Stormy Tides

Chapter 5

           In the wee hours of the morning Karen was roused roughly. Out of habit she got out of bed and stood on a defensive position even before her brain woke up.
        "Very good," she heard. Her eyes flew open to see her mother in breeches wearing a coy smile on her face. Her eyes showed how proud she was of her. She did not know why but seeing the pride in her mother's eyes relieved her of the guilt of training in secret.
        "I see my first mate has taught yé well, " her mother continued.
     "First mate? " She asked confused. As she wore her breeches following her mother's orders.
      "Oops, it's not yet time to tell yé about that. Now hurry along we have to keep you fit," her mother said with a nostalgic voice.
         Once she was done, May put her to work. She was taken aback by the agility her mother had. She dodged all her blows and even swung a few that disoriented her. She had after all decided that she didn't want to go hard on her mother but she couldn't believe the tables were turned on her.
        "I know yé are not giving yér all Karen. Do not take on me as yér mother but as yêr enemy." Her mother criticized her. Daniel had never outed her that way. She still feared for her mother so she didn't apply herself fully yet.
          May had to push her with her jabs for her to increase her defence. She even began taunting her on how weak she was as she knew Karen valued her pride. Finally, they were getting somewhere as Karen rose up to the occasion. She couldn't hide the glee in her eyes as they dueled.
          "I believe Daniel has been holding back on me" Karen groaned as her mother won yet another round.
       "Pish posh!. The man has his pride. He couldn't accept being bested by two women apart from his wife. Of course he had to hold back on yé. " Alice replied.
         "What do yé mean? " Karen asked. May cursed under her breath. It was getting harder to keep Karen away from the truth about her past life. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell her about it, just that the need never arose until now. She would have to wait until their rougish pirate brought his ship. Then they would be in familiar territory.
         Soon my daughter, soon. You will know everything about your mother and your dear old dad. And all about how we met. A tale itself, that we decided not to share for security and well, pride. But soon. May thought.
       They went on for sometime before Karen declared that she was extremely exhausted. Her mother hadn't even broken sweat. She was breathing fine which was totally opposite to how she was heaving. They had made sure that they were silent so as not to alert others.
     "I thought yé despised me in breeches and participating in duels,"Karen said as they freshened up.
       "I would have been more disappointed if yé didn't develop an interest in it," her mother said cryptically. Karen justed stared at her knowing she wouldn't get answers soon. It seemed her mother was waiting on something.
Once they were done, they decided to go down for breakfast. They found the young man from yesterday outside their door waiting for them.
         "Pardon me my ladies, but may I escort yé to breakfast? " Cole asked. Karen's back stiffened as her heart skipped a beat.
          "No yé may not. Yé are practically a stranger. What if yé plan to murder us on the way there? " she asked, putting on a horrified face. She was more mortified at herself for she had never been straight forward with a gentleman before. Cole stiffened from his short bow as he looked at the young lady.
               "Please forgive me my lady, I merely thought yé already knew who I was." he said through gritted teeth as he shook himself from being drowned in her unusually grey doe eyes. He had never seen such eyes that could hold him. Was that a hint of gold in them? Bloody hell!  He thought, I cannot believe that am trying to see the colour of the chit's eyes.
    May seeing the war going in between their minds, decided to intervene.
    "Oh dear! Where are my manners?! Karen dear, this is Cole Richards, Marquise of Devonshire. Cole, this is my daughter Karen McKenzie." Karen did a short curtsey before she huffed and walked away.
        She realized too late that she didn't know the way to the eating quarters. She had to wait for her mother as her pride wouldn't allow her to look back. She was sure that Cole was laughing at her. She couldn't understand what was happening to her, she never walked away from people no matter how annoying they were.
           May realized that she had underestimated how much her daughter was affected by Cole. It seemed her defence mechanism was kicking in as she was scared of her feelings. She had seen Cole stiffen when Karen walked away knowing that he had been irked and being the pirate he was, it would bother him until he retaliated on her.
          "Don't worry young man, she is not very accustomed to meeting new people,"she said to sooth him. She wished she could tell him that Karen liked him but he didn't want him to use that as an advantage.
          "Now, how about that breakfast?" She asked. Cole offered her his arm surprised he still had some gentleman in him after years at sea. As they walked, they came across Karen who had been tapping her foot impatiently. She grumbled about how they took their time and began to drag her mother along, not sparing him a glance. He didn't know why but he suddenly wanted her to look at him. He almost cursed out loud realizing he had to suffer close proximity to them for another week.
         Their routines continued that way for the week, with him escorting them to their meals and being nearby wherever they went around the ship. Even outside the lavatory, which irritated Karen to no end. One time while Karen and May were sunbasking, she saw Cole approach them. She took the nearest book which was about ships and opened it randomly to a page with a diagram.
        "Yé do realize that the book is upside down, right?" Cole asked, the first time he spoke to her directly since their first morning there, his eyes lit in amusement.
       "Aye, I do. I deliberately put it that way so that I may understand the diagram, " she replied as she waited for him to speak with her mother before she put it upright.