Chapter 4: Wedding Gift
Father! Oh, lord, Jack thought. And then they were entering the drawing room and Governor Swann was rising from the sofa, a look of shocked disapproval on his face. Will, on the other hand, was coming toward him, amazed and obviously delighted.
Elizabeth let him go and Jack gripped Will's outstretched hand. "Jack!" exclaimed Will. "My God, you are opportune! How on earth…?"
"I came to give you a wedding gift, mate," Jack said, alert and more than a little puzzled. What the devil was all this?
"A wedding gift!" Will and Elizabeth said together, looking at each other and laughing.
Jack stared at the couple, wondering if perhaps love had rendered them both one card short of a deck.
The governor finally found his voice. "Elizabeth! I must protest! This man is a pirate, a wanted criminal! How can you invite him into our house like an old friend?"
"Father, he is an old friend!" Elizabeth said firmly. "And he's the very man we need! He can get Auntie for us!"
"Auntie?" Jack inquired, quite on his guard now. There was something odd going on here and no mistake, and Jack wasn't at all sure he wanted to get involved.
"Yes," said Elizabeth, "My aunt, Lady Henrietta Fanshawe, the Dowager Duchess of Wyndham. But come, sit down. Beck! Bring refreshments—some claret for the men and lemonade for me if you please. Or would you prefer something else, Jack?"
She'd pressed Jack into a nearby chair, upholstered in a most gorgeous brocade. The unusally elegant surroundings, accompanied by the Governor's indignant glare, had thrown him off his stride, somewhat. "Got any rum?" he asked, hopefully.
Elizabeth chuckled, and turned to the butler. "Beck, bring Captain Sparrow rum if we have any. Quickly now!" she added when the man continued gawking from the doorway a moment too long for her liking.
"And don't tell anyone he's here!" Will added, a warning in his voice.
Beck looked from the pirate to Will to the governor, and stuttered, "N-no, sir. Yes…Miss Elizabeth!" and hurried off.
Governor Swann said, exasperated, "Of course he's going to tell the others! Can't expect him to keep the news we're entertaining a pirate behind his teeth!"
"Well, it can't signify," said Elizabeth. "The Commodore is at sea."
"Yes, but he hasn't left us completely unguarded!" said her father.
"That's right, Elizabeth," said Will. "We'd best explain the situation quickly."
"Just what I was thinkin' meself, mate," said Jack. "Not that I don't appreciate the kind welcome, but I wasn't plannin' on lingering in the town. Bad for me health, an' all."
"All right, then," said Elizabeth. "Jeanette here…" She looked around, nonplussed for a moment, then spotted Jeanette hovering nervously in a far corner of the room. "Jeanette! Come here! Captain Sparrow is a friend!"
Jeanette, a lady's maid by her dress, expostulated in rapid French, indicating that she wanted no part of the prospective dialogue with this pirate, that she had had enough of pirates to last her a lifetime, and that her only desire was to return to England, with or without milady Henrietta.
It took considerable coaxing on Elizabeth's part, but she at last prevailed upon the maid to have a seat some distance from Jack. Jeanette perched on the edge of the chair, her nervous eye fixed on him. He was sorely tempted to shout, "Boo!" at her, just to see how high she'd jump, but managed to resist the urge.
"That's better!" said Elizabeth, briskly. "Now, Jack, Jeanette is my aunt's maid. She was accompanying Auntie from England aboard the Nightingale to attend our wedding, and to look over St. Claire island—the Fanshawe's have owned it forever, and have a rich plantation there. Four days ago the ship was attacked by pirates—the Rubicon, captained by Robert Montlief—and they took my aunt, along with a great deal of the cargo. Jeanette tells us the pirates plan to take my aunt and have her sold at a Bride's Auction on Tortuga! Do you know of any such institution?"
"Aye, I do," Jack admitted. "It's held every month or so. Bit of a moneymaker, that. But a dowager duchess…seems as though they'd want to hold her for ransom instead—make even more that way."
"They don't know who she is, only that she's a lady. At least, the captain of the Nightingale is fairly sure of that for he heard her tell Montlief that she was Miss Henrietta Fanshawe. The auction's on the fifteenth is it not?"
"Aye, it is."
"Then we don't have much time! Jack, could you take us there, and help us get her back?"
Jack stared at her, and then at Will, and then particularly at the Governor. "What, take the three of you to Tortuga?"
"Not all of us," Elizabeth said, a little impatiently. "Only Will and I."
"What!" exclaimed her father.
"You'll need me to identify her, of course. I can wear a disguise—some of Anamaria's clothing!" Elizabeth went on, ignoring her father's protest, the plan forming in her mind as she spoke. "Will has already been seen there with you and is known to be your friend. And you can go to the auction and buy her! They will never even know her for what she is. It's perfect!"
"Perfect!" Jack exclaimed. "They'd think I'd gone mad! At the least it'd look devilish suspicious."
"But why? You can tell them you need a new cook, or a seamstress or...or something! There can be no difficulty."
"You don't go there to buy a cook—it's a Bride's Auction, savvy?"
"Well, she's quite pretty, or was the last time I saw her. Just tell them you 'took a notion' if they ask. You've done it before, haven't you?"
