Spun

by : epiphanies

Part Seven

I know it's been forever. :P

Aurolyn's eyes flew open as somebody pounded at the door. Once - twice - three times-

"Come in," she quickly wiped the tears off of her cheeks and smoothing out her dress.

The door, like her eyes had, flew open like the latch had been broken to reveal none other than Jack - Jack, who had wild eyes and one finger pointing at her.

She frowned, "Jack, what's the-"

He interrupted her, stepping toward her in a furious, heavy way.

"How old are you, child?"

She furrowed her brow, then looked away. His eyes grew larger.

"How old are you?" he roared, and she flinched.

"Jack, I'm eighteen. Eighteen, got it? How long has it been since you last saw my mother? Was she eighteen, Jack? Was she eighteen when you let her have me, all alone on the insipid little island that you picked me up on?"

Jack quieted for a moment, and sat down beside her. She watched as his eyes calculated, and met them when he looked up at her.

"I'm not your father, Aurolyn. Stop staring at me like that - I'm not. I last saw your mother - it was much later than that, I'm sure."

They stared at each other for what seemed like years when Aurolyn finally realized what he had said.

"What?" she exclaimed, as his eyes rolled back into his head and he flopped back-down onto the bed they sat on.

She turned to him as he closed his eyes,

"Don't avoid looking at me, Jack. Look at me. I'm the daughter of somebody you really loved."

He shot up like a bolt, looking her straight in the eye - and honestly, he looked rather mad.

"How, pray tell, do you know all of this, little miss? How would a child know of her mother's affairs so early in life?"

"Apparently," she shot back acidly, "I was old enough to remember. However, it seems that she wasn't really dead all the way back then after all, was she? No, it seems as if she left her child to it's father and went off gallivanting the seas with a dirty great pirate instead!"

Jack pouted, "How would I know if she had a child? She never told me."

"Where did you find her?" Aurolyn demanded furiously, standing up, "Where did you pick her up?"

"Same place I did you," Jack admitted. Aurolyn's eyes grew nearly three sizes.

"What!?" she shrieked, "You found my mother in a tavern in Tortuga? What on earth was she doing there?"

Jack didn't meet her eyes, and suddenly, she knew.

She sat down quietly onto the bed beside him without meeting the gaze he was shooting her way now - he knew that she knew. Rose hadn't been stupid - her daughter wasn't, either.

"What made her do that," she said hollowly, falling to lay on her back and stare at the ceiling, "what could force her into a situation like that?"

"Aurolyn..."

Jack stood up and held out a hand to her. She looked at it wearily, then took it.

His eyes were doleful and sad as he gazed at her, gazed at their linked hands. They let go.

"Let me show you something," he said quietly. He pulled from one of the many pockets in his frock something shiny and silver. A bracelet.

"Rose gave this to me," said Jack, fingering it lovingly, "before I left her on the island of Tortuga."

"When you were afraid you were going to be mutineered," supplied Aurolyn.

"Aye... and she told me something about it. Vague, you know, but it makes more sense now. She said that it was one of her most cherished things, next to two others. I knew she meant one as me, but I never knew what the other thing was."

Aurolyn's brow furrowed.

"You," Jack raised an eyebrow, "She must've meant you, darling."

"Then why would she..."

"She didn't leave you," he sighed, putting the bracelet back in his pocket and touching Aurolyn's cheek gently, "she was placed on the island. She didn't tell me much, but I knew that a man had placed her on the island. When I found her, she wasn't her own business and it wasn't her own choice. You follow?"

Aurolyn gasped,

"She was - she was - sold?"

"By a man she'd signed her life over to without understanding the consequences. Signed by marriage, love."

"But what about my father?" Aurolyn said guardedly, "They were married, he has the ring."

Jack's eyes narrowed as he looked away from her, and she realized what was going through Jack's brain.

"You're father's a tradesman, isn't he?"

Aurolyn had forgotten how to speak. All she could think was,

Father?