Chapter 13
JJ sat on the steps and whittled a piece of wood. He watched Jack at the wheel of the ship. Jack could feel the stare of him and turned around quickly.
"If ye got somethin' to say whelp, speak your mind. I don't like bein' stared at."
"When did ye meet me mum?" Jack nodded to Anna Maria to take over the wheel. He came and sat down next to JJ. He rubbed his chin and thought back to the day he had met Madeline. His mind went back to that fateful day seven years earlier. It had been in Kingston and there was a fight in one of the pubs. Madeline saved his life. He smiled to himself.
"It was seven years ago. We met in Kingston."
"Did ye love her then?"
"Yes whelp. I fell in love with yer mum at first sight." JJ continued to whittle his wood. Not looking at Jack. Jack glanced down at JJ. "Why did ye stow away on me ship?"
"I wanted to know more about ye."
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"That's not an answer whelp."
"Because I wanted to know my father." He said quickly. Getting up and running below decks. Jack sat in stunned belief at JJ's words. No. It couldn't possibly be. Unless. Jack hurried to his feet in search of JJ. He wanted some answers. And he wanted them now!
Madeline stood on the bow of her ship as it pulled into dock on her island. Actually it was her mother's island. But her mother didn't have much use for it now. Her mother didn't have much use for anyone at the moment of late. She was in her own little world. Her mind living in the past with Madeline's father. A man that Madeline had little use for. Her only concern was her son and taking care of her mother. Her father deserted her when she was a child. And now that he was long gone, she was glad.
"Good to be home Captain?" Mr. Taylor asked.
"Yes, Mr. Taylor. It is good to be home." They settled the ship at the dock and Madeline hurried to the house. A giant of a house that her father had built for her mother all those years ago.
She strode through the door. Sweeping off her hat in the process. She looked around but no one greeted her.
"Well, well." She heard her mother's voice. Slurring. "It's Captain Barbossa!"
"Mother. Stop it. That's not who I am!" Madeline turned to see her mother standing in the doorway of the study. A bottle of rum in her hand.
"Don't ye sass me girl! That's who ye are and don't ye forget it!"
"He was nothing to me Mother and you damn well know it. Leave it alone. He was the man who fathered me and nothing else!" Madeline said with a fury. She stormed upstairs to her room. Damn her mother. Damn her father. And damn herself for leaving Jack the way she did.