Disclaimer: Not mine.

Village Gossip

The young woman who moved into the small port town named herself as Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, but nobody believed her. She was alone, about six months pregnant and had nothing of value, not even a wedding ring.

Though, perhaps, the iron chest she kept with her had something of value in it. Naturally speculation arose. All "Mrs. Turner" would say was "something very precious". One man who helped her move into a small house on the outskirts of town swore he had heard something thumping inside it, "like a heart".

There was only so much the townsmen could believe. The unfortunate man was laughed at for weeks.

There was of course more to talk about in relation to Mrs. Turner. For example, why exactly was an educated and beautiful lady moving alone and most likely unmarried into an out-of-the-way town. Most of the villagers believed that she was a merchant's daughter. Beyond that, opinion was divided as to whether she'd had an affair with a family friend and was running from her husband, had an illicit romance with a servant and was running from her father, or had eloped with a sailor who had promptly abandoned her, or any combination of those rumours.

The "eloped with a sailor" rumour made Mrs. Turner smile when she heard it whispered behind her back.

Then there were the pirates who started visiting the town, about two years after Mrs. Turner arrived. The ship most frequently seen had black sails, and but never had the same captain two visits in a row. Both of the captains seemed to know Mrs. Turner quite well.

One bold woman, a bit younger than Mrs. Turner, asked how she knew such people. Elizabeth Turner smiled and said that one of them had performed her marriage service.

And the other?

She'd put him in great danger, and he'd saved her husband's life. She was in his debt.

The villagers had fun trying to guess which captain of the black-sailed ship had done which. They never reached a definitive conclusion, and eventually they just asked Mrs. Turner. She said that the pirate captain with the red bandanna was the one who saved her husband.

On one visit, the red bandanna pirate, who Mrs. Turner called Jack, commented that her young son William looked quite like his father.

The same woman who asked Mrs. Turner about the pirates overheard that comment and asked Mrs. Turner about her husband.

Apparently Mrs. Turner and her husband had known each other since they were young. They'd loved each other for a long time, too. Though he was away on business, he loved her more than anything and he would come back. Young William shared those convictions too.

The villagers pitied the poor girl her delusions. If Mr. Turner had not come back from his business by now, nearly ten years since his wife had come here, he would not be coming back at all. If he even existed, though admittedly, circumstantial evidence would indicate that he did.

The gossip started again when someone noticed that a ring had suddenly appeared on Mrs. Turner's finger, nine and a half years after she arrived in town. And that she was pregnant again.