Black Sam - Prince of Pirates

Twenty - EDWARD THE PIRATE

 Twenty-EDWARD THE PIRATE

 September 1716

 Thick lush green trees surrounded the dirt road to the Phineas' home. The air was sweet with the scent of fresh pine and wild flowers. After being out to sea for two weeks straight, Sam relished in the magnificence of the Bath countryside. There was something about nature that made Sam feel closer to heaven than sitting in church often did. However, bouncing in a wagon on a dirt road pulled by an ornery old man, who Ginny Phineas had sent to fetch him, was distracting.

 Ginny, Marcus, and Rachel had left town earlier in the day to go home and prepare for their new guest. It was no matter; Sam enjoyed the solitude. He allowed his mind to wind down to a lazy pace until they made it to the Phineas' home.

                                                                                         ***

 At the dinner table, Sam sat directly across from Rachel. All washed and smiling, she was far more beautiful than her club-wielding self from earlier. She reminded Sam of Maria, but he couldn’t understand why. She had dark brown hair and a quiet demeanor. Maria had light brown hair and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. Rachel had a good relationship with both of her parents. Maria’s was not so good. The only real similarity he found between the two was that they were both beautiful.

 His thoughts lingered on Maria. What was she doing this very moment? He pictured her sitting at the dinner table with her parents sitting on each end of the table, the room silent except for silverware scraping on porcelain plates. He missed her terribly and wished he could go rescue her from such drudgery. Sam focused his thoughts back to the present. Rachel was beaming at him, and he realized that he had been staring at her. He flushed and looked down at his bowl of potato and beef stew.

 “Mother tells me you are going out to the Spanish shipwreck,” Rachel said.

 “That’s right. We just stopped to resupply.” Sam shoveled a spoonful of stew into his mouth.

 “How exciting. I’ve often wondered what it would be like on the open sea.” Rachel twirled a strand of her hair.

 “Have you?” Sam marveled at this girl’s ability to overcome her initial shyness.

 Rachel nodded and swallowed down her food. “Oh yes. I think it would be quite a wicked adventure.”

 Marcus lowered his glass full of ale.  “Rachel, mind your tongue.”

 “Have you taken many ships?”

 Sam’s eyebrows rose. “Pardon me?”

 Marcus cleared his throat. “Rachel, what has gotten in to you?”

 “How many ships have you captured?” Rachel continued without a glance at either of her parents.

 At last, Sam saw the thing in Rachel that reminded him of Maria most, her impetuousness.

 “Rachel, honey, that’s not a very polite thing to ask a guest.” Ginny didn’t seem to be too upset by the question itself, only the timing.

 “Pardon our Rachel, she’s been taught better manners than that.” Marcus raised an eyebrow at his daughter. Sam watched Marcus’ face. Either he had some sort of twitch in his eye, or he'd given his daughter a wink.

 “I’m terribly sorry to say this, but I think you are mistaken as to what sort of sailor I am.”

 “What sort of sailor are you?” Rachel asked.