The Empress of the Seas

Emma’s POV

I woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache. But when I rolled over I realized something was different. Whatever I was laying on was way too comfortable to be the make-shift bed in my room. Before I could move, the events of the previous night flashed through my mind.

I sprang up with my eyes as wide as possible but was only met by the burning light and a more splitting headache. I sighed and carefully fell back down on the bed, pulling the covers over my head.

*FLASHBACK*

Once again, I woke up on a strangely comfortable bed. I may have had an intense headache but I remembered my ship being destroyed by a pirate. The same pirate I hated with all my being.

But if my ship was gone, where was I sleeping? I carefully opened my eyes only to see the blinding light and shut them again. More cautiously, I let my eyes get used to the light and finally sat up in the bed. I was in a small room with not much in it. Besides the bed, there was a small table in the back corner, a nightstand to my left, and my clothes carelessly dropped on the floor.

Closing my eyes I silently cursed myself. After putting my clothes back on I went over to a small window to see the room was above the Star lit Inn, the pub I got drunk at last night. After a few minutes I decided to go look around the town.

Port Rockford: nice little town. It had its bad parts, like any town, but for the most part it was pretty clean. My old crew was long gone, probably with the first ship they saw. The loyal bastards.

For a few weeks I stole some new clothes and food, just memorizing the towns’ routine and keeping tabs on the ships that came and went. I wasn’t the type of pirate to just see and take. No, I planned things out carefully so I wouldn’t make a stupid mistake. Never been in jail once; my dad would have been proud.

On this specific morning I planned to steal some bread from a local market but my stomach didn’t seem to agree. I hadn’t felt my best for the past few days and figured I ate a bad apple or something and waited for it to pass but today it was worse. I doubled over in pain and threw up in someone’s garbage.

Leaning on the wall for support, I pushed my hair back and breathed deeply. I almost freaked out completely when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

The girl had kind, innocent eyes but it was obvious she was just crying. She wiped her eyes with the other hand and sniffled a little before talking.

“Are ye ok?” she asked.

“Yeah…” I said but gripped my stomach at the same time and threw up again. “Maybe not.”

“Come on,” she said sniffling again but putting my arm over her shoulder. “Do ye have a place to stay?” I shook my head. “Then ye can stay with me.” She said it so simply like it was something anyone would do but I was so thrown off guard by her hospitality that I let her lead me to her house.

It was simple, maybe a total of three rooms. She sat me on a bed in the main room and started making me tea.

“So,” she began after starting to heat up some water. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

I stared at her blankly. “What are ye talking about?” I managed but my hand still gripped my stomach.

She winced. “Oh, accident? Sorry. Well I hope he doesn’t get mad, or are ye a prostitute like me?”

“I am not a prostitute!” I yelled and jumped up besides the pain. Only until after I did that I realized what she said and sat back down. “You’re a prostitute?” she had looked so innocent, so kind.

“Yeah,” she let out a small laugh. “Isn’t it obvious?”

For the first time I took in her entire appearance: disheveled hair, deep maroon dress wrinkled, makeup running down her cheeks. But how old was she.

“Ye shouldn’t be doing that.” I whispered just as the teapot whistled.

She laughed again. “Ye remind me of my mother.” She said but then frowned. “She died a few years ago.”

“Your dad…?” I asked hesitantly.

“He was never much of a father figure being since he walked out when my mom got pregnant with me. But it’s ok,” she added quickly seeing the look on my face, “the baby will be fine.” She handed me the cup of tea.

“What?” I asked confused again.

“I mean, no offense, but pirates aren’t really the marriage type. Emma Read, right? I recognized ye from a wanted poster I saw a while ago.”

“Yeah… but I’m not married…” I was still very lost.

“Well duh!” she smiled. “But don’t worry about anything. I’ll help ye take care of the baby. “Do ye think it will be a boy or a girl?”

“Ok, I’m sorry,” I said standing up again, “but I don’t know what your talking about. What is all this about a baby?”

“Hunny,” she said and frowned a little. “Ever heard of morning sickness? Darling, your pregnant.”

*END FLASHBACK*

I was finally dressed, my eyes used to the light but there were no promises when I stepped outside. As I opened the door it actually wasn’t as bad as I thought. I had to squint but it was manageable.

I made the mistake of looking up at the helm. Jack was standing there, watching me with his signature smirk plastered on his face. Our eyes locked, if only for a moment, and I began to smile back. But once I realized what I was doing I turned away quickly.

Just looking into those eyes made me feels something in my stomach. It felt like… butterflies. When that thought hit me I froze on my way to the galley. Me? Get butterflies? Over Jack?

*FLASHBACK*

“What… what do ye mean?” I stared at her. My breath was caught in my throat. I couldn’t move. Pregnant? She had to be joking.

“Ye are pregnant. I know it can be a shock. And I know what your thinking, how the hell do I know? I’ve helped a lot of girls at the prostitute house and my mother was a doctor.” She said the last part proudly before she realized I wasn’t breathing. “Breath!” she yelled and I took the biggest gulp of air in my life. I stood there letting it out slowly.

She came closer to me, putting her hand on my arm and guiding me to the bed. She sat next to me and rubbed my back comfortingly.

“It’ll be ok. Like I said, I’ll help ye.”

I sat there taking deep breaths before looking at her. “Why are ye helping me? Ye said ye recognized my wanted poster. Why didn’t ye turn me in?”

She laughed and smiled a genuinely happy smile. “I guess I’m just weird like that.”

I smiled back at her as a tear rolled down my cheek.

