Chapter Eighteen

"What would you say if I were to ask you to join me?"

"I would say that I highly doubt your crew would take well to a woman working aboard your ship."

"Then what would you say to being my wife?"

"So you're still here then." I turned my head to look at the man who had spoken to me, but I was unable to see him. Of course, this was no real surprise since he was one who did well to keep out of my sight for much of the day. "You were talking to yourself again."

"I apologize. I'm afraid my mind is no longer what it once was," I replied, dipping my hands into the bucket of water once more. "Be sure not to step on my clean floors," I warned as I wrung out my dirty rag into the dirty water. "I'm not in the mood to be washing them over again." He said nothing in reply, but I was sure he would do as he was told. After all, he was not one to question much of any thing. "Have you brought home something for our supper by chance?"

"You'll have to take what you can from the garden," he said. "I cannot afford the meat at the market, and it's too soon to be slaughtering the pigs."

"What about the chickens?" I asked while sitting back on my heels and wiping the sweat from my brow. "Surely there must be more than enough for laying eggs as it is."

"It would be too much for two people to eat," he insisted. "Make do with what we have." I only sighed in defeat, for I knew there would be no convincing the man as he was so stubborn. He was also cheap, far cheaper than any other I had ever met before. Even so, I thought him to be merciful if nothing else. "You look flushed."

I glanced up from my work to find my host standing over me with a cup of tea in his hand. I had learned early on that he was not a man to drink rum or any like beverage, yet I found myself wishing he was to keep from having to swallow his bitter brew day after day. However, I graciously accept it from him all the same before bringing myself to stand again.

He really was an impressive person to look at if only because of his height. Viento had been tall when compared to the likes of myself and the other women in his company, yet this man would have dwarfed him without the slightest effort on his part. He was also incredibly lean and fit, no doubt being capable of moving about in a very lithe manner should he need to, yet even this was not his most outstanding feature. No, I was quite sure that would be his face which, though he was little more than twenty and five years at best, was framed by his long and silver hair.

His features were sharp, having a very straight nose, high cheek bones, and an angled chin. It happened to be his eyes that captured the most of attention, however, for they were the most brilliant shade of violet I had ever known, but they were also very cold. Like the tip of the most perfect blade, they demanded absolute submission and obedience even from one such as I.

"Will you be needing anything else done, Mr. Williams?" I asked, my gaze never parting from his own despite the irony of his name. A name which still struck my heart if I was did not ready myself for the blow first. "As I'm quite sure you can see, the floors are almost finished, and dinner should not take me more than an hour or so to make."

"I will need to wash this day's clothing before night falls," he replied. "They are in need of cleaning as well as my bedding." I nodded in understanding, then drank what was left of my tea, and knelt back down onto the floor. "I will be putting away the horse and the stock."

My host did well to keep out of my sight once more while I carried out the rest of my duties. If it had not been for his clothes being laid out on the bed for me to wash, I would not have known he was there at all. A trait I found I particularly liked best about him, for it meant I was left without the feeling that I should speak with him, and yet I was unsure of what should and should not be said all the same.

It was Mr. Williams who had found me in the forest the night of my most desperate act. He had asked very little after I had told him that I had escaped from the pirates which attacked the manor of the admiral, and I was of the mind to think he truly believed me. Even with the chance of this being the case, however, I had also worked very hard to convince him that the shock had been so great as to keep my full memory of who I was before the terrible incident as a loss to me.

Thus why he had agreed to have me stay with him.

Life had not been easy, of course, being as I was often reminded of how I was at his mercy. He never said a word of this to me, yet I knew from his gaze and the way he spoke that I was to do only by his bidding. All the same, as much as I could assume, I was better off in his care than anyone else.

To be fair, Mr. Williams asked little of me. I was merely expected to keep the modest house clean and the garden tended to, and since he was not home every evening, I was only expected to feed myself more often than not. As for the livestock, he was always sure to take care of them on his own, so I never bothered to learn what had to be done out in the barn. Nor did he ask me to help in any way which assured me he felt there was no need for me to be there.

