A day and a half into the voyage, they'd had favorable winds and had already passed Navassa Island when they saw a Dutch merchant with her holds full of cargo. Jack and Gibbs conferred at the helm while Elizabeth and the crew watched anxiously from below. Finally Jack turned to them.
"Cotton, raise our colors," he snapped. "Marty! Send a shot across their bow. Elizabeth, send that baby below and arm yourself! Dad, you stay below with Auntie. Liz, I want you in a hat and trousers, just in case."
Teague, who had been taught from his mother's knee that there was only one captain of a ship, never even thought of arguing. He nodded smartly and took Agatha's arm to hurry her below. Elizabeth followed, holding Jacob.
"Aunt Agatha, I'll need you to look after Jacob for me." Agatha took the baby in her arms while Elizabeth hurried to the armory for a sword.
"They'll most likely see it's the Black Pearl and strike their colors," she came back and reassured her aunt, who nodded, looking pale.
Teague patted her shoulder. "'Struth, Ag'tha. It'll likely be fine."
"Elizabeth!" came echoing down the stairs.
"Coming!" she yelled back as she ran back up the main deck. She ducked into Jack's cabin long enough to tear off her dress, pull on her trousers and shirt, and stuff all her hair up into her hat. She slung on her baldric and sword, took a deep breath, and went back out.
The Pearl had sailed close enough so Elizabeth could see the captain and officers moving about on the deck. It was a Dutch ship, lying low in the water.
"Invite them to surrender, Gibbs," Jack ordered.
Gibbs cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted "Surrender and we'll spare ye!"
The Dutch conferred among themselves for another moment, then the captain snapped out an order and a crewman began lowering their flag.
Jack grinned. "That was easy."
Elizabeth went along with the boarding party. Jack divided them up—some to watch the officers on deck to make sure they didn't try anything foolhardy, and the rest to transfer cargo.
"Captain Sparrow, is it?" asked the other captain, a portly Dutchman with yellow sideburns and hardly a trace of Dutch in his accents.
"Aye, and who's askin'?" Jack wanted to know.
"Captain Jan de Vrees, at your service, sir."
The man was awfully respectful for someone being pillaged, but if he was at Jack's service already, well then… "What's your cargo, Captain?" Jack asked.
"Belgian lace and other textiles. Bales of fabric. Some livestock. A few spices. Not much gold. But we're also carrying passengers, sir, and I would like them to be safe."
"As would I, Captain, so let's hope they behave themselves, eh? Bring 'em up here and let's see 'em."
One of the faces was familiar.
"Philip? Is that you?"
"Jack!" the missionary exclaimed with a smile. He came over to shake hands. "How are you?"
"Never better! Glad to see you made it through that debacle at the Fountain," Jack replied with a smile. He had genuinely liked the clergyman. A thought struck him and he started to smile. Elizabeth popped her head back above decks for a moment to ask him a question, but he cut her off.
"Swann, you and Marty take charge of the cargo," he ordered Elizabeth. "This time we're only taking the drink, the spices, and the lace. Make sure the others don't take more'n that."
"Aye, sir," she replied like any sailor would have done, knowing that he was going to tease her later about how obedient she was. "Come on, Marty."
Jack raised his voice so that his crew as well as the other captain could hear him. "And the missionary," he added. "We'll take him as well."
"What?" the captain protested. "Whoever heard of press-ganging a missionary? You can't take the missionary!"
"Can, too. As it happens, I've need of a clergyman."
"Can't argue that," muttered the captain. "Desperate need, I'd say."
Jack grinned and clapped Philip on the back. "Let's go, Philip. You'll be safe, never fear."
The captain started to protest again, but Philip stopped him. "I'll go, Captain de Vrees. I must go where I'm needed."
"Cheers, mate," Jack said. "Come and meet my beloved Black Pearl. And my beloved."
After they returned to the Black Pearl and Elizabeth was overseeing stowing the cargo, Jack invited Philip into his cabin. "Come in, man. D'ye drink?" He held up a bottle of rum.
"I'll take a little," Philip replied, taking the chair that Jack motioned toward. Jack poured out a splash of rum into a glass and pushed it across the table to him.
"I owe you one for taking me off that Dutch ship," Philip said. "De Vrees is a decent bloke, but a bit high-maintenance for my tastes. Every time he gets a thought in his head that isn't about food, he thinks he's hearing directly from God, and has to consult with me about it for an hour or two."
Jack laughed. "You're welcome, then."
"So what did you need me for, Jack?" Philip asked. "Finally planning to convert?" He smiled.
