Sailing into the Caribbean air, feeling the hot sun on her back, Annabelle felt her heart skip a beat. This is what started it all. Sailing into the same air, years ago, had started this twisted and morphed journey. Nothing had been normal since she'd arrived on the island of Port Royal. She'd first met Jacob here, and Jack for that matter. She stepped from the helm of the ship to find Roisin, looking out wistfully to the open water.
"Are you all right?" Annabelle asked, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.
She nodded wearily, her long brown hair shaking slightly. "I just miss her."
Annabelle looked sympathetically at the sixteen year old. She held the same pain in her heart as well. "As do I, Rosie. This is my fault."
Roisin whipped her head to look at Annabelle, her green-brown eyes surprisingly angry. "Don't say that. It's not true! Whatever you did, it did not give these men the permission to do that to Mum, or to Jacob. To any of us! Don't even think it!"
She turned away from Annabelle, walking to Jacob's cabin where Joseph and Lily were biding their time. They'd both become rather anxious, and tensions were high since the incident on Tortuga. Roisin barely talked to Joseph, rather content with playing with Lily until the next port had been found. Annabelle, as well as Jacob, could tell Joseph was rather upset with the turn of events in their friendship. She was sure that she knew why Roisin was so cold with the boy, and could not blame her. Both children had been known for wearing their hearts on their sleeves, so most of their exchanges were all but private.
"Land ahead!" she heard Tommy shout from the crow's nest. She strode up to the helm once more, and she could just make out the bland gray military fort that stood on a high cliff over looking the Caribbean Sea. Her heart made another jump as she remembered Jack's escape from his death at the gallows, remembered watching him jump from the wall landing just shy of the rocks.
She suddenly remembered something; Aunt Loraine! She hadn't corresponded with the woman since Joseph was born, and even then it was only a short note filled with shallow small talk. She found herself yearning to see the woman again-she wondered if she'd changed at all since they'd last spoken twelve years before. Of course, it was not as if she could just waltz in and see her. She was a captive of pirates; bidden to do their every whim until they found Jack. She wondered what brought Jack here again in the first place. What could there possibly be for him here? Her thoughts were cut short by Teach, who'd stepped up beside her.
"We'll not be comin' ashore til nightfall, due to the present circumstances. This island does not take well to pirates."
"I'm quite aware," Annabelle replied drily. "Are you sure he'll be there?"
"Aye Miss, I'm quite sure. My sources are quite reliable. Don' worry yer pretty lil head about any of it. Just do as I say." Captain Teach sauntered away from the helm, leaving her alone.
Rather resenting being talked to as if she were a child, Annabelle followed him.
"What am I to do? I'd like to know beforehand, so I can practice."
"Ah, things of this nature are always better when they come from the heart, Lady Montel. And given yer…history…I don't think tha' should be a problem. But I would suggest bringin' tha' girl of yours along. Migh' be able to touch a soft spot in ol' Jackie's heart."
"Won't it look suspicious if she's dirty and still in her nightdress?" Annabelle asked, trying to keep up with the Captain as he walked away from her.
"I have tha' covered, m'lady. Now, if yeh'll leave me for the time bein', I've important business to attend to."
He strode into his cabin, closing the latch behind him. Annabelle returned to Jacob's cabin and reported what Teach had told her.
"No," Jacob said adamantly. "I will not let my daughter be a part of this. She will not be involved."
"It's not as if we have a choice!" Annabelle snapped. "We can either do what he says, or die."
Jacob looked toward Lily, who was in the midst of learning a new game from Roisin. Her blue eyes lit with excitement, she looked quite innocent.
Annabelle righted herself before striding over and kneeling next to her daughter.
"Lily, I need you to help Mumma with something," she began, and found in shock that her hands had begun to shake.
"What is it, Mumma?" Lily asked, her face alight with curiosity.
Night quickly descended over the sea, leaving the last tongues of orange sunlight trickling against the sky. Annabelle could just barely see the disappearing light as she sat in a small room with Lily, just off of her husband's cabin. She'd been given a basin in which to wash herself and her daughter before reaching the island to meet Jack. She'd also been given a comb and a small maroon gown to dress Lily in. She wondered where they'd aquired all of these items, but decided it was not in her best interest to ask.
"Sit still, Lily," she implored as she scrubbed behind the girl's ears. "I'm almost done, I promise."
"But it tickles!" the dark girl giggled as Annabelle moved a strand of dark brown hair to better reach the crevices behind her ears.
When she had finished, she quickly dressed her daughter and then hastily washed herself. When she'd redressed in the skin tight pastel blue gown she'd been given, she kneeled behind Lily and combed through her damp dark brown curls. She braided the thick hair as fast as possible and then pinned her own auburn curls in a rush. She wanted this night to be over as quickly as possible. She didn't know how Jack would react to seeing his daughter for the first time, but she did not want his reaction to give away the truth.
They exited the room together, Annabelle gripping her daughter's hand tightly.
