Author's Note:
Hope I didn't give anyone a heart attack. If I did… I deeply apologize.
"Oh… Johnny!" An aged female voice –with a similar accent as John's- responded from the other end of the shotgun. The weapon was lowered to reveal a short elderly woman with grey hair and amber eyes. "Nearly stopped me heart lad…" She smiled up at John.
The group released the breaths they hadn't know that they had been holding as John knelt down to hug the older lady.
"Oh… An' yeh got some friends, too!" The old woman looked past John at the large group with a delighted smile. "Come in… come in!" She motioned for the group to enter the house with her. "Yeh 'ave gotta get outta the rain; it's almost dark out, come on!"
"Granny," the voice of a young man called from somewhere within the house as the group entered the front foyer, "I hope you're not letting in more travellers…"
A man with messy, dark brown hair and bright amber eyes entered the front foyer. He was dressed in a loose tawny shirt and black baggy trousers. His eyes widened as he looked upon John.
"Is that you, Johnny?" The young man asked rhetorically. "Man, it's been a while…"
"Now that's no way teh greet yer older brother, Jimbo!" The old woman accusingly poked the young man in his stomach.
"Pointing a gun in his face isn't nice either, Granny." The man retorted flatly.
The old woman shrugged. "These are dark days, lad… Pirates are roving about, can't be too careful, yeh know." She smiled as she casually slung the double-barrel shotgun over one shoulder and walked from the foyer into another room.
The young man -called Jimbo- sighed and looked at the group. "These all of your friends, Johnny?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Quite the entourage…" He looked over each face in turn and stopped on Rebecca's with a smile. "Ah, I see you've got yourself a girl, Johnny, it's about time."
Rebecca's face flushed a deep crimson as John smacked his younger brother on the back of his head and the rest of the escort tried to suppress their laughs.
"Mind yer mouth, Jimbo!" John cut in. "This is Lady Rebecca Clarke." He motioned to the still-blushing Rebecca.
"And the rest of them?" Jimbo raised an eyebrow.
"Her escort, yeh twit." John flattened his eyes.
"Ah…" Jimbo rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, 'bout that." He laughed half-heartedly. Then he cleared his throat and bowed formally. "Name's James Silver, milady… call me what you will."
Rebecca nodded. "Alright… and please, call me Rebecca."
"Are yeh boys goin' help out with the guests, or do I 'ave teh do everything in this house meself?" The elderly woman's voice called from one of the rooms in the large house.
John laughed heartily. "Thing's haven't changed much since I've been gone, huh?" He asked, not really expecting an answer.
Jimbo rolled his amber eyes at his older brother's comment and then he looked to the group. "Come along into the kitchen," he beckoned with a half-smile. "I imagine Granny will have dished out some supper for you already."
The group followed Jimbo and John through the homey rooms of the house, and were led into a vast steam-filled kitchen. The old woman was standing at a large stove, stirring a pot of bubbling stew.
"This'll warm all of yeh up." Granny smiled warmly as she began spooning ladlefuls of stew along a line of bowls.
The guests seated themselves around a large, round table that had enough chairs to serve their group twice over.
Jimbo and John then served the bowls of stew to the seated travellers as Granny stoked the fire within the stove to warm up the room.
Once the group finished their portions of hot food, they began asking for seconds.
"What is this, Mrs Silver?" Juanita enquired, after receiving her second helping of the food. "It's delicious!"
"Bonzabeast stew." Granny smiled warmly. "It's been in the family for quite a while."
"It's unlike anything I've ever sampled, Madame." Henry stated.
The older woman giggled bashfully. "I don't need any of this Madame or Mrs Silver balderdash…" She waved her hand. "Just call me Granny or Ethel."
Henry shrugged. "Likewise. It's very good."
The smile ceased to disappear from Ethel's wrinkled face as she turned away to tend to the fire as if out of instinct.