"Haven't ruled it out forever, especially as I'm goin' all respectable now, but for right now I just want to get married. We were going to make your captain do it, but then I saw you and thought that'd do even better."
"Married? You?" Philip asked skeptically. Then he gasped in horror. "Dear God, please tell me it's not Angelica Teach!"
Jack recoiled and bared his teeth. "Most emphatically not Angelica," he growled. "Bitch tried to kill me, and when she couldn't do that, she went after my Elizabeth and her little baby son. Killed a whole village trying to get to them, and all."
"So Elizabeth is your intended?"
"Aye," Jack said with a fond smile.
"And is her baby yours?"
Jack scowled. "'Course not. I'd not dishonor her that way. She's a respectable lady. Daughter of a governor. Widowed."
Philip grinned and drank his rum. "Amazing. I'd never have pictured you the marrying type, especially a respectable widow with a baby!" He didn't mention the 'governor's daughter' part.
"Aye, well, ordinarily I'd agree with you, but 'Lizabeth is the exception to every rule. Been friends with her for years. We've been through death and life together. Quite literally, in fact, and in that order"
"Sounds like quite a lady. I look forward to meeting her."
"Soon as she finishes seeing to the cargo, she'll be in. She's a stickler for neatness and precision. She'll have the men stow the cargo so it's tidy and accessible as well as secure. Oh, and she'll have to sharpen her sword even if she didn't use it, or else she won't be able to sleep tonight. Lovely girl, but a bit on the compulsive side."
"What? She's here? On board your ship? With a sword?"
"Aye, of course. She's almost as good with it as I am. She even beat Angelica, you know."
Philip started laughing. "Why am I not surprised you'd want to marry a woman like that?"
"Here, what about you? What happened with your mermaid lady-friend? Last I saw her was when she brought me the chalices and then disappeared below again."
"Syrena saved my life. I'll never die by drowning," Philip told him. "She kissed me and healed my wound, but in the end it was too dangerous for us to be together so we said goodbye and parted."
"Dangerous? How?"
Philip shuddered. "She couldn't protect me completely from the rest of her kinswomen."
Jack frowned. "You mean she saved you, but her sisters tried to eat you?"
Philip nodded. "Tried very hard. I barely got away."
Jack gave him a sympathetic grimace and poured him another finger of rum.
There was a knock at the door. "Bet that's her," Jack said. "Come in, love."
Elizabeth came in, tugging off her hat and loosening her hair so it fell down around her shoulders again. "Cargo's all set," she said. "What's with calling me 'Swann'?"
"Couldn't very well call you Elizabeth, with all of de Vrees' crew looking on and thinking you're a boy, could I?"
"No, nor 'darling,' either, I suppose," Elizabeth replied, amused."I just hope you don't think I'm going to be that obedient all the time!"
"It's part of the wedding vows, love," Jack pointed out, an innocent expression crossing his face.
Elizabeth didn't buy his innocence. She gave him a sharp look. "Just so you understand that we're going to be equals in this, Jack. Whatever I have to promise you in public, you promise me in private, and vice versa. Savvy?"
Jack grinned. "Wouldn't have it any other way, darling. Wouldn't even expect it any other way, with you involved!"
Elizabeth nodded, satisfied, and looked at Philip. "You must be the clergyman that Jack kidnapped?"
"'Rescued,' love, 'rescued.' Just ask him," Jack corrected.
Philip smiled. "Captain de Vrees was not the most convenient of shipmates," he said diplomatically. "Philip Swift, at your service." Philip hesitated, never having met a woman in trousers before, apparently unsure whether to shake Elizabeth's hand or bow over it. Elizabeth made his decision easy by shaking his hand and then letting go, like another man would have done.
"Pleasure, Mr Swift. I assume Jack told you why he enacted your, uh, 'rescue'?" she asked.
"He did, though I'm still not sure if I believe him. Jack Sparrow, wanting to marry a respectable married lady with a baby? Daughter of a governor? And how does a governor's daughter come to be wearing trousers and a sword, and consorting with pirates? Come now, ma'am, you can tell me the truth."
Elizabeth smiled. "It's all true, actually. My father was Weatherby Swann, Governor of Port Royale—that is, he was until he was murdered by the East India Trading Company, who was earnestly trying to take over the whole Caribbean at that point. Jack and my husband, Will Turner, stopped them."
"Really?" Philip looked deeply interested. "I'd love to hear the whole story."
