Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.
"You were back awfully late last night," Elizabeth said smartly as she yanked the curtains away from my bed, and allowed the sunlight to blind me.
"You're very observant, aren't you?" I moaned, rolling over and pulling a pillow over my head. I could hear her clicking her tongue in a most disapproving (and infuriating) way. "You didn't even bathe last night. What were you out all night doing?" she said snidely.
She'd been prodding me for over an hour, and had just now decided to add physical pain to the intellectual annoyance of her existence. I sat up and pulled the comforter around myself.
"Let your imagination run free," I said sarcastically. The look of utter shock on her face was so priceless, it was all I could do to keep from laughing myself silly.
"You little tramp, oh, if I tell Father…" she threatened.
I grinned, "Don't get your knickers in a twist, Elizabeth," I said. "I haven't done anything raunchy just yet, nor do I intend to. I would have left that up to you," I said, yawning. She threw a pillow at me, and yelled for Mary to come in.
"See to it that you bathe my sister, Lord knows what she's been up to last night," Elizabeth said disgustedly, before stomping out. I sighed and then winced as I spotted Eleanor in a corner.
"You can go tell all your friends, if you like. There is no truth to her words," I snapped at the wide eyed little fool. Eleanor had straw blonde hair and fair pink skin, and huge watery blue eyes. She was always snooping around for gossip, I'd noticed, and no doubt she'd be telling every servant that she knew about how the Governor's older daughter was a whore who slept around in a blacksmith shop.
Honestly, it wouldn't be sleeping around. I mean, after all, he is my fiancé.
And you know as well as I do that I didn't do anything. In fact, last night was filled with passion of the wrong kind, as we had gotten into a fight. Or rather, I'd let my mouth run of with me and had said the wrong thing again. And as much as I'd thought that I wouldn't get to sleep, I had. Now I was left with a whole day to wonder exactly what had happened last night, and what to do about it.
Will had said that he would see me after all the swords were done being made. If he'd kept the pace of yesterday, that would be in about two days. But what if he didn't come?
You know, I'd had a tutor for years and he'd taught me to read, and to write, and even to do a bit of arithmetic. But no one had ever taught me how to behave when in a courtship, and how to decipher the incredibly complex language of men. And if you ask me, that is perhaps one of the more important things that I could have learned. But then, women are usually sold off like pack animals, so interacting in a relationship is not really important, I suppose.
Unless you happen to be strange, like myself, and chose your own mate.
Good God, did I just say mate?
Mary walked in, laden with towels and combs and powder, and another maid (who's name I'd yet to discover - where did all these people come from?) carried the dress I was to wear today. A tub filled with water was waiting behind a curtain, and I quickly stripped out of my nightgown, wrapping my robe around me, to bathe.
"Mary, the water is cold," I whined, feeling a great deal more cheerful then I thought I would, after what happened last night. Perhaps the immense satisfaction of infuriating Elizabeth, and telling off Eleanor, put a damper on my true emotions. Like utter confusion and sadness. I should antagonize the lot of them off more often.
"The water was warm hours ago, most likely when you walked in, miss, but since you slept so late, it must have gotten cold. You can leave now, Linda," I heard Mary say. She handed me soap and stepped behind me to wash my hair. I felt myself pout.
"What hour is it, Mary? I'm awfully hungry," I said.
"It's about three in the afternoon, miss, and I suggest you stay here as long as you possibly can, your father is throwing a grand old fit," she said. I sighed and sunk under the water, coming up a minute later sputtering.
"It figures, Elizabeth's run off to tell him what his bawdy older daughter's been up to last night," I said angrily.
Mary chuckled, "Oh no, miss, he's been worrying since early this morning. But I told him that you were feeling ill, so he let you sleep," she said.
"Well, thanks for that, at least," I said quietly, as she poured more (cold) water on my head to rinse away the soap.
