The Oldest Story in the Book
Chapter 22
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Author's Note: Quick note before I let you read. Sorry this took so long. Also, Pearl gets a little morbid here. It's only one paragraph so if that bothers you just skip it. I think you'll see it. I have faith in you.
Well, it seems I've kept you waiting long enough. Without further ado...
Norrington awoke some time later that night, drenched in cold sweat. The lingering visions of Ethan's captors torturing the poor boy seemed to linger before his eyes, mixing oddly with the peaceful image of his sleeping daughter in his arms. He released her to sit up, rubbing at his eyes to dispel the images. He looked toward the window, and startled when he saw a figure sitting there, outlined in moonlight. Turning back to the bed he found Emmie soundly asleep, the picture of innocence, and Jack sprawled half off the bed. It had to be Pearl at the window.
He stood and carefully approached her. She remained perfectly still, staring out the window.
"Pearl?"
"Hmm?" she answered without looking at him.
"Is there a storm coming?"
"No." She smiled up at him, tilting her head to indicate he should sit on the padded bench. She sat tailor style, Desthia curled into a purring ball in her lap as she petted her. "Just thinking. You?"
"Nightmares," he said. "About Ethan. What do you suppose they're doing to him now?"
"Oh, I don't suppose. I know. Don't worry, they aren't hurting him. Probably scaring him a little, but they won't lay a finger on him. They don't want me to be any angrier than I have to, and they know I'll be most of the way there without them hurting Ethan. Actually, they're probably all asleep by now.
"They're afraid of upsetting you?" he repeated.
Pearl shrugged. "Call it pirate rules. Kidnaping isn't a killing offence unless they're damaged. By rights if they release him without a scratch I don't hold a grudge because there's no harm. By pirate standards," she added when he started to object. "They're holding Ethan because they're afraid of Bootleg. If they had their way they'd avoid angering me in any way."
Norrington nodded. "Perhaps I should try to spare their lives."
Pearl snorted. "They'll still try to kill both of us for the sake of convenience. Dead people can't hold grudges. Kill if you can. Speaking of grudges, you told me once that Brendon killed your mother. Is this about revenge?"
Norrington blinked at her. "No. I was a man by the time she was killed. It was reasonably quick and painless. With everything else I have to hold over his head...it was a long time ago, and I've moved beyond it. She knew the dangers of the sea. She mother knew she would die young, and she lived well."
"Sounds like Maggie," Pearl remarked.
"Yes, well, I just want Ethan back. I'd take revenge for that." He paused to see the smile flitting over Pearl's face. "So what were you thinking about? Your own revenge?" He smiled at the startled look on her face. "You think I didn't remember? The marks on your back are his doing."
"They aren't so bad," she said too quickly. Knowing her mistake she looked quickly away, biting her lip.
"The things he did to you, Pearl. I'd take revenge for that, if I didn't know it wasn't my place."
She sat quietly, contemplating the answer to his question as she gazed out at the moon reflected on the water. It was beautiful, calm. So unlike what he felt broiling inside of her.
"Yes, I want revenge. Bootleg's haunted me. He took a piece of me that day that I've never gotten back. I tried not to let it eat at me. I did try. But until he's dead, until his blood is on my hands, his guts on my boots-" She stopped. He shuddered at the look in her eyes. He knew she was no noble Lady, but it was easy to forget how dangerous this woman was. And that was a dangerous thing. "You should seriously consider what you're getting yourself into, wanting to marry me. I'm not the sort of person you seem to have convinced yourself I am. I've done things-"
"You don't kill unless you have to. You are a good person, Pearl."
