Chapter 4: More Secrets Uncovered
Winnie paused a moment to regain her composure, and then she continued. "Your father and mother had been killed by pirates. The news was too much for me to take. Being that I was expecting a baby and trying to take care of you along with finding out my only sister was murdered, I sank into a deep depression. I stopped caring about everything, and I felt as if I couldn't take care of you along with my own children. Alphonse did what he thought was best. Without my knowing, he arranged for an English orphanage to take you. I was still so depressed up until the moment I held Nora for the first time. It was at that point that I realized what we had done. We moved to England in an attempt to find you, but the orphanage had closed down, and all of the children were sent to several different orphanages around England. I never forgave myself." At this point, tears were trickling down her face and she looked truly penitent.
"We were too ashamed to ever tell the truth about it all," Alphonse spoke up. "That's why we could never manage to tell you, Leonora. Your mother and I were afraid that you and your brother would resent us."
"And yet look at where it got you anyway," Nora choked out. "If ya just would 'a told me tha truth, I prob'ly wouldn't have run off like I did. And you even lied about why you moved to England. You always told us that Mum missed her home country 'nd wanted to move back."
Jake cleared his throat and attempted to speak, "Do you know anything about how…" he cleared his throat a second time, "how they died?"
"No, I'm afraid I don't know," Alphonse replied. "We only heard it from somebody who was passing through France at the time."
Winnie finally was able manage asking, "Is there anything, anything at all, that we can somehow make up for our wrongdoing?"
"If you've told me everything you can about my parents, then, not really," Jake shook his head.
Winnie thought for a moment, and sadly answered, "We never had the opportunity to meet your father. Charlotte was always so full of life, loving whatever adventure she could possibly imagine. She was also a very private person. The little amount of time I saw her after she became a pirate, I had asked her so many questions: like where she had been living or if she had enough money to live on, or who had taken Jake. She never responded to my questions with definite answers. I wish I could tell you more."
"There is one other thing, Winnie," Alphonse reminded her. "But he asked us to keep it a secret. Do you remember that old seaman that you were so fond of when you were younger, Nora?"
"Aye, Mr. Witherman. I still keep in touch with 'im. What about 'im?"
"Well, dear, he wasn't just an ordinary seaman. He was a pirate…on the same ship that Charlotte was first a part of."
Nora's jaw dropped. Even though she had known Witherman for almost half of her life, it never occurred to her that he could have been a pirate. "That makes so much sense now! No wonder he knew all about fightin'! I can't believe that the old man nevah told me!"
"I am so sorry we did not tell you any of this sooner, Nora," Winnie apologized. "Do you all have a place to stay the night? Please, feel free to stay here. Let me get all of you some refreshments or food. What would you like?"
"We would be fine with just some sandwiches and some water," Nora spoke up for everyone. "If you have any root beer, that would be wonderful too."
"I'll go right away!" Winnie rushed off to go get their refreshments.
Jake warned everyone of his plan: "We probably will only be staying tonight, and then tomorrow morning we'll be on our way to England to go talk to this Witherman."
Jake and his coterie experienced an immensely awkward dinner conversation with Nora's parents. They had all realized that nobody except Nora and Jake had been formally introduced. Once the rest of their names were known, things settled down easier. Nora was most often the one talking, trying to mention things that both pirate and upper-class would know about. After dinner, everyone quickly retired to their room in order to avoid any more uncomfortable conversations.
In the morning after breakfast, Jake and his coterie left the Aldridge household. They caught a carriage to the shore and got back to the Scarlett Ruby. Cutthroat Pitzel immediately turned the ship around and put her on course for Portsmouth, England, the city where Witherman lived.
They reached Portsmouth three days later. Again, Nora led the rest of the coterie and Jake to their destination. Alice the maid was surprised to see Nora back again so soon, but she welcomed them all into the house to wait for Mr. Witherman. The atmosphere in this house was far better than that of the Aldridges'. The house was much smaller, and it was decorated more like a ship than a house.
"I 'ad a feeling you would be comin' back to see me soon, Nora. 'Ello, there, ev'ryone. Why, you must be Jake; you look exactly like your father. You've gotta be Red-Eyed Beck, Jake's wife. Nora, you didn't mention that the little scallywag was born."
"His name is Christopher Jake," Becky said with admiration.
"And a fine baby he is. You, sir, are certainly Scully, the first mate." Witherman stopped at Mimosa and looked at him hard. "Not sure who this 'un is though. What's yer name?"
"Matthew Mimosa," he said as he shot Nora an insulted glance.
"Hmm, don't remember much 'bout you. Well, now that names are all out of the way, tell me why you all are 'ere."
"Well, Witherman, you sneaky old man," Nora winked, "we went to see my parents. They told me that you were a pirate on the same ship that Jake's mum was on! Why did you nevah tell me you knew 'er?"
"Ooh," Mr. Witherman exhaled as he sat in his chair. "So you finally found out. I wanted to make sure that you were ready for me to tell you. That, and you nevah asked me. I was tha second mate on the Seagull, and I answered to Cap'n Starky. Jake was a crewmate o' mine, and one day we picked up this man named Charlie. He was fast on 'is feet during fights, so he earned the nickname Quick-Foot Charlie. He acted strangely most of the time: he kept to 'imself, he always insisted on wearin' a hat and 'is voice was odd. Jake and Charlie would butt heads on occasion, but there was one time that they were really at each other's throats. The three of us were down in the hull sneakin' in some root beer. Jake grabbed Charlie's bot'le of root beer because he was claimin' to 'ave the best root beer he's ever tasted. Charlie was fumin' mad and started yellin'. A funny thing happened aftah that: his voice changed. It went immensely feminine. Jake knocked 'is hat off, and a mess o' hair tumbled out. She begged us to keep it a secret from the rest o' the crew. We tried the best we could, but ole Jake couldn't control his new-found affections for the woman.
"A few months later, we were fightin' with Cap'n Cranston Murdock, our cap'n's biggest enemy. Durin' the bat'le, Quick-Foot's hat was knocked off, so she was fightin' people off with nothin' hidin' her identity. Once the bat'le was over, Cap'n Starky kicked 'er off the ship; and Jake protested against it, tryin' to tell the cap'n that she was just as valuable as any man. Cap'n Starky hated when people went against what he said, so he sent 'em both off the ship and blackballed 'em from joining any other ship. I kept mah mouth shut through it all, but I kept in touch with Charlotte as much as I could. Whenever they needed help, I would hide 'em or give 'em stuff. The two o' 'em began takin' up the pastime o' stealin' valuable stuff from pirates. Well, one day they got too cocky and stole from Murdock. They stole a gold Incan llama statue, thought to possess the power to overcome the strongest of yer adversaries. And you, Jake, were actually born while they were runnin' from Murdock. I 'eard that Murdock had somehow taken Jake, but Charlotte was able to escape with you and hide the llama. She told me that she had written some sort'a code to remember where she hid it; never knew what happened to that though."
"I think I might know," Jake pulled out the letter from his mother and showed Witherman the last page. "I wasn't sure what it was at first, but if she hid that llama statue, this might just be the clues of how to find it. Do you think you could help me solve it?"
"I can take a stab at it." Mr. Witherman received the paper and looked it over. "This shouldn't be too hard," he said optimistically. "Quick-Foot Charlie, Jake, and I used to do these little puzzles all the time."