Book Two - Chapter Twelve: The Rest of the Night in Shipwreck

Back in her cabin, Amelia spent a long time trying to figure out her captain. She was not alone in this. As the evening progressed, the captain discovered that he had been neglecting his drink. Hours had passed him by and he had hardly noticed. Jack was perfectly conscious, which was strange. Feeling unusually putout, the captain left the tavern.

The Roving Maid had a quite a few of men back aboard it. Most were already sleeping either in their hammocks or passed out in corners on the floor. The captain had to step over a few to get to his own room. He laid himself down but was still lost in thought - staring up at his ceiling, not even entirely sure what it was he was trying to sort out in his head. Though it was a few hours later, it hardly seemed as though Jack had been there for very long when a faint knock was heard at his door. The sound broke him out of his train of thought.

He sat up and said "Yes?" to whoever was on the other side of the door.

Slowly the door opened, revealing the young woman in the doorway. Jack rose up off of his bed and took a few steps forward. Amelia slowly let herself into the room and quietly shut the door behind her. Uncertainty overtook both of them.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything," she said humbly.

"No, not at all," her captain replied. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I've been thinking about what you said," she said slowly and unsurely.

Jack covered his face with his hand in shame. "Look, Amelia," he said, "I say a lot of things. Forget whatever I said."

"I know you say things, Jack. You say many things without thinking and many things that you never remember. I'm not sure if you even remember what you said this time - or if you even meant it - but it's been running through my head all night."

"Amelia, I wasn't trying to reprimand you," he tried to explain.

"So you do remember?"

Though he could not pin point the words that he said, Jack remembered the general nature of their last conversation and was very uncomfortable about addressing it. His added agitation confirmed Amelia's question.

"Jack, I know that your regard for me is not - to say the least - innocent. I also know that you're not proud of it. I may be the daughter of your first mate but I don't believe that that's why there's all of this tension," she said. "If you're uncertain of me, I just wanted to say, well, that you shouldn't be."

These last words caught Jack off guard.

"Amelia, it's not you I worry about - not as such, anyways," he confessed awkwardly. "I am not an honourable man. I can't be trusted to make vows or to keep them. I can't trust myself not to…" he paused at the idea of what he feared to reveal.

Amelia stepped in closer to him.

"I know, Jack," she said sweetly. She touched his arm. "And I know that I won't always be able to fight everyone off, but I'd rather you succeed than any other," she said.

"Amelia," he said, lips quivering.

She leaned in and kissed him. It was heartfelt and passionate. Jack melted into it. He put his arms around her and reciprocated the kiss.

Without letting her go, he said, "You don't know what you're asking, Amelia."

"That's why I wouldn't trust any other," she said, still in his tight embrace.

Jack took control of the next series of events. Amelia had been trembling since the first that she confronted him, but she did not expect him to be doing the same.

"You're trembling."

"I don't think that I've ever done this sober before," he confessed.

It was not enough to stop them. Both were a little frightened and entirely unsure of what they were now undertaking, but they were much too drawn together to keep apart now.

End of Book Two