Her smile was haunting. "How certain are you of that?" She shifted. "Perhaps you would like an example then, of what a good person I can be. The last man who threatened Emmie...I got my hands on him and took him apart." He shifted now. He knew he didn't want to hear what came next, but had to. She was testing him. "I took his eyes first, then his tongue. Slit his cheeks open and pulled out all his teeth. His ears I let him keep. Let him hear his own screams. Oh, and he did scream. When I took apart his feet. Do you know how many bones there are in the foot? I lost count, I'll tell you, but I took them all out, one at a time." He swallowed. "Hands are different." Her voice was calm, icy cold. Her eyes were less giving than granite. Hard stone, suddenly, where liquid usually reigned. "Not as many bones, but the tendons. They snap, splatter. A very satisfying sound, really. Tendons in the feet snap as well, but not as satisfying. Then," a grim twist of her mouth. "I peeled off his skin. Have you ever watched a man's guts work? Do you know how long he can live like that? A very long time. And he did beg for death. Screamed for it. With every breath in those beautiful white lungs. You kill men, Commodore, but it is fast, and relatively painless. They don't scream and bleed on you. It took me almost a week to get the blood out from beneath my fingernails and out of my hair." She shifted again, dropping to lay a kiss on the cat's head. "So what do you say to that, Commodore?"
He shrugged. "He threatened my daughter?" Pearl chuckled, nodded. "Then he got better than he deserved." She shook her head. "I believe you're the one underestimating me, Pearl."
"Perhaps," she acknowledged. "But it was Emmie I was thinking of before you came over here. I want you to promise me something. If I don't come back from this, I want you to take her. Or make sure the Turners do. She can handle herself just fine without me, but I think she's due for some time off of the pirate ship."
"Pearl, you're going to come back."
"I don't know, Edward. I'm ready to die if I must, to be done with this. I can't live with this man hanging over my head any longer. Whether I do or no Bootleg will not walk away from this alive. And Ethan will. And Emmie, and you and the Turners and Jack."
"Please don't," he said. Almost without thought he leaned forward to cradle her face in his hand. "You can't. Not now. Not when we're so close."
"So close to what?"
He blinked at her. "I don't know. Being happy. Being together. I mean, Maggie's been dead a year."
"Is that the magic number then? A year and it doesn't hurt anymore, is that it?"
"No. Of course not. If that were true I would have gotten over you a long time ago."
A smile flirted over her face. "And when did you get over me?"
He snorted. "Never, Pearl. I've never gotten over you."
She sighed. "You shouldn't say things like that."
"Things like what?" he demanded.
"Any of it. Pretty words can't change what I am. Nothing's changed, Edward. I'm a pirate and you're a Commodore. I'm not ready to give up my life and you can't give up yours. If you would just let go--"
"This doesn't sound like you, Pearl," he said. "I thought you were a pirate. Take what you want and the consequences be damned."
"I guess getting older does things to you. Like having children," she added, casting a smile back to their slumbering daughter.
"Well, if things have changed maybe you can stop pushing me away. I know the idea of marriage terrifies you, Pearl, but you're getting older, and so am I. The fact is, pirates don't generally live to be so old. Don't you deserve a little happiness? Don't I? And Emmie?"
"Edward, I don't even know if I'm going to live to see tomorrow."
"Don't answer yet, then. Let's talk business first." He took her hand in his, leaning closer. "What about a compromise?"
"Compromise?" she repeated. "I'm a pirate, Edward. I don't think I know the meaning of the word."
"Living on a ship with Captain Jack Sparrow I would expect you to know it all too well," he remarked with a chuckle. "It means both parties give a little to reach a mutual agreement."
Pearl rolled her eyes. "I know what the bloody word means. What do you mean by compromise?"
"I mean we both give a little-"
"Edward, do you think I don't get enough riddles from Jack?"
"I mean, what if you sailed on a merchant ship? With me."
"Merchant?" she repeated. "No pilfering? No gold and jewels?"
"You get gold when you deliver the goods," he answered. "Then you can buy your own jewels. Whatever you want, rather than just taking whatever is lying around."
"You make a good argument," she said, eyeing him carefully.
"And just imagine, Pearl. A ship protected by the might of the British Navy and the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow's promise of revenge. And Jack would hunt down anyone that came after a ship his daughter was on."
