Book One - Chapter Five: Of Many Decisions

It was a long and trying while before Barbossa was able to return to Stone Chapel. When he walked through his door his wife ran to him, worried about the length of his absence. He was almost startled by the reception yet warmly embraced it. It would not last long, however. Being unable to speak of his journey just yet, he took a few days to relax and settle his mind on how he and his family were to live now. When he finally did tell his wife that he was now without employment, it was ill received.

"So that's it then? No final pay? No alternative position? No warning at all?" Victoria questioned her husband. "What are we to do, Hector? We have barely enough as it is and now we are to live on nothing? Have you so little care for your poor wife? And your daughter? Have you even thought of her? What's to become of her? Are we to put her on the street selling daisies like all the other little urchin children? Is that what you want? To see us in rags? Eating with the rats? Why must you do this to me? Had you no heart when you decided to take me on as your wife? Why would you do such a thing if you had intention of being a husband? Now we are destitute!"

Victoria always had a knack for melodrama, and Barbossa gave himself into it each time. This time, however, he was turned out of his own house, unable to return until he began to see decent wages again. He managed to find work on fishing rigs and from there was able to invest in his own dingy where he could begin his self-sufficient fishing trade. He would send money to his wife, waiting for the letter to arrive that said everything was well and that he was to be welcomed back home. That letter never did arrive.

One day, out of the blue, a familiar face immerged from the dockyard crowd.

"I'll be damned if it ain't Jack Sparrow!" Barbossa exclaimed.

It seemed as though the former captain was not there by accident. He charged quite quickly up to Barbossa upon seeing him there.

"What brings ya to these parts?" Barbossa inquired. "I thought you'd have been locked away or strung up by now."

Jack laughed heartedly, "Aye, they do try, don't they? I run my own agenda. Speaking of which, I have a proposition for you."

"A proposition? What kind of proposition?"

"A proposition of employment, to remedy the loss of the former one as best as I can offer, being now a convicted criminal and what have you," Jack Sparrow replied.

"I be very particular in my employment now, Mr. Sparrow," Barbossa said as politely as he could. "My circumstances are much altered now, as ye must imagine."

"Say no more," Jack Sparrow said using his hands to conduct his next words. "You and I are not so different. We are men of the world and know that the world demands money for us to be part of it. My proposition of employment is such that, if completed, you, my fine-weathered man, could be laughing in a tub of golden doubloons."

"And to what purpose does this proposition you mean to propose manage to produce that kind of profit?" Barbossa asked trying to mask his sincere interest.

Jack Sparrow titled his head having heard the unusual usage of alliteration but not fully understanding why it was there. In a very short moment he regained his focus and set to explain his plan.

"I have no employment, which equates to no money and no freedom. Any hopes for addressing these issues in a civil manner are lost, and I for one am quite content that they are. These men can live by their rules but in the end they all answer to one authority whose only interest is his own back pocket. I need my freedom back. I need to sail the seas of my own accord, reap the benefits of the work I do and not have to worry about authority. I have the means to achieve this, I have a ship and I have a plan, but what I need is a crew. You're a pure blooded seafarer if ever I met one, but you've got the means to think. Take my offer, sail under my colours, and be first mate, second in command of the whole bloody ship!"

"I'm not sure that I follow you," Barbossa said.

"Look, it's like this," Jack Sparrow said slowly, "I'm being given use of a ship, if I have a crew to work it, we can sail it as we like, creating our own profits as we see fit."

"I heard that part alright," Barbossa said, "but what you're pressing on is piracy."

Jack Sparrow grinned, "They wanted a pirate, Hector, is it so bad to let them have one? Think of the freedom? And as first mate, you'd be living in the lap of luxury in no time. No more deck swabbing or the like."

It was a difficult decision to make and Barbossa did not answer him right away. He asked for a few days to think it over. He was torn between what he deemed morally correct and what he felt he justly deserved. There was no justice in the life he was living, not even from his own family. Would his wife even care how he came about his money so long as he came home with it?

The decision was more easily made after unexpectedly seeing his wife and daughter walking along the pier. It seemed as though Victoria was seeing to some form of rendezvous or shopping. No matter the reason for the outing, Barbossa saw them both in their presentable dresses and layered petticoats, dawning bonnets which tucked away the curls that framed their beautiful faces. Little Amelia saw her father standing on the docks and her eyes widened and shone with joy. She stopped walking and cried out happily to her father, "Papa!" It was one of the sweetest sounds Barbossa had heard in a long time. He could see the desire his daughter had to rush out to him. As quickly as Amelia spoke her mother took hold of her hand firmly.

"Eyes forward, Amelia," Victoria rebuked her daughter.

Amelia did not understand why the man she knew to be her father could not be approached. At first she thought that her mother did not notice him and tried to explain to her mother that her father was actually there. Victoria simply hushed her child from saying such things that were untrue. Mrs. Barbossa had been living as though her husband was still out at sea, gaining the sympathies from those around her. Her pride would not allow her to reveal her husband, whom almost none of the neighbours had actually met.

Barbossa knew the distance his wife was keeping from him to be completely intentional. He knew his wife to be unfeeling although never so cruel as to deny him his daughter so blatantly. This was the first time that Barbossa realized that he now had nothing. He could get a new job, he could get a new ship, and he could even get himself a new woman. The only thing that he could not replace was his daughter. Having no means to get Amelia back into his life, he came to the conclusion that the only way to be able to stand a chance at retrieving her was by being in a position to provide for her. This in mind more than ever, Barbossa was reminded of his former captain's proposal. Could he enter a life of piracy? All that he had left to loose was his freedom should he be found out, but freedom was a luxury he had not known as a husband. At least at sea that freedom could be attained. With a ship and money Barbossa was certain that he could win back his daughter and hopefully his wife as well, although Victoria was drifting further and further away from that sweet young girl he had met those many years ago. Having now no real reason to reject the offer, Barossa met once more with his former captain, ready to follow him again.