THE SAILS OF THE HIGH SEAS

- Epilogue -

Though the isle of Mompracem had seen countless sunrises, they paled in comparison to this particular one. As the waves crashed against the sand on the shore of the isle with a gentle caress, the sound that echoed was so precious that it could easily calm even the most restless of hearts.

A lone man stood on the beach, and watched as the sun slowly greeted a vivid and impressive hello to the coming day along the line of the vast horizon. Though the man stood there alone, he knew it would not have been for long. The moment this thought ran across his mind, he felt a spine-tingling touch of a delicate hand run up and down across his back. He knew who it was. He knew who she had reached out for. And why.

If someone would have told him not long ago that life would break him down in order to bring him back up off his knees stronger than ever, he would have said he was ready for it, because a pirate always was! And yet... If someone would have told him that his saving grace would come to him in the form of a British noblewoman with hair as gold as the rising sun and eyes as blue as the deepest of turquoise hues of the ocean, he... would have denied that notion with a pirate's confidence in his own words. And he would have been proven so very wrong. For love does not ask for permission, it makes certain to mold yearning hearts into one...

"Ready for today?" Marianna smiled as she ran a hand up and down Sandokan's back to finally let it rest on his big broad shoulder.

"Most certainly," Sandokan smiled and turned to his beloved. "Although, I am not sure if the bride-to-be knows what she's getting herself into."

"Ha!" Marianna exclaimed with amusement. "I would assume it is the groom who might be way over his head."

"Is that how You view marriage and taking that leap of faith together?" Sandokan teased Marianna by pulling at the hair she had chosen to let loose around her face and did not include them in her perfectly styled formal braid.

"Yes, because I care about the groom's wellbeing," Marianna brought her hand up and teased his beard.

"Wicked woman," Sandokan smiled at her because he had grown to love the way she teased his beard, just as much as he had grown to appreciate the way she made him feel whenever she caressed the spot on his left cheek where his scar was no longer visible.

"Wickedly in love with You, my dear Tiger of Mompracem." Saying so Marianna rose on her toes and kissed him.

"Ah, my Pearl of Labuan, You take my breath away," Sandokan looked deeply into his beloved's eyes. "You make my head spin."

"Well, let's hope that head of Yours is strong enough to dance the night away tonight," Marianna offered him a mischievous grin.

"Right," Sandokan chuckled. "The party awaits."

"Men. You think only about parties and rum flowing like a river," Marianna chuckled as well. "Today is about uniting two hearts forever."

"Why can't a man appreciate both?" Sandokan smiled, but stopped smiling when Marianna raised her eyebrow at him and crossed her arms at her chest.

"On a day like today?" Marianna all but sized him up and down.

"Never on a day like today!" Sandokan exclaimed and cleared his throat. "Anyway, who would have thought that Tremal Naik would get to walk off the plank before I did?"

"Walk off the plank? Do men really think of it that way?" Marianna narrowed her eyes at Sandokan.

"No." He cut the response short.

"So just You then?" Marianna raised her eyebrow.

"No." He repeated his prior response and brought her closer into his arms to change the subject. "You look beautiful today."