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Disclaimer: I asked for them for Christmas, but the Mouse ain't Santa...
Author's note: This is a holiday story, another in my series in which Jack and Will have found out that they are half cousins... Christmas was not celebrated the widespread way that we know it until the 1800s, and many places discouraged religious holidays, so in this story, our pirate family is celebrating a time of year that really is entertwined with our Christmas... the celebration of yuletide, or the Winter Solstice. It was really a celebration of new life, family and love. This story is a direct offshoot of "The Other Side of the Island", so for those who enjoyed that long fiction, here is a Christmas card from meself! It will be much shorter and much lighter, so I hope that you enjoy it, mates! A big tip o' th' tricorn for all of you who wanted to revisit Ireland and stay at the Inn one more time! "Nollaig Shona Dhuit"... that's "Merry Christmas" in Irish Gaelic to all of you, from Pirate Cat!
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The sky was a startling blue above the canopy of trees... it was very cold, and so clear that one might think that one's very lungs would freeze as hard as ice, if one inhaled too quickly... there had been no snow, but the frost had been as thick and sparkling as snow each morning, only to thaw in the sunshine as it peeked over the edges of the limestone cliffs that protected the cove that spread itself out in front of the inn. The water of the cove was rippling like the innkeeper's heart... it was December... and she was expecting very special guests. She had worked very hard over the last two weeks to make it ready... the Ó Madáin Inn was closed for the season, but the innkeeper was busy airing the rooms, turning and fluffing the down mattresses in the rooms, beating rugs, airing winter down comforters, sweeping, scrubbing, readying her kitchen for many wonderful meals with her loved ones...
As she sat in what she called "The Honeymoon Room" at the top of the polished wooden stairway, she paused and sat on the edge of the bed after she spread the fresh, crisp clean sheets. Pushing loose, dark auburn curls out of her eyes, she rested and thought of the last visit ... it was in the springtime when the dark ship had last moored in the cove... her loved ones had stayed for a lovely and langorous two weeks, enjoying the freshness of a springtime in County Galway, Ireland... the region of Connemara was famed for its wild beauty and willingness to harbour enemies of the English crown... thusly, it was a safe haven for those who were closest to the innkeeper's heart.
The springtime visit was much happier than the one before it... a visit that had been very emotional... a healing visit for the one who was the closest to her heart, and one who had closed his own heart and dark past off to all except her, and who was in dire need of understanding and acceptance from the young couple who had been through so much with him... a young couple that was very dear to him, and who loved him back so much that they forced him to face his past in order to help him move forward and deal with his mental inabilities. He seemed to be handling things well, thanks to them...
Janie O'Madden closed her eyes and smiled, as she thought back to the walk that was taken to the waterfall that was hidden far back in the deep forest of her inn's land... the mossy woods hid the sparkling stream that tumbled down the rocky mountainside, and William and Elizabeth Turner were not prepared for the pristine beauty of this particular place... as Janie gazed down at the gold and marble ring of Claddagh upon her left hand, her heart leaped with love for the man who had made her life worth living... the waterfall was a very special place for her and for that love of her life... the man who was her oldest friend... her beautiful gypsy boy... her "almost husband", who, along with his young cousins, William and Elizabeth, were the most famous pirates in history... legends in their own time.
Shaking herself out of her reverie, the innkeeper resumed her work... she would have nothing out of place! She finished making the bed for the Turners, but not before she sprinkled fragrant rosewater upon the sheets... the bottle of rosewater was tucked into her apron pocket, as there were clean bedsheets in her own bedchamber that would also be freshened ... she blushed a little, and laughed at herself for her girlish excitement in looking forward to her company. It had been so long since she'd enjoyed the winter holiday, and she was anticipating a lovely time..
Most of all, she thought, she was hoping to meet a very special little guest when the Black Pearl arrived... she looked at the cradle that she had borrowed from the neighbours, and could almost not contain her excitement... Elizabeth Swann Turner was very much with child during the last visit in May, and Janie hoped and prayed that all had gone well... she could not wait to hold a new baby...
As she put the wistful thought out of her mind, Janie flipped her long auburn braid back over her shoulder, huffed "Whist!" under her breath, and went down the stairs to refill the basket of peat for the small heating stove in the Turners' room, making note in her head of all of her Jackie's favourite meals, and happily hugging herself in anticipation of holding him in her arms very, very soon...oh, how she could not wait to see his dark, handsome smiling face and giggle at the tickle of his mustache...
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The mighty Black Pearl was a beauty, and she was the fastest ship that had ever sailed, only rivaled by the legendary ghost ship, the Flying Dutchman. No ship could match the Pearl in speed, and it was truly feared among all seafaring men, whether merchant or military. She had been born of fire and passion, and her dark, wild captain was legendary for his mad, mad ways. He had been to Davy Jones' Locker and back, rescued by those who were not willing to let him go, but his already odd ways were even odder, as a result of being brought back from his own personal hell... he was still the craftiest and smartest pirate captain of them all, and his crew was loyal to him, but his mental wanderings were becoming as much a part of his fame as his exploits were.
