Broken Promises

Chapter One

Sig Hansen sat at the Elbow Room, drinking with his brother and fellow skippers. It was going to be a long season, but for now, they would drink, make bets, and enjoy their last night on land.

"My boys should be good this year, getting better and better," Phil Harris laughed before taking a swig of the whiskey in front of him.

"Jake's doing well. He'll become a skipper one day. Works hard," Sig took a drink of his beer. He drank to much while on land. He hated being on something solid, the memory of coming home five years ago still made his blood boil and his heart break. His daughter had left, with the boy he knew would hurt her. Only a picture remained when he came home. A picture of her and Pete was stuck to the kitten door, with only three words on the back, 'I Love Him'.

"Hey, dad," Jake Harris grinned as he patted Phil on the back, "Everybody," he nodded to the other members at the table.

"Where's your brother?" Phil asked his youngest son, looking around the bar.

"Don't know. He said he was coming for a drink," Jake shrugged before going to the bar to get a beer. It was while waiting for the liquid that he noticed a woman in the corner by herself. He grinned while taking his beer over to her. He sat down opposite her, waiting for a response. It never came. She didn't even lift her head. Her hand played with the empty glass on the table in front of her, but that was the only sign of life in her.

Dark hair fell across her face and down her shoulders. Jake was beginning to get frustrated; women never reacted to him like this.

"Be that way," He snarled at her, picking up his beer. Before he walked away, he swore he saw her flinch. Jake made his way over to the table his father and the other captains were at. Josh had joined them in his absence. He sat next to his brother and slammed his beer on the table.

"Stupid bitch", he mumbled.

"What's up, son?" Sig asked him as Emma, the owner, brought them over another round.

"Stupid woman over there didn't even acknowledge my presence," Jake grumbled before taking a swig of his drink. Josh chuckled. Jake smacked him.

"She's odd, that one," Emma said quietly as she put the drinks down in front of everybody.

"How so?" Sig asked, actually sounding quite interested.

"Well she showed up yesterday, asked for a room. Paid in cash, but it was all scrunched up, like she was either hiding it, or hadn't held that much money before and didn't know how to hold it. She's real odd though. She's begging for this room, claiming that if she didn't have enough money, her daddy, a skipper would help. Now I may not know you all that well, but I know none of you would have a daughter in her condition," Emma whispered, raising her eyebrow at the appropriate time.

"What condition?" Phil asked.

"Dirty, like she's been battered around a bit. She's got this scar from her forehead down to under her shirt. Now I didn't see all, she kept moving around, like she was expecting somebody and not a welcome somebody, but I'd bet she's had hands round her neck in the past few days," Emma finally left the table to serve other customers and the skippers table fell silent.

"Poor lass," Phil said before taking another swig of whiskey.

"I wonder who she thinks her father is," Josh finally spoke, while looking at the figure of the woman, shaking his head.

"No idea," Phil replied, giving his eldest a pat on the back in affection.

They finally began to banter about crab, numbers, deckhands and who would have the best string until Sig felt a hand brush his shoulder, "daddy?"

Sig and almost all at the table turned to look behind him. Standing there with her head down was the girl from the corner, the 'odd' one.

"Sorry luv, wrong guy," Sig chuckled before turning around, taking a drink, not really paying her much attention.

"Daddy it's me. Look at me," The woman whispered.

"I aint your dad," Sig snapped, getting quite frustrated with the girl. Didn't she understand 'no'?

"Please dad, please," The girl fell to her knees and grabbed the skippers' hand, pressing it to her face. Sig felt her wet cheeks and sighed. She truly believed that he was her father. He didn't have a daughter, not anymore.

"I don't have no daughter," He growled before snatching his hand back, taking another drink. If he ignored her, would she go away?

"Dad, please…" She begged, still on her knees, face still on the floor. He heard the choke as she spoke, trying to contain her tears. He felt sorry for her, but couldn't help her. Sometimes, there is only one thing to do to people like her.

"No. Stop this, your embarrassing yourself. I aint your father. Just go sit back down where you came from and we'll all have a good day," he felt bad for embarrassing her, but sometimes, its all you can do it get left alone.

The woman lifter herself to her feet slowly, almost like she wasn't quite sure how to move. As she stood, the remaining few who continued to stare at her saw not only the scar, but her neck. Josh winced. It was black, purple and looked very swollen. Whoever hurt her, meant to kill her, he was sure of it.

Edgar finally walked into the bar and headed towards the skippers table. Before he sat, he noticed the woman behind his brother and froze.

"What's up, Edgar?" Sig asked, looking up, concerned. Edgar didn't reply, he just looked at the woman in owe. Eventually Sig turned around to actually look at the woman and froze too.

"Raiyne?"