Chapter 2 – New Beginnings
Evelyn walked slowly back towards home, letting her feet take her there while her mind wandered. She had never had so much on her mind at one time. All those what if questions were going to drive her crazy if she didn't figure out answers to them. What if they did not come back to the house? What if something happened to them while they were at sea? What would she do without her sisters if she lost them? She knew that this was just herself panicking but she had to shake all of those thoughts. It definitely would be good for them to get away and leave everything. She just could not make up her mind on what to do with all of their parent's stuff. They had not even gone into their parent's room for some odd reason. Maybe it was something they had to do before they left, but the more she thought about it the more taking care of it before they left sounded like a bad idea. It really tearing Karine and Jessica apart to be here so having to make them go through their parent's room would only make things worse. Right then and there Evelyn made up her mind on what they were going to do. She knew that if she had it all set that everything would come out in the end. They would leave as soon as the ship was ready to make sail and the house was taken care of. She only hoped that Karine and Jessica had taken care of what she had asked of them to do.
Jessica smiled to herself knowing that Evelyn would be very proud of them for taking care of the ship and making sure it was ready to go. All of their clothes had even been moved onto the ship so that they could even sleep on it tonight if they wanted to. It was getting far too late for them to set sail today even thought she knew her way by the stars, it still would not be best for them to leave at night knowing that they could use the light of day to practice and make sure they remembered how to run the ship. A loud thump sound came from behind her and she could hear someone grumble. She smiled as she turned around and saw Karine standing up and rubbing her butt.
"What did ye do?"
"I was trying to climb the rigging and this blasted skirt got in my way." Karine winced as she was still rubbing her sore butt.
"Are you daft, woman; ye have breeches, so wear them." Jessica gave a look to her sister that usually on Evelyn gave.
Karine just looked at her younger sister who was already in her breeches and was just walking around like she did not have a care in the world. Karine made sure to glare at her the whole time she untied her skirt from around her waist.
"Ye know that Evelyn is gonna laugh at us out here in our breeches," Karine stated.
"Nah cause as soon as she tries to climb the rigging she'll fall right just as ye did."
"Who's going to fall?" Came a voice from behind Jessica.
Jessica turned around to see Evelyn staring at her with her hands on her hips. Karine just smiled knowing full well that Jessica had gotten herself into this one and she had to get herself out of it. Jessica looked at Evelyn with a loss for words. Evelyn stood in front of her with a pair of white breeches, black top and a dark blue coat on. Neither sister had ever seen Evelyn dress like that and to see it on her now was just odd. Evelyn just stood there enjoying the fact that she had surprised her sisters. She finally figured they had suffered enough and they each of them a package wrapped in brown paper.
"Evy what is this? Karine asked.
"Open it and ye will see."
Both women immediately opened their packages to see what Evy had brought them. Jessica pulled out a light purple coat from her package with a darker purple top to match. Karine got even more excited as she saw what her sister had received so she opened hers. She pulled out an emerald green coat out with a white top to go under it. Both girls ran to hug their older sister to thank her for buying them such wonderful gifts. Karine had something up her sleeves as well that her sisters didn't know about.
"Wait right here I will be right back." She said to the both of them
Karine hurried down to the cargo hold of the ship to find the trunk that she had found earlier that day. Their father must have known that one day the girls would want to journey out in their boat so he made sure they were well equipped. Karine came back on deck carrying the trunk and set it down in front of them with a slight smile on her face.
"Dad must have known that we were going to need what is in this trunk."
Evelyn reached down and lifted the lid to find three long boxes inside along with the smaller ones. Each box had one of theirs names on it. Evelyn reached inside and gave out the boxes to her sisters. Jessica opened her biggest box first to find a rapier inside still in its sheath. Pulling it out she saw her name engraved in the hilt along with purple and blue gems. She sat there with the sword in her hands looking it over unable to believe that something like this was hers. Evelyn opened hers next pulling out a cutlass in its sheath. The hilt of her sword was covered in deep and light blue stones along with her name carved into it. Karine was the last to open her box finding a naval short sword inside. The hilt of her sword was decorated with green and red gems and her name. All three women looked at their swords and couldn't believe that their father had actually bought them for them. All three girls forgot about the other three boxes sitting there until Jessica looked down in front of her and saw it. Opening her box she found a simple pistol with only her name on it. Both Karine and Evelyn opened theirs to find pistols similar to hers except for their names. All three women sat there looking at the gifts their father had left them unable to believe that he had gone and thought ahead knowing that they would need them. Evelyn had been worried at first that going out into the sea without anything to protect them might not be safe but she did not want to buy anything at the market. Looking back into the trunk there was plenty of ammunition that they would need for their journey. This would make it easier on them, now if only they were all skilled in using them they would be set. Then she remembered something.
"Kary didn't Dad teach ye how to shoot a pistol and battle with a sword?" Evelyn asked.
"He did…" Karine's voice trailed off.
Karine did in fact know how to use both the sword and the pistol her father had given them, but this caused her to remember him and it hurt her. She had been so close to their father. All those times when he had wanted them to come outside with him Karine had been the only one. Evelyn preferred to stay inside and help mom while Jessica read her books. Karine had become quite well versed with the sword; in fact, she had actually managed to get Dad on his back once. But there was no way she could teach Evy and Jessica how to use it. It was far too painful for her. But if she did not teach them and they were attacked at sea Evelyn and Jessica would have to be protected rather than helping her. At that moment Karine knew she would have to push all her thoughts about their father into the back of her mind and teach her sisters how to shoot and wield a sword. Jessica looked and sister and knew she was deep in thought on whether or not she could teach her sisters how to defend themselves.
"I will teach ye two everything Dad taught me so that we can all be able to protect ourselves, but ye have to be willing to work with me. " Karine said with a stern look on her face.
Evelyn had only seen this look on Karine's face once before and she knew just by that look she was fighting a lot inside of herself and that she would do anything for her sisters. Both girls nodded and Karine's statement and was ready to take on anything that came their way.
"Alright then we will set sail tomorrow and take a nice little break from this place." Evelyn said as she stood up and place her weapons back into the trunk. "But for now we all need to get some sleep so we can be ready we need to leave as soon as the sun hits the sky in the morning."
"Aye mon captain" Both girls said mocking their older sister as they placed their weapons back in the chest.
Karine closed the chest and took it with her down below and stored it with the rest of the items they had. Making her way back to her room she smiled thinking how much fun it was going to be to get out and away from everything and she would be with her sisters. They had never done anything like this before so starting out on their own meant something to them. Maybe along the way they would learn more about themselves and perhaps meet plenty of new people. Karine hoped that they might even find certain men along the way. They were getting further up in age and none of them had been married or even thought about it so it was high time they did. Karine did not even mind if she married a sailor. She loved being out on the water and wouldn't mind spending her life out here. She felt free and felt as if nothing bad would ever happen. But as you know you can never say those words because something is always bound to happen when those words are said.