His hands slid down and grabbed me by the waist, then pulled me on top of him with ease. Even in his weak and wounded state, my burly pirate king had no problem taking what was his.
I leaned down and kissed him, then smiled. It was time to share the news that I’d been protecting for so long. “Henry,” I whispered excitedly. “I have a surprise for you.”
I felt his calloused fingers caressing the skin of my back. “There’s no better gift than the one I hold right here, Dianna, my savior.”
I reached behind and took his hands in mine, guiding them to my front and turning his palms to face my belly, pressing them there. “Are you sure?”
He appeared confused at first and then I could see the pieces of the puzzle slowly fall into place in his mind. I’m sure if his eyes could open they’d be sparkling, for tears poured from them, regardless. “You’re with child?”
I beamed. “Yes.”
“We’re… we’re going to have a baby?” His words were strained behind the tears.
I leaned down and kissed his face, touched my lips to the wetness of his cheeks. “Yes, Henry. You’re going to be a father.”
He shot up from the bed and grabbed my hips, flipping me over on my back and hovered above. “How did the heavens see fit to make me so lucky?”
“Luck has nothing to do with it,” I assured him and ran my fingers through his straggly blonde hair. I’d missed those golden locks and I prayed our child inherited them. His face turned and cupped his mouth in my palm, placing a long and gentle kiss there. Suddenly, his arms began to shake, and his head swayed.
“Are you alright?” His left arm buckled, and he collapsed at my side. “Jesus, Henry!”
“I’m fine, just dizzy. I haven’t eaten in days.”
I propped myself up to examine him. “And the blood loss, I imagine.” I stuck a leg over his torso to crawl out of bed. “I’ll get you some food.”
His trembling fingers grabbed hold of my thighs. “Wait, I’m dizzy not dying, woman.” Henry situated me across his hips, so my legs straddled his sides and I could feel the warmth of his erection growing underneath me. “I may not have the strength to hold myself up, but I will always possess the ability to make love to you, Dianna.”
I felt his forehead for fever. There was none. “Are you sure? Maybe we should eat first?”
“I’ll feast on the divine beast before me and have my fill,” he replied, driving his hips upward.
I couldn’t help but grin and leaned over to touch my lips to his, breathing in the scent of this glorious man, and tightening my grip on those driving hips. “Lay back and relax, sailor. I’ll take over from here.”
***
I walked the length of The Queen, taking in the beauty of my ship in the crisp mid-morning sun. Finn stood at the wheel as he monitored the crew. I headed over to say good morning.
“More like good afternoon,” he replied and threw me a wink. “the day’s half gone, captain.”
I laughed. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Of course, anythin’.”
“Can you fetch me a pail of seawater?”
His brow creased. “Sure. For what?”
“It’s the coldest thing I can get aboard the ship for Henry’s face, and the salt should help reduce the swelling, too.”
“Aye, ye and yer magic,” he replied cheekily.
I laughed again and turn to leave. The young deckhands that Gus hired worked away, checking the sails, hauling ropes, and swabbing areas of the deck. They paused and smiled at me as I passed. I tried not to react bashfully when they greeted me as captain. It was a title I was determined to get used to.
I found the ladder and made my way down to the lower deck where the heavy aroma of breakfast still hung in the air. The mess deck was so much bigger than the one we had aboard The Devil’s Heart and I felt bad that we didn’t have the crew to fill it. But I had to remind myself that we had all we needed. Keep our circle small and our problems smaller. I easily found the kitchen and entered through the swinging doors to a startled Lottie and Gus. They’d been standing quite close to one another and quickly broke away with my arrival.
I pretended to see nothing out of the ordinary. “Is there any breakfast left?”
“Good morning, captain,” Lottie replied, her cheeks flushed with blood. “Um, yes. We had eggs and toast. I can prepare a tray and bring it up to you if you like.”
I tipped my head and arched an eyebrow. “Lottie, please, just call me Dianna. This is ridiculous.”
