Neither Lady nor Pirate (Complete)

Chapter Twenty Two

Ah yes, it's Friday again.

How lovely ^.^

T-minus two days of school left, and then a whole summer full of working, writing, and... another word that starts with w...

Happy weekend!

XOXO

sophie9630

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TWENTY-TWO

The truth.

For four months, Abbie had only pined for it with few results, but the moment Finn nodded she could finally grasp it firmly in her hands.

She had been pondering all night on Charlie's comment, wondering why her father had been the first person he'd mentioned. If Haughtington had been behind the plan, would not Charlie have mentioned his best friend?

After getting Maliyah comfortable in the captain's quarters and finding her a cot to sleep on, Abbie had spent the rest of the night awake on her own cot.

The wheels of her mind had spun as quickly as a runaway carriage until, with a shock, she understood.

She had, at first, hastily pinned the blame on Haughtington because her fiancé was already a source of her unhappiness...

...But in reality it had been her father who had commissioned Finn and the crew of The Iron Lady to kidnap her on the day of her wedding.

When Finn nodded in confirmation, Abbie's heart constricted painfully as she thought about the man who had raised her.

Her father had been acting rather odd in the weeks leading up to her wedding; leaving at random times during the day and not returning home until late in the evening, refusing to hold business meetings in the house, avoiding Abbie's questions about France.

Of course Abbie had sensed something off-putting about his behavior, but had merely chalked it up to pre-wedding nerves. Her father often invested more energy into his plans than was good for his health.

Never in her wildest dreams would she have believed him to be conspiring against her.

Hesitantly, watching as the pieces clicked in her mind, Finn began to tell Abbie the story.

"Your father believed you to be ungrateful for the life he had provided for you. When you were kidnapped, the crew was supposed to teach you a lesson, one that would have you begging to return home to your father... And Haughtington."

Abbie's voice was barely a whisper. "Were you...were you supposed to torture me?" She was struggling to process the idea of her father desiring such terrible things.

"No, no! He specifically told me that any bodily harm that came to you at our hands would not be well received once you returned. But he thought that perhaps just the experience of being with a crew of pirates alone was enough to break you. He clearly underestimated your strength," Finn added, a note of a smile hidden in his words.

Then, slowly, as though unsure of his movements, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Pulling her closer into him, he began to rub her arm gently as he continued to speak.

"We were supposed to make you afraid, to make you want to go back home and marry your fiancé. And... I guess you ought to know about him too..."

"But I thought you said you've never met him?" Abbie interrupted.

"I never met with him to plan your kidnapping... He was not involved in that part but he isn't an innocent man either..."