When each member of the group was too full of the Bonzabeast stew to eat anymore, Ethel and Jimbo began showing each guest to their appropriate rooms. It was apparent that the Silver family was a generous, hospitable bunch as their house had many extra guest rooms to provide for the travellers.
John led Rebecca up a set of spiralling steps while the rest of the group was settling down in their rooms. As much as Rebecca wanted to know where John was taking her, she trusted him enough to allow herself the ignorance.
The set of stairs ended as they walked down a narrow hallway. It became obvious that they were directly below the roof of the house as the ceiling was low and cut off at an angle. John pushed open the door of a room near the end of the hallway and motioned for Rebecca to follow him.
The young woman entered the room, noting that the ceiling in the room was much higher than in the hallways. It must've been part of a section of the roof that was higher that the rest of the house. Rebecca looked around the grand room.
There was a nostalgic appearance to the room, which reminded Rebecca of her own room back on Treaka. A canopy bed was in the centre of the room with a wardrobe to the right side of the room and vanity at the left side.
Rebecca was speechless as she looked around the room. A large window made up the far corner of the room with a small cushioned bench beside it.
The young woman walked up to the vanity and looked at the pictures lodged in the mirror's frame. There was one of a couple with their arms around each other -dressed in a style much older than that of the present era- but nonetheless smiling. Another photo was a small snapshot of two boys playing in the ocean, both smiling widely. The last photo was of a woman with prominent Ursa features who was dancing with a young man, their eyes were locked and they smiled at each other.
John stepped beside Rebecca, she saw his reflection in the mirror come up behind her, and he smiled at her warmly. "Don't suppose yeh'd recognize Granny when she was younger, if yeh'd look at her now…" He tapped at the woman in the first picture. "That's her an' Grandpa Jacob."
"Where is he now?" Rebecca looked up at John.
John sighed. "Died when I was a young lad…"
"Oh." Rebecca chewed on her bottom lip; she looked at the second picture and smiled. "I have a feeling that this is you and your brother." She pointed at the two boys.
John chuckled. "Yeah…" He shook his head as he recalled a childhood memory. "Me an' Jimbo were partners in crime…" He smiled. "Always getting into trouble."
Rebecca smiled, and then looked at the last picture. "Who's this?" She enquired.
"That's me dear mother an' me pap…" He looked down at the photo and smiled. "It was taken on their wedding day." John rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "But me ma died from complications of childbirth when she was having me younger sister… Neither of 'em made the night."
He turned away from the vanity and looked out the window. The rain continued to pound relentlessly against the windowpane.
"Me pap died in a carriage accident a few years later…" he continued, "It was during one of the hurricanes yeh see, an' his horse got scared an' led them off a cliff."
Rebecca could tell now by the strain in John's voice that this was a hard story for him to retell without becoming emotional. She quietly stepped beside the young man, looking out the window.
John let out a long sigh, composing himself as he cleared his throat. "Then Granny an' Grandpa Jacob raised me an' me brother…" He paused. "They're the last Silvers that I know of."
Rebecca silently wrapped her hand around John's, still watching the window. "I'm sorry." She whispered softly.
John looked down at the young woman who looked back up at him.
"I don't know what it's like to lose someone that close to me." Rebecca admitted with a shrug.
John gave Rebecca a half-smile, "I hope yeh never 'ave teh know what it's like, Rebecca…" he said softly, "'cause it's hard…"
The young man gently slipped out of Rebecca's grasp and walked towards the door.
John cleared his throat. "If there's anythin' yeh need, Rebecca, my room's beside this one –teh yer right- an' Granny's is at the end of the hall on the left." John smiled weakly and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Rebecca silently stared at the spot where John had been as she collected her thoughts. He had had a much harder life than she had expected. She inhaled slowly and grabbed her travel bag, and began readying herself for bed.
Author's Note:
Thanks to Whisperwings for betaing and thanks for all of your support (it's awesome)!
MG#6