Chapter 35: Hurtful Words

Will's POV:

How my heart longed for her. How I would give anything to see her, but oh how I knew it was against the rules...

Elizabeth's ship was nearing mine, but what I couldn't figure out was why. I was quite certain that I would not be allowed to see her for another nine or so years. Didn't she know that?

As her ship got closer I noticed something critical. She wasn't there. My heart started pounding, or at least it would have if it was still inside of me. Although, for all I knew maybe it was actually pounding within the chest. Whatever... Anyhow, the point is that I was scared. My wife was missing and I had no idea why and naturally I assumed the worse.

"Jack!" I called once the ship was in ear reach. "Where's Elizabeth?"

"No worries, mate," Jack hollered, "She's just under deck. Wasn't sure whether or not Calypso would do anything if you two saw each other before the nine years was up."

I nodded. "What are you doing here then?" I yelled.

"Got a present for you," he answered.

Jack brought his ship beside the Dutchman and anchored. "Get ready to re-meet yer son, Will," Jack said, no longer having to yell.

I watched as Jack placed a board across the two ships and that's when I noticed him. In the corner, hiding behind some barrels of something or other was my son, or at least I assumed he was. I watched as he quietly began to cross the board.

"I presume you're my father," he said, once he was on my ship. I noticed that he wouldn't look at me and wondered why. His eyes were very focused on the floor.

"Yes," I said.

"This is for you," he said, handing me a key and looking up for the first time. It was the key to my chest.

"Thank you," I responded, "But why are you giving this to me?"

"Mother says she has the other key, but wants you to have this one so if anything happens to hers by accident there will still be one remaining."

I nodded. I greatly hoped nothing would happen to either of the two keys, but it never hurt to be prepared.

"Can I go back to Uncka Jack's ship now?" he asked, anxiously.

I didn't really know how to answer that. Why was he so anxious to leave? It bothered me that my son had no connection with me whatsoever. It really did. I wanted to fix that, but how was I to? There wasn't much I could do. A living soul can't go to world's end, and I really had to be going there very shortly to be doing my duty, but on the other hand he was only half living...

"Are you not answering because I wasn't polite enough?" Willy asked, "I should have said 'may' rather than 'can' shouldn't I have?"

I was surprised the child was worried that he wasn't being polite enough. It seemed strange to me that Elizabeth would even care to teach about such things, but I supposed there was some of her father in her after all.

I remembered caring about such things when I was around his age. I was always wanting to please everyone...

That's when I realized something. Willy should only be about two, maybe three... no, two... why was he talking so well?

"How'd you learn to talk?" I asked, curios.

"Uncka Jack says I'm a special child, things come easy to me."

I nodded. Why was he calling Jack his uncle anyway? "You spend a lot of time with him?" I asked.

It was quite a simple question. Clearly, the answer was yes, since there were only three people on that ship, but I didn't know what else to ask him. I barely knew my own son.

"Yes," Willy explained, "He's almost like my dad. He's a much better father than you've ever been."

Well, the child definitely inherited Elizabeth's continuing ability to speak and then think rather then do things the other way around.

To say those words didn't hurt, would be a lie. I knew it was true and I would do anything to make it better, but what was there to do?

I tried to think up something to say in response, but nothing was coming. What does one say when you find out what your child really thinks of you, and it's not pleasant.

"You know, son," I tried, explaining. I didn't think it would work, but I tried anyway. "If I could change things you know I would..."

Willy stood, staring at the ground, silently for a few moments before he spoke again. "Can I go back to my ship now?" he asked, "I should really go check on mother. She wasn't feeling so good last night. I think it's because of the baby, but just in case it's not I should go check on her."

"Baby?" I asked, shocked. I hadn't heard of this before. Was the baby mine? Had she found another man?

Willy completely ignored me and continued talking. "I'm all she's got now. I'm the only one who cares about her."

Well, I supposed that answered one of my questions. If Willy was the only one who cared about her then I supposed she hadn't found another man.

What he had said certainly wasn't true though. "There are others who care about your mother, Willy," I stated.

Willy gave my a puzzeld look so I took it as a sign to continue.

"Well, Jack's been with her ever since my death so certainly he most care about her at least a little."

Willy shrugged, thought for a second and then nodded.

"You know, Willy, there's someone else who cares about your mother greatly. Someone who thinks about her every night. Someone who treasures her dearly."

I expected him to ask, 'who?' , but he just stood their quietly. It was a little awkward.

"I treasure her deeply," I said, answering the unasked question.

"No, you don't," Willy accused. "You never spend any time with her. You abandoned us. How could you even care about us?"

Tears came to his eyes as he said those last few words. Then everything was clear. Willy didn't understand it. He didn't understand the curse! That's why there seemed to be a certain hostility between us. Willy thought I'd done it all voluntarily. He thought I'd left him by choice.

Seeing a crying child wasn't new to me, just seeing one this young was. I remembered many years ago when Elizabeth was younger, she came running to the blacksmith shop in distress. She came running to me saying something about how tomorrow was going to be the day she'd be forced to grow up, which meant that for property's sake she'd be forced to un-befriend me. I had held her in my arms and tried to calm her down. That was different than this though, Elizabeth hadn't hated me as my son appeared to. I wasn't entirely sure what he'd do if I tried to hold him, and I wasn't entirely sure that I wanted to find out.

"I'm going back to my ship now," Willy cried as he went over to cross the board leading to Elizabeth's ship. I supposed he had given up on asking for permission.

"Willy, wait!" I called. I couldn't send him back in this sort of state. I couldn't!

I was actually a little surprised that he turned around when I called. That wasn't like the young Elizabeth at all. I guess he got that from me.

"I didn't abandon you," I tried, explaining.

"You abandoned mommy," he cried.

"Not by choice."

He looked at me puzzled and I took that as a sign to continue.

"If I could be with you right now I would."

"Then why can't you?" he asked. I noticed that he wasn't crying as much now, but he still was crying a little.

I quickly tried to think of a way to explain something so complicated to a young child. That curse was not simple to understand. I didn't even understand the entire thing. "There's a curse on me... it prevents me from seeing you or your mother for many years," I explained.

Willy nodded. I'm not sure how much he understood, but he had to have got something out of it because he did stop crying at that point.

"So it's not your fault?" he asked.

"No."

"Who made this curse?"

"The one who's in charge of the sea."

"If somebody kills her do we get to be together again?"

I laughed. "You can't kill her, Willy, it's not possible."

Willy sighed.

Then an idea came to me. "You know Willy, your mother and I can't be together, but that doesn't mean you and I can't be together. If it's alright with your mother, and only if she's okay with it, would you like to stay on my ship for awhile?"

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A/N:

review please. Thanks for reading!