Sorry about that….I know I hated offing Loreli and Catherine too….but you'll see when you get to the end why it had to be that way…just bear with me….warning though….one more death….it's the LAST… I promise!
At age fourteen, Wil Turner had worked for Clyde at the blacksmith's shop for almost four years. Governor Swann told him after his mother's death that he could remain at the plantation, especially since he and Elizabeth were cousins, but he refused. He needed to be on his own and had always dreamed of swords; making them, fighting with them, anything. Wil figured what better place than with Clyde. Not only did it satisfy his own dream, he learned that his father had worked there as well, listening eagerly to any story Clyde had to share. He was proud to learn his father had been a good man.
Elizabeth continued with school although Wil had stopped two years previous. Having just turned eleven, she and Wil spent most of their free time together, whether it was a few minutes in front of the shop before school or hours spent gazing out at the ocean. The fact they'd both lost their mothers was a strong bond for them and talked of it often. Governor Swann was their only family and it made them sad to realize how small their family was compared to others in the port.
She also shared things with Wil that she kept from everyone else. She loved her father dearly but there were subjects she would have preferred to talk to a woman about. There was one older servant that did her best to be a mother figure but it was a forced thing. She was trying too hard and it made Elizabeth feel uncomfortable. More often than not, she talked to Wil about everything, even if he didn't understand it, and if worse came to worse, she would inquire with the doctor.
"So, you're okay though?" Wil asked as they sat at the edge of the water one afternoon. He'd listened as she described her latest concern, not having heard of anything like it before. "The doc said it was normal?"
She slipped a strand of dark curls behind her ear and bit her lip before answering. "Yeah he said it happens each month," she answered. "Some sort of cycle. The pain was unbearable for a day and then it stopped. He gave me some herbal tea that is supposed to help the pain." She looked out over the ocean, listening to the crashing waves. "It makes me feel weird. I'm just glad I'm not sick."
"I know," Wil agreed. "You had me scared out of my wits. I thought you were dying."
Her large brown eyes were apologetic. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I just didn't know."
Wil heard the unspoken statement within her words; the fact she had no mother or mother figure to talk to about these type things. "I wish I could help you more," he told her.
She reached for his hand. "You do help me," she said. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Elizabeth, are you ready?" Weatherby called out towards his daughter's room. "We must be at the dock in thirty minutes."
"Coming Father!" she called out, quickly slamming her small traveling chest shut and running from the room. She was going to sea as her father had business in Santo Domingo and had begged him relentlessly until he allowed her to go with him. They would only be gone a couple months so she would not miss much school.
As they rode in the carriage out to the dock and vessel awaiting their arrival, Elizabeth asked, "Are you sure Wil can't go?" She knew he'd love it same as her.
"No, he can't," Weatherby answered his daughter for the fifteenth time. "Clyde took a few days to be with a dying relative and Wil has to run the shop while he's gone. There's no one else to do it."
Elizabeth stared out the window as they passed the small shops, seeing the ships grow larger as they neared the docks. "You said my mother loved the sea," she remembered.
Weatherby smiled at the young lady beside him, hardly able to believe she was twelve years old and not his tiny baby any more. While it pained him to see the striking resemblance to Loreli, it made him smile at the same time. "She did love the sea," he confirmed. "It was a passion. It called to her. She enjoyed it tremendously."
She turned to look at her father with a small smile. "I can't wait to discover why she loved it so," she told him.
"Wil, you wouldn't believe it!" Elizabeth exclaimed as she stopped by to see him before school the day after returning from sea. "Oh it was wonderful out on the water! I can't wait to go back! We must go soon!"
He laughed at her enthusiasm as he usually did. Elizabeth had always been quite spirited, even as a small child. She stood out among the other girls her age and Wil admired that. "I would love to go," he told her. "But you need to get to school. You can tell me more about it later."
