Tempestuous Fortune
By TriGemini
Disclaimer: I do not own PotC, or any of its characters, Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Pictures do. So please do not sue.
Chapter One
It was a beautiful day in the town of Port Royal, Jamaica. In the household of Commodore James Norrington's house was in a total uproar, for they were preparing for the arrival of the Commodore's younger sister. James was making sure that everything was being organized for Francesca's arrival and he was in an anxious state, for he hadn't felt this way in a long while. Even when he attempted to court Elizabeth Swann, the governor's daughter, he hadn't been this uneasy. However, this situation was entirely different. After all this was his sister that was coming to visit…his only sister, he reminded himself constantly. For there was never a day that went by that he never thought about his little sister, of course, he hadn't seen her for some years, but he had kept in touch by letters and he often sent her gifts, as well. If there was one thing he hated to confess was that, he did enjoy spoiling her. For his father did the same, also. However, his mother highly disapproved of it very much; she believed that she could not stop them even if she wanted too. Therefore, she let them continue to do so as always. James cared for his sister very much and he would do almost anything for her if it were within reason, of course. For he could never say no to her it was just impossible to do so. Yet he had many years where she would go to him for comfort. Especially, from their own mother who in so many ways didn't understand her only daughter. It wasn't that Francesca was a difficult child. It was just that from an early age, James understood that his mother was never meant to be a mother at all. Since she had done her duty as a wife and thus provided for her husband an heir and a second child that was probably not really wanted by her at all. It was horrible to think that a mother didn't love her own children. However, Margaret Norrington was only a child herself when she was married off to the eminent merchant, Henry Lionel Norrington at the age of sixteen. She had hated her parents for arranging such a marriage to a man that was half her age and who was not in love with her. Not that love held any place in society; it was all a matter of convenience, and connections. The only reason father married her was because his family forced him to. At the beginning, the young wife held much dislike for her husband. Seeing as he never bothered with her. However, there was another reason, as well. The other reason being she knew that her husband had been in love with another woman. A woman of lower rank, a woman he knew he would never be allowed to marry. All the same, though, he loved her very much and that Margaret knew all too well.
She hated to think that she was jealous of the 'other woman', as Margaret had always referred to her as. Nevertheless, that woman had the love of her husband, his respect, and worse of all a child no less. Yes, that was what angered her so much. Not that Margaret truly cared about it. She only cared for what society would say if they'd known. She would be laughed at; it would be a humiliation and if there was one thing Margaret Norrington couldn't abide more it was a scandal. Margaret Norrington knew that one day she'd have to produce an heir for her husband, after all a legitimate heir was expected. Since she was his lawful wife and it didn't matter if he was willing to acknowledge the other son, she wouldn't hear of it. She wouldn't allow her husband to humiliate her in that way. Even though, her husband knew that she didn't want to have children. That wasn't the reason why he wanted to acknowledge his son though. In his opinion, he believed the boy should be allowed to have his surname. After all scandal or no scandal, Henry Lionel Norrington didn't care at what society, his wife, or what either family thought. Even though, in the end he mostly blamed all three on his great misfortune of being unhappy in his life. Over the years, the hatred grew even more between the couple, Margaret had resigned herself to complete unhappiness at the side of her husband, and it was the same for him. For neither of their family's would accept a divorce for any reason. What is more, as the years passed, Henry became desperate. He was convinced that if he wasn't going to be allowed to acknowledge his illegitimate son, Margaret would have to do her duty or else. Henry told Margaret that he wanted children and he frankly could care less what she wanted. Therefore, he gave her a choice, she either provided him with an heir or else he would divorce her and he could care less about the scandal that it caused. Not to mention, he would leave her in complete disgrace amongst the eyes of her family, for they would disown her without doubt and she would then be ruined, as well. Whereas, if she settled with an agreement that Henry offered her, he would provide her with the commodities that she was accustomed to, in exchange for a legitimate heir and family that he so desperately wanted.
