The Commodore's Daughter
Chapter Eleven
Anna took a secret delight in her sister's horrified face as she saw Anna at the head of a group of disreputable pirates. Elizabeth Norrington spluttered in most unladylike outrage as the Black Pearl's crew drew near the Norrington home, and when they got to the door, she barred the way. "I'm sorry," she said, white as a sheet and shaking from head to toe, "but this is a decent house, and you won't come in."
Before Anna could do anything to stop him, Jack stepped from among his crew. They had put him in the middle, as he was the most noticeable, and Anna was caught between fear that someone would recognize him and amusement as he sauntered easily up to the door. Elizabeth trembled. Jack smiled. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, love," he said, and stuck out a foot to step into the house. "Savvy?"
With a tiny gasp of nightmarish fright, Elizabeth Norrington let go of the doorknob and fainted.
Not bothering to hide her grin, Anna nevertheless administered a blistering scolding as she shoved her way through the rest of the crew, the Turners, and Governor Swann to reach her sister and Jack. "What on earth were you thinking, Jack? She's never seen a pirate before in her life, and she's grown up on tales of you and your vile ways – what were you thinking, frightening her like that?" Continuing with various insults – most picked up from Annamaria and Jack – Anna quickly pushed open the door and dragged her sister out of the way as the pirates entered. "And now she'll be on edge for the rest of the time you're here, and who knows how long that'll be, and –"
"You can shut up now," Jack informed her, a broad grin on his face.
"I'll shut up when I bloody well want to, Captain Sparrow!" Anna yelled. An instant later, her eyes widened, and she clapped a hand to her mouth as though to take back the improper word she'd said within her father's hearing. Jack looked somewhat taken aback, but his amusement did not flag – in fact, it grew as Anna's silence became longer. Finally both of them burst out laughing. Anna took her hand down from her mouth, gasping with mirth, and laughed until her stomach ached. Then she subsided into sighs of amusement at herself, and shared a grin with Jack. "Come on," she said at last, shaking Elizabeth to bring her around. "I'll show you all the guest rooms."
Elizabeth Norrington muttered indistinctly and opened her eyes. "What – what –" she tried to say, staring around with panic. "Not on the rug!" she moaned. "They'll get the rug dirty, and it came all the way from England..."
"It's all right," Anna soothed. "I'm taking them to the guest rooms now." She helped her sister stand, and Elizabeth staggered up the stairs, refusing all offers of help and wincing whenever her dress brushed a pirate's clothes. Anna looked after her and sighed. "Not the most adaptable of creatures, my sister," she admitted, to chuckles from the Pearl's crew. "Let's go. This way."
Mother will probably have a fit, thought Anna once most of the pirates were settled, at my putting them in the good guest rooms, but there you have it. At least I let Governor Swann and the Turners have the best rooms. "I think you two can share a room, all right?" she asked, looking at Gibbs and Cotton. "Gibbs, you seem to understand the parrot best, at least." At their nods, she opened the door to one of the last rooms left and let them in. Closing the door after them, Anna turned around to look for Jack, the only one she hadn't settled yet – and saw no one. The hall was empty. "Bloody hell," she muttered – it was one of Annamaria's favorite curses – and took off up the stairs. If she was right, there was one place Jack wouldn't be able to resist going, and she hated to think of what he'd been up to while she wasn't watching him.
She was right. She could hear two distinct voices coming from the commodore's study. One had to be Jack's – it was teasing, but in an intentionally barbed way. The other was level and controlled, but defensive and very angry – her father. Wasting no more time than she already had, Anna shoved open the door. It slammed against the opposite wall, and both Norrington and Jack turned toward her.
Anna composed her face to remove the anxiety she'd been feeling. "Jack, your room is ready. If you'll come...?" The words were polite, but the iron look in her eyes made it clear to all three of them that she was not asking a question. Jack decided to be prudent, and followed Anna out of the study. She shut the door neatly behind them and got halfway down the hall before she spun around and grabbed Jack by the coat. "Jack, I promised you safety, but are you really stupid enough to go testing it? My father hates you, as I'm sure you know, and if you get him angry enough, he will order you arrested. It's straining him even now to have a pirate crew in his house and say nothing! Please – do not ever try something like that again."
