Chapter 41
"Not Much of a Homecoming"

We docked in Port James under the warm afternoon sun. I followed Jack closely into the Port. I felt the sun disappear; only to reappear as the clouds moved on. We walked through the market place it was extremely loud. I could hear various vendors shouting to grab the attention of potential customers. I stood in front of a cart looking over the various fruits that were sprawled out.

"Good morning, young missy, what can I do for you?" I heard a voice say.

I looked up to meet eyes with an older woman. She had to be only 5'1" tall. Her hair was a distinct gray. I looked into her kind eyes and gave a soft smile. "I'm just looking, thank ye." She nodded quickly and made her way to the next customer. Jack stood next to me, also eyeing the goods on the cart.

"Ravenica?" I heard a male voice say from behind me.

Upon hearing my name I quickly turned on my heel, as did Jack. I met eyes with a young man; he had to be 20 or 21. He had dark red hair with light blue eyes. He wore a white shirt, with a black vest over it along with black breeches. "Do I know ye?" I questioned.

"Don't tell me you don't recognize your little brother." He smiled

"Teddy?" I asked, unbelieving this young man was my little brother.

"Little brother?" I heard Jack whisper to me.

"Yes! It's so good to see you." He grinned, pulling me into a hug.

"I can't believe it, ye've really grown!" I grinned, returning his hug.

"What are you doing here?" he asked breaking the hold he had on me. "I didn't think you would ever come back."

"Juss passin' through, Teddy, I want ye to meet someone." I said, grabbing Jack's hand and pulling him next to me. "Teddy, this is Captain Jack Sparrow. Jack, this is my little brother, Teddy."

"I'm sorry to cut our visit short, but I have to get some things for mother. Are you coming by the house? I'm sure everyone would love to see you." Teddy said as he looked from Jack to me.

"I don't think that's such a great idea, consderin' how things were when I left." I said sadly.

"Oh come on, I'm sure they have forgotten it by now! Please, stop by the house." He pleaded

I nodded. "Aye, maybe I will."

"Great! I'll see you later then. It was nice to meet you Jack."

"Captain." Jack muttered under his breath.

I watched Teddy walk off.

"Why didn't ye tell me this is yer home town?" Jack questioned

"Ye didn't ask, and I didn't feel it was important fer ye to know."

"Nor important? Come on, luv. This is yer home town, where yer family is!" Jack said unbelieving.

"Jack, there's something's that ye don't know 'bout me past. Something's I wouldn't rather get into."

"Tell me luv, I want to know." He said, his voice becoming low.

"I don't want to talk 'bout it, at the moment."

"That's fine, luv. Lets go meet the family!" he grinned, his hands coming together in front of him. "What do ye say to that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Ye want to meet me family? I can't promise we will be staying long."

"Aye, lets go!" he grinned, pointing to the dirt path that lay in front of us.

I shook my head and began to walk on the dirt path, with Jack at my side. I ran my fingers through my hair as I considered how this was going to go. I wasn't sure how the family would react to me being back. We stood at the sidewalk of my childhood home. It was just as I had remembered it. The stone sidewalk lead to a small but cozy home. The house was two stories high; the front porch had a couple of chairs sitting on it. I sighed heavily dreading what I was about to encounter.

"Jack maybe this is a mistake. I can't go in there." I said, looking over to him.

"Ye can always go home, luv." He said, taking my right hand in his left.

"In some instances, ye can't." I whispered.

"Come luv. Ye will feel all better after this 'as been sorted." He grinned, urging me on.

We walked to the front door, I wasn't sure if I should knock or just walk in. I decided against knocking and walked in. We entered the living room. A large dark green sofa sat in front of the fireplace, a smaller sofa against the right wall in front of the bay window. I could smell beef stew cooking on the stove in the kitchen. I slowly walked down the short hallway and stood in the doorway of the kitchen. I looked over the wood that had been taken care of over the years, the wear showing through. I leaned against the doorway; Jack was standing behind me, still keeping a tight grip on my hand. I watched the woman work at the stove. She stirred the stew and then turned on her heel to the cutting board. Her hair was black showing hints of gray; it was bundled up in a bun. She was shorter than I remembered; she stood at 5'5" if that. Her brown dress hung down just past her ankles. A white apron was tightly wrapped around her waist. She looked up at me, her gray eyes showed the reorganization immediately.

