AN: Of course, I own none of these characters. I am not sure if this one is any good...so please let me know!
This is dedicated to one of my bestie friends and I hope she will find a love just like this one
Even in the Caribbean, February nights were cold. Elizabeth pilled the covers closer and instinctively, went to feel for her husband. Instantly, she pulled her hand back from the cold sheets where he normally slumbered. In her drowsy state, Elizabeth wanted to forget about it, but she couldn't ignore a tiny seed of panic that had planted itself in her stomach. She turned from her side to her back and stared at the ceiling. Moonlight flooded into the bedroom from windows that covered nearly two full walls. Suddenly, Elizabeth's ears pricked as she heard a tap from the window. Her senses were already heightened due to the absence of her husband; she tiptoed to the balcony where the noise had come from. Taped to the French doors was a note that read in Will's handwriting: OPEN THE DOORS.
A sense of relief flooded her stomach as she threw open the doors and peered over the balcony. Below her, stood her husband with a single rose, red with its edges tinged white. "What are you doing down there?" Elizabeth asked playfully.
"Come down here," Will called. Elizabeth hugged herself, her thin nightgown offering little protection from the late winter chill. "And put on the coat and slippers near our bedroom door."
"But Will-" Elizabeth began to protest but Will was hearing none of it. He put a finger to his lips and began to walk to the front door. She shook her head thinking the things I do for Will. At their bedroom door, Will had placed a chair and atop it was what she could barely make out as a coat. Beneath the chair was her very favorite pair of worn slippers. She padded silently down the stairs and quietly slipped out the front door. As soon as she had heard the lock click in place, she felt something go over her eyes. Elizabeth felt the coarseness of one of Will's bandana around her face.
"Will, really…" she said, groping around her front porch for some sort of bearing. "Wait," she straightened. "How do I know this is really Will?" Because of her blindfold, she didn't expect what happened next but suddenly she felt warm lips on hers. There was such passion behind them that she knew it had to be her Will.
"And if that weren't enough, my voice would surely convince you" Will said, pulling his face from hers. He found her hand and smiled as she latched onto him tightly.
"Where are-" Elizabeth started.
"Now if I really wanted you to know where we are going, do you think I would blindfold you?" Will asked. In her hair, he placed the red-white rose. He sighed looking at her beauty; she looked sun-kissed and golden. "Do you like the coat?" he asked conversationally.
"Yes, Will. But I don't think it's mine; it doesn't feel familiar."
"It's your Valentine's Day present. I had Father bring it back for me from England." Will said. Elizabeth ran her fingers over the soft fabric in new appreciation. She squeezed his hand tightly.
"I love you," she said softly.
"I am yours" he replied. With her eyes closed, all Elizabeth's senses were heightened; she was more aware of the soft ground under her slippers and the effort of climbing the incline. Those of her fingers that she had slipped in Will's were warm but her other hand began to feel numb. Just as she began to lose feeling in her other hand from plunging it in the cold dirt to keep her balance, they stopped. Will let go of her hand and she felt Will's hands at her neck, then at the back of her head untying the bandana. "We're here," Will said with a flourish.
When Elizabeth opened her eyes, she was standing hear the cliff overlooking the harbor. She and Will had been here many times before but the walk had seemed so much longer this time. Will was sitting on a nearby Wait…Elizabeth thought What the….?!
"What is a bed doing all the way out here?" she asked, surprise coloring her tone.
Will laughed, "You can't think it walked all the way out here, can you?"
"No" Elizabeth replied slowly. "Seriously then, what is a bed doing out here?"
"I made it specifically for tonight." Will said, "Or rather this morning." Elizabeth looked at the bed in utter shock. It was a four-poster bed with no canopy and drapers on all sides were sheer white linens. The comforter was a white downy cloud that Will continued to sit on. "I made it so we would be comfortable looking at the stars," he said motioning upward. Elizabeth's face broke out in a grin and she quickly crawled under the covers. Will cradled her in his arms as they watched the stars and slowly, the sky began to change from its inky black to a dusky purple. Will was brimming with happiness spending the dawn of Valentine's Day with his speechless wife on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
Will and Elizabeth sat together watching the sky take on the pinks and oranges of early sunrise. "Will, this is so beautiful. But, we need to be getting back. Liam…" Elizabeth trailed off. Will continued to sit, with his arms around her, tracing patterns on her forearm. "Will, did you hear me?"