"Edward, are you offering me a Captainage?"
He glanced quickly out the window. "Something like that."
"You really want me to give up piracy, don't you?"
"The idea of signing your death warrant has never sat very well with me," he admitted.
She nodded. "It's something to think on, if I get to see another sunrise." Her gaze drifted back out to the sea. He followed her eyes, watching the horizon begin to lighten.
Without warning Pearl moved, leveling herself more fully onto the bench to squeeze in between the windows and the steady warmth of the Commodore. Desthia yowled disapproval but settled quickly back down in her new position. Apparently Pearl's lap was warm and comfortable enough for her to put up with a slight shifting.
Pearl's back was pressed firmly against his chest, her head fit neatly beneath his chin. He was too startled to move, so she took his arms and wrapped them around herself.
"Little minx," he whispered when he found his voice.
"Stiff Commodore," she returned, sighing as her gaze remained out the window. Already pink was leaking in the window, turning her brilliant red hair an off shade of fushia. "I love the sunrise," she remarked. "Especially on the ocean. I've never seen another place that made it as beautiful."
"Sunsets are nice too," he reminded her.
"Aye, but sunrises are better. Newer. Cleaner, somehow. Full of possibility." He eyes tracked back to the bed. "It's like looking at a baby."
He craned his neck to look down at her face. "I had no idea you were so philosophical."
She smiled. "I hide it well."
"You shouldn't," he told her.
"Philosophy is little good to pirates. Besides for use to rationalize our thieving ways."
Norrington sighed. He didn't want to think of that, of the world his daughter had grown up in. He turned to look at their daughter. In their absence she was apparently chilled, curling into a ball and scooting back toward her precariously perched grandfather. "How did we make something so beautiful?" he sighed out.
"I'll never know," she told him. "Or so smart. Cunning."
"She gets it from her mother," he said.
"The tactical she gets from you. I've never been that good at it. I can't win a game of Chess to save my soul."
"More of a Checkers sort of person, are you?" he asked.
"Aye. I'd whip you at Checkers."
"She has your turn of phrase. And the love of the sea," he told her.
"Ah, she was doomed to love the sea. You do as well. You just hide it better. And she has a proper turn of phrase when she wants to. She got your ability with a pistol, thanks be to heaven."
"And your ability with the sword," he added.
"Will's ability with the sword," she corrected. "She bests me nine times out of ten.
"Your skill with daggers, then."
"She has your eyes."
"And your hair."
"And your height, thanks be to God almighty. I wager Ethan's a looker as well. Are all of the girls crowding about? The mothers trying to hook a promise of marriage?"
Norrington shrugged. "He's a Commodore's son. He's only fourteen so it isn't so bad just yet, but I fear he's a bit of a commodity."
Pearl nodded absently. "As would be a fine widower like yourself. Your eye ever wander, Edward?"
He shrugged. "A time or two. I'm a man, after all. It never attached itself. I could never find anyone as could measure up to the three women I hold highest in my life."
"Maggie's gone," Pearl pointed out. "And Emmie's hardly pinning you down."
"No. You on the other hand-"
"I'd never!"
Elizabeth sighed heavily, shifting in the creaking cot but made no sign of waking.
"I didn't say you did it on purpose," he soothed. "You have my heart, Pearl, like it or no."
"So have you betrothed Ethan to anyone?" Pearl asked as she shifted.
He rolled her eyes, thankful he was tall enough she couldn't see. "No. Actually, many people expected I would betroth him to Emmie. Still do, I believe." Pearl gave a sharp bark of laughter. "Well, our families have always been close, and they were friends when they were young. It makes sense to them."
"I'd imagine," she sighed.
"In truth, I wanted him to make his own choice. To follow his heart."
Pearl grinned up at him. "Not very commodorish of you. I believe there may be a hopeless romantic in you yet."
