Queen Of My Nightmare (Uncharted Secrets, Book 2): Endless Horizon Pirate Stories

by Cristi Taijeron

  PART III

  Uncharted Secrets

  Bridgetown, Barbados

  Autumn of 1646

  Chapter 11

  Dirty Secret

  Pulling back the lacy curtain, I looked down upon the bay and sighed. Grey clouds were rolling in, and with nothing else to do I watched them tumble across the sky until they began pouring rain. Here, at yet another protected boarding house, it was no longer my job to watch the skies, and no one’s life depended on my reading of them. There were no maps to mark and there was no course to chart. Once again, I was nobody.

  With or without me the world would keep turning and not a soul amongst the masses would know the difference.

  A bolt of lightning struck the sky, and as the following crash of thunder rumbled through my ears, I thought of how the last few months of my life had been passing. After that buccaneer preacher married Mason and me near the pretty waterfall on the secret island, we spent a lovely month together ashore, strolling the beautiful beaches, bathing in hidden lagoons, and making love under the star-filled skies. But, eventually, we had to sail away.

  Saying goodbye to Selah was harder than it was to leave my own mother, who drank herself to death long before my return. The tears I cried over the loss of my islander midwife mirrored the raindrops that fell on the sea as I sailed away from her.

  The seas we then traveled were so damn rough that my rejuvenated health began failing. Vomiting led to cramping, cramping eventually led to bleeding, and for the sake of his wife and child, Mason refused to make the long sail to England. I cried, I begged, I pleaded on my knees, but it was no use. He forced me back to Barbados against all my agonizing pleas, promising we’d leave this terrible place as soon as his baby was born.

  So, here I hid in this boarding house nestled in the hills outside of town, where once again, no one knew who I truly was. Hiding away like this—under yet another false name—Clarinda would not be able to burn me alive for casting that spell on her son, and Odelia—who had married Lloyd after Thomas disappeared—could not torment me for growing this pirate-witch baby in my womb. So far the plan had worked, but now that I had experienced camaraderie and purpose during my life as a buccaneer, the solitude I had always sought out before was now driving me insane.

  Hearing the door open behind me, I turned to see Mason coming in, soaking wet.

  “Hello,” I mumbled, then looked back out the window.

  While changing into dry clothes, he rambled on about his day of work at the docks. Though there was little luster in his new way of living, there was no lack of joy in his expressions. Unlike me, he had been enjoying the past five months ashore.

  Clean and dry, he sat on the sofa in the tiny room we shared and patted the spot next to him. “Come sit by me, my pretty little Viking. I want to say hello to my little mate.”

  Turning away from the window where I’d been gazing at the sky, I went to sit next to the man who now called me his wife. Knowing how much Mason loved to rub my bare belly, I untied the lacy white robe I wore and let him say hello to his little mate.

  “He’s gotten so big.” Mason rubbed his big, hard hand over my enormous belly.

  “I know. I feel like a heifer,” I huffed, frowning dramatically.

  “No, you’re more like an ice princess in this white robe.” He smiled and kissed my cheek. “Did you think any more about names?”

  “Yes. I like your idea of naming him after your grandfather, but I want him to have your name, too. How about, Sterling Mason Bentley.”

  “I like it. Sounds like the kind of man that’ll rule the seas one day. Like me.” He flashed a cocky smile. “Ah, he’s moving again.” Mason’s eyes lit up. He was so in love with this little creature that made me fat and beat on my insides.

  “Your baby loves you already, Mason. He always moves more when you are around.”

  “You think he can hear me in there?”

  “I think so. So, if he turns out to be a girl, she will be mad at us for making such assumptions.” I chuckled.

  Though I had a feeling our baby was going to be a boy, I was half hoping for a girl because I loved the name we picked for her. Remington Rain. She would be named after my father and Mason’s love for the stormy weather.

  Tapping at the place on my belly where the baby’s foot was misshaping the rounded orb he dwelled in, Mason said, “Lad or lassie, we won’t have to wait much longer to find out, eh?”