As she neared the door to his office, Elizabeth heard her father have another coughing fit. He'd had these for years now but she didn't know why. She just knew it didn't sound good, like he was always sick.
"You sent for me?" she asked, stepping in when he'd finished the fit.
Clearing his throat, Weatherby said, "Yes, Elizabeth. Come in. Sit."
She watched as he sifted through parchment. "Is everything ok, Father?" she asked.
"Yes," he answered, looking slightly nervous. "I need to tell you something. I don't wish to alarm you. I just need to share a bit of legal information."
"Okay," she said quietly.
"With your mother's and Catherine's deaths," he began. "I decided should something happen to me, I wanted to make sure you would be cared for properly. This is your home and I'd want you to remain here, however, you would need a guardian until a proper age to marry."
"Father, I don't…"
"Elizabeth, don't argue with me on this," he said sternly. "I've thought long and hard and your guardian will be James Norrington. He has agreed to move into the house and continue running things should it become necessary."
"James?" Elizabeth shrieked. "Oh Father!"
"Elizabeth Swann," Weatherby said calmly. "Don't raise your voice to me."
"Why don't I have say in who my guardian should be?" she yelled, ignoring his statement. "Why not Wil? He's family!"
"Wil is not old enough," he explained, raising his voice to meet hers. "James will be turning twenty one this year and has quite the future with the Navy. And he cares about you, Elizabeth."
"Not like Wil!" she said, crossing her arms. How could he do this to her?
"Wil can not be your guardian, Elizabeth," he repeated. "It will be James."
"I don't want James to be my guardian!" she yelled. "I don't even like him! Father, please don't make him…"
"Elizabeth!" Weatherby exclaimed, losing his ability to remain calm. "James is a fine man and can take care of you as you are accustomed to being taken care of. He knows how to run this house and his career."
"And Wil doesn't?" she said, hardly able to believe her ears. "Wil is my family. I want Wil as my guardian!"
"No!"
"Why!"
Losing his temper, Weatherby yelled, "Because he's the son of a pirate!"
Silence immediately filled the room.
Elizabeth was shocked at his words.
He couldn't believe he'd said them.
Weatherby's forehead rested on his hand. What had he done? He vowed never to reveal the secret his wife had told him before her death. And now he'd told his daughter who would certainly tell Wil.
"The son of a pirate?" she asked quietly, anger immediately leaving her body. "Is that true?"
Lifting his head, his eyes met hers. "Yes," he said, knowing he could not lie and not wanting to. "William, Wil's father and your mother's cousin, was a pirate. He left on a voyage when Wil was only three and never returned." He shook his head, knowing he might as well tell her the whole truth. "Your mother also had a son when she was young. His name was Jackson and he stowed away on a ship when he was a couple years younger than you." He paused, hating the words he had to say. "His father was a pirate also."
Elizabeth sat dumbfounded. "Wil's father a pirate?" she repeated. "And I have a half brother whose father was a pirate?" Her eyes narrowed, nearly piercing through her father. "You weren't going to tell me were you?"
Weatherby didn't like the look on her face and couldn't blame her really. "No," he answered honestly. "I wasn't but only for your protection. None of us could take the chance of the truth leaking out. Piracy is a crime punishable by death, Elizabeth."
"I know," she said. "But that's something we needed to know. Who else knows?"
He shook his head. "No one," he answered. "Not the servants, not the doctor. Only you and me know right now."
"I must tell Wil," she said in a rush. "He must know Father!"
"Please be careful," he said, knowing he had no way to stop her. "I could lose everything and be hanged myself if it got out I'd been taking care of a pirate's wife and child. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," she said. "I will be careful but he must know."
"James?" Wil repeated, same as Elizabeth had only an hour earlier. "Why him?"
Elizabeth was still concerned and angry and it blazed in the dark pools of her eyes. "He said it's because he's older and has such a future with the Navy," she spat out, her arms crossed in defiance. "I can't believe he didn't ask me first. Shouldn't my opinion count for something?"
