Elizabeth rocked back and forth gently, her tiny son cradled lovingly in
her arms. It was harder than she had thought, to be raising the boy as any
mother should and not call in a wet nurse as her father had suggested. The
disturbed nights were beginning to take their toll on the two of them, but
they wouldn't have changed their circumstance for all the world. They had
already decided that, since Will was to go with Marin and James in search
of the treasure,
Elizabeth and Matthew would accompany him. After all, if things went to
plan, he would grow up on a ship, so the sooner he grew accustomed to the
wooden walls, the better.
She smiled gently as the little boy sneezed, looking shocked that such an explosion had come from him. Will laughed softly, the rich sound filling the room over the frightened baby's sudden mewling. However, Matthew soon got over his little scare and began to lull once again, nestled close in his mother's arms.
'Beth, do you have any idea what's wrong with Jack?' Will asked suddenly, watching something through the window.
Elizabeth frowned.
'How do you mean?' she asked, doing her best to look confused, though she did know exactly what was going on.
Will's eyes followed whatever was out there back and forth for a few minutes before he answered.
'Well, he's been in a foul mood lately,' he said, sounding troubled. 'He's avoiding Marin, glaring blue murder at James, and right now is pacing a hole in the third step by the front door.'
His wife nodded, gently placing their son in his cradle and slipping to her husband's side. He was right. Jack was pacing frantically up and down the length of the step, waving his hands around as though he were rehearsing something. The look on his face was one akin to panic, or perhaps closer to despair.
'He's waiting for Marin,' Elizabeth said, watching the pirate captain. 'She promised to meet him there at eight.'
'Eight?' Will's eyebrows rose. 'It's only twenty past seven now.'
Unable to stop herself, Elizabeth laughed, highly amused by Jack's obviously terrified behaviour. She moved back to take a seat, motioning Will to join her. He did so, intrigued as to what was troubling his friend.
'So what is going on, 'Beth?'
Elizabeth grinned, a disarming expression that instantly set Will's teeth on edge. Whatever was bothering Jack had not come about of its own free will. He forced himself to sit still and listen. However much he disliked his wife's habit of meddling, he had to admit the best usually came out of it.
'He's going to ask Marin to marry him!' she said excitedly, clutching his hands tightly.
'What?' Will was aghast. 'Elizabeth, pirates don't marry. It's an invitation for trouble.'
Her eyebrows rose.
'You did,' she sniffed, a little offended.
He gave her an arch look.
'Yes, and look what happened,' he pointed out. 'Our ship sunk, me captured and you at the whim of an unknown pirate. Just imagine the trouble Jack and Marin could get into if they married one another. You don't get to be as infamous as Jack without making some serious enemies, 'Beth.'
Elizabeth held his gaze for a long moment, seeing the truth in his words.
'There's no other outcome now though,' she said softly, almost regretting her part in this area of the match. 'James gave Jack no other option. He has to marry her, or James will keep Marin away from him and marry her off to someone else.'
Will's eyes deadened in fury, and she winced as he launched himself off the sofa and slammed a fist into the wall, biting down on the furious oaths that were on the tip of his tongue.
'How dare he,' he hissed, deliberately keeping his voice low for fear of disturbing the sleepy baby. 'He knows nothing of the life of a pirate, how dare he think he can just arrange things like that! Does Marin know?'
'No, and you won't tell her,' Elizabeth said firmly, rising to place restraining hands on his shoulders. 'Please, Will. If this plays out to a marriage between them, I would rather Marin thought Jack had asked her of his own free will than been bullied into it. It would break her heart.'
Will gripped her hands, his eyes still angrily black as he looked into hers.
'But they'll be living a lie, 'Beth,' he told her. 'They'll be putting themselves in danger because of bloody Norrington's pride.'
He glanced down to where Jack was still pacing.
'I can't let him do it,' he muttered, held back from striding straight out the door by
Elizabeth's suddenly vicelike grip on his arms.