“Um, alright, if you’re sure,” she replied.
“Yes, God, yes.” Then, with a second thought, I added, “I mean, maybe not in front of the new deckhands. But otherwise, I’m Dianna. We’re friends. Please.”
“You have no worries about them boys, captain,” Gus chimed in. “I scooped them up young for a reason. They’re more trustworthy than an old sea dog. They’ll be loyal, through and through. I’ll see to it.”
I smiled and nodded. “I have no doubt.”
An awkward silence made its way around the room and I could tell Gus wasn’t sure if he should leave or not.
“Um, Lottie, you can just throw everything on a tray and I can take it back with me,” I told her.
“Oh, sure.” She began to scuttle around like a busy bee. I’d never seen her so nervous.
Gus stepped closer. “How’s he doing today?”
“Much better. I cleaned his wounds the best I could. They don’t look infected, so that’s a bonus. He just needs time to heal and regain his strength. Apparently, he hasn’t eaten in days.”
“Henry’s strong,” Gus said. “I’ve never seen anyone built like him in my life.”
“I know.” I shook my head in awe. “What he’s been through, not just recently but in his life, that woman…” It made me sick to even think the horrid thoughts.
Gus nodded in agreement, knowing exactly what I tried to convey. “He should be all kinds of messed up, shouldn’t he?”
“Yeah, but he’s not. How can that be?”
“He was headin’ down that road,” Gus informed me. “I saw it. Every day, he retreated further and further into the dark room in his mind.” He inhaled deeply and leaned against the counter. “Then you came in like the wind and blew the door open. Made him smile. Made him feel loved. It’s a good thing.”
“Aww Gus, you ol’ softie,” I patted his arm, “you can have that, too, you know?” I made eyes in Lottie’s direction over by the stove and laughed at how I made the otherwise grumpy pirate blush.
Lottie came over to us then, tray in hand. “Here you go. The eggs are cold, but the tea is hot.”
I took the heavy tray and thanked her, giving Gus a cheeky wink before heading back up to my quarters. I grabbed the small bucket of freezing sea water from Finn along the way, looping the handle over my arm as I juggled everything. I had to set the tray down on the deck outside my door so I could turn the knob, but I was soon in the quiet of my quarters and alone with Henry.
He stirred in the bed and turned to face me. “Dianna?”
“Yes, it’s me,” I told him and dipped a fresh cloth in the ice water. “I’ve got something to help your face.”
“Is it your warm bosom?” he joked.
I let a grin spread across my face. God, I had missed him so much. I still couldn’t believe I had him back.
“You wish,” I kidded. “Now, lay back. It’s going to be cold, but it’ll speed up the healing process and bring down your swelling. If it works, you should be able to open your eyes soon.” I laid the cold, salted cloth across his puffy eyes and he tried to stifle a wince. “Sorry, the salt in the water is going to sting your wounds a little.”
I rested my bottom on the edge of the bed and gently scratched his golden scruff with my fingertips. I missed the feel of it. Henry turned his face toward my palm and kissed it, sending goosebumps trailing up my arm. It still felt surreal, that he was even there. Alive and in my bed.
“How is everyone?” he asked.
“Good,” I replied and checked the cloth. It had already lost most of its chill, so I wrung it out in the ice water again. “We have a small crew, but enough to keep us sailing. Finn said he’s steering us to a small inlet over near Cupers Cove so we can lie low for a while. We’ve got plenty of food and supplies.”
“You’re quite the captain,” Henry told me with a sly grin.
“Hardly,” I replied and grabbed a plate of scrambled eggs. “Here, open up.” I fed him a few bites and listened to his moans of delight at the taste of food on his tongue. “I can’t believe she was starving you.”
“Dianna, listen to me,” Henry said, a serious tone carrying his words. “I don’t want you to worry about what may or may not have been done to me. It’s over. You saved me, in more ways than I can count. There is nothing that woman can do to me, now or ever, that would be worse than the thought of losing you. I see that now.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I watched you tear through the threads of time and disappear before my eyes, a part of me died.” I caught his swollen and cracked bottom lip tremble as he spoke, and I wanted to cry. “She beat me, day after day. Tried to pry information from my mind through starvation, taunting, threats. But I could endure it all. No matter what she did, it could never reach that dead part of my soul.”