*END FLASHBACK*

When I finally got the galley after putting that thought out of my head, I saw Crystal and Kyle sitting there. I sat down across from them at the table, grabbing an apple. They both looked up at the same time.

Crystal looked confused, and in the middle of a hangover. Kyle, on the other hand, saw me and a huge smile slowly spread on his face. Crystal saw me glaring at him, saw his face, then turned back to me, smiling too.

“Have fun last night?” she teased and I turned to glared at her.

“There is a child in the room.” I said but she waved away my words like an annoying bug.

“He already knows.”

I sighed and put my head down. “Kyle, go feed Princess please?”

He obeyed silently, scared that if he said anything he might get in trouble but he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. But before he left he came up to me and hugged me.

“He loves ye, mommy.” He whispered.

I pulled him back and looked into his eyes, those chocolate brown eyes that were so familiar.

*FLASHBACK*

About nine months later was the most painful day of my life. It was also the most beautiful one.

The baby was a boy. I named him Kyle, after his grandfather he would never meet. Crystal had stuck to her word about helping me but after that night I cried, there was no turning back. We were sisters now and nothing could change that.

A few years later we were sitting in her, well our, house just talking while Kyle slept in the next room over. It was just another night of me trying to get her out of the prostitute business.
“I already told ye, I can’t leave.” She said, cutting a loaf of bread in half giving me one piece and keeping one for herself.

“Why not?” I asked, pulling the bread towards me but not eating any.

“Ye know why! What would we eat? How would we keep the house?” I began to fight back but she stopped me. “And no, I will not let ye steal for me! As for the house ye can’t steal one of those!”

“What if we sail to another port? I could at least get ye a better house then this!” I exclaimed. I hadn’t found another ship to replace my Emerald but nothing really could match her. Every time I came back he asked if Kyle could come with me. I never aloud it because I didn’t want him to get hurt. And that’s exactly what she was thinking.

“Ye would never let anything happen to Kyle.”

“It’s only to the next port-”

“No Emma,” she said sternly. “Besides with you it’s never safe.”

I smiled at her reference to the fact that every time I came back I had a story to tell. “Fine,” I said. “I’m going out.”

I got up, leaving my untouched bread on the table, and headed for the door.

“Be back before the sun rises! I don’t want to make up anymore stories for Kyle about where ye go!”

I opened the door but turned to her before leaving. “Like he doesn’t know.”

Going through the town, I found my thoughts drifting around and were soon on the unknown dad of Kyle. I tried to remember that one night but it was fuzzy.

I remember meeting some guy in the pub. What did he say his name was? Dove? If I was sober I would have thought it was Jack. That thought made me laugh. There was no possible way it could have been Jack.

When we were little I did everything I could to annoy Jack. I called him little bird because his name was Sparrow. I always told him how a sparrow was a little defenseless bird; nothing special at all while everyone on the ship called me the most beautiful thing in the world.

So he started calling me Dove. He couldn’t fight the whole crew so he said that I might be beautiful like a dove, but it was only show. I was weak and had to stay at home being pretty and clean.

This got me furious. I prided myself in being a tough girl and one day, I promised him, I would rule the seas, like an empress. He just laughed at me.

I actually smiled at that memory but then remembered why I thought of it. Jack could not be Kyle’s dad. It was totally impossible. And yet every time I saw Kyle’s deep brown eyes I couldn’t help think of Jack’s eyes that look so much the same.

I shook my head and brushed these thoughts out of my head as I turned the corner. As I walked through the streets I twirled my pistol in my hand. How much I long to get in a good fight. Picking up my head I noticed a lone guard sanding by the docks and decided to have a little fun. I walked right past him, spinning my pistol more obviously.

“I’m gonna have to ask ye to put that away, miss.” He said politely.

I smiled sweetly and turned to him. “Oh really?”

This innocent talking quickly turned to a fist fight. To my disadvantage, there was a whole group of soldiers in the near by blacksmith getting new swords who came running out charging. I woke up the next morning in the local jail.

I sat up slowly on the dirty floor and rubbed my head on the spot where someone must have knocked me out. Just then there were footsteps coming down the steps. A soldier followed by some rich guy came to my cell.

“That’s her.” The guy said and the soldier let me out of the cell.

Saving the questions for later, I jumped up and followed them out of the jail, watching the man slide the soldier a wad of cash before we left. I kept close to him so whispered so only he could hear.

“I appreciate getting me out but just so ye know, I don’t owe ye anything. And if ye bring out henchmen or something I can tear them apart in five minutes.”

He simply laughed and smiled at a passing couple. “Oh Emma, ye were always up for a good fight. That’s why ye got caught isn’t it?” I stopped walking for a second at the sound of my name but jogged back up to him.

“Look I don’t know who ye are but I have a dagger hidden in my boot so if ye don’t tell me what’s going on-”

“You aren’t gonna like it.” He whispered sharply. “We won’t be able to talk much in fear of being caught but for now you should know that yes, I know who you are and no, you don’t owe me anything but trust that I’m not gonna turn you in. You must do what I say and I promise you a ticket back out to sea.”

This time I kept my feet moving but my jaw dropped to the ground.

“Pick up your mouth sweetie.”

I quickly shut my mouth. I had so many questions to ask but wasn’t sure which to pick.

“How did ye know me?” I finally chose.

“I knew your father.” Another shocking surprise. But then again, my father knew a lot of people. “But that is not the point. I saw them bring you in and had to get you out before they hung you. They will never know what happened and just think the guard fell asleep on the job. As for now,” he said stopping and smiling at a long driveway leading to a mansion. “Welcome to your temporary home. You can call me Lord Charlester.”

*END FLASHBACK*