Chapter 3

Dear Jack,

My name is

No, no, no that's not right you think. It was the start of about the 6th draft of your note and you couldn't get it right. Should you call him Jack anyway? Maybe Jack was only used by people who knew him well. Perhaps Captain Sparrow would be better. You scribble it out to see wether it looks any better on paper and decide that it was the best option, besides, mentioning his title might go down well.

Looking out the window, the sun is high in the sky. You had to hurry. If you were going to 'talk' to Jack then you had to leave soon. Most of the sailors in port either left in early morning of late afternoon. You hoped Jack left in the afternoon. You still had an hour walk ahead of you to get to the town. Quickly you scribble down a note to Jack and fold it in three before stuffing it down your bodice.

Scrambling up the last hill into town you get a clear view of the docks. Scanning for a ship that might fit the name 'Black Pearl' you run down the hill hoping to catch him. Hoping he hasn't already left, you find a sailor on the docks with a bottle of rum in his hand. Pulling out one of your notes of your bodice you hand it to the man with a sense of urgency. He stares oddly at you but you only usher him on to read the note. Obviously not a very literate person, it takes him a moment to work out what you asked of him.

"The Black Pearl?" He queries again giving you odd looks. "Why do you want to know where the Pearl is?" You don't have time for unnecessary questions and shoot the young man a sharp look. He seems to understand your urgency and ignores his question. "The Black Pearl be that ship out there." He points out into the harbour at a ship sailing out of the cove. Your face fell. He told you if you needed help to come to him and he leaves? A small tear runs out of your eyes but you rub it away before the sailor notices. The one person you thought might help you leaves straight after telling you he could? It seemed nobody would understand you, ever.

You make your way back to the town, the excited spring you had in your step just moments earlier vanished. What were you supposed to do now? You had nothing but what was in your bag and a few coins. You head into the nearest tavern and decide to get a drink. You never really intended on paying for your drink but decided to slip away when the biggest fight started. You sit alone at a table close to the bar watching the other patrons in their drunken states. Most of the time you just looked, never really seeing what they were doing but tonight you actually noticed what was happening.

A group of men playing cards at a nearby table were shouting and yelling at one of them. You suppose he was cheating and your gaze continued around the room. You watched as two men fought each other, a small, plump woman trying to break them apart. From across the bar you heard yells of 'She's mine' and 'Get off her and leave her alone you bastard'. Nobody even flinched at the words yelled but that was common practise in Tortuga. It happened every night. Although Tortuga could also be a really nice place, you just had to be in the right place at the right time. This was not the right time and certainly not the right place. Being the closest bar to the docks, The Faithful Bride was the rowdiest bar in town. Most sailors didn't want to have to walk too far in their drunken states so settled at the Bride.

You settle back in your chair and watch the rest of the town go at each other, lost in your own little world. A couple of hours go by and you watch as a group of what look like pirates come walking into the bar and jump at the hand placed on your shoulder. You turn to look at the bar keep and he is looking down at you with a stern expression on his face.

"Are ye payin' fer that drink missy? Or am I to find some other payment?" Well your plan had failed. You lingered for too long in the bar and now you had to pay for the drink. You pull the small pouch that held your coins out of your bag and emptied the contents into your hand. Only just enough for your drink. Damn it. Now you were broke. You sit there pondering what to do with your life now you were homeless and broke.

Leaning your elbows against the table, you cup your face in your hands and again you feel a tear fall down the side of your face. You hadn't been this unhappy since your parents were killed and now you felt terrible. The sides of the parchment itched annoyingly against your chest and you reached down your dress to pull them out. Immediately rubbing the area to relieve the itchiness earned yourself a couple of stares from men on the surrounding tables.

You stop rubbing when a man comes over to your table seating himself down next to you. He smelled strongly of alcohol. Probably one of the drunks who never leave you thought. He grins a slightly evil glare at you before reaching down into his pockets and drawing out a few coins. "Will that be enough lass?" he asks a questioning look in his eyes.

You immediately understood what the creep was trying to ask for and threw the remainder of your drink in his face. It was your last drink you could afford but hell it was worth it. The stunned look on the man's face would be etched in your mind forever and you know later on you will laugh at it. Right now though you felt incredibly insulted and moved away from him to another table.

The man moves away from your old table to rejoin his friends. As soon as he sits, a pretty blonde girl in a low cut dress moves over to him. A few well chosen words later and she's sitting in his lap, a free drink in front of her with the man ogling at her chest which is almost falling out of her dress. You watch the pair as she plays with a piece of the man's hair and he rubs a hand up and down her thigh. The pair eventually moves off only to be replaced by another two. He however has already had his fun, you conclude, as he places a few gold coins into the young girl's palm. She gets up and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek before moving off looking for her next victim.

Hmmm gold coins you think. You know it's not the best way to earn money but around Tortuga it is the best money you will get. You get up and follow the young girl out of the bar. She walks fairly quickly but you manage to keep up. She eventually leads you to a huge house with iron gates out the front. You have never noticed this house before. The large white house is edged with grey stone with large arch windows at the front. The wooden doors at the front have ornate carvings in them which are painted a pale blue. The front garden was not overly big but what space they had was made to look beautiful. Flowers and bushes that complimented each other lined the front of the house and the path down to the iron gates. Absolutely beautiful were the words that first sprang to mind.

You wait till the girl is inside before you nervously make your way up the front stairs. You tap the slightest of taps on the door but the door swings open as if you had knocked rather loudly. A short plump woman answers the door and as soon as she see's you her face falls. "Oh sweetie, here come inside. I'll take care of you." She grabs your arm and drags you inside and into a kitchen. She seats you down in a chair and before you look up again a steaming hot cup of tea sits in front of you as if she knew you were coming.

