Thankfully there were no more nightmares awaiting Adelaide once she found sleep. In fact, she could not remember dreaming at all when she awoke, but she felt this was better than being plagued by nightmares.
She had awoken to an empty bed. Her husband must have awoken much earlier than she, as his side of the bed was long cold.
Adelaide sat up and stretched just as her handmaiden, a young woman named Isabella Rodrigo, entered the room.
"(Good morning Ma'am. The Master has sent me up to fetch you for breakfast.)" she said as she walked over to open the curtains. Adelaide scrunched her eyes shut and threw an arm over her face to shield herself from the bright light.
"(Isabella, how many times have I asked you to call me Adelaide?)" she asked as she removed her arm and squinted through the light at the young woman who was set to work pulling out the simple dress which Adelaide would be wearing for the day.
"(Apologies… I just do not feel comfortable with it Ma'am.)" she explained, nearly stiffly, as she set about the room, pulling different pieces of jewelry to go with the dress.
Adelaide sighed as she finally rolled out of bed and walked over so that Isabella could help her dress for the day.
Adelaide had never felt comfortable being addressed so formally from the help. She had not come from a noble family as Armando had. Her father, Lorenzo Gonzalez was a fourth generation farmer and her mother, Saoirse (pronounced Seersha), was an immigrant from Ireland.
They were not a poor family by any means, but they certainly did not have servants or help of any sort. Adelaide had spent the majority of her life getting her hands dirty along side her father. She knew the sores and feeling of accomplishment from a hard day's work, unlike the majority of the woman around her.
It had been by chance that Armando and Adelaide had met. Adelaide was helping her father run their stall in a small port, selling their goods when Armando's ship had docked for supplies. He had come to her stall with the cook, checking their goods over and praised their quality. They had ended up buy their entire stock out that day, to which her father beamed with pride.
They had known he was a Royal Spanish Navy officer from the way he was dressed, but they did not know that he was actually the Capitan of the ship. It had taken both her and her father by surprise when they had learned this. To think, a captain shopping for goods with his help… they had never heard of such a thing!
Armando did not believe in love at first sight until that day. The way she dressed… Not like the usual noble women he was used to. She wore breeches, and she wore a button down shirt. Normally this would put men off, but to Armando? This merely made him curious as to her story. She was also rather short. Almost a whole head shorter than Armando. And her hair. Such a vibrant, copper red, which shined in the light of the sun. It reminded him of the embers of a burning ship. Her eyes, so green. They were like two jade crystals boring holes through his very sole. As soon as she spoke, his heart clenched and he had to know who this woman was.
They had been in port for three days, and each day, Adelaide and her father returned with their goods to sell, having only lived a few miles from said port. Each day, Armando would return with some sort of excuse as to why he was shopping so near them. He would always make sure to speak with the father and daughter duo.
Then, one night, their last night in port, Armando asked Adelaide to accompany him for supper, promising Lorenzo that he would bring Adelaide back at a decent hour. And he was most certainly true to his word, which impressed Lorenzo immensely.
They spent the night dining on the Silent Mary, in his personal quarters, laughing, talking, getting to know one another.
It was this night that Armando just knew that Adelaide was the one. She was intriguing. She was not like the women back home, who hung on his every word, agreed with everything he said, and laughed at every one of his jokes. No. She was something special.
Nothing about their short time together seemed forced. Not once did either of them feel awkward about the other. It was as though they had known one another for many years as they talked. And the more they talked, the more they had found they had quite a bit in common. Shared interests, shared hobbies, similar childhoods, despite being from different class of households, all of which came as a pleasant surprise to them both.
When Armando left her that night, he had made a promise to return for her.
Unfortunately, Adelaide would not see Armando again for several months, nearing a year. She had begun to think that he had forgotten about her. Perhaps he had moved on and found another woman at another port? Perhaps he was one of those men who played with a woman's heart and left it in shreds in their wake? But deep down, a voice told her just how untrue her thoughts were and how silly she was for thinking such a thing.
Boy did she did feel silly. She felt silly for believing such a distinguished man such as Capitan Armando Salazar would be interested in a simple farm girl such as herself.
The day finally came when Armando had returned for her, and she was once again running the stall with her father at the market.
When she saw him walking towards their stand, a very serious and determined look on his face, her heart nearly jumped from her chest.
He was just as dashing as she remembered and this time, he was dressed in full uniform. Oh how handsome he was!
Armando surprised Adelaide, however, when he walked right past her without so much as a word. Her heart sank as she watched him instead walk up to her father. Lorenzo looked nearly as confused as Adelaide.
"(Lorenzo Gonzalez?)" he had asked. "(I wish to ask you for your daughter's hand in marriage.)" he had been so confident, so sure of himself. Not an ounce of hesitation as he asked her father's permission. Adelaide had felt as though she were floating on the clouds.
And the rest was history.
They had married that summer, and he took her home. The first and last time she would sail on the Silent Mary.