'You're not going to interfere,' she told him, her own eyes icy now. 'If you stop Jack from proposing, Marin will be engaged to some ageing merchant before the end of the week, and there really will be nothing you can do about that. Stop and think, Will. Once the resentment over the manner of the marriage has gone, do you really think they'll be unhappy together?'
He stared at her, unable to deny the logic of her thought, but his heart crying out against the injustice that was being done to his friends. He sagged, defeated.
'No, I can't see either of them letting marriage get in the way of their relationship,' he admitted. 'And I suppose I don't really have any right to be so protective of them. Especially Marin. James knows what he's doing, I suppose.'
He slipped back down into a seat, absently reaching down to remove a corner of the blanket from his son's mouth. His hand was seized and duly investigated, the index finger swiftly gummed by the inquisitive baby. Will smiled fondly, his eyes widening as a terrible thought occurred to him.
'Can you imagine what their children will be like?'
*~*~*
The darkness was terribly inviting to the pacing pirate as he waited for Marin to join him. The only thing that kept Jack from running away into the welcoming black was the ever-present thought of Marin married off to an old merchant and sent to an early grave via the medium of child-birth. He had no doubt her spirit would be broken in such a match, and could not bear to stand back and watch that.
For watch it he would have to do. Despite his prolific reputation, Jack Sparrow had never, in his entire life, risked a coupling with a married woman, having an ingrained respect for the sanctity of marriage. If Marin were to be married off to another man, Jack would sooner kill himself than tempt her into breaking her vows, however unwillingly taken.
Much as he tried, however, he found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on the negative aspects of being married. His mind sought to reassure him, reminding him of life-long companionship, the sense of belonging, the impossibility of ever being alone again. And it would definitely not be a one-way partnership. He knew Marin well enough to know that she would give as good as she got, capable of holding up her side of a bargain.
Footsteps drew him out of his reverie, and he turned to greet the young woman with an expression that was more like a rictus of horror than a smile. Slightly bemused by the obvious terror in his eyes, Marin still threw herself into his arms, wondering at the uneasy tension that hung about him.
She pulled back from his cold embrace, frowning as she looked into his eyes.
'Is something wrong?' she asked.
Jack gave her another terrified smile and shrugged jerkily.
'Wrong?' he echoed, sounding panicked. 'No, no, nothing wrong, so to speak. Nothing at all.'
Her eyebrow rose in a sardonic arch as she smiled, amused by his galloping speech. She nodded to herself, slipping under his arm and leading him into the darkness. Maybe he'd calm down if he couldn't actually see her face.
His arm tightened about her, drawing her as close as he could. Try as he might, no amount of terror could invalidate the loving way he responded to her when she was nearby, and for that Jack was intensely grateful. Even if he sounded like a gibbering fool, there was no way she could mistake the warmth of his embrace for anything other than it was.
They wandered in silence through the slowly rejuvenating bushes, both watching the sea before them as they approached the escarpment. Jack was reminded of another such walk, one he had taken alone weeks beforehand, only to come across the girl who walked at his side, bloodied and bruised, sobbing in relief as he drew her close. He had loved her even then, he realised, remembering the blind fury that had coursed through him on seeing her so injured. Never again, he swore to himself. Never again would anyone do such to her without first having to come through him.
Marin sighed softly, gazing out across the bay with tired eyes.
'Jack, are you alright?' she asked him gently.
He frowned, biting down on the gabble of responses that came bubbling up.
'Do I seem alright?' he asked back.
He could almost see her smile at the ambiguous reply, knowing how she hated it when he answered her questions with questions.
'You've been avoiding me,' she murmured, sounding hurt and lonesome. 'I thought maybe I'd offended you.'
Jack's eyes closed in self-disgust. In his efforts to scrape together enough courage to ask a relatively simple question, he had pushed her aside, however unintentionally. He turned to pull her fully into his embrace, resting his chin atop her head as she pressed herself into his arms.