"Up you get, miss," she said, handing my me robe and going to wait while I dried off. I could hear her bustling about, probably making the bed, as I pulled on my shift and picked up the corset that I would unfortunately have to wear.
"Mary, how much do you think I could get away with?" I asked suddenly, stepping out from behind the screen. She looked at me, startled. "What do you mean, miss -what were you up to last night?" she asked.
I glared at her, mock indignant, "Mary, you've known me since we were children. First off, stop calling me miss. If I had a penny for every time you said that, I could buy you your own maid. And secondly, you know I'd never do anything…unbecoming…of a lady," I said, smiling indulgently at her. She rolled her eyes.
"No, never, Christina. You wouldn't dream of it," she answered, her very tone betraying the utter untruth in her statement.
"Anyway, do you suppose I could sneak out? You could come with me, Mary. In fact, you can borrow one of my dresses, and we can go out as two ladies to the marketplace."
"And what if you see Mr. Turner?" she asked, smirking. I rolled my eyes.
"If I see him, I'll say hello. But I doubt he'll be out, he's probably boarded himself up in the blacksmith shop or something," I said, walking over to my closet and looking through the dresses. Mary followed my hastily, slipping the corset around my waist and lacing it up tight.
"Bloody hell, Mary! I can't breath, I can barely talk, loosen it up a bit, will you?" I wheezed as she pulled the laces tighter.
"Just wait till I lace up your corset, you little wench," I swore.
She laughed, "You wont be. I don't think its wise for me to go," she said. I spun around and sucked in a breath as the laces came undone.
"Phew," I said, as little black spots danced before my eyes. "These stupid things are death traps, I swear," I muttered as my vision cleared. "Mary, you simply must come. I shan't have any fun if you don't. In fact, ever since I got off Jack's ship, I've had to make my own fun around here, and it really hasn't been going to well!" I continued pleadingly.
She sighed, "I will get in unimaginable amounts of trouble for this," she said lowly.
"What's the worst that could happen? You'll be fired, and then I can invite you to live with me and share all my dresses every day! And you wont have to work anymore!" I said happily, pulling out a dark blue dress for her.
"Oh, Christina, I can't wear that! Its so fancy!" she said, looking at the dress longingly.
I smiled, "You most certainly can wear it, and don't worry, I'll wear a big fancy hat so that you don't look over done," I said. She nodded, fingering the edges of the lace quietly.
"It's beautiful," she whispered.
"Feels like someone's stuck nettles in your knickers, though," I said and Mary looked up, startled.
"Well, I see that your time with pirates has only made you tongue sharper," she said with disbelief. I shrugged.
"Mary, I've got a brilliant idea!" I squealed, grabbing her arm. She motioned for me to turn around so that she could lace up the corset again. She began pulling the laces even tighter than before, but I ignored her and kept talking.
"All right, once we dress you up and go out, we'll come back, right? But I think we could introduce you to my father, he wont even notice that it's you!" I said, giggling. Why I felt so giddy, I'll never know, but I was actually going out and doing something fun! I didn't care that my father was probably having a conniption right now, and if Eleanor had talked, then my name was slandered through the whole town.
"Christina, I think you've lost your mind!" Mary said nervously, but she was smiling either way. "You can't introduce me to your father if I'm impersonating a lady!" she said.
I rolled my eyes, "Mary, you're more of a lady than some of the richest most upper class women in Port Royal. Including me and my sister," I said. She shook her head at me, but grinned. "Now, off with that uniform," I said, picking up the corset that Mary would wear and grinning sadistically. Pay back time. Mary nervously shed her uniform, and stood in her shift.
"Turn around, dear," I said sweetly. She did, and held onto the bed post while I laced up her corset.
"Oh, good God, Christina, I am truly sorry for all the times that I've laced up your corset too tight but please, stop!" she begged, wheezing.
I grinned, "Oh, no. This is what you get for all the times you ignored me when I begged you to loosen the straps…I hope you've learned your lesson," I said.