  “Any day now. I can’t wait. Then we can get out of this stupid house and off of this godforsaken hellhole island. I hate it here.”

  He rolled his head back. “I know you do. I didn’t want to come here either but we did what we had to do, and this is the best place to be for now.”

  “I suppose.” I covered my belly. “I would rather have stayed on that secret island and let Selah help me with child birth. These midwives here don’t know half of the things she knew.”

  “Ah, Hannah, stop it.” He stood up. “I’ve told you a hundred times why we couldn’t stay there.”

  “I know, I know. Your crew didn’t want to stay that long and you refused to be stuck on an island without a ship. Well, what about me, Mason? I am just that. Stuck! Stuck on this stupid island fearing for my life again.”

  “You have nothing to worry about.” His expression grew dark, foreboding like the sea at night. “And you need to stop talking to me like I’m some kind of fool. I know what’s going on around this island and I know what I’m doing here. I’ve put a great amount of consideration into where I’m working, where we’re staying, and where we’re going once we leave here. And it all has to do with the two of you being safe and well cared for. Nobody’s going to hurt either one of you, so I wish you would just relax and have a little faith in my promise to you.”

  Unwilling to cooperate, I rolled my eyes. “I just want to spit him out and be on our way.”

  “Ah, Hannah,” he waved his arms in frustration, “You can’t just spit a baby out and get on a ship. We’re going to have to wait until he’s big enough to go across the sea.”

  “Wait?!” I shrieked, “For how long?”

  “I don’t know, just until he isn’t a tiny weak little thing.”

  “That’s ridiculous. I think we should leave today. I am feeling well and there are plenty of women who birth their children while at sea,” I snipped with my arms crossed.

  “Aye, and plenty of them die due to the rancid conditions on the ship and the lack of care and knowledge aboard. You’ve seen what it’s like out there and all the things that can happen. I’m not subjecting you or our child to any of that shit until I got a ship of my own fit to take you safely under my own command.”

  “So, that’s it then. I just sit here and rot while you do whatever you want around town for an undisclosed amount of time? I don’t like that plan one bit and I am beginning to think that you like watching me suffer.” I stuck my nose up in the air.

  He fanned his hand at me. “Don’t be ridiculous, Hannah.”

  “This is ridiculous!” I waved my hands around the ugly little room. “The wallpaper is hideous, the bed is uncomfortable, the whole room smells funny, and I don’t like any of the wenches running this place. Nor do they like me.”

  Taking a deep breath, he slowly spoke. “Maybe it’s because you’re mean to everyone you talk to.”

  “I am not mean. I just have no intention of making friends. I am sure you remember the last bitch I tried to be friends with. You know, the one you ended up fucking in the room down the hall from me after you asked me to be your lady!”

  Pacing the room with his fists clenched, I could tell he was containing the urge to thrash the area.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and smash something. I would love to watch you destroy this place.”

  Without another word, he put his shoes on, grabbed his coat, and left.

  The sound of the door slamming behind him echoed in my mind as I grabbed my cat and sat down on the bed with him. “What is the matter with me, Fea
ther? Why do I want to be so mean to him?” Feather rubbed his face against my big round belly. “I know he has sacrificed everything to care for us, just like he promised he would, and I do believe that he has done all he can to keep my identity safely hidden, but I am just terribly mad at him for some reason.

  You know what, Feather? I think I am jealous of his freedom. He gets to go to work and talk to people, and look how easy it was for him to storm out of here tonight. I don’t get to do that when he makes me mad. No. I just hide here in this stupid room.”

  No longer having the energy to speak to my cat, I laid down on the bed and continued with my thoughts as the rain poured outside. He is out there in that terrible weather. I hope he is all right. Where in the world could he have gone? With the endless possibilities roaming through my mind, I began to fret over his feelings about our fight. I was terribly rude to him, and he was so angry when he left. He could very well be releasing his aggressions in a brothel room at the tavern!