'Love, I'm sorry,' he whispered. 'I've been distracted, that's all. You could never offend me.'
Her answer was muffled in his chest so that he barely heard it, but he caught the amusement that laced the teasing words clearly.
'Oh, I'm sure I could, if I set my mind to it.'
He chuckled.
'So am I,' he agreed. 'No, I've just not been myself, love. It's no reflection on you. Besides, you've been closeted in with Elizabeth the last few days.'
Marin grimaced, rolling her eyes as she rubbed her cheek against the soft fabric of his shirt. She sighed.
'I would gladly have switched places with you,' she told him. 'One more hour of being measured and prodded and forced into dresses while other women comment on my manly style and I'm sure I'll go mad.'
Jack laughed.
'You have to get dressed up, Marin, you're going to a party,' he told her. 'The dear commodore can hardly introduce you as his cousin wearing sea boots and trousers, can he?'
'I don't see why not,' she complained, reluctantly joining in with his laughter as she let herself see how ridiculous she was being.
Jack reached up, brushing her hair tenderly from her face, and wondered if he would ever get around to asking her the important question. She smiled, a little self-consciously, under his gaze, a light blush darkening her cheeks in the moonlight.
'I'm going stir-crazy on this island,' he told her softly, something he would never have admitted to anyone, not in a million years. 'I can't stand not having a purpose, a reason to be.'
She nodded, enjoying the feel of his callused fingers against her skin.
'I know what you mean,' she murmured. 'At least on the ocean, you can tell yourself there is a reason for your wanderings. On land, there is nothing but boredom.'
Jack smiled down at her through the darkness.
'At least I have you to distract me,' he grinned, pleasantly surprised when she did not wait for him to lean down, but stood up on her tip-toes to plant a gentle kiss on his lips.
As her arms slipped about his neck, drawing him closer, it occurred to Jack that this was how it should be. He should have the right to be happy with the woman of his choice, not forced to live a lonely life on the seas with nothing but the pleasurable company of whores to distract him whenever he reached land safe. This was his choice.
He pulled back gently, preventing her from stepping away as he dropped tender kisses on her cheeks and eyelids. She seemed so totally at ease with him, her face the picture of serenity as she waited with eyes closed for him to take her lips again.
'Marry me,' he murmured, shocked that it felt so natural to say it.
Marin's eyes flew open, searching his as if for confirmation that she had heard him right. He had grown so tense suddenly, his eyes burning into hers as he waited in agonised silence for her answer. Pirates don't marry, she could hear Elias saying to her, but if they weren't to marry, why had he made her promise to stay with Jack? Surely to answer yes would be to fulfil that promise?
His hands were shaking where they rested against her back, telling her more than words ever could just how important her answer would be to him. But somehow, the words would not come out.
'Jack, I . . .'
He looked as though her hesitation was causing him physical pain, so deep was the grimace on his face. He pressed his forehead against her own, still staring into her eyes with that expectant worry.
'Please?' he whispered. 'Please, Marin, marry me.'
She swallowed, still fighting against whatever it was that prevented her from speaking. Her hands tightened on his shoulders, drawing him down to kiss her again as she endeavoured to show him how she felt, since she could not say it. Jack responded hungrily, openly desiring her as he plundered her mouth in desperate silence, as if he were taking his last taste of her before she cast him aside. As the kiss ended, she smiled up at him, watching as hope flared in the darkness of his eyes.
'Is that a yes?' he asked her, his voice almost inaudible.
She could no more stop her smile from widening to a grin than she could stop the sun from rising. Jack laughed in disbelief, lifting her off her feet and spinning about the garden, filled with sudden joy that his Marin was just that; his. He lowered her to the ground, his heart pounding as he kissed her again, holding her close against him.
'Say it,' he pleaded wonderingly, his warm breath caressing her lips as she gazed up at him.
'Yes,' she whispered, unable to hide her happy smile. 'Yes, I will marry you.'