"I have been listening to you for 16 years, Elizabeth," Will looked at her playfully, "I won't be stopping anytime soon. I have had my father come to watch Liam for the night." He beamed at her, showing he had thought of everything. After a short pause, Will said, "And of course, I'm not done with my surprise yet." Elizabeth turned from lying on her back and watching the sunrise to lying on her side snuggled next to Will.
"What's next?" she mumbled into his shirt. He smiled coyly and reached under the bed to pull out a picnic basket. Delighted, Elizabeth sat up and starting snooping through the basket.
"If you told me it was possible to get full on chocolate covered strawberries before today, I would have told you to get out of town. But now…" Elizabeth smiled, licking her fingers. Will chuckled, positively glowing. He felt like he was only giving Elizabeth what she deserved. He was, after all, only a blacksmith. She, well, she was a proper lady and could have had any fine gentleman. She was also Pirate King (or Queen as she preferred) and could have had any not-so-fine gentleman in the Caribbean too. But she chose him.
Elizabeth lay contently on her newly fashioned bed. "Will, I'm so lucky. You are the best husband I could ever ask for. You provide for me. You take care of me. You love me." She sighed, pausing slightly before continuing, "I pity the high society women who marry for reputation and money, not for love. I swore that I would marry for love after I saw the torture they went through." Elizabeth shuddered. "Isn't it horrible to think that some people spend their lives alone?" She stared at him with her big soulful eyes. They look on a melancholy expression in this nature of conversation.
Will turned to her. "I prefer to think of it this way: that those people once loved but love was lost to them." Elizabeth stared at her husband in shock.
"Will! That's appalling. How could you really think in such a way? The idea of losing you is so painful, why, I wouldn't be able to go on."
"But isn't it better to have known love, for as short of a period as it was, than to have never known it at all?" He countered. Her face took on a thoughtful look as he pressed on. "To think, those people face the heart-wrenching pain of loss but here they still are. It can only make them stronger. And more prepared to treasure love when they are encountered with it again." He let this sink in with Elizabeth, watching her absorb it.
"Well," she said, dismounting from the bed, "I suppose you are right. As usual when it come to maturity of feelings and love. I do think if our Liam had been a Liama, you would have been the better parent to consult in the matters of boy-craziness."
"Ah, I have just been more practiced in the matter. Or rather, I have thought about love a lot. I did have to fill my mind-numbing hours as a blacksmith somehow." Will said, as he and Elizabeth began walking home. They walked in a comfortable silence, hands entwined, just enjoying another day they could spend in one another's company.
As they arrived home, the sun had fully risen in the sky and Bootstrap was sitting at the kitchen counter. "Finally," he grumbled merrily, "I was beginning to think you two got lost. Not necessarily in the woods but in each other…"
Will cleared his throat uncomfortably as Elizabeth's cheeks reddened ever so slightly. "I thought I would miss the morning tide." Bootstrap continued, rising from his chair. As Will walked his father to the door, Elizabeth went up to change out of her night things. On her way downstairs, she fiddled with her wedding ring, which twinkled in the sun's bright light. When she walked back into the kitchen, Will and Liam were sitting together. While Liam ate toast and cereal and drank orange juice, Will regaled Liam with one of his many stories from the Dutchman. Elizabeth poured out the coffee that she assumed Bootstrap had made, into two mugs. After adding some milk to make the coffee a caramel color, Elizabeth leaned back against the counter to sip. It was her favorite thing in the world to do; her heaven was watching Liam and Will play or talk or (her personal favorite) laugh together.
Will stood and pushed his chair in. Elizabeth handed him the 2nd mug and he placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Ugh," Liam groaned over his toast.
"I love you, Elizabeth," Will said quietly but intensely. He said it in a way where Elizabeth felt as though Liam was not in the room. "You, Mrs. Turner, have my heart. You have always had my heart and will always have my heart….and I wouldn't have it any other way." Elizabeth shot a quick glance at Liam to make sure he was thoroughly absorbed in his orange juice before kissing Will hard. Her hands naturally wound around his neck and his hands around her waist. He pulled her closer and a pit of fire erupted in her core. She pushed her hips into his and she her him groan into the kiss. Before the kiss got to out of control, he broke away. Both Will's and her breathing was ragged and she could tell by the fiery look in his eyes that he was hungry for more.