"Shh. Old family secret. Took Maggie nearly a year to make me see that. Don't tell."
"How fortunate for me. Maggie's done all the hard work."
"I believe in an odd way she may have known that."
"What makes you say that?"
He shrugged. "Some things she said." He pulled his arms tighter around Pearl. 'Please don't let me lose her too,' he sent a silent prayer out. 'Please.'
A call sounded, far away, barely reaching them from above. "Ship ho!"
Pearl sighed. "That'll be Marden. Right on time. Best get everyone else up." But she didn't move, and didn't release him so he could. "You should know, Edward, in case I don't get out of this in one piece." She paused, breathing deeply as if stealing herself against her better instincts. "I love you. Have always loved you."
He ran a hand over her cheek. "Thank you," he whispered, placing a kiss on top of her head. "I know that was hard for you. And I've always known."
Pearl shifted then, and he released her so she could stand up and stretch, carefully depositing the glaring cat back on the low bench. "You catch Emmie. I'll wake the rest."
He went to obey, gently shaking he girl awake. Pearl, for her part, moved around to Jack's side of the bed and rolled him the rest of the way off of the mattress. He landed with a thunk and a loud cry.
Will sat straight up on the cot, pulling the sword from its hiding place beneath the bunk and brandishing it at the unseen attacker.
Pearl chuckled at Will. "Well done. Excellent instincts, this one."
"Pearl!" Jack roared, regaining her attention. "Why the bloody hell did you roll me out of bed?"
"Marden's on the approach. We just heard the call. They'll want you up on deck."
"That's no bloody reason to drop me onto the bloody floor!"
Pearl shrugged. "I think it is. Up, Emmie."
"Do I have to?" she whined, burrowing further under the covers as her mother sat on the bed to pull on her boots. "Marden hates me."
"It's understandable, I suppose," Jack put in as he pulled himself off of the floor. "You are the daughter o' the woman he loves by another man."
"Marden doesn't love me," Pearl argued. "He's a pirate. He knows better."
"Sometimes even pirates let their hearts get away from them. Look at Bill," Jack said with a nod toward Will. "Asides, Emmie, I wouldn't worry on it. I imagine he'll have any hated he might have to spare focused directly on the man as branded him at their last meeting."
Norrington watched Jack with wide eyes. "He won't hold that against me, will he? Or Ethan?"
"Not to worry," Jack assured him. "He'll do what Pearl asks of him and no less." He pulled on his boots with a grunt as the others moved to finish getting dressed.
"Lizzie, Will, you don't have to come if you don't want to," Pearl said.
"Oh, no. I'd never miss that," Elizabeth said quickly. "You two always seem to have the most interesting conversations."
Pearl laughed at that. "Better watch your wife, Will. She might sail off to adventure on the high seas without you."
Will snorted. "I doubt that. Just having you and Jack come into town once in a while is more than enough adventure for any three people."
"Indeed. And with a husband pretty as you at home I can't imagine why you'd want to run off with some scurvy pirate," Pearl sighed.
"You'd best get that out of your system now," Jack remarked. "If Marden finds there are two men on this ship he has to compete with for your attentions he may well go mad."
"Will has Elizabeth," Emmie said. "The only person Marden has to worry about is my darling father."
"Emmie, dear, no one is worried about your father," Jack put in.
"Well, perhaps they should be," Norrington told him.
"Well, perhaps if the good Commodore spent less time worrying about who should and shouldn't be afraid of him and more time watching his son-"
"Enough, both of you!" Pearl said. "Up on deck, now!"
They grudgingly obeyed.
Author's Note: I am so sorry. I really am. I haven't updated in an incredibly long time, and I apologize for that. I've been really busy. I want to assure you all, short of me dying, nothing will stop me from finishing this. I hope to be done with it by December when I graduate but I've learned the hard way never to make promises where my stories are concerned. With two newspapers vying for my attention while going to school full time and working part time, things will continue to be crazy. But I will finish it. Please have faith in me. Please?