Jack tilted his head to one side and looked carefully at her. As the silence grew, Anna's words throbbed in her ears, and she felt increasingly foolish as Jack still said nothing. Finally he spoke, but she almost wished he hadn't when she heard what he said. "You care so much about what happens to me?" he asked. Anna remembered the words – they were the ones she'd said after Jack had caught her while the Pearl moved into the cove. She bit her lip and looked down. If he was smiling, she couldn't stand to see it.
"No," she said finally. "I care about what happens to this colony." She released his coat and would have turned, but Jack's next words froze her to her spot.
"The truth now, love," he coaxed, and even though she couldn't have looked up at him, she knew he was in fact smiling. "Look at me and tell me the truth."
Anna swallowed, and very slowly raised her eyes and looked at Jack. "All right," she whispered. "All right, I do care about what happens to you." Suddenly frightened of what she had admitted, Anna stepped back. "Good enough?"
"For now," Jack agreed. "Lead the way."
Anna turned gladly and nearly ran down the stairs to the last guest room, Jack following her at a leisurely pace. When they reached the room, she pushed the door open quickly and gave him a quick nod. "Go ahead," she said, standing by the door.
"Thanks." Jack stepped over the threshold, but then he turned. With his most disarming smile, he reached out, caught Anna's hand, which lay on the doorknob, and gave it a quick kiss, so fast that Anna would have thought she'd imagined it if she hadn't known it had just happened. Jack bobbed his head to her and pulled the door shut, leaving Anna standing outside in the hallway, breathing fast and feeling both stunned and elated.
***
Lunch was quite an experience. After the pirates had gotten settled in, Thomas had delicately brought up the fact that all of them were very hungry. Mrs. Norrington had quickly had a meal for nine put together – the nine being the five Norringtons, the three Turners, and the governor. Anna had said, very carefully, that perhaps Thomas didn't just mean that the respectable people were hungry.
"No pirate will eat at my table," said Commodore Norrington coldly.
"What if they ate in the kitchen?" Thomas suggested glibly.
Norrington glared at his son. "That's not the point!"
"Do you intend them to starve?" asked Anna, struggling to keep her voice calm. This is taxing him already, she reminded herself. Don't ask too much of him. "They are our allies, Father. Their ship is a surprise to the French –they think they know about all the ships in Port Royal. We can't treat them like animals!"
"What if," suggested Will, "we ate first, and they ate afterward?" He was plainly uneasy in the house of the man who wanted to marry his wife, and it showed, but he met the commodore's eyes unflinchingly. Elizabeth slipped her hand into his under the table, and he looked gratefully at her.
"Then you wouldn't have to eat with them," Anna said quickly. "Would that work, Father?"
Norrington looked as though he would very much have liked to die right then and not have to think about his predicament anymore, but he nodded. "It would."
That's taken care of at least, thought Anna, relieved, and reached for the sausage platter.
And at that moment, the door opened, and who should enter the dining room as calmly as possible but Jack Sparrow. Anna nearly dropped the sausages, and as she caught herself, she muttered a particularly vile oath, shocking herself with her inventiveness. "And just as we'd gotten it taken care of!" she groaned to herself.
"Morning," Jack said cheerfully.
"It's afternoon," replied Norrington, fixing Jack with a glare that would have reduced a lesser man to quivers and terror.
"Of course," Jack conceded. "But being so late in the day and all, me and my crew are a bit peckish." His eyes fell on the platter of sausages. "And this all looks very good. Excuse me." Reaching gracefully around Elizabeth Norrington, Jack appropriated two sausages from her plate and bit off a piece of one. To the shocked stares of the Norringtons, Jack smiled innocently and bit off another piece. "Good food, Commodore," he congratulated Norrington.
"Jack!" Anna hissed under her breath. "Remember what I told you!" He looked at her quickly, and his face fell as he remembered her warning about pushing the commodore too far. "I'm sure we can find something to feed you later," she said loud enough for the table to hear. "If you'll just be patient..."
