Chapter four: Yes and no

"No!" Jack whispered harshly. "We can't support a child! We barely have enough money for ourselves!"

Both Jack and Else were standing in the bathroom, door shut, and having a quiet battle.

"Jack," Else said plaintively. "You know I can't have children, and its because of us that this boy doesn't have a mother!" Jack was about to round on her when he caught that she was hiding something, and it would be the scale-tipper of their fight.

"What do you mean?" He asked slowly, almost dreading the answer.

"His mother was beat to death," Else said, biting her lip.

"Then how was this our fault?" Jack demanded. "We didn't beat her! Else, I know you've always wanted children, but he can't stay!"

"She was beaten by Barbossa," Else finally said quietly. Jack didn't speak. He couldn't. In fact, his mouth was moving, but no words were coming out.

"Your sure?" He finally managed, in the most choked up tone Else had ever heard.

"Yes,"

"How?"

"Because, before he left, he mentioned something about 'I want the bird to know Im back,' that is what the woman said. Bird equals Sparrow. Don't you see? She had a large burn on her arm. He heated up a piece of the treasure and put it to her flesh. So it is because of us that this child has no mother,"

"But Else," Jack ran his fingers through his long dark hair, and sighed. She had won. But he wasn't going to give up easily. "We don't know he meant me,"

"Who else is out there that he knows has the surname that you took; like a bird? Hmm? And whom else does he know would be there to take care of the woman, when he left? I am the only mid-wife on this side of the freaking rock, Jack!"

Jack took a deep breath, and gave one curt nod of his head. Else gave him a quick peck on the cheek and walked out of the bathroom.

-0-

"What do you mean, Bill was here?" Jack demanded over dinner that night. Else had just remembered that when young Sonny was chattering about his little urchin friends.

"Just that," Else replied distractedly as she stood up and doled out more of the stew onto both of "her" men's plates. "He came by when you were gone. Said that Barbossa tied a cannon to his bootstraps and dumped him in the ocean."

Jack was instantly on his feet; his chair toppling backwards. Else gave him a sour look and righted it. "How in the hell did he survive?" He demanded.

"He was cursed."

"And?"

"And what? Supposedly when you take that treasure from the chest you are cursed. You cant die, but you aren't necessarily alive. He even proved it. Nearly scared the wits out of me, I swear. Put a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. Next moment he was fine."

Jack's eyes suddenly narrowed, and his upper lip curled over his teeth. "That is low, Else," he snarled.

Sonny's eyes widened at the pure fury that was radiating from Jack. Else seemed to sense this, and quickly sent the child to go play with his friends in the tenant in the dusk.

"What do you mean," Else asked slowly, after Sonny had left.

"That story! How could you make something up like that!"

"I didn't!" Else cried, her eyes growing darker and wider. "Bill was here, I swear!"

"Then why didn't he come back? Why didn't he leave a note?"

Tears started to brim in her eyes as Else stood there in front of Jack. He felt a pang of guilt at seeing her chin quivering, as she never cried, even though she didn't let out a sob, and she didn't let the tears fall.

"I don't know!" She said in a steady voice. "But Jack, I swear he was here. He was cursed."

"That's it!" Jack roared, grabbing his coat off of the peg by the stove and then wrenching the door open. "I'm not coming back!" He slammed the door behind him; leaving Else to quickly crumble into the nearest chair and one shuddering sob wracked her frame.

-0-

"When he said he wasn't coming back, did he mean, he wasn't coming back?" Rosie asked over tea two days later. She was a rather plum lady, who lived in the flat next to Else with her large brood of seven kids and burly husband. One had the air of a bird when around Rosie.

"No," Else drawled sarcastically. "I think he meant he was going out for tea and crumpets. Of course he probably meant it! Sonny, give Marie back her doll," The last sentence was directed to the small boy who was taunting the youngest of Rosie's children; instantly he dropped the little corn stalk thing.

"Well, are you going to look for him?" Rosie asked, completely unfazed. She threw another bit of sugar into her cup and then took an experimental sip.

"I don't see how I can. Now with Sonny, and who knows where he could have gone. Last time he left he said he was going to England, but then he turned up with jelly-fish burns and said he had to make a detour. Last time, he also left money," Else added somberly.

"What?"

"Well, there is no money in the house. I make enough to eat with due to my mid-wifing, but now? I cant make enough for food and rent. After this month, I'll be thrown on the streets for sure."

"I could lend you some," Rosie started, but stopped when Else shook her head slowly.

"I couldn't take it. You have more then two mouths to feed, and I know Frank isn't making a lot of money down at the Inn,"

"You could stay with us,"

"I doubt it. You pile too many kids into one room as it is. You know me, Rosie. I hate to impose."

"But you helped me with Marie, a few months ago. I couldn't give you enough stuff for payment of saving my daughters life." Rosie cast a look over at young frail Marie, who had almost died of scarlet fever in October. Because no one had ever had the sickness except for Else, she willing cast them all into her own apartment and took care of the child herself.

"I wont, and you know it," Else said stubbornly. Then a though struck her. "Do you think you could maybe watch Sonny for me?" She asked tentatively.

"Of course," Rosie said at once.

"Thank you! I think I might know where Jack is, and it isn't that far. Its on this very island, but it's a couple day's journey. I will pay you..."

"Nope!" Rosie smiled. "I shan't take it. When will you be leaving?"

"Oh..." Else thought. "I think I'll leave tonight. I'll borrow a horse from the Inn's stables, and it's a bit easier to travel Tortuga at night, as everyone is roistering at the inns and brothels. Thank you so much, Rosie," Else added.

"Speak nothing of it. Now, do you have anymore of this gunpowder green tea?"

"Yes, in fact. A whore from the east who came here with a pirate gave me a whole case full as payment for treating a nasty sprained ankle,"

The talk soon turned to dull things such as the best type of poultice to put on an ankle, and how much whores from the east might cost.