A Truelove of Turtle Doves

Chpt 29 - For You

"Mon amour!"

The loud shout came from a certain French captain as he caught sight of me standing on the docks from his position on Le Dauphin.

He waved his arm around as if his loud exclamation wasn't enough to get my attention.

I let it slide, though.

He had probably been deathly worried about me.

I hadn't gone out to see Francis yesterday. Josephine, Lauren and Edward had had to fill me in on things that had been happening recently since I wasn't around very much anymore - I was almost always with Francis. Apparently Michael had been less of an antagonist then usual these past couple of weeks, but instead of relaxing us, it made us all the more concerned. Something was going on, we just didn't know what.

The day before that had been when I'd returned home after spending a night with him.

It may have only been a day, but it had felt like a much longer period of time.

If that was how it felt to me, then it must've been agonising for Francis.

After all, he had had no way of knowing how the meeting with my parents had turned out.

I picked up my pace towards Le Dauphin, and I could see him threading his way through members of his crew on his ship, almost running to meet me.

There were more birds around than usual, more crows and bluebirds and magpies and turtle doves, but I didn't have time to dwell on that.

We met on the gangway. He practically collided with me, picking me up and spinning me around. I yelped in surprise, gripping the back of his coat, before laughing slightly. Wrapping my legs around his waist to hold myself up, I placed my forehead against his.

"You're okay," he breathed softly.

I could hear the pure relief in his voice, and I could see it in his eyes. The feeling was rooted deeply in those clear blue depths of his. The feeling was also present in the small smile on his face, the smile that I adored so much.

It made my heart soar.

"Yeah," I replied quietly, "I'm okay."

Francis sighed.

"I was so worried, mon trésor. And when I didn't see you yesterday..." his voice caught. He released a shaky puff of breath. "I didn't know what to think."

Moving one hand from the back of his coat, I ran my fingers along his jawline a few times before cupping the side of his face.

"I know. Forgive me. There was a change to the rules and something cropped up. I couldn't go out. But I'm okay."

"Tell me everything that happened, mon amour."

I smiled.

Now I had to decide what to tell him and what to leave out.

He didn't know about Michael.

I pecked his lips. His response was to pepper my face with soft kisses. Eventually, I unwrapped my legs from around him. Francis put me down and intertwined his hand with mine.

We made our way to his quarters.

Several crew members called out greetings to me, which I replied to. Being on his ship as often as I had been over the past couple of months meant that I was a familiar presence to most.

Vachel waved to me enthusiastically, winking when he realised where we were headed.

I stuck my tongue out at him.