"Ow! Mumma, you're hurting me," Lily whispered, causing Annabelle to relax her death-grip.
They were just approaching the docks when she spotted the Black Pearl , its sails hidden just behind the tall rocks that marked the dock's beginning. Her heart began to thunder against her breast. This was it. It was now or never.
Teach gracefully lent her a hand as the plank was lowered for their release. Rusty had been posted as their guard-he was to remain incognito, steadily watching for any attempt to escape-and to report any useful information back to Teach. He followed them from several feet behind, and when they reached the small tavern in which they were to wait, he waited several minutes before entering as well.
Annabelle pulled Lily along to a small table in the corner of the room. They sat quietly for a while, watching the men and women enter and leave like the steady flow of the tide. Lily began to become fidgety, and Annabelle had to constantly chide her to sit still.
"This dress is itchy," Lily complained, tugging her skirt restlessly.
Annabelle sighed, rubbing her face tiredly before glancing at the front door to the tavern once more.
Though his face was shadowed by his tricorn hat, there was no doubt in Annabelle's mind as to who it was. His dark dreadlocks swung carelessly as he swaggered up to the bar, ordering what she knew would be rum. Her heart made a fantastic leap as she saw the tattered navy blue ribbon she'd given to him when she was seventeen. Had he really kept it all these years? Something began to stir inside her; it made her both excited and uneasy.
As he strode past their table, she dropped her head to her daughter, pretending to straighten out her gown. She prayed he'd just walk past. This was wrong, she could not do this. She'd find another way to save her family. She couldn't. She couldn't. She couldn't.
"Annabelle?" she heard his voice ask out tentatively. She forced her head up to meet his face.
"Hello, Jack," she said softly, biting her lip to keep from expelling everything that was running through her mind.
"What are yeh doin-" he paused a moment, looking curiously toward Lily, who sat staring up at him with the same bemused look on her features. He righted himself and spoke again. "What're yeh doin' here?"
"Just visiting my aunt," Annabelle said, thinking quickly to come up with a story to tell the pirate. She invented an entire ordeal, claiming that she and
Jacob had gotten into a row, which in turn caused her to storm out, taking her daughter with her. But as she hadn't been in Port Royal in years, she had no where to go. So she wandered into this pub until she could cool down.
"I didn' know yeh had a daughter," Jack replied simply, pulling up a chair and sitting lazily across from them.
"Yes well…I don't see how you would," Annabelle replied, trying to come off as cool as possible toward the man in front of her.
"An' wha' might yer name be, Little Miss?" he turned and asked Lily, sounding surprisingly kind.
"Lily," the girl replied shyly, her eyes darting between the pirate and her mother. "Lily Rose."
Jack looked toward Annabelle in shock, his mouth slightly open.
"Jacob agreed to the naming," Annabelle said softly. "it rather fits her."
Jack rubbed his chin tiredly, glancing at the small girl once again. "Well she's a pretty one, I'll give 'er tha'."
Lily grinned at the man, obviously taken with him. "What's your name, sir?" she asked sweetly.
Jack gave a tired grin to her. "No need for no 'sirs' here, missy. It's just Jack to yeh."
"Nice to meet you, Jack," Lily stuck a small dark hand out, intending Jack to shake it.
Surprising her, he took her petite hand and placed a light kiss about her knuckles. Lily visibly blushed as she pulled her hand back from him. Annabelle could not help but to smile at her daughter's enthrallment with Captain Sparrow. Annabelle took the light air about the situation to ask where they would be headed next, as she'd like to start communicating again.
"I'll be 'eading out to Spain tonigh'. Lizzie, Hector an' I 'ave some business to attend to."
"Lizzie? Who's Lizzie?" Annabelle asked, rather upset at the thought of Jack having a new lover.
Jack laughed at her concern. "Though once I thought there was chance, do not worry, luv, she's naught but a friend. She's married to tha' whelp Turner. Lord knows why, since they only see each other every ten years. Either way…"
"You mean that you're sailing with the Pirate King? Queen, I mean?" Annabelle asked.
"Yes, I am. It's not as exciting' as it sounds, luv." Jack winked at her, rising from the table.
"Do yeh think it'd be any trouble escorting me to my ship?" he asked, stretching his arms out, and tucking his hat over his face.
Annabelle rose, pulling Lily with her. They walked out together into the night, which had become slightly chilly. As they approached the Pearl, Jack turned to them, bidding them goodbye.
"Until next time, my dears," he said grandly, kneeling down to Lily and placing a light peck on her cheek. Again, her blush was rather obvious. And as he embraced Annabelle, her chest tightened. She did not want him to let her go. But as she knew, he did. He smiled at them both, and smoothly entered the water to swim to the Jacob's ladder that'd been lowered.
As Annabelle and Lily walked back to the Beast's Heart quietly. As they approached the vessel, Annabelle told her daughter sternly that they were not to talk about what happened with the Captain.
"Oh don't worry Mumma," Lily said reassuringly. "I would never tell. What would Papa think if he knew I kissed a pirate?"