  Springing out of bed, I began to pace. “You know, Feather, now that I think about it, he has probably been cheating all along. All that money he has stored away has to be going somewhere. He sure as shit isn’t spending it on me. No longer do I get the best room in the house, and no one here treats me like a princess. I am nothing but his dirty little secret. He probably has a younger, prettier whore—one not fat with his child—who he does his spending on, now.

  The storm increased its velocity, and with thunder and lightning raging across the night sky, I let my mind run wild with the strangling visuals of his certain betrayal. It crossed my mind to hunt him down in the rain. I even grabbed my black cloak a few times, fantasizing about Midnight catching him in the act and stabbing Hannah’s replacement to death. But I couldn’t. With this enormous child resting soundly in my womb, all I could do was wait. Sit here and wait for the man who kept me captive to return with my rations.

  X

  Just after midnight, I heard the door knob turn. There was laughter on the other side of the wooden divider. The unfamiliar chortle made me think I should grab a weapon. With my pistol loaded, I hid behind the sofa and waited for the door to open. When it did, I was relieved to see Mason’s massive silhouette filling the doorway, with the nearly blinding light from the hall behind him. But who was that with him?

  Waiting to see just what he was up to, I stayed where I was as he went to turn on the lamp. As if his ridiculous laughter was not enough to prove that he was drunk, the way he fumbled about clarified it. Though he had not yet managed to get the light on, it became apparent to me that the other voice belonged to Shark. Though I was glad to see my only other friend in the world, I jumped out of my hiding place and yelled at Mason. “Where the hell were you?”

  Jerking his head back in shock, Mason belched. “Nice to see you too, sweetheart. Shit.” He shook his head in irritation. “I ran into Shark Bite at the tavern and thought you’d like to say hello to your friend.”

  Though Shark tipped his wet hat and said, “Hello, Lady Midnight,” the fact that Mason had been at the tavern was the only thing I cared about. With all my heartbreaking, backstabbing visuals solidifying in my mind, I cocked back my arm and punched Mason across the jaw.

  “Ooooh!” Shark hooted through his drunken humor.

  With the door still open behind them, Mason shouted loud enough for all of the household to hear. “What the hell was that for?” He kicked over the chair next to him. “Goddamn it woman, I should’ve never taught you how to fight!”

  “And I should have never let you touch me, you lying, cheating pirate!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have!” he blasted, throwing the table against the wall. At that point the guard of the house came rushing through the opened door. Amidst my wrathful blur I could see Shark arguing with him.

  “Well, lucky for you, you will never have to again.” I backed against the window.

  Charging at me with his finger pointed, Mason shouted, “It’s never enough for you, woman. Never ever!”

  I slapped his hand out of my face. “Oh, go stick that finger up one of your whore’s slut-holes! I know that’s what you have been doing anyways.”

  At that moment, with all of the other guests at this safe house crowded around in the hall, Mason Bentley lost his very mind. While ripping the room I hated to shreds, he hollered and cursed about giving me what I wanted, again. With Shark keeping the guards at bay, not a man in the world could stop him. Once there was nothing left to tear apart, Mason looked at me with fire burning in his eyes and his chest heaving like a gale force wind. “There. You wanted to watch me destroy this place. Are you happy now, woman?”

  Scared to death, I huddled into the corner and started to cry. My sobs were uncontrollable. I was unable to catch my breath. Growing lightheaded, I leaned against the wall. As I slid to the floor, I heard the madam of the house screaming in the distance. My stomach started to ache, my head began to throb. I was going to faint. My baby. My baby. I held tight to my tummy, which had become hard to the touch.

  Mason was yelling at someone, Shark was, too. Through my tears, I saw Mason chasing Feather. The moment he grabbed my cat, he shoved the screaming, flailing creature into a bag. I cried for my cat, but with my stomach aching like it was, all I could do was reach for him as Mason threw the bag over his shoulder.

  Next thing I knew, he was carrying me down the hall. I could see everyone’s faces, the judgment, the humiliation. As Mason carried me across the lawn, the Madam screamed that we could never come back. Mason tossed a bag of loot at the old wench. “Stick this up your arse, ol’ lady.”