"Ravenica?" she breathed.

I nodded. "'Ello, mommy."

"What are you doing here?" She questioned, picking up a butcher knife and cut the potatoes that were resting on the board.

"Juss passin' through thought I'd stop in and see how everyone is." I felt like a five year old again.

Watching my mother prepare dinner. "We're fine." She said coldly. "Didn't think you would be back after what you had done."

"What was so terrible that I had done that ye could just turn yer back on me?" I questioned.

"You know what you did." She stated in a matter-of-factly sort of way.

"That was eight years ago, why can't ye juss forget it? Why can't ye accept that I did what I had to do? What I was forced to do! I had no choice! Ye left me no choice!" I yelled, feeling the anger rise in me.

"I did no such thing, you were the one who refused Jacob. You were the one who took your fathers ship and ran off with that man.. What ever his name was, it's not important. You were the reason we almost lost our home."

"How do ye figure that?" I asked

"Because, everything was set, with your father on his deathbed, I had no choice but to make sure you were married to a fine man that could take care of you. I couldn't take a job; I'm a woman for goodness sakes! How would that look? Instead you run off with, what ever his name was and become a filthy pirate!"

I felt Jack squeeze my hand as the words she had spoken tore through me like a dagger. Eight years after what happened and she was still dwelling on it. "I was 15 when I left on my own, don't ye think it was hard enough? I couldn't marry Jacob, ye know that, he was 35 I was 15. How could ye even condone such a thing? I wasn't going to take care of his 4 children he already had! I know ye were juss tryin' to get rid of me cause ye couldn't afford to feed another mouth." Our eyes met as we stared at each other.

"Who's he?" she questioned, looking over my shoulder at Jack.

"This is Captain Jack Sparrow." I stated

"Pleasure to meet, ye." He said politely.

"Ravenica I don't know why you've decided to come back. I can't forgive you. You took what I treasured most." She stated

"Ye know what, forget it! I don't even know why I came back. I was foolish to think that ye could 'ave forgiven me 8 years later. And to say I was the reason father died is the stupidest thing I 'ave ever 'eard! I did everything I could to try and make him live. I did as he asked, I took over his ship."

"If it wasn't for your excitement for the sea, your father would have never gone on that trip. He would have never been gone for the 5 month. He would have never met that horrendous storm and he wouldn't have EVER gotten the blasted scurvy and he wouldn't have died."

I felt the tears well up in my eyes; I leaned against Jack for support. I felt like my knees were going to give out and I was going to sink to the floor in a puddle. "Forget it, juss forget it, old woman! I was stupid then and obviously I was stupid to come here now. Teddy was wrong; ye will never forgive me for wha happened. I don't exactly blame ye, but know this, yer my mother ye brought me into this world. For that I can't thank ye enough. As 'ard as this life 'as been, I'm thankful to be on this earth. For everything we 'ave been through and everything that happened, I still love ye." With that said I turned on my heel, I looked into Jack's eyes as a tear slipped out from my eyes and ran down my cheek. "Lets get out of here." I said weakly, chocking back the many more tears that threaten to slip out at any moment. Jack nodded slowly as we exited the house.

We were halfway down the stone path when I stopped to take one last glance at my childhood home. I gave a heavy sigh, closing my eyes trying to keep it to store in my memory. I would never come back to this place. I looked to Jack; he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me tightly against him. I lifted my arms, placing them around his neck, chocking back the tears.

"Ye were wrong this time, Jack." I whispered. "Sometimes, ye can never go home." I broke our embrace. "To The Pearl." He nodded and rested his right arm around my waist. I put my left arm around his. With that we walked away from my childhood home. I didn't look back again. I wanted to place it in my memory where it would stay forever. I would never return to this place.