Meg watched anxiously as Will bid farewell to his wife's parents. It meant that now it was her turn to do the same. As much as she dreaded the prospect, she knew it was time. She felt the tiniest twinge of jealousy towards Elizabeth's mother. She had been given the unheard of opportunity to meet her daughter's husband in the afterlife, and yet Meg would never have the chance to meet her son's wife. Her usual curiosity combined with a mother's protectiveness of her only child wanted to know this woman that Will had committed himself, without hesitation, to ten years of servitude just to return to. Meg trusted her son and felt confident that he had chosen wisely, but it still didn't remove the sting of knowing she would never know her daughter-in-law, Will's namesake, nor any other of their children yet to come.
Meg saw Will take two or three steps backwards from Josephine and Weatherby Swann before turning to head back towards her. His face lit up with a smile as brilliant as her own as soon as their eyes met. She immediately noticed a dramatic change in his demeanor. For the first time since they had been reunited she could tell that the cheerful little boy she had raised by herself was still alive and well within the normally somber looking man. He was happy – of that she was sure. Was it possible that he had found resolution for some unspoken issue that had been worrying him? To be honest, it didn't matter much to Meg now, just so long as Will could return to where he belonged. She was well aware that her lack of concern for what had gone on between Will and his in-laws was quite unlike her normal character. "Could it be that I've finally found my answers, accepted my fate and can now move on?
Will noticed his mother pat one of her pockets as she stood up to greet him. She had done that several times this evening. It wasn't until Josephine had given him the pearl earrings to give to Elizabeth that it occurred to him that perhaps Meg had something she wanted to send back too. She certainly hadn't owned any precious jewels. While they hadn't been destitute when Bill left them, they had never owned much more than they could carry. What few things he had taken with him when he left England had been lost in the pirate attack. The only things of value he had owned in Port Royal had been his tools and there was no way to even guess as to what had become of those.
"It's time, isn't it?" Meg asked him as he approached her. While she was doing her best to control the emotion in her voice she was afraid she was fighting a losing battle. She did not want Will to see her cry. She wanted this—his last memory of her—to be a happy one.
Will's smile retreated slightly as he nodded his head in confirmation. The sparkle in his eyes dimmed the tiniest bit, but did not vanish, as they had so many times before. He sat down on the bench and stretched his legs out in front of him and again gripped the edges of the bench. He stared at his well worn boots and chewed his lip as he tried to get up the courage to ask his mother a question that had long been bothering him and to decide exactly how to tell her goodbye. He had been so angry when she died, but it had been a child's anger at something he couldn't comprehend. Something made him think that she understood that his anger had not truly been directed towards her, but to the unfairness of being so young and left to fend for himself. He was torn between leaving his unnecessary but earnest apology unsaid, or chancing bringing up unhappy memories for them both. Although Meg had never told him, he knew the reason she was still tied to this place was because of her misplaced guilt at leaving him with no one to care for him. His father didn't even enter into the equation on that count.
Meg returned to her former position on the bench next to her son. She watched him sadly for a few moments. Her maternal instincts told her what was most likely on his mind, but she was unsure how to broach the topic. She wondered if it needed to be brought up at all. Their time was running short – there was no time to waste. She reached into her pocket and pulled out two small packages, each wrapped in a lace handkerchief.
"Will? I know these are not as costly as what Elizabeth's mother gave you, but I want you to have these," she said in a hushed voice.
Will turned to look her in the face, then at the two tiny bundles she held in her hand. He wrinkled his brow in confusion and curiosity. He couldn't imagine what she had. It belatedly occurred to him that whatever Josephine Swann and his own mother wanted to send back with him had to have been buried with them. He made no move to pick them up. It made him uncomfortable to think that both women had been laid to rest with something that they so very much wanted to pass along. It crossed his mind how potentially awkward it might be to explain to Elizabeth how he had come to be in possession of her mother's earrings and now Meg was trying to add to his dilemma.
"What are they?" he asked as his eyes again met his mother's.
Meg laid both gifts in her lap and considered which one to show him first. She decided on the slightly larger of the two, picked it up and handed it to him.
"Open it."
Will unfolded the handkerchief carefully. An unexpected memory of having seen these very same cloths wrapped around some treasured possessions of his mother's. He had never known what they were. He had searched for them after she died, but they had vanished. He assumed they had been lost, stolen, or long since sold off to buy food or clothing for them.
Carefully folded inside was a small silver brooch having two interlocking hearts topped by a crown. The piece was quite obviously not new, but it had been lovingly cared for by its owner. Will examined it closely. If he had ever seen it before, he had no memory of it.
"Do you know what it is?"
Will shook his head.
"It's called a Luckenbooth brooch. A groom gives it to his bride on their wedding day. It's supposed to represent everlasting love and friendship. You father gave that one to me when we married."
"Don't you want to keep it?"
"I had always intended to give it to you when you were older to give to your bride someday. I didn't exactly mean to bring it with me," she laughed. "You're also supposed to pin it on the shawl of your first born child–it wards off evil spirits or some such thing."
"It didn't work so well for me, did it?" Will replied with a sigh..
Meg sighed too as she glanced off into the distance. "You weren't my first born. We had another son before you; he was born too early and died after a few hours."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know."
Meg smiled at Will again. "Of course you didn't know. I can't imagine why I would ever have told you such a thing. Now – since I seem to have missed both your wedding and the birth of your eldest child by a few years I want you to take this and keep it safe. When William is old enough I want you to give it to him to give to his wife." Meg reached over with her right hand and closed Will's over the trinket. "Can you do that?"
"I will—although I'm having trouble imagining him being old enough to marry. He's still so young."
