Chapter 36 – Any Port in a Storm
May 31, 1660

I awoke to darkness, the woman I had been sleeping with still tight against my front. In the distance I heard the roll of thunder and the overhead windows briefly lit with lightning so I decided against getting out of the comfortable and warm bed and instead tried to figure out whom I was sleeping with. I couldn't figure out much in the brief flashes of light, but I knew she had ample breasts with one in my left hand, having apparently slipped into place in the night. A light moan escaped her lips as I played with the boob, her bare butt pressing against my hardening cock and into the crack of her ass.

Another moan escaped her as I rolled her forward slightly to get better access where I began rubbing the tip of my cock against her womanhood. She was already slick, but the more I rubbed my cock against her the wetter she got. I tried several times to slip my cock into her, but either my angle was wrong or she was really tight.

"Seamus," I heard her breathe in a throaty whisper, almost making me stop as she wriggled slightly on the bed. I almost gasped in shock at the realization that this was Monica, though how or why she ended up naked in my bed was beyond me.

"Don't stop," she whined, her body pressing itself against mine. "Take me Seamus. I want you to take me."

I had a moment of realization that she was dreaming, and though I didn't know who Seamus was, realized she was having a very sexual dream. I had the brief thought to wake her, but decided that if she had climbed into my bed without a scrap of clothing, she had probably wanted this. Being asleep when I had gotten in had likely been back luck on her part, and since I hadn't want to get frisky when I came back hadn't disturbed her enough to wake her.

"Roll over, my pet," I whispered in her ear. With a whine, Monica rolled onto her back while I pulled my hand free. Lifting the covers, I slipped a leg between hers and began to move into position, trying to be careful to not wake the Irish lass. She didn't stir more than a moan as I spread her legs and positioned myself over her maidenhood.

"Aye, take me," she moaned as I rubbed my cock against her quivering pussy. Her legs pulled me towards her, and with nowhere to go, I put my cock against her maidenhood and pressed, her now sopping slit providing excellent lube. With a grunt and a soft shriek, I pressed the tip of my cock into her very tight pussy where I held it for a moment to allow her a moment to stretch as she took my large cock. She lay there, panting as her pussy shivered around my cock, seemingly on the verge an orgasm. With a slight pulling out, I shoved back in and broke through her hymen where she let out a loud shriek. The muscles of her legs pulled me in and held me as she orgasmed, her tight pussy milking my cock as I lay buried deep inside her.

"Oh God," she moaned as she wriggled a bit under me. "Is that all you?"

"Yep," I said, slightly moving in and out to stretch her tight cunt out to accommodate my rod.

"God," she gasped as I shoved deep in her again, the sound of her gasping filling my cabin. She tried several more times to say something, but every time she tried to speak I buried myself in her cunt as I pistoned deep inside her. Her tight cunt was quickly getting me off, and though we really couldn't see each other in the dark I could hear her pant and moan as I fucked her for the first time in her life.

It culminated in a second shriek as she climaxed again, her tight cunt spasming around my cock making me blow me cum as well. I buried myself deep in her with a grunt as I began firing cum deep in her twat, filling her with my baby making material. She lay there panting as she took it all, her muscles quivering from her second successive orgasm. I held myself deep in her for a long moment before my own muscles demanded respite and I pulled out to lay beside her and stare at the ceiling occasionally lit by flashes of light.

I lay there in the silence that followed, the storm growing louder outside but between cracks of thunder I thought I could hear Monica crying. Rolling over, I found the redheaded woman was indeed crying, having rolled away from me to curl up into a ball under the covers. I reached out a hand to her shoulder, but she flinched as my fingers brushed her skin.

"Monica?" I asked but she didn't respond. Sensing something wrong, I moved closer before reaching out and dragging her back from the edge of the bed.

"They said it would feel good," she cried as I held her close, her body heaving as she sobbed.

