Speaking of the Past by: Taurus-Sparrow-0506
Chapter 9: All That Matters
Claudia watched as Anamaria stroked the sleeping boy's hair. He had fallen asleep a while ago in her lap. She looked so happy now that she had him back. Her eyes held a sort of surreal peacefulness when she looked at him.
"Why'd you leave Ana?" It was a fair question to ask, wasn't it? She had the boy and then left him there at the plantation. Ana never looked up but any fool could tell she didn't want to answer the question.
"For my freedom," she said hoping that it was enough for the other woman.
"Ya shoulda took 'em wit' ya."
"I came back for him. That's what matters. Isn't it?" Ana said looking up, not at Claudia but to the other woman who sat staring out the fogged covered window. Her tone suggested that she didn't want to talk about it and Claudia obviously caught that changing the subject.
"Who are those men?" She spoke in a whisper so there wouldn't be even the slightest chance that they would hear her.
"You don't have to whisper Claudia. No harm will be done t' ye. The fat one is Gibbs he's part of the crew the other --"
"Whada ya mean crew?"
"I'm surprised Hattie didn' tell ye as much as she talks." Upon hearing her name Hattie snapped her head towards the other two women.
"What?"
"Nothing Hattie. How's th' lad over there," Ana said gesturing to the other sleeping boy, named Elijah.
"Lit'le shocked is all."
"My question Anamaria?" asked Claudia leaning forward in her seat.
"I'm a pirate." Claudia looked on with a skeptical expression across her face, not really believing her. It didn't matter though she'd be proved wrong soon enough.
"So who's dat otha' man? Jack's th' name ain't it."
"Jack Sparrow."
"Captain Jack Sparrow?" asked Hattie and Ana nodded calmly. "The Captain Jack Sparrow?" And again Anamaria nodded. "I've heard o' him! Th' white girls talk about 'im all th' time."
"Well he'll be happy to hear that," Ana muttered looking back down at her son and smiling.
"He doedn't seem dat vicious as they say 'e is."
"Trus' me he's not. Nowhere near vicious. An' I promise ye he won' hurt ye." The three of them smiled at each other as Anamaria took their hands in hers.
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"I didn' know we'd be bringin' back this many of 'em," said Gibbs sitting beside Jack who was steering the carriage.
"Me neither, my boy but I couldn' leave 'em there after Anamaria said they could come." He focused on the road, never taking his eyes off of it.
"Where will they stay Capt'n?"
"The boys will have t' stay wit' th' crew and the women can stay in Anamaria's old cabin. She doesn' use it anyway, well except fer las' week."
"Are they stayin' wit' us? Ye know, permanently?"
"Nothin's set in stone but I hope t' be droppin' off the other three somewhere in th' Caribbean."
"Aye," the old sailor said relaxing as much as possible back into the seat.
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Jack and Gibbs led the four of the others toward the ship trying to hurry up. It would be around 4 am soon and the fisherman and sailors of Port Layland would be coming to the ports. There were two guards at the dock, almost like Murtogg and Mullroy. They were headed in their direction with a smirk on either one of their faces. Ana tried to push them along, all the while keeping her eyes on the ground. The first one came up to her grabbing her forearm.
"She's a pretty niggah ain't she Autus?" he said to the other who was just as ugly as the first. Ana yanked her arm out his hand to have both of them snatched up by the other's.
"Let go o' me ye bastard," she seethed deathly close to his face. Her head snapped to the side as his large hand connected to her cheek.
"Ye think that's wise mate?" said Jack taking the man's hand into his own.
"She your slave?" he said jerking his hand from Jack's in the same manner that Ana had done to him.
Jack looked warily at Anamaria before replying. "Aye, that she is. So ye bes' keep yer hands off 'er. She's mine an' no one else's, savvy?"
"Ya slave needs a good whippin'. Disrespectin' good white folk," said the second soldier.
"I'm sure there's no need fer that. But I'll be sure t' keep that in min' next time." Tipping his hat to the men he led Ana off towards the ship.
"Whole damn plan goes off without a hitch and then suddenly we run in t' trouble," he muttered under his breath.
"At least we didn' end up in a cell or the gallows which seem t' be yer second and third homes now."
"I resen' that," he said falling behind her as she boarded the ship. The four of the newly freed slaves stood on the deck waiting for Anamaria, the crew eyeing them questioningly but saying nothing.
"Raise anchor. Hoist th' sails," shouted Jack at the crew.
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Soon After
Hattie and Claudia put the few belongings they had into Anamaria's room quickly following her out.
