Part II - Midnight Confession
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In my midnight confessions
When I tell all the world that I love you
In my midnight confessions
When I say all the things that I want to
I love you
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June; 1668
The rocking of the ship was calm and although it lulled Evelyn's senses it didn't diminish them. All of her worries were just waiting for their chance to break free. It had been nearly a month since she had been on the ship heading back to Los Camillos, to home. She wasn't sure she wanted to be there at all. She knew what was waiting for her. Ivan Tanhern. Her father's lawyer. Just the thought of him made her skin crawl, "Are you cold Evelyn?" Ardeth asked. She started when he spoke but regained her composure quickly. "No, I was just thinking of what was waiting for me back home." "What are you worried about? You not only were married to a reputable name, but he has now died and you are free." Ardeth argued not understanding Evelyn's disposition.
She turned from the rail of the ship and looked at him, "I understand that, but I just have this feeling that it is not over." she sighed. Ardeth looked out to the ocean for answers but only saw calm blue, it wasn't much help. "Is it perhaps you do not want it to be over?" he pried. She gave him a sharp look, success! "Why wouldn't I want it to be over?" she demanded. He shook his head, "I do not know Evelyn. I believe that is your own problem to solve." he answered. She narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't say anything, perhaps he was right and that was the crux of the problem. She didn't want it to be over but she had no idea why.
"I believe I shall retire to my room." she finally told him. "Have a good evening Evelyn." he taunted. Her eyes flashed with anger at him, "Good night Mr. Bey." and she stalked back down to her bunk. And she knew he was smiling as she left. For some reason it pleased him to no end when he was right about something. Personally she didn't really understand it. Unfortunately being alone meant that all she had were her thoughts and she had no desire to be alone with them. None whatsoever.
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It had taken several hours to fall asleep, but with one hint of trouble Evelyn was fully awake. She had heard something, but now in the silence of the room she didn't hear anything. She stayed where she was and listened. After about five minutes she still hadn't heard anything and so settled back in her bed that was when her door flew open, "Evelyn get up!" Ardeth shouted. "What? Why? What is going on?" "We are under attack." he informed her and went about trying to find her clothes. "Who are we under attack by?" she asked. "Evelyn, stay quiet. Do as I say and we will be fine. We are under attack by the pirate ship, Thebes. Now I have some of my clothes you need to put on. They can not know you are a woman."
Evelyn did as she was told. She had never seen Ardeth as intense as she did right now. In a matter of minutes she was dressed as a gentlemen. Her hair pulled back and put underneath a tricorn. Ardeth then proceeded to lock her in her room. Once he was gone she heard muted sounds coming from above her and all around. She sat in her chair, rocking herself trying to remain calm. She always rocked herself, even without the benefit of a chair on occasions. That was what her father use to do when she was terrified as a child and in times of stress she reverted back to the soothing motion.
Suddenly her door was kicked off it's hinges and two large, burly, and quite smelly men grabbed her and hauled her away, and with no explanations as to what they were doing. She would have demanded one, but Ardeth had warned her to stay silent. Now she was trying to kick her way free, but the two men seemed unaffected by her fighting. Which made her angry so she tried even harder, but to no avail they hauled her up to the top deck where Evelyn saw many of the crew dead or bleeding. Her gasp of shock was not heard by anyone or her own ears.
She saw Ardeth trying to fight two men off, but all stopped when the two men set her down. Ardeth stared and with all the kicking and screaming her hat had fallen off and her long hair was now cascading down her back much to her chagrin. "Is this Evelyn Carnahan?" one of the men who had been fighting Ardeth asked. Smelly Man One answered with a positive. The man who asked was skinny and had a mustache that didn't quite fit his face. His chin poked out too far and his eyes were small and beady. "Ms. Carnahan it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." he went to pet her hair, but she turned her head and bit him. He pulled it back howling in pain. He was about to strike her, but Ardeth had moved with the grace of a jaguar and stopped him.
He didn't try to touch her after that. "Take them both back to my room. Don't touch her, you don't want to mess with the master if he finds out you touched her." The two men grabbed her again and dragged her off to the other ship that now had it's ropes tightened to their own. The nasty man who tried to touch her was about to get on his ship, but turned around to shout out a command, "Burn the ship!" Evelyn tried to scream, but no noise came out of her throat. Then there was a blast against the other ship and everyone was thrown forward. "What happened?" and so on was shouted by those on Thebes.
In the meantime they had forgotten about Evelyn and she was quickly trying to find out was going on and getting back to her own ship. Just then to her left where her own ship was she saw the flames licking up it's side and the crew of Thebes had also taken interest and was pushing quickly away from the burning ship. And now half were fighting to the left of her and the others were fighting the stern. And in all the chaos somebody knocked her forward to the ground and the last thing she heard was yelling.