She sits across from you and stares at you. "Well aren't you going to tell me your name?" Her face lights up as if it a chat between a girl who just came home from a date and her best friend. You stay silent and avoid eye contact with you. "Ok then, if you don't want to tell me I will just call you ………. Hmm I don't know. Kaitlyn come in here!" She yells. Another young girl comes in. This one was wearing a pretty blue dress and her wavy brown hair was brushed neatly. You recognised her from somewhere but can't place her.

"What is it mother?" she sounds rather irritated at being called.

"Help me pick out a name for this lass." The girl doesn't even look at you and turns to walk out the door.

"Oh I don't know just call her Louisa. I always liked that name." She walked out the door and was gone. You sip at your tea when a voice from behind you startles you making you spill you drink. "By the way I'm going out now. Michael said he would meet me at the Bride."

The older lady turns back to you and gives you a broad smile. "Welcome to the house Louisa."

"That's all there is to it honey. It's really quite easy, especially when they're drunk." One of the girls from the house, Elora, had brought you down into the taverns and taught you everything you now know. You had been in the house for two months now and this was your first time 'out'. You made do before by doing simple chores around the house like cooking and cleaning, washing, the dishes and all sorts but now you felt you needed to contribute more to the house.

Nora, or Mother, as all the girls called her, had bought you three new dresses. The one you had on tonight was your favourite of the three. A dark burgundy silk fell right the way to the floor and cut across the shoulders with a pale cream lace to accentuate your bust. It was the most gorgeous dress you have ever worn and wish that you could have worn it under different circumstances.

Nora had said that tonight you could have your choice of men. You were glad of this but in Tortuga who was good enough to take your gift. You had always hoped that it would be someone you loved. Someone you had known forever and become good friends with before beginning the relationship and eventually giving yourself to him wholly. He would be handsome and kind and love you no matter what. When you let him take you he would be gentle and go as you pleased. You imagined it to be one of the most romantic times of your life.

You are snapped back to reality in an instant by some men pushing roughly past you. You give a disgruntled sigh and follow them into the bar looking around for a possible candidate. Every man in the tavern seems to be overly drunk, unshaven, dirty or smells bad. Most are dressed in clothes that have been torn and ripped by bar brawls they have been involved in. you walk towards the bar carefully looking at the men sitting at the tables, hoping to see someone decent.

One man catches your eye. He isn't the cutest guy in the bar but he sure stands out above the rest. He is quite drunk judging by his behaviour but he is a lot cleaner than the rest of the men despite his hair being messing and the dirt covering his jacket.

Deciding he is your guy you walk past lightly grazing your finger along his jaw line. You stare at him seductively over your shoulder and make your way to a table not too far away. You can feel his eyes on you the whole way and you know your plan has worked and soon after he has settled himself across from you at the table.

He hands you a mug of rum and you smile sweetly at him. He doesn't seem like other Tortugan men. He had a feel of honesty or decency about him. You don't dwell on it long and take a sip of rum. The warm liquid burns your throat and you cough and splutter in a very un-lady like fashion. He looks at your concerned but as soon as you're alright he begins laughing. Wiping off your mouth you join him in a small chuckle but it doesn't last long. Setting aside your drink you decide you had better get back to business. Mother wouldn't be too happy if you came home with no money on your first night. You had a gift and you needed to share it she had told you. The other girls had also said they had been paid large amounts for their first time so you hoped that you would get lucky like them too.

You find a use for the lace lining the top of your dress and seductively run your finger along it drawing his attention to the flesh of your breasts. Now the man's attention was completely numb you make a final move. Getting up you slide around the table and lean over him placing a chaste kiss upon his cheek while giving a nice view down your dress.

In a matter of moments you had your hand firmly held in his and he was leading you towards the stairs to the rooms upstairs. You pass Elora on your way up and she gives you a smile. "Nice work sweetie. You picked up a good one." She winks and goes back to lavishing her man with attention.

Your man pulls you up the stairs and you begin to feel butterflies in your stomach. Should you really do this? There are other ways to earn money apart from this. Besides this is nothing like you wanted it to be. On the other hand if you turned up back at the house with nothing, Mother would be angry and upset. You drown out the first thoughts and follow the man without hesitation.

You are lead into room 6 and as you enter the room you turn giving the man the opportunity to pull at the ribbons of your dress. Fortunately he takes that chance and tugs on the ribbons, pulling you towards him. You don't know what you would have done if he hadn't. Shrugging your dress off your shoulders you fiddle around with the clasps and buttons of the man's uniform taking note that it was part of a navy uniform. You thought it strange but try not to let conscious thoughts take over your mind and try to lose yourself in the moment so you wont, hopefully, remember much.

You tug the man's shirt over his head and stare in wonder at his beautiful body. You have never seen a man with no clothes on before and even though this one still had pants on you classed him as the most perfect man you have ever seen. Running your hands over his sculpted chest, you lean in and kiss him. His kisses are demanding and he pries your lips apart engaging your tongue in a battle. You let your dress slip to the floor, pooling in a heap and allow him to push you backwards and onto the bed.

Undoing the last ties of his pants, you push the man's pants off with your feet and come to terms with what you are about to do. You realise that while it wasn't quite what you had hoped it would be like, the man you had chosen was kind and gentle with you giving you hope for your future work.

Giving him one last look into his eyes, you give your approval to go ahead before giving yourself to the man above you. Your precious gift gone and never to return.

A/N: This chapter took me a while to write. I knew what I wanted to happen but couldn't find the right words. As it is I still don't think its right but I will fix that later. Time to get the rest of my plot bunnies running around. Hope you enjoyed the story so far and Chapter 4 is not long off.