His first mate was just as legendary, as he also had been missing for some time... the stories had come back from the Battle of the Maelstrom in the Orient that he was the undead and immortal captain of the Dutchman, with his heart cut out, and his undead father at his side. But the Flying Dutchman seemed to have a different captain, now... a man who had been an admiral in the Royal Navy, killed by the ghostly Davy Jones, only to now be the reaper of the souls lost at sea... many a mariner shook his head in wonder at the stories that the late Admiral James Norrington was now the in the position redeemed by William Turner the Second. The young blacksmith from Port Royal had turned up quite alive upon the Black Pearl, as the first mate and the captain's first half cousin, with a huge scar upon his chest and his wife, the daughter of the late Governor of Jamiaca, next to him. His wife had been a pirate captain, herself, and the three of them, together, upon a ship that was nigh uncatchable made for an unbeatable pirate crew.
Not only was the Pearl nigh uncatchable, but the stories were also coming back from the sea that the once cursed pirate ship was now somewhat blessed with a constant wind in her sails... a wind that was always warm, and fragranced with the bogs and woodlands of western Ireland... the stories that made their ways around the taverns and pubs said that the wind came from the Irish countryside that had once been the dark pirate captain's home, when he lived with his now long dead gypsy mother before she was murdered and he was sold into slavery, until he was rescued through the efforts of Janie O'Madden and his own fearsome pirate father... it was said that the same wind guided his father's ship, the Star of Madagascar. The superstitious sailors wondered if Captain Jack Sparrow had made another deal with the devil, like he had with Davy Jones, or if Magdalena Sparrow was reaching out from the Other Side, to protect her son and his pirate family by always caressing the sails of their ships with a warm hand to smite their enemies...
The Black Pearl had made her way across the Atlantic in record breaking time, the Royal Navy finally giving up chase after a particularly lucrative raid upon a particularly rich ship that was charting a course to the Caribbean, and the pirate crew was quite smug, knowing that they had plundered the ship carrying the belongings of the newly appointed Governor of Jamaica...it was, as Captain Jack Sparrow enjoyed observing, poetic justice, at least as far as eking out a bit of revenge for Elizabeth and William was concerned... it wasn't too shabby as far as swag went, either, and the holds were full of supplies and some rather fancy goods that would eventually trade well, due to the bartering skills of the ship's quartermasters.
As the Pearl neared Eire, Jack took the helm to bring her into the rocky, emerald coloured coast that was as familiar to him as the hidden coves and inlets of the Caribbean. The pirate crew looked forward to laying low in pirate-friendly Eire... some planned to make their way to see family in England for the winter holiday, but the captain's handsome face would split into a wide grin as he thought of the warm fireplace of the Ó Madáin Inn, his home upon land ... William and Elizabeth had told him many stories of their families during Yuletide, and he anticipated a relaxing, enjoyable respite in the arms of the woman who had been welcomed as family by the Turners... the arms of the woman who had saved his life and his heart... the woman who was the love of his life, his "almost wife", thanks to William's joking "almost wedding ceremony" upon their first visit to the Inn, and the strong, auburn haired, rosy cheeked woman whose ring of Claddagh adorned his own left hand...
Jack Sparrow's black pirate heart leaped in his skinny chest as his quartermaster, Joshamee Gibbs, shouted, "Land ho!" from the Pearl's bow, and Elizabeth and William grinned and nudged their captain as he bounced a bit upon his toes at this announcement. They were all up on the quarterdeck, watching for the cliffs of Connemara in the bright wintertime sun.
"We're almost there, mates!" the captain chortled, gleefully, his slender hands almost dancing upon the ship's wheel, "... only a few hours away from County Galway!"
"... and only a few hours away from the Inn!" William chuckled, winking at his cousin's excited smile, his own handsome young face grinning in anticipation of visiting a land that he had grown to love.
"... and we're that much closer to Janie!" Elizabeth teased the captain, slipping her arm through Jack's, nudging him, again, as he guided his dark ship toward the coast that was growing closer and closer...
"... ahhh, me Janie!" Jack's glowing chocolate brown eyes closing halfway, and his head tilting to one side, beads and trinkets in his dark, waist long braids jingling against his shoulders, "... me Janie... her arms around me... tasting her kisses, an' her cooking!" he smirked.
William rolled his eyes, and Elizabeth smacked Jack upon his arm, laughing at his cheekiness... and from the slightly open door of the Turners' snug cabin, another sound could be heard as if to add to the conversation... the gurgling of a brand new baby boy...
To be continued...