THE SAILS OF THE HIGH SEAS

- Chapter 40 -

The next morning greeted Marianna with a newfound sense of hope. Each minute that passed was filled with light and peace, and no longer felt as if existence was a hollow passage through life itself. Sandokan was no longer dead. He never was! He was alive, and that was all that mattered to her. The letter he had written to her felt like a precious rose petal she kept right by her heart. Each time her heart beat, it did so against that gentlest sheet of paper, held by his strong hands just a short while ago. And she could not have been more content.

As a matter of fact, she felt so happy and lost in her thoughts as she packed a small bundling of clothes, that she had not noticed when Ada walked into her room. Nor when Ada closed the doors behind her to make sure no one would hear what she had to say...

"You seem content, my dearest cousin," Ada finally spoke up, and caused Marianna to whirl around, startled to say the least.

"Ada!" Marianna gasped. "I did not hear You come in."

"Would You have been able to hear a herd of elephants roll through Your room?" Ada smiled from ear to ear. "I wonder where Your mind traveled to a moment ago - or rather, toward who?"

"That question needs no answer, dearest cousin," Marianna smiled with gleam in her eyes.

"Which one? The one about a herd of elephants?" Ada chuckled.

"Definitely," Marianna nodded as she walked toward her cousin. "I must reveal a secret to You."

"Whatever it is, I would gladly hear about it," Ada grinned mischievously.

"Yanez will rescue me and whisk me away from this wretched life to my beloved Sandokan," Marianna whispered as she took Ada's hands in hers.

"I am aware of it. I was there when we met Yanez, remember? That is no secret," Ada raised her eyebrow at Marianna.

"He will whisk me away to my fiancé," Marianna smiled slowly.

"Are You sure about that? Sir William Whatever is Your fiancé. How could Yanez rescue You, yet take You to Your f..." Ada fell silent suddenly. "Marianna, does this mean...?"

"Yes, my dearest Ada!" Marianna exclaimed as quietly as she could.

"And You tell me this now?!?" Ada replied, and tried to keep her voice as quiet as possible. "When did that happen?"

"On Yanez's boat, shortly before Sir Brooke attacked us," Marianna replied and brought up her hand with the blue amber ring.

"And You tell me this now?!?" Ada repeated her words and brought Marianna's hand closer to her eyes to take a closer look at the ring. "I thought You said the jewels were Your mother's?"

"And I did not lie about it. The ring belonged to Sandokan's mother. The moment I will become his wife, those words will be true. As for the tear blue amber pendant, it was my mother's," Marianna smiled at the memory of her mother.

"These jewels look like a set. They look like a match," Ada took her eyes off the ring and looked up at the pendant adorning Marianna's neck.

"You should have seen the way Sandokan reacted when he saw my mother's pendant," Marianna recalled the way his eyes looked when she showed the pendant to him.

"I am more interested in the way You reacted to him proposing with the ring," Ada said bluntly.

"He did not exactly do it that way," Marianna narrowed her eyebrows.

"What do You mean?" Ada asked, baffled.

"Well, Sandokan gave me the ring and said how much it meant to his mother, and to him. And he proposed the next day," Marianna said as she ran her fingers around the rim of the ring.