She groaned, "Okay, okay, I'll only try to kill your sister via corset!" she choked out.
"Do you swear it?"
"Yes! I do, I swear!"
"Swear it by…by promising you let me introduce you to my father when your all dressed up!"
"No! I can't!"
I pulled the laces tighter, "Swear it!"
"I hate you!"
"Mind your tongue, Mary, shame on you," I chided. She tossed me an evil glare and gritted her teeth. "Do you swear?" I asked, loosening the laces very slightly. She took a shuddering breath.
"Oh very well. If I'm fired, its on you and you'll have to support me in my unemployment," she said.
"Done," I said, loosening the laces only slightly again, and then finishing to tie them up.
"That's it? That's all I'm allowed to breath?" Mary whined. I grinned.
"Well, that's all you allowed me," I said. She looked at me pleadingly.
"I'll loosen yours if you loosen mine, please!" she begged.
I raised an eyebrow, "I don't think so. You see, I've grown accustomed to it. But you haven't, and you must if you want to be a lady," I said smugly.
Mary sighed. "Very well. One day you will get what's coming to you, you vile girl," she said, helping me with my dress and then pulling on her borrowed one.
"Let's go," I said, pulling two fans for us and a small hat for her. She looked at me skeptically.
"How am I going to get downstairs without your father seeing me?" she asked.
"I guess we'll just have to find out, now wont we?" I said.
She rolled her eyes as I pulled her along, and crept out of the room. "Okay, I'll go first and head for the door, and then I'll push you out fast, and we'll pray that my father isn't waiting there." I said.
"And what if he is, you royal fool?" she asked nervously.
"Well, I always was able to think well under pressure." I said, shrugging. I walked down the stairs as quietly as possible, and pulled Mary with me. I saw Eleanor with her back to us in another room, and I hurried by. We were nearly to the door, and I pushed Mary in front of me and ran the rest of the way. I'd just gotten the door closed when.
"Where do you think you are going, Christina?" my father boomed from behind me. I turned and pushed my back up against the door, going for 'meek and frightened young girl'.
"I will not lie to you, father, I was going out to the market place." I said quietly, casting my eyes down.
"If you will not lie to me, Christina, would you mind telling me exactly where you were last night, and why you were out so late?" he asked. I bit my lip and looked up with wide eyes.
"Well, I was with Will in Mr. Brown's shop, and Will had made three swords yesterday, and I was just watching him the whole time."
"And it took you until such a late hour?" he asked, looking as if he would explode. I nodded meekly, fighting the insane urge to burst out laughing.
"Well, you usually send a carriage to pick me up so I waited and no one came, so then when we, Will and I, realized that you wouldn't be coming, he walked me home. And its very lucky that he did, because there was a very drunk man who followed me at one point. But Will protected me and got rid of him fast enough," I said, nodding up at my father.
He sighed. "Do you promise that you didn't do anything…improper?" he said, looking very uncomfortable.
"Oh, no, father, I would never do anything of the sort. I know exactly what you expect of me, and the only reason you let me out to see him so often is because you trust me, and I would never ever to anything to betray that trust!" I said, pitching my voice higher with each sentence. I felt like an eight year old, but a woman had to do what a woman had to do, I suppose.
My father smiled at me, "Very well, I believe you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to have a talk with your sister," he said.
He turned to go, but I touched his arm. "Father, may I have some money. I think I may meet a friend of mine and we may go for tea," I said.
He smiled, "Yes, of course. But if this friend is William Turner, he better not let you pay, my dear, it's not proper," he warned.
I looked down, and feigned innocence some more. I was getting quite good at it. "Oh, no, father, it's my dear friend Mary, whom I'd met in London, do you remember? She's been living here for a long time now, and very close to us, and I hadn't seen her until now." I said. I could hear a sharp intake of breath from outside, and I knew Mary would have quite a bone to pick with me once we'd left. My father handed me a bag filled with money and I gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned to leave.