Jack let out a whoop that echoed about the garden, drawing her into his arms for another loving embrace, laughing in relief as the image of his Marin married unhappily was banished from his mind. She was his, irrevocably, irreversibly, and no one would ever take her from him.
She smiled gently as the little boy sneezed, looking shocked that such an explosion had come from him. Will laughed softly, the rich sound filling the room over the frightened baby's sudden mewling. However, Matthew soon got over his little scare and began to lull once again, nestled close in his mother's arms.
'Beth, do you have any idea what's wrong with Jack?' Will asked suddenly, watching something through the window.
Elizabeth frowned.
'How do you mean?' she asked, doing her best to look confused, though she did know exactly what was going on.
Will's eyes followed whatever was out there back and forth for a few minutes before he answered.
'Well, he's been in a foul mood lately,' he said, sounding troubled. 'He's avoiding Marin, glaring blue murder at James, and right now is pacing a hole in the third step by the front door.'
His wife nodded, gently placing their son in his cradle and slipping to her husband's side. He was right. Jack was pacing frantically up and down the length of the step, waving his hands around as though he were rehearsing something. The look on his face was one akin to panic, or perhaps closer to despair.
'He's waiting for Marin,' Elizabeth said, watching the pirate captain. 'She promised to meet him there at eight.'
'Eight?' Will's eyebrows rose. 'It's only twenty past seven now.'
Unable to stop herself, Elizabeth laughed, highly amused by Jack's obviously terrified behaviour. She moved back to take a seat, motioning Will to join her. He did so, intrigued as to what was troubling his friend.
'So what is going on, 'Beth?'
Elizabeth grinned, a disarming expression that instantly set Will's teeth on edge. Whatever was bothering Jack had not come about of its own free will. He forced himself to sit still and listen. However much he disliked his wife's habit of meddling, he had to admit the best usually came out of it.
'He's going to ask Marin to marry him!' she said excitedly, clutching his hands tightly.
'What?' Will was aghast. 'Elizabeth, pirates don't marry. It's an invitation for trouble.'
Her eyebrows rose.
'You did,' she sniffed, a little offended.
He gave her an arch look.
'Yes, and look what happened,' he pointed out. 'Our ship sunk, me captured and you at the whim of an unknown pirate. Just imagine the trouble Jack and Marin could get into if they married one another. You don't get to be as infamous as Jack without making some serious enemies, 'Beth.'
Elizabeth held his gaze for a long moment, seeing the truth in his words.
'There's no other outcome now though,' she said softly, almost regretting her part in this area of the match. 'James gave Jack no other option. He has to marry her, or James will keep Marin away from him and marry her off to someone else.'
Will's eyes deadened in fury, and she winced as he launched himself off the sofa and slammed a fist into the wall, biting down on the furious oaths that were on the tip of his tongue.
'How dare he,' he hissed, deliberately keeping his voice low for fear of disturbing the sleepy baby. 'He knows nothing of the life of a pirate, how dare he think he can just arrange things like that! Does Marin know?'
'No, and you won't tell her,' Elizabeth said firmly, rising to place restraining hands on his shoulders. 'Please, Will. If this plays out to a marriage between them, I would rather Marin thought Jack had asked her of his own free will than been bullied into it. It would break her heart.'
Will gripped her hands, his eyes still angrily black as he looked into hers.
'But they'll be living a lie, 'Beth,' he told her. 'They'll be putting themselves in danger because of bloody Norrington's pride.'
He glanced down to where Jack was still pacing.
'I can't let him do it,' he muttered, held back from striding straight out the door by
Elizabeth's suddenly vicelike grip on his arms.
'You're not going to interfere,' she told him, her own eyes icy now. 'If you stop Jack from proposing, Marin will be engaged to some ageing merchant before the end of the week, and there really will be nothing you can do about that. Stop and think, Will. Once the resentment over the manner of the marriage has gone, do you really think they'll be unhappy together?'
