Clare leaves early and drops Michael off at school but not before the boy gives Father Jones the fairytale book. There's no mistaking the big grin on the boy's face as he hands him the book, happy to have another believer on his side. Father Jones wouldn't quite call himself a believer yet, but he considers that maybe there is something to these stories.
He brings the fairytale to his boat, rests on his bunk and opens it, flipping through the pages. He stops flipping through when he comes upon what he thinks is the beginning of his and Emilia's story and starts reading.
The princess is a stubborn lass, Killian Jones notices that right away. She's also the most outspoken and manipulative princess he's ever come across. To think that she hooked him into her sexual scheme in exchange for money...clever girl.
What he didn't count on though was that in the four days she's on board in his ship, he would start to have feelings for her. But what surprises him even more, is knowing that she secretly feels the same thing for him.
But a pirate's ship is no place for a princess.
He's not a good man, and certainly not right for her.
If she only knew the real reason why she's there with him, she wouldn't even bother to give him a second glance.
She would hate him for what's he's done and he would deserve all her wrath.
But an honest pirate is better than a lying, cheating manipulative pirate.
He doesn't deserve her, even though he wants her so badly.
Father Jones skips back to the beginning, the third sentence and reads it over again, specifically the mention of 'sexual'. After re-reading that word several times, he skips ahead and is floored when he reads more scandalous, sexually charged entries.
Michael reads this?
He did say these fairytale stories are different than the traditional versions, but these are not appropriate for an 11-year-old to read. He's almost tempted not give back the book, but then again, the book is his and he hasn't read the other stories.
His and Emilia's might be the only dirty story in the book, but that seems very 'iffy' to him at this point.
Still, he reads on...
He sees some similarities between himself and Captain Killian Jones; both men love a woman they think are unworthy of, both are bound to a code to act and behave a certain way and the most obvious similarity is that they both have ships named The Jolly Roger.
Except his is more of a boat than a ship.
On Emilia's counterpart Emma, she's stubborn, beautiful, independent, mischievous young woman who isn't afraid to speak her mind. Emilia's possesses some of those qualities – beauty is not a problem because she is stunning but sometimes, he feels that she is less sure of herself and that's why she uses her feminine charms to get what she wants.
It was Emma's idea after her capture to string him into her sexual devices in exchange for helping him, but as he understands it, she did it to save herself from possible rape by his crew. She had two opportunities to escape and she let them slip by but as soon as she saw a third, she chose to stay believing that she loved him.
Emma's such a vibrant, spirited young woman, a fiery lass as Captain Jones put it in the book, but he also mentions that he doesn't regret a moment with her. In the end, he chose to tell her the truth because it was the right thing to do after which he confessed his love for her but by then, it was too late. Emma was heartbroken and reunited with her parents; the heartbreak eventually became too much for her and she ate the poisonous apple meant for her mother but the pirate saved her.
And instead of him proposing, she proposed on the condition that he was allowed to keep his ship.
But in reality, he didn't really need the ship anymore because he had a new love, the beautiful princess Emma and as Father Jones reads on, she's expecting a child.
The child, as Rumpelstiltskin prophecized, would be their savior from the witch's Dark Curse, but he needed her name in exchange. Killian was reluctant to give it to him but Emma was desperate, wanting to make things right and gave it to him.
Her name is Clare.
tbc