The Empress of the Seas

Crystal and I were still sitting in the galley when Jack came down about an hour later. Crystal immediately smiled and tried to hide a giggle.

“I’ll leave ye two alone…” she said as she got up. She received a very hateful glare before she left.

I heard Jack laugh before I buried my face in my arms. “What do ye want, Jack?”

“What ever do ye mean?”

I lifted my head so I could see him. He was leaning over the table in front of me with that stupid smirk of his on his face. “We were drunk, Jack.”

“Drunk or not I had a good time.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ye could have ‘a good time’ with any girl.”

“Now that’s not true.” I looked back up at him. “They have to be pretty.”

I was about to slap him, but I contained myself. Instead I calmly stood up and went to go on deck.

“And we all know ye are beautiful; right, Dove?”

I froze and breathed in sharply before letting it out slowly.

“How dare ye even say that.” I barely whispered.

“Why?” I heard him walk around the table towards me. “What did I say?”

I turned around to see he was right behind me. “Ye know damn well how much I’ve done. But that’s just it isn’t it? Ye scared I’m gonna take your title?”

I let him push my hair behind my ear. “And what title would that be?”

“The most infamous pirate on the seas.” His smile faded and I stepped back from him. “Face it, people fear me just as much if not more.”

“Ye’ve got quite an ego, love.”

“So do ye, Jack. Ye got a problem with that?”

He smiled again. “Why would I have a problem with something that’s only in your head?”

“Okay, well if ye don’t mind, I’m gonna go get some food.” I said, walking towards the kitchen but he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him.

“What if I do mind?” he asked, making sure to keep eye contact.

I smiled. “That’s just too bad.”

When I tried to pull away he only held my closer.

“Now that I have a problem with.” He said and closed the only space between us.

“Hey Emma, I-” I heard Crystal’s voice and immediately pulled out of the kiss. She looked like she was trying so hard not to smile as I pushed my hair back over my head. “Never mind, I see I’m interrupting something…” she said and ran back up the steps.

“Where were we?” Jack asked when I turned back to him but I put my hand up between us.

He looked at me questionably but I just sighed and shook my head before walking into the kitchen.

My eyes were closed as I shut the door behind my and when I opened them I saw Kyle sitting on the floor next to Princess who was devouring a plate of food.

“Hungry, mommy?” Kyle asked. I had to blink a few times to process his words.

“Yeah, yeah mommy’s hungry…”

As I pulled over a chair and sorted through a bowl of fruit, Kyle started telling me about how he explored every last spot on the ship but I wasn’t really listening.

Thoughts swam through my head as I ran my hand up and down Princess’s back. Jack kissing me in the galley. Crystal saying she wouldn’t “step in on my man” when she first came on the ship. Kyle knowing-

“Kyle?” I said suddenly while he was in the middle of explaining something about being too small to fit through the port holes. I’m gonna have to set down some rules soon. I thought but he stopped talking and looked up at me.

“When ye said he loves me…”

His face immediately brightened. “He does, mommy! He always did but never saw it.”

I sat there absorbing his words. “How do ye know?”

“It’s who I am. It’s my talent. It’s what you chose for me.”

“Chose for you?”

He smiled. “He’s closer to solving the legend then he thinks.”

“Who is he?”

Kyle stood up and took my face with his small hands and looked straight into my eyes as if to make sure it got through my head. “Daddy.”