This chapter is a set up...I know where I'm going with this. Now I just need to get there.

The next day, I woke up to being alone. I rubbed my arms, for a moment feeling…well lonely. But I knew it would be like this when I came aboard, so I got up. The day was a short one, because of how new everything was. We were already out of sight of land. It was so different from the last journey I had taken on a boat.

"Kit?" someone asked me. I was standing at the very back deck…the stern as Nat would put it. Not meaning to, but looking where there once was land.

"Oh…hello." I should have known it was Nat. No one else on board called me by name.

"Looking back already?" He tried to make a joke, but he looked troubled.

"Of course not!" I said. "Nat, no. Of course not."

Nat stood next to me for a moment without talking. For some reason I couldn't stop looking at him.

"Everyone on board is more than happy to talk with you, you know, if you ever feel bored. And you have all your books, don't you?" Nat asked hurriedly. I felt so bad that he was worried about me.

"I promise you, I'm fine."

He finally met my eye. Without even looking to see if anyone was watching, he bent down. Nat's hands felt so good around my waist, and his lips felt even better on mine. I thought that good feeling would last. It didn't.

Weeks later

We'd been on board for a very long time. The ship had stopped a few different places, but otherwise, it had been a straight sail to Barbados. I hadn't felt lonely on the ship after that day. If Nat wasn't with me, I talked with someone else. They were all good to Mistress Eaton.

Now I could get away from formality. In Barbados I could be another girl, having a wonderful time. The sailors all promised to look the other way, and pretend that a week wasn't a terribly long time to be in port. I would be embarrassed that they knew Nat was doing it for me, but I couldn't be.

The island was beautiful this time of year. Any time of year.

"Mistress Eaton, we're unloading," a sailor, Jed I learned was his name, told me.

We walked together to where the gangplank was laid. We'd become friends, and we had a lot to talk about. But I would be so happy when I could just be with Nat, like at Hannah's house.

"Come on!" Jed shouted to me, sliding down. I laughed at him as he slid into Nat.

"Whoa, I'm sorry Captain!"

"Just get along," Nat pretended to shout. They both smiled, before Jed tipped his head to me, and then ambled along.

"Would you like to see the place?" Nat asked me.

"I think I should be showing you around, not the other way around," I laughed.

"Not the island. We've got plenty of time for that. Where we're staying!"

"We're not staying on The Witch?" I asked.

Nat shook his head. "I'll show you."

We walked along the streets that merchants and gawkers lined, and this part of Barbados wasn't really that different from America, but it felt like it.

Nat walked out of the city, and into one of the better villages. He stopped in front of an inn.

"I got us somewhere real to stay." He smiled.

"You didn't have to!" I said.

"I know."He gave me one of those grins…those ones that used to come rarely...and I smiled back.