The Lass who Loved a Pirate

Chapter 12 Danger Spotted

For the next three days, it was nothing but pure bliss between my husband and I. Bash and I had moved to his rooms after our wedding night. The whole tavern went up in cheers when we walked through the doors the next morning. Aadan clasping Bash's shoulder. I felt my cheeks go red. They knew what we did all night. All the pirates made crude and lude jokes and Bash rushed me upstairs to his rooms. Once we arrived in his room we did nothing but make love and get to know one another. I learned many things about Sebastian Crusoe. Things I had already learned and things I had yet to learn.

He told me more about his mother. The well known pirate Lena Crusoe. She was known to take down Spanish ships especially. His father was a Spanish soldier named Louis Crusoe. They had fallen in love with the Spanish encountered St. Bona's island by accident. Louis and his men took ill, and it was Lena's tribe who cared for them. Unfortunately many of her own people fell from that same illness, and illness that the natives had no immunity toward. War broke out between her tribe and the Spanish men soon after. Many in the tribe blaming the deadly illness on the foreigners. Forcing Lena and Louis apart. But not before Lena found out she was pregnant. Lena gave Bash a Christian name and gave him his father's name. In hopes that her son's life would be easier then hers. I felt sympathy for Lena, all she wanted was to heal and help those who had fallen ill. And that caused the downfall of her people and tribe here on the island. He told me nothing more then that. His mother was not fond of talking about her past, and I understood why. Bash on the other hand told me everything. He was born and raised on St. Bona's island. When he was a baby, Lena would take him sailing. When he was old enough to walk, Lena left him in the care of Athena to help raise him. Both his mother and Athena were friends from childhood. Bash grew up beside Aadan, and they treated each other as brothers. Once they were old enough, Lena took them under her wing and taught them everything they knew about being a pirate. They stole their first vessel at 16 and 17. Making Aadan and Bash the youngest captain and first mate on the Caribbean Sea. I was amazed at his story. He truly was born to be a pirate. Pirating was in his blood.

In turn Bash wanted to know everything about my own childhood. Which was very different from his. One less free and free to make decisions of my own. I told him about my father, how his first wife died in childbirth. His one and only son died three days later. He never truly got over his first wife's tragic passing. Needing a son and heir, he married my mother. Soon after she became pregnant and gave birth to me. My father was disappointed that I was not a son like he wanted. After that he ignored me, and ignored my existence until it was convenient. It was my mother who looked after me, it was my mother who raised me til I was the age of ten. I told him about how kind and compassionate my mother was with everyone around her. She cared for those around her, even those who were enslaved on the plantation. The night my mother had become ill, she had been caring for a slave girl. An illegitimate child of my father's. He made her my childhood companion to play with. We were like sisters, even sharing a room together. My mother made sure that the child was well cared for. Both had died within hours of one another. I had not only lost my mother, but I also lost a dear friend. I remembered my father was drunk in his study the night my mother died. Cursing my mother for not giving him a son. Calling me useless, just like her. It was then at ten years of age that he sent me to Scotland to reside with my aunt and uncle. He could not bear to even look at me. He was reminded of my mother's failure. 

My time with my Aunt Delphine was what made me the woman I am now. She taught me the art of healing and how to make medicines to help people. She taught me how to truly read and write. She made me humble by showing me to care for those who were not as successful as she and her husband were. She made me less ashamed of being a woman. To embrace who I was and become the woman my mother wanted me to be. I often would sit with my aunt in the kitchen while she conducted her healing. Learning everything I could from her. It was time I was happy and content, and then the letter came for me to return to Port Royal. My life changed the moment I met Bash. Bash listened intently to my life story. He wished that he could have met my mother and Aunt Delphine. Meet the women who helped me. Maybe someday we could travel to Scotland. And he could meet my Aunt, though I was sure that my uncle would certainly wish to see Bash hang for taking his most prized ship.