Chapter Ten
James didn't know whether he should be infuriated or amused. He supposed he was a bit of both. The young woman's face when she realized that she was wearing his wig had been too priceless. It was the first time in the two days of their acquaintance that he had seen Miss Dubois look so flustered. It served her right too, after what she did to him. His sopping wet clothes now hung off the edge of his windowsill to dry, and he was sure that it would take the whole day. Never before in his adult life had he been so rudely awakened!
He sighed and shook his head as he stood in front of the mirror. He knew that the woman would be no less than maddening. "What has Will gotten me into?" he breathed. He righted his wig one last time- the thing didn't fit quite right what with his hair soaked- and moved towards the exit of his chamber.
As he walked into the kitchen, his head maid was the first to greet him. "Ah, Mrs. Pierson," he said, even as she opened her mouth to speak, "Just the woman that I wanted to see."
He watched as Miss Dubois shuffled over to the far corner of the room. He looked on out of the corner of his eye as she pretended to busy herself with some silverware. A small smirk tugged at the corners of his lips, but he was careful not to look at her to pointedly. He thought it best to let the wretched woman squirm for awhile, not knowing what he would do as her punishment. It was no less than what she deserved.
"And what is it you wanted to speak with me about, sir?" Mrs. Pierson asked, apparently not noticing the way he watched Miss Dubois.
James leaned in towards her and spoke quietly so as not to be heard by the other servants. "I want to know why is it that I was not awakened by my manservant this morning?" he asked, "I hope there's a good reason." Yes, there had better be. He knew that if Benjamin had come to wake him rather than Miss Dubois, his clothes wouldn't be hanging out to dry at the moment.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sir," Mrs. Pierson said, "I thought that Celeste would have explained that to you when she woke you. Did she not?"
James' eyes darted to the corner to see Miss Dubois stiffen when her name was spoken. This time he let his eyes linger on her coolly, letting her know that he was watching her. "No. No, she did not," he said slowly, still watching her, "She must have had other things on her mind." Miss Dubois hurriedly looked the other way, and James smirked again. He turned back to Mrs. Pierson. "Now what is the matter with Benjamin?"
The old woman waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, just a fever," she said, "It is nothing urgent. Just any typical fever. He will be well within two days. Wait and see."
"I'm sure you are right, Mrs. Pierson," James replied absently. His thoughts were still on his new maid rather than his manservant. He was sure that Benjamin would be fine. What he wasn't sure of was whether or not he could survive a week… no, a day… or more accurately, another second… with Celeste Dubois. He shook his head slightly. "Now, what's for breakfast?"
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"You mean, you know absolutely nothing of my daughter?!" Governor Weatherby Swann's face was the epitome of fear and fatherly concern. His already wrinkled face had grown more creased as he drew his brows together in thought and worry.
Will had received a note first thing upon waking that morning. It had been from Governor Swann, requesting to see him as soon as possible. When the governor had learned that Will was back in Port Royal, he had hoped that Will could offer him some information about Elizabeth. Will hated that he had had to dissuade that notion. "I'm sorry, Governor Swann," he said sadly, "I do not know where she is." As much as he tried, he knew he did not succeed in hiding his despair.
Weatherby's face did not look much different than his own. "Oh," he moaned as he lowered his face to his hands, "No. I was so sure that you would know of her, be able to tell me something. I've worried for her so. Oh, how much I long to see her again!" Then suddenly he seemed to realize that he was pouring his soul out in front of Will. He cleared his throat. "So, William, tell me what happened?" In other words: 'How is it that you are here and my daughter is not?'
Will also cleared his throat. He found the situation uncomfortable at best. He knew that before the whole ordeal with Beckett, leading up to his and Elizabeth's separation, Governor Swann had not entirely approved of the two young people's union. After all, Will was simply a blacksmith… or maybe a pirate. Either way, Elizabeth was the governor's daughter, a noble lady. A marriage between two people like them was not exactly something you saw every day.
"Well," he began, "When we went to go save Jack, Beckett found us, and there was a stand off. I was separated from everyone else, and I have no memory of how I wound up in Tortuga a few weeks ago. I know I must have been injured and that is why I don't remember." It wasn't the entire truth, but it wasn't a huge lie. He knew that that explanation did not do the actual happenings justice, but he did not want to go into further detail. Nor was he very keen on informing the governor of his daughter's connections with Jack.