I shushed her and held her close, trying to give her some sense of security and comfort after her first time, light soon filtering in as some light finally filtered in through the clouds. I think she enjoyed it, soon relaxing and allowing her legs to stretch back out and mirror my spooned position before nature came calling. After a brief trip to the head, she followed me out into the wardroom where it seemed all the girls aboard sat on either chairs or the floor, their heads turning to look at us as we left.

Not us, but her I found out as a few of the girls quickly rose to embrace their spiritual sister as others came and joined her as well. Even Esmeralda and Hilda seeming a part of the sorority as they took their turns before they all filed down through the spiral staircase leading to the galley at the rear of the gun deck so they could stay dry as they retreated to leave me alone with Miss Clarion.

"Captain, I think we should have a word," she said as the last of the girls filed down the stairs. The only ones I didn't see were signed on as crew, and I had the feeling I was losing control.

"I think we should," I said as I gestured to sit. She did, taking one a nice rocking chair for herself while I sat in my preferred armchair. "I didn't figure for Monica to join your merry band."

"Monica has been...inquisitive...since our arrival last month but I think she's been rather...relunctant…" Clarion tried to say but I held up a hand.

"She's been curious about life without a husband and making her own way in the world," I said and Clarion nodded with a sigh as I cut the bush down to scare out the game. "Getting that letter yesterday just sealed her fate, so she decided to jump in head first."

"Yes, to all of it," Clarion admitted to me. "I had intended to talk with you about it, but your return was much later than I expected and so she decided to wait in your bed. I had figured she would talk to you about it."

"I wasn't in a talking mood when I found her," I said with a sigh and received a sharp look from Miss Clarion. "She was asleep by then, so I just went to bed and didn't wake or bother her until I woke up this morning. Even then, she was still asleep when I took her, only waking when I broke her. After that, there was little time for talking."

"Still, this is a warship and...hard...on us to be aboard," Miss Clarion told me. "Listening to the sound of the cannon brings back bad memories for each of us."

"My apologies," I told her as I winced at the thought of causing the girls distress.

"We can't stay aboard," she finally admitted to me. "I know you've been working on more permanent arrangements, for both yourself and us, but we need to make a change as you can."

"The next time we make port in Saint Martin, I'll either purchase a building for you and the girls or have one built," I promised her and she gave me a warm smile. "If I have one built, I'll have you and the girls give their ideas for making it more suited to your needs."

"Thank you," she said with a warm smile. "As our...benefactor...you'll continue to see many benefits of our continued association."

"As long as you continue to oversee their continuing operation, I see it becoming a profitable venture," I told her. "I would like to iterate that I don't want to ever see any of the girls denied the chance for a better future. If they can find a husband, let them go."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she said with a warm smile that grew quickly strained. "But what but the children? You can't expect women to...fornicate...daily and not be quick with child."

"Boys will have the easiest time," I mused as I thought it over. "Most will likely take to the sea as cabin boys and powder monkeys. Those that don't will likely join the town's guard for the governor who will likely accept them at my request, the rest past that can do whatever they wish. It's the girls that will give us the largest share of trouble."

"Not many as are tolerant of women as you," she said as she hung her head.

"There is a story I heard once, a young girl named Violet," I informed her as she looked at me. "Born to a very young mother, a prostitute and she was raised in a brothel."

"What became of her?" Miss Clarion asked me curiously.

"At the age of eleven, after her first bleeding and with no prospect of marriage, the brothel's madame sold her virginity off to the highest bidder," I said and Miss Clarion gasped as she looked horrified as I recounted the plot of Pretty Baby, a film I'd never seen and for damn good reason after finding out how its underage star was treated. "For some time, she lived as her mother taking clients to her bed every night until her mother found an older farmer that was willing to marry her. Violet was intitially left behind but her mother soon returned for her after hearing of the death of the brothel's madame to old age. There's more to it, but she was reunited with her mother but she never recovered from the wildness of her youth, which was the last I heard of her."