He stared at her, unable to deny the logic of her thought, but his heart crying out against the injustice that was being done to his friends. He sagged, defeated.
'No, I can't see either of them letting marriage get in the way of their relationship,' he admitted. 'And I suppose I don't really have any right to be so protective of them. Especially Marin. James knows what he's doing, I suppose.'
He slipped back down into a seat, absently reaching down to remove a corner of the blanket from his son's mouth. His hand was seized and duly investigated, the index finger swiftly gummed by the inquisitive baby. Will smiled fondly, his eyes widening as a terrible thought occurred to him.
'Can you imagine what their children will be like?'
*~*~*
The darkness was terribly inviting to the pacing pirate as he waited for Marin to join him. The only thing that kept Jack from running away into the welcoming black was the ever-present thought of Marin married off to an old merchant and sent to an early grave via the medium of child-birth. He had no doubt her spirit would be broken in such a match, and could not bear to stand back and watch that.
For watch it he would have to do. Despite his prolific reputation, Jack Sparrow had never, in his entire life, risked a coupling with a married woman, having an ingrained respect for the sanctity of marriage. If Marin were to be married off to another man, Jack would sooner kill himself than tempt her into breaking her vows, however unwillingly taken.
Much as he tried, however, he found it increasingly difficult to concentrate on the negative aspects of being married. His mind sought to reassure him, reminding him of life-long companionship, the sense of belonging, the impossibility of ever being alone again. And it would definitely not be a one-way partnership. He knew Marin well enough to know that she would give as good as she got, capable of holding up her side of a bargain.
Footsteps drew him out of his reverie, and he turned to greet the young woman with an expression that was more like a rictus of horror than a smile. Slightly bemused by the obvious terror in his eyes, Marin still threw herself into his arms, wondering at the uneasy tension that hung about him.
She pulled back from his cold embrace, frowning as she looked into his eyes.
'Is something wrong?' she asked.
Jack gave her another terrified smile and shrugged jerkily.
'Wrong?' he echoed, sounding panicked. 'No, no, nothing wrong, so to speak. Nothing at all.'
Her eyebrow rose in a sardonic arch as she smiled, amused by his galloping speech. She nodded to herself, slipping under his arm and leading him into the darkness. Maybe he'd calm down if he couldn't actually see her face.
His arm tightened about her, drawing her as close as he could. Try as he might, no amount of terror could invalidate the loving way he responded to her when she was nearby, and for that Jack was intensely grateful. Even if he sounded like a gibbering fool, there was no way she could mistake the warmth of his embrace for anything other than it was.
They wandered in silence through the slowly rejuvenating bushes, both watching the sea before them as they approached the escarpment. Jack was reminded of another such walk, one he had taken alone weeks beforehand, only to come across the girl who walked at his side, bloodied and bruised, sobbing in relief as he drew her close. He had loved her even then, he realised, remembering the blind fury that had coursed through him on seeing her so injured. Never again, he swore to himself. Never again would anyone do such to her without first having to come through him.
Marin sighed softly, gazing out across the bay with tired eyes.
'Jack, are you alright?' she asked him gently.
He frowned, biting down on the gabble of responses that came bubbling up.
'Do I seem alright?' he asked back.
He could almost see her smile at the ambiguous reply, knowing how she hated it when he answered her questions with questions.
'You've been avoiding me,' she murmured, sounding hurt and lonesome. 'I thought maybe I'd offended you.'
Jack's eyes closed in self-disgust. In his efforts to scrape together enough courage to ask a relatively simple question, he had pushed her aside, however unintentionally. He turned to pull her fully into his embrace, resting his chin atop her head as she pressed herself into his arms.
'Love, I'm sorry,' he whispered. 'I've been distracted, that's all. You could never offend me.'
Her answer was muffled in his chest so that he barely heard it, but he caught the amusement that laced the teasing words clearly.