"Where will you sleep?" asked Hattie not wanting to put Ana out of her own room.
"I'll sleep on deck. Tha's wha' I usually do anway."
"You're sleeping with him aren't you?" asked Claudia.
Anamaria spun around to look at the girl. "What?"
"You're sleeping with the captain," she announced.
"I believe my personal affairs are none of your concerns," she spoke trying to keep her voice calm.
"Ya ran away from being Hunter's whore to be Cap'n Jack Sparrah's whore." Anamaria was suddenly at the girl's neck with a cutlass, against the railing of the ship.
"I'm nobody's whore!" she raged. The girl held fear in her eyes but kept it at bay laughing in Anamaria's face.
"How many o' these crew members ya done slept wit' huh?"
"It's not non o' ya business but I haven' slept wit any o' 'em," she pushed the cutlass closer towards her throat.
"No' any o' dem but I know ye don' slept wit' the lovely cap'n over there."
"I should sell you, you bitch," she said ferociously, avoiding the remark.
"Ya can't sell me Ana. Ye're a niggah, jes like me an' Hattie and the rest o' th' damned Forthes Plantation slaves." Ana seemed even more pissed off at the aspect of being called a nigger but didn't say anything. Jack, Hattie and the rest of the crew looked on confused and shocked.
"Not me but I have large number of white men at my call ready to make some swag. So I'm willin' t' bet that I'd fin' a way t' sell ya… if ye press me."
"They do favors for ya cause ya be they whore."
"I could have left you. I came back for one person an' one person only and from what me eyes can see I did ye all a favor. I could push ye over board and ye can fin' ye way back t' the plantation. Or I could cut yer throat and then push ye overboard. Now I always have that little option of sellin' ye," her voice was as sharp as her eyes were as they held Claudia's. Both pairs seemed to be searching for something from the other.
With a clang of the metal hitting the deck Anamaria backed away from the other woman. "Go." Claudia looked startled and didn't move. "I said go!" she yelled. Her expression softened a bit, but not much still glaring at Claudia. "Get some rest lass, we all need it." Hattie stepped up towards her wanting to put a hand on her shoulder as Claudia scrambled down towards Ana's cabin, but Anamaria pushed it away.
"Both o' ye should be restin'. I'll check on th' lads later." Hattie nodded gratefully and smiled at the woman quickly following the other girl. She suddenly noticed that the whole crew was watching her, Jack included, with bewildered looks on their faces.
Jack let his eyes wander for a moment before taking a long glare at the crew. "Back t' work boys! Notin' t' see here."
"Cause it's over," he could hear one of the crew mutter. He was about to call him out on it but quickly rejected the idea looking at Anamaria.
"Well that was interesting," he said uneasily rocking back on his heels. "Ye probably shouldn't have--"
"Hang it Jack. Les jes forget about it," she said looking down at the deck of the Pearl. She looked up at him stepping into his arms. "Thank you Jack, fer all this. Everything ye've done." He pulled back to look her in the face.
"Ye're not gonna slap me are ye?" she laughed falling back into his embrace.
"No, I'm not. Don' worry though th' next time ye do somethin' stupid ye'll get one."
"Well that certainly is enough incentive to make better judgements," he joked, holding her there for a few moments.
"I'm gonna go check on Marcel," she said pulling away from his embrace, the feel of her skin lingering on his.
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Anamaria sat at the boy's side stroking his hair. She smiled to herself happy to have her long 'lost' son back. He stirred on the cot feeling her fingers brush his skin softly. So this was what it was like, to be a mother. Now she wanted them to be a family, the three of them. Marcel hadn't seemed to warm up to Jack yet, but mostly because he had been sleep most of the day. She could only hope that they would like each other. It could take weeks, maybe even months before it would be a real family, but in the end everything would be okay and hopefully she would have another one with Jack. But this wasn't the time to think about that. She had Marcel back and that was all that mattered at the moment.
"Ma?" Ana grinned even wider hearing the words from his mouth as his eyes fluttered open. She nodded brushing the hair from his eyes.
"I's me lad. I didn' mean t' wake ye. Go back t' sleep," he smiled laying his head back on the flat pillow and soon falling into a deep slumber.
A/N: It is 3 am and I am about to leave for North Carolina in 2 hours so I'm gonna stop here. I don't know if I'll be able to update while I'm there, but I have a pad and a pencil (and a pencil sharpener) to write the story on the way down. In that whole five and a half hours I should get a lot of stuff done so as soon as I come back on the 16th I'll have a chapter to put up if I can't find a computer to work on down there.