Norrington's Darling

Arrival

POV: Zuri Sparrow

Explaining everything to Mirko, Marcellino, Fleming, Orsel, and Angele—the upcoming wedding, Jack's death, Davy Jones, all of it—took time. Due to sailing with myself, Jack, and Anamaria, they were used to the weird—but even the plan to get my brother back seemed to be a bit much for them.

But they had set that aside and the girls were more than happy to drag me into their shop to find me a wedding dress.

Elizabeth, Tia, and Angele waited outside the room I had borrowed to change in. Orsel stood with me, helping me into the dress. At long last, with the dress covering me, I stared at myself in the mirror. It was the fifth dress I'd tried on and already something about it screamed James at me.

"He'd like this one," I murmured to Orsel.

She grinned. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

The dress was long and covered in a layer of lace, the fabric sheer. The bodice was mostly lace with slightly billowy sleeves that tightened at my wrists. The back of the dress dipped down to reveal most of my back. There was no extra skirts and no squeezing bodice. It was modest—not too fancy but not plain, either.

"Do...do you think...Jack would approve?" I asked, almost afraid to hear her answer.

Sadness crinkled Orsel's eyes. She held me close. "You know, Jack would have approved of anything if it made you happy. He approved of your admiral, eh?"

"That he did," I agreed even as my smile wobbled and my composure threatened to collapse.

"Come on," Orsel prodded me. "Let's go show the others."

"What if they don't agree?"

"You think this is the one?"

I studied myself in the mirror. For the past few dresses, I felt like I'd been stuffed in them. But this one had no corset to restrict me. This was the first in which I actually felt like— "A princess. I feel like a princess."

Orsel smiled. "And you're soon going to be James Norrington's queen." She kissed my forehead, as per her usual way of giving her blessing. She squeezed my hand and gently led me out of the dressing room to the sitting room where the other three women waited.

When I first came into view, Elizabeth gasped and clutched Tia's arm. "Oh my goodness! Tia! Tia, look!" Elizabeth put both hands to her mouth.

"Well?" I asked as I swished my skirt. "What do you think?"

"Oh, it's gorgeous! It's perfect—you're perfect!" Elizabeth squealed.

Color flushed my cheeks. "Tia? Angele?"

Tia could only smile, her happiness quiet. "It suits you," she said. "It is you."

Angele walked up to me with a blank face. "If you do not buy this dress, I will buy it for you and make you wear it. This is your wedding dress. This is what you need to get married in. It speaks to you and if you think your soon-to-be husband will like it on you—"

"James will like you in anything," Elizabeth reminded me.

"Yes," I agreed, swishing my dress by swaying my hips, "but I think this is very clearly his...style, I guess you could call it."

"Mmm," Elizabeth agreed.

"Don't buy it," Orsel said abruptly. "It's on us."

"What?! No, no, you've already made sure the wedding cost is nearly nothing, I have to pay you for the dress—"

"Absolutely not," Angele interrupted. "Orsel is right. You are our friend. You and Jack gave us the time of our lives when we sailed with you. If you won't let us repay you with money—"

"I ask only for your friendship—"

"—then take the dress for free. Let us give you your happiness without a cost to contend with as well."

I bit my lip. "I won't accept until I know how much losing this dress will cost you."

"No," Angele said. "You don't get to know that!"

"Angele—!" I protested.

"Only a few hundred pounds," Orsel interrupted, waving a hand carelessly. "We sell enough dresses to make up for it fairly quickly."

"Are you sure you can do this?" I asked.

"Absolutely," Angele promised. "Now, come on. We've got to buy some jewelry that'll match the dress!"

They only gave me a few minutes to get out of the dress and put it in my room before they pulled me into town to search for the jewelry that would match both it and my complexion.

Toting several boxes of jewelry (and a box of undergarments that made me want to curl up in a hole and hide there forever), we made out way back through Mellieha. Desperate to get away from the teasing about the undergarments from my four companions, I turned my gaze to the port—only for my heart to leap out of my chest.

"He's here," I whispered, then clung to Tia, who provided me with the closest available arm. Louder, I cried, "He's here!"

Orsel and Angele made a commotion as Elizabeth grinned at me. I gripped her hand tightly.

"Are you ready?" she asked me.

"Absolutely," I whispered. "A-am I allowed to see him before...?"

"You're getting married in two days, you can go see him," Elizabeth said with a chuckle. "Now, come on! We should go meet him!"

"Angele, Orsel—go home and tell the others. Elizabeth, Tia...you can come, but please give us some space, alright?"

"Of course!" Elizabeth promised.

We raced through the city, down to where the ship James and I had been on to mourn Jack had made port, its British flag waving in the wind. We waited on the pier as a few figures approached.

The last one to get off the ship and walk toward us was the one I wanted to see the most. I received claps on the back from both Groves and Gillette and a hug from Anamaria. And then I could make out the features on Jame's coat and I ran for him.

When our bodies collided and his arms wrapped around me, I was crying.