Part II

"Miss Elizabeth, Master Will is here to see you," Celeste says, bobbing a curtsy. "You best not keep him waiting, Miss. Shall I help tidy up your appearance?"

"I can brush my own hair, thank you, Celeste, and my dress does not need changing."

"As you wish, Miss," she says, backing out of my room.

I make sure to mark my place in the book I am reading before moving to sit in front of my looking glass. Goodness, my cheeks look pale! Does all that time in the sun do nothing for my complexion? I pinch my cheeks and bite my lips to bring color to them before running a brush through my blond hair, tying it neatly back with a peach colored ribbon. I am quite glad Celeste left the room or I shall never hear the end of it. "Primping" for Will Turner is what she would call it!

"Will, how wonderful to see you," I say, catching his eye as I descend the stairs. "I was sure you were planning to avoid me till judgment day with how you've acted of late."

"I've been busy."

"You used to not be too 'busy' to see me," I say, affecting a pretty little pout. The gesture is lost on Will who just turns away in order to peer out the picture window overlooking the sea.

"Now I am," he says. "We have enough work to keep us busy day and night. I have found it very difficult to break away."

"Why are you turning so cold toward me?" I ask, standing next to him and making sure my skirts brush his leg. "Goodness, Will, sometimes I feel I'm reliving an English Winter with how harsh your behavior toward me is at times."

"I regret you feel so," he says, clasping his hands behind his back and still favoring the view of the sea over me.

"If you regret it, then why don't you alleviate it?" I ask. "A simple kind word would make all the difference, Will." I attempt pouting again but his eyes are still stoutly fixed on the view. "Commenting on my appearance would be nice," I prompt. "I am a girl, after all, though I do act rough around the edges at times. I still like to be told I'm pretty."

His gaze shifts slowly toward me. "You're wearing your hair differently."

"You noticed!" I say, patting the stray wisps back into place. "I had it loose when Celeste alerted me to your visit so I just tied it back instead of taking the time to braid it. Do you like it?"

"It's different."

"But do you like it?"

"It's just hair, Elizabeth."

"But it's my hair, it's attached to me, and you're supposed to say I'm pretty!" I flounce away in a swirl of skirts and throw myself cross-wise onto the divan, stretching out and making sure I leave no room for Will if he chooses to follow. "If you have no intention of being kind, why did you come around?"

"Because you asked me to," Will says, choosing a seat across from me and the divan. "I suppose I'm still in the habit of doing what you ask, Elizabeth."

"Well, I suppose it doesn't much matter if you're acting horrid!"

"I'm acting--?" He makes a rather annoying tongue clucking sound to show his disapproval and I catch him roll his eyes though he tries to avert his face to hide the fact. "Elizabeth, I --"

"Oh, just say you think I'm a spoiled brat and be done with it!" I cry, sitting up and trying to hide my face in my hands since I knew at any moment I will make a spectacle of myself by sobbing. "Since you obviously have such a low amount of regard for me, just say it and be done with it!"

"Elizabeth," Will sighs, coming to kneel in front of me before gently removing my hands from my face, holding them tightly in his. "I have a very high amount of regard for you."

"Then why won't you show it, Will? I asked for a simple compliment and you refused." I lift shimmery, tear-filled eyes. "Can't you just say I'm pretty? I want to be told that I am pretty."

"You are very pretty," he says, perhaps only humoring me.

"You mean that?"

"Of course. I wouldn't have said it otherwise."

I smile, happy for the time being. "Good. Now let's play pirates."