The governor's face twisted in anger. "None of this would have happened if she hadn't gotten involved with those… those… bloody pirates!" he exclaimed furiously, "If not for that wretched Jack Sparrow and others of his like, my little girl would still be here with me, not off in God knows where doing God knows what…. If she's even… still alive." Once again his face dropped to his hands, and although no sound proved it, Will knew he was crying. "Please," he mumbled a moment later, "Just leave me. Thank you for coming at my request, but I'd rather be alone right now."
Will nodded then silently walked away. He knew how the old man was feeling, for he had felt the same way. Elizabeth had changed the lives that she had walked into, and now that she was gone, he knew that things would never be the same…. Unless she came back. He shook his head again. He couldn't let himself hope for that. It would only make the heartbreak worse when she never returned. Perhaps she was just too flighty and free to settle down with a husband. Who was he to chain such a woman? Although he would have made sure they had a wonderful life together.
He walked down the street back to the blacksmith's shop that he worked at. It was the same shop that he had worked out before Beckett arrived at Port Royal with a warrant for his arrest. He was glad he was able to obtain work there now, for blacksmithing was his trade. As he made his way there, he forced his mind away from Elizabeth and wondered how James and Celeste were getting along on Celeste's first day working for him. A smile stole itself onto his mouth. Most likely they had already fought multiple times.
Not for the first time, he thought on how to get them to fall in love. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Celeste was the one for James. They were very similar, and Will could picture them living together and raising a family. But could he make the two of them see that? Their problem was stubbornness. Both of them were stubborn to the bone, and that made things more difficult. But Will thought if he could get at least one of them to realize how perfect they would be together then everything would fall into place.
Then there was some trouble about Celeste's upbringing. Would James marry someone who Will had picked up from Tortuga? As far as Will knew, she was just a common girl, and he knew from experience that marriage between commoners and people of high society were frowned upon. Then again, how did they know that Celeste was a commoner? Nothing had been said about her past other than she was from France. She could very well be the daughter of a French lord for all they knew. Will decided that he needed to get Celeste to open up about her history. He wondered if she would talk willingly or if he would have to manipulate answers from her. He knew that she was the kind of woman who would hold back information just to vex him, so he better prepare to manipulate. Even so, finding out whether James and Celeste would be a good match socially was just a small step in a big process.
Will sighed. He had a lot of work to do.
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"C'est horrible!"(This is horrid!) Celeste mumbled as she scrubbed the kitchen floors, "Homme misérable misérable misérable!"(Wretched, wretched, wretched man!). She knew that Norrington had ordered her to scrub the floors simply because he didn't like her. There were plenty of other less disgusting tasks that she could have been doing.
"Oh, do stop sulking, Celeste!" urged Maria who was scrubbing right alongside her, "We'll be done in a matter of moments if you would just hush up that whining and do your job."
"Oh!" Celeste's eyes blazed as she looked to the other young woman, "How dare you?! I am not sulking! Or being whiny!"
Maria rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I don't speak French, so I have no idea what you said a moment ago, but I can tell by your tone and expression that you were whining, and you are sulking."
Celeste just gaped at her. How was it that the woman could be so meek and quiet that morning and then boldly accuse her of whining and sulking in the afternoon? Where did this sudden burst of gumption come from? She shook her head and went back to angrily scrubbing.
"Don't be mad at me now, dear," Maria said after a moment, reverting back to her former sweetness, "I was just saying. I don't mean to offend, but why is it that you act like you are a high society lady rather than a maid?"
Celeste bristled, but she knew that to Maria the statement was an innocent question not an insult, so she held her tongue. She didn't think she could keep back her biting retort if she tried to answer the question though, so she ignored it and replied instead, "I'm not angry with you." Her voice was rather unconvincing.
"I'm glad," the younger woman answered, smiling. Celeste was just discovering that Maria was one of the few people she found it difficult to be angry with. After a few moments more of scrubbing in silence, Maria asked, "What happened when you went to wake the Admiral this morning? The two of you seemed rather on edge, and I couldn't help but notice that you kept stealing murderous looks at him all through breakfast. When he ordered you to bring him tea, I worried that you would dump the whole pot on his head."
Celeste blushed slightly. That remark came all too close to what had conspired between the two of them in the bedroom. "Umm… nothing really," she replied quickly, "It's just I don't like the terrible man at all, but you already know that."
Maria shook her head with a softly murmured, "You'll change your mind."
Celeste highly doubted that. Very highly.
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A/N- Sorry for the strange formatting... I really have no idea why my computer did that, but I'll try to fix it somehow.