Elizabeth and Jack exchanged glances. "Not sure how much of it you'd be comfortable hearing, to be honest," Jack told him. "Bits of the story might not set well with what you believe, bein' supernatural and all."
Philip shrugged. "I worship an all-powerful God whom I cannot see, and when I had a crisis of faith, found my conviction fortified by a mermaid, of all things. I deal with the supernatural every day."
"Good point."
The two of them told Philip the story of Davy Jones, Calypso, and the East India Trading Company, not leaving out the murder of Will Turner and his subsequent taking over of the ship of the dead. Then Jack filled him in on the events since then, with Angelica and her massive attack on Shipwreck, Elizabeth's death, and his "sacrifice" to get her back.
"I can scarce credit your story," Philip admitted, "But the things I have had happen to me recently have taught me that anything can happen. Literally." He leaned back and looked at the two of them in silence for a few minutes.
Elizabeth was more businesslike in her manner and conversation. Where Jack used flowery words and grand gestures, she was to the point, and told a bare-bones, factual-sounding version of the story. She was just as cool and matter-of-fact about the fact that she loved Jack, talking freely about what close friends they had been, until a conversation with her deceased husband taught her to look deeper into the friendship and she had realized her love for the flamboyant pirate. She touched Jack often, just a quick brush of hands, nothing scandalous, but her expression when she touched him or caught his eye belied her cool manner—Philip just couldn't decide whether he was seeing affectionate warmth or just plain heat.
He looked to Jack for a moment. Philip could not believe the difference in Jack. Not just in looks, though he did look quite different with his hair and beard short and tidy; it was a difference in his whole manner. He seemed softer, somehow, more at ease, less defensive. He sat close to Elizabeth, with his arm around her shoulders, and often he would regard her for a moment or two with an expression of tender admiration.
They exchanged glances that Philip knew would be kisses if he weren't there, and he nodded to himself. These two knew each other very well, and they obviously loved each other more than many couples he had seen. On the surface, they had nothing in common—he, a pirate; she, a governor's daughter and a respectable widow—but after hearing their story he had to admit they had been through more together and complemented each other like few others he had ever seen. Elizabeth's insistence on their equality made sense to him now, as did Jack's claim that he wouldn't have it any other way. Philip somehow couldn't imagine Jack being satisfied with a traditional marriage or a traditional wife, but he seemed more than content with this extraordinary young widow and she with him. Yes; Philip would marry them.
As he watched Elizabeth reach over and stroke the back of Jack's head, making his eyes flutter closed as he moaned in appreciation, Philip chuckled to himself. Yes, he would marry them, and for their sake, he would marry them soon.
There was another knock at the door, and Jack opened it. "Oh, hello, Auntie!" he greeted. "I take it you survived all the excitement? Here, let me take the laddie," as he took Jacob out of her arms.
"Yes, I survived it, young man, but don't ever do that again!" she remonstrated.
Jack bounced Jacob in his arms and smiled at him. "You should tell Auntie it was your mum's idea," he told the baby, who grinned and grabbed Jack's nose. Jack, nose still held firmly by the baby, looked at Agatha. "It was the only way we could arrange to get married in time to accept the governor's offer!" he said innocently. "And look on the bright side, Auntie. We didn't even have to depend on a strange captain to do it. This here's my friend Philip Swift, a genuine, ordained, legitimate man of the cloth. Philip, Elizabeth's aunt, Agatha Ainsley-Swann," he introduced. "Now then, young Jake, let go me nose, eh?" He pried the little fingers off as Philip and Agatha exchanged greetings.
Jacob, ever the opportunist, let go of Jack's nose and went for his ear instead.
"That wasn't what I meant, young man," Jack scolded him, wincing as Jacob folded his ear over on itself.
Jacob grinned.
So did Philip, Agatha, and Elizabeth.
"Da!" Jacob squealed. "Da! Ma! Dak!"
"Aye, I'm plannin' to be yer Da, all right, soon's I've married yer Ma, and ye've almost got me name right," Jack said, tugging his ear free. "But it'll go a sight better for ye if ye refrain from maimin' me, lad. Here, try this instead." He handed Jacob the new marlinspike that he'd been carving out of a piece of bone, as he'd had to give his reindeer-bone marlinspike to Calypso along with his hair.
Jacob grabbed it and stuffed one end of it into his mouth.
"Just don't get toothmarks in it, eh? Or I won't be able to use it," Jack directed. He looked up to see all the others watching him with various degrees of amusement, surprise, and horror. "What? Any of you ever try to untie a knot when yer marlinspike keeps catchin' on the rope?"