Evangeline McKenna has won Jack Sparrow's heart. Now, as she joins him again on his beloved Pearl, outside forces threaten to tear them-and everyone else-apart. The crew teams up with new and old forces to defeat a wealthy man in London who wants no...
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Jack sighed and removed his hand from Geline's grip. Visibly agitated, he fiddled with the beads in his beard, as if they were bothering him. She thought that perhaps she had overstepped her bounds, and quickly attempted to mend her mistake.
"I'm sorry. I did not mean to force the subject," she said, placing her hand back onto her lap.
"No, luv. Ya should know," he replied, turning towards her with purpose. He squinted, looking past his desk at something Evangeline could not see. He was gathering himself, attempting to decide where to start.
"My father is...," he whispered, "was a respected man. He had been a pirate the entirety of my life, first as the Pirate Lord of Madagascar and then later he became Keeper of the Code. I never knew him as anything other than that. My brother, however, used to tell me tales about our father that didn't seem possible. I was born at sea, Daniel was born in England. He saw a side of Da before Shipwreck Island. An engaged man, a caring man. I..." he stopped and shifted his weight on the bed.
"I don't recall my father as particularly nurturing. Mind you, I got into my fair share of hijinks as a child, and I was rightly punished for them, yet when my sister was born, something shifted in our family. Ena was showered with affection from the beginning, from everyone. She was, and still is, the purest little person to come from the Teauge family. Then mum died, and the dynamic shifted again. Da and Daniel fought constantly, always at odds, and it eventually ran my brother off. He left, and with da so distraught over my mum's death, I was left to care for Ena. A middle child gets swept up in things he shouldn't. You're an only child, luv, 'tis a position I don't expect you to understand, but I was stuck. I was a young man, I wanted to venture out and become my own person, discover the world for meself. How could I, with a little girl who depended on me? I tried to tell my Da that I wanted to leave. I had it in me head that I wanted to be a sailor, but not an outlaw. Not like my father. As a lad, I didn't see the lure of piracy, and I told him this. I figured I could earn honest money for meself and Ena, send it back home to help. And ya know, he looked at me as if I had cursed his name. He told me, "Jacky, get the hell out of me sight and don't bother coming back."
He stopped then, and looked up at Evangeline as if to check to see if she had stopped listening. The rain had picked up again and beat wildly against the windows. The crew wouldn't be pleased.
"So you left?" she asked.
"Aye, the very next day. I left and joined a merchant crew. Your father's. Didn't hear from my own father for years, although Ena and I corresponded when she became old enough to write to me. I sent money, and every time, it was bloody returned to me. He rejected my lifestyle, he rejected my help, and he did it out of spite. After Annie, I left your father's crew and joined the East India Trading Company."
"Barbossa mentioned you had a history with them."
"Indeed I do. I was supposed to run bloody supplies and cargo as a merchant sailor does, but Cutler Beckett, the man who gave me command of this very ship, got me wrapped up into something I would have never willingly participated in on my own. I made a voyage to the island of Kerma and learned that I was to transport the inhabitants to the Bahamas. I discovered, to my horror, that he was partaking in the slave trade. The money was good, luv, it was... but I couldn't do it. No amount of money is worth a goddamn thing if hundreds of innocent people suffer. So, I set them free. I ensured that Beckett would never get his hands on them. I stole the ship, and fled, but they caught me."