Chapter 22
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Author's Note: Quick note before I let you read. Sorry this took so long. Also, Pearl gets a little morbid here. It's only one paragraph so if that bothers you just skip it. I think you'll see it. I have faith in you.
Well, it seems I've kept you waiting long enough. Without further ado...
Norrington awoke some time later that night, drenched in cold sweat. The lingering visions of Ethan's captors torturing the poor boy seemed to linger before his eyes, mixing oddly with the peaceful image of his sleeping daughter in his arms. He released her to sit up, rubbing at his eyes to dispel the images. He looked toward the window, and startled when he saw a figure sitting there, outlined in moonlight. Turning back to the bed he found Emmie soundly asleep, the picture of innocence, and Jack sprawled half off the bed. It had to be Pearl at the window.
He stood and carefully approached her. She remained perfectly still, staring out the window.
"Pearl?"
"Hmm?" she answered without looking at him.
"Is there a storm coming?"
"No." She smiled up at him, tilting her head to indicate he should sit on the padded bench. She sat tailor style, Desthia curled into a purring ball in her lap as she petted her. "Just thinking. You?"
"Nightmares," he said. "About Ethan. What do you suppose they're doing to him now?"
"Oh, I don't suppose. I know. Don't worry, they aren't hurting him. Probably scaring him a little, but they won't lay a finger on him. They don't want me to be any angrier than I have to, and they know I'll be most of the way there without them hurting Ethan. Actually, they're probably all asleep by now.
"They're afraid of upsetting you?" he repeated.
Pearl shrugged. "Call it pirate rules. Kidnaping isn't a killing offence unless they're damaged. By rights if they release him without a scratch I don't hold a grudge because there's no harm. By pirate standards," she added when he started to object. "They're holding Ethan because they're afraid of Bootleg. If they had their way they'd avoid angering me in any way."
Norrington nodded. "Perhaps I should try to spare their lives."
Pearl snorted. "They'll still try to kill both of us for the sake of convenience. Dead people can't hold grudges. Kill if you can. Speaking of grudges, you told me once that Brendon killed your mother. Is this about revenge?"
Norrington blinked at her. "No. I was a man by the time she was killed. It was reasonably quick and painless. With everything else I have to hold over his head...it was a long time ago, and I've moved beyond it. She knew the dangers of the sea. She mother knew she would die young, and she lived well."
"Sounds like Maggie," Pearl remarked.
"Yes, well, I just want Ethan back. I'd take revenge for that." He paused to see the smile flitting over Pearl's face. "So what were you thinking about? Your own revenge?" He smiled at the startled look on her face. "You think I didn't remember? The marks on your back are his doing."
"They aren't so bad," she said too quickly. Knowing her mistake she looked quickly away, biting her lip.
"The things he did to you, Pearl. I'd take revenge for that, if I didn't know it wasn't my place."
She sat quietly, contemplating the answer to his question as she gazed out at the moon reflected on the water. It was beautiful, calm. So unlike what he felt broiling inside of her.
"Yes, I want revenge. Bootleg's haunted me. He took a piece of me that day that I've never gotten back. I tried not to let it eat at me. I did try. But until he's dead, until his blood is on my hands, his guts on my boots-" She stopped. He shuddered at the look in her eyes. He knew she was no noble Lady, but it was easy to forget how dangerous this woman was. And that was a dangerous thing. "You should seriously consider what you're getting yourself into, wanting to marry me. I'm not the sort of person you seem to have convinced yourself I am. I've done things-"
"You don't kill unless you have to. You are a good person, Pearl."