Wil sighed. "There's another reason why he chose James," he said quietly, remembering a conversation he overheard while at the shop one day. He shouldn't have heard but the window was open and he couldn't help but listen when he heard Elizabeth's name mentioned.
"What?"
"Your father hopes one day when you're ready you'll marry James," he told her. "I heard him telling someone outside the shop a few days ago."
Elizabeth's eyes grew twice their size. "What?" she shrieked, momentarily forgetting the news she wanted desperately to tell him. "Marry him? I don't even like him! That's it, I must talk to Father again."
"No," he said, grabbing her arm. "You mustn't say anything. I wasn't supposed to hear it and he didn't tell you so obviously he doesn't want you to know his thoughts. It might not happen anyway. You're many years away from marriage."
Her arms crossed again as angry tears filled her eyes, remembering what she had to tell him but not able to bring herself to do it yet. "You know, sometimes I wish we could just leave this place," she confided. "Not tell anyone and leave and start somewhere new, just the two of us. We wouldn't have anyone making our decisions for us but us."
"Your father loves you," he reminded her. "His life hasn't been all that easy either you know."
Her eyes fell to the ground. "I know," she said quietly.
"Don't be angry with him," Wil told her gently. "He's done the best he could trying to be your father and mother and he knows it's been difficult for you as well. Go home and tell him you love him, even if you don't agree with him. You're everything to him, Liz."
Hearing his words and her nickname her gave her caused the tears to slip from her eyes. "Why is life so hard?" she asked, wiping them away with her fingers. She would have to wait to discuss Wil's father with him, as she was just too upset over the recent knowledge she'd acquired about her possible guardian and their pirate heritage.
He hugged her. "Because that's what life is sometimes," he answered.
"You're lying!"
Elizabeth flinched when he'd thrown a hot poker across the shop. "Wil I wouldn't lie to you," she told him. "Please!"
"My father was not a pirate!" he exclaimed. "Clyde told me stories of him when he worked here. He said nothing of him being a pirate!"
"He didn't know!" Elizabeth continued. "Father told me no one knows, except the three of us. My mother told him before she died."
"No!" he yelled. "I will not believe it. She was wrong!"
Elizabeth hated seeing him this upset and realized how he must have felt having seen her just as upset. "Wil I'd never lie to you," she said quieter. "I'm telling you the truth. My mother also had a son before me, years ago, and his father was a pirate too."
His head turned to the side as if processing what she'd said. "You have a brother?" he asked, allowing his anger to be replaced with curiosity.
"Yes, a half brother."
"Where is he?"
"Father said he stowed away on a ship years ago," she answered. "He's in his late twenties by now and there's no telling where he is."
Wil shook his head, sitting down beside of her. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I just…I'm finding all of this so hard to believe. My father a pirate and you having a half brother whose father was a pirate too…just unbelievable really."
She reached for his hand. "You needed to know," she told him. "I'm glad Father slipped. I couldn't imagine never knowing this about our past. It's dreadfully important. And no one must find this out. We must remain the only ones who know of this. You understand he could be hanged for helping your father?"
He nodded. "Yes I suppose he could," he said. "Don't worry. We will remain silent about this information." He squeezed her hand as his eyes met hers. "It's our secret, Liz. No one shall know of it."
She smiled slightly. "No one," she agreed
"Wil, please don't leave me long," Elizabeth whispered. "I don't want James to corner me."
Half of Port Royal had been invited to Elizabeth's thirteenth birthday ball, including James, and she was determined to stay away from him if possible. He'd tried talking to her during the week but she had managed to always have an excuse for getting away. Tonight she would not.
"I will keep my eyes on you," he reassured her as he ventured off.
"Oh look at you!" Mrs. Mandry exclaimed as she approached Elizabeth. "You're absolutely beautiful just like your mother!"
"Thank you," she said with a polite smile. "I'm glad you could come tonight."
