quick footsteps in the hall. Then down the stairs. Then to open the door.
Instinctively, she jumped from her bed, (quietly so as not to wake Trace). She opened the door while whispering a prayer that it wouldn't creak, and went to the grand stairwell with a last glance at Trace. He still slept soundly.
She heard voices at first. To hear better, she sat against the banister, holding a cold wooden support in each hand. She heard her mothers voice.
"What are you doing here?" her mother hissed quietly. Hmm, Lucy thought to herself, that's where Trace gets it.
"The day's nearing, love. Had to be here, now didn't I? Couldn't miss William's grand return." An unfamiliar man's voice floated upward. He wasn't making much of an effort to keep his voice quiet. He had said her father's name. He knew her father. She pressed her head against the banister, suddenly even more interested.
"Shhh, Jack!" Lucy's eyes popped open at the sound of the name. Jack. The man from the stories. The man who knew her father. The pirate.
Lucy found her curious pulling her to her feet and dragging her down the stairs, cautiously. Her mother and the man spoke more, but she wasn't listening anymore. Not focusing. Too occupied trying to make it quietly down the stairs.
She reached the fifth step from the bottom. Lucy could just barely see her mother's face behind a tall man with dark long hair. She knew he was a pirate because the smell of him was terrible. Then, Lucy found her voice
"Hello." She smiled and bounced off the last step.
The pirate named Jack and her mother stopped talking. Her mother looked at her with large eyes, and the man slowly turned.
"Who are you?" He raised an eyebrow, staring down Lucy, finally turning the last pivot. He had a mustache that curved ever so slightly at its tips. A cloth was wrapped around the tip of his head. He looked pretty much like she thought a pirate should look like. She found herself hoping her father looked better.
"I'm Lucia Turner. You know my father." She stood her ground, no matter how close she was to it. Jack stifled a laugh, and turned back around to Elizabeth.
"Well," he looked at Elizabeth but Elizabeth looked at Lucy, "you didn't mention that." He jerked his head back to Lucy. Her mother stayed silent. So Lucy spoke up.
"It's not just me." Lucy walked around the pirate named Jack toward her mother, so she could face him. "I've got a brother named Trace." He looked at her.
"Ah." He smiled again. He sure smiles a lot, Lucy thought to herself, and couldn't help but picture her father's smile. "And I suppose your tenth birthday would be coming up soon, then wouldn't it?" He leaned down to her size. Lucy let the proud and surprised grin take over her expression. Elizabeth came back to her self.
"Jack." She grabbed his arm. He stood back up to face Elizabeth so quickly Lucy thought she was going to tumble. "Not here. We can discuss this tomorrow." She said all these things through her teeth. It made Lucy nervous.
"Is it such a problem that I'd like to get to know the children of William Turner?" Jack raised his eyebrow again. He did that a lot as well.
"At this hour, yes." Elizabeth's eyes bored into his, almost as if persuasion was beaming out of them.
They all stayed silent for a long moment. Lucy looked up from Jack the Pirate to her mother. They still stared at each other.
Then finally, Jack slowly pulled his arm from Elizabeth's grasp.
"Tomorrow, then." He nodded towards Elizabeth's. Then to Lucy, before he turned and walked out the door. As the door clicked shut, Trace came out of the room he and Lucy shared, rubbing his eye.
"What's going on?" His hair was sticking up in strange places. Elizabeth and Lucy looked at each other.
"Uhm, nothing, Trace, dear." Elizabeth looked up at him. "Just go back to sleep, I'll explain in the morning." Trace, still half-asleep, nodded groggily and went back through the door.
Lucy looked back at Elizabeth. "Was that Jack the Pirate?" Lucy didn't bother to hide the excitement in her voice, but Elizabeth looked warily at her.
"Lucia, we must talk." Elizabeth waited for no questions. She took Lucy's hand and pulled her into the next room, lit a candle, and sat her daughter down.
"Mommy," Lucy began, "why did you make him leave?" her mother couldn't seem to meet her eyes. But Elizabeth spoke anyway.
"You and your brother need to know something about your father." She stated quietly. "And I need you to here it from me, not Jack Sparrow."