'Oh, I'm sure I could, if I set my mind to it.'
He chuckled.
'So am I,' he agreed. 'No, I've just not been myself, love. It's no reflection on you. Besides, you've been closeted in with Elizabeth the last few days.'
Marin grimaced, rolling her eyes as she rubbed her cheek against the soft fabric of his shirt. She sighed.
'I would gladly have switched places with you,' she told him. 'One more hour of being measured and prodded and forced into dresses while other women comment on my manly style and I'm sure I'll go mad.'
Jack laughed.
'You have to get dressed up, Marin, you're going to a party,' he told her. 'The dear commodore can hardly introduce you as his cousin wearing sea boots and trousers, can he?'
'I don't see why not,' she complained, reluctantly joining in with his laughter as she let herself see how ridiculous she was being.
Jack reached up, brushing her hair tenderly from her face, and wondered if he would ever get around to asking her the important question. She smiled, a little self-consciously, under his gaze, a light blush darkening her cheeks in the moonlight.
'I'm going stir-crazy on this island,' he told her softly, something he would never have admitted to anyone, not in a million years. 'I can't stand not having a purpose, a reason to be.'
She nodded, enjoying the feel of his callused fingers against her skin.
'I know what you mean,' she murmured. 'At least on the ocean, you can tell yourself there is a reason for your wanderings. On land, there is nothing but boredom.'
Jack smiled down at her through the darkness.
'At least I have you to distract me,' he grinned, pleasantly surprised when she did not wait for him to lean down, but stood up on her tip-toes to plant a gentle kiss on his lips.
As her arms slipped about his neck, drawing him closer, it occurred to Jack that this was how it should be. He should have the right to be happy with the woman of his choice, not forced to live a lonely life on the seas with nothing but the pleasurable company of whores to distract him whenever he reached land safe. This was his choice.
He pulled back gently, preventing her from stepping away as he dropped tender kisses on her cheeks and eyelids. She seemed so totally at ease with him, her face the picture of serenity as she waited with eyes closed for him to take her lips again.
'Marry me,' he murmured, shocked that it felt so natural to say it.
Marin's eyes flew open, searching his as if for confirmation that she had heard him right. He had grown so tense suddenly, his eyes burning into hers as he waited in agonised silence for her answer. Pirates don't marry, she could hear Elias saying to her, but if they weren't to marry, why had he made her promise to stay with Jack? Surely to answer yes would be to fulfil that promise?
His hands were shaking where they rested against her back, telling her more than words ever could just how important her answer would be to him. But somehow, the words would not come out.
'Jack, I . . .'
He looked as though her hesitation was causing him physical pain, so deep was the grimace on his face. He pressed his forehead against her own, still staring into her eyes with that expectant worry.
'Please?' he whispered. 'Please, Marin, marry me.'
She swallowed, still fighting against whatever it was that prevented her from speaking. Her hands tightened on his shoulders, drawing him down to kiss her again as she endeavoured to show him how she felt, since she could not say it. Jack responded hungrily, openly desiring her as he plundered her mouth in desperate silence, as if he were taking his last taste of her before she cast him aside. As the kiss ended, she smiled up at him, watching as hope flared in the darkness of his eyes.
'Is that a yes?' he asked her, his voice almost inaudible.
She could no more stop her smile from widening to a grin than she could stop the sun from rising. Jack laughed in disbelief, lifting her off her feet and spinning about the garden, filled with sudden joy that his Marin was just that; his. He lowered her to the ground, his heart pounding as he kissed her again, holding her close against him.
'Say it,' he pleaded wonderingly, his warm breath caressing her lips as she gazed up at him.
'Yes,' she whispered, unable to hide her happy smile. 'Yes, I will marry you.'
Jack let out a whoop that echoed about the garden, drawing her into his arms for another loving embrace, laughing in relief as the image of his Marin married unhappily was banished from his mind. She was his, irrevocably, irreversibly, and no one would ever take her from him.