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"Izzy leave her alone." a familiar voice admonished. Evelyn's head hurt and it was taking all her strength to open her eyes. It was just too much effort so she stopped trying. "Evelyn are you awake?" the male voice said again. She thought she nodded, but wasn't sure. She felt a cool cloth placed on her forehead and she was back out of the running.
When she woke again she was able to open her eyes and look around. She was in a cabin, a bigger one than the one she had before. There was a desk off the far left corner with some maps and a cabinet to her right where from the bunk she was in to the corner lay a hammock. "Where....Where am I?" she stammered. "You are on my ship, the Cairo Pride." a voice to her left said. She looked over to the source, "Mr. O' Connell?" she asked incredulously. "Good Evening Ms. Carnahan, or should I say Mrs. O' Connell?" She wasn't in the mood, "Evelyn is fine. Where is Ardeth?" she asked when she was ready to think about something else other than the pain, "He is recovering in one of the rooms below." Rick informed her, "Why don't you lay back down and I will have Izzy go and get you some broth."
He said a few quick words to someone and then she heard a door open and shut. "Now just lie back and you will be just fine." When they were both satisfied by the way she was sitting she looked around at the cabin, "This is yours?" "Yes." was his only answer. "Can you tell me what happened?" He gave her a smile and she all but melted. She noticed it a little when they got married...okay she noticed him a lot, but now that he was so close to her it was a little overwhelming.
"That I can help you with. Your ship was attacked by the pirate ship, Thebes, run by a man only referred to as 'Master'. I was sailing for the West Indies when there was a storm and we ended up near your waters. We saw what was happening and tried to stop it." She let the silence fill the room until she could assess everything, "So where is Thebes now?" she finally asked. "Probably on it's way back to home port. There were only a dozen survivors so I imagine they are going back to get reinforcements." he replied. "Will they come after you?" she looked in his eyes, They were beautiful. She shook the thought out of her mind. She didn't need to be thinking about that right now. "Probably."
They heard the door open and watched as Izzy came in with a bowl of broth and a guest, "Evelyn? Are you okay?" Ardeth asked coming over. "Yes I believe I will recover nicely. I'm still confused as to what happened exactly, but that doesn't need to be answered until my head can quit hurting." she answered. He nodded his head, "That is good. Thank-you again Mr. O' Connell." "It was not a problem Mr. Bey. Izzy can you please bring the food over here?" A dark skinned man with a generous smile came and brought the broth. "Here you go madam, enjoy." "Thank-you..." "Izzy, Ma'm just call me Izzy." She smiled at him, "Thank-you Izzy, I give you leave to call me Evelyn." He nodded his head and whispered something to Mr. O' Connell and left the room.
"He is nice." Evelyn commented when everyone had left but Rick. "He is my loyal servant." "Servant? Does that mean you are of the O' Connell's of the colonies?" she asked. He shook his head, "No, I am not." was his answer. "So you are Richard O' Connell the pirate?" she accused. "Yes. Although I am not called that any longer. As I'm sure you well know." he shot back at her. She had the humility to blush. "I didn't mean to disrupt your life Mr. O' Connell I just needed help with mine." she explained. "I understand Evelyn. It's just now I have to start my life over again. A pirate is known for his reputation and I now I have to build him up again. Izzy is the only one from old crew that I have taken with me." "And what do you call yourself now?" "James Richard."
She smiled at that. "Well Pirate Richard I hope that you will be bountiful." "Why Evelyn are you encouraging pirating?" She blushed again and it just made Rick want to have it happen more. In fact he was sure that he could get her to really blush if she knew some of things he had dreamed of since he had seen her. "Are you okay Mr. O' Connell?" "Yes. I'm fine. Why don't you get some more rest and if you feel better I will give you a tour of the upper decks." "Thank-you Mr. O' Connell for everything." she whispered. "You are most welcome." he replied and left the room.
End of Part II
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MBooker: I was actually planning on using those guys. Maybe not all as brothers because Rick needs a dad and I can't think of who that should be, but I am going to give Rick a family. It is necessary that he does. ;)
For the person who didn't leave their name and told me to 'watch my language' I did. This story is rated PG-13 and if anyone has seen 'Austin Powers' or just about any other PG-13 movie then they are well aware of the 'sex' issue. I do not like to be chastised by someone who didn't even have the courtesy of leaving their name.
However, I will only change it for this story, I like that line and I plan on using it again.
So please review, just like air it's not a problem until you aren't getting any.
Thank-you to everyone else who left a review!!!!! You guys are wonderful!
~ Dylan.