  In the pouring rain, I watched Shark heading for town. Mason started carrying me in the opposite direction. My state of panic deepened. “Where are you taking me?” I cried, my tears blending with the rain.

  “I’m taking you home.”

  “Home?”

  “Aye. To the house I bought you today while you thought I was out finger fucking whores. You get a bathtub and a personal servant, too, you ungrateful wretch.” He laughed.

  Though I thought to myself that I hated Barbados and never wanted to call this cursed island home, there was no way to deny my gratitude for his relentless support. “Thank you. Thank you. I am so sorry.” I put my hand on his wet cheek.

  “Ah, you can make it up to me in the bed we’re going to share. We’ll get one much bigger than the one at that shithole you hated.”

  I told him I loved him over and over, until the aching in my abdomen returned. Not wanting to believe I’d be having a baby on a dirt road in the rain—with no one but a drunk man to assist me—I kept my fears to myself as he carried me along.

  His breath smelled like rum. Normally, I liked that. But now it was making me sick. Everything seemed terribly wrong. I had never before been so uncomfortable. Feeling my body tensing, he asked me if I was all right. I lied that I was fine, but as we came upon a small house on a bluff overlooking the sea, the pain became too much to bear.

  Stabbing, cramping, contracting pain overtook me completely. Screaming in unison with the rumbling thunder, I kicked my legs so wildly, he almost dropped me.

  Mason pulled me closer. “Oh, no. Is this it, Hannah?”

  “I think so.” I cried out again.

  “Ah, shit.” He picked up his pace, grumbling under his breath, “I never drink this much. I never get this drunk, and now, the one time I do…”

  Another flash of horrifying pain pierced my body as we reached the covered porch of the little house. He held me until it ended, then hurriedly opened the door. The windows were closed and it was hot as all hell in the tiny space. Laying out his coat, he made me as comfortable as I could be on a bare wooden floor, and then opened the windows so I could get some air.

  My cries echoed through the barren walls as the baby fell lower. I could feel him fighting, ripping, tearing his way through me. The rain poured, the thunder roared, and Mason was doing everything he could to help me, but none of it mattered
. It all seemed distant in comparison to the pain engulfing my body.

  There was no way to stop it. No way to escape it, and it seemed to go on forever. “I hate you for doing this to me, Mason!” I screamed, hoping the daggers in my demonic wail would stab the man who put this baby in my body. “It wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t worth it. I hate you for ever touching me!”

  Regardless of my hateful shouts, the seed-planting demon lowered himself between my legs. I didn’t want him there ever again. “Get away from me,” I screamed, but as he forced my legs apart, he exclaimed, “I see him!”

  The end was in sight. No longer hating the drunken man who kept saying he wanted to help me, I pleaded, “Get him out. Take him out of there.” I prayed that it would be over soon. Even if I died getting him out, I just wanted it to end.

  “Keep going, my sweet. It’s almost over.” He patted my knees.

  The final ripping, tearing, excruciating blast of pain, was followed by the sound of crying. Crying. Some other strange things happened to my body, but all that mattered at that moment was the sound of my baby’s living, breathing cries. Mason was holding him. It was dark, but by the sound of his voice, I could hear he was crying, too. “We have a boy, Hannah.”

  Holding my baby in one hand, he used his cutlass blade to cut the cord with the other. Once the baby was free from my body, Mason handed him over to me, then propped my head up on his lap. In the blue glow of night I could see my baby’s little face. His tiny, bloody face. At that moment it didn’t matter what I had been through in my life, and it didn’t matter what would happen next. On that wooden floor, in that empty house, lying on my husband’s lap, with our child—Sterling Mason Bentley—wrapped in my arms, everything was perfect in my world.

  Chapter 12

  Before My Eyes

  The first month of Sterling’s life was the best month of my life. Mason had enough loot stored away to take the month off of work, and there in that little house he bought for me, he helped me care for our son. Though it was my job to feed and change him, Mason carried him around while I slept and talked to him just like he was one of his mates. I fell more in love with both of them each day, and every night that the sun set on the sea outside our windows, I thanked God for granting me such a beautiful family.