Chapter 9
She couldn't play this game any longer. She was done with this place and continually putting on false fronts to appease other people was making her irritable. She tried to avoid Will, her father and anyone else who promised her a future of wealth, power and family. These things had always been trivial to Elizabeth, but now she was finally able to admit it aloud to herself. As much as she wanted to tell them all to leave her alone, she knew that sort of behaviour would be very rash at this time, she certainly didn't want to compromise Jack's safety so she spoke not a word when she was in their presence of her nightly visitors. If her father found out that a pirate ship had been silently floating a distance offshore every night, in plain view of Elizabeth's chambers at that, he'd immediately send out a fleet to destroy it and capture the crew, hanging her pirate in the process. No, she couldn't allow that.
She went about her day as usual, but those around her noticed a change. Everything she did was half-hearted and mechanical, almost as if even the most pleasant of tasks was laboured. She was walking around in a daze, her mind constantly turning over and over, the events of the past few nights. He was all she could think of anymore, she saw him everywhere and nowhere, she smelled him, she tasted him, she heard him and she felt him, his presence on this earth had become extremely prominent now and Elizabeth thought that perhaps she might go insane if this didn't end this soon. Of course there was only one outcome now but she was at the mercy of the good captain to carry out the plan...whatever that particular plan was...and the wait was killing her. She wished she knew what was happening. She had checked for a letter this morning right after breakfast but Jack seemed to have abandoned this particular method of communication and replaced it with a nightly message of light. She certainly didn't mind this method, but she wished she knew what was to happen in the nights to come. She was sure he wasn't going to this amount of trouble for nothing so her only option was to simply trust him.
The day was painfully slow. As she sat in her small office signing the paperwork her father had left her, she sighed deeply and wished for night to come quickly. She lived for the nights now, and as she signed the last of the papers she glanced at the clock on the wall hoping that she had killed enough time so that her evening meal would follow closely behind. Three o'clock. Damn that clock! Damn that pirate for doing this to her! She needed to find something to do but there were no more papers that needed to be signed, she couldn't concentrate long enough to read a book, and it was much too early to prepare for bed. She started pacing the office floor, glancing out the window that faced the small town of Port Royal, she could see the chimney of Will's little shop and watched as the smoke rose from it...a sure indication that he was hard at work. Another example that he was a fine man!
Boredom got the best of her so she took a walk out into the garden which lay directly below the window of her chambers. From here she could look out at the sea but when she did she saw no distant ship with black sails, only merchant ships and ships of the fleet. She continued on through the florals, brushing her hand against some of the large, colourful petals and started to wonder just what Will and her father were expecting of her. Her life was dull and no matter how hard she tried, there was nothing to spice it up...until Jack came back into her life. Once again, her thoughts drifted to the salty pirate who always smelled of rum and sea spray, but who always managed to light a fire in her that she didn't know existed until the day she first found herself in his arms. She wandered down the garden path a bit further and then decided to head back to the house, maybe she could help the cook prepare dinner. She had to do something.
Why oh why did nightfall take so long to arrive?
Maybe because with the cover of night came a man as mysterious and exciting as the stars that filled the sky. The night would bring Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth would receive him in whatever form he arrived.