"Dinner is hot and ready for you," I said as the man came in the door once again. "I can promise you that I did well to remember to leave the carrots out this time." After the fit he had thrown a week before, I had grown wary of picking them at all. However, it did make me wonder why he troubled himself with planting them if he had no desire to eat them. "I do hope you like it," I continued. "I'm afraid I rarely cook with so little, so I'm unsure of how it will taste..."

"Then you've must've been a high born girl," he replied as his spoon dipped into the bowl. "I would've thought you would cook something that was not so hot given the weather."

"Forgive me," I apologized again. "I do not know many recipes for vegetable dishes." We said nothing more to one another at the table, and it was something I was more than grateful for. Though he was not a man to say much when he did speak, his tone was more often than not a stern one. My husband had always been open and easy to talk to, so the other's nature was a curiosity for me.

I mulled over these things as I worked at the laundry, yet I soon decided it would be better if I simply let it be for a time. I needed as much time as I could manage if I was to figure out how I was to redeem myself after what had to be my greatest failure. As long as I was out of sight, I could plan, and that was all that mattered to me at that moment.

"All black," I whispered, holding his shirt in my hands to inspect it for any remaining stains. "I wonder why that is."

"It masks the blood." I only stared at the man, yet when his expression did not falter even in the least bit, I knew it was the truth. "My work calls for it," he explained. "Wearing a white shirt would only be a waste."

"Well, that would explain why the water has turned such a curious color." He studied me then, no doubt asking himself how a woman could be so accepting of such knowledge, but I made no apologies. Even before William's execution, I had a peculiar way of seeing these things as nothing more than another way of life. "You should only be grateful that I thought to wash the linens first. It would do you very little good to have them stained."

"Would it trouble you if they were?" he asked as he walked past me. "As long as I have something to sleep on, it makes no difference to me. You would do well to feel the same while you stay here."

"Yes, Mr. Williams."

By the time the night had come to a close, I was sore and tired. It was not because of the work so much as it was about the way in which I was feeling watched- if not hunted. No matter how quiet Mr. Williams was even in his own home, I was unnerved by his presence all the same especially since he was so rarely about the place. It made my body stiff with an uncertain fear, and I was beginning to think that if I was to last being in hiding there, he would have to be out of the house as much as was possible.

"I do believe I will be turning in then," I announced after having made the man's bed for him as he sat mulling over his notes at a small table. "Will I be seeing you in the morning before you go, or are you leaving before dawn again?"

"I have a meeting to attend to in the town," he replied while sipping at yet another cup of tea. "There is no need for you to come with me."

Although I was curious as to why he would say such a thing when I had never suggested it to begin with, I knew better than to ask. If he wanted to tell me, he would, and I was not to say a thing until then. All I could do was to return to my chambers and put myself down to sleep. There really was nothing else I could do, and so I assured myself it was for the best that I make my way back to the far end of the house and leave him be.

My room was a modest one with only an open doorway, no windows, and a simple bed of straw. Even so, I was more than happy because I knew it was a stroke of luck being as it meant I was not expected to stay in the same room with Mr. Williams. After all, I had no real reason to fear him aside from his peculiar nature, but he was still a man.

"No telling what a man could do with me as I am," I mumbled to myself. While I was kept busy keeping the small farm, I still worked at my blade at every opportunity, yet I had not earned back my full strength. I was still weakened from my last encounter, and yet all I had to show for it was a cropped head of hair and a torn dress. "I should be thinking to buy a new one soon... but I doubt he would think of it as a mere fancy," I continued to think aloud. "Such a cheap man... though I suppose it's kept the roof over his head for this long."

Even after having lived with him for such an extended length of time, I was still unsure of what he did for work, yet I decided that, like so many things, it was too soon for me to ask any pressing questions. I would simply have to wait for the right moment to risk digging any deeper. However, my priorities remained the same as they always had from the very beginning of my life as the Widow Lourne.

I had to bring William justice. I had to...