Chapter 12

Relief was finally in the hands of Captain Cardinal's crew. After their long and tiresome three month journey, the Scarlett Ruby pulled into Jakeston's port. All of the inhabitants of Jakeston ran down and cheered for the crew. Once everything was unloaded and the spoils were distributed properly, the exhausted crew returned to their homes.

After a day of recuperation, all normal duties resumed. Jake brought the reverend down to see his new church and home which was attached to the back of the church.

"This is simply amazing!" Reverend Godspeed breathed. "When you said that you had a church building, I had no idea you meant a real church building!"

"Well, I'm glad you're impressed. Your home is right through that door there. Wally Nipperkin should be working on building more pews now that we're home. If there is anything involving wood that you might need, just talk to him. I need to be getting on to my other duties, so, I'll be seeing you."

"Thank you so much, Captain Cardinal! Good day!"

Now that she was back, Allison put her full concentration on planning her wedding. The Jakeston wives all helped her with different aspect of the wedding: Becky helped choose the wedding dress and maid-of-honor's dress; Trixie, Cutthroat Pitzel's wife, helped put the dresses together; Christina, Wally Nipperkin's wife, helped make the decorations for the church and reception. Allison decided to make Becky her maid-of-honor, but Matthew didn't decide who his best man would be yet.

At the end of the day soon after Jake got home, Matthew came over.

"You asked me to come over, Captain Cardinal?"

"Mm, yes, thank you for coming. How are the plans for your wedding going?"

"They are going fairly well. There was something I actually had to talk to you about."

"Okay, go ahead," Jake allowed, slightly interested.

"I haven't exactly made very many close allies since I rejoined your crew," Matthew began as he slowly paced the floor. "So, I was wondering if perhaps—since we have known each other for a while—if you would be my best man in my wedding."

"I would be honored to, Matthew. Now, on to why I called you here in the first place. As you know, I have lost my third mate. Therefore, I would like to give you the title of Third Mate."

"I-I am speechless, Captain!"

"That's a first," Jake muttered.

"Th- thank you so much! I hope that I can live up to my new role."

"I'm sure you will. Why don't you go tell your soon-to-be wife the news?"

"Oh, that's right! I shall right now! Thank you again, Captain!"

It was finally Allison and Matthew's wedding day, and everything was turning out perfectly. The dresses were perfect; the new church was perfect; the wedding ceremony was on perfect schedule. Of course, the wedding wasn't nearly as fantastic as Becky and Jake's, but it was still beautiful and just what Allison had imagined. Reverend Godspeed preformed the ceremony, and then everybody went down to the dancing floor in the center of town for the reception.

Everybody began dancing and celebrating, laughing and eating cake. Allison and Matthew were having the time of their lives. Matthew was especially happy that now he could kiss his new bride practically whenever and wherever he wanted without anybody teasing.

Sam Muggins walked over to Nora who was eating a piece of cake. "Why aren't you dancing?"

"I figured I'd just stay here and eat my cake before I'd dance."

"Oh, o-okay," slightly disappointed, Muggins started to walk away.

"Hold on there, Sam!" she called out. "You didn't let me finish. I was gonna say that I would dance if someone were to ask me."

He ran back over and held out his hand. "Would you like to dance?"

"I would love to!" Nora gladly took his hand and went out onto the dance floor with him.

The two danced for a couple songs, and Sam bashfully spoke up, "So, I was thinking, maybe—that is, if you have any—if you have some free time ever you could kinda…spend it with me?"

"I would like that…a lot," Nora smiled into his eyes.