Sparrington Arc, Chapter 5

Trust And Honor

Prologue

by

The Stowaway

"Tell me you don't like it and I will stop. ...Well?"

"Don't stop."

"A book in my cousin's library. French. The illustrations were very... instructive."

"Your cousin gave you the book?"

"No, indeed! He would have been scandalized to find it in my possession. His librarian rather carelessly left the locked section open one day, whilst I was there reading by the library fire. I spent an interesting hour amongst the books deemed unsuitable for the delicate eyes of ladies."

"You shock me."

"I thought I might."

"Have you any other tricks gleaned from the Earl's salacious tomes?"

"Perhaps."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't used to bite. No, don't stop; harder. You learnt it from Jack, I suppose."

"What? Elizabeth...!"

"What is it?"

"Why would you... What could you possibly..."

"Darling, I am not a simpleton."

"I never thought so, but..."

"Shhh, Will. When Father forwarded the letter you wrote me before sailing on the Pearl, I knew what was bound to happen; Jack being the thoroughgoing rogue that he is."

"You knew? How could you know, when I had no idea of it?"

"Call it woman's intuition. Jack can be irresistible, I imagine, when he sets out to be charming."

"You sound as if you don't mind."

"Of course I mind. You are mine, Will Turner, and I do not share very willingly. However, it's in the past, with no harm done; quite the contrary. You've come home to me, safe and sound. And you've learnt a rather delicious bit of roughness that pleases me very much. If anything, I am just a little envious."

"Envious? "

"Of course, envious. Surely you don't think you are the only one to dream of running off to play at pirates with Jack Sparrow?"

"Would I really, what, Will?"

"Run off to play at pirates with Jack Sparrow."

"He'll not give me the opportunity, so the question will never arise."

"Leaving Jack out of it, then, ...er... would you run away to have... um... adventures?"

"No, husband, I would not. There are, as galling as it is to acknowledge, certain limitations placed on a woman that are not suffered by men."

"To which limitations do you refer?"

"This one: I wish to bear no child not conceived under our roof."

"You phrase that oddly, wife."

"I phrase it precisely."

"Meaning, I suppose, that one need not run away to have... adventures?"

"You know me too well. And, after all, 'What is sauce for the goose...'"

"What am I to say this?"

"You need say nothing, dearest, for the occasion may never arrive. But I swear to you: as you are mine, I am yours; and I will do nothing behind your back, nor will I lie to you about my actions."

"Then I am content."

"Yes?"

"Do you think you will ever wish to go home to England to live?"

"I doubt it. And you?"

"No, England is not for me. Or, rather, I am not for England."

"Well, here's a change of heart. I thought you longed for home; for the wider world and good society."

"I yearned for what never was, Will; for a memory. England isn't the wider world; this is. And 'good society' is stifling. Don't laugh at me! You've no idea what it was like, this past year!"

"I'm not laughing, darling. Of course I've no idea. 'Good society' had nothing to say to the likes of my mother and me, remember."

"Oh, I know! I was made acutely aware of my so-called mésalliance, you may be sure. If it weren't for my mother's fortune, and Father's, I would have been placed beyond the pale; not received in polite company. To them, it matters not at all that you are the finest swordsmith in the Caribbean (you are, don't argue!) and a good man. Only that I am the granddaughter of an Earl and you are the son of a merchant sailor."

"Who was a good man and a good pirate."

"Oh, hush! You will make me laugh, and this is not a laughing matter. Who one IS means nothing to them, only who one's parents were and how great their wealth. I wouldn't want our daughters to grow up surrounded by such notions."

"Awkward, considering their parentage, I'd say."

"And another thing, Will. Learning is frowned upon—for women, at any rate. I was regarded as a bluestocking. Can you imagine? I, the despair of my tutors! They seemed proud to be ignorant of anything but the plot of the latest novel. I shudder to think what they would have said if they knew I help Father run Somerset—that some of the sugar in their tea was very likely grown under my supervision."

"Well, beloved, there is no law that says we must return to England. I, for one, am well suited right where we are."

"Not as quickly as I had hoped. The press of business has kept me here in Port Royal for some time, as you know; I have been forced to rely on reports when I would prefer that one of us see to things in person."

"Jenkinson is a good manager, and an honest man, but perhaps he has been left too much to his own devices."

"Indeed, I fear you may be correct."

"How would it be, then, if Will and I went up country next week for awhile?"

"An excellent notion, Elizabeth. I am certain you will see all set to rights, in your usual fashion."

"Thank you, Father."

"And dare I hope that you will allow Sarah-Ann and Eliza to stay with me while you are gone? They haven't been for a proper visit to their grandfather in ages."

"Of course, if you wish it; they will be overjoyed. But you mustn't spoil them too much, Father. And if they are at all troublesome, send them home with Nurse."

"Nonsense! You know I dote upon them; they are never a trouble to me. I will send the carriage, shall we say, on Monday morning? They can play at being grand ladies with their own coach and footmen."

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