Eight Years Later

Eight year old Lily Rose Montel came running through the doors of the Montel manor, her blue eyes glistening with tears. She rushed past her mother in the sitting room, her dark brown hair flying behind her. Annabelle rose from her seat, setting down her tea, and followed the young girl to her room, whose door had been tightly shut. It seemed that she was crying more often than not these days. Despite her mother and mother in law's protests, Annabelle had enrolled both her children into public school, to be with children their own age. There had been many times in which both Lily and Joseph had become the targets of ridicule, the other children relaying rumours they'd heard their parents spouting.

The rumours were not totally without cause. The two children had grown up to posess an aquiline beauty, with high cheekbones and straight sloping noses. Though Joseph did get teased sometimes, he got a lot of attention from the young girls his age. Lily got the brunt of the taunting, because her skin had grown darker as she aged. At first it got no attention, because there were many Black Irish families around where they lived. But it began to look more Spanish with time, causing many people (mainly women), to comment and give the family scandalous looks whenever the Montels traveled to town.

Annabelle gently opened the door to Lily's bedroom, finding the girl face down on her bed, sobbing. She sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing Lily's back softly.

"What's the matter, dear?" she asked, feeling anger bubbling inside of her. Say what they like about her, but to attack her children was crossing the line.

"I hate school!" Lily cried into her pillow, sobs racking her body. "They're all so mean!"

"What did they do?" Annabelle pressed, gently lifting the girl and cradling her in her arms.

"M-Michael said t-that m-my Papa w-was a-a pirate!" Lily wailed, burying her face in her mother's chest. "He said I w-was dirty!"

"Michael McCaphrey, from up the hill?" Annabelle asked. "What would he know? Was he there when you were created?" It seemed that like his nosy mother, the young McCaphrey had a hard time knowing when to shut his mouth. Though the story of her birth father was true, there was no way in all of hell that she would let them know it. It was only a rumour to them anyway, who were they to perpetrate it further?

She brushed Lily's hair back from her face, looking into her blue eyes, much like her own.

"Don't listen to such stories, Lily. They're neither true nor kind. Keep your chin up, and ignore such idle lies. They'll do you no good."

"B-but-" Lily protested.

"I know they hurt, but they're only words. In the end, they only mean what you make them mean." Annabelle kissed her daughter's forehead, holding her tightly.

"And besides," Annabelle continued, smiling down at the girl. "You can prove that your Papa's not a pirate. He'll be coming home tomorrow."

"Really? I'll get to meet him?" Lily said excitedly, a smile lighting her face.

Annabelle nodded, hugging the girl. Though in all her life she'd never seen the man Annabelle had told her was her father, she had an idea of what he looked like based on her mother's stories, and a single portait done shortly after Joseph had been born. Jacob had been sent a letter as soon as Annabelle's second pregnancy had been confirmed. They'd been corresponding for months at a time, with long pauses in between. He'd been ecstatic, imploring Annabelle for details about the girl every day since her birth. He asked how Joseph had been growing, promising to begin teaching him how to fight when he returned. He'd even replied to a few short notes the children had written to him.

His last letter had been quite a surprise; it'd been a month since he'd given any word to his family. Annabelle had received it just a week before the expected arrival date, but wanted to keep it a secret. A pleasant surprise for the children.

"Come now," she said, taking Lily's hand and pulling her up. "it's nearly dinner time, let's go."

Lily rose from the bed, holding her mother's hand tightly, walking down stairs to the dining room. She sat down on the right of her mother, fidgetting restlessly with her napkin, causing a bit of chastising from Annabelle. Mary entered soon after, taking her seat on Annabelle's left. She'd been hired full time as a sort of nanny, and in truth, Annabelle cared too much to see her go. She smiled kindly at Lily, adjusting her napkin as well.

"Roisin should be along shortly," she said casually, going into a conversation with Lily about her day at school.

Roisin had come to the Montel manor to stay with her mother. She was a wonderful older role model for Lily, and until recently, a wonderful friend to Joseph. They'd become rather distant lately, spending more time apart. She followed her mother in arriving. Now sixteen, she was quite a beauty. Her long brown hair came down to the small of her back in light waves, and her green-brown eyes shone with intelligence and kindness. Her skin was soft and a dark peaches and cream complexion. She'd grown up to have an enviable figure as well. It was a wonder she wasn't married yet, though her mother was keen on finding her a husband as soon as she could.

She smiled at Annabelle and set herself down next to Lily. Both Mary and Annabelle noticed that her face was rather flushed.

"Where've you been, Missy?" Mary asked, a small smirk at the corner of her mouth.

"Nowhere," Roisin replied quickly, adjusting her napkin. "Just with friends."

"Would "friends" include Allan McColough?" her mother asked, the smirk becoming more pronounced as she looked at her daughter.

"No!" Roisin exclaimed, a bit too quickly.

"You might want to work on your lying skills, Roisin," Mary said calmly, winking at her very red faced daughter. Lily giggled softly, which prompted a withering look from the sixteen year old.

"Do you know where Joseph is?" Annabelle asked. Roisin shook her head.

"He'd better arrive soon. I told him to be home right after school." Annabelle muttered, her hands clasped together.

Just then, she heard the door open, and she sighed with relief. In came Charlie, Roisin's older brother and Mary's second oldest son, dragging Joseph by the elbow to the table. Her eldest, Logan, had been called to war, much like Jacob. Unfortunately, he was lost only a few months after he'd been shipped off.

"Gerroff me!" Joseph cried, pulling from the dark Irishman's grip. Charlie kindly let go, forcing the twelve year old into a seat next to Mary, across from Roisin. He refused to look at her.

"Found this young fella here tryin' to start a fight with Allan McColough down by the docks. Stupid boy, don't ya know to pick someone smaller than you if you're goin' to start a quarrel?" he ruffled the angry boy's hair before turning to leave. "G'night, all. Hannah and Bonnie send their love." he was referring to his wife, whom he'd married just a year before. They'd just recently had a daughter.

Annabelle nodded, and then turned to glare at Joseph.

"Young man, what have I told you about fighting?" she demanded, staring at the tousel haired boy, whom she could see now had a bruise forming on one of his high cheekbones.

"He's a git…" Joseph muttered, roughly adjusting his napkin as the cooks and maids came with the platters and began to fill goblets.

"No he's not," Roisin interjected, taking a sip from her goblet of water. "What do you know about him anyway?" she asked, looking at Joseph curiously. Annabelle could've sworn she saw some fear in her eyes as well.

"I know he's a stupid, thieving, ugly-"

"What's he stolen from you?" Roisin snapped, cutting him off.
Joseph said nothing, merely began cutting some meat for himself, his brown eyes steely. Lily giggled again, tickled pink as she began to put two and two together. Annabelle took the rather awkward silence to speak.

"Joseph," she said gently, keeping her tone careful so as to not have the wrong effect with the news. "your father's coming home tomorrow."

The boy looked up in surprise, the steely look having disappeared from his face. "Really? Mum, don't lie about this. For sure?"

"Yes," Annabelle nodded, smiling. "For sure."

The mood within the meal changed drastically, with happy talk of a coming home celebration. Annabelle fell asleep that night with nothing but happy and expectant thoughts for Jacob rushing through her mind.