"If I must." Jack stepped around the table and headed for the door again. In the doorframe, he turned and grinned at Elizabeth Norrington. "Thanks for the sausages, love," he called to her before stepping out of the room. She fainted face first onto her plate, and Will smothered a hoot of laughter.
***
The pirates were fed much more promptly than they would have been had Jack not intruded, and with much better food as well. Anna got the impression that her father was bribing them to leave the respectable people alone – although she wasn't sure if she qualified as respectable anymore. She had, after all, spent time on a notorious pirate ship and made an agreement with an equally notorious pirate captain. And, worst of all, she sided with the pirates, defended them to Norrington. As she was doing now.
"It's not entirely Jack's fault!" Anna argued behind the securely latched door of her father's study. "Granted, he shouldn't have come barging in to lunch – but we've kept them hungry all day! This is not the way to treat allies, Father!"
"This is how I deal with pirates," Norrington snapped, turning away from Anna and standing at the window, looking down on Port Royal.
Anna sighed. "I know. I know you hate this. But don't you hate the idea of a French occupation more? If this is what has to be done, let's do it right and properly!"
"You do not know what you're asking. You're asking me to compromise my ideals. You're asking me to go against everything I've built up as part of my life, and cloaking it in proper behavior and courtesy. I cannot do that as thoroughly as you would like me to. I spent years chasing the man I now harbor in my house – do you think I can treat him like an honored guest?"
"If you can find it in yourself to do the same for Will Turner, I think you can do it for Jack Sparrow." Captain Jack Sparrow, Anna amended silently in her head. She knew better than to give Jack his title in front of Norrington.
Her father's back stiffened at the mention of Will's name. He said nothing.
"Please? Try?" Anna pleaded. "You don't have to be the most effusive host ever born. Just don't be cold. Be civil. That's all I'm asking."
He sighed heavily. "All right. I'll try. But I can make no promise."
Anna came over to her father and put her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much, Father." Norrington turned finally and hugged her back, holding her tightly. "I never wanted to hurt you," she whispered, and repeated it to herself silently as her father hugged her for the first time since she'd gotten home.
Chapter Eleven
Anna took a secret delight in her sister's horrified face as she saw Anna at the head of a group of disreputable pirates. Elizabeth Norrington spluttered in most unladylike outrage as the Black Pearl's crew drew near the Norrington home, and when they got to the door, she barred the way. "I'm sorry," she said, white as a sheet and shaking from head to toe, "but this is a decent house, and you won't come in."
Before Anna could do anything to stop him, Jack stepped from among his crew. They had put him in the middle, as he was the most noticeable, and Anna was caught between fear that someone would recognize him and amusement as he sauntered easily up to the door. Elizabeth trembled. Jack smiled. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, love," he said, and stuck out a foot to step into the house. "Savvy?"
With a tiny gasp of nightmarish fright, Elizabeth Norrington let go of the doorknob and fainted.
Not bothering to hide her grin, Anna nevertheless administered a blistering scolding as she shoved her way through the rest of the crew, the Turners, and Governor Swann to reach her sister and Jack. "What on earth were you thinking, Jack? She's never seen a pirate before in her life, and she's grown up on tales of you and your vile ways – what were you thinking, frightening her like that?" Continuing with various insults – most picked up from Annamaria and Jack – Anna quickly pushed open the door and dragged her sister out of the way as the pirates entered. "And now she'll be on edge for the rest of the time you're here, and who knows how long that'll be, and –"
"You can shut up now," Jack informed her, a broad grin on his face.
"I'll shut up when I bloody well want to, Captain Sparrow!" Anna yelled. An instant later, her eyes widened, and she clapped a hand to her mouth as though to take back the improper word she'd said within her father's hearing. Jack looked somewhat taken aback, but his amusement did not flag – in fact, it grew as Anna's silence became longer. Finally both of them burst out laughing. Anna took her hand down from her mouth, gasping with mirth, and laughed until her stomach ached. Then she subsided into sighs of amusement at herself, and shared a grin with Jack. "Come on," she said at last, shaking Elizabeth to bring her around. "I'll show you all the guest rooms."