Her smile was haunting. "How certain are you of that?" She shifted. "Perhaps you would like an example then, of what a good person I can be. The last man who threatened Emmie...I got my hands on him and took him apart." He shifted now. He knew he didn't want to hear what came next, but had to. She was testing him. "I took his eyes first, then his tongue. Slit his cheeks open and pulled out all his teeth. His ears I let him keep. Let him hear his own screams. Oh, and he did scream. When I took apart his feet. Do you know how many bones there are in the foot? I lost count, I'll tell you, but I took them all out, one at a time." He swallowed. "Hands are different." Her voice was calm, icy cold. Her eyes were less giving than granite. Hard stone, suddenly, where liquid usually reigned. "Not as many bones, but the tendons. They snap, splatter. A very satisfying sound, really. Tendons in the feet snap as well, but not as satisfying. Then," a grim twist of her mouth. "I peeled off his skin. Have you ever watched a man's guts work? Do you know how long he can live like that? A very long time. And he did beg for death. Screamed for it. With every breath in those beautiful white lungs. You kill men, Commodore, but it is fast, and relatively painless. They don't scream and bleed on you. It took me almost a week to get the blood out from beneath my fingernails and out of my hair." She shifted again, dropping to lay a kiss on the cat's head. "So what do you say to that, Commodore?"
He shrugged. "He threatened my daughter?" Pearl chuckled, nodded. "Then he got better than he deserved." She shook her head. "I believe you're the one underestimating me, Pearl."
"Perhaps," she acknowledged. "But it was Emmie I was thinking of before you came over here. I want you to promise me something. If I don't come back from this, I want you to take her. Or make sure the Turners do. She can handle herself just fine without me, but I think she's due for some time off of the pirate ship."
"Pearl, you're going to come back."
"I don't know, Edward. I'm ready to die if I must, to be done with this. I can't live with this man hanging over my head any longer. Whether I do or no Bootleg will not walk away from this alive. And Ethan will. And Emmie, and you and the Turners and Jack."
"Please don't," he said. Almost without thought he leaned forward to cradle her face in his hand. "You can't. Not now. Not when we're so close."
"So close to what?"
He blinked at her. "I don't know. Being happy. Being together. I mean, Maggie's been dead a year."
"Is that the magic number then? A year and it doesn't hurt anymore, is that it?"
"No. Of course not. If that were true I would have gotten over you a long time ago."
A smile flirted over her face. "And when did you get over me?"
He snorted. "Never, Pearl. I've never gotten over you."
She sighed. "You shouldn't say things like that."
"Things like what?" he demanded.
"Any of it. Pretty words can't change what I am. Nothing's changed, Edward. I'm a pirate and you're a Commodore. I'm not ready to give up my life and you can't give up yours. If you would just let go--"
"This doesn't sound like you, Pearl," he said. "I thought you were a pirate. Take what you want and the consequences be damned."
"I guess getting older does things to you. Like having children," she added, casting a smile back to their slumbering daughter.
"Well, if things have changed maybe you can stop pushing me away. I know the idea of marriage terrifies you, Pearl, but you're getting older, and so am I. The fact is, pirates don't generally live to be so old. Don't you deserve a little happiness? Don't I? And Emmie?"
"Edward, I don't even know if I'm going to live to see tomorrow."
"Don't answer yet, then. Let's talk business first." He took her hand in his, leaning closer. "What about a compromise?"
"Compromise?" she repeated. "I'm a pirate, Edward. I don't think I know the meaning of the word."
"Living on a ship with Captain Jack Sparrow I would expect you to know it all too well," he remarked with a chuckle. "It means both parties give a little to reach a mutual agreement."
Pearl rolled her eyes. "I know what the bloody word means. What do you mean by compromise?"
"I mean we both give a little-"
"Edward, do you think I don't get enough riddles from Jack?"
"I mean, what if you sailed on a merchant ship? With me."
"Merchant?" she repeated. "No pilfering? No gold and jewels?"
"You get gold when you deliver the goods," he answered. "Then you can buy your own jewels. Whatever you want, rather than just taking whatever is lying around."
"You make a good argument," she said, eyeing him carefully.
"And just imagine, Pearl. A ship protected by the might of the British Navy and the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow's promise of revenge. And Jack would hunt down anyone that came after a ship his daughter was on."