Meg's bright laughter echoed over the water. She reached up and put her left hand on her son's cheek as he turned his face back towards her from the treasure in his hand. Shaking her head she said, "Trust me. It's going to happen before you know it. I thought the same thing and now look. Just enjoy your children while they're young – they grow up too fast."
Will's smile faded again. "I know. I missed most of his childhood." The pain in his voice was also displayed on his face.
"You had no choice, you can't go back and change it, so put it out of your mind," Meg practically ordered. "Besides, I have a feeling you'll have the chance to learn all about the trials and tribulations of caring for an infant," she offered knowingly. "And that brings me to this," she announced as she pulled her hands back to pick up the other package. She looked at it for a moment before offering it to Will. She had to be very careful about explaining this gift. She did not know how much of what she knew of what the future held for the Turner family she could share. She hoped she had not inadvertently revealed too much of his future with her mention of children – plural and not just the son he already had.
Will reverently refolded the handkerchief around the brooch, and placed it carefully in his pocket with the earrings, before accepting the second parcel. He had assumed that whatever it was must have been smaller than the brooch, but he was surprised to find it to be heavier. He took a deep breath and slowly opened this package. Again, he found a piece of silver jewelry, but this time it was a small ringed cross pendant. Each arm of the cross was ornately cast with a pattern of endless knot work. The stone in the center looked to be a rough cut garnet. While the pendant itself was smaller than the brooch, the silver chain it was attached to gave it the added weight.
Will lifted the necklace and looked at it in the moonlight. The light reflected off the well rubbed silver and the garnet. The necklace too had been well cared for, but it still showed signs of its age.
"Thank you. Are you sure you don't want to keep them?"
"I've already told you no. Didn't I teach you to pay attention to what I say?" she said as she wrinkled her nose at him and smiled "I know they're not valuable, but they're all I have ever had to pass along."
"They don't have to be valuable to be precious to me. Did Bootstrap give this to you too?"
"Heavens no! That pendant has been in my family for generations. It has always been given to the first born girl child on her twelfth birthday. Don't ask me why twelve – I honestly don't know."
"But—" Will started to say before Meg cut him off.
"I know some of what lies ahead for you and Elizabeth, but I'm prohibited from telling you. Will you just trust me on this?" she pleaded.
Will leaned over and kissed his mother on the forehead. He would not have thought that anything could make him happier than the knowledge that he was going home, but Meg's insinuation that he and Elizabeth would have at least one more child showed him that was no set limit on how much joy someone could feel.
"Yes, and I think I shall name her after you." The huge grin from earlier had finally returned.
"Only if Elizabeth agrees. When it comes to bringing children into this world we women undoubtedly have the most invested in the process. If she wants another name, I suggest you let her have her way. I seem to recall something having been mentioned about a Josephine?"
Will began to laugh. "Elizabeth pretty much always gets her way. I'm just grateful that we always seem to want the same thing or I fear I may lose out."
Meg raised an eyebrow at her son. "That is NOT a proper way to talk about your wife!"
"I wish you could have met her," Will said seriously.
"As do I," Meg responded – the disappointment in her voice was easy to hear.
Meg noticed Will swallow hard. It was what he always did before he said something he either had been putting off or didn't want to have to say. This is it – this is farewell.
"Did you love him?" Will blurted out nearly so fast that Meg couldn't understand him.
"Pardon?" Meg was so startled by the question that she had no idea how to respond for the moment.
"Did you ever love my father?"
Meg noticed that he still never referred to her husband as just "father—" he was always Bill or Bootstrap or on rare occasions, like this one, my father. She was sure that Will was expecting a yes or no answer, but it wasn't quite that easy.
"I suppose at first I wouldn't have said I did. I cared for him, but the truth is that he needed a wife and he was the best of my options at the time. Besides, he was quite dashing in his day. You look very much like he did then," she said smiling at the memory. "As we got more comfortable with each other we grew to love each other in our own way. And then when he started getting the itch to return to life at sea things got…" Meg hesitated for a moment while she considered what to say. "They got difficult. We had moved to England. I knew no one there. He was gone longer and longer stretches at a time and I was left to take care of all of us by myself. I wasn't prepared for that. I'm afraid it made me very resentful and I took my anger out in places I regret. I died not knowing what had happened to him."
"And now?" Will tried to sound hopeful.
Meg smiled. "Yes, now I suppose we do love each other. It's just not the same as it is for you and Elizabeth. I'll still continue to come here and wait for him when he takes your place even though I'm no longer bound here."
Will's eyes opened wide at her last statement. He was surprised that she knew.
"He told me early on that was his plan. I think he believes he owes us both that, and I tend to agree." Meg glanced towards the Dutchman as she finished speaking and noticed the man they had been discussing standing at the railing. She knew what it meant. It was time for Will to go.
Will noticed her stare and also turned to look towards the boat. Once again, the conflicting emotions of elation at going home and sorrow at losing his mother again surfaced with a vengeance. He quickly folded the necklace back in its makeshift pouch, added it to the ever increasing collection in his pocket, stood up, and reached his hands out to his mother to help her up.
Meg declined his help. As soon as she was on her feet she reached up, put one hand on either side of his face, and held it as she had years before when she wanted to make sure he understood what she was telling him. "Will, you are my pride and joy. Any mother would have been proud to claim you as her son and even prouder to see the fine man you've become. Don't ever forget that I love you more than anything and that I'll always be watching out for you and your family. Take care of them. They are the most precious gift you will ever receive."
Will noticed his mother's barely concealed tears starting to well up in her eyes at last. He reached his arms around her and pulled her close for one last hug. As he released her, he bent down and kissed her on each cheek.
"I love you, mother," he whispered, as he took one final look at her, and turned to head back to his ship and, ultimately, his home.