"Welcome to Port Royal," Annamaria said, as she and Victoria sailed into the town's harbor.
Victoria managed a small smile. "I'm glad to be here."
Weatherby, Elizabeth, Jack, Will, and Marcella were on the bell tower, scanning the seas, strictly out of habit.
"Oh my lord!" Elizabeth shrieked, grabbing Will's and Jack's arms. "That's them!"
They all jumped. They squinted to see the tiny skiff advancing towards the shore.
"That's Fort Charles," Annamaria informed Victoria. "Elizabeth fell off of it, I hear."
Victoria gaped at the big rocks below the menacing stone behemoth. "Was she hurt?"
"No." Annamaria directed the boat towards the dock. She gasped. "Crap. I stole this boat- the harbormaster is going to arrest me."
"Let's just bail then," said Victoria determinedly. She prepared to leap out of the boat. "I didn't come all this way to see my daughter just to get arrested."
"Fine." Annamaria dove into the water. Victoria followed suit.
"It looks like they jumped out!" Will exclaimed. He turned to the others. "Let's meet them, shall we?"
They agreed and ran down to the tower green, huffing and puffing.
Elizabeth, who was on chilly speaking terms with her father, suddenly pulled him into an embrace, overcome with emotion.
"Elizabeth!" Weatherby said. He stroked his daughter's hair uncomfortably. "Now, now- off."
Undeterred by her father's lack of affection, she broke away and began a full-on sprint, not knowing what she would do when she came face-to-face with her mother for the first time in nineteen years. She stopped when the grass hit the sand and waited for the others to catch up.
The women surfaced, crawling on the beach. Victoria looked up and saw Elizabeth. Elizabeth looked down and saw Victoria.
Annamaria struggled to her feet and said, "Elizabeth, I present you to your mother."
Elizabeth looked at the woman before her. She had dirty, wavy hair- horrible hair. But it was tousled exactly like hers. Her eyes were big and brown- identical to Elizabeth's. She fell to her knees. "Mummy," she whimpered.
Victoria reached over and touched Elizabeth's cheek. "Lizzie," she whispered. They both collided in a hug, crying and hugging.
Marcella, Annamaria, Will, Jack, and Weatherby watched. Without speaking, Will moved next to Annamaria, and smashed her with a deep kiss.
Her first instinct was to push him off but then as he put his hands on her back, she realized she had missed Will greatly. She returned the kiss.
Jack, Marcella, and Gov. Swann politely ignored Will and Annamaria. But Marcella shifted next to Weatherby and slipped a mischievous hand onto his saggy sixty-year-old bottom. He let out a shout of surprise and looked at her in shock.
She merely batted her eyelashes and said nothing. Jack rolled his eyes and resumed watching Elizabeth and Victoria reunify.
"Mama," Elizabeth said after awhile. "You left us. . . and Father let you?"
Victoria wiped her eyes. "Honey, I didn't love your father." She noticed her estranged husband glaring at Marcella, but then his gaze fixed on her.
"Victoria," he said softly.
She stood up and took Elizabeth's hand. She walked over to Governor Swann and reached out, touching his cheek as she did to her daughter.
Her hand was cool. Weatherby sighed. "Victoria, you've aged fantastically."
She smiled. She did not say what she was thinking which was, You haven't.
Will and Annamaria stopped and Will looked over. "Liz!" he said. "Do you know what this means?"
"What?" Elizabeth replied dazedly.
"You can get married!"
Victoria gasped, "Married?" completely forgetting that Annamaria had told her all of the details on their sail home.
"To Jack," Elizabeth told her proudly. She went over to Jack and kissed him.
"Cap'n Jack Sparrow," Jack informed Victoria. "And might I add that yer a fox?"
Victoria giggled slightly. But she flinched when Jack reached out to shake her hand.
Instead she folded her arms and said as brightly as she could, "Well, is someone going to make me maid of honor or what?"
Elizabeth and Jack exchanged glances.
"Um, Mama, since I only just learned you're not dead, I didn't really include you in my wedding plans," Elizabeth said carefully.
Victoria's eyes grew stormy. "Weatherby, you bastard!" she seethed. She geared up to slap him across the face but Jack grabbed her hand.
"You told my only child that I was dead?" she continued, her voice rising to a shriek.
"What was I supposed to say, darling?" Weatherby shouted back. "That her mother had run off to become some whore?!"
Everyone else looked uncomfortable. Elizabeth looked like she was going to cry. Jack tried to head that off by saying, "Easy, easy, milord and milady. . . let's stop our fussin' an' a-fightin' an' get down ta our wedding plans?"
The parents stopped. Victoria softened visibly and dropped her fists. She went over and hugged Elizabeth, who accepted the embrace with some quiet snuffling.
Weatherby looked at Marcella who quickly averted her gaze. He touched her shoulder and Annamaria couldn't believe her eyes. Marcella smiled kindly. Not a sneer or a smirk, but a true smile.
"Marcella, take a walk with me, please," Governor Swann said. "Lads, ladies, adjourn to our house and show my wife around."
Marcella looked disappointed, and no one knew why. She went off with Elizabeth's father.