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world, Darling," she said, giving Elizabeth's hand a gentle squeeze.
Doctor Norrington approached her next. "Good evening, Elizabeth," he greeted. "And happy birthday to you. I find it near impossible to believe thirteen years have passed since I held you as a baby."
Elizabeth smiled at the aging doctor. He'd been extremely helpful to her over the last couple years. "I must thank you for all your help," she said quietly.
He shook his head. "Tis nothing but my job," he told her. "And I do it gladly. I'm at your service any time you need me."
Elizabeth made rounds slowly as everyone approached her and wished her a happy birthday, complimenting her on how beautiful she was, how respectable her manners were, and telling her she was just like her mother. She'd been thankful Wil was at her side when James approached her as that kept his comments brief. By the end of the evening, she was ready to disappear to her room.
"Are you all right?" Wil asked her, having seen brief flashes of sadness pass by her eyes throughout the night.
She nodded. "Yes I'll be fine," she told him. "It was just so difficult to hear so many comments about my mother."
"I understand," he said, remembering those he heard about his mother after she passed. "I wish I could make things easier."
"It's okay," she said, forcing a smile. "Wil, I've made a decision." Her heart pounded in anticipation of telling him. She'd been thinking about this for weeks but hadn't mentioned it to her cousin yet.
"A decision?"
"Yes," she said, the enthusiasm quickly returning to her face. "Father told me a while ago that my mother left home when she was sixteen. She left with your father and they joined a pirate ship." She paused; glancing around to make sure no one was listening. "Now I'm not saying I want to find a pirate ship. But sixteen is only three years away. We could stow away on a ship and leave this place and…"
"Liz, you're talking nonsense," he quickly told her. "Your father would have the entire Royal Navy out looking for you to bring you back."
"Not if we got far enough away," she insisted. "Wil I don't want to stay here. We don't belong here. We don't fit in."
He sighed and shook his head. "Elizabeth," he began. "I don't know…"
"I didn't say we had to decide right now," she told him. "Just keep it in the back of your mind."
"Doctor Norrington, I demand to know what is going on," Elizabeth said, indignant. During his visit to check out her father, who had been terribly sick the past couple months, she'd overheard comments that led her to believe they were keeping something from her.
"Elizabeth, I think you should talk to your father," he told her, wishing like hell these things would stop happening to this family. "I'm not at liberty to discuss his medical issues."
"But I'm his daughter!"
"I'm sorry," he said and turned to leave with a heavy heart.
Knowing her father was ill and not wanting to yell at him, Elizabeth went for a short walk about the property before returning to her father's room.
Weatherby grew paler each day as his coughing fits grew worse, now promoting small amounts of blood. He had no energy and was plagued by chest pains that would take his breath. He'd kept his condition a secret as long as he could but it was time to tell his daughter. Something told him with the look on her face she would find out one way or another.
"Can I get you anything?" she asked, sitting down on the edge of his bed and taking his hand that felt heavy and almost lifeless in hers.
"No I'm fine," he said quietly, forcing a small smile.
She watched as a quick and painful cough attacked him, wishing there was something she could do, watching as he covered his mouth with the small cloth he had been using for a couple years. "Father, please tell me what's wrong," she pleaded, eyes full of tears. "I overheard some of the doctor's comments and…"
"I have tuberculosis," Weatherby said sadly. "I do not have much longer."
The tears fell as she heard the words she feared the most. She'd suspected something almost a year ago when he'd told her who her guardian would be should anything happen to him. She'd dismissed it all, not wanting to think her father was sick. "Can't they do anything?" she cried. "Move you to another port with more doctors or something?"
He shook his head. "No," he told her. "There is no cure for this."
Sobs controlled her as Weatherby's heart broke into pieces. None of their lives had been fair and he felt as if he'd been cursed. The amount of loss in his life was more than what was normal. Losing his first wife and child, his second wife, her cousin and his wife had to have been a cruel joke the gods above were playing on him. All he'd ever done was live as justly a life as he could, making sure to treat everyone proper and uphold the law. And now his own life was ending, leaving a young daughter with no family. He was too weak to be angry and settled with sadness.