Elizabeth Norrington muttered indistinctly and opened her eyes. "What – what –" she tried to say, staring around with panic. "Not on the rug!" she moaned. "They'll get the rug dirty, and it came all the way from England..."
"It's all right," Anna soothed. "I'm taking them to the guest rooms now." She helped her sister stand, and Elizabeth staggered up the stairs, refusing all offers of help and wincing whenever her dress brushed a pirate's clothes. Anna looked after her and sighed. "Not the most adaptable of creatures, my sister," she admitted, to chuckles from the Pearl's crew. "Let's go. This way."
Mother will probably have a fit, thought Anna once most of the pirates were settled, at my putting them in the good guest rooms, but there you have it. At least I let Governor Swann and the Turners have the best rooms. "I think you two can share a room, all right?" she asked, looking at Gibbs and Cotton. "Gibbs, you seem to understand the parrot best, at least." At their nods, she opened the door to one of the last rooms left and let them in. Closing the door after them, Anna turned around to look for Jack, the only one she hadn't settled yet – and saw no one. The hall was empty. "Bloody hell," she muttered – it was one of Annamaria's favorite curses – and took off up the stairs. If she was right, there was one place Jack wouldn't be able to resist going, and she hated to think of what he'd been up to while she wasn't watching him.
She was right. She could hear two distinct voices coming from the commodore's study. One had to be Jack's – it was teasing, but in an intentionally barbed way. The other was level and controlled, but defensive and very angry – her father. Wasting no more time than she already had, Anna shoved open the door. It slammed against the opposite wall, and both Norrington and Jack turned toward her.
Anna composed her face to remove the anxiety she'd been feeling. "Jack, your room is ready. If you'll come...?" The words were polite, but the iron look in her eyes made it clear to all three of them that she was not asking a question. Jack decided to be prudent, and followed Anna out of the study. She shut the door neatly behind them and got halfway down the hall before she spun around and grabbed Jack by the coat. "Jack, I promised you safety, but are you really stupid enough to go testing it? My father hates you, as I'm sure you know, and if you get him angry enough, he will order you arrested. It's straining him even now to have a pirate crew in his house and say nothing! Please – do not ever try something like that again."
Jack tilted his head to one side and looked carefully at her. As the silence grew, Anna's words throbbed in her ears, and she felt increasingly foolish as Jack still said nothing. Finally he spoke, but she almost wished he hadn't when she heard what he said. "You care so much about what happens to me?" he asked. Anna remembered the words – they were the ones she'd said after Jack had caught her while the Pearl moved into the cove. She bit her lip and looked down. If he was smiling, she couldn't stand to see it.
"No," she said finally. "I care about what happens to this colony." She released his coat and would have turned, but Jack's next words froze her to her spot.
"The truth now, love," he coaxed, and even though she couldn't have looked up at him, she knew he was in fact smiling. "Look at me and tell me the truth."
Anna swallowed, and very slowly raised her eyes and looked at Jack. "All right," she whispered. "All right, I do care about what happens to you." Suddenly frightened of what she had admitted, Anna stepped back. "Good enough?"
"For now," Jack agreed. "Lead the way."
Anna turned gladly and nearly ran down the stairs to the last guest room, Jack following her at a leisurely pace. When they reached the room, she pushed the door open quickly and gave him a quick nod. "Go ahead," she said, standing by the door.
"Thanks." Jack stepped over the threshold, but then he turned. With his most disarming smile, he reached out, caught Anna's hand, which lay on the doorknob, and gave it a quick kiss, so fast that Anna would have thought she'd imagined it if she hadn't known it had just happened. Jack bobbed his head to her and pulled the door shut, leaving Anna standing outside in the hallway, breathing fast and feeling both stunned and elated.
***
Lunch was quite an experience. After the pirates had gotten settled in, Thomas had delicately brought up the fact that all of them were very hungry. Mrs. Norrington had quickly had a meal for nine put together – the nine being the five Norringtons, the three Turners, and the governor. Anna had said, very carefully, that perhaps Thomas didn't just mean that the respectable people were hungry.
"No pirate will eat at my table," said Commodore Norrington coldly.