"Poor thing," she said as she heaved a sigh. "But that's what I was asking about. The girls are going to grow up and maybe...maybe they won't be desired. They may not find husbands."

"Then they too, when they are old enough to be sure in their choice, can make it on their own," I said as heaved my own sigh. "I wish they'd all find husbands, but I won't sell one ounce of their being against their will."

"Then we are most fortunate to have you as our benefactor," she said with a warm smile when steps on the stairs brought my attention to someone ascending the spiral staircase into the wardroom.

"Ah, I thought you might have been up," Colette said as she set a tray of food on the table. "I brought breakfast."

"Thank you, Colette," I said as Miss Clarion and I moved to the table to eat. After breakfast, I retrieved some paper and together designed the desired brothel. It was simplistic, essentially a large two story house with plenty of extra bedrooms where the living room would become the primary client meeting area. A set aside area in the back, essentially a military style barracks, would be where children would be housed until they decided their future.

According to Miss Clarion, there would be about eleven girls staying on with her, the others already making plans to abandon the life with my blessing and, after some quick thinking on my part, asked her to relay my need for a cleaning staff on my personal estate that would also be built at the same time or later, depending on how many builders were available. Miss Clarion assured me she would pass on the word and was sure I'd get a full crew for my home if not more before leaving me to rejoin the girls.

Alone, I picked up my guitar and picked my way through a few songs, passing the time as the rain poured on. Lunch was served by Linguini as the rain began to slack, and I figured it would blow itself out in the night. It wasn't until dinner that the rain ended and the sun again shone, my sleepy crew finally venturing out onto the deck to make her ship-shape and right any errors in the rigging so we could be on our way in the morning.

"Are ye alright?" I heard Monica asking as the Irish lass held Ella's hair as the blonde vomited up her meal.

"Comes and goes," Ella said as she rose from being leaned over the railing as I approached. "It's been getting better recently."

"Mind if I ask a few questions?" I asked her.

"Captain? Sure," she said, her fluster at being asked for permission temporarily throwing her.

"Any strange craving for foods or odd food combinations?" I asked her and she shrugged. "Going to the head more often, feeling tired more often or cramps?"

"Yes," she said as she suppressed a smile. "But I just had my monthly last month and not slept with anyone since, not even you."

"I'll bet it wasn't as bloody as it normally was," I said with a smile and she looked shocked at that. "You're pregnant, darling."

"Pregnant?" she gasped, and I nodded. "I don't think I'm ready to be a mother."

"Who is?" I told her as I gave her a smile. "Don't worry. You'll always have a place with me and your child will be cared for."

"Thank you," she said tearfully before stepping in and wrapping her arms around me. I returned the hug, glad to help ease her fears about the future and having the thought that she was carrying my child. She wasn't very sexual, or I hadn't heard of it anyway, and if she hadn't had sex with anyone but me then it limited it to a very few options.

"Besides, it's likely my child you're carrying," I told her and she nodded.

"Oh, it is," she said as she finally let me go. "Not been with anyone else but you."

"Did it hurt after the first time?" Monica asked her.

"Oh no," Ella responded with a smile as she took the question in stride before turning wistful. "That second time was so pleasurable I just wanted to keep going but I didn't want to get pregnant either. Lot of good that did me."

"Oh," Monica said as she shifted on her feet. "I need to get below and help Linguini peel those potatoes."

"Go right ahead," I told her as she pushed off and went below. That left me with Ella who, picked up a brush and began scraping the deck of salt and seaweed. With nothing left to add to the conversation, I went up to the poop deck and watched the sailors ready the Empress for the next day of sailing and clean the decks and arrange the lines.

It was time to head for my first fight with the Spanish, and I could only hope it went as well as my previous battles had been going but something in me told me I was fighting without a net now that I wasn't under the protection of Calypso. I kept telling myself I had a ship-of-the-line and it wouldn't matter, but Timon's warning of galleons being hard to take made me antsy but it was time to find out what I was made of and sail for war, come hell or high water.