"Edward, are you offering me a Captainage?"
He glanced quickly out the window. "Something like that."
"You really want me to give up piracy, don't you?"
"The idea of signing your death warrant has never sat very well with me," he admitted.
She nodded. "It's something to think on, if I get to see another sunrise." Her gaze drifted back out to the sea. He followed her eyes, watching the horizon begin to lighten.
Without warning Pearl moved, leveling herself more fully onto the bench to squeeze in between the windows and the steady warmth of the Commodore. Desthia yowled disapproval but settled quickly back down in her new position. Apparently Pearl's lap was warm and comfortable enough for her to put up with a slight shifting.
Pearl's back was pressed firmly against his chest, her head fit neatly beneath his chin. He was too startled to move, so she took his arms and wrapped them around herself.
"Little minx," he whispered when he found his voice.
"Stiff Commodore," she returned, sighing as her gaze remained out the window. Already pink was leaking in the window, turning her brilliant red hair an off shade of fushia. "I love the sunrise," she remarked. "Especially on the ocean. I've never seen another place that made it as beautiful."
"Sunsets are nice too," he reminded her.
"Aye, but sunrises are better. Newer. Cleaner, somehow. Full of possibility." He eyes tracked back to the bed. "It's like looking at a baby."
He craned his neck to look down at her face. "I had no idea you were so philosophical."
She smiled. "I hide it well."
"You shouldn't," he told her.
"Philosophy is little good to pirates. Besides for use to rationalize our thieving ways."
Norrington sighed. He didn't want to think of that, of the world his daughter had grown up in. He turned to look at their daughter. In their absence she was apparently chilled, curling into a ball and scooting back toward her precariously perched grandfather. "How did we make something so beautiful?" he sighed out.
"I'll never know," she told him. "Or so smart. Cunning."
"She gets it from her mother," he said.
"The tactical she gets from you. I've never been that good at it. I can't win a game of Chess to save my soul."
"More of a Checkers sort of person, are you?" he asked.
"Aye. I'd whip you at Checkers."
"She has your turn of phrase. And the love of the sea," he told her.
"Ah, she was doomed to love the sea. You do as well. You just hide it better. And she has a proper turn of phrase when she wants to. She got your ability with a pistol, thanks be to heaven."
"And your ability with the sword," he added.
"Will's ability with the sword," she corrected. "She bests me nine times out of ten.
"Your skill with daggers, then."
"She has your eyes."
"And your hair."
"And your height, thanks be to God almighty. I wager Ethan's a looker as well. Are all of the girls crowding about? The mothers trying to hook a promise of marriage?"
Norrington shrugged. "He's a Commodore's son. He's only fourteen so it isn't so bad just yet, but I fear he's a bit of a commodity."
Pearl nodded absently. "As would be a fine widower like yourself. Your eye ever wander, Edward?"
He shrugged. "A time or two. I'm a man, after all. It never attached itself. I could never find anyone as could measure up to the three women I hold highest in my life."
"Maggie's gone," Pearl pointed out. "And Emmie's hardly pinning you down."
"No. You on the other hand-"
"I'd never!"
Elizabeth sighed heavily, shifting in the creaking cot but made no sign of waking.
"I didn't say you did it on purpose," he soothed. "You have my heart, Pearl, like it or no."
"So have you betrothed Ethan to anyone?" Pearl asked as she shifted.
He rolled her eyes, thankful he was tall enough she couldn't see. "No. Actually, many people expected I would betroth him to Emmie. Still do, I believe." Pearl gave a sharp bark of laughter. "Well, our families have always been close, and they were friends when they were young. It makes sense to them."
"I'd imagine," she sighed.
"In truth, I wanted him to make his own choice. To follow his heart."
Pearl grinned up at him. "Not very commodorish of you. I believe there may be a hopeless romantic in you yet."
"Shh. Old family secret. Took Maggie nearly a year to make me see that. Don't tell."
