Chapter 11

"I give up," Martha declared as she walked into the kitchen that morning.

"Morning, Martha," Carolyn greeted her, dryly. She was sat at the table reading the newspaper with the Captain sitting opposite her.

"Yes, yes, yes," she gave a dismissive wave.

"Something wrong," Carolyn asked.

"It's the kids. They won't get out of bed," the older woman grumbled. "I've tried everything," she said.

"Well," Carolyn smiled. "It is the start of winter. You know how excited they get, they don't want to miss a snow day."

"Snow?" the Captain furrowed his brow. "We haven't had so much as a single fleck of snow," he said. "Its quite mild too, so I doubt that we will for quite a while."

"Ah, but we might," she said and he scoffed.

"Nonsense," he bristled. "They cannot miss a day of school simply because it 'might' snow."

"Well, exactly," Carolyn agreed.

"Try telling them that," Martha said. "I did everything but throw a bucket of cold water on them!"

"Allow me to handle this, I'll have them floating down the stairs and into the galley before you can say 'six bells'," he said, confidently.

"They're all yours," Martha said, relieved. "And good luck to you, I say," she added.

"Very well," he nodded and stood up. "If you'll excuse me…Martha," he said and she waved the dish cloth at him with a quiet hum. "Carolyn," he then said.

"Daniel," she replied and then he vanished.

A moment later. Martha turned to Carolyn with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh-huh," Martha hummed with a hand on her hip as she regarded Carolyn. "And err…when did that happen?" she asked.

"When did what happen?" Carolyn asked, reining ignorance and barely looking up from the newspaper.

"'Daniel'?" the older woman clarified.

"Well, that's his name, isn't it?" she shrugged, trying to be nonchalant.

"Really? And here I was thinking it was 'Captain'."

Carolyn shot her an unamused look and pursed her lip. "We…came to an agreement," she said after a moment. "He's going to call me 'Carolyn' and I'm going to call him 'Daniel' and that's that," she shrugged.

"Uh-huh," Martha repeated.

"What?" Carolyn asked. "It's just…two adults agreeing to use each other's names. It's perfectly normal. Modern, even."

"Except he's about as modern as my dear old nanna and she was born around his time. And he's just as likely to change his ways as she was."

"Martha…"

"I know, I know," the older woman threw up her hands. "None of my business," she said. "But you ought to be careful, Mrs. Muir."

"Why? Because he's…"

"Dead," Martha finished for her.

"…Yes, I know."

"He's not just dead, though I'd say that's a big enough problem as it is. What I was going to say, was that he wasn't exactly a saint in his day."

"No…I know. He's not exactly made a secret of that. But if you mean he's like Bobby was then…"

"I didn't say that," Martha said, quickly. "Even if he is a ghost, I'll admit that the captain is a better man than he ever was…just don't tell him I said that."

"I won't," Carolyn smiled.

"Oh," Martha sighed, looking at the younger woman's expression. "I know that look. That look means trouble. I didn't think it was that serious," she said.

"There's nothing 'serious' about it," she protested, quickly. "We just agreed to call each other by name, there's really nothing to be worried about."

"Nothing at all?"

"Nothing."

"I see."

"What?" Carolyn asked, looking at Martha's expression of utter disbelief.

Martha walked over to the table and sat in the chair opposite Carolyn. "You know…whether you love him or not…it's not going to make anything easy."

"It was never going to be easy. And I never said the word 'love'," Carolyn replied.

"You didn't have to," Martha replied, dryly.

"I…"

"I'm not saying I blame you. He's not really my type, of course, but even I'll admit, he's not exactly difficult to look at," she chuckled.

"Well, I…"

"And it's not like he's got much competition out here, is it?"

"Martha…"

"And he's good with the kids too," Martha mused. "And they adore him as well. Not every man'd care about another woman's children that much even if he was sweet on her so I'll say that for him."

"Can I just…"

"And it's not like we'd ever need to worry about anyone breaking into the house anymore when he could just float them away or who knows what else? I guess it's just a shame he's a ghost and you two couldn't even do anything. I mean, after all, you've been alone for quite a while now and all the women he's erm, been friendly with, shall we say, he ought to know a thing or two about…"

"Martha!" Carolyn exclaimed and the other woman grinned at her.

"What?" she asked, innocently. "Oh, I know, I know; none of my business. But I've had my say and I'll leave you to it now," the older woman interrupted her and stood up again.

"Whooooaaaaaaa!" a loud cry from a young, high pitched voice sounded from upstairs. It was followed by another cry of surprise. "Arrrgghhhhh!"

"That'll be the kids," Martha declared. "They're definitely awake now," she smirked.

A few minutes later, the captain descended the stairs with the children floating behind him. Jonathan had his little arms crossed even as he floated and was trying to scowl even as he attempted not to smile at the fact that he was flying through the air.

When they went into the kitchen, the Captain lowered them carefully to their feet on the ground and turned to Martha.

"Martha, I believe a hearty breakfast is in order," he declared.

"Coming right up," she said, chuckling.

"Gee, Captain, that wasn't very neat," Jonathan scowled.

"Well, the floating through the house was kinda cool," Candy remarked and her brother nodded.

"Yeah, okay, it was," he admitted. "But it wasn't neat that you made us get outta bed," he added.

"Trim, lad, never neat," the captain corrected him. "And missing out on your education is neither 'neat' or 'trim'," he added. "You have some very little time to ready yourselves for school so I suggest that you make a start."

"But it said it'd snow today!" Candy said.

"Again, that is no reason to miss out on your lessons," he said.

"If it snows," Carolyn said in agreement. "We can have plenty of time to enjoy it when you get home."

"Blast," Jonathan sighed.

"Hey, Captain, can you make it snow?" Candy asked him. "I mean…not in a dream or anything, for real?"

"I've never tried," he said. "I suppose I could attempt to create a storm to blow in some cold winds and thus bring snow with them but it would have to be nearby already," he mused. "I could try," he shrugged.

"Yes!" Candy and Jonathan high fived.

"I said I could try," the captain emphasised. "I make no promise of succeeding, mind, but I can attempt it. If you go to school," he added.

"Blast," they both said at the same time.

"And with minimal fuss from here on in. You've made enough trouble for poor Martha today," he added.

"Blast," they repeated.

"Alright. That's quite enough 'blasting', for one morning," Carolyn rolled her eyes.

"Agreed," Martha said. She carried two bowls of porridge over to the table and set them down. "Now eat up and eat fast, or you'll be late," she said.

"What about pancakes?" Jonathan asked.

"No time," she insisted, unmoved by his childish pout. "If you hadn't wasted time lazing around in bed, I'd have had more time to make you pancakes rather than trying to wake you both up," she said.

"Bla…" he went to say but she stopped him.

"Don't say it," Martha said, quickly. "Now…eat."

Both children looked at one another and silently mouthed the word 'blast' before they began to eat their breakfast.

"I think you might've had a bad influence on them," Carolyn gave a small smile and turned to the captain.

"I, madam?" he asked, stunned. "I have only ever encouraged the pursuit of education. What could I possibly have done to…"

"Besides…wanting to pull them out of school in the first place, you mean?" she asked, dryly and he pursed his lip.

"Well, yes…besides that…and the school was not acting in their best interest at the time, so I can hardly be blamed," he said, defensively.

"Maybe, maybe not…but either way, they certainly didn't learn the word 'blast' from me."

"She's got you there, you old salt," Martha chuckled.

"Oh, blast," he grumbled.