I was almost afraid to ask, but I did. “What… what information was she prying for?”
He sighed thoughtfully. “Give me some more of those eggs, would you?”
“Henry.”
His expression morphed into a frown. “Dianna, think about it. We all witnessed what happened to you.”
I thought for a second. Then the answer came to life and unfolded in my mind. I knew then what he meant. “She was trying to figure out who I am, wasn’t she?”
“Yes,” he replied reluctantly, then added before opening his mouth, “Eggs, please.”
“What did you tell her?”
“This cloth is warm again,” he said, trying to distract me.
I let out an exaggerated sigh, soaked it in the ice water and wrung it out before placing it back over his eyes. “Tell me. Should I be concerned?”
Henry sat up, the cloth falling from his face, and he felt for my hands. “I would never let any harm come to you, Dianna. Do you understand? I would protect you and our child with my body and my life before I ever let Maria Cobham lay a hand on you.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “That sounds like I should be concerned.” Henry squeezed my hands and I could sense his worry. “Shit. What did you tell her?”
“Nothing at first,” he replied. “But then… she manipulated the information from me. I didn’t even understand what it was she was after until it was too late. I was just trying to protect your honor–”
“Henry! My God, just tell me!” My worry quickly grew to fear, and I suddenly knew we weren’t safe like I’d thought. We never would be as long as she roamed the same Earth as us.
“Dianna,” Henry spoke softly, carefully. “How much do you know about your mother?”
I tried to hide the shock I felt at the mention of my mom. What did she have to do with any of it?
“I don’t know,” I shrugged and searched my brain for answers, “she was from the past, she time travelled by accident like I did, only she went to the future and met my dad. They fell in love and had me. She decided to stay in the future with us and then drowned when I was in my teens.”
“How did you find out this information?” he asked.
I felt more and more uneasy and my words became a whisper. “Her journal.”
“Did it happen to mention what year she came to the future from?”
I thought for a moment. “No, it didn’t. Why? Henry, what the Hell is going on?”
“Please don’t be upset with me, but I don’t think your mother drowned, Dianna.”
Tears welled in my eyes and my throat went dry. “W-what? How can you say that?”
“I have reason to believe she may have come to your father from sometime in the late 1600s and that she went back, she’d found a way.”
I stood up from the bed, head shaking in disbelief. But I couldn’t help but remember how I’d gotten back to the past myself. If I didn’t leave a note for Aunt Mary, my disappearance would have looked like a drowning.
“No, no…why would you think that? What did Maria tell you?”
Tears streamed down my face then. My mother’s death and disappearance was something I’d put to rest years ago. But talking about her like this… it was like the pain from a fresh wound.
“Because when I finally spoke your name she went mad, more than her usual insane self,” Henry told me, his sightless face following the sound of my pacing footsteps around the room. “And afterward, she lost all interest in me. She became obsessed with this new plan. Details, maps, gathering supplies for a long trip. I could tell Eric was growing tired of her.”
“Where was she going?”
“Back to England,” he replied, a strange sadness in his tone, “to find and kill her mother, a woman who Maria claimed never truly loved her. I’d heard rumors over the years that Maria’s mother was a cold woman, was partly to blame for the path of darkness Maria had been pushed down.” He paused and patted the blanket next to him. “Dianna, come and sit, please.”
“Who’s her mother? What does that have to do with me and my mother?”
“Dianna–”
“Henry!” I shrieked, hot tears of desperation pouring down my face. I was sure I already knew the answer, but I needed him to say it. I needed to hear it for the words to ring true.
“Maria’s mother’s name was… is Constance Cobham.”
I began to back away, mouth gaping as a silent cry choked from my body.