"How fortunate for me. Maggie's done all the hard work."
"I believe in an odd way she may have known that."
"What makes you say that?"
He shrugged. "Some things she said." He pulled his arms tighter around Pearl. 'Please don't let me lose her too,' he sent a silent prayer out. 'Please.'
A call sounded, far away, barely reaching them from above. "Ship ho!"
Pearl sighed. "That'll be Marden. Right on time. Best get everyone else up." But she didn't move, and didn't release him so he could. "You should know, Edward, in case I don't get out of this in one piece." She paused, breathing deeply as if stealing herself against her better instincts. "I love you. Have always loved you."
He ran a hand over her cheek. "Thank you," he whispered, placing a kiss on top of her head. "I know that was hard for you. And I've always known."
Pearl shifted then, and he released her so she could stand up and stretch, carefully depositing the glaring cat back on the low bench. "You catch Emmie. I'll wake the rest."
He went to obey, gently shaking he girl awake. Pearl, for her part, moved around to Jack's side of the bed and rolled him the rest of the way off of the mattress. He landed with a thunk and a loud cry.
Will sat straight up on the cot, pulling the sword from its hiding place beneath the bunk and brandishing it at the unseen attacker.
Pearl chuckled at Will. "Well done. Excellent instincts, this one."
"Pearl!" Jack roared, regaining her attention. "Why the bloody hell did you roll me out of bed?"
"Marden's on the approach. We just heard the call. They'll want you up on deck."
"That's no bloody reason to drop me onto the bloody floor!"
Pearl shrugged. "I think it is. Up, Emmie."
"Do I have to?" she whined, burrowing further under the covers as her mother sat on the bed to pull on her boots. "Marden hates me."
"It's understandable, I suppose," Jack put in as he pulled himself off of the floor. "You are the daughter o' the woman he loves by another man."
"Marden doesn't love me," Pearl argued. "He's a pirate. He knows better."
"Sometimes even pirates let their hearts get away from them. Look at Bill," Jack said with a nod toward Will. "Asides, Emmie, I wouldn't worry on it. I imagine he'll have any hated he might have to spare focused directly on the man as branded him at their last meeting."
Norrington watched Jack with wide eyes. "He won't hold that against me, will he? Or Ethan?"
"Not to worry," Jack assured him. "He'll do what Pearl asks of him and no less." He pulled on his boots with a grunt as the others moved to finish getting dressed.
"Lizzie, Will, you don't have to come if you don't want to," Pearl said.
"Oh, no. I'd never miss that," Elizabeth said quickly. "You two always seem to have the most interesting conversations."
Pearl laughed at that. "Better watch your wife, Will. She might sail off to adventure on the high seas without you."
Will snorted. "I doubt that. Just having you and Jack come into town once in a while is more than enough adventure for any three people."
"Indeed. And with a husband pretty as you at home I can't imagine why you'd want to run off with some scurvy pirate," Pearl sighed.
"You'd best get that out of your system now," Jack remarked. "If Marden finds there are two men on this ship he has to compete with for your attentions he may well go mad."
"Will has Elizabeth," Emmie said. "The only person Marden has to worry about is my darling father."
"Emmie, dear, no one is worried about your father," Jack put in.
"Well, perhaps they should be," Norrington told him.
"Well, perhaps if the good Commodore spent less time worrying about who should and shouldn't be afraid of him and more time watching his son-"
"Enough, both of you!" Pearl said. "Up on deck, now!"
They grudgingly obeyed.
Author's Note: I am so sorry. I really am. I haven't updated in an incredibly long time, and I apologize for that. I've been really busy. I want to assure you all, short of me dying, nothing will stop me from finishing this. I hope to be done with it by December when I graduate but I've learned the hard way never to make promises where my stories are concerned. With two newspapers vying for my attention while going to school full time and working part time, things will continue to be crazy. But I will finish it. Please have faith in me. Please?