"Please, love," he said, wanting her to stop. "Don't fill my last days with sadness. Let's talk of the good times we've shared. I'll tell you more stories of your mother and her first son and when Wil's parents arrived here. Just please don't cry."
Wiping tears, fighting to control her emotions, Elizabeth said, "Please tell me all you can. I promise to try to make these happier days."
Elizabeth fulfilled her promise to her father, opening the windows each day to allow the bright sunlight and gentle breeze into the room and bringing in large arrangements of aromatic flowers from the gardens. He told her everything he could remember of her mother from the first day he saw her, to how stubborn Jackson had been to the night he proposed after William and Catherine's wedding. She'd left school to be by his side every day, refusing to do anything else.
The day of her fourteenth birthday came and went like a shadow of the night that disappeared with the morning sun. With her father's sickness and impending death, there was nothing to celebrate and told all the servants that nothing special was to be prepared for her and no visitors would be seen.
Wil was with her as often as Clyde would allow. He offered as much support as he could but knew this would be difficult for Elizabeth as he would be her only family now. He was tired of the sadness, the sicknesses and death. Though he and Elizabeth had never discussed it again, he often thought of her desire to leave Port Royal. Now with the realization James would really become her guardian, he was beginning to share in her want to leave. He hadn't worked out details yet but he was thinking of a plan to get them both away and on their own.
Governor Weatherby Swann died six months later. Wil remained by Elizabeth's side as she was in shock and denial through most of the arrangements and funeral. She accepted condolences from the majority of Port Royal but didn't remember really seeing anyone. She was a robot going through the motions.
James Norrington moved into the Swann Plantation three days after the governor's death. He'd thought of him as another father and was honored to be taking care of his home and daughter. He'd hoped the time would never come but knew he could run things as smoothly as the governor had. Dealing with Elizabeth was another story. More often than not, she refused to leave her room, only doing so when she was hungry or leaving to find Wil.
One night, two weeks after the burial, James knocked on her door. "May I come in?" he inquired.
"If you must," he heard.
He opened the door to find Elizabeth lying face down on her bed. "Could we talk for a moment?"
"Talk."
He sighed quietly. "I'd like to see your face," he told her.
Turning so her face was now towards James, she snapped, "Happy?"
He forced a smile. "Yes, thank you," he said, taking a deep breath. "Elizabeth, I know you're terribly upset and I won't pretend to know what you've been through. I greatly respected your father, thoroughly enjoying the years I worked with him. And I will do my best to run this house the way he did and that includes the liberties he allowed you." He paused but saw no reaction from her. "I won't treat you as a child, Elizabeth, but you still must understand I will have final say on important decisions which affect you."
"So be it," she said simply.
James stared at her for a moment, wishing he could figure out how to reach her. "Okay…well that's all I had to say," he said quietly.
Turning her face away from him, Elizabeth said, "Please close the door behind you."
Shaking his head in frustration, James left her room, closing the door quietly.
"Wil, we must leave," Elizabeth whispered as they stood in front of the shop. "I can not remain here any longer. You are my only family. I can't stand being at home with…with him."
"I know, Liz," he said. "I've been thinking about it for months and I've figured out a way we can leave. You won't be able to take much with you though."
"I don't care."
"I'll tell you more later," he continued quietly. "Walls have ears."
"Let's meet later tonight by the shore," she suggested. "You can tell me then."
Elizabeth walked on to school, only because James insisted, knowing her days at this hellacious port were limited. She thought back to the trip she took with her father to Santo Domingo. There was nothing like being out on the water and she'd wanted to go back ever since they returned. Maybe she and Wil could go there and start over. It was very similar to Port Royal except for one important factor.
It wasn't Port Royal.
And that was all the reason she needed.