The next morning when Esperanza woke up Jack had already left the cabin. His breakfast sat on the table, untouched. She looked out the window and noticed that they were already moving, leaving Tortuga behind.
Why had Jack left the cabin so early? Was He mad at her?
Questions swam in Esperanza's head as she rushed around the room getting dressed in one her simple dresses and brushing her hair into a long braid.
She had to get on deck and talk to him. If she was stuck with him for the rest of her days, she wasn't going to have him be mad at her.
She opened the door to find two crewmembers standing there looking at her "Morning Poppet" the fat one on the left said. She recognized his voice from the first day on the ship.
"You…" she squinted her eyes at him. She would have to deal with him later. She pushed past them.
"Excuse miss…I 'ont think you're supposed to leave this room" The tall scrawny one yelled after her. She paid not attention to him and continued her way on deck.
She rushed up the stairs to meet Jack at the wheel. He looked at her with confusion written all over his face "What are you doing here?"
"Are you mad at me?" she asked.
"What?" Jack asked, why was she asking him that? was he supossed to be mad at her? maybe she had done something that shoulc have angered him...but what?
"Are you mad at me? I mean you left the cabin early this morning and all and I just felt like I needed to apologize for my actions last night I shouldn't have run off. Jack please forgive me" she said all in one breath.
She seriously thought that he was mad at her? The only reason he'd left early this morning was because they were setting sail and he didn't think she would want to see him after all the trouble he put her through last night.
"Well luv, we all make mistakes now don't we? So lets just leave that in the past where it belongs and such" He said making her face light up instantly.
"Thank you Jack! I promise it shall never happen again" she said throwing her arms around his neck.
Jack wrapped his arms around her waist "Remember lass, it's Captain…now go back to the quarters."
She turned her head and gave him a kiss on the cheek before breaking her embrace "Aee Aee Captain" she gave him an exaggerated salute and made her way down the stairs.
Jack couldn't take his eyes off her as she made her way back to his cabin.
"Doesn't take much to make the lass happy, aey Capt'n?" Gibbs asked appearing next to him. Jack jumped in surprise and noticed that he had been holding his cheek with his hand and leaning on the wheel. He quickly regained his composure.
"Aye, one might say that sort of innocence is rare nowadays" Gibbs said walking off
After they had settled that out Esperanza and Jack fell back into their old routine, except Esperanza rarely left the room now. When they would make port Jack would come in the room and instruct her specifically not to leave, along with when he would return. He would never tell her where they were and she never bothered to ask, since it didn't affect her in any way. Sometimes he would return late at night with new trinkets from land. There were coins and medallions and hats from every place they made a stop at scattered throughout the room.
The days turned to weeks and those melted into months. Esperanza's eighteenth birthday came and went with no particular change in anything, although Jack did give her a new dress as a gift.
The late night talks picked up again, with no one paying attention to the subject, they were just focused on talking. Sometimes, when Esperanza got a hold of some of the rum, they were followed by signing or dancing or just excess laughing.
On one particular night of traveling there was a fierce storm outside that shook the pearl violently. Esperanza lay on the bed, fully awake, looking out the window. There was water crashing up against it and she could see lightning at the distance which was quickly followed by a loud roar.
She stood up, wrapping the blanket around herself and walked across the room over to Jack's hammock. She stood there above him for a long time, biting her tongue.
"What is it Luv?" he asked not even opening his eyes.
"Um…I'm scared Jack" Esperanza answered felling embarrassed and childish.
He opened his eyes to look up at her. She had his blanket tightly wrapped around her shoulders and her head was down. "The Pearl's a strong ship, she's held up to much more than this, Luv, nothing to be worried about" he said with a smile trying to reassure her.
She stood there for a minute and bit her bottom lip "I know…it's just that…well…I was wondering if…" she said timidly
Jack looked at her as she toyed with her hands "Go ahead" he said scooting over and closing his eyes. She sat down and the edge of the hammock next to him and swung her legs over. She used the blanket to cover them both and placed her head and her hand on his chest.
Esperanza found it strange how all the feelings of embarrasment soon vanished. She felt safe here snuggled against him, with the hammocks edges pulling them closer and with his scent of sea salt and rum filling her nostrils.
Jack put his arm over her and idly brushed his fingers through her soft hair trying to calm her down but still every time thunder shook the ship she would tense up. He had tried to avoid contact like this with her, and now he understood why. When she was this close it made him realize that he loved the feeling of her in his arms, she seemed to fit there perfectly. Most importantly she made him forget about Elizabeth, since he now had found someone new he wanted to be that good man for. The good man Elizabeth had swore he was on the inside.
As a good man, he had to do the right thing.
He held her tighter, almost like he would never let her go, when the knowledge finally sunk in that this was the last night he had with her.
I know it's short, but next one coming soon, and I promise that one will be much much longer...I just couldn't put them together.
I less than three you readers and reviewers.