"I love you too, Will," was all Elizabeth said in return, but she did add a sly smile. Will ruffled Liam's hair on the way out and Liam grinned back at his father. Clutching the coffee mug, Will stumbled out the front door to work. Elizabeth then took the seat Will had just vacated.
"Liam, love, have you made valentines for everyone in your class?" Elizabeth asked, slowly sipping her coffee.
"Yes, Mum!" Liam answered ever so excitedly. "Look!" He thrust them at her and she had just started flipping through them before he grabbed them back. "Don't you like them?" He asked, the excitement barely contained in his shining eyes.
"Yes, honey" Elizabeth said, even though she had really only seen about three. As she sat with her hands on her coffee-mug in the bright kitchen, her eyes wandered. She looked at Liam. He looked so much like Will; they had the same face shape, the same strong jaw, and the same perfectly straight nose. Eventually, she turned away from her son and looked at the clock. "Liam, you better hurry up; we are leaving in ten minutes," Elizabeth said quickly. Before her very eyes, Liam inhaled the rest of his breakfast and went off the brush his teeth.
When Liam returned back downstairs, Elizabeth helped him into the coat and new shoes he had gotten for Christmas (although they already looked old and muddy) and began to walk him out the door. "Muuum, do you always have to walk me to school? I am nearly ten!" Liam exclaimed.
"Liam, I have told you. I will always walk you to school or at least the block before school."
"But Mum, why?" he pleaded. She surely wasn't going to tell him it was because she was scared some crazed rouge pirates were going to kidnap him and use him as ransom for the life of the Pirate Queen.
"Because I said so, William Turner the III," she said in such a tone that Liam knew it was no use arguing. As Elizabeth promised, she only walked him to the block before school before she kissed him goodbye.
As soon as he saw his mother's back turned toward him, Liam darted to school. He flipped through the valentines to make sure that a special one was still there. Yes, it was! Liam clutched it tighter in his fist. He had only just remembered the card after he had given his mother the stack, so he has hastily stole them back. The one that was special had lace trimmed edges and in the shape of a red heart, Liam had been extra careful not to make any mistakes. On it, scrawled in his best handwriting, was 'Will you be my Valentine? Liam.'
The girl in his class that he planned on giving it to was named Wynn. She wasn't like the other girls in his class. Most of the girl shrieked when their skirts got muddy and all they talked about was dresses. Wynn always got along with the boys more. She had blue-green eyes and gold-red hair. On her nose was a spray of freckles and she was almost always into some harmless mischief.
When Liam entered the schoolroom, she saw that none of the other students were there. He knew that the teacher had set aside some specific time to distribute valentines but Liam didn't want to give Wynn her valentine then. He figured it would just get thrown in a stack on her desk; it was too impersonal. So, creeping up to her desk, he placed her valentine so she would definitely see it, but so that it wasn't visible to the rest of the class. Just as he had let go of his valentine, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and found himself face to face with Wynn.
"Hello Liam." She said, her hair sparkling in the sunlight. Wynn smiled prettily and her cheeks flushed a light pink. Recovering, she asked "What were you doing in my desk?" Liam blushed and started cough-mumbling things that were unintelligible. "What's this?" Wynn peered around him curiously into her desk. "A valentine," she said joyfully surprised. She positively bloomed with a beautiful radiance as she read his card. "Liam, as you know, I will never be owned…but I would love to be your Valentine, as long as you are mine." At this, her face caught fire with a warm blush that turned her fair complexion as red as her hair.
"Yes," Liam coughed in surprise. As soon as the words had left his lips, Wynn bent down and kissed Liam on the lips. She leaned back, the redness of her face receding with the shock of her forwardness. Then, her face broke out in a devilish but beautiful smile. In fact, it was the most beautiful smile Liam had ever seen. "This is yours," she said, pulling from behind her back a single valentine. It was extraordinarily detailed. Painstakingly cut in the shape of a blooming rose, it read: "Liam, will you be my valentine?"