"What if they ate in the kitchen?" Thomas suggested glibly.
Norrington glared at his son. "That's not the point!"
"Do you intend them to starve?" asked Anna, struggling to keep her voice calm. This is taxing him already, she reminded herself. Don't ask too much of him. "They are our allies, Father. Their ship is a surprise to the French –they think they know about all the ships in Port Royal. We can't treat them like animals!"
"What if," suggested Will, "we ate first, and they ate afterward?" He was plainly uneasy in the house of the man who wanted to marry his wife, and it showed, but he met the commodore's eyes unflinchingly. Elizabeth slipped her hand into his under the table, and he looked gratefully at her.
"Then you wouldn't have to eat with them," Anna said quickly. "Would that work, Father?"
Norrington looked as though he would very much have liked to die right then and not have to think about his predicament anymore, but he nodded. "It would."
That's taken care of at least, thought Anna, relieved, and reached for the sausage platter.
And at that moment, the door opened, and who should enter the dining room as calmly as possible but Jack Sparrow. Anna nearly dropped the sausages, and as she caught herself, she muttered a particularly vile oath, shocking herself with her inventiveness. "And just as we'd gotten it taken care of!" she groaned to herself.
"Morning," Jack said cheerfully.
"It's afternoon," replied Norrington, fixing Jack with a glare that would have reduced a lesser man to quivers and terror.
"Of course," Jack conceded. "But being so late in the day and all, me and my crew are a bit peckish." His eyes fell on the platter of sausages. "And this all looks very good. Excuse me." Reaching gracefully around Elizabeth Norrington, Jack appropriated two sausages from her plate and bit off a piece of one. To the shocked stares of the Norringtons, Jack smiled innocently and bit off another piece. "Good food, Commodore," he congratulated Norrington.
"Jack!" Anna hissed under her breath. "Remember what I told you!" He looked at her quickly, and his face fell as he remembered her warning about pushing the commodore too far. "I'm sure we can find something to feed you later," she said loud enough for the table to hear. "If you'll just be patient..."
"If I must." Jack stepped around the table and headed for the door again. In the doorframe, he turned and grinned at Elizabeth Norrington. "Thanks for the sausages, love," he called to her before stepping out of the room. She fainted face first onto her plate, and Will smothered a hoot of laughter.
***
The pirates were fed much more promptly than they would have been had Jack not intruded, and with much better food as well. Anna got the impression that her father was bribing them to leave the respectable people alone – although she wasn't sure if she qualified as respectable anymore. She had, after all, spent time on a notorious pirate ship and made an agreement with an equally notorious pirate captain. And, worst of all, she sided with the pirates, defended them to Norrington. As she was doing now.
"It's not entirely Jack's fault!" Anna argued behind the securely latched door of her father's study. "Granted, he shouldn't have come barging in to lunch – but we've kept them hungry all day! This is not the way to treat allies, Father!"
"This is how I deal with pirates," Norrington snapped, turning away from Anna and standing at the window, looking down on Port Royal.
Anna sighed. "I know. I know you hate this. But don't you hate the idea of a French occupation more? If this is what has to be done, let's do it right and properly!"
"You do not know what you're asking. You're asking me to compromise my ideals. You're asking me to go against everything I've built up as part of my life, and cloaking it in proper behavior and courtesy. I cannot do that as thoroughly as you would like me to. I spent years chasing the man I now harbor in my house – do you think I can treat him like an honored guest?"
"If you can find it in yourself to do the same for Will Turner, I think you can do it for Jack Sparrow." Captain Jack Sparrow, Anna amended silently in her head. She knew better than to give Jack his title in front of Norrington.
Her father's back stiffened at the mention of Will's name. He said nothing.
"Please? Try?" Anna pleaded. "You don't have to be the most effusive host ever born. Just don't be cold. Be civil. That's all I'm asking."
He sighed heavily. "All right. I'll try. But I can make no promise."
Anna came over to her father and put her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much, Father." Norrington turned finally and hugged her back, holding her tightly. "I never wanted to hurt you," she whispered, and repeated it to herself silently as her father hugged her for the first time since she'd gotten home.