Madeline was pacing in the dining room of her home. Waiting anxiously for her son to return home. Elizabeth watched her.
"Will you please sit down? You're making me nervous." Madeline turned to look at her cousin.
"Wouldn't you be nervous too? Knowing that your son has heard all of the tales of his father, but has yet to meet him. Knowing that your son will talk to anyone who approaches him. Knowing that that someone could be his father. Oh Elizabeth, what am I going to do?" She slumped down in a chair. Her skirts billowing about her legs.
"Mum!" she heard JJ's voice echoing through the house. She jumped up and ran to him. Clutching him in her arms.
"Oh JJ!"
"Mum, you're squeezing me." She gently pushed him away from her and kneeled down so that she was eye level with him. He had a serious expression on his face.
"I met my father." Was all he said. Madeline hung her head down.
"Did you tell him your name?" He didn't answer her. When she looked up at him, she had tears in her eyes.
"JJ, did you tell him your name?" Elizabeth asked.
"No Aunt Elizabeth. Uncle Will came just as he asked me my name." Madeline heaved a sigh of relief.
"Thank God." She said. She stood up and faced the window looking towards the ocean.
"Why can't I tell him? Why are you hiding from him Mum?" For a boy of five, he sounded much older than he was. Madeline turned towards her son. He was the spitting image of his father.
"Because Jack, he can never know who you are."
"But Mum, why?" He pleaded with his mother.
"Because he would never forgive me for leaving."
"I thought you told me that he left you Maddy?" Elizabeth asked.
"No, I left. Knowing that he would never be willing to settle down. The sea is his life." Madeline half laughed and half cried. "He's captain Jack Sparrow and that is the way it is." She turned once again to JJ.
"Go up to your room, pack your things. We are leaving in the morning for the island."
"Mum!" JJ yelled at her.
"Don't argue with me. Just go do it." He looked at his Aunt Elizabeth, trying to get her to change his mother's mind. JJ stormed up to his room, slamming the door.
"Maddy, don't run away like a scared child. Why not just face Jack and tell him that he has a son?"
"I just can't Elizabeth."
"Do you still love him?"
"I will always love him. He's a pirate. He stole my heart."