"'Taken a notion', or bought a 'bride'?" Jack said sarcastically. Then he admitted, "Aye, well, I've bought maybe one or two over the years." Elizabeth and Will nodded, but the Governor looked rather shocked. "Let 'em go, of course," Jack assured him, then spoiled the effect of this by adding with a reminiscent and somewhat lecherous smile, "Afterwards."
"Please Jack!" said Elizabeth. "Say you'll do it!"
"You said you were here to give us a wedding gift," Will pointed out. "There could hardly be a better one."
"It wasn't quite what I had in mind, though." Jack sighed, looking at the three. "I suppose I'll have to help you. But your girl's right, Governor: you can't go yourself. Fellows'd know for certain they could get a king's…er…dowager duchess's ransom for her."
"How much do you think it will cost me?" Swann asked, looking a bit worried. "I don't have a great deal of coin on hand at the moment."
"You don't eh? Well, the cost depends on a lot of things—could be as low as fifty, or upwards of several hundred. We'd best bring about five hundred in gold to be on the safe side. I've never seen one go that high but, if we're going to do this at all, we don't want to take the chance of losing her."
"Five hundred! I don't have an amount near that in the house, or even in town! It would take several days to gather such an amount!"
"We don't have the time! What can we do?" Elizabeth fretted.
Jack swore under his breath. "I have the coin," he said finally. "You can pay me back."
"You have that much money? And where did you get such a fortune?" the Governor demanded.
"We sacked Santo Cristobal five days ago," Jack replied, bluntly. "Of course if you're worried about using stolen money to get the lady back…"
"No, no!" exclaimed the Governor quickly, "Spanish gold is it? Quite right!" A pained look crossed his face. "Five hundred, though! God's life! It's criminal. She's done it to me again, after all these years. Wild to a fault! One would have thought that marriage to Wyndham would have given her some sense of propriety. But she saw him planted after two years, thus freeing her from any sort of constraint. She's worse than ever! Do you know she would not have been caught by these pirates had she hidden as the captain bid her? But no, she insisted on observing the proceedings and what is the result? Captured by ruffians who'd undoubtedly stop at nothing! Facing Worse Than Death!"
"Oh no!" Jack soothed, a little amused at these unguarded comments. "They wouldn't, not if they're planning on auctioning her—especially if she told 'em she's a Miss. A virgin fetches more, y'see, no matter her age." He saw Elizabeth's slightly shocked look, which she immediately stifled, although her telltale blush could not be hidden. Jack cocked a teasing eyebrow at her and said: "Wanted to watch Montlief's men at work, eh? Seems as though an interest in pirates runs in the family. I'd wondered how it was they'd got the lady and left the maid."
"Yes. Well, now you know," said Governor Swann, a little huffily. He turned to his daughter. "Elizabeth, I don't feel it would be at all suitable for you to accompany them. Will and…er…Captain Sparrow can very well take care of rescuing my sister. Jeanette can go along to identify her and attend to her needs on the voyage home."
But Jeanette, able to understand more English than she could speak, would have none of this, bursting into a Gallic tirade that left the rest of the company under no illusions as to her sentiments regarding a protracted voyage in the company of pirates.
"You see, father?" said Elizabeth, a note of triumph in her voice. "We can hardly force her to go! And I shall be perfectly safe. Aunt Harry will be with me on the voyage home, and Anamaria will be an excellent duenna until then."
"Anamaria! A pirate wench!"
"Elizabeth is right, sir," Will said in his confident manner. "I assure you Elizabeth will be quite safe with her aboard the Black Pearl. She won't take nonsense from anyone. The first time I met Anamaria she slapped Jack's face! "
The Governor looked at Jack, one eyebrow raised. "She did, did she? And why was that, Captain Sparrow?"
Jack gave Will a somewhat venomous look, but replied, "Well, I'd had need of a boat, and Anamaria's happened to be the one I'd chosen to…borrow. It was the one I sailed into Port Royal the last time I visited your fair community. Voluntarily, that is."
The Governor looked puzzled for a moment, then his brows twitched together. "Do you mean the single masted skiff that's sunk by the pier?"
Jack looked slightly pained at the memory. "Aye. That'd be the one."
The Governor's mouth quivered with suppressed mirth. "I see." He looked at the three for a long minute. Then he said to Will, "You'll take the greatest care of her, boy. I don't know what I'd do if harm came to her."
"I'll take care of her, sir. I'd give my life for her," said Will simply, turning to look into Elizabeth's eyes. She smiled, and her hand found his.
Jack rolled his eyes a bit at what he considered an excessive display of sentiment, then noticed that Governor Swann was watching him with some amusement. Jack grinned crookedly, and the Governor actually smiled back at him.
"All right, young William," drawled Jack, "enough of that! Miss Swann, if you're going with us you'll likely need to bring a few things. But pack light, mind—it's not a pleasure cruise."
The door of the library opened and Beck came in bearing a tray holding a variety of libations. "We found some rum at last, Miss Elizabeth," he said, stiffly. "The cook uses it in sweets." He set the tray down on a table.
"The cook! In sweets! What a waste!" Jack said, quite appalled.