“Maria Cobham isn’t your ancestor,” Henry continued. His words like nails in my coffin. “She’s your sister.”
Chapter Fourteen
Awhile later, we sat on the cold floor of my quarters, Henry’s long arms wrapped around me consolingly. I’d thrown a world class fit upon learning the news of mine and Maria’s true connection. The reason why we looked so similar. The sense of recognition I felt in her presence.
She was my sister.
But I’d processed that information much faster than the second realization Henry bestowed upon me. My mom wasn’t dead. All this time, she hadn’t drowned in the sea by our home in Rocky Harbour. No, she’d used the lore of magic to call the siren and go back to where she came from. She willingly left me. But even that wasn’t the part I struggled so hard with.
My sweet, caring, loving mother raised Maria, the scourge of the earth. She could very well have been the reason Maria Cobham became what she is and a part of me simply couldn’t believe it. There had to be more to the story. I had to get to the bottom of it.
“I’m sorry,” I muttered and wiped the snotty tears from my face as I pried my cheek off Henry’s bare chest.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Dianna,” he assured me. “And, honestly, I’m not sure how I didn’t piece it together myself. I knew Maria’s mother’s name this whole time, but my mind never connected the dots.”
I wrapped the wool blanket around my shoulders as I stood and then helped Henry to his feet, noting that he was still stark naked. “Don’t you dare.”
“What?”
“Try to make this your fault,” I told him. “It’s not.”
“Alright,” the man accepted, “so what do you propose we do now?”
“Well,” I replied and smirked, licking my tear stained lips, taking in the glorious figure before me, “we should probably start with getting you some clothes.” I opened the wardrobe I’d filled with clothing for both of us and pulled out a few garments. “Then, is it…”
Henry waited for me to finish and when I didn’t, he spoke, “What? Tell me what you want to do, Dianna. I’ll see that it happens.”
“Is it possible for us to go to England?”
I slipped the white blou
se over his head and helped feed his arms through the sleeves.
“It is, yes.” Next, his trousers. “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
I thought for a moment, assessing the idea.
“Yes,” I finally spoke. “I want to sail to England after Maria and save my mother. If she hasn’t left yet, she’s sure to leave soon, right?” I inhaled deeply. “Is it a crazy idea?”
Henry took me in his arms, the swelling of his face gone down enough for me to see the expression of sheer admiration. “All the best ones are.”
I laughed and brought my lips to his, standing on my toes to do so. I felt as if there were nothing I couldn’t do with Henry by my side. “I love you so much.”
“And I you, Time Traveller.” His hands raked through my hair as his body pressed against me, wanting. “My Pirate Queen.”
“Mmm, I like the sound of that.” I kissed him again and then touched the puffy skin around his eyes. “The swelling is going down fast, you should be able to see again any day now. Just keep putting the cold water on it.”
He feigned a frown. “The salt water burns.”
“Don’t be a baby,” I told him jokingly.
Henry then dropped to one knee and placed a kiss on my stomach. “Yes, a baby, indeed.” He hugged me tight to his face. “My everything right here in my hands.” We remained there, him nuzzling my belly, me curling my fingers in his hair until he spoke again. “There’s one problem with your idea, Dianna.”
“What’s that?” I asked as he brought himself to his feet.
“That’s a Hell of a journey. We’d need supplies, and money to get them.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “I’ve spent just about all I have, aside from a few schillings. How much are we talking about here?”
“Well, we’d have to verify with Finnigan, but it would surely be a three-month trip, especially this time of year. Food and supplies for all eight of us, as well as the livestock…” he paused, contemplating, “Well, let’s just say I wish I had that treasure chest we found together.”
I slumped down in my red velvet chair and rocked back and forth, lost in thought. It was a crazy idea. A three-month journey across the Atlantic with just eight people and a pregnant captain. It was a recipe for disaster, even if we could afford it. My eyes scanned the room and landed on the long bookshelf near the old sofa. Suddenly, an idea dawned on me and I dove for the books.
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