A year later, James Henry Norrington was born into the Norrington household. His father was extremely happy that day. As for Margaret, she was in complete misery. She didn't even want to hold her own child after he'd been born and it disgusted Henry that she would act so coldly towards her newborn son. However, in the end, she got what she had wanted, the luxuries that her position in society required that she should have as compensation for giving her husband what he had wanted…a son and heir. As the years went by and James grew up into quite a well brought-up boy. However, with all the scolding that he received from his mother, James soon came to realize the bitter truth. It wasn't until he was ten years old, that his father brought home another young boy who was only two years older than he was. The boy didn't look anything like James. While James was fair-skinned, with light hair, and eyes this boy had dark tanned skin, brown hair, and dark eyes. He was the complete opposite of James in many ways. Margaret on her part went into a fury when she found out that her husband had brought home his 'other' son. She accused Henry of going against his promise; she also reminded him that he had James now so he didn't need to acknowledge this 'other boy'. However, Henry was adamant about his decision, for his 'other' son's mother had died and so he was left in the care of the only relative he had left…his father. James on his part could understand what was going on. For he didn't know why his mother was so angry with his father about bring this 'other' boy to the house. He thought it was a good idea that his father would bring home a playmate for him, for James truly had no one to play with, except for his nurse. Still though, James did not understand the situation. Especially, when his mother had flown into a fury and prohibited James to play with the other boy. As time moved, on in the Norrington, household things had drastically changed and the situation between husband and wife had grown quite precarious. Margaret Norrington always treated the 'other' boy dreadfully, even in the presence of her own son, and in especially in the company of her husband. For Margaret truly did not care what anyone thought about how she was treating the other boy. She only wanted to show her husband just how unwanted his 'other' son was in the house, especially by her. She truly did not want that 'other' woman's child to be living her house and growing up with her own son, as well. It even got to the point where Margaret started to threaten Henry about taking James away from him, or better that she would turn his own son against him if he weren't careful. However, Henry had his own threats, as well. For one he would abandon her publicly, divorce her and leave her without a penny to her name, and of course, he would then take custody of James away from her. Margaret knew that Henry wouldn't hesitate to leaving her and then divorcing her, as well. She always believed that after James had been born they would have gone their separate ways. However, they both decided that it was best that they stay together mostly for James' sake. Many years had passed and it wasn't until James was fourteen and the other boy had been sixteen that Francesca had been born. She had been an unexpected addition, for no one expected the Norrington's to ever have another child. However, here she was a new member of the Norrington household. From the moment she had been born things around the house had managed to settle down and yet Margaret was still the same as ever, cold and uncaring about the other child she had given birth too. However, with this one Margaret used it to her advantage. She knew that as long as Francesca needed a mother, Henry couldn't leave her. Because she knew that men had no idea on how to raise daughters and no matter how awful the marriage was between the two of them, Henry wouldn't have Francesca growing up without a proper mother figure. Even though, it would be proven in many years later, Margaret would never really prove to be a mother figure for her youngest daughter, so all those years had been spent in vain.
That was the only part of the family history that had marred James' life. For his father and Francesca had been a truly been a blessing while growing up. As for his mother, she had spent her entire life criticizing his choices in everything he did. Even though, he had to reluctantly admit that she had at times tried on some occasion to be a good mother, even if it just never came to her at times. With that thought, James snapped out of his daze. For he was thinking too much of the past and that was never a good thing…EVER! Furthermore, fate of that other boy wasn't worth mentioning seeing has how James felt that it had little consequences on the present moment. Instead, he wanted to focus on the present for his sister would soon arrive and that was what mattered. So he looked at the timepiece over the top of the fireplace which showed that it was nearing two o'clock in the afternoon and soon enough she would be arriving on a ship called, 'The Donato,' that would soon be docking at the port. There he would be to meet her and for the duration of her stay, she would be with him. Until further arrangements were made of what would happen next.
However, little did James know that with this visit from his sister certain things were about to occur. For he didn't know that something was soon going to happen that he wouldn't expect.
A/N: However, I do own Francesca Norrington, and any other character that appears later on.
